Review: CRASH SITE, by Rachel Grant

When I finished the first book in this series I wondered why was I left with a great thriller but an unsolved romantic theme. I needed Dean and Fiona to have their happy ending, now! So although I've never asked for a book in NetGalley, I took this one, as it was in Read Now.

Archaeologist Fiona Carver has returned to her job for the Navy. But, nine months after what happened in Alaska, she seizes the opportunity to do a private job on a Caribbean island. Her task is part of a larger project that includes making a documentary. There's a whole lot of characters related to that filming, in addition to others more focused on historical analysis.

Unbeknownst to Fiona, Dean Slater is also hired, the rich and handsome wildlife photographer she fell in love with and hasn't seen in all these months.

This is a novel of "second chances." They could not be together because Dean didn’t want to have a relationship. They have not seen each other for nearly a year. But now they are together in this Caribbean job. They renew the physical and emotional attraction between them. This is a romance novel, so you have to see how their happy ending is posible, Dean has to change for that.

I think the relationship between them is what I liked the most of this book. And it was quite interesting the final part of the suspense. I wouldn’t say that there is much intrigue or surprises, or unexpected twists, but there’s a lot of action, and it’s quite clever the way she gets out of the mess they are in.

It is one of those novels that I call ‘catenary type’: strong at the beginning and at the end, but tracing a downward curve from the beginning to the middle, and then going back up from that midpoint, which is the one with the lowest interest.

I think it is because of the many secondary characters, and they have to be presented, who they are, so that you understand later the role of each one when the action arrives in the second part.

The setting in a tropical island is less interesting than the frigid Aleutians on Dangerous ground. For instance, the first two novels of the anthology Dangerous as sin –Poison evidence and Colder than sin- have precisely that kind of environment.

In short: Dangerous ground was a three stars novel, 4 the suspense and 2 the romance. Crash site is also three stars but for the opposite reasons: 4 the romance and 2 the suspense.

I think it could be a standalone, but it’s better if you read both novels. I wish she had written just one book, with the suspenseful part of the first one and the romance of the second.

Personal rating: good, 3 stars

TBR Challenge: ‘MERRY INKMAS’, by Talia Hibbert

The topic of this month is Holiday (any holiday!)

Published: Dec-2017

Genre: Contemporary

My Rating: four stars

Pages: 256

Last year I discovered Talia Hibbert with Wanna bet? I just love her books and I try to read as much as I can from her back list.

I wanted to share with you this tale of acceptance and forgiveness in Christmas time. Acceptance and forgiveness of oneself and hope for a better future.

Bailey Cooper works as a barista in a coffee-shop. Some weeks ago, a ‘Hot Coffee Boy’ came in –and kept on going to the coffee-shop day in day out. He is drop dead gorgeous. There is mild flirting between them, but nothing happens until one day she loses her job.

She ends up working for him, and it is then than both of them decide to do something with that sparky attraction they feel.

Cash Evans does not trust himself. His rule is not having relationships that last more than three months. His childhood was not a happy one. He fears he can be a monster as his father. He has to accept himself and those intrusive thoughts that keep telling him he is not good enough for someone as sweet as Bailey Cooper.

She does not do relationships, either. She has seen her mother going from one man to another. Men just simply did not stick with her mother. But Bailey is not against a short but passionate relationship.

Then Christmas come and everything comes out, they learn to accept how they are and that the future is not written in stone.

The bantering between them is great. The sexy times, of course, very well done. The story tends to be a little bit cheesy at the end, and it includes one of those romantic epilogues that I am not very fond of.

As it is usual in Hibbert’s romances, it’s a WMBW story. Both of them are far from perfect, but he is very sexy, all and all muscles, whereas she tends to be, like some other of her heroines, a little bit overweight.

Anyway, if you like a short and sexy Christmas story, this will do. A forewarning –It is not a sweet tale, because some terrible things are mentioned. However, you can really enjoy it.

This is the last TBR Challenge of this year. I have enjoyed it. After five years, I do not think I’m going to make it last year. I feel like I want to rest a little bit. Too many challenges this year have taken some of my enjoyment, I am afraid. But it has been great while it lasted.

TBR Challenge: ‘RODE HARD’, by Lorelei James

The topic of this month is TBR Challenge: Sugar or Spice (closed door “just kisses” or super steamy)

Ridgeview Publishing, 11 /2014

Published: Nov-2007

Genre: Erotica

My Rating: three stars

Part of a Series: Rough Riders #2

I read the first novel of the series Rough Riders and I liked it, so I bought the second one. Moreover, I plan to buy more, as some of the characters appear in these two novels and I want to know what happens with them.

Erotica is not easy to read and enjoy and I guess it is not easy to write. You have to put enough explicit sex to be exciting but at the same time you have to put a good love story, so the romantic and the erotic part need to have enough development.

I think Lorelei James achieves both objectives: there is a lot of steamy sex, with a little bit of what could be considered kinky –spanking, bondage, threesomes and anal sex. However, you can also find characters who discover each other, that fall in love and struggle to find their HEA, defeating their own insecurities.

