ARC Review - MIdnight Secrets by Lisa Marie Rice

Midnight Secrets
by Lisa Marie Rice

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Former Navy SEAL Joe Harris nearly died—twice—on a medevac helo after being blown up by an IED. He’s not moving too great these days, but if there was ever a woman designed to jump start a man’s hormones, it would be his new neighbor.
Meeting Isabel—loving Isabel—brought Joe back to life.
Isabel Delvaux came from one of America’s foremost political dynasties, until the greatest terrorist attack since 9/11 killed her entire family. She barely survived the Washington Massacre, only to become prey for rabid reporters. Fleeing to Portland and changing her name was a way out, a way to start over. The only way.
She knows she’s safe with Joe Harris. Not just because he's big and strong, not just because he's part of a security team that obliterates threats on the regular, but because he’s been to the abyss and back.

But as they help each other heal--through talk, through touch, through spectacular sex—the past comes back to play. When Isabel’s memory starts to return and a mysterious stranger sends Joe emails indicating she’s in imminent danger, he'll do anything to help her uncover the truth. Even if that truth is the most terrifying thing of all…

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley; this does not affect my opinion of this book or the content of my review.

I am just like an excited puppy when it comes to Lisa Marie Rice's Midnight series, and the excitement has not died down as I stare at book 6. Just picture the excited little puppy having a full body shake and wriggle over a milk bone. Yeah, that is me when it comes to this series. There is a repeatable format that just works for me. Damaged (in some way or another) hero who is totally sweet and protectively alpha. Damaged (in some way or another) heroine with a heart of gold. Some mystery or Machiavellian scheme that needs solving and/or thwarting where they save each other or at least each save the day, and then happily ever after. Honestly, with as much serious trauma and drama as these former Special Forces security consultants have in their personal lives, it is just amazing they can be so successful financially.

It seems repetitive, and I suppose if you read them back to back, it would be. However, the characters and the plots are all just different enough to make it fun, and it is just so energetically done, that you cannot help liking them. Plus, you have this really tight knit group of men who are like family, and they fold the women into their group seamlessly. Everybody just loves everybody, and it is happy and idyllic. Is it realistic? Absolutely not. But this is my happy time, so I suck it right up.

And oh, Isabel and Joe kept me all happy wriggly in the very best ways. Yeah Isabel is mentally/emotionally damaged, but despite the quickness it happens, you do see her healing arc. And Joe is physically damaged, but already getting better. So you see them as human, but it isn't all about the angst. It is often about longing, fun, and sexy times. And food, all the delicious food. There is also the aforementioned Machiavellian plot, but honestly, that was so ridiculously over the top I couldn't really take it seriously. It was just part and parcel of the whole over the top world we have here. Suspense without the angst or nerves, if you see what I mean. And even Isobel gets to kick butt. The only real niggle I have is the whole fetishization of going condom-less. It is idiotic and irks the hell out of me, and I would completely love more condom positivity from Ms. Rice.

Overall, 4 stars because it embraces what it is, and I enjoy the ride.

OpenLibrary Review - Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts

Carolina Moon
By Nora Roberts


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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts—an utterly spellbinding tale about a woman who, though battered in both body and spirit, can never lose Hope…Tory Bodeen grew up in South Carolina, in a small run-down house, where her father ruled with an iron fist and a leather belt—and where her dreams and talents had no room to flourish. But she had Hope, who lived in the big house just a short skip away and whose friendship allowed Tory to be something she wasn’t allowed to be at home: a child. 
After young Hope’s brutal murder, unsolved to this day, Tory’s life began to fall apart. And now, as she returns to her hometown, with plans to settle in and open a stylish home-design shop, she is determined to find a measure of peace and free herself from the haunting visions of the past. As she forges a new bond with Cade Lavelle—Hope’s older brother and the heir to the family fortune—she isn’t sure whether the tragic loss they share will unite them or drive them apart. But she is willing to open her heart, just a little, and try. 
Living so close to those unhappy memories will be more difficult and frightening than Tory could ever have expected, however. Because Hope’s murderer is nearby as well… 

I love OpenLibrary, and as far as I am concerned it is one of the best and most novel approaches to book lending we've seen. Small disclaimer though, always checkout the PDF version (unless you are fortunate enough to have access to one of the partner libraries in which case I don't know exactly what is available), because OCR text recognition isn't great with scanned older books. But they do have a wealth of books available.

