~REVIEW of Suzanne Brockmann's EVERYDAY, AVERAGE JONES~

TD&D # 4 STARTS WITH SO MUCH POTENTIAL

stars

Opening Line: "It was extremely likely that she was going to die"

Harlan "Cowboy" Jones is the 4th SEAL to get his story told in Suzanne Brockmann's Tall, Dark and Dangerous series. And while as a whole I am loving these well written, addictive stories and their delicious alpha male heroes this one was a letdown. It starts out with a ton of potential; exciting action, suspense, a decent heroine and a larger then life Navy SEAL hero coming to her rescue. Unfortunately Brockmann then pulls out the secret baby card and for the last 3/4's of the book I couldn't stand the heroine, lack of storyline or the ongoing (and going) conflict between them. Luckily we get some great supporting characters and lots of interaction with the rest of Alpha Team 10 to carry us through.

When the American embassy Melody Evans is working in is overtaken by terrorists it doesn't take long for the Navy SEALs to come to their rescue however it does take them 2 days to reach the Middle Eastern border and a flight to freedom. During those tense few days Melody comes to trust her daring and charismatic rescuer with her life. Blaming the extreme circumstances on the ensuing week of passion they share together in Paris. However Melody doesn't want a relationship with a hero who risks his life on a daily basis and is never home, she plans on settling down with an everyday, average man. So when Jones gets called back to duty she thanks him for the laughs and breaks things off.

And this is when things fell apart; 7 months later Jones gets reassigned to the east coast and because he hasn't been able to forget about Melody he looks her up. Shocked to discover that she's pregnant but being an honourable guy Cowboy Jones dons his dress whites and asks her to marry him. The only thing is she doesn't want him, in fact she's got everything worked out so that she doesn't need him either and no amount of coercion on his part will change her mind. This storyline goes on and on with Melody not giving an inch and Jones setting up a tent in her backyard then doing normal suburban type things in the hopes that she will at least put his name on the birth certificate. He's kind of like a dog waiting to be thrown a bone and this got old, fast.

One interesting thing about this story is that (except for one) all of the love scenes are spoken of or thought about in past tense. Now I usually like to be in on the action but this really worked here and I found the memories and sexual tension to be just as sexy as if it were taking place. I just don't know what happened to our heroine because she became very unlikable. Even at the very end I didn't ever and get the feeling that this couple loved each other, I just felt that Jones was going to be in for a lifetime of supplication, diaper changing and begging for sexual favours.

So, my least favourite from the series so far, but still a worthwhile quickie romance and I should mention that the entire Tall, Dark &Dangerous series is in the process of being re-released (with fancy new covers) and this one can be found in Tall, Dark and Fearless along with the excellent tortured hero in Frisco's Kid.

~TEASER TUESDAY~

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:

"I thought we were buddies though. You could have told me"

" I didn't tell her. And she holds my soul"

(Page 138) of Loving Lies by Lora Leigh

~REVIEW of J.R Ward's LOVER REVEALED~

~BUTCH FINDS HIS PLACE~

big stars
(Black Dagger Brotherhood, # 4)

"Opening Line: "What if I told you I had a fantasy?"

This is the story of Butch O'Neil The 4th member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood to find love. A former cop, he's been living amongst the Vampire Warriors since stumbling into their secret world back in book 1 (DARK LOVER.) Unable now to return to his old human life yet not really fitting in with the Brothers either he is a man lost between two worlds. He's also hopelessly in love with a woman far above his station. The beautiful socialite Marissa, but she hasn't spoken to him for 2 books now and despite his pining and continual drive bys of her house no longer knows he exists. Butch's only constant would be his "tight" relationship with his best friend Vishous, although he's been acting a little strange lately. In any case the roommates have become increasingly close, sharing everything. And as Butch goes through some major changes during the course of this book their bond will only grow stronger as they face life and death together.

