The Look of Love by Bella Andre

Title: The Look of Love (The Sullivans #1)

Author: Bella Andre

Genre: Romance

Blurb: Chloe Peterson is having a bad night. A really bad night. The large bruise on her cheek can attest to that. And when her car skids off the side of a wet country road straight into a ditch, she’s convinced even the gorgeous guy who rescues her in the middle of the rain storm must be too good to be true. As a successful photographer who frequently travels around the world, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women. Chase thinks his life is great just as it is—until the night he finds Chloe and her totalled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley. Not only has he never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out, but he quickly realizes she has much bigger problems than her damaged car. Soon, he is willing to move mountains to love—and protect—her, but will she let him?

My Thoughts: I found the opening chapter of THE LOOK OF LOVE to be a little confusing with the eight Sullivan children, and their mother, being introduced all at once. I found myself frantically writing names and occupations down so I didn’t lose track. But in the next chapter the story settled down to just Chase and Chloe and the confusion ended.

The pacing of THE LOOK OF LOVE is very fast, with the whole story taking place over a few days from dramatic introduction, through the hot and heavy getting to know you phase and on to the required happy ever after. Would a woman who had suffered from abuse jump into the arms of another man so quickly? Would a couple know instantly that they have found the one? I am not sure it happens outside novels – but the characters are so likeable and respectful of each other that in the end it didn’t really matter and I went along with the ride. I loved the witty repartee between all the characters. And I really loved the setting of a romantic cottage in the middle of a winery in the Napa Valley – and the hot tub. Actually the hot tub is almost a character in its own right seeing the action that takes place there!!! Speaking of action – yes this is a romance but there are some very erotic scenes so if that is not your style then be warned.

THE LOOK OF LOVE is the first in a series that has been available overseas but just being released now in Australia – and there are seven more of the Sullivan siblings to follow Chase’s example and find their perfect partner. This is the first book I have read by contemporary romance author Bella Andre and I would be more than happy to read any of her other work.

Rating: C – Above average. Was very readable and enjoyable.

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With thanks to Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Publishing and the author via Netgalley.

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Title: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Author: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Blurb: It is said that opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son, and enforcer, of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant Alpha. While Anna, an Omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind. When the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial-killer case, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston to join the investigation. It soon becomes clear that someone is targeting the preternatural. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer’s sights…

My Thoughts: FAIR GAME is the third novel in the series that feature Anna and her husband Charles. Charles is becoming increasingly depressed and unstable due to the number of killings/executions he is carrying out for his father, the Marrok (head werewolf for the USA). Since the existence of werewolves have been outed in public Charles has had to kill, instead of warn, errant werewolves in order to stop people being afraid of large carnivores running rampant at full moon and triggering a massive werewolf culling. Now Charles is being haunted by the ghosts of those he has killed and is losing his mental link to Anna, and his grip on humanity. To give Charles a break he and Anna are sent to Boston to assist the FBI in their investigations of a serial killer who has been active for decades. Starting with Asian teenagers the killer has progressed to killing witches, the fae and now werewolves. Each victim has been carved with witch symbols, raped and brutally murdered. Now the human daughter of a high-ranking fae has been kidnapped, and time is running out for the FBI/werewolf team to find her. FAIR GAME has a quick paced plot that is chock-a-block with suspense and creepiness. There is black magic, spooky islands, torture, blood and more than a little insanity between the pages. This is balanced by humour and interesting subplots, such as Anna and Charles trying to regain their bond, and a fairy wish. The interlocking stories all lead up to an edge of the seat ending that alters the natural balance of human/supernatural relations and left me wondering which way the series is going to go now.

Rating: B – Great. I really enjoyed reading it.

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A Celtic Witch by Debora Geary

Title: A Celtic Witch

Author: Debora Geary

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Blurb: Cassidy Farrell is a world-class Celtic fiddler. And if she has her way, that’s exactly who she’ll stay. Except that’s not what the rocks have in mind. Or a certain fetching spell. Or the truth working its way free in her own heart. Can the music, and perhaps a certain grumpy curmudgeon and his baby girl, help Cass find her life’s new song?

