Seducing the Duchess by Ashley March Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Signet Available: October 5th 2010 Genre: Historical Romance

Gambling. Carousing. Flirting. Charlotte, Duchess of Rutherford, will do anything to escape her painful marriage and force her husband to divorce her. But when Phillip, Duke of Rutherford, promises a divorce if Charlotte will help him become a better husband for another woman, she wonders if she really wants to lose him…

Reviewed by: Catherine

I have to be upfront and say that I am not this book’s target audience. I didn’t know this until I started reading, but within the first 16 pages it was glaringly apparent. I hate reading about cheaters. If I hear a book has infidelity I’ve learned to just skip it. Otherwise I usually spend the whole book pissed off. It is a rare day when I believe in the relationship after they’ve cheated on one another. It has happened a time or two though, I have to admit, but those I liked despite myself. On the other hand, I am nuts for second chance romance stories. I love watching people work out their problems after they’ve grown wiser. I love knowing that two people love each other enough to put themselves out there even though they know they’ve already been burned once.

I struggled through finishing this book. To be honest, the only reason I read the whole way through was because I have a little OCD problem where I’m compelled to finish. It drives me insane to not have resolution! I spend way too much time wondering what happened and if the book got better. It’s better for me just to grit my teeth and finish it. Yes, I know I’m weird.

My biggest problem with this book was Charlotte. I thought they were both pretty shabby people, but because of how the plot of the book was set up my ire was focused on her. Because Philip was trying to win Charlotte back he was much nicer than she was. He just took whatever she threw at him and kept trying. It actually made me feel really bad for him, even after I learned about their past together. He was like that dumb little puppy that kept trailing behind someone even though it had already been kicked multiple times. You just want to save it from itself, you know?

I’m pretty sure that I was supposed to be on Charlotte’s side. I think I was supposed to look at her behavior and think Yeah! Girl Power! but I didn’t. Philip’s wrong (and it was a really bad thing to do) did not excuse her behavior in my eyes. I can see how she got to that point, but that doesn’t mean I like her and want to read about her. Maybe if I had gotten to know her before her antics came into play? I might have ended up more sympathetic. As it was, it was really hard to like her when I spent most of the book disgusted by her behavior.

Charlotte used men. She was very upfront about using her looks and seductive presence to manipulate men. She flat out reveled in her power over them. Whenever she was in a tough spot she turned on the seduction and tried to control people with it. It was very off putting for me. I don’t like modern girls who use their sexuality as a weapon, why would I like it in a historical? I find it pretty shady, and it really makes me sad for the character. Her behavior to men everywhere makes her just as bad and manipulative as Philip was.

Her constantly turning on the sex kitten routine made her look pretty slutty because she did it to everyone. The book opens with Philip coming and peeling her out of some guys lap. Her insolent sex kitten act when he did so was not a good introduction for me. Then he tries to take her to their country estate and when they stop at an inn she runs in first. When he catches up to her she’s offering to strip for all the men in the place and even starts to before he stops her. This all happened by page 18, by the way. I’m sorry, but debasing yourself because you think it’ll hurt your husband is the dumbest thing ever. I’m sure it happens, but I don’t want to read about it!

Philip is really no better than Charlotte. I had more sympathy for him, and I finished the book pitying him, but he was the one who screwed his own life up. He was screwed over in the past, there’s no denying it. But his revenge was a really, really jerk thing to do. It was also illogical because he trapped himself too! I’m not surprised by the current plots he cooked up—although those are pretty dumb too. I really think he needs to hire someone to come up with some plans that actually have a chance of succeeding!

I can see why he was constantly scheming though. When he was upfront it still didn’t work! Charlotte was just so back and forth about him that it made my head spin. She would do the exact same things that he did—like try to make her jealous—but then when she found out, it was just more proof of him being a controller. Even though she did the EXACT SAME THING! I just really think these people would have been better off apart. There was one “big reveal” about Charlotte that I think was supposed to make me grateful and relieved by the truth. (I can’t specify because of spoilers!) It didn’t work. I just shook my head over it.

