Review: "The Warlord Wants Forever" by Kresley Cole

The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Warlord Wants Forever is the short story that introduces the Immortal After Dark series...

From Kresley Cole's website:

Nikolai Wroth, once a ruthless human warlord in the 1700s and now a general in the rebel vampire army, needs to find his Bride, the one woman who can render him truly alive. As a turned human, he doesn’t enjoy a heartbeat or breaths and is consequently weaker than fully blooded vampires. He wants his Bride for the power she will bring him and can hardly believe it when his heart beats for Myst the Coveted, a mad, fey, mythological creature.

Myst is known throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, part chillingly fierce warrior, part beguiling seductress who can “make you want her even as she’s killing you.” She has devoted her life to protecting an ancient, powerful jewel and to fighting the vampires, and she now sees a way to torment one—for with Wroth’s heartbeat comes consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her.

She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen the jewel which commands her, giving him absolute power over her. While he possesses it, he can make her do anything, and he plans to in order for her to experience first hand the agonizing, unending lust she’d purposely subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Wroth realizes he wants more from her and frees her, will she come back to him?

As the introduction to the IAD series, this story did its job. I wasn't wowed by it but I'm interested enough to give the next book a try. The PNR world created by Ms. Cole is unique - at least, to me - with its mixture of all kinds of PNR beings. I mean, I'm used to series being about one kind of PNR being - vampires, shapeshifters, psychics, or whatever - but it looks like the IAD series has them all "mixing and matching", and this should be fun.

I had to struggle a bit in the first half of story, because Wroth and Myst weren't exactly likable. He started out being somewhat cold and unemotional and then turned into an obsessive domineering "master", ugh. As for Myst, she just seemed to be too ditzy and slutty for my taste. Okay, the sexual tension between them was sizzling hot and their love scenes got me "hot and bothered", but I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable when he took her free will away from her. Every time he commanded her to do something against her will, I cringed a little because I'm not into D/s and there was definitely a D/s vibe there. Thankfully, Wroth came to his senses in the end and Myst had more depth in her than she'd led me to believe, and I ended up liking both of them.

The following books in this series are supposed to be better than this one, so I'm off to reading A Hunger Like No Other. We shall see how I like it...



View all my reviews

Review: "Highland Fling" by Jennifer LaBrecque

Highland Fling by Jennifer LaBrecque

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'd read only two books by Ms. LaBrecque before this one and I wasn't very impressed, but she's a favorite author among several GR members so I thought I'd give her another try when I found this book at the UBS. Well, the old saying is true: third time is the charm...

Kate Wexford is an ER doctor who finds herself attracted to an 18th-century painting of a Scottish laird, Darach MacTavish. The painting is part of a sex exhibit being held at the museum, and she can't help visiting the museum and ogling the painting every day after work. On the last day of the exhibit, she is approached by a strange man who gives her some info about the man in the painting and then just pushes her into it. When Kate "wakes up", she finds herself lying naked on the Scottish laird's bed.

Darach is more than surprised to find a naked wench on his bed and, not knowing how she could have sneaked into his castle undetected, suspects she's a spy sent by his enemies. This impression is short-lived, as Kate and Darach soon realize she somehow traveled back in time. At first, they don't understand why she's there and don't know how to get her back to her time, but they eventually figure out she's to help him prevent his death and the destruction of his clan in the near future (his future, not hers). As they work together and travel through time (his and hers) in search of the answer to his imminent problem, Kate and Darach fall in love with each other and are faced with another dilemma, as she doesn't particularly like life in the 18th century and he can't abandon his clan and stay with her in the 21st century. As this is a romance novel, they sort things out and get their HEA, of course.

I know suspension of disbelief is a must when I read time travel stories and I don't necessarily expect them to have a scientific approach based on the laws of physics, but I do expect them to have some consistency within the logic the author creates to explain the phenomenon. Here's what bothered me in this book: the first time Kate time traveled, she reached her "destination" without her clothes on but with her watch on her wrist and her purse on her shoulder; the following times she time-travelled, she didn't "lose" anything during the "journey" and arrived at the "other space in time" fully clothed and accessorized. What was the logic behind that? As far as I could tell, there was only one explanation: Darach needed to see Kate naked so he could appreciate what a bonny lass she was, LOL.

