New Book Cover for Katharine Ashe!

Gorgeous!

Check out full details by clicking on cover!

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 26, 2012

New romances on sale today!

There’s something for everyone on sale today…

What are you planning to buy? 😉

From Avon:

1) A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare

2) Confessions From an Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville

3) The Art of Duke Hunting by Sophia Nash

4) Perilous Pleasures by Jenny Brown

5) When Dreams Come True by Cathy Maxwell (Re-issue)

From Pocket Books

6) At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran

7) The Seduction of Lady X by Julia London

From Kensington

8) Master of Sin by Maggie Robinson

9) The Rake by Mary Jo Putney (Re-issue)

From St. Martin’s

10) Taming an Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch

The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville

Setting: Regency 1820

*Book 3 in Burgundy Club series*

Summary:

Being kidnapped is teaching Miss Celia Seaton a few things about life:

Lesson one: Never disrobe in front of a gentleman . . . unless his request comes at gunpoint.

Lesson two: If, when lost on the moors, you encounter Tarquin Compton, the leader of London society who ruined your marriage prospects, deny any previous acquaintance.

Lesson three: If presented with an opportunity to get back at Mr. Compton, the bigger the lie, the better. A faux engagement should do nicely.

Lesson four: Not all knowledge is found between the covers of a book. But an improper book may further your education in ways you never guessed.

And while an erotic novel may be entertaining, the real thing is even better.

Click cover for more info!

Review:

When it comes to Miranda Neville, I’ve come to expect great things. I’ve followed her since she made her debut on the romance scene a couple of years ago and I have loved every single one of her works.

This novel was eagerly anticipated as it is book 3 in this series about a group of male book collectors and the hero has always been one of the most interesting of the men. He is a dandy through and through and every romance reader knows a dandy is never hero material. Which is why I was so curious to see how Miranda would handle Tarquin, our fashion obsessed hero after doing such a good job with Sebastian (the super geeky one) in The Dangerous Viscount.

While I can’t say this was a bad book, it certainly wasn’t what I expected from Miranda; in fact I was slightly disappointed with this novel. From the start, I felt almost as if Miranda was rushing through the story without spending time developing the characters and the romance. I actually did a double take wondering if she really wrote this book, as the style was so different; short, choppy and full of confusing head hopping. 😦

The story itself didn’t do much for me and I didn’t warm to the heroine. By the end, I still couldn’t understand fully why Tarquin had fallen in love with her-she was plain and mostly un-interesting. Tarquin was quite well handled though but I still felt like we barely scratched the surface of his true depth. Essentially Celia and Tarquin are people who both have had to hide their true natures from the world under the cover of respectability. I just didn’t buy it. I kept waiting for Miranda’s magic to take hold and to fall in love with the story… but something was missing. Even the sex scenes felt dry and rushed, so different from her older books. The title was also misleading-the whole naughty book subplot wasn’t the main focus though reading about this real 19th century book did have a certain fascination. 😉

Basically this is is your standard amnesia plot: guy forgets who he is and falls for girl he normally wouldn’t and then things get very complicated once he gains his memory back. It’s been done before and in a much better book recently by Delilah Marvelle.

I’m hoping Miranda’s next novel will remind me once again why I love her romances.

Sensuality Level: Pretty warm (Short love scenes)

Final Verdict: Just ok.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Sneak Peek: Tessa Dare’s A Lady By Midnight!

Check out this gorgeous cover and blurb!

Book 3 in Spindle Cove series

Click cover for more info!

Summary:

A temporary engagement, a lifetime in the making…

After years of fending for herself, Kate Taylor found friendship and acceptance in Spindle Cove–but she never stopped yearning for love. The very last place she’d look for it is in the arms of Corporal Thorne. The militia commander is as stone cold as he is brutally handsome. But when mysterious strangers come searching for Kate, Thorne steps forward as her fiance. He claims to have only Kate’s safety in mind. So why is there smoldering passion in his kiss?

Long ago, Samuel Thorne devoted his life to guarding Kate’s happiness. He wants what’s best for her, and he knows it’s not marriage to a man like him. To outlast their temporary engagement, he must keep his hands off her tempting body and lock her warm smiles out of his withered heart. It’s the toughest battle of this hardened warrior’s life…and the first he seems destined to lose.

RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 28, 2012

Sneak Peek: Candace Camp’s new romance!

Candace Camp has been under the radar for a while now and there hasn’t been any news about any upcoming romances… until now! Amazon has revealed the new book cover as well as the exciting blurb!

More details on Candace’s website will hopefully follow soon…

Book 2 in Legend of St. Dwynwen Trilogy

Click cover for Amazon page!

Summary:

No one in tiny Chesley knows the truth about Damaris Howard; a woman of wealth and beauty, she rarely allows anyone to get close. Her past was marked by scandal and abandonment—better to stay aloof and reinvent herself.

Then Damaris meets Alec Stafford, the Earl of Rowden. The tall, handsome border lord is a man of quiet but deep passion, raised to show no weakness and burned once before by a woman’s love. But when he and Damaris cross paths inside London society, they set sparks of attraction blazing—and rumors flying.

And when someone abducts Damaris from the city streets, Alec must stake more than his reputation to rescue her. . . . Finding out who’s behind a dangerous plot plunges Alec and Damaris together in an intimacy that melts their well-guarded reserve, proving that true love’s rich rewards may just be worth the risks.