My Thoughts: A CELTIC WITCH is the 6th book in the Modern Witch series – and there is only one more after this – author Debora Geary will keep the characters but start a different series with them, the fetching spell will be laid to rest. This book is the one I have been waiting for – Marcus’s time to find a lifelong companion. Marcus is the crusty old curmudgeon, fiercely independent and outwardly scary, but inside just a lonely man scared to let someone close to his heart after the loss of his twin in childhood. The walls started to crumble a few books back when he became a single dad to a beautiful little girl –now he needs true love. Enter Cass (Cassidy) who is just as independent, just as set in her ways and with a wall around her heart almost as impenetrable as Marcus’s. A match made in heaven!! Geary did excellent job writing about Marcus’s confusion over his feelings for Cass, and Cass’s fear as she realises her soul wants to put down roots and start settling in one spot. Magic works in mysterious ways, but sometimes a witch needs to learn what their power actually is. Cass and Marcus both need to learn what their role is in their community – how they can help others and understand their world. Once again the witch community comes alive with the familiar support cast, who have all had turns in the limelight, now taking back stage and in turn meddling and enabling the action at the front. Debora Geary’s books are a joy to read and leaves you with a completed story but yearning for more.

Rating: C – Above average. Was very readable and enjoyable.

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Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway

Title: Monique and the Mango Rains: The Extraordinary Story of Friendship in a Midwife’s House in Mali

Author: Kris Holloway

Genre: Non-Fiction

Blurb: Monique Dembele saves lives and dispenses hope in a place where childbirth is a life-and-death matter. Her unquenchable passion to improve the lot of the women and children in her West African village is matched by her buoyant humour in the face of unhappy marriage and backbreaking work. This is the deeply compelling story of the rare friendship between a young development volunteer and this midwife who defies tradition and becomes – too early in her own life – a legend.

My Thoughts: MONIQUE AND THE MANGO RAINS is set in a small village in Mali, West Africa. Author Kris Holloway served there as a member of the Peace Corps for two years where she was assigned to the remote village of Nampossela. Kris lived in the village and worked with the local midwife, Monique, weighing babies, delivering babies and trying to educate the woman in an attempt to reduce the number of unnecessary deaths. Kris’s main focus, other than avoiding scorpions and snakes in her hut, was to set up the funding for renovating the birthing house so it was clean and protected women from the elements. It was a constant battle to promote good hygiene and nutrition habits; birth control, and caring for babies. Reality is not excluded; women die in childbirth, small children came to the clinic grievously ill and beyond help, many Malian children die before their 5th birthday solely due to ingrained poor nutrition and hygiene practices. Even the topics of female circumcision, abuse and rape are covered, but not in a preachy way – it is just stated and recognised as a problem, and that women are working towards addressing the issues. However the star of the book is Monique – educated and switched on, she could have gone anywhere and made a better life for her and her children. Instead she uses her talents to try and bring good health and change to her village where many (especially the men and older women) are resistant to the progress that the modern world has already made. Sometimes she was overwhelmed fighting for basic resources that everyone else takes for granted – but one person can make a difference – and Kris worked side by side with Monique developing a close friendship. This is an easy to read book despite some of the more heartbreaking scenes, upbeat at times as life is not all gloom and doom, and certainly gives a peep into another culture. I would recommend MONIQUE AND THE MANGO RAINS as a story of friendship in the main, and a warts and all look at life in another culture as a background.

Rating: B – Great. I really enjoyed reading it.

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Flame Tree Hill by Mandy Magro

Title: Flame Tree Hill

Author: Mandy Magro

Genre: Romance

Blurb: Kirsty Mitchell is ready to come home. After a tragic accident that left her scarred, she fled overseas. Now, three years later, she’s finally returning to Flame Tree Hill, her beloved family farm. But at twenty-five Kirsty isn’t prepared for the terrifying new challenge ahead: breast cancer. Kirsty’s never been a quitter and that’s not about to change. But can her budding romance with local vet Aden bear the strain? As she battles with chemotherapy and as her past threatens to overwhelm her, Kirsty realises you can never take anything – or anyone – for granted.

My Thoughts: Kirsty Mitchell had been living in London for a few years. She left her home in north Queensland after a horrific car accident which left her a sole survivor and her friends all dead. She still has nightmares about that night but the time has come to move on so she moves home. When she arrives back at the house she and her brother share on the family farm she discovers that Aden has moved in as well. Aden’s sister was Kirsty’s best friend and was killed in the car crash so Kirsty is not sure how he will respond to her. The attraction between the two is almost instant and they soon develop a relationship. A few weeks later Kirsty finds herself diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, not something that any woman wants to hear let alone a young woman in her mid-twenties. The story then follows her battle with cancer and how it affects Kirsty, Aden, her family and her friends. Of course as per any good romance there also has to be a few other curve balls thrown into the mix to spice things up.

