06/05/11
Short on time but still wanting to read a romance featuring a time-traveling muscle-bound hero or a dark, handsome stranger who just happens to have very sharp incisors? Then check out of these fabulous anthologies currently available at the library:
The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance edited by Trisha Telep
Summary: Fall in love with someone out of this world.
If love transcends all boundaries then paranormal romance is its logical conclusion. From the biggest names around, here are 24 tales to take you to another time and place.
The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance edited by Trisha Telep
Summary: This exciting collection contains 25 short tales of adventure and love. Join the dashing characters as they slip through the ages, finding themselves transported back to settings including medieval Scotland, sixteenth-century England, and the nineteenth-century American West—or sometimes forward to the present day and even the future.
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance edited by Tricia Telep
Summary: The biggest names in paranormal romance have created a fascinating array of 30 short stories of hot blood and inhuman passions that will leave you thirsting for more. These ain’t your mother’s vampires!
05/27/11
2011 RITA Nominees for Best Paranormal
Romance Writers of America® (RWA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2011 RITA Awards, honoring the best romance fiction published in 2010. Winners of the awards will be announced July 1st at the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony to be held at RWA’s 31st Annual National Conference in New York City.
Here are the nominees for Best Paranormal:
Enemy Within by Marcella Burnard
Summary: After a stint in an alien prison, Captain Ari Rose wonders why she even bothered to survive. Stripped of her command and banished to her father's scientific expedition to finish a Ph.D. she doesn't want, Ari never planned to languish quietly behind a desk. But when pirates commandeer her father's ship, Ari once again becomes a prisoner. As far as pirate leader Cullin is concerned, Ari's past imprisonment puts her dead center in Cullin's sights. Cullin can't afford the desire she fires within him and he'll stop at nothing, including destroying her, to uncover the truth. |
 |
A Highlander's Homecoming by Melissa Mayhue
Summary: When Robert MacQuarrie was swept forward in time to present-day Scotland, he left behind in the thirteenth century a vow he could no longer keep-to protect his friend's little daughter, Isabella. Haunted by guilt, he leaps at the chance to go back...except the fickle Faerie Magic returns him to his family castle twenty years after he left it. In Scotland, 1292, Isabella MacGahan is now a grown woman. Rejected by her family for her Faerie blood and uncanny powers, her safety depends on pretending that her magical abilities have made her mad. But appearances are deceiving for both Robbie and Isabella. Will the magic of the Fae allow them to find a true homecoming in each other's arms? |
 |
Immortal Sea by Virginia Kantra
Summary: Morgan of the finfolk does not normally waste his attention on humankind, but while in Copenhagen, he meets a young woman who captures his interest-if only for a night. On sojourn in Europe before starting medical school, Elizabeth is intelligent, attractive…and eager for a little adventure...16 years later, Dr. Elizabeth Rodriguez is called to the island of World's End to become its only doctor. There, she hopes to reconnect with her troubled son Zack, who has become withdrawn since her husband's death. She has no idea that World's End will also reconnect her with Morgan… |
 |
Marked by the Moon by Lori Handeland
Summary: Julian Barlow was once a Viking. Then he watched his brother fall in battle, shouted his fury to the heavens and changed. He became the berserker of legend, a warrior who, in the heat of combat, transforms into a wolf. Centuries later, he's settled into his own Alaskan village full of werewolves; he has a wife he adores. Until Alexandra Trevalyn, werewolf hunter, kills her. Dying is too easy for the woman who murdered his wife, so Julian devises a better way for Alex to suffer. He'll make her just like him. |
 |
Rebel by Zöe Archer
Summary: Nathan Lesperance is used to being different. He's the first Native attorney in Vancouver, and welcome neither with white society nor his sometime tribe. Not to mention the powerful wildness he's always felt inside him, too dangerous to set free. Then he met Astrid Bramfield and saw his like within her piercing eyes. Now, unless she helps him through the harsh terrain and the harsher unknowns of his true abilities, it could very well get him killed...Astrid has traveled this path before. Once she was a Blade of the Rose, protecting the world's magic from unscrupulous men, with her husband by her side. But she's loved and lost, and as a world-class frontierswoman, she knows all about survival. |
