Labels: books, Lori Foster

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Charis has heard all about Gideon, the dangerously handsome hero with the mysterious past. She's grateful for his help, but utterly unwilling to endure a marriage of convenience-especially to a man whose touch leaves her breathless. Desperate to drive him mad with passion, she would do anything to make Gideon lose control-and fall captive to irresistible, undeniable sin.

Labels: Anna Campbell, books

A group of elite FBI special agents has been brought together to form the Cyber Action Team aka CAT - and they have one mission: to solve internet-related murders.

From his years in the FBI's violent crimes unit, Special Agent Dean Taggart has learned firsthand how vicious people can be. But this is the worst he's ever seen. Eight victims have been murdered, their final moments captured on film and shown on a secret Web site called Satan's Playground. And a madman who refers to himself as the Reaper is auctioning off their means of death.

When the investigation leads Dean to the small town of Hope Valley, he enlists the help of sexy and capable sheriff Stacey Rhodes, who's dealing with secrets of her own. It's too late to save the latest victim, but Dean and Stacey will have to work fast, because the Reaper's next auction is about to begin...

I'm a regular visitor over at Plotmonkeys, and so I was rather excited to see Leslie Kelly was writing a new romantic suspense series under the name Leslie Parrish. Obviously these were going to be very different books, so it made sense to create a new name and website to suit the mood and feel of the CAT books.

So when RNTV sent out the list of July books for review, I was relieved that "Fade To Black" was on the list and no one had yet laid claim to it. Well I took care of that right away! And now, after reading it, all I can say is: lucky me :) Here we go...

In the first few pages of the story, we see that the killer is just in the middle of his first kill. And we also discover that he has decided to videotape his victim's final moments. Despite his mostly calm demeanor, this is not a cold, unemotional murder; the killer is remembering cruel taunts and digs he's suffered, and lashes out against his prey with all the rage and impotence that's been building for years. This is his revenge. Now he had finally found his place, and what he was meant to do.

Seventeen months and several deaths later, the bloody crimes have been discovered, and on the internet of all places. Now it was up to CAT, a specialized division of the FBI who deal with cyber crimes, to stop a maniac before he kills any more people. Using video footage from the eight deaths uncovered, Special Agent Dean Taggart follows the trail to Hope Valley, the small town where the first victim resided, and teams up with the very dedicated and very female sheriff, Stacey Rhodes. Working side by side to stop a madman straight out of one's worst nightmare, Dean and Stacey keep hitting a brick wall, because now the time between murders is becoming shorter, and despite the Reaper having less time to prepare for his kills, the trail isn't getting any easier to track.

Stacey knows what it's like to live with the haunting images left over from a gruesome tragedy. That's why she's returned to Hope Valley, where she doesn't have to deal with such horrific acts of violence. But now it seems such a crime has come to her town, and she has to not just help track a brutal killer who keeps upping the bloody stakes with each crime, but also deal with the aftermath of grief when the crime hits so close to home. If that weren't enough, there's also the having to deal with the distracting presence of the sexiest man she's ever known on a daily basis. Sensing a mutual attraction, Stacey decides the only thing to do is act on it, and decides on a temporary fling is just what's needed to help her relax and maybe even forget, for just a little while, the horror of the man they are tracking.

But before Dean and Stacey can figure out where their feelings are headed, the team must try and stop the Reaper from commiting his most disturbing murder yet. Time is working against them, and if they don't figure out who is responsible for these heinous crimes, the results could be more devastating then they can deal with....

My thoughts:

Not too much. Not too little. It was just right. What I mean is, there's not an abundance of gratuitous violence, there are no TSTL characters, and the hero and heroine don't drop everything to have raging hot sex everytime someone dies. I'll admit, I kept waiting for something bad to happen, like Dean all of a sudden morphing into a complete jerk or that Stacey forgets she's a competent policewoman, more than capable of taking care of herself and her town, but wilts under the intimidating glare of the hero. But it never did. Whew, how wonderful that was to experience: regular people who acted like you hoped they would.

Probably one of the best things about this book is the way the heroine is written. Stacey is exactly the kind of woman I would want to be. She's strong, brave, intelligent, and she comes with a boatload of common sense. She's also very forthright and can hold her own against any man, even one that hates her guts. She doesn't cower behind Dean when the hint of danger is lurking about. Definitely not the helpless female type is our Stacey (who unfortunately spells her name wrong :P). In fact she's the one that initiates their fling, figuring there's no reason to wait for the guy to make the first move. In fact that's just her way - she is definitely a take charge type of person, and even when it comes to sex, she's not afraid to put herself out there. I think it impressed the heck out of Dean, too.

And speaking of which, the perfect match for her is a guy just like Dean. Sure he's got baggage - ex-wife, a kid he hardly gets to see, vast experience with solving violent crimes - but he's got his head on straight and he knows what's important. Above all else, he loves his son and will do whatever it takes if it means he can spend more time with him. And then he has this rather adorable crush on Stacey - his heart stops whenever he sees her - yet he plays it cool. He doesn't act like a chest-beating bully with something to prove.

I think Leslie did an amazing job of bringing these two people together and letting them simmer but not boiling over and make a complete mess. The action was suspenseful enough to keep me turning the pages yet not too gory and explicit that I had to close my eyes or put the book down. She also kept me guessing as to the identity of the killer, as several possible suspects were paraded throughout the story for very legitimate reasons, so I appreciated that it wasn't immediately known, at least to me, who was commiting the crimes. It made the action more suspenseful and heightened the level of urgency to catch him. And the story was told in such a way that the existence of such a place like Satan's Playground is completely believable, and probably does actually survive out there in the real world (shudder), which makes this book even more compelling.

