~REVIEW of Suzanne Brockmann's FRISCO'S KID~

FANTASTIC, INJURED NAVY SEAL FINDS LOVE

stars

Opening Line: "Frisco's knee was on fire"

Suzanne Brockmann’s Tall, Dark and Dangerous series is in the process of being re-released as 2-for-1’s with fancy new (and quite sexy) covers. And I have to tell you I am now all about the SEALs and can’t put this series down. These well written quickie romances are each just different enough that they all feel fresh and unique while still connected as a whole, with delicious alpha male heroes and just the right amount of suspense action and melodrama to keep you coming back for more.

Alan “Frisco” Francisco is the 3rd SEAL to have his story told and he hit my soft spot as he’s the tortured hero we’ve been hearing about since he was injured during a mission in book 1 (PRINCE JOE.) Five years have passed since then and Frisco has undergone numerous operations and extensive rehab trying to repair his shattered knee, Told that he would never get out of his wheelchair, Frisco’s had it all along in his mind that one day he would return to active duty. After all if he can’t perform as a member of the SEAL team then what good is he to anybody?

When we begin Frisco has just been let go from rehab, being told that he’s as fixed as he’s ever going to get. He refuses to accept this news or the job he was just offered teaching upcoming SEALs. Frustrated, angry and in constant pain Frisco retreats to his seldom used 2nd floor condo in San Felipe and hit’s the bottle. What the hell is he going to do with the rest of his life now? Before long we are introduced to Frisco’s well meaning and of course beautiful neighbour Mia Appleton, she’s a teacher and wants very little to do with her rude and often drunk neighbour. Cringing as she watches him struggle up the stairs, leaning heavily on his cane unwilling to accept her or anyone’s help.

When Frisco’s wayward sister shows up on her way to detox and leaves her 5 year old daughter Natasha in his care he feels helpless. What does he know about kids and how on earth is he going to look after this neglected little girl. Now I’m not one for children in my romances but this situation worked for me as Frisco never baby talked her and their interactions were often comical. ‘Tasha’ draws Mia and another neighbour Thomas (who I hope to see more of) into the fold, filling Frisco’s life with obligations and meaning.

When Mia sees how he is with Tasha she re-evaluates her opinion of him and a friendship soon develops. However as the two grow closer and it appears that Mia might have genuine feelings for him Frisco begins to panic, what could he possibly offer this beautiful woman? He’s disabled, a shell of the man he used to be and with some very dark demons to work thorough. She deserves so much more; she deserves a man that’s whole. (Or possibly me!)

As Frisco pushes Mia away trouble comes calling, in the form of his sisters nasty ex boyfriend who’s looking for the money she stole. Kidnapping, gunplay, car chases, love scenes and hand to hand fighting ensues and (thankfully) Frisco finally learns to ask for help so the rest of Alpha team shows up as well. And here Brockmann cleverly gives us tidbits of information on our former heroes while enticing us with new ones whose stories are yet to come.

This was a fantastic read that I can see myself coming back to again and I definitely recommend this series.
heres the fancy new 2-for-1 covers

 

~TEASER TUES~

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read, open to a random page, share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page and BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.
                                              

My Tease: from page 160 of Suzan Sizemore's I BURN FOR YOU

Was he in love with her?

People don't fall in love in less then a week.

People fall in love in less than an instant. Some people fall in love before they even meet.

"I've been looking for you all my life" he said.

~REVIEW of Jo Davis' RIDE THE FIRE~

~FINALLY, CAPT'N SEAN'S STORY- GREAT CONCLUSION TO A HOT SERIES~

(Firefighters of Station Five, #5)

Opening Line: “On the night the world ended, Blair Tanner had told her husband to go to hell.”

