Christmas Awards 2011

Saturday 28 June 2008

The Vanishing Viscountess


Diane Gaston. The Vanishing Viscountess. Mills & Boon Historical
100th birthday edition with bonus story and other features. ISBN 978-0-263-86236-2 /£3.69 604 pages of reading.

In their 100th year Mills and Boon are giving their readers excellent value in double books. The Vanishing Viscountess is coupled with the Mysterious Miss M and makes fascinating reading.

Marlena is the Vanishing Viscountess. Accused of murdering her husband, she escapes to be her friend’s governess in Ireland but is discovered. When the Bow Street Runner captures her and tries to take her back to London they are caught in a storm. It is women and children into the boats first but Marlena is thrust aside as the Runner takes her place.

Tanner – Adam, Marquess of Tannerton - sees the cowardly act and decides to take a hand in things. He saves her life. They have first to escape from wreckers and then a series of men determined to find Marlena and either kill her or deliver her up to the law. This is an ‘escaping’ novel and an excellent example of this well loved theme. The pair manages to evade their pursuers but can they find love and happiness or will it end in despair?

You are assured of a happy ending because this is a Mills and Boon. However, the skill of the author keeps you on the edge of your seat as they follow their tortuous journey to a very satisfactory ending. I like the way this clever author plays out her stories and will undoubtedly read her again.

I give this book five red roses. Morna

Eleven Hour Fall


Robert Appleton/Eleven Hour Fall/Eternal Press/ebook/54 pages



Kate is with a team looking for important minerals on a new planet called Kractos. She is in love with one of the other team members, but Remington doesn't know it - though he seems interested. While exploring a mountain range they suffer a terrible rock slide and are sent sliding down the surface. Kate is trained in survival and when she discovers that Remington is still alive but unconscious she ties them both together and jumps, hoping to land on the surface of the planet with her chute. However, she goes into a long, long free fall. When they are swooped on by huge birdlike monsters and then dropped the adventure begins.


This is a story of surviving and of a determined woman. Kate is going to do her utmost to save her man and she has to fight off various monsters and all kinds of perils. It is a relief when Remington recovers consciousness and starts to help her. This excellent book is imaginiative and well written and has a surprise in store at the end. I don't often 'Love' science fiction but I did this one! Five red rose, Linda

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Photo Opportunity





Photo Opportunity


Jess Dee


Samhain Publishing


ISBN: 1-59998-930-1


199 pages




Daniel has had an epiphany. On his last photo shoot he had to face some things that brought up his past and made him finally deal with it.

Amy is Daniel’s best friend from the time they were kids. Daniel has decided it is finally time to tell Amy the truth about how he feels for her. He knows she isn’t going to handle the fact that he is in love with her and has been for years.

Amy has some issues of her own that makes trusting men difficult. Her father left her and her mother when she was young. Her track record with men hasn’t been much better with men sticking around.

Daniel has his task cut out for him. He is going to have to be careful if he is going to get the one thing he wants most in life.

Amy doesn’t know what is about to hit her. Life is going to be taking an about face for her. Now the fun begins.

Daniel is going to use everything and everyone possible to win Amy over. Keeping Amy off balance is a lot more interesting than he thought it was going to be.

Now the only question is will Amy allow the past to intrude on her future? Or will she grab what Daniel is offering with both hands and enjoy what can be?

Just when Daniel thinks everything is falling perfectly in place someone from his past threatens to destroy his future. Hopefully Amy will trust him enough to believe in him.


This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster. You really feel for the characters as they work through the emotional handicaps to get what they really want. You will find yourself rooting for Daniel as he works to convince Amy to give them the chance they need and deserve. The ending really makes this book worth reading and feeling what the characters are going through.


I give this one 4 red roses

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Sing As We Go

Sing As We Go by Margaret Dickinson

Pan Macmillan

Saga

March 2008

9780330452625

£5.99



If you haven’t discovered Margaret Dickinson’s page-turning wartime romances, then pick up her latest Sing As We Go, and get ready to lose yourself in this terrific tale of passion, sacrifice, betrayal, triumph and tragedy.



Kathy Burton dreams of escaping from the family farm and her father’s cruel fists, but concern for her mother has always kept her from running away, until her father loses his rag once too often and Kathy asks her next door neighbours, the Robinsons, for help.



The Robinson family are quick to help out the resilient young woman whom they love as one of their own, and Kathy is soon sent to Lincoln to live with the Robinson family’s relative, Jemima, who gets her a job working in the millinery department at the store where she works.



Kathy’s beauty soon catches the eye of the store manager, Tony Kendall, who makes it quite clear that he desires her. However, Tony’s social climbing mother, the snobbish Beatrice, is not about to let her only child marry an upstart shopgirl, so she puts a spoke in the wheels and ruins any chance of happiness Kathy might have.