Mandy Magro certainly writes about what she knows, she and her family live in the tropical north on their own farm, so she has captured life on the land in that part of the world. I have travelled around the area and she conjured up the scenery exactly. Flame Tree Hill is emotional to read at times, but Mandy has managed to keep enough lightness into her story to prevent it descending completely into doom and gloom. I haven’t read any of her other books, but will certainly be looking them up now.

Rating: C – Above average. Was very readable and enjoyable.

For more about the author – Click Here

 

With thanks to Penguin Australia and the author via Netgalley.

 

Flame Tree Hill is book # 22 for AWW2013

Mother Nature’s Man by Mary Jo Burke

Title: Mother Nature’s Man

Author: Mary Jo Burke

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Blurb: I, Siobhan Bolyn, Goddess of the Flame and Keeper of the Land and Water, must give birth to the next goddess before my three hundredth birthday. My mate must be the preordained champion, so not just any man will do. But where to find a champion in this modern world? When Niall Calhoun walks into my life, he’s everything I’ve hoped for. Tall, dark, sweet, and gorgeous: the true four food groups. A mere touch of his hand and my libido roars to life. But is he champion material? Meanwhile, dark forces are plotting against me and calling my abilities into question. I’ve got to battle forest fires, soothe the oceans, appease my mother, turn Niall into Mr Exactly Right, and have a baby in the next year. Can a goddess and her champion handle all that and still find time to fall in love?

My Thoughts: MOTHER NATURE’S MAN was a pleasant way to idle away a few hours, but it didn’t light any fires for me. It’s not a bad book, don’t get me wrong. I found it an interesting concept that the goddess has to have a baby under set conditions before she can become Mother Nature and one of the powers behind the running of the world. Her daughter then becomes the next goddess, although this isn’t set in paranormal blood because Siobhan’s mother isn’t Mother Nature and I am not actually sure who the previous one was and why Siobhan was picked. Still there is a lot to enjoy in the plot. A cute Pixie who is being romanced by a Troll called Ian makes an amusing back story; a new-aged sensitive champion who wants to be loved rather than just be a sperm donor and a couple of evil baddies who want to take over the world. Baby making, giving birth, falling in love and saving the world; it’s all just another year in the life of a nature goddess really.

Rating: D – Average. Was better to read than to do the housework

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The Time of the Hunter’s Moon by Victoria Holt

Title: The Time of the Hunter’s Moon

Author: Victoria Holt

Genre: HistoricalRomantic Suspense

Blurb: Cordelia Grant wonders if she is dreaming after she sees a handsome stranger in the forest at the time of the hunter’s moon, when legends say a girl will see her future husband. Haunted by the memory of this mystery man, Cordelia begins a new life as schoolmistress at a girl’s academy and finds herself pursued by Jason Verringer, a dashing land baron with a scandalous reputation: It is rumoured that Jason murdered his wife and mistress. But he has invaded her thoughts and is competing with the memory of the handsome stranger. Now Cordelia’s destiny depends on finding out the truth about two very different men . . .

My Thoughts: THE TIME OF THE HUNTER’S MOON was one of Victoria Holt’s best books but still a very good read overall. Took a while for the suspense to kick in but when it did it was a race against the clock to save lives; I think I clicked as to what was going on only a short while before Cordelia worked it out! There is one scene I was uncomfortable with as it broke out of the mould (and not in a good way) that you expect with these gothic reads. Cordelia is lured up into a barred room where the ‘dashing land baron’ tries to force himself upon her – she smashes her hand though a glass window to escape. Not a pleasant moment. Other than that I enjoyed the story’s journey.

I think the one thing I enjoy about Romance suspense generally it is the same basic plot line – Set in Victorian times the heroine is an impoverished young woman, usually orphaned, becomes a governess/companion to some rich Lord/Business man’s child or ailing/dying wife. Man has a past, and is usually suspected of murdering dying/ailing wife. The Manor/Large house/castle is dark and spooky (ruins optional). Heroine soon faces danger and has two (or more) handsome men falling in love with her, one means her ill, one she thinks means her ill and the other is a really nice man but not the one the heroine ends up with! Of course the mystery is solved, danger vanquished and love, fortune and happiness follows. THE TIME OF THE HUNTER’S MOON has all of this! It will not make any of the classic great literature lists, though I don’t know why not, but it IS a great book to curl up with on a Sunday afternoon while listening to music and sipping wine.

Rating: C – Above average. Was very readable and enjoyable.

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