Today's feature is Carolina Moon. I'd consider this one to be one of Roberts' quasi paranormals, i.e. the whole world is contemporary as are all the characters except the heroine who has a bit of a twist.

Victoria Bodeen is one of those heroines where you just can't quite understand why or how she keeps geting up from the hits life has dealt her. Cade Lavelle is one of those poor little rich boy heroes. He's overbearing, and arrogant, and proprietary when he doesn't really have that right. So I'm not sure quite why I like him, I can just tell you that I do. And I found their romance and their relationship very satisfying. There's also a secondary romance that I found very enjoyable as well. You put those romances together with friendships and familial bonds woven into a very tricky mystery, and you have yourself a highly satisfying read. And considering the bargain price of free, it is more than worth the read.

As has often been said about Nora Roberts' books, they tend to be a bit formulaic. This one however is a bit more involved and trickier than usual. 4 stars

Review - The Liar by Nora Roberts

The Liar
by Nora Roberts

Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions …
The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed.
Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning …

Nora Roberts doesn't quite have the same magic for me that she did once upon a time, but she's never really let me down on romantic suspense either, and so I read her epic romantic suspense each year.

Review - Falling for a Redneck by Eve Langlais

Falling for a Redneck
By Eve Langlais

So this is the second story in a row that simply hasn't worked for me. And not just random stories, but things that should have worked. I don't know if I'm heading into a slump or it's just awful luck for this weekend, but whatever it is, I hope it straightens out PDQ.

Be forewarned, there WILL  be spoilers and ranting.

So generally speaking, even if Eve Langlais books don't make my top favorites list, I can at least count on solid enjoyment. This is in fact the first book of hers that was completely wrong for me. It should have been right dang it. We have an uptight, germaphobe, white collar woman, and an earthy blue collar guy with two adorable plot-moppets to melt her icy facade. But this reprint should have stayed safely in the past.

From this point on there will be spoilers and rants, feel free to skip out, but if you haven't read anything by Eve Langlais, skip this book and try her Freakn' Shifters (ignore the horrible apostrophe usage) or Furry United Coalition (yes that does spell FUC). Both of them are full of humor, whimsy, and sexy times.

So, we start out meeting Marissa, the pro-Domme, in full regalia in a session. Except this isn't her kink, it's a job she does so she can punish men and vent her anger at all men over the horrible way her ex-husband treated her. So yeah, we have another BDSM practitioner doing it in lieu of therapy, a trope I quite despise. It actually gets worse though because her former therapist is the person who turned her onto it. So, yeah, that happened. And then she doesn't even own it, she's all conflicted over it. Enter the sexy redneck Dirk and his adorable plot moppets. I settle in thinking alright, this is working for me. I'm even getting into the mystery of Marissa's stalker. And I'm especially enjoying getting to know Dirk and seeing him as a person and his back story unfold. Then WHAM, another trope/comment I abhor. Marrisa refers to her pro-Domme activities as "...as bad as prostitution". Literally, WTF? First off, that's just an awfully denigrating way to think about or write about prostitutes. Considering prostitutes as " bad" is just not something I can condone. There's plenty of ways to think about prostitutes (and that's definitely a debate for another time), but that dismissive horrified line of thought is one that just pisses me the hell off. And secondly, if you aren't having sexual contact with a human being for money (which she wasn't), then it isn't prostitution. It's a service right up there with paying for massage, hair cuts, or spa services. Yes it's a little out of mainstream for the general population, but it still isn't sex for money. So she's going to quit because she's tired of it anyway, and her anger's all cured by the love and care from her redneck and his magical peen. That's a little bit of magical thinking, but I tend to accept it in romancelandia. Whatever, on with the story. So Dirk takes her to his parents house to be safe from the stalker. It's a farm, which makes for some fairly funny scenes. We get to find out plenty more about Dirk and his kids, and both he and Marissa really open up. The plot moppets' bio-mom even breezes in giving Dirk closure and forcing both of them to confront their feelings for each other, and then conveniently breezes right out with no real repercussions or consequences. So Dirk and Marissa head back to real life, and she's figured out her stalker is actually one of her now-former client's wife. She sets up one last appointment with the man to lure his wife in, and this part I actually did like, she talks the wife down and teaches her to dominate her husband as he likes to be dominated. Those two go home a happier and kinkier couple. Then Marissa finally confesses to Dirk that all her angst and anger came from the fact she had cervical cancer which resulted in a hysterectomy, and that her husband knocked someone else else up and left her. Yes, that's very miserable, but Dirk is a sweetie who explains she's not half a woman, she's the other half of his heart. They get married and our formerly very starched and buttoned up clean freak doesn't even freak over the handprints the plot moppets leave on her wedding dress. It's sweet.

