King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Trace of Fever

author: Lori Foster



genre: contemporary romance/romantic suspense



pages: 393

published: May 2011


source: ARC sent by Book Trib/Book Tour


first line: Arms crossed and his shoulders propped against the wall outside the elaborate, corner high rise-office, Trace Rivers considered his options.


rated: 3 out of 5








book blurb:

Caught in the crossfire of vengeance and desire...



Undercover mercenary Trace Rivers loves the adrenaline rush of a well-planned mission. First he'll earn the trust of corrupt businessman Murray Coburn, then gather the proof he needs to shut down the man's dirty smuggling operation. It's a perfect scheme—until Coburn's long-lost daughter saunters in with her own deadly plan for revenge.


With a smile like an angel and fire in her eyes, Priscilla Patterson isn't who she seems to be. But neither is the gorgeous bodyguard who ignites all her senses. Joining forces to plot Coburn's downfall, Priss and Trace must fight the undeniable heat between them. For one wrong move, one lingering embrace will expose them to the wrath of a merciless opponent.

About:


Trace of Fever is the second book in Lori Foster's Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor series.

In this book we have hottie Trace Rivers working undercover as a bodyguard for a corrupt wealthy businessman named Murray Coburn. Coburns runs a human trafficking business and Trace wants to gain his trust so he can bring him down.


One day the beautiful and seemingly innocent Priscilla Patterson walks into Coburns place of business claiming to be his long lost daughter. Priss has an agenda of her own. Trace can't help but notice the beauty has something up her sleeve, and is not as innocent as she claims to be.


When Coburn has Trace keep tabs on Priss, he more than willingly obliges. Trace and Priss end up having some hot sexual tension as Trace actually begins to care for her and doesn't want to see Priss come to any harm.




My thoughts:


I read the first in this series, When You Dare and enjoyed it. In that book I got to learn a bit about Trace, and I was eager to read his story in this second installment.


The tension between Priss and Trace was nice, it slowly developed and I was eager to see how these two would get together.

Author Lori Foster creates another likable heroine with Priss. She is no damsel in distress and has a mind of her own.
I also liked Trace's character, since I do enjoy alpha males in romance books.



I also like seeing Dare McIntosh from the first in this series, When You Dare, pop up in this book.



I found Murray Coburn's wife, Helene a.k.a. Hell, to be a bit over the top. I found her too obnoxious and too willing to throw punches to take her seriously.





All in all, I enjoyed Trace of Fever. It was a juicy read on these hot summer days.










Book three in this series is called Savor the Danger.



About the author:




Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a Waldenbooks, Borders, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette and Samhain. She is currently with Berkley/Jove.


Lori believes it’s important to give back to the community as much as possible, and for that reason she ran special contests in conjunction with a publisher, facilitating many first sales for new authors. She routinely organizes events among authors and readers to gather donations for various organizations.


quoted from the author's website



Special thanks to Tricia over @ BookTrib for making this possible!

title: Dead of Wynter

author: Spencer Seidel

pages: 292

genre: fiction/suspense

published: May 2011

source: sent for review by Booktrib

first line: The ghost, the dead man, was still following.

rated: 4 out of 4 stars











About:

Alice Wynter receives a phone call from her mother telling her that her father is dead. When she goes back to her hometown of Redding, Maine, she discovers that her twin brother Chris is missing. Alice grew up in a troubled household with an alcoholic and abusive father. As a result, her twin Chris was a troubled teen and developed his own drinking problem. Alice was able to move away and start a life of her own, but now that she's back in town, bad memories are resurfacing as the police are trying to figure out what happened to Alice's father and brother.
As the story goes on, there are flashbacks to 1984 when Chris was a teen and getting into deep trouble as well as glimpses into Alice's homelife.







My thoughts:


Dead of Wynter is one of those novels that slowly draws you in. I enjoyed uncovering the story layer by layer.
I wondered if Chris was responsible for his fathers murder and what secrets Alice and her mother were keeping. I felt bad for Alice having to go back to her hometown where so many painful memories were waiting.