An interesting thing about this book is that there is not only one couple but two. The main one is the main reason why I bought this book: Gemma and Cash. In the first book of the series you met of both them, and it was clear that there was something simmering between them.

Gemma Jensen is a widow, the owner of a ranch.

Cash Big Crow does not have a place to call his own; he is a good cowboy that had a past in the rodeo circuit.

She is in her forties. He is a decade younger than she is. But, do you know what? Age is just a number.

Gemma contracts him to be her foreman. He accepts working for her, but with one condition –they will sleep together and he will be the boss in the bedroom. Gemma has no problem with that, because she has been lusting after him for years.

Unbeknownst to her, Cash is the father of Macie, whom he had while a teenager. Their relationship has been nearly non-existent and now that her mother is dead, they try to connect, to know each other better. Therefore, there goes Macie, with his father, to Gemma’s ranch.

She will knew one of those notorious and wild McKay boys, the little one, Carter. He is an artist, but is working for Gemma as a way to earn money. Carter is obsessed with Macie, wants to paint her, it is the muse that is going to inspire him great works –he is sure of that. At the beginning, it looks like a not very sane obsession.

Both Gemma and Macie are strong and have clear ideas. They seem more mature that the men of their lives. In the case of Cash, because he has been in love with Gemma for so long that he does not tell her because he is afraid of –what, exactly? I am not sure.

What is Carter’s problem? Well, he feels that, in such a great family as his, nobody really knows him, but Macie does. What does he do? From my point of view, he sabotages their relationship not attending to her real wishes.

What I like about Lorelei James is that the characters are common people that have great sex lives. You do not need millionaires or sophisticated erotic clubs in order to have kinky sex. In a sense, it is the kind of what I call ‘Ikea erotism’, the common life hot sex.

I am not interested in the erotica that gives you BDSM, brooding millionaires or sex clubs. I prefer this kind of book that presents you common people, with their modest economies, their complicated emotional lives. Life is not perfect –these Romance novels say– but you can find incredibly steamy sex in it, it is only a matter of finding the partner that is good to you.

I read it, I enjoyed and I will easily forget it. I think it will hardly be an all times favourite for anyone. Nevertheless, it gives you exactly what you expect and that honesty is the best that can be said about any commercial fiction product.

I certainly will keep on reading more Lorelei James books.

TBR Challenge: ‘THE FIXER’, by Helenkay Dimon

The topic of this month is Paranormal or Romantic Suspense

Published: Dec-2016

Genre: Romantic Suspense

My Rating: two stars

Part of a Series: Games people play #1

This book has been in my kindle for a while. It won two awards, the RT Reviewers Choice and the Rita Award, both in the category ‘Romantic Suspense’, and there was something very attractive in the synopsis –A mysterious and powerful fixer.

Emery solves cases of people who has disappeared. When she was a teenager, her cousin and best friend, Tiffany, disappeared, and she cannot forget that. When her uncle dies, she gets his files on the case and she finds a name –Wren.

Just that name, and she looks for him. Is he a suspect that his uncle discovered? When she meets him, it is obvious that he cannot be the culprit. 

The way Wren is presented is the most attractive thing of this book. Someone mysterious, you do not know who he is or what does he exactly for a living. He is a wealthy fixer, someone who solves problems for the powerful people. He does not give his real name, and hides his personal story.

Soon they will be together, trying to solve Tiffany’s disappearance and feeling this great chemistry between them that make the fall quick and hard.

It took me several days to read this rather short book, while I usually just inhale them. Although I enjoyed what I was reading, nothing in the story made me keep on reading. It was quite easy to put down and I did not feel the hurry to take it again.

In the end, it was quite a disappointment because my expectations were high. Having received those awards, I thought that at least it would be a suspense novel. What do you expect from that kind of novel? A mystery that is solved in the end after you follow an investigation. You expect certain red herrings; see the characters make inquiries, get it wrong, interview different suspects… Considering Emery and Wren are experts on something, I expected to see competence porn.

At least that is what I want to see in a mystery.

Nothing here.

They tell you what Wren does for a living, but you do not see him do anything amazing.  Or anything at all. The entire book he is talking with his friend and with Emery and that is it. If he is good at fixing things, you do not see him fixing anything. You expected someone like Olivia Pope, and you just get the story of a boy (is he really 35 years old?) falling for the smartest and cutest girl in high school. Because he likes the way she smells.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked the hero more than the heroine. He sounded more juvenile that his age says, but was a rather coherent character. Emery made me nervous. He wants to keep his privacy, and she nags him all the time wanting to know his name, his story, even in the most unexpected moments. I wanted to yell at her ‘leave the poor guy alone! He will tell you what he wants when he feels like it’.

I will try to get to the point again. My main problem with this book was that it was –IMHO– a poorly written suspense. I do not need a high body count, I just want to think, to use my brain trying to solve a fictional mystery.