One thing that really bothered me is the way Charlotte behaved. She went around cursing constantly in public and making insulting obscene gestures toward Philip. I just find it hard to believe that a squire’s daughter and a duke’s wife would run around comparing his head to a “horse’s testicles” in public. At the end there was a slight mention of the “stodgy” members of the ton and the “self-righteous matrons” making her feel like an outcast for her behavior. I honestly think that she would be a pariah everywhere, not just with the sticklers. Especially when all of society knows she’s estranged from her husband, so being nice to her won’t win them any points with him. Maybe there were duchesses running around like that, I could be wrong.

Ignoring the characters and the plot… I see a lot of potential for the author. She had a smooth rhythm to her writing. Pages turned quickly for me, even when I was irritated. She also had quite a few funny one-liners. One of my favorites was on page 95:

"You must not stalk around the room–" "Stalk?" His brow wrinkled. "–as if you were a lion and everyone else is your prey." "Do you really think I stalk? I must say, that is quite a stroke to my ego. I assume I appear quite dangerous when I do it?"

There isn’t a very strong period feel at all, the setting felt kind of tacked on with no real depth. I believe people refer to those as “Wallpaper Historical.” But I’m okay with that! Not every book has to be like that. I enjoy a lot of books that would fall into that category.

 

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Dark Viking by Sandra Hill  Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Available: October 5, 2010 Genre: Paranormal Romance

If life weren’t dangerous enough, stuntwoman Rita Sawyer has been recruited by the Navy SEALs. Now instead of being lit on fire and hurtling through skyscraper windows, she’s trying to survive her grueling SEALs training. But when a sea operation goes wrong, Rita awakens to find herself still clad in her wetsuit and in a cage with a bunch of Vikings staring at her. With no idea how she traveled back in time to the Norselands, all Rita is certain of is that her Viking warlord captor is tempting her beyond reason…

Steven of Norstead can’t belive the sight before him. The strange sea creature he found is actually a beautiful woman. But with her sharp tongue and irksome ways, Rita’s like no other woman he’s ever known. Steven’s been in a cold, dark mood for many a sennight. Mayhap this unusual woman will be the one to light his fire…

Reviewed by: Amy 

Quick Rundown:  Rita Sawyer, former movie stunt woman, is now training to become a female Navy SEAL.  She is knocked out cold (hit on the head) during a routine SEAL training session and time travels to Norstead during the Viking age.  Steven, leader of Norstead, discovers Rita, believes she is a sea creature (given that she arrives in a wetsuit) and decides to jail her until he figures out what she is and what to do with her.  The witches of the land believe they have cast a spell to summon Rita’s arrival and that she is the light to Steven’s dark, brooding demeanor.

First Impression:  I had not read any of Sandra Hill’s books before, but I understand now that she writes with and emphasizes humor.  Going in, I had no idea how silly it would be.  Silly as in cheesy.  So much so that even within the chapters there are sub-titles such as "He was the Donald Trump of the dark ages…." and "They weren’t Reva and Josh, but there was a Guiding Light…".

The Hero:  A depressed, barbaric Viking that Rita says "has the blues." (As a form of punishment, he decides to parade "Ree-tah" around town with a slave collar to assert his power and control.)

The Heroine:  An independent, feisty woman who adjusts unrealistically well to her new way of life in the Viking age. (She decides to make the best of it and invent deodorant and condoms, the two things she feels is needed most.)

What worked:  Ms. Hill has a flair for description and two of her passions are food and sex!  I have never heard an author be so descriptive with food and the sex scenes were sensual, hot and probably the only non-corny part of the book!   Also, Ms. Hill references Clark Gable and Johnny Depp who are two of my favorite men, so I will give her kudos for that!

What didn’t work: While I enjoy books with humor, the overabundance of it in this case was a turn off for me.  I believe Ms. Hill referenced pop-culture and modern day topics in an attempt to highlight the difference between the time periods.  However, the jokes and on-liners ended up being more distracting and didn’t particularly forward the generally weak storyline.  As a reader, I kept questioning why I was not laughing and ultimately felt no real connection between Rita and Steven and did not really care where they ended up, past or future.