LOVER REVEALED is quite the ride and a great addition to this series. Erotic, thrilling, with non stop action and revelations galore. Of course all the Brothers stories continue and their ongoing sub-plots will keep you completely absorbed.

Butch is feeling sorry for himself, drinking too much Scotch, longing for Marissa and wondering where he belongs. Forbidden to fight for the Vampire race that has adopted him he is beginning to feel worthless. Living in their house, wearing expensive designer suits and driving a flash car all paid for by the Brotherhood. He can't respect himself and is finding little comfort in his new lifestyle.

One evening after leaving the nightclub Zerosum Butch has a chance encounter with some Lessers and after saving a young Vampire is taken hostage. He is then tortured for the location of the Brotherhood and when he refuses to break, the Omega (Lessers Leader) places a piece of his evil self inside Butch. Then he is left for dead. The Omega's hope is that Butch will act as a homing device after the Brothers find him. Vishous rescues Butch in scenes very reminiscent of Zsadist going after Bella in LOVER AWAKENED. (Bordering on obsessed) Then transports the half dead cop to Haver's medical clinic where Butch is placed in isolation due to the black body fluids he's spewing and the fact that he now smells like baby powder. At V's request Marissa comes to the clinic to help Butch recover and our love story begins.

Marissa is a sheltered, virginal, aristocrat who has never forgotten the cop and after a week together in isolation the two have fallen hopelessly in love. When Marissa needs to feed however there is a problem. She can't use Butch because his blood is weak and eventually she would kill him so she is forced to use another male (I won't tell you who.) This makes Butch crazy. Causing him to get drunk. Again. And this is the first of our couples many annoying break-ups and make-ups. Back at the mansion V and Butch grow even closer as V heals the evil within Butch. There are suggestions of feelings deeper than friendship here and they are explored beautifully. I think the innuendoes show the depth of their feelings and V's true loneliness. Anyways. Butch and Marisa get back together and have a lot of great sex while V searches for an explanation to Butch's bonding scent and how to make him into a true member of the BDB.

Marissa and Butch's continual conflict and angst annoyed me to a degree but this is such a great book that I was able to overlook it. There's just so much else going on too. The little snippets of Wrath, Phury, Rhage and Zsadist's lives are excellent. Rhevenge takes on a bigger role and John Mathew ups his training as he tries to come to terms with the loss of Wellsie and Tohr. Zsadist is an unexpected help here. There's the usual witty humour and fabulously erotic love scenes. And the ending is per usual JR Ward jaw-dropping awesome.

I can highly recommend this book however I would suggest reading this series in order to get the full affect of these sexy Black Dagger men

Vishous is up next in LOVER UNBOUND and I am wondering who could possibly love this sexy yet nasty BDSM Brother?

~NEW Info on J.R Ward's THE REBEL~

-Expected publication: June 28th 2011 by HQN Books

 So for months now I've been watching this "new" J.R Ward title wondering exactly what it is. I assumed it was a re-release of one of her earlier Harlequin titles she published under the name of Jessica Bird and turns out I was right. THE REBEL is in fact a re-issue of BEAUTY AND THE BLACK SHEEP which was originally released by Harlequin in July of 2005. It is part of her 4-part MOOREHOUSE LEGACY series and includes;

Here's the correct reading order for the series
1-Beauty And The Black Sheep
2-His Comfort and Joy

3-From The First

4-A Man In A Million

This is not to be confused with The Billionaire Next Door from the (The O'Banyon Brothers series) Which Bird/Ward unfortunately never completed. There is a super fun cameo (squeal) in this story though of Butch O'Neil, mentioned as a teenaged friend of the hero.

The whole Moorehouse Legacy series is really good and I can recommend it. Its fun to catch Ward in her early days of writing and you can definitely see the beginnings of the Black Dagger Brotherhood taking shape here in her (strictly) romance heroes.  I'm assuming that the rest of the books will also be re-released at some point in the future.