I did not see any investigation. Moreover, I did not feel that thing that I love which is that when the identity of the culprit is revealed I could be surprised. *Spoiler?* the person who you think is the bad one, the obvious suspect from the beginning? Yes, that is he. He did it. Clear as a summer sky. No mystery at all. *end spoiler*

There were quite a few explicit sex scenes, and well written, which is something very attractive. There is more sex than investigation, what made me think that perhaps this was a kind of erotic novel. Nevertheless, everything is very vanilla to be considered erotic. Moreover, there is a moment when something kinky is hinted, but not delivered afterwards. I do not care if the sex is vanilla or not in a romance novel, I can even read a romance novel without sex and enjoy it. What I find hard to accept is when you misguide me about the kind of sex I am going to find.

If you add that they speak as if they were teenagers and not grown people, in the end, this book is nothing as I expected. So this hard boiled hero in the end is just fluffy, which is I guess the worst thing you can put in a noir.

This is not a suspense novel for me. When I think about this subgenre, I remember authors like Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, Karen Robards, or Anne Stuart, to name a few. This book is nothing like a book written by any of them. 

It is more a contemporary with common traits with a Lauren Layne or Christina Lauren book in my opinion. However, without the humour and the high level of sexiness that these other authors give to their stories.

Therefore, I do not think I am going to try this author again. It is not for me.

TBR Challenge: ‘THE CHINA BRIDE’, by Mary Jo Putney

The topic of this month is Kicking It Old School (original publication 10+ years ago)

Published: 2000

Genre: Historical

My Rating: three stars

Part of a Series: Bride Trilogy #2

In my enormous TBR pile there are quite a few oldies but goldies. It was easy to choose this one. I usually like Putney.

This romance is tagged as an ‘interracial romance’. Troth Montgomery’s father was a Scot and her mother was Chinese. She lives in Canton, disguised as a man, a translator between the foreign merchants and her Chinese master. So, as it is usual in this kind of novel, the exotic protagonist is not totally foreign, they always have to have a little bit of British blood in order to be accepted by the public, I guess. It sounds a little xenophobic, I know, but I suppose it is the way things are seen by those who put their money in the publishing industry. They do not want to take risks.

Kyle Renbourne, an English viscount arrives in China. He likes adventures, and is sincerely interested in the way other people live. He wants to discover different societies and is quite respectful, one of his most attractive traits.

He is very discerning, and discovers that the ‘male’ translator is a girl, a very attractive person. Kyle wants to go to inner China, a part that is forbidden to foreigners, in order to see a temple that has been in his mind for years.

In the end, Troth and Kyle travel together to ‘the heart of the Celestial Kingdom’, as they say in the synopsis.

They like each other and feel a strong physical attraction that blooms during their journey. Nevertheless, in the end, things go wrong and there comes another romance trope, a ‘marriage of convenience’. Kyle is condemned to death and wants Troth to have the opportunity to travel to Great Britain as his widow.

The novel is going backwards and forwards all the time. From the beginning, you know that Troth goes to England and is received by his family. Several flashbacks tells you the story of how they met and travelled together.

You are waiting to see how they could marry just before his execution, and then how he survived and returned to England, where you have to see if this marriage of convenience turns to something real. However, that moment, the ‘now’ of the novel, only arrives past the middle point of the book.

It is clear that Putney did a lot of research for this book. She tries to be very respectful of a foreign culture. Kyle’s character is great, he is open to new experiences, he does not thing England is the most important thing in the world, he shows a genuine interest in everything different, so it makes sense that he falls in love with this woman whose ideas and personality draws from different environments.

I enjoyed this book. The characters are quite interesting, and their love story develops in a very natural way. The plot was not particularly intriguing, and I guess the author took delight in reconstructing that moment in Chinese-British relations, just a little time before de Opium Wars, one of the most shameful episodes of nineteenth-century British colonialism.

It was interesting, as a historical novel, but I think it detracted a little bit of interest in the romance.

TBR Challenge: ‘WICKED BEAUTIFUL, by J. T. Geissinger

The topic of this month is Random Pick

Published: 2015

Genre: Contemporary Romance

My Rating: four stars

Part of a Series: Wicked Games #1

So this month I can read whatever I want, can’t I? Well, this enemies to lovers story has been in my kindle for months, now it is a good moment for it.

Last year I discovered several contemporary authors whose books I just loved. Among them was J. T. Geissinger. She writes contemporary novels that are fast, sexy and with a little bit of humour. Therefore, I decided to read more of her books.

She writes trilogies, and this is the beginning of one called Wicked Games. I think it tries to be suspenseful, but I am not sure this first book is anything more than a contemporary.

So, we have Victoria Price, a woman that writes self-help books, do coaching and makes seminars with empowering speeches. It is amazing to see her working, even though I am one of those rather cynic about the self-help and coaching industry. They don’t seem to be much better than emotional snake-oil salesmen (or –women).