Final conclusion:  I don’t think the Vikings are for me, but if someone enjoys (corny) references to pop culture that outweighs storyline and character, this is the book and world to chose.

 

 

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Play Dirty by Lorie O’Clare Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks Available: September 28, 2010 Genre: Contemporary Romance

Heartthrob bounty hunter Greg King knows how to work it—and he knows that he can have any woman he wants. But there’s more to Greg than meets the eye…and he’s still haunted by the memory of his beautiful, estranged wife. Much as he’s tried to move on, he’s never been able to stop wondering why Haley left him. Or what he could have done to make their marriage better—and make her stay…

After putting a vicious criminal behind bars, Haley King had no choice but to leave her loved ones behind and enter the witness protection program. Turns out that, in her new life, Haley has once again found herself in serious trouble—and needs help from the only person she can trust: her husband. Now, as old secrets threaten to tear them apart and danger closes in from all sides, it’s up to Greg to keep Haley safe…and convince her that this time, he’s playing for keeps.

Reviewed by: Amy 

Move over "The Dog" there’s a new bounty hunter in town. And while he’s big, broad and all alpha male, his overall impression left little to be desired for this reader.  Play Dirty is the first installment of the bounty hunter series by Lorie O’Clare and unfortunately one that left me flat and frustrated.

Greg King, former police officer, now bounty hunter, thrives on the adventures his profession brings.  Catching a criminal runs through his blood like being high on a drug and now both his sons Marc and Jake crave the same action the job brings.  All three work together for King Fugitive Apprehension, a private investigative service founded by Greg.  While on a routine stakeout for the latest criminal, Greg sees a woman down the street in the shadows who looks like his wife.  He immediately knows it’s her, but does not know why she is there at the scene.  Haley King (a.k.a. Hannah McDowell) left her husband Greg and their two boys after testifying as the key witness against a major drug lord (Perry Pierre).  Without telling her family about her departure, she entered the Witness Protection Program, left Los Angeles and took on her new persona in Nebraska as a private investigator for Payton Investigative Services.  Her boss and mentor John Payton has suspiciously gone missing at the same time Perry Pierre dies in prison. Now that Pierre is dead, Haley is back in LA after not having any contact with her family for six years.

This was my first read of Ms. O’Clares and while I had high expectations going in (particularly with such a hot cover), I was frustrated throughout the book.  While I like the concept of a fiction based life of a bounty hunter, Play Dirty had a very unbelievable storyline.  Ms. O’Clare tries to create a story of a loving husband and wife (former high school sweethearts) who are dedicated to each other and their two teenage sons.  However, I found this entire plot hard to believe for several reasons.  First, Greg and the boys (now men) were quick to accept Haley back into their lives.  They almost treated her six-YEAR absence as if she’d only been gone for six-HOURS.   As the reader, I struggled with the mentality that this was just a regular part of the job to leave your family for six years and them be okay with it.  Second, it was unrealistic to me that both Greg and Haley knew exactly where the other one was during her absence, but did not contact the other or work out some way to be together.  I was not convinced that Greg could keep tabs on Haley and her new life and not be endangering himself and the boys.  Otherwise, why not join her in the Witness Protection Program to keep the family unity they both claimed to want. Third, Haley’s actions and words seemed to directly contradict any semblance of dedication she had to her family.

"Why didn’t you tell Dad?" Jake asked. "Because he would have stopped me, or intervened, or forbidden me to keep working.  I knew what I was doing was dangerous and I was hooked.  There was no way he was going to take me away from my first bust."

To me, it was obvious in the above quote that the thrill of the hunt was the most important thing to Haley. She chose the love of her job over her husband, her children and her life as she knew it.  She made it clear that while she hated giving up her family and identity for six years, she would do it again in a heart beat to take down a major criminal.  I simply cannot relate to this thought process and never would give up a life I made with a husband and children that I claimed to deeply love for a profession or "rush".

