Dangerous Kisses

Dangerous Kisses A Guild of Hybrids Novel by Alice Lake

Publisher: Alice Lake

February 2016

Pages: 236

Historical Romance

The Guild of Hybrids is a secret society that is dedicated to helping women in need and Miss Lavinia Halls is one of the members. Lavinia has a new terrified client and Lavinia is determined to make her client’s fiancé pay for his sins. She resolves to bring her assignment to a quick conclusion when she can’t take her eyes of the man’s kissable lips.

Eric Yorke, Viscount Mathieson wishes for nothing more than to distance himself from his treacherous fiancée. He soon finds himself in the clutches of the unconventional Miss Halls in his quest for distance. The woman is annoyingly persistent and also delectable and she seems intent on ruining his life no matter how hard he tries to thwart her attempts.

His determination to foil her plans is a match for her efforts to seek and destroy. Their struggles with each other soon collide in a scandal of enormous proportions. They seem to be fated together and they must now overcome danger, heartbreak, and ruin. Now they have to see if they will be able to survive their past and if their future together is doomed.

This is a very different historical book that proves to be very interesting and intriguing. It will pull readers into the book and will have them wanting to read the next book in the series. The story is character driven and proves to be a book that is very hard to put down once the reader starts it. It will be interesting to see where the next book goes and what happens in it. This is definitely an author to check out. The story also adds some humor to it and makes it fun to see what will happen next.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

Nobody

Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Publisher: Edmont

January 2013

ISBN: 978-1-60684-321-5

Pages: 393

Contemporary, Young Adult

The people you don’t see are the most dangerous ones in the world.

Nobodies are the people that are ignored, unloved and practically invisible in every way. The aren’t noticed. No one seems to care about them. They are forgotten as soon as you turn away and they exist under the radar. No one sees them coming or leaving.

That is why they make the perfect assassins.

Nix is seventeen-years-old and he is very good at his job. He doesn’t ask questions when the organization he works for sends him after a teenage girl named Claire.

Claire has led a normal life of being overlooked for sixteen years. She doesn’t have any friends and her parents are absent. She has no idea why anyone would want her dead or what she even is. When Nix attempts to carry out his mission she finds out more than she imagined. They are both caught up in a conspiracy of murder, cover-ups, and betrayal.

Nix is a killer and Claire is his target. Everything changes though when he sets eyes on her. Because they are only ones that can truly see each other. And that makes two Nobodies twice as dangerous as one.

This is a fun and interesting book of what-ifs.  The characters bring the story to life and with all the twists and turns this book takes it manages to keep the reader guessing just what is going on and what will happen next. The pace is so fast that it tends to read more like a short story rather than the full-length book it really is. It will also have readers wanting to read other books by this author.

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH

Illuminae

Illuminae The Illuminae Files_01 by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Publisher: Knopf

October 2015

ISBN: 978-0-553-49911-7

Pages: 599

Futuristic, Sci-fi, Young Adult

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra this morning was the hardest thing she’d have to do. Instead this afternoon her planet was invaded.

In the year of 2575, two megacorporations that are rivals are warring over a planet that’s little more than a speck on the edge of the universe. Kady and Ezra are barely talking to each other and they are dealing with enemy fire raining down on them and are being forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.

Their problems are just starting, though. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results. If that wasn’t bad enough nobody in charge is telling anyone what is really going on and the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy. Kady soon realizes that the only person that can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she would never speak to again as she hacks into a web of data looking for the truth.

This is a book that readers will race to finish to find out just what is going on and how things will turn out for Kady and Ezra. Knowing this is the beginning of a trilogy will thrill readers but also have them upset to find out they need to wait for the next book to come out. Told in a very unique and original way the story pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go even after they finish the book. It will be very interesting to see how the next two books read.  The characters are very interesting and they move the story along at a lightning fast pace. Anyone that enjoys space and sci-fi will love this book and even those that don’t will fall in love with this book.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

Devil in Disguise

Devil in Disguise Bad Things Book 1 by Cynthia Eden

Publisher: Cynthia Eden

June 2016

Pages: 226

Contemporary Paranormal Romance

Florida Keys

Luke Thorne love having a hell of a good time. He is the ruler of every dark creature that walks the earth. So he certainly has more than a bit of a bad side. He isn’t the type to lose his heart mostly because he doesn’t have one and he lives for danger. Then she walks into his life.

Mina James is perfect temptation that is seduction in the flesh that the devil himself couldn’t pass up. Luke realizes too late that he’s let a real siren into his life.  A woman that is determined to use his dark powers to free herself from hidden enemies. Luke isn’t the type of man to be used which means he really should just walk away from her but there is something about Mina that draws him close instead.

He soon realizes that she isn’t who she appears to be. She isn’t dark and cold but burning red hot. Mina is fighting for her life and the Lord of the Dark finds himself in the most unlikely of roles, that of hero. Luke won’t let Mina’s enemies destroy her. He will fight heaven and hell to keep her. Though in the end the secrets they both have just might rip apart a love that should never have been.

This is the start of another amazing series by an author that has proven time and again of being able to write stories with a great deal of heart and soul in them. The characters keep the reader on their toes as they try to figure out just who each one truly is. If the other books in the series live up to this book it is going to prove to be a series to keep and read over and over again.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

The Wrath & The Dawn

The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Publisher: Putnam

May 2015

ISBN: 978-0-399-17161-1

Pages: 395

Young Adult, Romance

Each dawn brings heartache to a new family in a land that is ruled by a murderous boy-king. Khalid is a monster and he is also the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan. Each night he takes a new bride and each morning a silk cord is wrapped around her throat. Sixteen-year-old Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride when her dearest friend falls victim to Khalid. Shahrzad is determined to stay alive but to also end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.