Here's the link to my review

buggysbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/review-of-jessica-birdss-beauty-and.html

~REVIEW of Suzanne Brockmann's IDENTITY: UNKNOWN~

~EXCELLENT ADDITION TO THE TD&D SERIES~

                                         

Opening line “Hey, Hey, Hey There, Mission Man! How ya doin’, Baby? Rise and shine!

Oh this was just so good, another fantastic addition (#8 if you‘re counting) to the Tall Dark & Dangerous series. Each book just seems to get better and better and I found myself constantly smiling through this one as Suzanne Brockmann tackles amnesia, giving Mitchell Shaw’s story a real Bourne Identity flavour with a romantic edge.

There were a lot of things to like about Identity: Unknown, apart from the obvious hunky Navy Seal hero that is. The story itself is really good and there are all these wonderful side moments too; including some hilarious banter between the SEAL team members sent to find Mitch. We also get several welcome updates and cameos from past characters and spend time on a dude ranch, which was a fun departure. As usual Brockman creates absolutely sigh-worthy romantic dialogue and sizzling love scenes but here also manages to maintain an element of suspense. As we pick up the pieces of Mitch’s memory and learn everything right along with him; what he’s doing in New Mexico, who shot him and why and ultimately who he is. Its all cleverly done.

I think one of my favourite moments though (other then the Star Wars-Mitch has gone to the Dark side line) would have to be the discovery of a priests collar among Mitch’s belongings. He and Becca have just spent several nights of passion together and now Becca feels terrible because she seduced him, subsequently breaking his vows. Throughout Mitch keeps proclaiming; I just know I’m not a priest, hilarious and uncomfortable to say the least. Speaking of Becca she was great heroine; funny, tough and goes after what she wants which makes her the perfect match for our absent minded hero.

Shaw joins us from a church homeless shelter, he’s dirty, bloody, in pain and apparently hung-over but worst of all when he looks in the mirror “Mish” has absolutely no idea who the man looking back at him is. The items in his possession are of little help; an address, a gun and five thousand dollars in cash. The address leads him to the lazy 8 Ranch where manager Becca Keyes just assumes he’s her hired hand Casey Parker and Mish of course doesn’t know any better, maybe he is? Sparks fly immediately between our pair even though its obvious Mish is useless on a horse, he is however awesome at rescuing small children caught in flash floods and knows a lot about guns.

Mish tries to keep his distance from Becca because after the dreams he’s been having he’s pretty sure he’s a very, very bad man however Becca is determined to seduce him. Eventually our couple end up getting all down and dirty at the local motel while trying to figure out how to get into locker 101 at the bus station without tipping off the 3 men Mitch has spotted staking it out. He’s pretty sure they’re the bad guys; they are of course Lucky, Bobby and Wes who’ve been following his trail of marked cash and need to bring him in before the real Casey Parker gets him, unless he’s gone to the Dark side that is… Cheers people.

This story is also available in the recent 2 in1 re-release Tall Dark and Daring along with The Admiral's Bride (which is also super good)

~ENVY revelations~

                                                      (The Fallen Angels #3)

Really!? Wow, How did I not know earlier that the hero of this book is going to be Thomas “Veck” DelVecchio, Jr from J.R Ward's LOVER UNLEASHED.

Gah, how awesome is this? I love the BDB crossover.

This must mean that we'll also get to see his partner from UNLEASHED...Jose del la Cruz, yippee.  Now that just opens up endless possibilities; Butch sightings, Lessers, The Band of Bastards (Throe) and the subsequent headaches leftover from his scrubbing of Veck.

The year long wait for Tohr's book just got a little easier! You rock WARDen.