I am definitely recommending that you give Leslie's new series a try. I'm so excited that she decided to branch out into the suspense genre, and am thrilled that this first story worked so well for me, and I'm sure many other readers. There was just a little bit of a lag about 3/4 of the way through, but it was just minor compared to how much I really enjoyed this book. I think she's going places. Kudos to Leslie :)

Rating: ****1/2 out of *****

Labels: Leslie Parrish

Labels: Ann Aguirre, spotlight

Nola Grainger needs a man...and fast. Her grandmother has left her everything in her will, with one small catch: Nola has to be married within a month. But if she's going to get married, she wants it to last. And for her, that means finding a man with as much passion as she has—who can take care of every desire, every day.

Nola Grainger is living a great life in Chicago. She's built her photography business into something to be proud of, she has wonderful friends and an amazing lover. But when her grandmother dies, she might have to give it all up and go live in Resnick, the small town in Georgia where she grew up, in order to get her inheritance. Nola's not interested in any money, but Lochhaven, the lovely southern home she grew up in, would be all her's. There's just one small catch: Nola has to be married in order to claim her inheritance, and she's got 30 days to get it done, or otherwise the house along with everything that goes with it will go to someone else.

Of course Nola is shocked by such an archaic demand to gain her inheritance, and even moreso when she discovers her grandmother's will is airtight. As much as she'd love to turn her back on the stipulation, she knows deep in her heart she would regret losing Lochhaven, so after much consideration, she decides that she is going to do everything she can to fulfill the terms of the will. She doesn't have much time, so she immediately sets about dealing with her life in Chicago, and tying up loose ends. This takes longer than she anticipated, so by the time she reaches Resnick, she's tired, stressed, and feeling the pressure like a lead weight in her stomach.

Part of the stress that is affecting her is that Nola decides that the man she's going to marry is going to be for keeps, not just a solution to an immediate problem. She figures if she can find a man who can set her sheets on fire, that he will be most compatible, and they can work on the rest later. She already has at least one candidate in mind: her high school sweetheart, Billy. Finding out he's available gives her hope that they can re-kindle the romance they had so many years ago. But though he's a more likely choice, she decides not to limit her options, especially when her current lover Marc has expressed interest in taking their relationship to the next level, and then there's Tanner, her grandmothers's sexy handyman, who totally flips her switch.

So with the clock ticking, Nola must decide which man she is going to potentially spend the rest of he life with, work on restoring Lochhaven to its former glory, and, oh yeah, try and figure out who's trying to kill her before they succeed...

My thoughts:

This book is a bit unique in that it's set up to be a traditional romance, yet the heroine has been spending time in the beds of three different men. Normally this type of behavior puts me off the book, but under the circumstances - using an old plot device in a contemporary way - I was able to put aside my personal feelings and work let the storyline play out.

Why I think it worked for me was because of the situations in which two of the men played a part in her life. Marc was already her current lover, though at first she really didn't see him as potential husband material, and Billy was her first lover, back when they were in high school. So the idea of her being sexually intimate with three men didn't bother me as much as it might have if she just recently met these three men and decided they were the most likely candidates for a husband.

Now the story was written in such a way that all three men were very viable choices for a husband. It was also written in a way that Nola had reason not to choose any of them for very valid reasons. So here's Nola, desperate to find a husband and not lose the legacy that meant so much to her, yet because of a variety of reasons, her decision was not going to be an easy one. She had to get to know these men intimately, both physically and emotionally, in order to know in her heart which man was the one for her. She was not looking for a temporary arrangement - she wanted a permanent, happy relationship that she could build on with her husband. As archaic as her grandmother's wishes were, once she came to realize what she could be forfeiting, Nola had every intention of honoring the terms of the will.

As for the man she fell in love with, let's just say that I knew from the minute I "met" him who I wanted her to choose, and fortunately I was right. Each man had his own set of qualities and attributes that appealed to Nola in different ways, but there was only one man whom she felt was the one she is meant to be with. Once she knew in her heart, she didn't allow herself to continue to have sex with the other two, and this was because she'd consciously made a commitment; she had fallen in love, so even though she still cared deeply for the two other men she might have married, and was still attracted to both of them, she had made her choice and couldn't break her vow, even if it was just to herself.

This story was refreshing in that it let the heroine explore her sexuality, her feelings, and didn't have Nola feeling guilty for getting physical with more than one man. It's a very contemporary attitude, and I'm sure each of us know at least one friend, or maybe even are that person, who has more than one lover at a time. Nola was also as upfront with her lovers as she could be, not sugarcoating the fact that she was being intimate with other men, and because no promise of fidelity and exclusivity had been made, I felt she was well within her right to have a little fun, as long as she was careful and took precautions, which was definitely made known that she was.

While this story may not appeal to everyone's tastes, I think it's a brave move on Ms. Maynard's part to write about a modern woman who embraces her sexuality and at the same time, honors her small-town roots. Sexy and charming, I think many readers will still see Janice's familiar style and enjoy a bolder storyline with a likable heroine and the men who love her.

Rating: **** out of *****

Labels: Janice Maynard

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USA Today bestselling author Nalini Singh introduces a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires…

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