Shahrzad beguiles Khalid night after night, weaving stories that enchant and ensures her survival though she is very aware each dawn could be her last. Something she never saw or expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’s imagined him to be. This particular monster is also a boy with a tormented heart. Shahrzad incredibly finds herself falling in love. It can’t be possible. It is an unforgivable betrayal. She is determined to uncover whatever secrets lurk in this palace of marble and stone and despite her love she is ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he has stolen. Is it possible for their love to survive this world of stories and secrets?

This is a great story that takes the reader on a wonderful ride. It has some great twists and turns. It will also have readers wanting to and reaching for the sequel to this book. While it is inspired by A Thousand and One Nights this one makes it a story that stands on its own very well. The characters are complex and engrossing and make for a very rich complex story that will have readers falling in love with it.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

The Masked Truth

The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

October 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-68475-0

Pages: 340

Contemporary Young Adult Suspense, Romantic Elements

Riley Vasquez was babysitting when the couple she was working for was brutally murdered and now she is haunted by that fact.

Max Cross has been given a life-altering diagnosis that he suffers under the shadow of and he doesn’t dare reveal any of it.

Neither of them wants to spend a weekend away at therapy camp with five other teens with “issues.” Unfortunately that is exactly where they are when three masked men burst in and take the group hostage.

They are in a building with no windows and the exits are sealed shut. They don’t have their phones. And their captors are on a killing spree.

Riley and Max know they will be next if they can’t get out. They also discover that even when they escape it doesn’t equal freedom.

This is a story that starts out fast and never lets up on the pace.  It takes some fantastic twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. Just as they think they have it figured out something else is thrown into the mix that will have readers guessing all over again as to what exactly is going on. This is an amazing book that anyone that enjoys suspense should definitely read.  This is a non-stop roller coaster ride that will stay with the reader long after they are done with the book.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

Conversion

Conversion by Katherine Howe

Publisher: Putnam

July 2014

ISBN: 978-0-399-16777-5

Pages: 418

Contemporary Young Adult Suspense 

Danvers, Massachusetts

At St. Joan’s Academy it is senior year and the school is a pressure cooker. Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together though dealing with everything from the battle for valedictorian, college applications and deciphering boys’ texts. Until they are unable to do so.

Clara Rutherford who is the school’s queen bee suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle class and while she is the first she most definitely isn’t the last. The mystery illness quickly spreads to others first through her closest clique of friends and then other students and symptoms follow: hair loss, seizures and violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s is suddenly buzzing with rumors and then the rumors blossoms into full-blown panic.

Now the media is descending on Danvers, Massachusetts. Everyone is scrambling to find something or someone to blame. Is it stress? Pollution? The girls faking? While doing some extra credit reading of The Crucible, Colleen seems to be the only one to realize that Danvers was once Salem Village. Where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago.

This book takes the story of true events and turns it into an amazing story that is very hard to put down once the reader starts it.  The reader will want to find out just what is happening in Danvers and they won’t be disappointed in the journey that the story takes them on. It is also a story that will stay with them long after the last page is read. This is a must read for anyone that enjoys suspense stories.  It will keep the reader guessing until the very end.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

Allegiances

Allegiances a Battling McGuire Boys Book by Cynthia Eden

Publisher: Harlequin

May 2016

ISBN: 978-0-373-69903-2

Pages: 218

Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Texas

Sullivan “Sully” McGuire is a private investigator that has a reputation for danger. He has spent most of his life tracking the men who murdered his parents. There has only been one woman that has seen past Sully’s predatory pursuit and that is the wife he abandoned years ago.

Celia James returns with a target on her back. If Sully is going to save Celia than he is going to have to resurrect old demons. Dormant desires and new dangers bring Sully and Celia close and their enemies even closer.

This is an amazing conclusion to a fantastic series though readers will be sad to have this series come to an end they won’t be disappointed in the way it wraps things up. The action is none stop and makes this a very fast read and a hard book to put down. Readers will want to see how the overall story arc ends. This series and specifically this book takes some great twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing until the very end. This is a must read for those that love romantic suspense.

I give this one 5 red roses

LRH

A Convenient Arrangement

A Convenient Arrangement An Eligible Billionaires book by Maggie Marr

Publisher: NLA Digital LLC

March 2016

ISBN: 978-1-62051-226-5

Pages: 198

Contemporary Romance

New York

Leo Travati is the ultimate playboy who is also a billionaire tech genius. He also has a bad boy persona. He is the poster boy for the bachelor life. He solidifies his rank of #1 most eligible bachelor with the launch of his new app The Convenient Arrangement and has no plans to change that status.

Gwen Fleming is very aware that Leo has no intention of ever changing his single status. That doesn’t stop her from fantasizing though. After just one electrifying touch the passion that burns between them ignites into blazing need. Neither Gwen nor Leo are sure if they are building something real or convenient. The question is if this is an arrangement that can last forever.

This is a great book that can be read on its own but would be much better read with the other books first. It pulls the reader in right from the very beginning and doesn’t ease up until the very last page. It will also have readers hoping for more in this series. It proves to be a quick read that doesn’t miss a thing. This is definitely a book to check out.

I give this one 4 red roses

LRH