*Confirmation was given at Ward's latest signing (thanks Mahlet) that Throe from the Band Of Bastards will indeed play a role in ENVY -"has a meaningful moment in it" and that we will see more crossover between the two series in general.*

THE BACK BLURB:

"As the son of a serial killer, homicide detective Thomas “Veck” DelVecchio, Jr., grew up in the shadow of evil. Now, on the knife-edge between civic duty and blind retribution, he atones for the sins of his father—while fighting his inner demons. Assigned to monitor Veck is Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly, whose interest in him is both professional and arousingly personal. And Veck and Sophia have another link: Jim Heron, a mysterious stranger with too many answers...to questions that are deadly. When Veck and Sophia are drawn into the ultimate battle between good and evil, their fallen angel savior is the only thing that stands between them and eternal damnation."

Paperback, 480 pages

Expected publication: September 6th 2011 by Signet

~ WHAT I LOVED THIS WEEK~

 ...Or a pessimist tries to find some positive

• The season finale of Castle -three little words said twice and a bullet shot in the cemetery. Excellent double crossing, suspenseful and romantic finale. Can't wait to see how this plays out.

•  Baby Eagle chick gets rescued from the fishing line it was tangled in, which had been used to build its nest. When we set our minds to it us humans can do amazing, selfless things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lmHuTZmX70

• The sun came out and we smiled, played in our gardens and took off our jackets...finally. I'm in Canada people this is a big deal!

• May 2-4 Long weekend

                                                     

.........and  not so much

• The death of Macho Man Randy Savage

• The season finale of Greys Anatomy. Dull. Especially when compared to their usual exhilarating finales. The shooter, Izzy's cancer, and George's faceless death.

~IN MY BOX~

In My Mailbox is a feature that started over at The Story Siren. Each week we share what arrived in our mailboxes or we bought, found in swaps, borrowed from the library or stole from a friend or family member. (Okay the last parts just me)

Anyways here's what turned up at my house this week...

~REVIEW of Tere Michaels' FAITH & FIDELITY~

                                                            
(Faith, Love and Devotion, #1)

BIG stars

Opening Line: "Matt Haight sat in his car, watching the entrance of the Stag Bar with butterflies in his stomach."

I don’t even know how to put into words how much I loved this story and I’m having trouble writing a review that will do it any form of justice. I can tell you that author Tere Michaels has so hooked me with her unforgettable characters, heart wrenching love story and poignant writing that I’m now looking into spending several hundred dollars on an e-reader just so I can find out what happens next because for some reason the following two books aren't available in print form yet.

I think what struck me most about FAITH AND FIDELITY was the fact that this is about two men is completely incidental to the story. This is so much more than just a gay romance and truthfully all the same sex issue does here is add another degree of difficulty to Matt and Evan’s already complicated struggle to find happiness. This could be the story of any couple that’s taken a few hard knocks from life then along with their skeletons managed to find their soul mate. I should warn you that if you’re looking for graphic and gratuitous sex scenes every second page with a cheesy plotline to carry them along you’ll be disappointed. What you will find however is an emotional journey between two men that never expected to find love with anyone much less another man. This story is heart wrenching, beautiful, funny, compassionate, intimate, sad, realistic, tender and ultimately unputdownable. Honestly one of the best romances I’ve ever read.

As you can guess this isn’t a light-hearted read however I was immediately drawn in, starting with the tragic death of Evan’s high school sweetheart wife. Sherri’s the only person Evan’s ever loved or slept with and with her gone he’s now somehow got to find the strength to get up each day, continue with his job as a New York City Vice Detective and raise four children. Within the first chapter we’re also introduced to Matt; a 40 something former homicide detective and ladies man who’s having a minor mid life crisis of his own. Lonely and depressed Matt quickly becomes the perfect non-judgemental drinking buddy for Evan, each finding a form of solace in the others despair.

Matt and Evan’s relationship starts out as honest friendship. Somewhere along the way though the lines begin to blur and a mutual physically attraction takes hold, shocking confusing and exciting both men. There are some very sweet scenes here as each tries to deal with these new feelings of desire and learns how to be with another man, because as much as they want each other neither of them knows how to scratch the itch. The sex scenes here are explosive and sexy without being explicit and I enjoyed their path to discovery. On some level I could even relate because we’ve all faced the exciting and unknown at one time or another.

