Welcome to Paradise by Elle Kennedy - A Review(-ish)

A few months ago, Jane from Dear Author recommended Elle Kennedy to me as an author she thought I'd enjoy. She'd just finished Ms. Kennedy's SEAL series, and thought I'd like them. I agreed I probably would, but hadn't bought any of her books. Then, when in Amazon the other day, I remembered the author's name and picked up Welcome to Paradise, her latest release.

Charlotte Hill is a successful singer. She left Paradise, the small town she grew up in, ostracized as the daughter of the town slut, but now she's an award winning singer and the toast of the town. She decides to go back to Paradise for her high school reunion for one reason, and one reason only -- to get back at Nate Bishop, the boy who took her virginity and broke her heart in the process. Nate never stopped thinking about Charlotte. He pushed her from his life with some hateful words because he was afraid she was going to give up her chance to go to Julliard in order to stay with him in Paradise. He loved her so much, he couldn't bear for her heartache to continue living in the small town. But he basically took her virginity and said to her, "I thought you'd be better at this, considering who your mother is" and crushed Charlotte's confidence altogether. So Charlotte's decided to come back and take her revenge on Nate for breaking her heart.

But when Charlotte gets back to Paradise, all of her feelings for Nate return. She's still completely attracted, and when he tries to apologize for hurting her, she rushes to change the subject. After a steaming hot night of sex, she is on the fence about whether or not she can take revenge on Nate. Even more so when he confesses that he still has feelings for her. Should Charlotte forgive and forget? Or will she make Nate pay for hurting her in the past?

I quite liked this book, even though the plot is flimsy at best. Look, we all get hurt during high school, or college, and sure, a part of us might like to tell off the person who did it. But mostly, as adults, we let that go. So Charlotte's reasoning behind going back to Paradise was flawed, and frankly a bit silly. But I kind of went with it, knowing that the author was using it as a plot device to get her back into Nate's arms. For his part, Nate is a really nice guy. A nice beta hero who I ended up kind of aggravated that Charlotte was so determined to hurt, especially because he tried multiple times to apologize. But in the end, two mostly nice people ended up together in a sweet is short story that made for an entertaining afternoon of reading. I like Ms. Kennedy's style quite a bit and will be following Jane's advice (which I should have done a while ago) and getting more of her backlist. But for now, I can assure you that this book is worth the $2.80 and is a sweet, quick read.

 Final grade: B-/C+

In Bed with the Highlander by Maya Banks - A Review(-ish)

Mairin Stuart is in hiding. You see, she is the bastard daughter of King Alexander of Scotland, and the sole heir to a large and very valuable tract of land that is coveted far and wide. Because of her inheritance, she's grown up in a convent, sheltered and demure. When Duncan Cameron's men show up at the convent and threaten the mother abbess, Mairin outs herself and is taken into captivity, where she's badly abused. Mairin, loathe to marry Cameron, who only wants her inheritance, escapes and is rescued by the brother of Ewan McCabe, laird of the McCabe Clan.

Ewan McCabe decides that he will marry Mairin to keep her safe. What begins is a tale of an innocent, strong willed lady who meets a strong willed alpha male and brings to him unimaginable love and happiness.

I picked up this book because Maya Banks is an auto buy for me. But also because I kept hearing "Garwood-esque" applied to the book. I'm a huge fan of Julie Garwood's older historicals, particularly her Highlands set ones. And indeed, this book does feel very much like an homage to Garwood. The heroine is quirky and adorable, often saying things that should be been kept in her head and not said. She's constantly getting into scrapes, and frustrating the hero. She's an instinctive mother and strong willed for sure. The hero is steely and hard, and all about marrying for the advantages his intended will bring him. But as he gets to know her, her gentle nature and trusting soul softens his resolve and he falls in love.

Now, this sounds almost like a knock on the book. But I felt that the moving parts were put together charmingly. Mairin is funny and gets into scrapes that evoke chuckles. Ewan is appalled by how she tosses his regimented life into disarray. The secondary characters are entertaining and fun.The sex scenes are hot and evocative. Is it perfect? No. There will be hard core Garwood fans who think it cleaves too closely to her work. There is little historical accuracy. The heroine is a virtual Mary Sue. But the characters' chemistry is delightful, and I smiled and chuckled often while reading the book. This is a book I know I'll read again for the lighthearted laugh that I look for sometimes when reading romance. Overall, this is a book I really enjoyed and one that I'm happy to offer a recommendation for to readers who are looking for a lighthearted, delightful romance.