The other thing that bothered me was how easily Darach fit into the 21st century. For example, he was surfing the internet less than one hour after Kate explained him what a computer was! No matter how intelligent he was, I found that very hard to believe.

Anyway, those were only small annoyances that didn't prevent me from enjoying this read, probably because I fell in love with Darach and was willing to buy anything Ms. LaBrecque wrote, LOL. Darach was a wonderful Highlander hero - strong, protective and a bit arrogant, just the way he was supposed to be - and Kate was a funny and charming modern-day heroine. Their scenes were sweet and funny, and they had great chemistry together. All in all, the time travel "logic" was a bit convoluted but the romance part of the story was very good and worth reading.



View all my reviews

Review: "Miss January" by Madison Hayes

Miss January by Madison Hayes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nice H/h, even though they were sometimes too quick to jump to conclusions, interesting setup - I really liked the way they "met" and I know what I'll be doing the next time a sexy stranger with a velvet voice dials the wrong number and reaches me - and smoking hawt love scenes. That's what I call good smut! ;)

If you're wondering what Cash looks like, here's a pic that fits him - and the story - perfectly:



Seriously, there's a scene in the book that's exactly like that pic!

Note: After I read this book, I found out that it isn't the first in the series. How come? Isn't January the first month of the year? Darn, my OCD can't process that, LOL!



View all my reviews

Review: "The Broken H" by J.L. Langley

The Broken H by J.L. Langley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As the sequel to The Tin Star, The Broken H features Sheriff Grayson Hunter, who played a secondary character in the previous book, and Shane Cortez, the man he's loved all his life.

Shane has been part of Gray's life since Shane was sixteen and Gray was three, when Gray's parents took an almost starving and battered Shane off the street and offered him a home to live. Despite the big age difference between them, the two boys became inseparable friends almost immediately. That changed when Gray turned eighteen, realized that his feelings for Shane went beyond mere friendship and tried to tell the older man how he felt. Shane's reaction (and apparent rejection) sent Gray running away from his parents' ranch, the Broken H, and he's stayed away from Shane since then. Fate has a way to bring lovers back together, though. When Gray's father suffers a heart attack, he's called home and there's no denying his feelings for Shane anymore. Surprisingly, it looks like Shane has something to say in the matter too...

Here's the deal: I loved Shane and Gray individually, but their relationship was a bit uncomfortable to me. The flashbacks from their past, when Shane was still a young man and Gray was a child, were filled with brotherly affection, so I had a hard time adjusting to the change in their relationship. In itself, the age gap between them wasn't the issue - Ethan and Jamie, from The Tin Star, had eleven years between them and I didn't have a problem with it - but the fact that Shane and Gray had basically grown up like "brothers". Heck, Gray's parents even treated Shane like a son!

Besides that, there were just too many editing errors in this book. I'm not the best person to point them out, since English isn't my mother language, but they were too bizarre and obvious. Sadly, they got in the way of my enjoying this read, because I found myself having to reread entire sentences to understand their meaning. That didn't happen once or twice, but several times - especially in the second half of the book.

Overall, this ended up being just an OK read to me, with likable characters, sweet and funny love scenes - I especially liked Gray's fetishes - and a bit of tension to keep the story going. It would have been a 4-star read to me if it weren't for the things I mentioned above.



View all my reviews

Review: "The Christmas Tree Bargain" by J.L. Langley

The Christmas Tree Bargain by J.L. Langley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 1/2 stars

If you've read The Tin Star, like I have, this quickie works as a very nice extra epilogue to that book. Being alreay familiar with Ethan and Jamie, you get to understand their dynamics, why their Christmas tree is so ugly and Ethan's early Christmas gift gets a new meaning. Plus, their dog Fred helping with the Christmas tree decorations makes it all sweeter as you remember how that "tradition" started.