Now, if that were the end of it, at least it would have been a high note. Still not a great or even good story, but a high note. But of course I wasn't that lucky, we then have the epilogue from hell. A year later they wake up and find a freaking baby on their doorstep. The plot moppets' bio-mom has popped out another kid and left it on their doorstep as a belated wedding present. WTF?!?! I guess someone must think that's a happy ending of massive wish fulfillment proportions. But personally, I just found it creepy and weird.

I think what frustrated me so much, is that there was the bones of a great story in there. And Dirk and his backstory were just excellent. He's one of my favorite heroes so far this year. I actually kind of even liked Marissa. But the story around them just completely irked the hell out of me. How on earth does an author even write characters I like in a story I can't stand? There's some sort of voodoo going on here, but I'm still giving this story 1 star.

ARC Review - The Girl Who Wouldn't Die by Marnie Riches

The Girl Who Wouldn't Die
By Marnie Riches

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, this does not affect my opinion of this book or the content of my review.

"When a bomb explodes at the University of Amsterdam, aspiring criminologist Georgina McKenzie is asked by the police to help flush out the killer.

But the bomb is part of a much bigger, more sinister plot that will have the entire city quaking in fear.

And the killer has a very special part for George to play…"

Theoretically, this should have been right up my alley, thrilling and with a brainy heroine. I mean, there's plenty going on, people blowing up, a serial killer, assaults, kidnappings. But somehow it was just boring and plodding. I didn't care, I felt no urgency. And some of it was because I couldn't care less about the characters. George and Ad fell flat for me, George seemed a little less than advertised, and the villains weren't any more engrossing.

Frankly, I found myself skimming trying to get it over with. I even jumped to the end to see if seeing the ending could inspire some interest (sometimes for me it will), and that wasn't any more successful. There was nothing, so far as I could tell, technically wrong with this book, I just found it uninspiring.

1 Star

ARC Review - Need Me

Need Me
by Cynthia Eden

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in Eden's Dark Obsession series, and I have previously read and reviewed Watch Me and Want Me. We got to see Julianna and Devlin's first interactions at the end of Want Me, and it was fairly explosive. I was super excited to get the next book, and Cynthia Eden didn't let me down. The one thing that truly had me concerned while reading it was that we would not be getting Ethan's book. I get to the end and even through the excerpt for her next new series, a little disappointed and feeling let down. So let me reassure you, so you don't have to feel that way as I did. Ethan (the antagonist/anti-hero from the previous books) IS getting his own book, Beware of Me, and it should be releasing Spring/Summer 2015.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty. Julianna is accused of murdering her husband, and all the evidence seems to point right toward her, but she maintains her innocence. She hires Devlin and V.S.J. to protect her and find out the truth of who is really after her. Devlin is yet another action character (and yes, I still think of all these men as Bruce Willis, which is I am sure NOT the author's intent, your mileage may vary, but these are action heroes more so than romance heroes). He just enough tragic back story and emotion to tip him out of alpha-hole caricature status, but really, it's all about the action, mystery, and smexy times. This story was particularly twisty, and while the twists weren't over the top ridiculous, they did really keep me engaged in the story.

3.5 stars from me. It requires a lot of willful suspension of disbelief as they are instantly attracted, the relationship spans a very short time, and by the end they are in love and completely devoted. This is par for the course for Eden's shorter romantic suspense, but they are just too fun and exciting to give up. I adore her books. This is my drug of choice and I can't wait for my next hit!

ARC Review - Bridged

Bridged
by Kendra Elliot

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Bridged is the sequel to Vanished, in the Bone Secrets world. I've not read the Bone Secrets series, but I did read Vanished, and I wrote the following: "Solid suspense with interesting, rational adults for a heroine and hero."

