Kimberly Raye – Sweet as sugar, hot as spice

The third book in the Farrel Sisters series, published August 1, 2005.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: sweet



Sweet as Sugar
As owner and operator of Sugar & Spice Sinema, Eve Farrel creates red-hot how-to videos that help couples go from mild to wild. But Eve herself is single – and her famous feminist mother is determined to keep her that way. The only way Eve can get her mom off her back is to do the unthinkable – like get married.
Hot as Spice
Linc Adams is a bad-boy NASCAR driver whose love life is even faster than his car. The last thing he wants is to follow in his father’s footsteps and run for mayor of his Georgia town. Hoping to blow his electoral chances, he agrees to marry Eve. Surely, her knockout looks and steamy career will shock conservative voters! But Linc’s in for a shock himself on his wedding night. This fast-track ladies’ man is about to learn a trick of two about lovemaking … while Eve is about to learn something new about love.


After a hard week at the office, I needed something fluffy and fun and fast to read. And so I picked up this book, and knew I was going to have fun with it. And I did.
Jacqueline Farrel is a womanist, which is not really the same as a feminist, but close. She looks down on marriage as a man made institution to enslave women. Jacqueline is a famous tv show hostess, and she preaches the Holy Commitment Trinity: a solid foundation of shared interests, mutual respect, and great sex. After 30 plus years, her own Holy Commitment man has grown rebellious lately, and she really doesn’t know how to handle him. He wants to marry her! He has taken over her apartment lately, changed the tape for her answering machine, and she really doesn’t like seeing his socks in the livingroom and the toilet seat up all the time. But Donovan seems determined this time. This leaves Jacqueline with only one option: to move in with her only unmarried daughter, Eve.

Eve was always the rebel of the family, doing everything her mother doesn’t like, but so far, she has not found the man she wants to settle down with. And at the moment, she is really focused on working on her career. She cannot deal with a mother who wants to spend more quality time with her, as her mother drives her crazy.
So when she meets an old blind date at her sisters wedding, who has his own problems to deal with, the solution seems clear: marry him, pretend it is for love, while it will only lasts 9 months, and their problems will have been solved.
Eve has a successful company making instructional sex films for couples. And now a major network has asked her to do a series of documentaries, and Eve thinks it might be her big break to become the director of a major movie, her secret dream.

Eve was set up on a blind date with NASCAR driver Linc Adams a few months ago. And even though she was very much attracted to him, he acted like a real jerk and she walked out on him. This really surprised Linc, as women usually bought this act hook, line and sinker. He has become a race car driver on a later age than usual. His family has been in politics for generations, and his career has been plotted for him since the cradle. But he doesn’t want to be in politics at all, even though he has a law degree and was a successful public defender. When his grandfather died, he overheard his father cursing the dead man for ruining his life, and Linc is determined not to follow in his father’s footsteps. He does not want to hate his life and his parents for making him do things he does not want. And so he took up NASCAR racing for real, while his parents still think he will be the next major of their city. But Linc wants his best friend to win, as he is much better qualified for the job. If only he can ruin his reputation even more in the eyes of his voters … And marriage to a free spirit goth person like Eve might be just the thing …

And so they end up married after the bride and groom and most of the guests have driven off. Giving Eve’s mother almost a heart attack when she witnesses the last part of it. How can all three of her daughters so easily throw away everything she has thought them?
And now her mother is staying with her as well, and she is 71, and looking for a man to have her first orgasm with herself. Usually this would make her proud, a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it, but this is her mother! Sure, her mother had a horrible marriage to an abusive man, and when he died young, raised her and later her three granddaughters almost on her own, she never found someone to love. But hearing her talk about this, is just too much!