Final grade: B

WINNER! Lauren Dane's Never Enough

Congrats to Commenter #8, 

DANIELLE

You won Never Enough by Lauren Dane!

Thanks to all who participated!

In Which Kati Interrogates Lauren Dane

 

Today, Katidom is THRILLED to have Lauren Dane, author of Never Enough, book 4 of The Brown Siblings series visiting. The series is one of my very favorite!

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Lauren Dane!

KATI:  Hi Lauren, thanks so much for visiting Katidom! Your Brown Siblings series is one of my very favorites, the reason being that the characters are so fully fleshed out. Did they come to you fully formed, or did you get to know them as you wrote them?

LAUREN: Thank you so much for having me and for all these great questions.

My characters usually come to me as ideas, flashes of personality, that sort of thing. Each one of them reveals themselves slowly to me as I begin to write. Sometimes it’s quick, Erin was quick – I had a handle on her from very early on. Sometimes it’s slower and I have that epiphany moment farther along in the book. It’s a frustrating thing sometimes, but I do love how I get to know them like a friend over the course of the story.

KATI:  One of the hallmarks of a Lauren Dane book is that you tackle REAL issues. Your characters have dealt with everything from an abusive relationship to the death of a child. How do you pick the issues your characters deal with? And how do you conduct your research?

LAUREN: My characters tend to come with their own hurts and hurdles, just like real people do. The world has to be constructed even if it’s a contemporary setting. People have backgrounds and history so that’s part of worldbuilding for me. I love writing romance, but I think love is like anything else, it comes with a bunch of real world stuff. How your family would react to your choices, where you live, what you come from, how you react to an issue and why is all part of my characters so it seems only natural to me to write some of those struggles into the story.

As for research – I worked as a family violence advocate for several years, starting in college and through law school. After that I worked as a legal advocate for victim’s/Survivor’s advocacy organization for family violence. The issues of child neglect and abuse and domestic violence are many I dealt with for my clients (and some family experience though thankfully not me personally).  I have a law degree so I’m familiar enough with the basic legal construct a character would have to deal with. And I’m fortunate enough to know lots of people who specialize in things I didn’t so I can ask any of them for help. My doctor actually helped me when I was writing Taking Chase and wanted to know about how difficult it would be to change specialties, etc.

The world is full of people who have expertise about all sorts of things. I am totally shameless when it comes to asking people about their jobs and lives and I’ve never had anyone not be happy to help when I ask questions.

KATI:  I’m always interested to know how authors tackle the talents of their characters, particularly when they do something like write music or paint. I know you had a song list for the book (it’s referenced in the author’s notes at the end) but you actually had Adrian write some songs during the book. I’m curious, when you wrote the songs, did you go all the way, lyrics and music? Did you really hear the song in your head? If so, do you have experience writing music?

LAUREN: The lyrical snippets in the book when Adrian is working and in Laid Bare when Erin is singing their stuff is all me. I’m not a songwriter so I don’t write the music or anything like that. I just hear the songs in my head and go that way.  I have no experience at all with writing music, though I respect musicians a great deal and I hope to just not mess things up too bad when I do things.

KATI: Gillian is from England. One of the things I appreciated was the fact that you could tell by the way you had her speak. It’s something I also admire about Joanna Bourne’s books, the way they convey accent. How do you make inflection and accent come through so clearly?

LAUREN: I’m super wary about accents and trying to get them right on the page and also not to sound like a jackwagon so I felt the key with Gillian was just flavors of her accent. Usually when people have an accent but have relocated it dims over time. But when you get excited or mad it comes out. My mom’s accent (she’s from Arkansas originally) totally thickens up when she gets mad or is around her family.

As it happens and because I’m lucky this way, one of my oldest friends is first gen American, her family is English so I spent a lot of time around people speaking the queen’s English. But I also happen to know someone who grew up in London’s East End and my husband and I were Eastenders addicts for over ten years (until BBC stopped showing it here as did our local PBS station) – so I’ve seen and heard the way the end of words drop or the vowel sounds change when they get mad. So in my head when I wrote Gillian being mad I could totally hear her saying “wha?”

KATI: You have a number of ongoing series, how do you manage the details? Do you work multiple books at a time? Do you keep master notebooks of each series?

LAUREN: I used to do 3x5 cards in little boxes for each book. But now that I’ve been doing this a while it was getting to be unmanageable so I started using Scrivener (via the lovely Larissa Ione) which is a great tool for me to keep the encyclopedia of the world I’m working on. The Federation books alone had well over 300 cards (so I’m still working on getting all that transferred). In Scrivener I can keep pictures, links, notes about characters and how they connect. It’s really cool and I’m finding it quite helpful. It’s big though, so I’m still learning it.