If you haven't read that book, this quickie is nothing more than a steamy m/m sex scene between two "married" men celebrating Christmas.



View all my reviews

Review: "Key of Valor" by Nora Roberts

Key of Valor by Nora Roberts

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This final installment in the Key trilogy was the weakest for me. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have read all three books in a row, because reading about the tale of the three demigoddesses' souls trapped in a box of glass and how three mortal women, the heroines, were destined to find the "keys" to release them got a bit stale this time around. It was pretty much the same basic thing all over again, and neither Zoe nor Brad, the couple du jour, was compelling enough to engage my full interest.

I admit I didn't like Zoe very much from the glimpses I had on the previous books, Key of Light and Key of Knowledge: she came across like this "wonder woman", larger than life and independent to the point of being too stubborn. Unfortunately, my impression didn't change after reading this book and there was a time or two when I wanted to give her a good shake to make her see reason. Her reluctance to accept Brad's love was justifiable in the beginning - after all, single mothers are, or should be, wary when considering a new romantic relationship - but I though she dragged it a little too long. If Brad was a "shady" character, I could understand it, but he was far from it.

Brad was the handsome, honest millionaire with a heart of gold, no flaws and not a single skeleton in the closet. He fell fast and hard for Zoe and, bonus points there, he also adored her son Simon. The ultimate good guy, he was perfection in flesh and bone, there was absolutely nothing wrong with him... and I couldn't care less about him. Would I love to have a guy like him in real life? Sure! But that kind of hero doesn't work for me in Romancelandia, I'm sorry to say. Hmm, maybe that's why Zoe took so long to fall for him, LOL.

As for the search for Zoe's "key", it was obvious - for me, not for Zoe - that the answer was linked to her accepting Brad's love, so the mystery part of the story didn't add much spark to make this an engrossing read. I was kind of bored halfway through the book, since neither the romance nor the mystery was thrilling. It's somewhat funny: I liked the mystery but not the romance in Key of Light, liked the romance but not the mystery in Key of Knowledge, and didn't like either the romance and the mystery in Key of Valor. Not exactly the combo I wanted.

Since this was the third and last book in the series, Key of Valor ends with a nice scene featuring only the three heroines in order to give closure to the whole quest for the "keys". While I understood the reason behind the way NR chose to end the story, I was left feeling that Zoe and Brad were "cheated": I would have liked to see them in a special one-on-one final scene, the same way their friends had in the previous books. That was the final nail in the coffin for me... Meh!



View all my reviews

Review: "Key of Knowledge" by Nora Roberts

Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Even though this is the second book in the Key trilogy, Key of Knowledge can be easily read as a stand-alone because Dana, the heroine, gives a pretty good - and funny - recapitulation of what happened in the first book, Key of Light. That said, I still recommend reading this series in order, as you get a better understanding of how things work in this PNR realm created by NR.

That certainly helped me to guess where the "key" Dana was assigned to find was hidden, because the pattern had already been established in the previous book. I had it all figured out pretty soon, and it was only Dana's stubbornness and blindness about all things involving Jordan, the hero, that prevented her from getting it too. There was a twist in the end that shifted the pattern a bit, so it was nice to be surprised and see that not everything was predictable.

As for the romantic part of the story, Dana and Jordan had good chemistry and I enjoyed reading their scenes together. Theirs was a "lovers-reunited" kind of story, and this plotline doesn't always work for me - I mean, if you couldn't make your relationship work the first time around, why rehash it? - but I think NR did a good job showing why their first time together wasn't meant to be and how they needed to go their separate ways - Jordan being the one who had left - before getting back together for good.

As it happened in Key of Light, there's a lot of talk about symbolism, coincidences and fate in this book too. All interesting, but I confess my eyes started to glaze during some parts. Thankfully, those scenes were minor bumps in a story that, as a whole, flew quite smoothly.

Now, on to the third and final book in the series...



View all my reviews