Meanwhile, Eve is really disappointed in Linc on their wedding night, and is determined not to have sex with him again, and Linc is completely amazed when he realised she faked an orgasm with him. And with the help of her own instructional dvd’s, he is intent on doing better the next time, and to woo her into staying married after all…


I really enjoyed this book. It was fun and fast and well written. Of course, the mother is a bit over the top, but she believed in what she preaches, and I admire her for that. We see a bit more of the NASCAR world when Linc is racing, and winning the Daytona. It was also fun to see Eve act out while in Linc’s home town, needling his parents and making a friend of his kid sister. Yes, I enjoyed everything about this book basically.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

J.D. Robb – Taken in Death

From the anthology: Mirror, mirror

An omnibus of novels by Mary Blayney, Elaine Fox, Mary Kay McComas, J D Robb and R C Ryan, published september 24, 2013.
Genre: romance
Cover: meh



Once upon a time...
...in a world far removed from the days when fairy tales were new, five bestselling authors spin versions that take the classic stories into a new dimension. You'll recognize Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and other enduring characters, but they'll exist in realms beyond your imagination, where the familiar is transformed into the extraordinary and otherworldly.


An open and shut case, if you believe the security video. A woman comes home just before midnight, and leaves a few minutes later with her children. Leaving a dead nanny behind. Eve doesn’t hesitate for a moment, and sends out an Amber alert for both children. And when the parents come home early, it should all have wrapped up nice and quickly.
But looks are deceiving, as Ross and Tosha MacDermit where still in Australia at the time of the murder/kidnapping. Eve does believe the shocked mother’s horrible story about her evil twinsister. Maj has always accused Tosha of killing their mother at birth, of stealing her rightful powers, just by living. She has tried to kill and injure Tosha as early as she can remember, and when they were twelve, Maj killed their father and was found laughing, while sitting on his dead body and drinking his blood. Maj has been imprisoned ever since, and Tosha was raised by family. She has officially deleted Maj from her personal records, and has moved from Sweden to America to escape her memories and her twinsister. At last, the bond between them has died, after Tosha consciously suppressing it.
And now Maj has appeared in her life again, kidnapping her children, Tosha’s most beloved “possessions”, in order to hurt Tosha the most.

And Eve and her loyal team are involved in a race against the clock, to find the children before they are hurt or killed. Maj is clearly psychotic, and she loves killing, and has even cannibalistic tendencies. She seduced her shrink into helping her escape, and as a thank you, she killed him after cleaning out his bank accounts.

A little toy will help Eve find little Henry and Gala, like leaving bread crumbs in the forest to the candy house …


“The evil witch killed Darcia”. The first sentence and I was captivated till the last sentence of the book. As it is a novella, it was very fast paced, a race against the clock to find the kidnapped children. They were brave in the face of evil, and they kept faith that the Good Witch would find them in time.

It is short, but all of J.D. Robb’s signature skills are put in this story, and I gobbled it up in a few hours. It was thrilling to follow all the crumbs, to learn about Maj and to witness everything. This is a nice retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

10 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Karen Chance – Death’s Mistress

The second book in the Dorina Basarab, Dhampir series, published January 5, 2010.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: strong, I like it



Dorina Basarab is a dhampir – half human, half vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. But so far, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing.

Back home in Brooklyn after the demise of her insane uncle, Dracula, Dory’s hoping her life is about to calm down. But then she gets some visitors. A friend wants Dory’s help in finding a magical Fey relic, and the gorgeous vampire Louis-Cesare is desperate to find his former mistress, Christine.
Dory and Louis-Cesare quickly discover the same master vampire Christine is bound to, is also rumoured to be in possession of the relic. But when the master vampire turns up dead, they realize that there’s more at stake than a missing mistress. Someone is killing vampire Senate members, and if Dory and Louis-Cesare can’t stop the murderer, they might be next.


Dory just came home from an easy job for her father, Mircea, when she hears something or someone stumbling around in her house. And almost gets squashed by a dragon. But that dragon is her friend Claire, who also owns the house. It has been Claire’s uncle’s house, and he has warded it inside and out, as he was making moonshine Elfen wine. Dorina has discovered that with Claire gone to fairy, and no longer surpressing her Dhampir rages, the Elfen wine does just about the same, although it has some unpleasant side effects. But why is Claire back home, with her baby? Claire asks Dory’s help in retrieving a stolen rune that was supposed to keep her little son Aiden safe from attacks, and there have been plenty on his young life already. Her husband doesn’t seem to take them seriously, but Claire is determined to keep her son safe, and that means not in Faery. The Fae they defeated in the previous book, Aesubrand, has escaped his prison, with the help of his mother, and now he has come after Dory, Claire and the little Prince again. They barely escape with their lives, and the house is completely ruined after being attacked by some Fae conjured elementals.