 |
Sins of the Heart by Eve Silver
Summary: Half human, half god, Dagan Krayl is the Underworld's most powerful soul reaper. When one of his brothers is murdered, Dagan must use every ounce of his power to hunt down those responsible for his brutal death. But he must move swiftly—and carefully—if he's to have any chance of resurrecting his brother. Yet that resurrection could wreak havoc on the mortal world. As an Otherkin, Roxy Tam has sworn to protect the human race, and it's her mission to stop Dagan. But when she sees him face-to-face, she realizes that she has seen him once before—a meeting that changed her life forever. |
 |
Unchained: the Dark Forgotten by Sharon Ashwood
Summary: Ashe Carver, monster-killer, has the scars to prove it. But faced with a custody battle, she's hung up her stakes and taken a job at the public library, determined to show the courts and her ten-year-old daughter that she's as good a mother as she is a hunter. Easier said than done. There are lovelorn vampires haunting the library, a slime demon in the shopping mall, and her new-mom sister needs a hand with her ghostbusting biz. Then, after centuries guarding a supernatural prison, Captain Reynard strides into her world like a hero from the library's Must Reads. Smokingly gorgeous, passionate and courageous to a fault, he has only weeks to live unless Ashe finds the thief who took his soul. |
 |
Water Bound by Christine Feehan
Summary: Off the shores of Sea Haven, a beautiful diver rescues a man from drowning, a man with no memory of who he is-or why he seems to possess the violent instincts of a trained killer. But soon, he and his savior will be engulfed in a storm of dizzying passion and inescapable danger... |
 |
05/17/11
Steampunk Romance Courtesy of Gail Carriger
 
Soulless by Gail Carriger
Changeless by Gail Carriger
Blameless by Gail Carriger
May's Review: Aristocrat Alexia Tarabotti is an oddity in 19th-century London where werewolves and vampires walk side-by-side ordinary humans. Simply put, she has no soul and her ability to negate supernatural powers makes her both highly desirable and dangerous. Furthermore, her beauty is somewhat conventional, she tends to be "mouthy" and she prefers the company of werewolves over vampires (flamboyand Lord Akeldama is the exception).
Soulless, which is the first book in the Parasol Protectorate series, introduces Alexia as she is about to kill a vampire with her parasol at a party. From then on, the story features almost non-stop action as Alexia teams up with Scottish werewolf packmaster Lord Conall Maccon, to solve a mystery. To be honest, the mystery was unmemorable compared to the all-too sizzling chemistry and highly satisfying romance that develops between Alexia and Conall. The witty dialogue between the two characters was simply entertaining and just made me fall in love with this steampunk romance.
In Changeless, Alexia's and Conall's romance has lead inevitably to marriage. Luckily for the readers, married life has not dampened Alexia's or Conall's tendency to attract unwanted attention and danger as they travel to Scotland to unravel the mystery of why supernaturals are losing their supernatural power. Interesting family dynamics are on display while Conall is forced to deal with his old Scottish pack that he abandoned years earlier. Like the previous book, this book also features a plethora of secondary characters who constantly threaten to steal the limelight away from the leads. Still, there is huge twist at the end that throws a huge obstacle in Conall's and Alexia's path that reminds us that romance is at the heart of the story.
However, while Soulless and Changeless were wholly satisfying, I did find Blameless a little lackluster. Part of the problem is that there is very little interaction between Conall and Alexia. Another problem is that the secondary characters were too many and too uninteresting at times that they were more of distraction rather than an aid. Whereas the first two books worked as a terrific steampunk romance, I considered the third book the throwaway to help set up the next books in the series. However, I would still recommend the book only if you loved the first two books in the series and want to see where Carriger is going with Conall's and Alexia's romance.
For those wanting read alikes, here is a brief list of some steampunk romances:
* Crimson & Steam by Liz Maverick
* Iron Duke by Meljean Brook (Click here to read my earlier review of this book)
* Steamed by Katie Macalister
04/26/11
2011 RITA Nominees for Best First Book
Romance Writers of America® (RWA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2011 RITA Awards, honoring the best romance fiction published in 2010. Winners of the awards will be announced July 1st at the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony to be held at RWA’s 31st Annual National Conference in New York City.