Ride The Fire is the final book from the suspenseful and oh-so-sexy Firefighters of Station Five series and here, at last we get Sean Tanner’s story. Like everyone else I’d been anxiously waiting for him and fellow firefighter Eve to get their groove on -I mean this is a guy that really deserves a decent HEA, after losing his wife and children and then battling the bottle for the entire series. So I’m happy to say that despite a few silly moments Davis does our boy justice, sucking me in completely with this exciting and romantic story.

 With another action-packed storyline, some fun moments (hello fireman auction) and her usual flair for the scorching love scenes Davis also provides a worthy adversary from Sean’s past to beat him up, blow him up and generally make things interesting. I also appreciated her somewhat bittersweet ending, learning the future of all of our Station 5 team while opening up a possible window (?) for another series with the introduction of several hunky police officers.

As a whole this is a fantastic series that I’ve really enjoyed, I mean how could you not? With hard bodied firefighter heroes, erotic love scenes and exciting storylines it’s always a great ride. And while Davis takes it pretty easy on Sean here (she may have felt he’d suffered enough already) Part of the fun in reading these books is also the anticipation of how many trips to the hospital our heroes will have to endure before they get the bad guy and win the girl. Jo Davis just loves to beat up her men and it’s become a bit of a game for me counting the injuries. I also like how all the books are connected with updates from past characters and continuing story arcs. Here we get to catch up with all the boys and girls from “A’ shift with special mention given to my still favourite, Howard “6-pack”yumminess.

Fresh from rehab Captain Sean Tanner is just learning to live without the crutch of alcohol that has kept the heartbreak and nightmares of losing his family at bay. He’s also trying to regain the trust of his team after almost killing one of them. The last thing he needs now is to get distracted by a woman especially one that he works with. But how has he never noticed fellow firefighter Eve Marshal before? And as her boss how can he avoid her?

We’ve all known that Eve’s been in love with Sean since the very beginning and watching these two finally get together was explosive to say the least. Their first night is just Wow. Can you say pent up passion. Of course this little tryst is bound to get found out by the guys at the station and then it’s going to cost one of them their job. That is if Sean doesn’t pull a runner first, because he’s still a mess and convinced Eve would be better off not getting involved in his chaotic life. And then of course we have the terror from Sean’s past coming back to haunt him in the form of an old Military “pal” Jesse Rose. Best friends since childhood Jesse and Sean served in the Marines together, until that fateful night. Now it seems Jesse is back with an agenda and Sean’s past is about to catch up with him. Cheers people.

~WHAT I LOVED THIS WEEK~

-Or a pessimist tries to be positive

• Playoffs hockey- Damn good hockey regardless but this year my home team the Vancouver Canucks are off to the Stanley cup playoffs for the first time in 30 years!

• Stedman's speech to his "sweetheart" Oprah on one of her last shows, you could hear the whole audience collectively say awwww.

Doomsday-NOT The world didn't end on May21 however because I thought it was going to I may have done a few things things I now wish I hadn't

....and not so much

Oprah's series finale-Who's going to tell me how ot live my best life now? How will I know if my poo is okay? And how will I get a justified cry in everyday at 4:00? Bye Oprah

                                 

~REVIEW of Lora Leigh's LOVING LIES~

 .5

Opening Line: "The music was a gentle swell of sound around the riverbank clearing."

~This was a reread  for me and I still really like this one. It reminded me of why I initially enjoyed Lora Leigh’s writing so much.~

This is a really good love story that I enjoyed way more then I expected to. Written way back when Lora Leigh still bothered to have her writing edited and the stories and characters weren't yet repetitive. Still this does have a WILD CARD flavour in its reunited lovers theme and with an Uber alpha hero who’s come home and is taking back what is his.

After admiring Jessie for years and finally having one weekend of bliss together our hero Slade is forced to marry another and leave both Jessie and his hometown behind while he works a case for homeland security. (Okay, whatever with the homeland security plotline, it’s kind of an afterthought here and honestly we’re not reading LL for cohesive plots now are we?) Anyways as heartbroken as Jessie is over this betrayal it is Slade who truly suffers. Tortured by his thoughts of her he longs for the day when he can return, but will she take him back?