The flashbacks were done well and were a necessary part of the story in order for the reader to get a glimpse into these characters lives.

Author Spencer Seidel does a great job at creating a creepy atmosphere. This was a good mystery and I enjoyed getting caught up in it.

Like she had reached some great destination, some great place, but had forgotten how she'd gotten there. It was the journey, the connection to the past that was gone. And she'd carefully constructed her life that way. And now that curtain was being pulled back, just a little, to remind her that the lies she'd told herself and others over the years were just that: lies. She wasn't a real person. She was a facade.

p.27

About the author:

Spencer Seidel lives and works in suburban New Jersey but has also called Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine home. He is an honors graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University and attended the Berklee College of Music to study guitar, which he has been playing for over 25 years. His love of reading and books began as a child after discovering Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Later, he was drawn to darker work by authors such as Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Jack Ketchum, who continue to influence his dark novels and short stories.

Special thanks to Booktrib.

title: When You Dare

author: Lori Foster

genre: contemporary romance/romantic suspense

source: ARC sent by Book Trib/Book Tour

published: May 2011

pages: 448

first line: Midnight came and went with only the quiet buzz of meager traffic along the beach.

book rated:

4 stars

Every woman dreams of landing an Alpha male. With chiseled cheek bones and tan skin, his strong physique gives off a powerful, masculine vibe. But he saves his quiet, romantic side for his soul mate.

About:

When You Dare is the first in Lori Foster's new Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor series.

Dare Macintosh is a professional mercenary who rescues Molly Alexander while she is being held captive in Tijuana, Mexico. Dare is there to rescue his best friends sister, but in the process he releases all the women who are being held there. He also takes Molly with him, since she is in no physical condition to save herself.



Dare cares for Molly sho has been drugged for a week, and soon finds out her identity. She is a successful paranormal romance writer and has no idea who would hire someone to kidnap her. Molly hires Dare to help her find out who is behind her abduction. Dare takes the job after making her promise to do everything he says, without question.


As the story flows, and Molly recovers from her kidnapping and mistreatment, the two fall for each other. Dare takes Molly to his private lakeside home to keep her safe while he does some investigating.
Finding out who is behind Molly's abduction becomes a personal mission for him.





My thoughts:

I found When You Dare hard to put down, it was a nice dose of contemporary, suspenseful romance. Dare is pure alpha male, yet he does have a soft side and can't help falling for Molly once he rescues her. He made for a great hero.


Molly is no heroine in distress, despite being held captive and mistreated, she manages to hold it together.
I like that Molly is a writer, it made for an interesting storyline as she wondered if one of her readers might have it out for her.



Molly and Dare's characters were interesting, and I enjoyed getting to know them a bit more as the story went on.

Dare lives in a lush home, has two Labrador retrievers and a male housekeeper. He's made a comfortable living for himself after years of hard work, and now works mostly for the thrill of it.
Molly's latest book is being made into a film starring Ryan Reynolds. She comes from a wealthy family, yet she ventured off and made her own small fortune with her books despite her fathers disapproval. I liked that Molly was no supermodel type, she was your average every day girl.






The romantic scenes between Molly and Dare were great, especially in the beginning when they were taking it slow, nothing was rushed and there was some nice sexual tension between the two. I like a believable romance and attraction between characters, and author Lori Foster does an excellent job at writing just that. I also smiled at the flirtatiousness between these two.

Her gaze skimmed up to his throat, his shoulders. He had the most remarkable chest, wide, strong, sculpted with obvious strength. Even relaxed, his abs remained defined. And a very sexy trail of dark brown hair led from his navel down into his snug boxers.


Beneath the soft cotton material she saw the bulge of his sex.

"Want me to lose the boxers for you?"

She jerked her gaze up to his. His slow smile showed more satisfaction than humor.

p.146

When they finally get together the sex scenes were nice and juicy. Dare has become a new favorite hero. He says things like:

"Once we're in that bed together, we're going to be in there for a few hours, maybe all damn night."