Bridged was really kind of slow to start out, and events do seem kind of random at the beginning. There's a couple of sub plots, one of which includes Ava's crazy twin sister. I found the mystery part really entertaining, because this serial killer was a bit strange and deviated from the norm. And, Ava and Mason's romance was a warm comforting burn rather than a conflagration, which balanced the plot as nicely as the two balance each other. By the end of it, sub plots were resolved and made sense, the killer's motivations were illuminated rendering the killer human and somewhat pitiable, and there was enough action and suspense to do the job for what was slower in the rest of the book.

In the end I am giving this 3.5 stars, and making a mental note that Kendra Elliot's monsters aren't so very monstrous - they are human and understandable, which for me at least makes them just a bit more horrifying.

ARC Review - Want Me

Want Me
by Cynthia Eden

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Just let me do my little happy dance, because Cynthia Eden is my romantic suspense crack. This is her second book in her Dark Obsession series, and I really enjoyed the first book, Watch Me. I read and reviewed Watch Me previously.

Sophie, is a tough nut, she is sort of icy and aggressive on the surface but with a soft gooey center that she holds close in her job as a defense attorney. She almost died due to her connections to the supposed villain of the previous story, Ethan. However, life gets even stranger when she discovers she has an obsessed stalker, and current events change the way she views her history. Lex is the alpha bad boy, while he has one briefly mentioned piece of history, he is really just a placeholder male to me, and in my mind all these guys are John McClain and we are in a Die Hard movie.

Willful suspension of disbelief is an absolute requirement, but there's tons of action, suspense, sizzle, and plot twists that makes this the book equivalent of an action movie.

3.5 stars-it won't be going on my re-read list, but it was fun while it lasted and I really want the next book in the series and am hoping there will be a fourth book to cover Ethan's story (I adore morally ambivalent heroes).

Eclipse Bay Trilogy - OpenLibrary

Having read Jayne Ann Krentz's Trust No One, as I said, it reminded me of previous books, which of course inspired me to re-read some of my favorites. The Eclipse Bay Trilogy is set on the west coast and involves basically two families. There is a small amount of non-action packed romantic suspense, and all three tie in to events happening in the small town of Eclipse Bay. This is not one of JAK's paranormal trilogies, but as JAK is about the queen of Easter eggs in romance novels, there are a few later tie-ins to both her contemporary and her futuristic paranormal series. You don't need to have read everything to enjoy these books, or vice versa, but it is fun to find them. They were published 2000-2002, but to me they hold up well despite the time that has elapsed.

And all three are available to borrow for free through OpenLibrary. As always, remember to borrow the PDF and not the epub.

Eclipse Bay

Eclipse Bay has grown and flourished on the rugged Oregon coast, where the shore can be rocky and forbidding, full of sharp cliffs and hidden coves. Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz, this small town is also filled with secrets as treacherous as the landscape and rivalries as fierce as an ocean storm.

Their grandfathers hated each other.

Their fathers hated each other.

And as the next generation of the Hartes and Madisons, Hannah and Rafe are expected to hate each other too. But Hannah Harte, a successful wedding consultant with a skeptical view of marriage, remembers the long-ago night on the beach that revealed Rafe as much more than just "that disreputable Madison boy." And Rafe remembers the heroic gesture that proved Hannah's fierce spirit was stronger than any feud and saved him from near-certain imprisonment.

Now reunited by a surprising inheritance after years of living their separate lives Rafe and Hannah return to Eclipse Bay, and the hostilities that still divide, and bind, their families. And they are discovering something that is at once delightful and deeply disturbing?

They don't hate each other. Not at all.
Dawn in Eclipse Bay

Nothing was ever simple between a Madison and a Harte. The feud that had divided their families still simmered. Now, only months after their siblings’ wedding, Lilian Harte and Gabe Madison are at each other’s throats.

Successful CEO Gabe had insisted on becoming a client of Lilian’s matchmaking service. And after five disastrous dates, Lilian is at her wit’s end. If she hadn’t already decided to close her business and move home to Eclipse Bay, Gabe would have been the final straw. But when she finds Gabe at her door demanding she fulfill their business contract, the sparks between them suddenly turn personal. Once again, Eclipse Bay will witness a showdown—between a relentless Madison and an irresistible Harte…
Summer in Eclipse Bay

Summer has arrived in Eclipse Bay and things are definitely heating up between the Hartes and the Madisons. It seems that the mysterious new gallery owner, Octavia Brightwell, is thinking about having a scandalous fling with that rogue Nick Harte before she leaves town. As far as Nick is concerned, a short-term affair sounds perfect. But it isn’t going to be easy.