Anyway, she is a woman that has created herself, a new face, a new name, a new personality, even, in order to survive a very sad experience when she was a teenager. In addition, all her troubles came, as it looks, because of a man, Parker.

Fifteen years after her world was horribly turned upside down, she finds him again, in a restaurant, in NYC. She hates him with all her heart. He does not recognize her. Moreover, he feels a powerful attraction for her, so he starts flirting and showing his interest to this unknown woman. They are sexy and have an amazing chemistry, really. Something not very easy to write, and the author does it with flying colours.

Victoria has then the opportunity of revenge, and she embraces it. I am not very sure what her plans are. Make him love him and then reject him? Look for any dirty secrets of his to expose and then ruin him publicly? I am not very sure, and I think she makes 'evil plans' and change them along the way. A very sexy way.

Parker is a man who loved deeply in the past and thinks that wonderful teenager he loved so much is dead. You, as a reader, know that his lost love must be Victoria, but why does he think she is dead? When is he going to discover that Victoria is Isabel, his lost love? What happened in the past? What is going to happen when he discovers all her secrets? What will happen when she discovers that he is not really a monster but a loving and caring man with a lot of guilt and remorse in his heart for things that should have been different?

The first part of this book is so intriguing. She really hates him, a real Cruella de Vil. And that’s quite funny to read. And I love these stories of people changing her face because of good reasons and then going back in full revenge mode against those that made them wrong in the past. ‘Return to Eden’ comes to my mind.

After that point, everything goes crazy sauce. And it is even more entertaining, as long as you can suspend your disbelief, because everything is so excessive. There are a couple of violent scenes among them that I really did not like. Slaping someone on the face or spanking out of a sexual and consensual context are those things I hate in real life and I don’t like to see them in my romances.

A bonus in this book is that she puts Spanish words in the mouths of several characters, and Geissinger does it great! With no spelling mistake, which is so uncommon in a Romance writer that I could cry. She even makes this joke about the heroine’s best friend, who tries to speak Spanish and ends speaking horrible Spanglish, inventing words.

If you want to enjoy a funny, sexy, and extravagant book, I think is a good option. I will keep on reading J. T. Geissinger’s books. It looks like she writes just the kind of contemporary novels that make my day.

TBR Challenge: ‘RISE’, by Karina Bliss

The topic of this month is Contemporary

Published: Jan-2015

Genre: Contemporary Romance

My Rating: four stars

Part of a Series: A Rock Solid Romance #1

I had several contemporary novels in my kindle. I could choose any one so I said, a little rock’n’roll would be ok.

A hero whose job description is ‘sex, drugs and rock’n’roll’ does not look like a good bet for a relationship. However, Romancelandia has a great thing that makes you suspend your disbelief.

In Zander Freedman, you have you rock star who has burned the candle both ends. Drugs, sex, a great arrogance, charismatic and egotistical. He even was awful towards his brother. Therefore, his band broke apart and he ended alone. Nevertheless, the brand is his, so he recreates his group with younger musicians and now he is doing his Resurrection Tour.

He has a contract to write his autobiography. Two writers has already been fired when he contacts Elizabeth Winston, a New Zealander academic who has already written about you know, serious things, historical biographies of great people from the past. So, this is a joke, isn't it? It must be a joke. Nope. So, in the end, she accepts this job.

They are attracted to each other. She is a preacher’s daughter with a wild strike, but mainly she tries to be supportive and good for everybody. She is just a normal person, like you and me, but in a crazy environment, the Rock world, so when you see it through her eyes, it is as you or I would see it. It has that fish-out-of-water sense vibe that makes it quite interesting.

He is nearly forty and she thirty-five, so they have more or less the same age. She is kind of a moral compass for him. He tries to be better, but the most important thing, for him, is singing, the tour, the concerts…

He has a secret. His voice is in danger because of a polyp in his cords. He has to go to surgery, but to do that would endanger the future not only of his career but it would affect the rest of the people he works with. He keeps his secret. Nobody knows it, but in the end, it exacts a toll him.

This has been a very enjoyable novel. The idea of watching a band behind the scenes is quite attractive. Both Elizabeth and Zander are very interesting characters, with the head well over their shoulders. You see the natural and fluid way in which they meet, connect with each other, have sex and fall in love.

I adore everything from Down Under, it gives the novel a certain touch of reality. I don’t know why, but people from those countries (Australia or New Zealand) sounded more real to me that for instance your average American contemporary. It must be something cultural, I guess.

Karina Bliss used to write category novels. It looks like this is a spin-off of a ‘What the Librarian Did’ (Harlequin Super Romance – 1622), where Zander was the apparently irredeemable villain.

Well, in this book it looks like he is redeemed.

I enjoy this book. I am not sure if I will keep on reading more books written by this author. In a sense I liked this rock’n’roll contemporaries, but I have a this feeling that –I've already read this story before even before I opened the novel. Rock Kiss series, by Nalini Singh, was on my mind now and then, while reading this book. Therefore, although I enjoyed reading this book –a lot– I am not sure I am interested in more of the same.

