REVIEW: Tears Of Jade by Leigh Riker

  Tears of Jade by Leigh Riker has been on my all-time favorites shelf of my bookcase for almost 20 years and I no longer remember how many times I have read it…and each time….i love it more and more!!!!!!!! It’s as fresh today as it was then….a timeless book!!!!! 

This is such an incredible story filled with passion, lost and found love, blackmail, secrets and so much more.

Synopsis:
Nearly twenty years have passed since Jay Barron kissed Quinn Tyler one last time and disappeared out of her life. Twenty years of wondering what happened after his plane went down in the steamy jungle and he was classified "Missing in Action." Now married and with a fabulously successful career in advertising, Quinn can't stop believing the love of her life is still alive.

When a twist of fate brings her face to face with darkly handsome Welles Blackburn, a man who might even be Jay, she is consumed by her need for answers. Soon she is within reach of a truth that could put her life back together again--or tear it apart forever.

Quinn Tyler & Welles Blackburn are just such an incredible couple…..the chemistry between them is palpable from the first time they set eyes on each other. You can feel the connection and it is so clear that they are meant to be together.
The pain they share when they realize the obstacles facing them….the guilt…even though her marriage has broken down and his unhappiness with a wife he does not love and just staying together because of his love for his beautiful young daughter. I so wanted them to be with each other and was praying that they would overcome all the hurdles in front of them and find true happiness.

Quinn is such an amazing heroine…gorgeous, talented and a successful owner of her own ad agency. She has such a capacity for love, she’s warm and caring and so fallen in love with this amazing man…and I mean truly amazing. He’s such a tortured and sad hero and he feels so much for Quinn, who has brought light into his life. And what a fabulous lover…he certainly knows how to seduce a woman…just not any woman…just Quinn.

These are some of the scenes that I always remember:

This man means business, Quinn thought, but still she didn’t move. Welles leaned closer, then closer again, bending his head until their mouths met at just the right incline. The kiss was soft, smoky, sending a slow curl of heat through her body. Wanting to go limp in his arms, Quinn realized that in fact she wasn’t being held, that he had one arm braced now on the wall above her head, the other at his side. Yet she felt as if he were touching her everywhere.
“No good-byes” he whispered against the corner of her mouth. Then, in the next breath, he let her go.

“Welles, I don’t know who I am when I am with you.”
“Yes, you do.” He moved closer, his hand at the nape of her neck, and drew her to him. Quinn stared at his mouth until his head dropped the last inch to cover hers. “When you’re with me,” he said, “you know exactly who you are.”
She moaned, slipping her arms around him.
“And so do I,” he whispered.
After long moments, Quinn ended the kiss.
“I don’t know what you want from me.” She whispered.
“Everything.”

I loved Hannah, Welles’s teenage daughter. She’s a beautiful mixture of her father and her Vietnamese mother and is signed up by Quinn as the new face of the jeans ads that catapult her into the supermodel stratosphere. A lot of tension and anger between Welles and her mother, who is such a cold, beautiful and manipulative woman, who does everything to keep Welles for herself even though she knows he does not love her. A glimpse of the glamorous world of fashion when Hannah moves into Quinn’s apartment in New York during her photo shoots.

There’s quite a surprising twist at the end….a nice one too. And I can’t help myself…but the last words of this book are such so incredible that I have to share them ….
“I think I’ve waited for you all my life,” she told him.
So no surprise, Quinn and Welles do get their HEA….and I was so so happy for them.

I have been trying to get copies of this author’s books but most of them are out of print and when I checked her site there is not much info….but if you are lucky enough to find a copy of Tears of Jade….read it….and I know you will love it as much as I did

REVIEW: ONCE A FERRARA by SARAH MORGAN

Sarah Morgan is one of my favorite Mills and Boon’s authors and I enjoy most of her books.

I loved the story of Once a Ferrara and would have given it a 5 star review except for one thing that really irritated me (more about this later on).

This is a very intense, compelling and emotional story about Cristiano and Laurel Ferrara and I was captivated from the moment I started page 1 and I was so engrossed in the story that before I realized I had finished the book in one reading.

