DESPERATE CHOICES by Kathy Ivan

Publisher: Carina Press
Date published: 27 September 2010
ISBN: 9781426890611
ASIN: B0041KLBG2
Paranormal, romantic suspense
E-book
Reviewed by Rebecca
Obtained via Publisher


Theresa has a gift, if you want to call it that. After a horrible event as a teen, she developed psychometry, the ability to pull psychic visions from objects. Using her gift leaves her drained and aching emotionally for days. Then Max asks her to help him find his missing godson. Can she afford to bare her soul and her gift for the sexy, skeptical PI?

Max has known Theresa for years. She is his brother’s best friend and he doesn’t know how to take their close relationship. Are they more than just very close friends? He wished he knew, but he’s willing to set his personal feelings for the sultry psychic aside if it means finding Jeremy alive before it’s too late. Or so he tells himself.

This is a nice read. It’s a contemporary romantic suspense set in New Orleans in November. It has a definite dark undertone, which anyone who reads my reviews knows is one of my favorite types of book. All of the characters are easy to identify with and the central characters have great chemistry. The pace does bog down a bit with heavy use of adverbs, adjectives, and clichés as well as a few editing and formatting errors. No spelling errors or plot holes, though, so it moves along ok despite the pacing issues. The story was compelling enough that I wasn’t tempted to stop reading.

The plot was awesome! The antagonist was also a victim of sorts and it was hard not to feel sorry for him even though he brought much of the pain on himself and hurt a lot of people in the process. There were twists and turns so carefully woven in that I didn’t see them coming but at the same time I never got the feeling that something didn’t “fit” about them. I want so badly to tell all, but if I go into any real detail, it would fall under the heading of a spoiler and that’s not the kind of review I like to write. A little more polishing would have made all the difference to this book.

I’m giving DESPIRATE CHOICES 3 hearts. You might want to have a box of tissues handy when you read this story. This is a good “I’m feeling moody” kind of book.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

Un Corazón Amante by Leiland Dale

Publisher: Silver Publishing
Date published: September 2010
ISBN: 978-1-920468-69-9
Genre: gay contemporary western paranormal
ebook
Reviewed by Rebecca
Obtained via Publisher


CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE! Jasper ha llegado a la Estancia Corazón para encontrar a su hermano, Greg, después de siete años de diferencia. Él es la esperanza de reavivar la estrecha relación que había tenido con Greg antes de que su padre les destrozo con la mentira. No esperaba encontrar el dueño del rancho a ser tan intrigante, aunque.

Cuando Seth se encuentra con su capataz y hermano menor del mejor amigo, él se encuentra la lucha contra el impulso de tirar una cana al aire. Paso mucho tiempo la construcción de este refugio para demás porque no hay refugio para como tal. ¿Se atreve a arríes garlo todo la posibilidad del amor?

En primer lugar, se trata de un romance de paranormal. Este hecho no se desprende de la propaganda cubierta. Es una muy leve paranormal, sin embargo, y no te metas en cosa profundas turbias oscuro. También es un conjunto moderno occidental de Montana. Todo es de hombre a hombre con algunas escenas en caliente- no hay sexo extremo, aunque hay algunos socios múltiples desde el primo. Yo no creo que haya nada pueda ofender a un firme incluso heterosexuales. Es bien escrito y hecho muy magistralmente.

El libro que agarra con ambas monos y no te guelte. En la segunda página, me sentí atraído ya a preocuparse por los personajes principales. No hay ninguna principal antagonista. En lugar, de Seth y la lucha Jasper con sus propias cicatrices internas para aprender a confiar unos en otros. Mientras Jasper es lindo, me encontré Seth ser muy convincente. Solo puedo imaginar los horrores que el autor hace alusión en sé pasado. Hizo esta historia, em mi opinión. UN CORAZON AMANTE es un torque fresco a un género establecido y realmente me gusta como el autor lo hizo.

Doy UN CORAZON AMANTE cinco corazones. Este es un cuento muy romántico de dos almas maltraídas encontrar el amor y la curación de uno al otro. Simplemente me dejo sin aliento. No podía poner este libro a un lado hasta que lo haya terminado. Definitivamente voy a estar leyendo esta historia una y otra vez.
(En Ingles)

Jasper has come to the Heart Ranch to find his brother, Greg, after seven years apart. He is hoping to rekindle the close relationship he had with Greg before their father tore them apart with lies. He wasn’t expecting to find the ranch owner so intriguing, though.

When Seth meets his foreman and best friend’s little brother, he finds himself fighting the urge to throw caution to the wind. He spent a lot of time building this refuge for others because there is no refuge for one such as him. Dare he risk it all for the chance of love?