Also, though Haley and Greg were high school sweethearts and married almost two decades, I never felt a true emotional connection between them.  Their sexual moments seemed quick and detached – more of a "friends with benefits" feel and not really connecting in the intimacy of the moment or with each other which left me asking why was this couple even married when their deepest connection was to their profession.  This leads me to the continued fight for control between Haley and Greg that grew very tiresome as well.  Haley was constantly trying to prove to Greg that she was his professional equal.  She wanted him to trust her at the helm in giving the orders when she had all the information. Greg was constantly trying to take the lead in the decision making and also assert the "alpha role" of dominance and protection of his woman.

While Play Dirty provided some suspense, it was a flat attempt and didn’t have me on the edge of my seat like I expected. The informant and the villain were predictable as well as the ending.  Also the easy acceptance of Haley’s choice in leaving her family and the reasons behind it left a bitter taste in my mouth throughout the story. The overall family dynamics and lack of emotional depth definitely hindered my overall enjoyment of the story and left me questioning whether I will continue in the series.

 

 

 

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I Spy A Naughty Game by Jo Davis Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: NAL Trade Available: September 7, 2010 Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense (Erotic)

A tantalizing tale of erotic suspense in which a mask slips-and everything is revealed…

Blaze Kelly, one of the Secret Homeland Defense Organization’s top spies, is a powerful D/S master, and all raw male. Yet underneath his mask hides a wounded soul that aches for love. Emma Foster wears disguises too as part of her job for SHADO. But she’s not excited about her next mission-with the man who broke her heart.

Together they must infiltrate a group that plans to transfer a weapon of mass destruction into enemy hands-a mission that involves them in an illicit sexual game. As they are forced to explore their most dangerous desires, they face a challenge that could break even the steeliest of spies…

Reviewed by: Sophia (FV) 

Blaze Kelly is a member of the SHADO team, a secret governmental organization that takes orders directly from the president.  He’s deeply involved in the BDSM scene as a Dom.  When he reveals this to the woman he loves, Emma Foster (also a member of SHADO), she decides she cannot be a part of his world and he will never be happy without it so they go their separate ways.  While both of them are still hurting over the breakup they are assigned to work together on a dangerous mission to apprehend a traitor who is trying to sell weapons of mass destruction.  They have to go undercover as a D/s couple which will surely involve lots of very hot sex in public places and perhaps even heal their romantic relationship. 

I Spy a Naughty Game is the first book I’ve read by Jo Davis.  I’ve heard wonderful things about her Firefighter series so this erotic spy series seemed like one I would surely enjoy.  Unfortunately, I didn’t care for the characters, the erotic scenes fell flat and at times the behavior of the characters left me scratching my head. This story  lacked the emotional intensity and sexual tension it takes for an erotic romance to work for me.  The characters seemed as though they were simply going through the motions in the many sex scenes and I never had the sense that they really truly loved each other. 

Emma was opposed to the BDSM lifestyle but her ‘inner voice’ kept telling her that maybe she was turned on by it.  I just didn’t buy the fact that she struggled with the lifestyle enough to end a relationship with the man she loves only to turn around and plunge headfirst into the lifestyle posing his submissive with very little reservation.  I was not convinced at all.  While in the midst of a very serious situation while in captivity, she lets her hair down and enjoys some sexy time with one of her would-be captors.  Admittedly he might have been one of the good guys but the whole situation seemed ridiculous and unbelievable. 

Blaze as a Dominate lacked the exciting alpha charisma that normally puts the zing in this type of erotic romance.  Yes, he was in charge during sex scenes but he never really felt dominate in a way that a submissive would want to surrender themselves to.  Again because of the lack of emotional intensity between Emma and Blaze, I eventually became bored with their BDSM relationship.

Since Emma and Blaze are members of a super secret spy organization I expected a lot more action and suspense.  There is a decent action scene late in the story but it came too late to revive my interest and most of the circumstances surrounding the agents and their undercover operations seemed too implausible to be believable.  This book was not for me.