You are totally drawn into the lives of Cristiano & Laurel Ferrara from page 1 until the Epilogue which is by the way, their second HEA (what a luck having a chance again after their disastrous first and very short HEA, two years previously).

This is such an intense, compelling and emotional story and the author and at times I could feel their pain and anguish. The author has an incredible way of writing dialogue and building up her characters – the interaction between the two is truly amazing. It’s as if you know them personally and you are actually feeling their emotions.

I am irrevocably in love with Cristiano. A beautiful, rich as sin, sexy, gorgeous, strong alpha male, with a hot hot body – an Italian ….no a Sicilian one….that is not afraid to show his heart and emotions….not often seen in these type of men….I was knocked out by the depth of his love for Laurel and how hard he tried to understand her even when he was being rejected …..in such a horrible manner by her.

And the reason I did not give the higher rating is because I found Laurel to be so horrible to Cristiano…okay in the end she discovers that he is not the man who she believed had let her down and that she still loved him. I was irritated by her constant moaning about being let down, how she could take care of herself, how she didn’t need anyone to do anything for her, what a horrible childhood she had – okay she did…but that doesn’t mean that one has to allow that to control your life.  Even when she is told by his sister and brother how much Cristiano loves her and how heartbroken he was when she left him, she still continues to give the poor guy a hard time. At times such childish behavior, feeling sorry for myself… and throughout all this drama, Cristiano continues to be caring, loving and understanding never giving up on her.

I adored Cristiano’s sister – who believes in love and fairytales and tries to get Laurel back together with Cristiano. Even his brother, Santo becomes involved – I wonder if there is going to be a book about him? I think he would make a great hero for some lucky heroine out there!!!!!

Settings are stunning – a resort and spa for the rich and famous, you feel the magical, enchanting and mythical atmosphere of Taormina with its winding streets and tiny passages….oh what a man….buying the woman he has always and will always love a medieval castle!!!!!

I was elated that the true love for each other overcame all the misunderstandings and obstacles and found happiness together…and with their growing family.

Second thoughts after writing this review…..i am giving 5 stars because I think it deserves it. It’s a fabulous fabulous book and I can guarantee that anyone who reads it will love it as much as me.

REVIEW: Lover Enshrined by JR Ward

I only discovered JR WARD’s books early this year and had no idea what this series was about but I found some of her books on a special price section of my local bookstore and finding the covers and titles quite different and interesting…I thought? Why not? So I bought the first 4 books in the series. 

I became totally addicted. I couldn’t stop reading….as soon as I finished the one I began on the next and before I got to the 4th book I had bought the entire series. 
What fascinates me about her books is that each one has different plot lines, different POV’S, sub-plots and there are secondary characters that we meet and continue to grow so one has a sense of getting to know a little bit more about them and kept in suspense of WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!!!! 

This book is the 6th book in the series and it’s not really one of my favorites..I am not saying I didn’t like it it’s just that It’s Phury and Cormia’s story but it does not focus that much on them. There is so much happening with other characters that you kind of lose track of their story … 
Phury is very different to the brothers in the previous books. He’s an angst-ridden, artistic, guilt ridden by being secretly in love with Zsadist’s (his twin brother)shellan, Bella, He has spent his life- hundreds of years - making sacrifices for others even giving up one of his legs and celibacy to save Zsadist from slavery and torture. His struggles with his addiction to red smoke and then onto to heroin which nearly kills him.. He’s so out of control that Wrath kicks him out of the Brotherhood….which I thought was pretty grim…even his own brother turned against him. 
Being the person he is…self-sacrificing ---always putting others before himself…doing everything for others safety, even the cost to his life, he volunteers to take Vishous place as Primale to the Chosen so that V can stay with Jane. 
Phury will now have to mate with one of the Chosen to continue the pure line of the next generation of the Chosen and the Brotherhood. His first duty is to mate with Cormia, one of the Chosen who we met in Lover Unbound, who is sweet and gentle and falls in love with him despite his problems…she, sees the other side…how noble and great person he is. But despite knowing he’s in love with Bella, she wants his love and body for herself and no one else, not even to share with the other Chosen. 
Phury soon realizes that he wants only Cormia but can he forsake his duty as a Primale? Their journey takes quite a turn and Phury finally finds a purpose in his life and a solution to the problem with the Chose. …. absolutely amazing. I really admired his courage in not giving up on something he believed was right and moral. He finally finds joy and peace in his life with the woman he loves at his side. The sensuality between them is pure and hot…the real hot scenes happen more between the secondary characters. . I would have loved to see a bit more romance in the story. 

