Review: Back in the Soldier’s Arm by Soraya Lane

This is one of the books I mentioned on my post about cheating heroes. The reason I read it was because I was curious. Hero infidelity is one of the most hated themes in romance and I thought it was interesting that there was a Harlequin Romance that directly dealt with the subject.

Danny and Penny have the perfect marriage, or at least that’s how it seems. They have been together for years, have a five-year-old daughter, and truly and deeply love each other. They both were in the military, but when it was time to retire Danny was the only one able to do it because Penny’s deployment was extended by the Stop-Loss policy. So she went back to war leaving her family behind. Danny was left alone with their daughter dealing with the life and responsibilities of a single dad, learning to adjust to civilian life and worrying about his wife. He didn't cope well and ended up having a drunken one-night stand, which he immediately confessed to Penny.

Review: Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

Somebody to Love is the story of Parker Welles. She’s rich, talented and a little bit cranky. Her life is at a crossroads, for the past few years she’s been writing a successful book series for children, books that have brought her fame and recognition, books that she hates with a passion. She wrote them as a joke after the story she really wanted to tell was rejected and ever since then, she’s been cursed with having to write them. But now the series is about to end and she doesn’t really know what to do because she can’t seem to muster enough imagination to write something different. Why does she keep writing books that make her miserable? I have no idea, but It’s not about money because she has a trust fund and all the money she makes goes to charity.

Interview: Josephine Myles

I'm happy to welcome back author Josephine Myles. She's here today celebrating the release of her latest novel, Handle with Care. Please help me give her a warm welcome and stick around for more info on her blog tour and some cool prices you can win.

Hello Josephine! Welcome back to Romance Around the Corner, it’s always great fun to have you.

Review: Sunrise Point by Robyn Carr

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

At this point it should be obvious why I got this book so I’ll skip that part and go straight to the review, especially because I’m running out of ways to explain why I’m a fan of Ms. Carr’s books. 

Sunrise Point is the story of Nora Crane. She is in her early twenties, already a single mother of two girls, and desperate. Her boyfriend, a drug-addict and an ass, left her and their daughters abandoned in Virgin River. For the past few months she’s been getting by thanks to the help of everyone in town but she wants better for her kids so she decides to get a better-paying job. The opportunity comes in the form of the local orchard, so she decides to apply for a job picking apples. 

Interview: Jordan Castillo Price

Today, Jordan Castillo Price is back on the blog to tell us all about her newest release, her plans for the future and answering several other questions I was dying to ask to one of my favorite authors.

Hello Jordan, welcome back to Romance Around the Corner. It’s always a pleasure to have you!

Joint Review: We'll Always Have Paris by Jessica Hart

Yesterday, our friend and fellow blogger nath invited me to her blog, Breezing Through, to buddy-review We’ll Always Have Paris by Jessica Hart, a sweet and funny contemporary romance, with a happy heroine and a straight-laced hero. It was a different experience for me because this is my first joint review ever. Fortunately, nath is a pro so I was in good hands. Make sure to stop by and tell us what you think!

You can also find nath on her other blog, the wonderful and appropriately named Books, Books, and more Books. Thank you nath for inviting me and I can’t wait to do it again!

Guest Review: The Captain and Claire by Gabriella West

I bought this rather expensive short story because I liked the cover and sample. It’s narrated by Betsy, a recently widowed young woman. Her husband committed suicide after the stock market crash of 1929. Hungry for change and adventure, she boards a ship bound for England.

Betsy’s husband was much older, and unable to spark her passions. She’s naïve about sex but wants to take a lover. On the first night she meets the Captain, a handsome, bearded gentleman, and Claire, a glamorous Englishwoman. The two women hit it off. Claire tells Betsy that the Captain is a fantastic bed partner, very discreet and well-endowed. She claims that he loves innocent, buxom blondes like Betsy. Then she kisses Betsy goodnight. Ooh la la!

Review: Caught in the Act by Jill Sorenson

It’s no secret that I love Ms. Sorenson’s books and that she’s become one of my favorite Romantic Suspense authors. Her stories have it all: great action, complex characters and scorching hot sex (very important!). Caught in the Act is no exception.

Karina Strauss has a successful store where she sells Latin American crafts of all kinds. She regularly crosses the border to Mexico in order to buy more objects. One day, Maria, a woman she’s friendly with, asks her to help her get to the US, and Karina, an immigrant herself, decides to help her. That’s how she meets Adam Cortez, the Border Protection officer who stops her. She tries to seduce him into distraction but he’s no fool, however he gets a call and decides to let her pass (maybe he was a bit of a fool).