And then Mircea has another job for her, which seems to be too easy. And it is. There are more vampires after the vampire she has just beheaded than she can deal with. It is not an easy job to keep his body alive and well, while taking his head with her, so Mircea can interrogate her. And when her previous lover, the vampire Louis-Cesare tricks her badly, and steals it from her, along with her clothes, Dory is furious. She will get the head back, and get even with Louis-Cesare. And so Dory keeps running from vampires intent on killing her, or the body she has with her, and more parties than she knows are after the stolen Rune. But it does not matter to Dory who wants it and why, her best friend needs it to keep her baby safe, and that is the most important matter.
That Louis-Cesare wants to safe his former mistress, who has been captured a century ago, well, certainly it can wait a few years longer. Vamps life forever if they are not decapitated. Or caught out in the sun. But somehow, Dory ends up helping Louis-Cesare and his beloved, against her better judgment.

A very fast paced book, with almost non stop action, and a lot of it almost lethal to Dorina. She doesn’t get much rest in this book at all. But it was fun, and not hard at all to step back in this world. I enjoy Karen Chance’s writing style, and her fun and original characters. They are true hard ass and kick ass, and they don’t need to be saved by some man, be he vampire or mage or were.
The scene where she set the vampires and Fae who were after her, against each other was brilliant.
Dorina also learns more about her mother, and that her father truly loved her. And she is completely surprised by that. Now if only Mircea starts being honest with her, instead of treating her like an employee, perhaps she will be nicer in return…

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Jennifer Ashley – The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie

The sixth book in the Highland Pleasures series, published October 1, 2013.
Genre: historical romance
Cover: nice.



SECOND SIGHT AND SEDUCTION…

Daniel Mackenzie lives up to the reputation of the scandalous Mackenzie family—he has wealth, looks, and talent, and women love him. When he meets Violet Bastien—one of the most famous spiritual mediums in England—he immediately knows two things: that Miss Bastien is a fraud, and that he's wildly attracted to her.
Violet knows she can't really contact the other side, but she's excellent at reading people. She discerns quickly that Daniel is intelligent and dangerous to her reputation, but she also finds him generous, handsome, and outrageously wicked. But spectres from Violet's past threaten to destroy her, and she flees England, adopting yet another identity.
Daniel is determined to find the elusive Violet and pursue the passion he feels for her. And though Violet knows that her scandalous past will keep her from proper marriage, her attraction to Daniel is irresistible. It's not until Daniel is the only one she can turn to that he proves he believes in something more than cold facts. He believes in love.


I think you all know by now that Jennifer Ashley is high on my list with favourite authors. She just can’t write a bad book. And so I was very happy to finally be reading Daniel’s story. Especially after his antics in his father’s book, I was curious about him. And Jennifer completely does him justice.
Daniel loves machinery, and motorcars, and he is completely fascinated by Violet and her self made windmachine when he meets her.

Daniel has just won big at a poker game, and the sore looser thinks to pay him of with taking him to see a woman in a house he owns. Daniel does not expect to find a psychic there, and he immediately believes her to be a fake and a fraud, but he enjoys the show and takes the opportunity to find out how everything works. He is also not opposed to bedding the pretty woman, but Violet panics and hits him with a vase. After believe she killed him, she dumps his body near a physician and immediately flees the country with her mother and her maid. Her mother is a frail kind of woman who needs constant care, and feels entitled to everything Violet does for her. She also could be a real psychic.