Lots of side plots going on in this book…...I really liked the part where we meet the new brothers..John Mathews who goes through his transition, Qhuinn …love this brother…hot hot….and Blay…..a bit bland…. Just love these sexy, gorgeous guys….black leather, designer labels, the talk..wow…wish I could meet one of them!!!!! It’s another world out there..….exciting, dangerous, dark and oh so cool!!!!!I couldn’t wait to read more about them in the next books…I just know we will get to know them really well. 
Then there’s Bella’s brother Rhev, a sinful looking sympathy, dealer of drugs who owns a nightclub and wears a long sable coat…..he’s a dark and interesting character. 
The lesser are back with a bang….lots of action, fights… a new leader called X and Lash …what a depraved guy!!!! There’s bound to be more about him in the next books. 
And Xhex, the amazon who works at Rhev’s club –wow what a woman!!! I actually believed that she was a gay woman….why I am not sure…just she is so strong, remote, complex and shows no interest in the men around her….I loved her character….sure she will appear in her own book soon….. 

I liked this book much more the second time I read it. I felt a bit more connected to Phury and Cormia’s HEA than the first time I read it 

What I love about this series is the great, strong dialogue and the way the writer makes me feel that I am actually there…I can see the white colors in the Fade, feel the softness of that sable coat –….you can see, smell, taste, feel and hear everything in her books. 
I am so crazy for this series that I read each book over and over again and find them just as exciting as the first time I read them. 

REVIEW: Cold Blooded by Lisa Jackson

Lisa Jackson is brilliant at creating nail-biting and exciting suspenseful romantic thrillers with some really scary and evil villains and characters that just pull you in. 

Cold Blooded is the 2nd book in the New Orleans Series, is the follow up to Hot Blooded ….. and having read most of the series before, I have become quite attached to the characters which appear in each story.

Rick Bentz…I so really like this man…what he has gone through in his life would shatter anyone….losing his job with the LAPD when he killed a kid by mistake, his wife’s infidelity and mysterious death, discovering that he is not the biological father to his daughter but fathered by another man, who is very “close” to him, trying to find a new life in New Orleans whilst battling so many issues and angst, overcoming his drinking problem….but still he is not about to give up..well on women he is…trust issues abound.

Olivia Benchet is quite an interesting character. Talk about dysfunctional family….a grandmother who had the “sight”, which Olivia has inherited, a lush for a mother who just loves getting married and divorced, an ex-con father who has just come out of jail after serving a sentence for murder and who has now discovered he has been saved and found religion…could there be a more screwed up family!!!! How can anyone rise above all that…but indeed Olivia does. I really liked her…she has spunk, not afraid to take chances…wow loved the scene where she and Bentz get it together…pity he had to spoilt it all by his reaction to the situation he finds himself in…attracted to her but unable to break through his issues with women. Boy, did that wife of his do a number on him!!!!!

They first meet when Olivia gives a report to Bentz and his partner, Reuben Montoya (another great character…hope we get to discover more about this hot guy, with some really great stylish dressing issued!!!!) on the visions she has been having about a serial killer, who looks like a priest and who is killing women in staged settings of how female saints had died and who calls himself the Chosen.
They race against time to find the killer before he strikes again…and though I had a few characters in mind, I was kept guessing until almost the end of the book. And what a surprise that was finding out!!!!!!! Not once did I even think it was possible. The suspense just kept building up.

I was really not prepared to what happened to Father James, who is Bent’z half brother, his wife’s lover and his daughter’s real father. He was just an interesting character and I would have liked to have read more about him I just wished he had taken the plunge from the beginning and just maybe he would have found true happiness instead of wasting years questioning his belief as a priest.