TBR Challenge: ‘WILDE IN LOVE’, by Eloisa James

The topic of this month is Historical

Published: Nov-2017

Genre: historical

My Rating: two stars

Part of a Series: Wildes of Lindow Castle #2

Historical novels are one of my favourite genres. Therefore, I had several novels in my TBR pile.

I have already read three books written by Eloisa James. I rated with four stars both ‘Three Weeks With Lady X’ and ‘When Beauty Tamed the Beast’. ‘A duke of her own’ was a three-stars reading.

Therefore, I chose a book that it does not belong to one of my favourite authors, but it could be a nice reading.

The main male character is Lord Alaric Wilde, son of the Duke of Lindow. He is a very famous explorer. The books about his adventures all around the world are best-sellers. There is even a play about him that is a great success. So women and girls in England consider him a celebrity, have his portrait or prints about him at home.

When Alaric goes back to England, after years abroad, he is rather surprised to see his fame. In addition, he feels very uncomfortable. He did not want anything like that!

He goes to his family’s castle, Lindow Castle, for a party. There he meets Miss Willa Ffynche, a beautiful young woman who is the toast of the Season. She has many beaus, but has given her heart to none of them. She is an orphan, and quite a private person. She prefers reading in solitude, and talk to her best friend, Lavinia.

She is also one of the few female in the entire kingdom who has not read Alaric’s books or seen that awful play. Perhaps that is what attracts Alaric. She is witty, reserved, beautiful, not someone who will adore him but rather be a good friend. Moreover, he obviously lusts for her from the beginning.

It is rather soon in the book when Alaric makes up his mind about staying in England and marrying the perfect woman, Willa. However, she has other ideas, because although she also wants to marry, she does not want to be with a celebrity. She does not want her life to be in the newspapers.

The attraction is something both of them feel. Nevertheless, Willa has very clear ideas. It does not matter that Alaric is sexy, and cultivated, and very friendly, she could not live with his fame all around them. Of course, that does not prevent her from kissing him once and again, because he is a great kisser. That is the conflict, and it is clear even before the middle of the book –how is Alaric going to convince her that he is perfect for her, as he considers her his perfect match.

There is not much more in this book. The characters are nice, but nothing special. The argument, nearly non-existent. The setting, a very trite party in a Georgian mansion in the country. Yes, it is well written, but I have to recognize that this was quite a boring reading for me.

I just cannot believe this was one of the best books of the year 2017. I have read wonderful reviews. I thought there was something special in this book. However, it fell flat with me.

There are good things, like the dry humour of Lady Knowe, Alaric’s aunt, as well as the sexy scenes, which are wonderful, although when they came, I had already lost my interest in the story.

As the first book in a series, it also spent a lot of time on the page dedicated to other characters that were going to have their own story in the future. For instance, North, Alaric’s brother, and his reluctant fiancée; also, Lavinia, Willa’s friend, and Parth, a very rich man without a title, whose antagonism clearly shows you an enemies to lovers story.

It was a book like one of those written by Julia Quinn or Tessa Dare, other authors I just do not get. And I think that my problem with this book is the same as the books of Quinn and Dare. They try to be witty and funny, and I just do not get their sense of humour.

This is not the kind of historical book I enjoy. It sounded so silly in many moments…!

It is not that I prefer angsty or dramatic books. No, I can enjoy light and witty historicals, like those written by Georgette Heyer, or Loretta Chase, and some books of Jo Beverley have got that sense or enjoyment and lust for life and not taking oneself very seriously. This book is nothing like those.

Therefore, I guess I have to accept that this is one of those well beloved authors that I just cannot connect with. I have enjoyed some of her books, so it looks like she is a hit or miss for me. I do not pretend my opinion or my experience to be the only one because, as I have already told you, many people enjoyed this book. However, what I tell here is my experience, not anybody else’s.

I guess I will keep on reading Eloisa James’ books, but I’ll try not to have high expectations, because she does not write the kind of historical book that I really enjoy.

TBR Challenge: ‘I’M IN NO MOOD FOR LOVE’, by Rachel Gibson

Little Black Dress, 2006

The topic of this month is Backlist Glom (author with more than one book in your TBR)

Published: Oct-2006

Genre: contemporary

My Rating: three stars

Part of a Series: Writer Friends #2

I glom several authors, so it was not very difficult to find authors with more than one book in my TBR pile.

I have read mainly historical novels this last month. Therefore, I wanted something different. I chose this contemporary comedy of one of the few Gibson’s series that I had not started yet.

Rachel Gibson is one of my favourite authors. That is the reason why I have read nearly all of her books, but none belonging to this series. I think it is because they are not translated to Spanish, and I have read this writer mainly in my own language.

In the beginning of this book, we meet Clare Wingate in one of her worst days. It is the wedding day of one of her friends, and she is bridesmaid, but it is the day in which she found out that her fiancé is, in fact, gay, and she discovers this in an unmistakable way.