And yes, I do end up working on multiple books at a time because of how the process is staggered in the publishing industry. So I’ll be writing one and get edits on another, or final pass pages.

KATI: I know some readers don’t like it, but I adore kids in romance novels, and Miles is a particularly cool kid. He plays a critical role in this book and definitely is not window dressing or a plot device. The same was true of Rennie in Coming Undone. Do you approach writing children differently than adults?

LAUREN: I really don’t. I feel like any character I put into a story should be there for a reason. And I try to make that character a fully realized person. Miles is key to the story in so many ways. Like any other character in this series, he’s going to introduce parts of the other characters via his interaction with them. So I just wanted to do justice to Miles the same as I wanted to do justice to Gillian, or to Brody, etc.

And kids aren’t always cute or nice. They don’t always behave and they can be pissy when things change in their lives. They’re barometers in a lot of ways and I appreciate having them in some books because kids provide insight in ways other characters can’t.

KATI: One of my favorite things about your writing is that you write tremendously sensual books. They are full of hot sex, but also tender connection between the heroes and heroines. How has your approach to writing sex scenes changed since you started?

LAUREN: Thank you! Well, back then I hadn’t done it a thousand times, LOL. So it was all new and it was easier to write something because everything was new. But really, to me, sex is like anything else in a book. A sex scene should be there for a reason and I don’t mean to just fill some pages.  Back in the beginning I didn’t really understand pacing and how to frame a story. I just wrote. But now I do get it and so it slows the process down a little because I want to get it just right. Though there are some scenes that just write themselves and those are almost always the favorite ones of that book.

Sex is a great way to put emotion on the page. Anger, passion, pain, fear, pleasure, happiness, laughter, whatever. To me, the closer the connection between the characters, the hotter the scene. But you know, sexuality is like a snowflake. What appeals to me may not appeal to others and so forth.

KATI: What’s next for the Brown’s when do we get Raven’s book? Any hints about who her guy is going to be?

LAUREN: I’m done with the Browns now as far as the series goes. But I’m doing a digital only novella featuring Erin, Todd and Ben that will be out next September. But you’ll see glimpses of the Browns as we move on and into my new series with Heat.

It’s set on Bainbridge Island with Gillian’s friends (who you meet in Never Enough). The first book, Sway, will be part of the Cherished duology with Maya Banks out next summer and features Daisy. And then it’s Tart in November of next year which will be about Jules. During Sway and into Tart, Gillian will be planning her wedding to Adrian so you’ll see her there.

Raven’s book will be the 4^th, the last in the Bainbridge Island series (Sway, Tart, #3 still untitled with Mary and then Raven’s book). We haven’t met her hero just yet… That one will be out in 2013.

KATI: What can readers expect this year from Lauren Dane? What’s your publishing schedule?

LAUREN: I’m winding down at this point. After an extremely busy year of a lot of back to back releases I’ve got Heart of Darkness, the first in my new PNR series, Bound By Magick, from Berkley Sensation out November 1. This one is set in a Seattle where humans know of the weres but not the other paranormals. Meriel, my heroine, is set to run the largest and most influential clan of witches in the country and she’s in for the ride of her life when she tracks down an outclan witch stealing from them and he turns out to be her magick’s mate and more.

And then nothing but writing and mom and wife stuff until April when Beneath the Skin comes out, the next de La Vega book. May is Captivated – the last Phantom Corps book, June is Rising Darkness the next Bound By Magick book, July is Cherished with Maya Banks, September is the digital novella with Erin, Todd and Ben and November is Tart.  (I’m hoping to fit Beth Murphy’s book into October so we’ll see how that works, LOL)

KATI:  Can you tell us about a romance novel you’ve read recently that you really liked? Who are your favorite authors?

LAUREN: I read Carly Phillips newest, Serendipity and I LOVED it. I love Carly’s voice. Her contemporaries are sexy and fun and full of emotion. This one is a such a great story of second chances and finding love and overcoming your past.  I really can’t wait for the next books in the series.

I read across a lot of genres so some of my favorites are William Gibson, Frank Herbert, Sheri S. Tepper, Louise Marley, Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Crusie, Richard K. Morgan, Patricia Briggs, Elieen Wilks, Nalini Singh, JD Robb/Nora Roberts, Megan Hart, Lisa Kleypas – so many! 

Thank you for visiting, Lauren! 