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 19, 2012

And look for book 1, in stores now!

Teresa Medeiros New Romance!

Loved The Pleasure of Your Kiss?

Then you must be excited for it’s sequel heading to bookstores in February of next year!

Here’s the latest news and a link to the sneak peek…

Summary:

Maximillian Burke has always prided himself on being the man every mother would want her daughter to marry. But after his scoundrel of a brother makes off with Max’s bride, Max discovers it’s more satisfying to be a rogue than the perfect gentleman. Forced to flee London after a duel gone wrong, Max seeks refuge at Cadgwyck Manor on the lonely coast of Cornwall, a place as wild and savage as his current temper. The tumbledown manor comes complete with its own ghost but oddly enough, it’s not the White Lady of Cadgwyck who begins to haunt Max’s heated dreams but his no-nonsense housekeeper.

The last thing prim and proper housekeeper Anne Spencer needs is a new master, especially one as brooding and gorgeous as the Earl of Dravenwood. Even as she schemes to be rid of him, she finds herself irresistibly drawn into his strong, muscular arms. When Max vows to solve the mystery of Cadgwyck’s ghost, he doesn’t realize it will put both of their hearts at risk and tempt them to surrender to a pleasure as delicious as it is dangerous.

RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 2013

Cover and more details coming soon!

Click for Sneak Peek!

The Lady Most Likely has a sequel out this fall!

Check out this cute video about the making of The Lady Most Likely written by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway.

And we have a title for book 2! The sequel is to be called:

The Lady Most Willing

More details coming soon!

Have you read The Lady Most Likely?

Are you waiting to read the sequel?

😀

Cover First Look: Sophie Jordan’s new book!

Absolutely gorgeous cover… I’m in love!

Click cover to find out more information on this book!

RELEASE DATE: JULY 31, 2012

More details coming soon!

Birdsong Review: BBC unveils epic new war romance

Summary:

As an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.

Cast:

Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Wraysford

Clemence Posey as Isabelle Azaire

Review:

As soon as I heard there was a new BBC period drama to be broadcast early this year, I was excited. I got even more excited when I saw the trailer and how gorgeous the whole piece looked. The actors looked yummy, the costumes looked yummy, even the scenery was breathtaking. Clemence Posey looked so flawlessly beautiful as Isabelle Azaire, it was hard to believe she was real. In fact the whole thing just looked spectacular and I just couldn’t wait to watch it.

Sadly, when I did sit down to watch it, I was far from impressed. Things started well enough as the series fades in on a war torn battlefield in 1916. Stephen, our hero tries to rallies his groups and then proceeds to remember events from his past-how he met a woman and slowly fell in love with her. These flashback scenes are intertwined with scenes of him trying to survive the war with his comrades.

The cinematography was gorgeous (everything was filmed in this soft, flattering light which made everything, including the gritty battle scenes look as if it belonged in a dream), the score was beautiful, the story was intriguing, the acting was great; it’s almost hard to believe how this could have gone wrong. But go wrong it did and the fault lay mainly with the screenplay and the pacing. This should have been a wonderful classic drama but my goodness, it was SLOW. Like agonizingly slow.

Let me give you a taste of what the pacing is like: Stephen and Isabelle are in a boat and she avoids looking at him for 5 seconds. He then slowly lifts his eyes to look her way (another 5 seconds) before she turns around and her foot lightly leans against his. His eyes flicker down and we get another 5 second shot of their feet touching before he raises his eyes (again for 5 seconds) and she avoids his gaze (again for another 5 seconds) before she finally (finally!) turns and they share a long, smouldering look. Ok, now I’ve got nothing against silent, smouldering looks from across a room (or a boat)-in fact I adore them; after all, who can forget Lizzy and Darcy’s smouldering looks shared over the piano in the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice?

The problem is you can’t make a whole movie (let alone a romance) out of a bunch of smouldering looks and moments from two very good looking people and have the audience care about them. Eddie and Clemence look good together and yet they had absolutely no chemistry. They barely spoke in the movie and me as an audience member simply could not get involved in their love story. I couldn’t see they shared anything other than good looks and a whole lot of L-U-S-T.

The battle scenes weren’t much better and the emotional effect of war on the soldiers wasn’t well shown at all. As a result, the war scenes ended up feeling un-necessary, just an excuse for a some action amidst all that slow, draggy romance.

So between the painful pacing and the complete lack of chemistry between these so-called lovers, this BBC series was a great opportunity wasted.

If only, if only…

Historical Drama Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Sexiness Rating: 3 out of 5

Eddie and Clemence are both gorgeous people but without chemistry, their scenes lacked fire and sexiness.

Broadcasting Information:

BBC One: Aired January 22 and 29, 2012

PBS: Due to air April 22 and 29, 2012

Click here to view the BBC page.

Click here to view the PBS page.

New changes!

Let’s face it: most of the stuff we learn in school is not applicable to the real world. But taking Web Communication 101 this semester has opened my eyes to the world of blogging and I’ve learned a lot of useful things.

The sidebar has now been tweaked and includes a Facebook group badge for the official Facebook group for this website. There is also a link to the Goodreads profile where you can see the books I plan to read and review.

Hopefully these changes will help to make things more accessible to my readers!

Enjoy! 🙂