Therefore, she drinks a lot and founds herself the following day in a hotel room. She has spent the night with Sebastian Vaughan, a journalist that she has known all her life, as he was the gardener’s son in her mother’s house.

They are attracted to each other. Both of them are in their thirties and see no problem in having a friends-with-benefits relationship. Although Clare is a romantic one, just now she is not in the mood for love. So very-sexy-against-commitment Sebastian is perfect to have an affair with.

Of course, this is Romancelandia and sooner or later love is mixed in this kind of relationship.

It has been a light reading, I quite enjoyed it. Clare is a romance writer and some of the good moments comes from this fact. Gibson is great building sexual tension between the main characters, and this book is not an exception. The romantic part, the moment in which a sexual relationship turns into something else, the moment in which they find they are in love, is not so good, at least to my tastes. She creates so believable commitment phobic heroes that when they change and say ‘hey, I’m in love’ it happens very quickly, quite unexpectedly and I find it hard to believe.

TBR Challenge: ‘DEMON ANGEL’, by Meljean Brook

The topic of this month is Something Different (Unusual setting, sub genre you don’t read all the time, etc.)

Published: 2007

Genre: paranormal

My Rating: 3 stars

Part of a Series: The Guardians #1

As I do not usually read paranormal novels, I chose one book of this kind for this month’s challenge.

I loved the Iron Seas series; I wanted to try something else written by Brook. In addition, I have read many good reviews about this Guardian series. That is why I bought several books of this series a long time ago. However, I have not read any of them until this moment.

Why? Because I read the short story ‘Falling for Anthony’, (The Guardians #0.5) back in 2016 and gave it two stars. Therefore, these novels I had already bought went down my TBR pile.

Now it is the time to try it three years later. The world building is great. In this same Earth, there are magical creatures –guardians and demons, vampires and nosferatu, some good some evil. The book starts in England, in the Middle Ages, with Hugh as a virtuous knight. It tells you how he met Lilith, a she-demon, how she tempts him and what happens next for him to be transformed into a Guardian, a kind of immortal human/angel.

This new guardian and the she-demon meet repeatedly, kissing and hating each other, and trying –not very hard, indeed– to destroy one another, this century and the next until they have a terrible meeting in Seattle at the beginning of 1990s.

When they meet again in San Francisco in the 2000s, she is still a she-demon, working for the FBI. He is just human, a teacher in a university. One of his pupils disappears and another one is killed, and one way or the other he finds himself as a person of interest in those crimes.

What really happens is that part of the demons have allied themselves with the nosferatu, those terrible creatures, the worst of the worst, and both Lilith, and Hugh, and the Guardians, and some vampire to add diversity to the lot, want to stop them. That is why the meet again, have to act together, more or less, and, perhaps this time they could save each other.

What can I tell you?

The same old song –Paranormal is not my genre. If it is yours, I think you could easily love this book.

I liked the characters, it is wonderfully well written, an amazing first novel indeed and the author knows how to keep the unsolved sexual tension for hundreds of pages, unfulfilled desire oozes from the pages, really. Now and then a spark of very romantic words shone in the darkness of death and suffering.

There is a moment in which Lilith asks him why does he love her so easily, considering the things she has done.

“I wonder that you accept me so easily, knowing what I have been—what I am.

And he answers this way:

“Easily? It has taken eight centuries, a multitude of kisses bargained and stolen, both of us dead and brought back to life, one terribly translated manuscript and thousands of lies for me to accept you.” His voice was light, amused; but she felt the tension in his hands, saw the self-derision in his eyes. “I only wonder that it took me so long.”

Which, actually, sums their story up quite accurately.

Therefore, I could enjoy this book, more or less, thanks to the setting, the characters, and the way it was written.

Nevertheless, as I did not care about the paranormal part, I was not listening to it very carefully, so there were many things I just did not understand. More than once, I asked myself, why does he do this or why does she act that way? I just did not get it. Moreover, in the end, I did not care about what happened, as far as Hugh and Lilith had their happy conclusion, on page 500.

The sexy scenes, by the way, are wonderful, although with these magic creatures you are always wondering –what do they do with the wings, and the horns and the fangs and all those strange accessories to their anatomy. It gives you some answers, I think.

So as I said about Nalini Singh’s book I commented not so long ago, as paranormal is not my genre, I cannot say that this book was perfect for me. However, it was rather enjoyable, so I recommend it to any paranormal fan.

Shall I read more Guardians novels? I guess so. At least I have another two or three somewhere in my TBR pile, and even with my lacklustre enjoyment of this one, I see myself reading something more of that world, as the characters are so powerful and their sexual life quite –interesting.

TBR Challenge: ‘ANGELS’ BLOOD’, by Nalini Singh

The topic of this month is Favorite Trope

Published: 2009

Genre: paranormal / Urban fantasy

My Rating: 4 stars

Part of a Series: Guild Hunter #1

I have several favourite topics: amnesia, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, second chance at love.