CONTEST ALERT ~ CONTEST ALERT ~ CONTEST ALERT


COMMENTING CLOSED, THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

Today, I'm thrilled to announce that one commenter will win a copy of Never Enough by Lauren Dane, courtesy of Berkley. 

This contest will stay open until Saturday, September 10th. 

YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE COMMENTS. No Email, NO BOOK. Thanks for your cooperation!

Never Enough by Lauren Dane - A Review(-ish)

Adrian Brown is a bonafide rock star. He's hot, the ladies love him, and he's enormously gifted. He's also lonely. Sure, he's got an amazing family who love and support him. And he's a down to earth guy, he's not into drinking and drugs, mostly he hangs with his family. And he definitely has trust issues - so many people want a piece of him, it's best to keep everyone but family at arm's length. Which is why when Gillian Forrester comes to him with news that he has a school aged son, he's downright rude to her.

Gillian had a horrible upbringing. Her mother and father divorced when she was young, and her mother always had "boyfriends" or "friends" - a revolving door of them. Her sister followed suit, giving birth to a baby just as Gillian is finishing her music degree at Julliard. Instead of taking that next step in her promising career, Gillian takes one look at the baby and knows that he is her destiny. She immediately adopts him and names him Miles. For years, she asks her sister to tell her who the baby's father is, but her sister declines. That is, until she's on her deathbed - then she reveals that Miles' father is none other than Adrian Brown. Gillian wastes no time in seeking out Adrian, feeling that he has the right to know what an awesome child he has, and offering him the chance to be part of Miles' life. So she's heartily offended to have Adrian accuse her of trying to get money out of him. But when his sister, Erin, hears about Gillian's claim, she heads to Gillian's house to meet Miles for herself. The moment she meets him, she knows he's a Brown. He's got the mannerisms, and the musical talent, plus, he looks like Adrian. She goes to Adrian and pushes him to meet and get to know Miles.

What follows is an extremely emotional story of discovery, love and steadfastness. When Adrian meets Miles, he immediately wants to give him everything. Gillian objects, knowing that Miles is a good kid, and one that does not need to be constantly spoiled by his new rock star father. Adrian wants Miles to be part of his life, and part and parcel of that is Gillian also becomes part of his life. Which works out great because Adrian can't seem to stop thinking about her. She's feisty, never leaving a doubt who Miles' mom is, but also generous, affording Adrian a safe and comfortable place to get to know Miles. And she's hot as hell. Once they finally get together, their chemistry is incendiary.

Lauren Dane has penned another wonderful, emotional roller coaster of a ride with Never Enough. Adrian is the stuff dreams are made of, full of hot Alpha-ness and a determination to do the best for the woman he loves and even more for the child he fathered. His drive to make both Miles and Gillian's lives better is a huge part of his charm. Plus, it has to be said, Adrian is a dirty, dirty boy. He's all kinds of dirty talking hotness. And even more than that, Gillian is a perfect match for him. What seems prim and uptight at first is actually earthy and fun loving. She's slow to warm up, but once she lets Adrian into her heart, she does it 100%. And their slowly evolving love story is a delight to read. As for Miles, he's no cookie cutter romance kid. He's smart and his central role in the story isn't window dressing. He's the lynchpin of the story, and Ms. Dane never disservices him by making him a generic romance plot device.

I also appreciated getting to check in with all of the Brown siblings. One of my favorite parts of series romance is getting to see the after the HEA. In this case, because the Brown sibs are so tight, we get to see them interact alot, which is like visiting good friends. While this book absolutely stands alone, I *HIGHLY* recommend that you start at the beginning of the series, because it's tightly written, emotional as all get out, and guaranteed to make you fall in love with each book. Never Enough is a worthy and delightful ending to a terrific series.

Final grade: A

An ARC of the book was generously provided by Berkley's publicity department. Thank you!

CONTEST ALERT ~ CONTEST ALERT ~ CONTEST ALERT

Lauren Dane will be visiting Katidom tomorrow with a fabulous interview. 

Comment then for your chance to win your own copy of Never Enough!

Archangel's Blade by Nalini Singh - A Review(-ish)

When a severed head is found in New York City, Dmitri, the second to the archangel who rules North America, recognizes that there might be something different about this case. Usually, he does not get involved in cases this small, but it seems to reek of something old, something only he and other vampires of his age might recognize. He calls the Guild for assistance. Made up of vampire hunters who assist angels in enforcing the rules for wayward vampires, trying to escape their period of servitude to the angels who made them, the Guild has extensive libraries and hunters with all sorts of expertise. For this case, Sara, the Guild Director, taps Honor St. Nicholas.