Help Wanted: Guest Reviewers

Hi everyone!

I have mentioned a couple of times before that we’re looking for guest reviewers, so this post is to give you more details about it, let's call it the official post.

We have been blogging for a year now and I would love to add more weekly reviews. Right now we’re reviewing an average of 3 to 4 books a week, which is great but pretty much our limit. So we would love to add a couple of guest reviewers to our team. I’m calling it “guest” to keep the pressure out, this doesn’t have to be a permanent position with a mandatory number of reviews, If you only wish to guest review one, that’s fine. If, on the other hand, you feel pretty serious about reviewing but find the creation of your own blog a daunting task, this is the perfect opportunity to join a blog that’s already there, all the fun, none of the fights with Blogger.

If you’re interested email me at brie.clementineATgmail.com. I will give you all the details and answer all your questions. If you have reviews posted on sites like Goodreads or Amazon that would serve as samples, please include a link. 

Remember that we review Romance and fiction with strong romantic elements, so that’s what we’re looking for. I’m particularly interested in F/F reviewers, since that’s a genre we have been neglecting and I would love to feature some of its books. 

That’s it. If you are interested and/or want to know more, contact me directly!

A review and a half: An Inconvenient Mate and Lawe’s Justice by Lora Leigh

Note: these reviews won’t make any sense if you haven’t read this series. You should go and start from book 1 Tempting the Beast and take notes along the way (if you do that, let me know because I’m having trouble following the chronology).

This review is a little different than the usual. First, I’m reviewing An Inconvenient Mate, a novella part of an anthology, and then, I’m reviewing Lawe’s Justice the last novel from the Breed Series. The main reason for this is that both stories “happen” at the same time, meaning that the timeline between one and another is almost the same. The other reason is that I read them both almost on the same day.

News and Announcements: Cheating Heroes & Heartbreakers

I’ve got some news to share with you all!

I’ll be blogging over at Heroes &Heartbreakers, the community website dedicated to everything Romance. I bet you’re already familiar with it but if you don’t, you should check it out because it’s a great way to interact with other Romance fans, find out about new books and other interesting topics.

Today I’m blogging about cheating heroes with a twist, because I talk about two books featuring two different types of cheating heroes that I actually enjoyed (I reviewed one of the books here). I think it’s a different take on a much talked about subject, one that show us that maybe we can enjoy hated tropes when handled right. So come on over and let me know what you think!

Also, in case you’re wondering, Romance Around the Corner will remain the same, I’ll still be reviewing and blogging here as usual. The offer of a guest reviewer spot is still open, though, so if you’re interested email me at brie.clementineATgmail.com. I’ll write a detailed post on this next week.

I’m out for the weekend so I won’t be able to answer comments until Sunday, I hope you enjoy the post and let me know how you like it.

See you around!

Review: The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn

If you’re a fan of Paranormal Romance you probably recognize Ms. Shinn’s name. She’s the author of the Samaria books, a popular series that’s quite well-known even among readers like me, who aren’t die-hard fans of the genre. Last year I finally managed to read her novella, Nocturne, that was part of the Angel of Darkness Anthology, and I loved it. So when I heard about this new series I decided it was time to read one of her full-length novels. 

Maria Devane and Dante Romano have been secret lovers for over fifteen years. I say secret lovers because Dante is a shifter who spends more time as animal than human, and his random “shifting” patterns make it impossible for them to be out as a couple. So they have developed this routine in which every time Dante is human he goes to Maria’s house, eats her food, fucks her, and leaves her again. This is the part where I explain that Dante isn’t you regular shifter, no alpha werewolf protecting his mate whom he loves in a sweet but creepy possessive way. Nope, first, Dante can shift into any animal, cat, bear, cow… He can’t control the animal although the environment helps, so if he happens to be near a farm, chances are he’ll turn into a farm animal. Second, he can’t control the change. He feels it coming, but he can’t avoid it, same goes from going from animal to human. The older he gets, though, the more frequent and longer the shifts become. So their relationship, which began in college, has turned into this thing resembling the most dysfunctional long distance secret relationship ever.

Review: Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Source: We received a copy of the book from the publisher for review purposes.

One of my all-time favorite tropes is two sisters -the plain and the beautiful- fall for the same guy and he goes for the plain sister. The beautiful sister may or may not be evil, but she always knows the other sister is ugly. I just love it! So when I read what Edenbrooke I knew I had to read it. Now, the presence of favorite tropes does not guarantee enjoyment, but fortunately this story was very good so I was a happy reader.