 

 

Other books in the series:

• I Spy a Wicked Sin
• I Spy a Dark Obsession (Feb 2011)

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Passionate Pleasures by Bertrice Small Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: NAL Trade Available: August 3, 2010 Genre: Erotic Romance

Some think librarians are stuffy, narrow-minded prudes-but that’s not true of Kathryn St. John. She runs Egret Point’s library and is very involved in her community, even down to keeping them up with the latest trends. One major trend she turned the local ladies on to is the interactive network The Channel. It’s there that Kathryn extends her occupational passions into the bedroom by playing out her favorite pieces of medieval English literature. Kathryn is quite satisfied with the princes, musketeers, and highwaymen her personas seduce in The Channel. But her seductions spill out into the real world and reach Timothy Blair, new to Egret Point. He wants to satiate both of their desires, but how can he possibly compete with fantasy lovers? That is unless he can create a wicked plot twist that even Kathryn couldn’t think up in her wildest dreams…

Reviewed by: Amy 

For those of you who have dined at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, you are aware that the employee’s response to whatever you ask for is ALWAYS, "my pleasure". (My mother and I make a joke out of it at times.) Well, no joke and unfortunately, Passionate Pleasures by Bertrice Small was far from a pleasing read for me.  In fact, it left me empty, a little nauseous and made me grab for my Tums!

Independent and precise woman Kathryn St. John (pronounced Sin Gin) has lived in the quaint, small town of Egret Pointe all her life. The local librarian and member of the town’s founding family, Kathryn has a modern flair – from the way she dresses to the books she chooses for the library. Nonetheless, she still presents a modest, conservative, respectable demeanor to the locals. Kathryn, in her mid forties, is content with being single as long as she can live out her sexual fantasies vicariously through The Channel, a cable network for women. Some of the fantasies Kathryn can immerse herself into include The Three Musketeers, Anthony and Cleopatra, Rapunzel, and the barbarian and slave girl.  She feels more than sexually fulfilled with her nightly fix of The Channel and therefore is not pursuing a real relationship. New York native and younger man, Tim Blair moves to Egret Pointe to take the position of principal at the middle school.  He settles into a small rental in Egret Pointe and quickly learns how observant the town is to his every move.  Tim’s first encounter with Kathryn is frustrating, not as much due to her accusations of him neglecting his dog, but more due to the instant attraction he feels toward the overreacting Kathryn.  After both apologize for their initial encounter, they form a casual friendship which progresses into courtship and then into Tim acting out a few of his own fantasies with Kathryn, who is more than willing to play the lead role.  Tim and Kathryn are afraid to commit to anything beyond properly dating in front of the town and sneaking into the sheets at night.

This book just truly lacked substance for me.  No character dimension or real storyline except for the fact of two people scared to embark on a serious relationship.  So you are left wading through a lot of filler dialogue and cheesy sexual moments searching for something that is gripping and memorable.  The first 90 pages the only "erotic" moments were brief descriptions of Kathryn immersing herself into The Channel’s fantasy stories.  Then when Kathryn and Tim became a couple that’s when the dialogue took a major downfall. The love scenes were written like porn, not erotica, and yes there is a difference for those who are not familiar with the erotica genre. It literally felt like it was a male author writing less than tasteful scenes of sex without substance.  And the most memorable quote, since I can’t pick a favorite, had me gagging to the point of not wanting to finish the book.

"When he walked into the bedroom he was naked.  Without a word he stood before her and pushed his cock between her lips. "Suck" he said, and she did until he came in her mouth, sucking thick gobs of cum down as if it were the finest wine."

Now I was drinking wine, mind you, in the middle of reading this quote and it took all of my willpower to not spew it across the couch. "Gobs"? Who really wants to read "gobs" and "cum" in the same sentence? Really?  Now I am all for smut and have no problem with dirty sex talk but "gobs" was down right disgusting to me!  I am usually selective with my erotica reads and had never read any work by this author.  The cover was enticing and looked like it could entail a deep, sensual story so I gave it a shot. It ended up going no where except to a typical, fantasy HEA but I was just so thankful I could put the cheesy porn to rest!

Other books in the series:

• Sudden Pleasures
• Forbidden Pleasures
• Private Pleasures
• Dangerous Pleasures

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