Realizing that she cannot stay in Lincoln and be constantly reminded of Tony and all that she lost, Kathy runs away and tries to heal her broken heart. But forgetting Tony is easier said than done…



This is a wonderful saga from a superb storyteller! Sing As We Go is a wonderfully romantic saga that will go down a treat with saga fans everywhere! Margaret Dickinson writes so well and with so much heart and emotion that readers will not be able to put Sing As We Go down for a single second.

*

Sunday 8 June 2008

Featured Author

Coming soon from Harlequin Mills and Boon.





The first in the Sarah Beaufort Mystery Series published by Severn House.





The second in the Upstairs Downstairs trilogy published by Severn House





Linda's latest from Red Rose Publishing





This is Linda's latest ebook with Eternal Press


Our Featured author this week is Linda Sole. Linda writes as Linda Sole, Anne Herries and Anne Ireland. She is the author of nearly ninety published books with publisers such as Century, Arrow, Severn House, Harlequin Mills & Boon, Red Rose Publishing, Amira Press and now Eternal Press. Some of these books are in ebook format but most are in hard back and/or paperback.

As Anne Herries Linda won the Romantic Novelists Association Romance Prize in 2004 for A Damnable Rogue. She was shortlisted again in 2006. Lovers & Sinners was her best selling book and is still being bought and sold at amazon today. A Shameful Secret went up to number two in the historical section at fictionwise this year. This was a Regency she wrote as Anne Ireland. Recently published is Too Hot To Handle with Eternal Press.

Linda lives in England and is happily married.

Forbidden Lord



FORBIDDEN LORD.
By Helen Dickson.
Published by Robert Hale LONDON
ISBN978-0-263-86254-6.





Eleanor’s world had fallen apart, her beloved Mother lay on the huge bed her life drained out of her, the stillborn child had been taken away.
The tears rolled down her face, she was alone now in her stepfather’s house, a house where she and her Mother had moved to on her mother’s marriage to Sir Frederick Atwood. A man whom her Mother had trusted to care for them and keep them safe, after her first beloved husband, Eleanor’s Father, had been beheaded at the Tower of London a few years before, for so called treason against Queen Mary. Consequently, the crown had confiscated all of their lands and for this the blame lay with Sir William Marston who, Eleanor had been told, betrayed her father, before fleeing for his own life.
Life had been hard and cruel for both Eleanor and her Mother in the time they had lived at Fryston Hall, now Eleanor felt so alone and vulnerable, she disliked her step- father intensely, he was a hard cruel man. One night she awoke to find him in her room and he tried to molest her but she fought him off and kneed him where it hurt most. Running from her room she heard him shouting threats and insults after her. That night she determined to leave his home and go to her Uncle in Yorkshire and ask him to protect her.
Her step -sister was being married in a day’s time and although they had never been close Eleanor decided that she must stay until after the wedding. She would have her chance to escape once the wedding was over and the celebrations were in full swing. But something happened at the wedding feast, which would alter her plans.
Lord William Marston strode into the celebrations and threatened Sir Fredrick. Eleanor was horrified that the man who had betrayed her father so cruelly actually had the audacity to show himself there. But against her conscience and her hatered of the man, she decided to ask Lord Marston to let her accompany him on his journey, which she knew would take her near to her destination. She did not know what her step father had done to make Lord Marston threaten him and she truthfully did not care if only he would let her travel with him, she would somehow not think about what he had done to her family, after all she would never have to see him again when her journey was over.
What will happen to Eleanor when she leaves her stepfathers home with or without Lord Marston’s help? Eleanor is a strong courageous girl but can she over come the tragedies that befall her when she reaches York and can she find happiness and love in her escape. This is a powerful Elizabethan romantic story in a time when young ladies were often victims in their own families and had very few rights. The book is a very good read and will be enjoyed I am sure by readers who love the Historical Romances. I award this book, 4 red roses. AS.

Thursday 5 June 2008

French Delights


Sloane Taylor/French Delights/ eternal Press/ebook/37pages

Lisette makes it a regular thing to watch 'the stud' strip, which he does, for her benefit, every afternoon while he is gardening. What Lisette doesn't know is that Paul is well aware he has an audience. they meet when Lisette tries to help put out a fire with electric consequences. In tending his hurts she lights a fire that may consume them both!

This is another in Sloane Taylor's excellent short and sexy books about the Naughty ladies of Nice. Once again she hits the sweet spot. Sloane combines sensuality with humour and comes out a winner! Five Red Roses. Linda

His Captive Lady


Carol Townend
His Captive Lady
Harlequin Historicals
ISBN 978-0-373-30548-3
$5.99 USA


Lady Erica longs for her people to be at peace and in order to end the blood feud with a Saxon lord she walkes into his stronghold. Thane Guthlac pretends that he will treat fairly with her but she must be disparaged as his mother was by her people. To that end he will give her to one of his men but she is allowed to choose. Erica chooses Wulf - a man of lowly birth, a bastard that others despise. However, after a night that ruins her reputation she is to be imprisoned. When Wulf braves certain death to spirit her away Erica is angry. What will she do when she discovers that Wulf is actually a Norman?