Throughout the story you can feel Slade and Jessie’s love and absolute longing for one another. They may have spent five years apart but thats done nothing to dampen their desire for each other. However Jessie is not the same innocent girl Slade left behind and he’s got his work cut out for him if he’s going to make her realize that they belong together, forever.

All of LL’s numerous sex scenes are done with her own unique style of erotica (if you know what I mean)-you may feel like you need a shower afterwards. With sub characters that are well developed and a story that kept me interested, even giving me a couple of *sigh* moments with all the angst riddled internal dialogue. I should mention that Slade’s “alpha-ness” is a bit much at times, with his comments and actions bordering on violent. It’s only marginally acceptable because he states that she has the power and he won’t ever hurt her or make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. Still its always all about Slade.

"She didn’t want to grow up, she said. By god, if growing up meant she lost the waif-like innocence and steel-hard core of determination, then he’d have to beat her if she grew up. Before he considered anything else though he had to have her. Rising to his feet, before Jessie could do more then gasp, Slade had her in his arms stalking to the one place in the house he knew Jessie could scream without little ears hearing her.”  -Yup good times with Lora Leigh.

~REVIEW of Justine Davis' STEVIE'S CHASE~



-Ya just gotta love these awesome 80's style covers 

Stevie's Chase (Silhouette Intimate Moments, No. 402) (Holt series, #1).

Opening Line: "As soon as she heard the sound, Stevie knew without looking that it was the mystery  man."

Stevie’s Chase was a super little read that really surprised me, I mean I wasn’t expecting much based on the cover however I was blown away by the depths of this love story. In fact the entire (Holt) series is just fantastic especially if you’re anything like me and have a thing for the tortured heroes and the angst. Oh the angst. It literally drips off the pages here as we watch our tormented hero Chase try (unsuccessfully) not to fall in love with his neighbour Stevie.

I adored this couple; I mean I was really pulling for them. Davis manages to get right into their heads, writing some of the most poignant and extended (due to all the introspective feelings flying around) love scenes I’ve ever read. And while I admit that this was a bit slow in getting started I really enjoyed the fact that Chase’s “dark” past wasn’t revealed right away. In fact Davis keeps the reader guessing until almost the end of the book as to all of Chase’s secrets. Who is after Chase? Why is he on the run? What’s the deal with the scar? Is he a bad guy? The biker dude persona and gun tell us he is yet he’s so troubled and selfless when it comes to love and nothing like his outer bad-boy exterior suggests. Theres a scene where Chase leaves Stevie to keep her away from the nightmare of his past and … jeez it just kills me to see tough guys cry. Anyways I’m ranting here, this was a really great read; moving, well written, suspenseful, anguished and oh so romantic.

Chase Sullivan is very aware that getting close to anyone means putting their lives in jeopardy. He’s made that mistake before so despite the fact that he lives in a close knit apartment complex he keeps himself to himself, there are no pleasantries with the neighbours, not even the beautiful strawberry blonde, Stevie that lives next door and keeps him awake at night wishing things were different.

When Chase falls ill it’s Stevie that nurses him back to health, following his no hospital rule without question. It becomes just the two of them, allowing Chase to let down his walls for the first time in years and feel a little goodness and light in the form of his sweet neighbour. He’s been so lonely and despite trying time and again to push her away Stevie accepts his strange habits and no questions asked policy and they fall for each other. Big time. Now while Stevie is kinda written as the perfect heroine it worked for me here because she’s not an idiot either.

Eventually Chase’s past does catch up with him and as I mentioned earlier he leaves to protect her in an absolutely heartbreaking scene. And its not until Stevie begins her search for him that we that we finally learn the extent of this deep dark past. The ending held quite a few surprises for me and then just when I thought HEA had been reached Davis pulled out one last suspense card.