One big obstacle is Mitchell Madison. For reasons of his own, Mitchell has taken it upon himself to play guardian to Octavia. He’s made it clear that if Nick fools around with her, there will be a price to pay. And then there’s Nick’s young son, Carson, who has his own agenda where Octavia is concerned. He doesn’t want his father messing up his plans.

Summer in Eclipse Bay is going to be eventful this year. Some long-buried secrets from the infamous Harte-Madison feud are about to surface. The past and the present are on a collision course. I hope you’ll join me to watch the fireworks.
The second one's hero, Gabe, is the one that Julius reminded me of. They are cute stories, perfect for curling up on a rainy weekend, which is precisely what I did. They were as good as I remembered them, not spectacular, but definitely cozy.

Review - Trust No One

Trust No One
by Jayne Ann Krentz

Trust No One goes back to Krentz's straight contemporary romantic suspense roots and has all the charm of her earlier heroines and heroes, without all the dated claptrap of her earlier works. Granted, it is formulaic, so you can definitely kind of pick out the mish mash from earlier works, but as I have said before, this formula works for me. It is a little bit of: Dawn in Eclipse Bay, All Night Long, Sweet Fortune, and Deep Water, in my opinion. There are probably novels that would equally apply, but those are the ones that I immediately thought of (and that this book made me immediately want to go back and re-read). Others would probably have other books pop up into their heads. Personally, I think that is part of the charm though, because it makes the reader's connections to the main characters and setting instantaneous, so that it is just so comfortable slipping right into this world.

More specifically about this story, Grace Ellend is an eternal optimist, with a spunky way about her. She's a real sweetheart but she is definitely a woman who can handle herself. When she finds her boss murdered, this sets up a chain of events that leads her home. And of course, when you head home, people want to match make. Here she is trying to deal with current events, trying to find a new job, deal with some horrors in her past, and the mystery surrounding right now...so of course her oldest friends are setting her up on a blind date. I laugh, because it is true, no matter what is going on in your life, when you go home to a small town people are almost desperate to marry you off. Which brings us to Julius Arkwright, who might be the most awkward blind date ever, but at least he isn't boring or useless. He's got his own past shadows, a successful career, and more money than he needs, what he doesn't have is the slightest clue about what he actually wants or needs. He's bored.

I really liked them as a couple. They had their own personal angst and issues, but they weren't really angsty about each other. They were just kind of cute and the chemistry was there, but it wasn't as if they needed to save each other, they just bring the balance the other one needs. The suspense part was plenty twisty enough for my tastes with plausible red herrings and a conclusion that made sense. Altogether and fun an enjoyable read, but time will tell whether this one makes it to my re-read stack.

4 Stars

ARC Review - Watch Me

Watch Me
by Cynthia Eden

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. 

OK, so you need to know up front, I adore Cynthia Eden. Her books tend to be like crack for me. And this book even more so. By that I mean, it is addictive, with a quick short high, that doesn't last long, and leaves you scrambling for the next one, often with very little memory of that previous high.

This is romantic suspense lite, there isn't a lot of depth to the plot or the characters, and the mystery while tricky wasn't really explored much,it was just BAM and there it was. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy this book, I am looking forward to the rest of the series, and it was just a ton of fun while it lasted (so altogether a whole lot better than crack), it just isn't likely to go on my re-read list.

Chance Valentine is the secretive, dangerous, and sexy body guard. Gwen Hawthorne is the feisty but loving heroine. They have years of back story, but we really don't get to see any of that, and of course they love each other (and always have).

3.5 stars

Review- The Last Kiss Goodbye

The Last Kiss Goodbye
by Karen Robards

This is the second book in the series. I gave the first book, The Last Victim 3 stars.

