Archive | July 2013

Romance in Paris and NYC? Yes Please

Brianna and Colin meet in Paris while both are there on business. The attraction is so strong; Brianna changes her plans to return home so she can have an extended weekend fling. Trying to ensure that her wild and crazy spontaneous behavior does not follow her home, Brianna’s only condition was that they would not reveal their last names. While the fling was supposed to be a fun diversion from reality, it becomes indelibly imprinted on both of them.

As serendipity would have it, they meet again when they get back home to New York. Colin is part owner to a major luxury hotel chain. And Brianna is daughter to a famous clothing designer. Why the two have never met before Paris or even knew what each other looked like is beyond me. It seems that they ran is the same circles. They were both strikingly good looking people and successful in their fields. The paparazzi seemed to have no trouble getting her picture, so why did she not have a familiar face to Colin? But I digress since I am over-thinking the plot line.

For me, this romance was about average. They went from being strangers to I-need-you-in-my-life in a few weeks. In my opinion, Brianna dropped the L-word too quickly. I guess all those private plane trips gave them ample time to talk and get to know one another.

In typical romance book fashion, there is a secret that almost threatens to tear the couple apart. When the truth comes out, I could not understand why Colin did not say something sooner. I do not think it would have been that big of a deal. Brianna had her secrets too, but at least she did open up to Colin.

My only real complaint was with the unsolved mystery. The couple’s issues are resolved but there are still lingering questions about the incident involving her sister. I guess that will be addressed in the following book? This is the first book I read from this author, so I did not know if that was supposed to be part of this particular story or part of the series’ story.

Overall, the story was entertaining. This is a nice light romance read for one afternoon or while on vacation. The love scenes are not too scandalous but still quite steamy. I would read another book by this author. I like Brianna’s family and would read their romance stories too.

I received a copy of Designed by Desire (The Hamiltons: Fashioned with Love) from Netgalley for an honest review.
You can click any of the links in this post to buy Designed by Desire (The Hamiltons: Fashioned with Love) on Amazon

Solid Soul

Jul15

Solid Soul (Kimani Romance) ♥♥♥♥

Chase is a widower whose entire focus has been about raising his son. Kylie was a teen mom and she is doing everything to prevent her daughter from making the same mistake. When Chase comes into her story and says that his son Marcus and her daughter Tiffany are planning to run off together, they know that they have to proceed with caution. Teenagers who think that they are in love can make some foolish decisions.

While agreeing to work together to support their children and hopefully convince them not to making rash life-changing decisions, Chase and Kylie get to spend some one-on-one time together. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Marcus say some pretty outrageous stuff that almost sends them both into apoplectic fits. Kylie wants to acknowledge the attraction with Chance, but fails to see how she can have a relationship with him and be a good example for her daughter.

This was one of the sweeter novels by Brenda Jackson because it was so real to life in many ways. The main characters have to think about how their actions will affect their children. Their romance is more complex since it is not just a matter of giving into the attraction. They have two hormonal teenagers that could use their lack of self-control as an excuse to throw caution to the wind. Chase and Kylie have to be concerned with the message they are teaching their children about personal relationships.

Overall, Solid Soul (Kimani Romance) had moments that were heart-rending and funny. There was a good cast of main and supporting characters with a likeable plot. I could imagine their difficulty; struggling to be a single parent and wanting to juggle an adult relationship.

You can buy Solid Soul (Kimani Romance) on Amazon by clicking any of the links in this post.

Blood Adversaries Giveaway Promotion

Jul9

Blood Adversaries Giveaway Promotion.

An innocent trying to seduce a man is hilarious

Jul5

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

In the prologue, Emma is almost the victim of a sexual assault. That changes her from a fun loving adventurous young girl to a jaded and somewhat bitter person. With some reluctance years later, her parents allow her to have a season in order to find a husband.

Sebastian, also known as “Angel Duke” since his reputation as a buffer proof, is looking for wife. He needs to choose but he is bored with his choices of immature debutantes. He meets and is drawn to Emma. She acknowledges the attraction but does not even feel she is a worthy contender for marriage considering her perceived sordid past. He is a duke that is above reproach and she is supposedly “tainted”.

Side note: it is sad to me that when a woman is a victim of a sexual assault, people still judge her as if she caused it to happen. No woman asks for it. As in Emma’s case, it is usually a mentally twisted man whose desires motivate him to take by force what is not belong to him.

Back to the story…

Emma and Sebastian have a similar goal: get married. They agreed to help each other find spouses. This was funny to me since it is obvious that they want each other. There was plenty of back and forth funny banter between the two of them. I was laughing out loud at Emma’s so-called efforts to try to seduce Sebastian. She was such an innocent that it was cute.

In the end, Sebastian and Emma confront their respective demons and are able to resolve the issues holding them back from acknowledging their love for each other. This was a great story!

To buy The Seduction of Sebastian St. James (House of Renwick) on Amazon click any of the links in this post

Petit Le Mans

Jul1

I am not a person that craves speed. Give me my non-souped up Toyota Rav 4 and I am content. I saw the first Fast and Furious and wondered what all the hype was about. I critiqued the actor’s performance instead of drooling over their fast cars.

That being said, when Hubby (who loves Formula One racing) said he wanted to go to Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October last year, I made sure I had my Kindle charged. I was sure I would be bored.

What is the Petit Le Mans?
The Petit Le Mans (French for little Le Mans) is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which are slightly modified if necessary, mainly to allow additional cars to compete.

The race was founded by Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz and first run on October 10, 1998 as part of the IMSA season. The 1999 edition was one of the original events of the American Le Mans Series. This year will mark the 2nd Annual Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which connects the races in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Petit Le Mans covers a maximum of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) (which is approximately 394 laps) or a maximum of 10 hours, whichever comes first; only once, in the rain-stopped 2009 race, has the leading team failed to complete 1,000 miles (1,600 km). In addition to the overall race, teams of two or three drivers per car compete for class victories in four different classes of cars, two for Le Mans prototypes and two for grand tourer cars. Class winners of this event receive an automatic invitation to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. (from http://www.roadatlanta.com/ev_petit.lasso)

This event starts on Thursday with speed trials on Friday and the official race on Saturday. We got there Friday for some of the speed trials for race position. I will not lie. During this time, I was a little bored. I did not understand what was going on. It did not seem as if there were that many cars on the track. After lunch, with the sun in my face, I got a little drowsy and nodded off a time or two. Hubby could not believe I went to sleep considering how loud the cars were. The noise was thunderous in the way I would imagine living next to an airport would be. I am not one to be deterred when I am sleepy.

Friday’s events might not have held my interest, however, Saturday was a different story. We got there early enough to get a good parking spot to see the action. Then we walked down into the pit area to look at the cars that were racing (see picture). It was at this time that I began to understand the hypnotizing power of muscle cars. When the engines were started, the low rumbling created a slight vibration through my body. It gave me chills. The good kind. I think it created an increase in adrenaline in my brain. I was hyper and excited all at once. In that second, my brain decided that I needed one of those cars. When we had to leave the pit for the race to begin, I started to crave the feeling that being next to a machine of that type of power gave me. It was difficult to break away and bring myself back to reality. That was the defining moment in my appreciation for sports cars.

Overall, Petit Le Mans is definitely an experience to be had. I do not have the funds to be able to travel to the Le Mans, but at least I can go to the miniature version in Georgia. I believe a lot of other people feel the same way. There were thousands of fans out there, many of whom were camped on site since Thursday. Everyone was gathered together for the love of racing, need for speed, and the appreciation of well-tuned, finely built, highly operating machines.