First off, this is a paranormal romance. That fact isn’t apparent from the cover blurb. It’s pretty mild, though, and doesn’t get into any deep, dark murky stuff. It’s also a modern western set in Montana. It is male on male with some spicy scenes- no extreme sex, though there is some multiple partners at the beginning. I don’t think there’s anything that might offend a staunch heterosexual, though. It’s well written and tastefully done.

This book grabbed me with both hands and didn’t let go. By the second page, I was already drawn into caring about the main characters. There is no primary antagonist. Rather, Seth and Jasper struggle with their own internal scarring in learning to trust each other. While Jasper is sweet, I found Seth very compelling. I can only imagine the horrors the author hunted at in his past. He made this story, in my opinion. UN CORAZON AMANTE is a fresh spin on an established genre and I really liked how the author did it.

I’m giving UN CORAZON AMANTE five hearts. This is a very romantic tale of two battered souls finding love and healing each other. It simply took my breath away. I could not put this book down until I’d finished it. I will definitely be reading this story again and again.

HOLLYWOOD COWBOY by Ellen Starr

Publisher: Siren Publishing
Date published: Jan 2010
ISBN: 1-60601-720-9
ASIN: B0039WVZH8
Genre: erotic, contemporary, western
ebook
Reviewed by Rebecca
Obtained via: publisher


Molly is a small town sheriff. She loves her job most days, but right now she has a movie being filmed in her berg. Between the groupies, the paparazzi, and the annoying big name actor starring in the movie, she’s reconsidering. The fact that Alex is an old flame who did her wrong back when he lived in Cold Creek isn’t helping matters.

Alex was glad the production company decided to film in his old home town. When they also decide to go to the cops after a series of innocuous white envelopes show up, he wasn’t nearly as thrilled. At least until he saw who the town sheriff was. Together with his lover, Dallas, Alex woos the shy sheriff to do a little hands-on guarding. It was looking like happily ever after might be just around the corner for all three. Until the stalker upped the ante after being ignored.

I was drawn to this book by the cover blurbs. A threesome trying to figure out how they fit together romantically while trying to keep one step ahead of a psycho stalker out for blood, looked like a rollicking good time. While all of that is in the book, I found myself struggling to care much about any of the characters. There just wasn’t much charisma to them. Had my attention been hooked by them, I might not have gotten bored enough to notice the few, slight inconsistencies. For instance, if this is a small town, why did they have two unrelated sniper attacks on back-to-back days? L.A. doesn’t see that kind of sniper action. Also, people who get shot don’t usually have wild monkey marathon sex a few hours later. That this exact thing happened to more than one main character in separate incidents in the span of a 98 page book is not only not believable, it borders on silly. I kept wanting to scream “duck, you morons!”

My real beef with this book, though, was entirely personal preference. There are two kinds of erotic romance: those that have a strong plot with personal relationships that melt glass and those where melting glass is the primary focus and the plot is secondary. HOLLYWOOD COWBOY is one of the latter. The plot felt forced, like it was tucked in between sex scenes. I just don’t get into this type of book. Perhaps if there had been a little more attention to developing the characters into people I, as a reader, might have felt compelled to root for and it might have been a better read.

I gave HOLLYWOOD COWBOY two stars. It’s readable from start to finish and relatively free of errors, but with a limp plot and bland characters, it’s not something I’d ever read again.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

BEYOND FEARLESS: BEYOND, BOOK 2 by Rebecca York

Publisher : Berkely Sensation
Date published December 2007
ISBN 978-0-425-21866-2
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Paperback
Reviewed by Valerie





Anna Ridgeway has had a gift all her life. She can touch things and knows all about the owner. She uses this gift to make her living doing psychic reading shows. But, she’s been having feelings of impending doom and has run away to the Caribbean island of Grand Fernandino to be safe. She’s started having dreams and visions of a man, and when she’s with him, another presence, a presence of evil invades her dreams, trying to separate them. Then she meets Zachary Robinson, a modern day treasure hunter. When they touch, their physical and psychic bond astounds them. They share a common past and an undeniable passion for each other. Danger is following them however as a sinister figure from long ago doesn’t want their love to survive. There is also another danger, a very present danger, who wants Anna for his own, to complete his own wicked plan. Can they survive the dangers ahead, or will unexpected help arrive in time?

Rebecca York has penned an intriguing and suspense filled story that will have the reader frantically turning the pages to find out what will happen next. She gives her readers leap-off-the-pages characters and a chilling plot. The reader will be thrilled and hanging onto every word as the story unfolds. This is a real page turner and Rebecca York cleverly weaves a story that will mesmerize and chill. This is also a sensual story with love scenes that are tender yet erotic. The sexual tension is high and while the reader will get chills from the suspense, the romance will deliver a different kind of thrill. I enjoyed this story a lot and had a very hard time putting this book down when I had too. It’s a book to be savored in one sitting and definitely will be a re-read. I noticed that there is another title available, BEYOND CONTROL. This is going on my wish list right away!