Though this series is termed as romance suspense, I did want to see a bit more of the romance bit…..just not enough for me. The chemistry between Olivia and Bentz could have done with a bit more zing…..however, in the next book Lost Souls we meet up with them again and you find out what happens after their HEA in this story..

Story is set in steamy New Orleans (before Katrina), which I really liked and Olivia’s house just suited the mood of the story. Her dog…talk about a weird pooch!!!!!
A few twists in the epilogue..which we have to wait for the next book to discover the answers.
Great read. 

REVIEW: Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger by Heidi Rice

Could I possibly have resisted reading this book???? A gorgeous man looking into my eyes, telling me that I wanted to meet him, wanted to know him….omg….this has to be the BEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL COVER of any M&B books ever!!!!!!!!! 

 And then, I turned to the back cover and went weak at the knees…..yes I wanted to get into this book like right now!!!! Would you want to buy this book if you read this????.....
Honed, handsome, and needing the kiss of life! Millionaire entrepreneur
Ryan King is mortified: he’s just been pulled from the ocean by a pretty female lifeguard! Why, after months recovering from a horrific motorbike accident, did he get back on his surfboard? For the same reason he wants a hot, wild woman back in his bed – to prove he’s the same man he was before… Maddy is shocked to find that this half-drowned, totally gorgeous surfer has her body humming! She always ends up getting used – maybe this time it’s her turn to do the using? It’s the short, sizzling affair they both need – until their dangerously addictive liaison careers out of control…

Heidi Rice is one of my favorite M&B Modern Heat authors and I love her books. She just knows how to write hot, sensual and emotional, passionate stories and Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger is no exception.
Ryan A gorgeous, sexy millionaire, who has been rendered impotent from a motorbike accident, is recuperating at Trewan Manor, a fabulous house on top of a cliff….and is saved from drowning when he’s attempting to do some surfing, by a woman lifeguard…this is a new career from your usual M&B heroines…loved it.

Maddy Westmore is one of those heroines who has had it with men…they are not to be trusted ever…from her father’s affair with his secretary, which she had observed personally to the men who had passed through her life….it was always her who was used and never received anything back. But she has a soft heart and a caring nature so of course she wants to know how Ryan is after the rescue. She is also very innocent when it comes to handling the full seduction scene with Ryan…..who sleeps with her to prove that he is not impotent…(one of the symptoms from his motor cycle accident). And wow are the sex scenes hot…does this man know what to do with a woman’s body!!!!!!! I wanted to be in Maddy’s place…I wanted to be her….

After a mutual decision to have an affair with no strings attached, it soon becomes clear that they have a special chemistry between each other.

There are a lot of issues that both have to overcome before they can truly find their HEA.
Loved the dialogue…. Loved this part…”I hate to rush you. But if you’re not annoyed, could you tell me what you are? Exactly?” … and the humor….She grinned, the charge of excitement making her erogenous zones do a happy dance. “Time to seize control of your sex life, Madeleine Westmore.” …. the description of the settings….Cornwall…such a beautiful and romantic place…. and the secondary characters….Maddy’s brother…now I wanted to know his story….which I am hoping to read next…..Cupcakes and Killer Heels.

Oh and the epilogue….loved loved it!!!!!! I was so into this book and have read it 3 or 4 times and each time I am still excited as if it was the first time I read it…

REVIEW: Lure by Brian Rathbone

This was a free ebook which I was asked to give an honest review.
I just couldn’t get into this book. I put it aside and a few days later went back to it and gave it another try and I have to be honest and say that I did struggle to finish it.

When I read the synopsis, the plot and the characters...an ex-cop driving a souped up car and who is interested in the paranormal sound good to me. But as I turned the pages, I was so disappointed....I found her totally uninteresting and as for her friend Shells (I hated the name...sorry!!!!)..if I heard “dude” one more time, I was going to scream and smack her!!!!! I could not engage with any of the characters and after a while I skipped a few lines and at times pages.

I could not connect. I kept waiting for something to happen....and really nothing to pull me right into the story.
This could have been a good book but I felt it lacked something