But Daniel is not dead, and he does not appreciate being dumped and robbed. With the help of his uncle Ian, Daniel soon is hot on their trail, and he suddenly shows up in the middle of their act in a theater in Marseilles. Daniel is not about to expose them though, he is still after the windmachine. He needs it for his idea of a very fast automobile. But first he convinces Violet to spend the day with him. Her maid can look after her mother, but he will take her on an adventure first.

Violet has lived her whole life out of a suitcase, taking care of her mother, using her talents in reading people to know just what they want to hear when they visit a fortune teller. She can also flee at the drop of a hat, and they have often done that. They have travelled all over Europe, in different disguises. When she was sixteen, she was brutally used by the man she looked up to, to pay of his gambling debts. Ever since, she has distrusted men, and the memories often overtake her when she feels or hears something that reminds her of events. So she does not blithely becomes Daniel’s lover, he will have to go really slow and careful to win her over. And her fear is not the only obstacle he will have to conker…


I enjoyed this book immensely. Violet is a very original character, a strong woman who takes care of everything, instead of her mother taking care of her as should be. She has never had a chance at a normal life, and now Daniel offers her a few hours of being just herself. And she loves it. Daniel has had money and family and love all his life, while Violet had nothing of that. He is used to doing whatever he wants, when he wants it, and being able to afford it as well. And now he is interested in Violet, and her love for engineering. She is so totally different from the simpering ton misses his family is throwing his way. His stepmother and aunts want to see him happily married, but he will choose his own bride, thank you very much. Daniel is kind of a steamroller, but he can also be very gently when needed, and he will protect Violet from those trying to harm her. And so will his powerful family.

It was fun seeing them all together, the men all coming to Daniel and Violet’s rescue. Even seeing how the powerful Duke tries to buy Violet off, and Ian comes to her rescue. But Violet does not cower before the Duke, she confronts him head held high. She has spirit, and she really falls hard for Daniel.

I do hope there will be updates on their lives in the coming books about the McBrides, as I am very curious about the motorcars and other gadgets this duo will be inventing and building. This series is set in a time full of change, and I love to read about it.

Yes, there are some hot love scenes, but also some sweet scenes within the family, and Daniel’s younger sister. It was fun to see how Daniel handles his “strange” uncle Ian and get him to help in the search. Ian is still an enigma but a very endearing character. His book was the first. I do recommend this series wholeheartedly if you want to read historical romance without visiting the ballrooms of the ton very much.

10 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

New additions to my addiction

Here is a list of the books and bookrelated goodies I received in the last two weeks, some have been read already:

From Bookdepository:
Ellery Adams – Poisoned prose
Karen Chance – Tempt the Stars
Anthology – Mirror, mirror
Jennifer Ashley – The Wicked Deeds of Daniel MacKenzie
Sofie Kelly – Final Catcall
Kylie Logan – Chili con Carnage
Darynda Jones – Death and the Girl he Loves
Laura Childs – Postcards from the Dead

Secondhand Books:
Clive Cussler – Corsair

Books I’ve won:
Ann Aguirre – Agave Kiss, with a lovely bookmark, as I was one of the first 100 subscribers to her newsletter.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Laurell K. Hamilton – Shutdown

An Anita Blake free short story during the current American Government Shutdown.
Selfpublished October 8, 2013.
Genre: paranormal romance.

It is a nice cover, but I can’t get it copied out of the .pdf file.

It’s very short, and is a conversation between Micah and Anita, and Richard and his new fiancée. Richard still wants the white picket fence marriage but he does not want to give up the rougher kind of sex with Anita and Asher. So they are trying to convince his fiancée that she should not feel threatened by Anita, and explaining their (sexual) lifestyle to her.

So, if you are curious to a bit more in depth explanation of a polyamorous lifestyle, you might enjoy this one. If you just love the Anita Blake series, this is a sweet morsel of a story to tie you over till the next full length book is published.