Honor is not "hunter born" meaning, her scenting abilities are not strong. But she's hunted vampires in the past, although, since her abduction and torture by a number of vampires, she's been hiding in the Guild library. Sara is determined that Honor recover from her trauma and move on with her life, so she sends her to the Archangel's Tower to assist Dmitri in determining what happened in the case. Honor is horrified. She's terrified of vampires and is still reeling from her abduction. She was tortured extensively, and cannot bear the idea of being in the presence of one of the most notorious and oldest vampires, not to mention the fact that Dmitri is among the most powerful vamps out there. But she does as she's told and heads over to the Tower.

From the moment Dmitri lays eyes on Honor, he's attracted and intrigued. Particularly after he makes a move on her, and she cuts his face. After their initial meeting, Dmitri discovers what happened to Honor, and is enraged to find that the vampires who perpetrated the kidnapping and torture of her had not been apprehended and punished. He decides that he will afford Honor her revenge, and assist in tracking down those who hurt her. As the two band together to discover the mysteries of the severed head, and to track down her captors, their feelings for each other grow.

Archangel's Blade is the fourth entry in the Guild Hunter series, and it's a doozy. When Dmitri is introduced in book one, he's, well, he's a bastard. He's awful to Elena, disapproving of everything she does and very concerned about the archangel he serves who is mesmerized by this hunter-born. He goes out of his way to aggravate her, and to generally hassle and poke at her as much as possible. While I didn't hate Dmitri, I certainly didn't think of him as hero-material. Needless to say, I was intrigued to find out how Nalini would handle him. After all, Dmitri had very real (and figurative) teeth, and was not what one would think of as honorable. But as Archangel's Blade opens, we discover a vampire who has survived horrors of his own, and who has experienced things that shaped him into the ruthless being he is. What he finds in Honor is a woman who is beyond damaged; traumatized and defensive. Of course, perverse creature that he is, Dmitri immediately wants her. And he goes about seducing her with a directness that disconcerts Honor. She's quite sure that Dmitri could destroy her with little more than a flick of the wrist, but she's seduced by his resolve to assist her in hunting down those who hurt her. And more than that, she seduced by his intelligence, beauty and brutality.

I will say this, Nalini never, EVER pulls a punch with Dmitri. He's a bastard when the series opens, and he's a bastard at the end of Archangel's Blade. He does not become neutered by love. While yes, he's tender with Honor, at one point he wrongs her in a way that I'm not sure I could forgive. Was his apology believable? Yes. Do I think I'd forgive him? Not sure. I've read other reviews that have questioned the resolution of Dmitri and Honor's love story. The truth is, it worked for me, mostly I think because the breadcrumbs Nalini lays throughout the story actually built the foundation for it.

I was thrilled to read this story and discover more about a character who I really thought was beyond redemption. And more than that, I marveled at Nalini's ability to have Dmitri never lose his edge. He starts off the book nasty, and while we understand where the nasty comes from at the end of the book -- Dmitri is STILL nasty. Overall,  the coming together of two such damaged and complex characters is altogether satisfying and a definite BIG SIGH romance.


Final grade: A

An ARC of this book was provided by Nalini Singh. Thank you!

The Game of Love by Jeanette Murray - A Review(-ish)

Former tennis star Chris St. James just wants her life to normalize. She's walked away from her pro career and has taken a job teaching and coaching the girls' tennis team at a small high school. Her first order of business is securing new tennis uniforms for her girls and planning a tournament to raise the team's profile. But first, she must get through Brett Wallace, former pro football player and coach of the boys' football team.

Brett enjoys his status as beloved local son, and his cushy job as head football coach. He's entertained when the new girls tennis coach challenges the donation coming to going completely to the football team. She wants some of that money. Brett likes the looks of her and agrees to work with her to come to a compromise about the donation. Chris resents Brett's lackadaisical sense of entitlement and is enraged when he allows his assistant coaches to ogle her. She's not having it.

This is more or less where I stopped reading. My problems with this book were two fold. I think that the author was going for a "Rachel Gibson-esque" feel for the story, but her dialogue felt leaden to me and didn't sparkle and pop. Also, I felt like Brett pretty much lasered in Chris's ass, and was very "Good Old Boy" about how he approached her. For her part, she was prickly and terse and generally unlikeable. I got almost 10 chapters into the book before I determined that I didn't care about either character's happily ever after and was not going to continue to invest time in the story.

Final grade: DNF

Galley received through Net Galley.