Therefore, it was easy to find something in my humongous TBR pile that could fit into the theme. There it was, ‘Angels’ Blood’ by Nalini Singh, a book I bought because it was in the 2018 Top 100 of All About Romance.

Paranormal is not my genre. Nevertheless, suddenly I found out that I could not stop reading. I was enjoying the world building, the tension between Raphael and Elena, and two characters bigger than life that clashed one and again and you do not know if they will end up killing each other or fucking each other senseless.

The world building is quite interesting. It is set in NY, but in a world full of certain groups of magical creatures: some of them are immortals —angels, archangels and vampires—and the rest, just human.

The archangels are amazing, so powerful and handsome, they rule over nations. In addition, as they have lived for many centuries, they are wise but full of ennui; they just do not care about humans. Everyone fears them and admires them.

The vampires are ‘Made’, humans converted into vampires by the archangels. They will live forever but there is a prize —they have to be slaves to their angelical masters.

Sometimes, vampires run away from their masters: Here enters de Guild Hunters, humans than know how to search for these vampires gone wild.

The best hunter is Elena, a young woman that can detect vampires by smell.

One day the most powerful archangel in North America, Raphael, calls her. He is a handsome person, powerful, and —as he has lived so many centuries—, nothing surprises him or catches his attention.

That amazing body of Raphael, his muscles, his great wings, duly impresses Elena. Even those eyes, bluest than anything she has ever seen. She is attracted to him in spite of herself. Elena knows that, for archangels, humans are nothing more than toys, no more important than ants for people; they can torture and kill them without blinking or dedicating a second thought.

However, Raphael needs the skills of this vampire hunter. She will have to track not a vampire but an archangel gone rogue, evil, bloodthirsty.

She will undertake the mission, even knowing that the archangels would want to kill her at the end.

This novel follows the topic ‘enemies to lovers’, because Raphael and Elena, although attracted to each other, really clash from the beginning.

He despises humans. He accepts that Elena has to die in the end, because she knows too much. Moreover, she makes him weak.

Elena resists his efforts to control her. A real kick-ass, she will defend herself, even shooting if it is required to get him out of her mind. Raphael is not the only enemy she makes. In fact, so many people want to torture her, and maim her and kill her, and suck her blood that up to a certain point, she just says — “Join the queue”.

Despite being a paranormal novel, I enjoyed this book. I think it can be because the characters are very attractive. I am not surprised that the character of Elena Deveraux won both the annual poll in AAR for the Most Kickass Heroine and the RT Award for the best urban fantasy protagonist.

Her attitude is, more or less —

Are you going to kill me? OK, let’s go and do the job, don’t lose our time with stupid questions about how much you want to kill me. I could be a dead woman, but not yet.

Raphael is your prototypical cold and powerful hero, but in a sense is quite intriguing, he leaves the door open to things that perhaps can make him a little bit human.

There is great sexual tension all through the book although little sex on the page. Everybody acts like horny teens wanting to fuck everybody else. They talk about sex a lot, sometimes with crude words.

I have to recognize that what I was asking myself all time was —how do angels have sex? I mean with those big wings, where do you put them? Which position is the more appropriate...? Look at those wings! They are going to be in the way all the time.

Therefore, if you have ever asked yourself about the sex of the angels, perhaps this book can give you the answer.

(I’m not sure I was quite satisfied).

(I still have doubts).

As paranormal is not my genre, I cannot say that this book was perfect for me. However, it was so enjoyable that I wholeheartedly recommend it.

TBR Challenge: ‘HER PERFECT AFFAIR’, by Priscilla Oliveras

The topic of this month is Series (book that is part of a series)

Published: 2018

Genre: contemporary

My Rating: 3 stars

Part of a series: Matched to Perfection #2

I loved this book at the beginning, but then I lost interest in the story

Several bloggers considered this book among the best of last year. That is why I bought it.

I read the first of the series and it was quite a disappointment (here my review, in Spanish). However, I saw good reviews of this one and yes, it is better, but not an unforgettable novel.

At the beginning, it was wonderful. A ‘Friends to lovers’ story, one of my favourite topics. Rosa Fernandez is always the responsible one among her sisters. She is going to work as a librarian in a Catholic school. Therefore, you guess she is a little bit conservative.

Jeremy Taylor is a friend of her sister Yasmine. Nevertheless, in these past months, he has been closer to Rosa, and has helped her in these difficult times, after losing her father.

She’s got a crush on him. He finds her attractive. Therefore, it is only a matter of time that both of them stop pretending to be just friends and try something different.

The opportunity presents itself when they are together in Yasmine’s wedding. They talk; they dance and, in the end, spend the night together in Rosa’s hotel room.

The morning after is a little bit awkward for both of them. However, things get complicated when Rosa discovers that she is pregnant. She tells Jeremy, he offers marriage, but she says no. It is not a good reason to get married. Nevertheless, he wants to be part of her life. When she has a pregnancy sickness that is awful because she is always very tired, he helps her.