When Marianne Daventry’s mother died, her grief-stricken father moved to France to mourn leaving her and her fraternal twin sister, Cecily, behind. Marianne went to live a boring life in Bath and Cecily remained in London. Despite being twins Cecily is the beautiful sister and behaves accordingly, she goes to balls and wants to marry well. Marianne, on the other hand, is a bit of a tomboy, likes horses and all she wants to do is stay outside and twirl, she knows she isn’t as beautiful as her sister, but wishes to marry for love. 

Review: Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward

Note: I have many things to say about this book so I’ll skip the part where I explain the plot and go directly to my thoughts. If you haven’t read the books you should probably skip this review (and go read them!) because it won’t make sense to you.

I never thought I was going to be glad I broke my ankle, but the fact that I had to stay home all day doing basically nothing this week was a blessing, and this book helped me pass the hours pain free! It is insanely good! If I wasn’t completely hooked before, now I totally am.

Lover Reborn is the 10th installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series. I honestly wasn’t too excited about the heroine and the hero, in my opinion Tohrment was too damaged and still in mourning mode and No’one was completely crippled -and I’m not talking about her limp-. But the beauty of this book is that the very thing that made me reluctant in the first place is the thing that today makes me love it so much. There is no instant cure for the pain in Tohrment’s life, nor an easy solution, but you see him working towards a better future and making a lot of mistakes along the way. The same goes for No’One, she has her own issues and we get to see her work on them.

Review: About That Night by Julie James

I’ve said this over and over, Julie James is one of the best contemporary romance authors out there. Her books are hilarious without being ridiculous, her heroes are sexy and her heroines strong and relatable. All of her stories have been winners to me,  Practice Makes Perfect is on my Top 10 list of favorite books, and About That Night was one of my most anticipated books of the year. And that is why I’m so sad to tell you that we just hit a bump in the road because this book was definitely not a winner.

Kyle Rhodes has been on the spotlight his entire life. Son of a multimillionaire, his face has been part of the tabloids for years. However, he really became famous months ago when he hacked Twitter. Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds, his super model girlfriend publicly broke up with him through Twitter, he got drunk and thanks to his extraordinary intelligence, managed to shut down the social network causing panic everywhere. He went to prison but thanks to his sister, who made a deal with the FBI, he was released earlier than planned. The day of his last hearing a change of plans brings him face to face with Assistant U.S. Attorney Rylan Pierce, a woman he met years ago and hasn’t been able to forget.

Winner!

The winner of the e-copy of The Starving Years by Jordan Castillo Price is JayhJay. Congratulations! I've already emailed you, if you didn't get it check your spam folder or email me at brie.clementineATgmail.com

Thanks to Jordan for making the giveaway possible and for writing such an interesting and thought-provoking post. It's been the most interesting discussion we have had on the blog!

Thank you to everyone else for taking the time to comment and visiting the blog, I hope to see you all again soon!

Review: Forbidden Fantasies by Jodie Griffin

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

I really like stories where the main couple has an established relationship. Most of the time we get books about couples meeting and falling in love but it’s not often that we actually get a story about what happens after the happily ever after, so when I saw that this novella was about a married couple I couldn’t wait to read it.

Jessica has been happily married to Alex for over 15 years. They have two kids and their relationship is just plain great. But one day Jessica discovers an erotic romance and things change. She comes from a very conservative background so things like BDSM and fantasies are unfamiliar to her, what surprises her is that not only does she enjoy the book a lot but also starts fantasizing about doing the things she reads. As consequence their sex life improves because she feels invigorated, but she also feels guilty about it because having those fantasies, some of them involving threesomes and people watching, feel like cheating to her. So she keeps quiet, has great sex and feels guilty afterwards. 

Review: Rules of the Game by Sandy James

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.


Note: this review has two parts, or two different reviews. The first one is spoiler free, the second one spoils the whole plot. If you don't like spoilers there's a mark that separates both reviews.

The reason I picked this book was because the blurb hit all the right notes. I love Contemporary Romance and this one looked like a cute story about a shy woman trying to get over her issues by confronting her fears with the help of a bad boy hero. What’s not to love, right? If you are like me, then it will only take reading the blurb to see how appealing this book is. Unfortunately, the blurb was pretty much the only thing that worked for me.

Guest Post & Giveaway: Jordan Castillo Price

As you probably know by now, I’m a huge fan of M/M romance, which is why when I got the opportunity to host Jordan Castillo Price I almost died of the happy-dance. Yep, I’ve been happy-dancing for a week now waiting for today to arrive because I love her books so much. She’s with us today talking about secondary characters and their importance, a topic I find very interesting since secondary characters are often just as important as the main ones. 


Please help me give her a warm welcome!