Here are the nominees for Best First Book:
Enemy Within by Marcella Burnard
TITLE CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE. Please request through interlibrary loan.
Summary: After a stint in an alien prison, Captain Ari Rose wonders why she even bothered to survive. Stripped of her command and banished to her father's scientific expedition to finish a Ph.D. she doesn't want, Ari never planned to languish quietly behind a desk. But when pirates commandeer her father's ship, Ari once again becomes a prisoner. As far as pirate leader Cullin is concerned, Ari's past imprisonment puts her dead center in Cullin's sights. Cullin can't afford the desire she fires within him and he'll stop at nothing, including destroying her, to uncover the truth. |
 |
Firestorm by Kelly Ann Riley
Summary: Caring for his traumatized son is widowed FBI agent Luke Tanner's number one priority. But when he becomes temporary fire chief in a small mountain town, a case sparks out of his control. Luke suspects the late former chief of arson and murder—until the man's daughter returns to Pine Lake. Kitty McGuire is determined to prove her father was framed. As they work together, Kitty connects with Luke's troubled family in a way that surprises Luke—and fills him with hope. Maybe they have a chance at happiness after all... |
 |
I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan
Summary: 18 year-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her family. Bronwen knows she must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get away from her "family" for good. Then she meets Jared Sondervan. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants — and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. She falls head over heels in love, and when he proposes marriage, she joyfully accepts. But is Jared truly what she needs? And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do? |
 |
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Summary: Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart. |
 |
Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner
Summary: On a stagecoach traveling through New Mexico Territory, Jessica Thornton is a long way from the cool mists and lush gardens of her native England. No one prepared Jessica for the heat and the hardships. And no one prepared her for a man like Brady Wilkins. For, despite the rancher's rough-hewn appearance and her own misgivings, Jessica must put her life in his hands after their stagecoach crashes. And she begins to see the man behind the callused hands and caustic wit. |
 |
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
Summary: Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I'm jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the very beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life. My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything. |
 |
A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer
Summary: Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with the new dressmaker in Coventry, Texas. He's all too familiar with her kind--shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothes, this seamstress is not at all what he expected. Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner, while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man? |
 |
Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts
Summary: A young woman plunges from a Las Vegas sightseeing helicopter, landing in the Pirate’s lagoon in front of the Treasure Island Hotel in the middle of the 8:30 Pirate Show. Almost everyone writes her off as another Vegas victim. But Lucky O’Toole smells a rat. She’s head of Customer Relations at The Babylon, the newest, most opulent mega-casino and resort on the Strip, so she’s got a lot on her plate: the Adult Film industry’s annual awards banquet, a spouse-swapping convention, sex toy purveyors preying on the pocket-protector crowd attending ElectroniCon. Still, Lucky can’t resist turning over a few stones. |
 |
When Harry Met Molly by Kieran Kramer
Summary: Dashing Lord Harry Traemore is perfectly content to live out his days in the pursuit of pleasure. But when he's named by the Prince regent as one of society's 'Impossible bachelors', Harry is drafted into a ribald romantic wager. The rules of engagement are scandalously simple: the bachelor whose mistress wins the title of 'Most Delectable Companion' gets to remain unmarried. Harry is utterly unconcerned about his status...until his latest lightskirt abandons him. Enter Lady Molly Fairbanks. Harry's childhood friend - actually, 'foe' is more like it - is the most unlikely companion of all. |
 |
04/19/11
The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne
May's Review: Picked by Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal as one of the best romance books of 2010, I thought I would give this book a try even though I generally find spy stories set in the past to be somewhat of a miss for me. Story starts out simple enough. British spy William Doyle meets French aristocrat Marguerite de Fleurignac in a burned out chateau and escorts her back to Paris with the hopes of finding her father, whom he suspects of selling out British agents. Marguerite or Maggie has her own secrets as she has been secretly saving and planning the escape of aristocratic families fated for the guillotine.
