Christmas Awards 2011

Friday 28 January 2011

Ascension

Ascension by Caris Roane



Publisher: St. Martin’s Press



January 2011



ISBN: 978-0-312-53371-7



Pages: 469





Modern Day Phoenix, AZ mortal earth and second earth





Alison Wells has always been different from her friends and family and has never been able to understand why. Alison has also tried to hide her abilities so as to not stand out so much. She has also found out the hard way that she can never be with a man without putting his life in danger. Just when she thinks that her life can’t get any stranger she see a man with wings that she is finding that she is completely unable to resist. Even when he tells her that he wants her blood and that she belongs to him. Now she is about to find out about another world and only time will tell if she is going to be able to deal with some truths she was completely unprepared for.



Kerrick is a vampire and a warrior. He has been unwilling to accept a woman’s love for the past two hundred years. He made a vow that he has had no intention of breaking but that was before he met Alison. He is a Guardian of Ascension and his job is to protect innocents from the death vamps that he has spent centuries fighting. His newest assignment is to protect Alison from the death vamps that are determined to take Alison’s blood and power.



Now Kerrick is having to fight to keep Alison alive but he is now also having to fight his attraction for her. He fears that by giving into that attraction he won’t be able to keep her alive. Kerrick is going to have to teach Alison how to stay alive and help him to keep safe if she has any chance of surviving the death vamps.









This is a really great story with a really different take on vampires. This is one book that is sure to be a hit with readers that love paranormals. Readers that enjoy J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series are sure to love this one too. The world building in this one is fantastic and very realistic and a lot of fun to read about. I know after reading this book I am eagerly looking forward to the next one in the series.







I give this one 5 red roses

The Naughty List

The Naughty List – Anthology



Publisher: Brava



October 2010



ISBN: 978-0-7582-5310-1



Pages: 325





Naughty but Nice by Donna Kauffman



Thomas Griffin Gallagher more commonly known as Griffin has come to the same town of Hamilton to make some changes hopefully for the better. Griffin has been busy building his empire and hasn’t had too much time for his personal life and up until now no interesting in anything but casual. That looks like it about to change. Griffin has found someone that he is starting to want something a lot more than casual but will his plans for the town ruin his chance for happiness before it even has a chance to start?



Melody Duncastle was once a lawyer but she got tired of the long hours and no life but work. She wanted to change that and has but now her life just might end up being something she has no interest in. Melody is very happy with her bakery and not at all happy with what she feels Griffin is about to do to her small town. Or is he? She just might be in for a surprise providing she is willing to give Griffin a chance.



The season of miracles is upon them and this year Griffin and Melody just might get a Christmas gift that they didn’t know they wanted let alone needed. Will they be able to have a happy ending or will Griffin’s empire plans destroy what just might be the best thing to ever happen to either of them.





All I Want for Christmas by Cynthia Eden



Christie Tate has always been a good girl who has a real knack for inventing great toys at her family’s toy company. Things are not going the way she had hoped this year in her personal life and she thinks it is time to shake things up. First she is going to have to grab her courage and tell Santa just what a bad girl she wants to be this year.



Jonas Kirk is usually a cop but this year he is doing the Tate family a favor since he has known them for years by dressing up as Santa. The last thing he expected was for Christie to show him her bad girl side but he isn’t about to let her down when she tells him her Christmas wish.



Christie has always had a crush on Jonas but she thought she would be able to have a little no-strings fun with him. Now she is wondering how to hang on to the one man she has always wanted when he has the reputation for being a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” man. If she wants the best Christmas of her life she is going to have to come up with a plan and quickly if she has any hope of keeping Jonas.





Tattoos and Mistletoe by Susan Fox



Charlie Coltrane left Whistler, British Columbia as soon as she was able with the intention of never returning as it had memories that she would have rather forgotten and left in the past. Only now that her aunt has left her a B&B she has no choice but to return if for no other reason than to see if she can sell it fast after the renovation that her aunt started are finished. One way to take care of that is to make sure that the renovator understands that it needs to be done as quickly as possible.



