Review: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

When I was a kid I wanted to be a mermaid. The tail, the red hair, the cute prince… Obviously Disney knew how to sell its movies. Then I read the original story and my underwater dreams died, but I remained intrigued by these creatures. I’m surprised that mermaids aren’t more common in PNR and YA, but I’m happy to see a book that’s not about vampires or angels.

Hester comes from a line of women who died soon after giving birth. Her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother died within days of having their first child, all of which also happened to be girls. Hester knows that there’s something very wrong with her and has decided never to fall in love. She’s aloof, angsty and tormented, but she’s also a teenager so it’s hard to tell whether she’s like that because of a curse, or because of her age. Things get complicated when her relationship with her best friend begins to change, but her unwillingness to fall in love makes her push him away. And when a mysterious guy saves her from an attack everything changes. She feels mysteriously attracted to him and to the answers he brings. Smells like love triangle, right? Not quite, more like creepy teenage obsession mixed with disappointing unfulfilled promise of a sweet romance. I’ll explain later.

Review: All He Ever Needed by Shannon Stacey

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

Shannon Stacey is one of my favorite Contemporary Romance authors, and that love is all due to the Kowalski family. Her blend of hilariously male heroes and charming heroines makes for great stories, and I’m happy to see the family back.

Mitch Kowalski is a demolition expert that spends his life traveling. It’s a great lifestyle for someone like Mitch who doesn’t want to settle down in one place. But now he’s back home to help his injured brother. He isn’t happy about that because the town doesn’t let him forget about all his indiscretions, and being a ladies’ man, there are a lot of indiscretions to remember.

Guest Author & Giveaway: Katie Porter

Image Credit

I'm happy to welcome Katie Porter to the blog. This is the co-writing team formed by authors Lorelie Brown and Carrie Lofty. Together they write Erotic Romance, and they are here today to tell us more about their new book, Inside Bet. 

Heather’s Mysterious Tattoo

By Katie Porter

Heather from Inside Bet is pretty straight laced. She’s an accountant, and has lived a very straight and narrow sort of life for more than a decade. She dresses conservatively and drives a six-year-old Camry. That’s what makes her happy—and helps her live down some pretty serious mistakes in her past. But that doesn’t mean she’s absolutely locked down. 

Guest Review: How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal

About Sarah: Who am I? I'm a part-time library science student, part-time librarian, and full-time mom. When I'm not wrangling my little girl or my husband, I'm reading all sorts of books to be able to recommend that "next" book for shy readers or those new to the romance genre. I can be found on Goodreads or on my blog at sarahsbookshelf.com.

I'm always on the lookout for new authors and different styles of romance to read. This book recently won a 2012 RITA for a novel with strong romantic elements. I was skeptical of the book to start out with. I'm not a huge fan of books told in the first person, nor do I typically like books with different voices throughout, but somehow this book managed to get past all my preconceived notions. It made me laugh, it definitely made me cry (a lot), but overall, I just didn't want to put it down and was quite sad when it was over. I should caution anyone that if you find reading books that talk a lot about food make you hungry, you should probably steer clear of this book--there are recipes galore and much description about breads and delicious foods throughout.

Review: Archangel’s Storm by Nalini Singh

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

Nalini Singh is special. I don’t know how she does it, but she has created two very distinct, complex worlds. I admit that the Psy/Changeling books are closer to my personal taste, but I find the Guild Hunter series very compelling, especially now that we get to see the world through a different set of characters. I’ve been intrigued by Jason since he first appeared in the previous books, and I’m happy to finally learn what makes him tick.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, the Guild Hunter books take place in an alternate present where angels and vampires live among us in relative peace. Angels have their own society and rulers, and one archangel is in charge of each territory. Raphael, the ruler of North America, has been the protagonist of the first three books, but now we also get stories for some of his closer friends and protectors. Jason, with his dark wings and ability to blend and listen to the wind, is Raphael’s spymaster and our newest hero.

Last Minute Links and Deals

Image Credit: Horia Varlan

This is an exciting week that started a bit slow, it’s Labor Day so I guess everyone must be outside enjoying what’s left of the summer. I have some last minute links and deals that I found online and I’ll share them with you in case you’re feeling a bit bored. Don’t get used to seeing much book deals on the blog because I’m lazy, but there’s always Dear Author’s Daily Deals if you’re looking for good deals.

Review: Riveted by Meljean Brook

Source:  we received a copy of the book from the author for review purposes. 

Is no secret that I’m a fan of Meljean Brook. Her characters are compelling, the worlds she creates are complex and reading her books is a wonderful experience. That’s the reason why Riveted was one of my most anticipated books of the year. Now that I’ve read it, I can tell you that the anticipation was deserved.

Annika grew up on an isolated village in Iceland, a very uncommon village. What makes it extraordinary is also the reason why it must remain a secret. So for years its inhabitants have fueled the mystery with legends and stories. But one day Annika’s foolish mistake endangered that secret and her sister, Källa, took the blame. As a result, Källa was exiled and Annika left the village to bring her back.