Like many books in this genre, this story contained plenty of action with good pacing. The main leads are amply supported by an intriguing cast of secondary characters. Yet somehow, I still felt underwhelmed by this book. Perhaps as some book reviewers have suggested, it may have something to do with some of the secondary characters upstaging Doyle and Maggie so they could be set up as main characters for the next book in Bourne's spy series. Hmm, it's a possibility but I think the problem may lie in the fact that I didn't particularly find the main characters all that engaging. I understand their immense physical attraction to one another but not their love, which just seems forced. Still the book was interesting enough for me to finish although I am not really sure I would give it the "Best of 2010" honours.
04/08/11
BOOKSALE
Stock up on your summer reading!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
10 am - 4 pm
George Bothwell Branch
Southland Mall
Hardcovers $1
Paperbacks 50¢
Spoken Word $1
Movies $1
DVDs/CDs $1
No taxes, GST exempt.
Save even more when you fill up a RPL bag for $10.
For more details, visit www.reginalibrary.ca or call 777-6000.
Payment by cash or cheque only.
04/01/11
New Paranormal Romance Novels this Spring
 |
This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Summary: Half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her vampire husband Bones have fought for their lives, as well as for their relationship. But just when they've triumphed over the latest battle, Cat's new and unexpected abilities threaten to upset a long-standing balance . . . |
 |
Moon Cursed by Lore Handeland
Summary: Kristin Daniels is a passionate in her pursuit of the truth. As the host of the television show Hoax Hunters, she’s traveled to the ends of the earth to explore-and expose-life’s most enduring myths. Her latest undertaking is no exception: Kris is bound for Scotland, where she intends to get to the bottom of the Loch Ness Monster legend once and for all. Instead, Kris encounters something far more mysterious...for in the ruins of the lake’s Urquhart Castle lies a heavenly creature-a sleek, muscled man with a seductive brogue named Liam Grant. One look into his eyes and Kris is already in danger of falling in too deep. Is Liam for real? Or has the spell of the moon touched them both? |
 |
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper
Summary: Even in Grundy, Alaska, it’s unusual to find a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on your porch. But when said guy turns into a wolf, recent southern transplant Mo Wenstein has no difficulty identifying the problem. Her surly neighbor Cooper Graham—who has been openly critical of Mo’s ability to adapt to life in Alaska—has trouble of his own. Werewolf trouble. |
 |
Thief of Light by Denise Rosetti
Summary: When Prue McGuire is kidnapped by the Necromancer-an evil entity that feasts on souls-Erik the Golden must harness his air Magick to recover the woman he has come to love more than life itself. |
03/29/11
Icebreaker by Deirdre Martin
Linda's Review: Yes, the hockey romances just keep on coming. This is Martin’s newest, the latest addition to the New York Blades series. Whether intentional or not, Martin manages to be timely in this outing. Our hero, Adam, brought in as the Blades’ new captain, is facing criminal charges as the result of a hard hit in a game against Philadelphia. His layer, Sinead, is a member of the O’Brien clan, which has showed up on the fringes of some Martin’s other stories.
The dilemma for the reader here is being set up to favour the “wrong side” in the current debate about hockey violence. Of course, Adam’s hit, though hard, is shown to be entirely within the rules and his prosecution is set out as a gimmick to help re-elect a Philadelphia DA. All the “good guys” stand up for hard-hitting, old-fashioned, often dangerous, hockey, while the commissioner is the villain (sound familiar?) who is out to get the hero.
There’s also Sinead’s personal dilemma: getting involved with a client is definitely against the rules, although it does seem as if there is one set of rules for her male colleagues and a different set for her, the only female in the practice. Will she risk her career for love? Does Adam’s inability to understand the double standard women are up against mean the end of the budding relationship? And then there’s Adam’s hidden past, including a career-ending hit to his best friend.
Yes, there’s plenty going on in this story and even a bit to think about before you reach the predictable conclusion. Will the Blades win the Stanley Cup? Will Adam’s reputation be salvaged? Will true love triumph? I think you already know the answers, but if, like me, you’ve become addicted to hockey romances, you’ll enjoy this anyway. It’s not her best, but it’s fun. Playoffs are coming up and in between periods, you can read this book.