Townend writes a cracking tale of deception and love. Well written, exciting and passionate this story of Norman and Saxons is well worth reading. Morna. 4.5 red roses

Wednesday 4 June 2008

My Own Wings


Ava Merrick
My Own Wings
Eternal Press
ebook/27 pages

Sara dreams of a man who is unknown to her but comfortingly familiar. She tries to hold onto her dream when she wakes but it always slides away. Sara is not content with her life or her relationship with Steve. She is trapped but can the man of her dreams show her how to be free?

This is a touching story of a woman seeking and finding herself. I loved this beautifully written novella. Morna. 4.5 red roses

Rakehell's Widow


RAKEHELL’S WIDOW
BY
SANDRA WILSON.
Published by ROBERT HALE LONDON.
ISBN NUMBER 978-0-7090-8373-3.




1802 CHARTERLY HOUSE, IN KENT.


Alabeth Manvers, a young widow of twenty three years, who disgraced herself in the eyes of polite society when she eloped with the notorious rake Robert Lord Manvers six years before, was this evening to expect a visit from her Father. Her family had never set foot in the home of Lord Manvers until now and Alabeth wondered what on earth would make her father visit after so long. Even when she was widowed two years ago, still no one had visited.
When she learned the reason for her Fathers visit she flatly refused to even consider it, but eventually she agreed.
A week later Alabeth was in her coach heading for London to take charge of her sister’s first season, and dreading it. How would the ton receive her? She had in their eyes disgraced herself, although she had been very much in love and the marriage had been a happy one. There was one person, whom she dreaded to meet more than any other, because Alabeth held him responsible for the untimely death of her young husband, he was Sir Piers Castleton.
When she arrived at the London home of her Father she found many invitations awaiting her and she wished herself back at Charterly house she was not ready for the gaiety of London, she still grieved for her young husband. The servants were pleased to see her and welcomed her home. But her sister did not greet her she was playing the piano and when Alabeth went up to the music room to see her the welcome she received was very frosty. Alabeth sighed this was not a good beginning, if only she had stayed in Charterly, she had felt safe there.
The Duchess of Seaham a well known society hostess was shown in to the room, Alabeth was surprised that anyone had called so early. They had been close friends before Alabeth had eloped, and she was very pleased to a friendly face especially after her confrontation with her sister Jillian. Octavia had many exciting plans for this season in which she had included Alabeth and Jillian. It seemed whether she liked it or not she would be very busy with invitations and visits and Alabeth hoped that her sister would be less resentful and more amenable as the season progressed.
There are many twists and turns in this delightful Regency book before the story is told. This is another compelling book from this Author and anyone who enjoys this genre will I believe enjoy it from the first to the last page, it certainly held my interest all the way through.
I happily award this book 5 red roses. AS

Tuesday 3 June 2008

A Kind Of Loving


A Kind of Loving by Linda Sole

Red Rose Publishing

March 2008

460 Pages

$5.99

ISBN: 978-1-60435-089-0



Readers the world over adore reading Linda Sole’s dramatic historical sagas of passion, intrigue and romance. Recently, this talented storyteller has added another string to her bow with the release of several well-received and wonderfully written contemporary romances and her latest mainstream tale, A Kind of Loving, is a terrific story of family, loyalty and relationships that will go down a treat with new and old fans alike.



Verity Lovelace may have achieved her lifelong ambition of opening up an antiques business of her own in England, but unfortunately for her, the rest of her life is in complete and utter tatters. Her marriage to Michael is on the rocks, as Verity is sure that he’s been cheating on her, and her mother in law is facing a serious illness.



When the much younger man Josh comes to town and starts renting the flat above Verity’s shop, she cannot resist finding herself drawn to the charismatic younger man, but although her mind tells her that she should be sensible and act like the wife and mother she is, her heart is telling her that she should tell Josh how she really feels about him and thus embark on a passionate relationship with him that could change her life…forever.



Linda Sole’s wonderful tale is full of twists and turns and written with plenty of flair, heart, sensitivity and compassion. A Kind Of Loving is a terrific read which will resonate with women readers everywhere as they go on an emotional journey with Linda Sole’s many faceted and richly drawn characters.



Romantic, intriguing and absorbing, A Kind of Loving is the perfect book to lose yourself into! JB

Sunday 1 June 2008

Congratulations J Morgan!

CONGRAUTLATIONS TO J MORGAN ON BEING NUMBER ONE AT THE HUMOUR SECTION AT FICTIONWISE!

WE REVIEWED IT HERE FIRST AND LOVED IT. SO HAPPY TO SEE THIS AUTHOR WHERE HE BELONGS!





Can a 35 year old virgin who still lives in his father's basement truly be the hero that he's always dreamed of being? Breathred E. Petrifunck is about to find out. He is a vampire slayer with the mail order diploma on the wall to prove it, but is he ready to battle the Mother of Vampires on his first time at bat?