Before long Matt and Evan have fallen in love and must face the reality of what effect their relationship is going to have on children, friends and coworkers, however its Evan’s still palpable grief that causes the most damage during this time and brings in a third party. Damn if this part of the book didn’t read like a suspense and brought me to tears as events moved forward, backed off and went forward again. All with this white knuckled reader saying no, no, no, don’t do it. I just didn’t foresee this happening.

I also just have to mention how awesome all the secondary characters are here, adding realistic levels of depth to an already incredible story that I can‘t recommend enough. Cheers, I’m off to buy my e-reader.

~Last Movie I Watched- RIGHTEOUSKILL~

 

This was okay. I know they were trying to recapture the magic of HEAT but somehow this just didn't quite grab me. I will admit that I didn't predict the twist at the end (which was pretty cool and cleverly disquised) however I think these two screen legends were just too old for their roles. We needed 40 yr old cops not 60+ year olds (As police/detectives they should have/would have been retired). Al Pacino did stand out for me and HEAT is still a great movie.

Official IMDB synopsis: Turk and Rooster, two aging NYPD detectives who have been longtime partners are faced with a serial killer who is murdering sociopathic criminals. They both have personal issues, and when they start working with a younger team, Perez and Riley, tensions between the pairs of partners is inevitable, especially since Turk is now living with Perez's ex-girlfriend, also a homicide detective. 

~REVIEW of Justine Davis' LEFT AT THE ALTAR~

 

.5

 

Opening Line:“Hospitals. He’d sworn once that he would never set foot in on again.”

Sean Holt was left (you guessed it) standing at the altar. Without so much as a backwards glance Aurora Sheridan (Rory) broke his heart and spirit without ever bothering to explain why. Instead a week later she just up and married another man and left town for good.

                      

Sean had once thought that losing his leg and a promising athletic career would be the worst pain he’d ever have to face. He was wrong. It took a year long binge of self pity and then another four years of hard work to get himself back together after Rory but he’s finally in a good place now, having started a successful business he’s matured and gained back his self confidence. Although he’s never been able to let go of the pain and bitterness he feels towards the only woman he’s ever wanted.

Now with the death of her wealthy father Rory’s back in town; sporting a serious black eye, an abusive, brute of a husband and a ton of regret for the hurt she caused and the mess she’s made of her life. With her fathers passing Rory’s husband has become violent and his true agenda has come to light, leaving her nowhere to turn except to Sean. But if she wants his help she’s got some serious explaining to do. Will he even listen to her reasons for leaving let alone give them another chance?

This was a pretty good, standard Harlequin read; the love scenes are few but certainly spicy enough, theres angst a-plenty, and while the middle part dragged a bit for me as our couple hunted down a locket, jewellery box and key the ending was romantic and very suspenseful.

You can also tell that Davis has done her research here when it comes to prosthetics and living a physically challenged lifestyle however, while I appreciated our hero being an amputee I almost felt like it was talked about or used as a reason ‘why’ for everything too much. The reason why Rory left him, the reason why her father didn’t want her to marry him. Why he could/couldn’t defend himself or walk in sand. It was just mentioned in one way or another, every single page while Davis still maintained that Sean was a whole man and more then just his leg. In contradiction by mentioning it every page she wouldn’t let us forget about it. Maybe that was the point, IDK?

Written in 93/94, this is a great older Harlequin series (despite the now lame covers) with a real penchant for the tortured hero. Do yourself a favour though and read it in order. I randomly picked up book#3 The Morningside Of Dawn and then fell so in love with its sublime wounded hero Dar Cordell (sigh) that I’ve been on the hunt ever since to find the rest of the series. Cheers people.

1-Stevie's Chase

2-Left At The Altar

3-Morning Side Of Dawn