03/22/11
New Historical Romance Paperbacks for Spring
 |
Scandal of the Year by Olivia Drake
Summary: The youngest of the Crompton heiresses, Blythe yearns to marry into the aristocracy to bolster her family’s place in society. The widowed Duke of Savoy seems to be the perfect choice, yet it’s another man who sets her heart to pounding: the new footman, James. Little does she know, however, James Ryding is the true heir to the Crompton fortune. He’s posing as a servant in order to find evidence to prove her parents are imposters. By charming Blythe, he hopes to use her to regain his rightful inheritance. But as heat flares between them, he realizes that fulfilling his quest will mean ruining the beautiful, spirited woman who has captured his heart. |
 |
Wicked Seduction by Jade Lee
Summary: Pirate Kit Frazier returns to England to find that being on land is even more dangerous than at sea-especially when he's beguiled by a beauty who will do anything to escape the dire circumstances of her life. |
 |
What I Did for a Duke by Julia Anne Long
Summary: For years, he's been an object of fear, fascination...and fantasy. But of all the wicked rumors that shadow the formidable Alexander Moncrieffe, Duke of Falconbridge, the ton knows one thing for certain: only fools dare cross him. And when Ian Eversea does just that, Moncrieffe knows the perfect revenge: he'll seduce Ian's innocent sister, Genevieve—the only Eversea as yet untouched by scandal. First he'll capture her heart...and then he'll break it. |
 |
Healing the Highlander by Melissa Maghue
Summary: Andrew Macalister longs for a cure to free him from the excruciating pain caused by an old wound, but when he rescues a drowning woman, he has no idea how much his life is about to change. Leah Noble Mcquarrie still harbors a deep hatred of the Fae who tortured her eleven years ago, forcing her to escape back in time to the thirteenth century. A descendant of the Fae, Leah denies her heritage and her magical healing abilities. But the English army is holding her beloved adoptive grandfather captive, so Leah must seek help from the Fae—and the captivating man whose touch she craves. |
 |
One Night is Never Enough by Anne Mallory
Summary: Powerful, ruthless, seductive—the lord of London’s underworld—Roman Merrick gets anything he wants...and he burns for Charlotte Chatsworth, a polished jewel in the glittering ton. So he engages her debt-ridden gambler father in a game of chance, wagering ten thousand pounds against one night with the man’s exquisite daughter. And Roman Merrick never loses. Charlotte is devastated to learn that her reprobate father has lost her in a card game to the most dangerous man she’s ever met. With the threat of ruin behind every corner, Charlotte embarks upon a perilous path with the man she cannot forget. |
03/07/11
2011 Romance Reading List Winner
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) announced the winners of its annual Reading List awards in several categories, including Romance, for books published last year.
WINNER
A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh
Summary: A lady is ruined. A merchant’s son is trapped. Class differences loom large in this charming and playful take on the arranged marriage. Balogh’s Regency gem, where nothing is quite as it seems, is filled with affection and wit.
Click here to read May's review of A Matter of Class.
Read-Alikes
Faro’s Daughter by Georgette Heyer
Summary: When Max Ravenscar, renowned gamester, and by his own definition, untroubled by a romantic disposition, meets Deborah Grantham, beautiful mistress of her aunt’s gaming house, all his experience of risk and gambles finds him unprepared.
In for a Penny by Rose Lerner
Summary: A dashing and feckless lord enters a marriage of convenience with the lovely and practical daughter of a wealthy merchant to salvage his family fortune, but they find themselves unprepared for scandal, rioting tenants, a menacing neighbor-and discovering a love that is neither convenient nor practical but entirely heartfelt and enduring.
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Summary: The town is shocked when Anthony Bridgerton, confirmed bachelor and consummate rake, actually chooses a bride. His only obstacle is his intended′s stunning, meddlesome elder sibling, Kate. When Anthony closes his eyes at night, it′s Kate who haunts his increasingly erotic dreams. Kate is determined to protect her innocent sister from the handsome viscount whom all London considers the most wicked rogue of all. But she fears how own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony′s lips touch hers, she′s suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist the reprehensible cad.
:: Next Page >>
|