The Chieftain by Margaret Mallory

Grade-B+
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Return of the Highlanders #4
Reviewed by Kay

Conner MacDonald is a highland chieftain and trying to live up to that. He's also trying to live down his father's past. He strives very hard to be a good leader and man. He heads to another castle to set up his home for him and his future wife, as it is time for an alliance to be made. And what better way to do this than through a marriage? He leaves his cousins behind to guard the other castle but he lets Ilysa, his best friend's sister come with him. She has been running his keep for years anyway and he could use the friendly face as he settles in. Lately though, he has been looking at Ilysa in a different light.

Ilysa, no last name given, is a healer and even a seer. She hasn't yet really grown in to her powers but they are there. She is a nineteen year old widow and Conner's best friend's sister. And she has loved Conner from afar for many years. She always wanted him to see her as a woman but due to her station that just never happened. Needless to say, she is excited to go to Conner's new home with him. She takes over the running of the keep and Conner realizes just exactly what goes in to doing so. One thing leads to another and...they become involved.

I loved this book and this series. The characters were so well written that you felt like you knew them. The scenery so well described you felt you were there. Watching the struggles that these two went through as they fell in love was worth every second you spent in the highlands. Who wouldn't want to spend the weekend in the highlands of Scotland?

The Men With the Golden Cuffs by Lexi Blake

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: High Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Menage, BDSM
Series: Masters and Mercenaries #2
Reviewed by Kate

 

Serena writes erotic romances under a pen name.  When she starts receiving threatening messages, her editor hooks her up with a security firm.  Adam and Jake have been best friends since boot camp.  Being assigned to Serena's case isn't a hardship at all.  They've been looking for a submissive to share and Serena writes BDSM menage stories.  Maybe they can provide her with some hands-on experiences.

 
Some of the conflict in this story comes from the stalker, the rest comes from Serena, Jake, and Adam.  Each has been let down by love in the past and are scared to trust again.  I don't know that I've ever run across a trio of more stubborn characters.  I felt the middle part lagged a bit because they were all refusing to talk to each other.  Despite that, I really enjoyed the book. 

The Rebound Girl by Tamara Morgan

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Getting Physical #1

Reviewed by Anne

265 pages

I first read Tamara Morgan last year and thought then that she was one of the funniest romance writers I've read!  I read Love is a Battlefield and The World is a Stage and enjoyed them.  When I saw Rebound Girl was available I jumped at the chance to read it.  It has great characters who aren't like every other character you've read.  And it's so funny!   I laughed out loud so many times reading this! Not just smiled, but laughed. I woke my husband up laughing as I read far too late into the night to finish this story.  And because I enjoyed the style of writing so much, I give you a review with lots of quotes:

Whitney is a very self confident plastic surgeon.  She's no Barbie, though.

"...the thirty extra pounds she carried mostly in her hips didn’t make her a victim of low self-esteem or discounted standards. She liked that weight right where it sat—and she would have been the first to advocate going under the knife if she felt otherwise."  p.9

 

She and her friends have moved to the burbs, taken out a big loan and are opening the Surgery Center/Spa they've always dreamed of.  Whitney has always been a big city girl, but she has no doubts she'll be fine in the small town she's moved to.  This is her dream!  Finally coming true.

 

On one of their first nights in town, Whitney and her friends head out to the local bar hoping to hook up with willing partners, or at least have a good time .  Matt's brother has just talked him into going out for the first time since he split from his ex-wife.  Brother Lincoln is hitting on Whitney's friend, and Matt approaches Whitney.

 

"Now that she was seeing the man head-on, she could tell she was going to have to take it a little easy on him. He wasn’t bad looking—in fact, the hesitant smile and tousled sandy hair signaled nerd chic at its best, and there was a slight depression in his cheek that she thought might transform into a full-blown dimple if he tried. But the guy wore a corduroy jacket with elbow patches and drank something pink with little bits of fruit floating on the top.
He was obviously clueless."  p.8

 

The thing is, Matt's an old fashioned kind of guy.  A kindergarten teacher.  And he's not really looking to hook up with anyone.  He just wants to start moving on.  And Whitney isn't really interested in hooking up with Matt either, but when his brother and her friend leave the bar, Matt and Whitney agree that pancakes and bacon would be great and they make their way to a diner.

 

"Matt could hardly believe his good luck.
It was officially eight months since he and Laura signed the divorce papers, and most of that time had been spent hiding in his apartment, avoiding women and Lincoln’s single-minded insistence that Matt needed to put himself out there again.
He’d finally caved, and the first woman he’d gathered up the nerve to approach turned out to be this one. Easy to talk to, funny, pretty in a straightforward, no-nonsense way he wasn’t used to. And best of all, she’d already made it abundantly clear she had no intention—or expectation—of sleeping with him. She was like training wheels.
Awesome, bacon-loving training wheels." p. 19

 

After spending a little time with Matt, Whitney changes her mind about not having sex with him.  And because she's Whitney, she lets him know, no doubts about it.

 

'The space between them, infinitesimal as it was, felt thick with promise. “What you need more than anything right now is a rebound girl.”
“I do?” Then, “What’s a rebound girl?”
She smiled brightly. “I am. Here’s how it works. I don’t want you to buy me a ring. I don’t want to bear your children. I don’t even want to be your girlfriend. All I want is you and me and as much sex as we can possibly squeeze into the four hours before dawn.”
Matt’s mouth went dry. “That’s a real thing?”
“Oh, Matt. Poor, sweet Matt. You have no idea.'  p.24

 

So, that's the set up, and the book takes off from there.  Whitney is brash and independent and out of her element in the small town she's moved to.  Matt finds her refreshing and wants more than just a rebound with her.  Throw in some great secondary characters and annoying small town politics and you've got an interesting story.