The next 2 in the series Left At The Altar and Morning Side Of Dawn are also super good

~Last Movie I Watched- SURRENDER DOROTHY~



This was okay. Great cast and interesting "slice of life" however the movie itself was kinda all over the place. Diane Keaton played her usually loopy self which I like but not in a role that requires her to be grieving over the death of her daughter. She was still all bubbly and silly. Super fun though to see Chris Pine playing a gay man and that cute guy from Cougar town was good too in an early role. Then there was the bearded lady; who may have just put me off soft serve ice cream forever.

Chris Pine takes on man love

Which reminds me I might just have to watch him as Captain Kirk again

Official IMDB Synopsis:

After Sara Swerdlow's death in a nightly car accident, her excessively self-righteous mother Natalie shamelessly invites herself to move into her room at the remote summer house where her friends are on holiday as often before. Gay playwright Adam fails to evict her because of happily married Peter's chevalier hospitality. Soon everyone suffers facing Sara's, and their own past and present, as Nathalie only thought she really knew her 'all-confiding' daughter, which shifts several reports.

~WHAT THE BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD LOOKS LIKE- in my mind (PART 2)

~VISHOUS~
Described by Ward (in THE INSIDERS GUIDE) as;

 6'6" 260 lbs, Black hair and goatee, white eyes with navy blue rims. Tattoo of the brotherhood on left pec, tattoo on right temple, tattoos on groin area and thighs. Wears leather glove on right hand-always.

NOTABLE QUOTES:
-"After having talked with V at the party she liked him tremendously. He had the kind of smarts that usually sucked the social skills right out of a vampire, but with this warrior you had the whole package, he was sexy, all-knowing, powerful, the kind of male that made you think of having babies just to keep his DNA in the gene pool. She wondered why he wore the black leather glove and what the tattoos on the side of his face were about. Maybe she’d ask him about those, if it seemed okay."

 

~PHURY~
Described by Ward as; 6'6", 275-285lbs, with (awesome) and multicolored long-ish hair you want to run your fingers through, yellow eyes, Star shaped scar of the brotherhood on left pec, missing lower half of right leg.

NOTABLE QUOTES:
"-With his mane of multi-coloured hair, and his yellow eyes and his silky low voice, he was a spectacular male in his mating prime. But that wasn’t what really compelled her. He was the epitome of all that she knew to be of worth; He was focused always on others, never on himself."

 ~REHVENGE~

(Although not one of the brotherhood) Described by Ward as;  6'5 range, 240 lb-ish, cropped black mohawk, amethyst eyes, Two five pointed red star tattoos on pecs, more unspecified designs on ripped abs. Walks with a cane due to his dopamine habit which causes loss of sensation and low core temperature.

NOTABLE QUOTES:
-"Moments later a huge male with a cropped mohawk came out. Rehvenge was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and had a black cane in his right hand. As he slowly came over to the Brotherhood’s table, his patrons parted before him, partly out of respect for his size, partly out of fear of his reputation."



~JOHN MATHEW~

Described by Ward as; 6'7" or "ginourmous"-according to Qhuinn. 240lbs, dark hair and deep blue eyes. Born with scar of the Brotherhood on left pectoral and without a voicebox, uses ASL.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

"Taking a deep breathe, he picked up the mirror that was closest to the door and stepped in front of it, meeting his grown up face for the very first time. His eyes were the same...his eyes were exactly the same blue and the same shape. Everything else he didn't recognize, not the hard cut of his jaw or the thickness of his neck or the broad forehead. But the eyes were his. He supposed. Who am I, he mouthed. Peeling his lips off his front teeth, he leaned in and looked at his fangs."

Want to see part 1 of my my list? Wrath, Rhage, Zsadist and our favorite cop Butch go here

  http://buggysbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-black-dagger-brotherhood-looks.html

Here's part 3 which includes Tohrment, Qhuinn, Blay and Saxton http://buggysbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/honorable-mention-what-black-dagger.html