LJ – Lester Jacoby – had a thing for Charlie when they were younger and then she left town. LJ was nerdy growing up but now he is the town’s hottest bachelor. He realizes that this just might be his one chance to show Charlie that if she is willing to give him a chance that they just might be able to have something very special together. First though LJ is going to have to break through the wall Charlie has built up over the years and he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to convince her to stay now that she is bad.



Charlie is going to have to decide if she is going to let the past destroy her chance to have a happy future or if the past just is too hard to deal with and let the best thing to happen to her disappear. Maybe this Christmas season is the time to start on building some happy memories.





This is a great anthology that is sure to get the read in the mood for the season. The stories are by some wonderful authors that know how to tug on the reader’s heart strings. This is one book that is worth reading and is sure to become a favorite of many readers. It is also one that readers will want to read at any time of the year and not just at Christmas time. All three stories bring their own uniqueness to make this one a really great read.





I give this one 5 red roses

Tiger Eye

Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu



Publisher: Love Spell



March 2005 – Reissue December 2010



ISBN: 0-505-52626-3



Pages: 342







Dela Reese never expected a seven-foot warrior to magically appear in her Beijing hotel room but it seems that is going to be the least of her problems. Now she is going to have to figure out how to get this warrior home to the states so that she can get the help of her family and friends and ultimately find the key to freeing Hari once and for all.



Hari has been enslaved for millennia and when he first sets eyes on Dela he figures she is just another in a long line of owners that have used and abused him throughout the years. What he never expected was for someone to see him for himself and not for what he could do for them. Now it seems that he has found someone that is completely different from all the others, a mistress that if he is willing to trust in can help him reclaim all that he has lost. Where before he savaged he now has the chance to protect and most of all instead of all the hate he has faced through the years a chance at a love stronger than anything he has ever know before and even dared to hope to experience.



It is going to be a race against time to find out who is after them and which one their enemies are actually chasing. They will need all the help they can get to make sure that their enemies don’t succeed in killing them. If Dela and Hari survive they just might be able to have the love of a life time and the happiness neither one ever thought to find.







This is a really good story with a little bit of everything to make readers of any type of paranormal happy. This is wonderfully written book that has a well rounded world built that transports the reader to the place the characters are at throughout the book. The secondary enrich the book so that you hate to get to the last page. The ride that this story takes the reader on is well worth taking and the reader will not be disappointed in the least.





I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

Love is a Four-Legged Word

Love is a Four-Legged Word by Kandy Shepherd



Publisher: Berkley Sensation



July 2009



ISBN: 978-0-425-22784-8



Pages: 328







Modern Day, San Francisco





Tom O’Brien is very close to realizing his dream of becoming a partner in one of the biggest law firms in San Francisco. Though to finally get his dream he has to make sure his latest client doesn’t destroy it all before it is his. Brutus is not the best of clients. He is spoiled, craves attention and drools. The only upside to all this is the fact that Brutus is a dog. Now Tom just has to figure out the truth about Brutus’s new guardian and if she is what she appears to be. Tom is finding out that Brutus’s eccentric owner thought of Maddy as his surrogate granddaughter and she also thought of him has the grandfather she didn’t have. Tom is going to have to reassess his opinion of her and quickly if he hopes to have any chance with Maddy.



Madeline Cartwright, known to her friends as Maddy is determined to keep her promise to Brutus’s owner when he asked her to take care of Brutus if anything should happen to him. What she never knew was that Brutus’s former owner was a multimillionaire and now Brutus has inherited that money.



Now Tom is checking out this professional chef to see what her motives are concerning Brutus and making sure that both Maddy and Brutus stay happy. If he can accomplish that then he will have his partnership. What he doesn’t expect is having to fight his attraction for Maddy or have his life turned upside down now that both Maddy and Brutus is in it. Now he is having to rethink the type of partnership he really wants and if he has a chance to have that with Maddy.







This is a wonderfully light-hearted romance that is sure to be a hit with any animal lover. The dog plays as big a part in the book as the two main characters and adds a lot of humor to the book. This is one book not to miss. This will have the reader laughing out loud at the antics of Brutus and will have the reader so emotionally involved in this story that they will hate to see it end.







I give this one 5 red roses