The setting is the best thing of this book. You really feel like you are in Chicago, and see certain differences between living in the suburbs and the city. Moreover, I am so glad to see Puerto Rican characters! A rich culture shows very human relationships. Because, in reality, you have family and friends, whereas in Romancelandia our heroes and heroines many times look like they are isolated plants, not related to anybody. Their social and spiritual life sound so poor…! And here, in this book, you find a rich tapestry of relationships, a family, friends, a community, That’s great. No, really. Awesome. Closer to the reality I live in than the majority of romance novels I read. 

The problem for me was the plot. The rest of the books is basically, Rosa feeling awful and Jeremy trying to help. Neither of them confesses his/her true feelings to the other. It could have been something great —‘Hey, I really like you, I guess if we are together more time we could really be a couple. Let’s try’.

However, no, they do not do that.

I just did not get it. The reason why Rosa feels guilty about her mother’s death was ridiculous. The problems that Jeremy had with his family sounded utterly juvenile. Perhaps that was the point: common people complicating their lives and their relationships for flimsy reasons. Because we humans sometimes do that, make simple things difficult just because we do not see straight.

So it was wonderful at the beginning, I kept on reading really enjoying the atmosphere, the people, how Jeremy finds a family and a community that embraces him —but more or less at 75 % of the book I started skimming, because it was quite boring.

It did not help that, although the majority of Spanish words in the book were well written and expressed the feelings of the characters, sometimes there were spelling problems, or question marks and accents that should have been there and I missed them.

Anyway, it started as a 5 or 4-star novel and it ended like a 2-star. That was my experience. In the end, my rating lies somewhere in the middle, 3-stars.

Frankly, I do not think I’ll try the third instalment in the series.

TBR Challenge: ‘NICE GIRLS DON'T RIDE’, by Roni Loren

The topic of this month is We Love Short Shorts! (shorter reads)

Published: 2015

Genre: NA

My Rating: 4 stars

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

Yes, I am doing this TBR Challenge in 2019, again. January is usually dedicated to short stories. Therefore, I looked for the shortest thing in the latest additions to my kindle. So, there it was, Nice Girls Don’t Ride, less than 100 pages written by Roni Loren.

There was something than happened to me in 2018. I discovered wonderful contemporary authors than were new-to-me. First, Cara McKenna, then Talia Hibbert, followed by J.T. Gessinger, and last but not least, Roni Loren.

I know they have been there for years, but I had never read anything by them. I loved books from these four writers, and in my OC way of reading, I glommed as much of their backlist I could. Hence –‘Nice Girls Don’t Ride’ was in my kindle.

I did not even know that it won the RITA® Award for Best Romance Novella.

Natalie Bourne is going to have dinner with her boyfriend in a fancy restaurant. She has dressed to kill and with sexy underwear. However, there are a couple of problems. First, her car breaks down and then, her boyfriend does not answer the phone.

Enters Monroe Hawkins. Sexy stranger that gives her a ride towards an auto repair shop. Of course, he is tall, all muscle and tattoos and, in addition, his real secret power is how to cook.

In a magical night, she discovers many things about her life and about herself. Theirs is one of those lust-at-first-sight stories with two people that look very different on the outside but that connect immediately. Sex, when it comes, is quite steamy.

This story is told in alternate first person narrative, mainly from Natalie’s point of view, but Monroe tells some chapters and I really like how the author did his voice. This kind of narrative is a little bit tricky. I do not usually like it. Nevertheless, when the characters are interesting, I can enjoy them. And this was the case, as both Natalie and Monroe were sexy and funny.

It’s kind of difficult to create a character as Monroe, because he has to be sexy, show his interest in Natalie’s body and mind without being an asshole, cocky but not aggressive, sure of himself and not a douchebag. Moreover, you have to accomplish that in less than 100 pages. A beta hero with muscles and tattoos. Roni Loren does this with flying colours.

And it was told in such a way that I just could not put down my kindle until it was over. You could say that everything was a little rushed, because in the same night Natalie leaves her boyfriend and is attached to someone else. This time? I really did not care.

It could be a nice three-star novella. I have added an extra star in its grading for two reasons. First, that ‘unputdonwable’ quality and, secondly, because of the setting. I could not say that Austin, Texas, is an exotic place, and I guess it is not as full of History and art like for instance Rome or Tokyo or Cairo BUT the thing about setting is not that you chose an exceptionally interesting place and show it to the world.

No. The thing about setting is that you create a vivid and real image of a place in a book, so you really feel that you are walking in those streets –here, it is more like riding on a bike, but you understand what I mean, don’t you? You eat the food of that place, you hear and smell and live some hours there.

Roni Loren does that with Austin. I have never been to this place. Therefore, I do not know if it is accurate or not. Anyway, you have this feeling that Austin could be that way.

Furthermore, I think the author does the trick because she knows what she is talking about. There is a benefit when you set your story in a place familiar to you. Without effort, reality enters into your work.

To sum it up –I really liked this Loren’s novella and I will keep on reading more of her books in this 2019.