If you enjoy a good dose of romance, with a kick ass hero and a smart, sassy heroine, I recommend When You Dare. This would also make a great beach read for those lazy summer days.
This is my first time reading Lori Foster, and it won't be my last. I will be reading and reviewing the next book in this series, Trace of Fever.




I usually don't drool over men on book covers, but this is the male model used on the cover of When You Dare. I had absolutely no trouble envisioning this man as Dare while reading. Thank you very much.






Special thanks to Tricia over @ BookTrib for making this possible!

title: A Creed in Stone Creek

author: Linda Lael Miller

genre: contemporary romance/western

pages: 384

published: February 22, 2011

source: ARC from BookTrib

first line: Some instinct—or maybe just a stir of a breeze—awakened Steven Creed; he sat up in bed, took a fraction of a moment to orient himself to unfamiliar surroundings.

rated: 4 out of 5

When single attorney Steven Creed becomes the guardian of an orphaned five-year-old boy, he trades his big-city law firm for a ranch near his McKettrick kin in the close-knit community of Stone Creek, Arizona. Taking care of little Matt and fixing up his run-down ranch house with its old barn loosens something tightly wound inside him. But when Steven takes on the pro bono defense of a local teen, he meets his match in the opposing counsel—beautiful, by-the-book county prosecutor Melissa O’Ballivan. It’ll take one grieving little boy, a sweet adopted dog and a woman who never expected to win any man’s heart to make this Creed in Stone Creek know he’s truly found home.

A Creed in Stone Creek is the first book in the contemporary 'Creed Cowboys' trilogy.

Steven Creed becomes the guardian of five year old Matt, the orphaned son of his best friend. Steven moves out to Stone Creek to raise Matt. There he meets the beautiful county prosecutor Melissa O’Ballivan. Being such a small town Melissa notices Steven right away and finds out his story.




The story starts off slowly, with the characters in this small town being introduced.
Steven is the perfect hero. He's sexy, smart, sweet and his raising his best friends child as his own.

I liked Melissa also. She's independent with a mind of her own. No whiny damsel in distress here.



Their romance slowly blossoms and when they do get together it's sweet. The love scenes are well written. They were sexy without being vulgar.

"Let's get you out of that dress," he said next.

And he simply whisked the whole thing right off over her head, without any sort of wasted motion.

Melissa had been undressed by a few men before, of course, but never in such a deft and matter-of-fact way. The yearning, strong before, pressed on her like a weight now, making it hard for her to breathe.

"That was -direct," she gasped, as a flush moved from her hairline to her toes. Goose bumps rose in its wake.

"I'm nothing if not direct," Steven said.


p.203

With a great plot, plenty of romance and interesting characters, A Creed in Stone Creek is a keeper. I will be reading the next two installments in this series.





A Creed in Stone Creek is the perfect book to cuddle up with during a few lazy afternoons, which is just how I read it.


And I'd also like to mention, the cover on this one is droolworthy. Hellooooo cowboy!






Linda Lael Miller's cowboys have their own site:
Take A Cowboy Home.

It’s a great new site that Harlequin put together for Linda that features the book trailer, a behind-the-scenes video of the cover photo shoot, webisodes and a sexy photo gallery.








About the author:

The “First Lady of the West” returns with her highly anticipated new series set in Arizona ’s rugged ranch lands. Linda Lael Miller, bestselling author of more than 100 sought-after Western novels, brings readers A CREED IN STONE CREEK (HQN Books; March 2011; $7.99), the first in the contemporary “Creed Cowboys” trilogy.


Miller knows her characters so well because this self-confessed barn goddess who raises horses on her ranch in Spokane, Washington, grew up the daughter of a town marshal. Like some of her characters, she had a wanderlust that she needed to indulge before she could return home. She sold her first novel, FLETCHER’S WOMAN in 1983. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on contemporary and historical novels with a Western flavor. The Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Special thanks to Tricia over @ BookTrib.

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