This is still the kind of crazy sauce I tend to adore. While Dr. Charlotte Stone had pretty much decided to quit with the FBI work already and get back to her research, the plottings of a deadly serial killer land, quite literally, on her doorstep. Which brings back delicious FBI Agent Tony, and heats up the love triangle between Charlie, Tony and Michael. But really? It is still all about Michael. And there is some pretty juvenile posturing going down between Charlie and Michael (poor Tony is completely out of the loop on this), but I find it hard to denigrate it, because when one of the twosome is basically incorporeal there has to be something to ratchet up the tension. And, while the crazy sauce romance mix was definitely still up front and center, the mystery here was also a major part of it too. That part was pretty fun, but much of this book is just a hot mess. One of the bright parts those, was the emerging characterizations of Buzz and Lena and I am really hoping for some more page time. Besides Lena and Buzz, what saved this book for me was that the mystery took a little more center stage and was fairly griping, we get a bit more hints about Michael's true nature, and the ENDING. The ending completely rocked my world.

So, I am tentatively giving this 3 stars, because I liked this well enough to keep going in the series. there were some issues, and I don't totally love everything about this, but the crazy sauce levels have eased down to bearable and the mystery has come up just enough, and I've learned about Michael just enough.

Review- The Last Victim

The Last Victim

by Karen Robards

OK, I'd held off on this series because I am not a huge fan of serialized romantic suspense. I just get frustrated with it in a way I don't with Urban Fantasy. That's a personal failing of mine. But when I received a copy of the third, and presumably final book of the series, from Netgalley, I figured it was time to take the plunge. This book came out almost 2 years ago, so I am not going to do much summarizing, plenty of people have done much more thorough jobs already.

Basically what we have is Charlotte Stone, a criminal psychologist studying serial killers due to tragic events in her past. She is supposedly brilliant and the best in her field, which is how she lands a grant that has her working with serial killers on death row. Following one of her sessions with Michael Garland, a man convicted of killing 7 women, he's shanked in the heart and dies under her hand. Which brings me to my next point, Dr. Charlotte Stone sees and can talk to the recently departed.

Now, upfront I want to say that I tend to adore Robards' morally ambiguous or even ambivalent heroes and I have ever since One Summer, Night Magic, and Walking After Midnight. It is kind of catnip for me, that mysterious maybe he's bad, maybe he isn't thing. I also tend to enjoy a little crazy sauce in both my romantic suspense and my paranormal romance. So, I was somewhat predisposed to like this. But it turns out that pouring crazy sauce over a mash up of romantic suspense and paranormal romance may just be a little too much. I can understand a bit better why Robards is dragging this out, because it is just too much ground to cover in one setting. Unfortunately, in this one, the suspense/mystery as well as the supporting characters really aren't given justice. I'll grant you, I didn't figure out the villain situation until the heroine did, but frankly, I think that is mostly because hardly any time seemed to be spent on the subject. On the other hand, we spent an inordinate amount of time angsting over Michael Garland over both the ghost aspect and the serial killer aspect, how she feels about him, her confusion between her feelings between Tony the FBI agent and Garland the serial killer, her feelings about her past, her sex life with or without the ghost, the beyond and the rules about her interactions with ghosts. The living serial killer and the associated victims weren't the story; they were the plot device for the love triangle shaping up here. And the three FBI agents, right now aren't really characters, they are cardboard cutouts in place of characters, and I am actually hoping to get more insight into them, especially Lena.

I am giving this book 3 stars, because while I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either (don't judge, I already admitted my love of crazy sauce) and over time I think this could possibly be developed into something interesting and fun....that is if you like the strange and crazy on occasion.

Freebie- Mine to Take

Mine to Take
by Cynthia Eden

Cynthia Eden is an auto-buy for me. There aren't an real groundbreaking things in her works, but she writes an engaging story with interesting characters.

Mine to Take is a second chance romance with mystery and suspense and Goodreads gives it an average rating of 3.77. AND most importantly it is currently free from the following vendors:

Amazon

Kobo

iTunes

AllRomance

So if you are a fan of romantic suspense and need some Memorial weekend reading material, this is the deal for you. 

Sin Brother's Series

Sin Brother's Series
by Rebecca Zanetti

"Romantic Suspense with a slight paranormal twist about a band of brothers who carry unnatural powers genetically engineered into them by a black ops military unit."

I received an ARC of the third book of this series, Blind Faith, from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. However, I found it difficult to drop into it without the background knowledge of the rest of the series. So here are my reviews of the series so far.