 

I really enjoyed what a strong character Whitney was.  She's almost unlikable, except that you see where she's coming from and you like her all the more for speaking up.  I've always thought it's nice to have that one really outspoken friend who will say the things you really want to but wouldn't dream of.  That's Whitney.  And her mouth and her decisions get her into trouble.  But she takes responsibility and tries to set things right.  She was a refreshing change from the too good and too sweet heroines I read a lot of.

 

Matt is a beta hero, and a wonderful one.  That's another change from the tried and tried alpha-asshole hero!  But while he is beta, he does know what he wants.  He's not perfect either, but watching Matt and Whitney work out their issues and their relationship was really fun!

 

The author did such a good job painting Jared, Whitney's cheating ex, through Whitney's eyes that I really had a hard time being ok with him when he showed up. I see that there's a second book coming in this series and it's about him. Part of me doesn't want to read it because I still hate him for Whitney's sake! But the majority part of me wants to see how the author handles him and what his future brings.

Hooray for a strong female character! Hooray for a humorous and sweet romance! This one goes on my Best of 2013 list!

I Need an Intervention...

I think everyone has at least one plot that they can't pass up. For me, it's a marriage of convenience with a particular soft spot for mail order brides. I love that part where the couple grapples with not marrying for love, but finding it anyway. Two of my all time favorite books, ones that I have re-read too many times to count, are marriage of convenience stories. Sunset Embrace by Sandra Brown and Susan Carroll's The Bride Finder. I highly recommend both if you love the marriage of convenience story line, too.

However, I fear I may have over-read my favorite plot. Each one I read is starting to feel the same. Even when they're well written, they're getting old. The reasons behind the marriages seem to be getting more and more far fetched. Do two millionaires really need to marry due to an unplanned pregnancy in this day and age? Can a crazy old man really change his will so his son must marry in order to inherit?

So I'm taking a marriage of convenience break. Going into rehab, if you will. Anyone know of a twelve-step program? No more until 2014. And, if I have a relapse, Anne and Kay get to pick out a book for me to read. *shudder* But if I'm giving up the marriage of convenience, I'll need something else to distract me. What's your poison of choice? The one story line you can't resist?

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Ember
Kink Level-None
Series-Clan MacDougall #1
Reviewed by Kay

Duncan McEwan is a warrior, training to become a future Chieftain. He was never looking for love and never suspected he would find it in the hopeless and abused woman he and his friends find face down in a stream. Aishlinn, no last name, has never experienced kindness from a male. Not her stepfather, stepbrothers, or pretty much anyone else that should have cared for her. She escapes after years of repeated and horrific abuse only to end up face down in that creek.

Her rescue at Duncan's hands is the start to a love story that will touch your heart. Not just the love but the scars each of them carry from their pasts both physically and emotionally. This novel started out so good but drug in the middle pretty badly for me. There are some plot twists and they leave the reader pretty satisfied with them I would say. What didn't work for me honestly was the heat level. It was barely there and I am a big fan of heat. Sadly, her good writing and storytelling was penalized for me because of it. Enough that I won't read any of the others. It makes me sad because anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Scottish Highlander romance!

The Theory of Attraction by Delphine Dryden

Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (BDSM)
Genre: ContemporarySeries: The Science of Temptation #1
Reviewed by Kate
121 pages

On Anne's recommendation, I read the Seduction Hypothesis. (See Anne's review here.)When I finished I had to go back and read Ivan and Cami's story. I wasn't too far into The Theory of Attraction before I realized I had read it before (evidently my poor memory could benefit from some sort of "books read" system as this is no where near the first time this has happened to me.) As I continued to read, I remembered how much I had enjoyed reading it the first time around.

Ivan is a man of routine and predictability. In the time Camilla has been his neighbor, she has learned his routines and fallen for him a little bit, even though they are just computer game playing, sci-fi watching friends. When Ivan needs to charm some bigwigs at an upcoming party he turns to Cami. Perhaps she can help him get past his awkward social presence. Cami jumps at the chance to help him (and spend more time with him) but gets more than she bargained for when she realizes there's one thing about predictable Ivan she didn't know -- he's a Dom.

I really like that this wasn't a book about changing Ivan. Cami helps him understand the situations he'll encounter at the party, but he doesn't undergo a nerd-to-jock transformation. He remains himself. He continues his experiment on growing tomatoes, despite his his dislike for tomatoes. He still has a hangup about shower hanky panky (my favorite scene in the book.) And on the path to helping Ivan, Cami learns about herself too.

A strong start to a great series.  Delphine Dryden has done for nerdiness what butter did for toast -- made it yummy and scrumptious.

Toy Box by Delphine Dryden

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (BDSM, D/s)
Genre: Contemporary
Reviewed by Kate
Toy Box by Delphine Dryden
48 pages

I really enjoyed Dryden's recent nerd romance stories, so I thought I'd try some of her backlist.

Rafe and Lauren started their relationship as Dom/sub, but everything turned vanilla when their first child arrived. Now the kids are spending the weekend with the grandparents and Rafe decides it's time to step into his Dom role once more.

Ahhhh. I love a good husband and wife reuniting story and I really liked that there wasn't any real conflict in this short (such as overcoming infidelity). It was all about them connecting with their Dom/sub relationship again. I highly recommend this quick read.