I am a big fan of the series, so I was happy to receive this in my email this morning. But, as I really dislike Richard, not sure where this is heading. He seems to be really going for Anita look-alikes nowadays…


No stars, as it is really too short for that.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Ellery Adams – Poisoned Prose

The fifth book in the Books by the Bay Mystery series, published October 1, 2013.
Genre cozy mystery
Cover nice



When Olivia Limoges and other Oyster Bay patrons of the arts sponsor a retreat for famous storytellers, one of them is going to have a very unhappy ending...

Olivia thought gathering some of the most renowned storytellers in one place would be a nice, simple way for herself and the Bayside Book Writers to appreciate their talents. But things take a dark turn when the most famous storyteller in the nation - the captivating performer Violetta Devereaux - announces onstage that she will meet her end in Oyster Bay.
When Violetta is discovered murdered after the show, everyone involved with the retreat becomes a suspect. There are rumors that Violetta, who grew up in extreme poverty in the Appalachian Mountains, possessed an invaluable treasure. Now Chief Rawlings and the Bayside Book Writers must work at a frenzied pace to solve the crime before someone closes the book on them.


Good news for the Bayside Book Writers, Millay has finished her book and has found a literary agent who wants to represent her! She is the first of them to take that step, and of course that has to be celebrated. But something is wrong, as she did not share the good news with her boyfriend Harris first. And Olivia just knows that Millay has fallen out of love with him, and doesn’t know how to break up with Harris. After all, he took a bullet for her, he is a local hero. But Harris knows of course that something is wrong between them, even though he is still very much in love with Millay, he knows it is just not enough. So perhaps he should take that job offer and move to Texas for half a year. Some distance between them might be just the thing they both need.

Olivia herself is in a slump with her own book, it has grown boring, and she does not know how to save her heroine. So when Laurel comes up with a solution, to listen to one of the most famous story tellers in the country, who can certainly give them all some new inspiration, she agrees to her ex-boyfriend’s proposition to help fund the retreat he is organizing with the library.

Olivia’s friend Dixie is also excited that the storytellers are coming to Oyster Bay. She has a cousin, who has been in and out of prison, and now he has a job working for Violetta Devereaux, and he seems to be walking the straight and narrow. Her husband Grumpy is really not happy with the fact that Lowell is staying with them, but Dixie is firm about it: he is family.
Violetta was going to be real famous according to Lowell’s mother, as a professor was going to write a book about her and Appalachian folktales. But he died a few months ago. An accident according to the authorities, but Lowell was there, and what he saw scared the tar out of him. He saw the professor being pushed down the cliffs by a ghost.

Then the night of Violetta´s performance is there, and Olivia and the other Bay Side Writers have front row seats. And with just a few words, Violetta completely captivates the audience with her old Appalachian folk tales, and some of her own. But she also predicts that she will die here, and that prediction comes true. To the horror of Olivia, who finds her, and for Laurell who wanted an interview with her. With so many strangers in town, who hated her enough to kill her? Was it one of the other story tellers, or someone she knew when she lived her hard life in the mountains? Someone Olivia knows perhaps?

Chief Rawlings has nothing really to go on, and he actually asks Olivia and the other writers for help. Millay has an excellent position as a bartender to overhear the storytellers, and Harris will be able to dig up more information about Violetta and her past. And Olivia and Havilland will do whatever Olivia can think of.


This series is one of my favourite cozy mysteries. Ellery Adams has such a way with words, I feel myself an eyewitness in the story. I like the fact that the main character, Olivia Limoges, is in her early forties, and has no intention of getting married and have children of her own. She is perfectly content to spoil her half brother’s children. She values her independence, and is having a good relationship with Chief Rawlings, the local police chief. But he is pushing for more …

I also love how Olivia does not hesitate to take action against people driving recklessly or littering or such things. This is not the first time in the series that she does that. She really sees Oyster Bay as her town, hers to protect and help. Like the son of the Captain who provides her restaurants with fish and shellfish.

First, I love to witness the growth in character and personal life for all the main players in this series, but especially Olivia. And second, the mystery is always that surprising, I would not figure it out. Violetta is not the only death in this book though and I wonder how this will continue as Ellery leaves us with some important changes in Olivia´s life.

9,5 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian