This book picks up where Partners left off. Kai and Aurora have their individual reasons for catching the serial rapist. While they deal with the stress of knowing the monster is out there, they have to address their feelings toward each other. It becomes obvious that their friends are trying to set them up.

Kai does not think they have a future together. I did not totally agree with his logic. Aurora is putting on a tough girl act to hide the fact that she wants to be loved and start a family. I felt sorry for her. She has to pretend in public that she does not want the main thing she really desires to have. Kai is so perceptive to the real “her” that the potential commitment scares him.

I found this book under the genre of romance. As a romance, I found the story lacking an ending. It does not give any indication of the future of them as a couple. I would consider this to be more of an action suspense story with some romance elements.

I was relieved to know that the catch the rapist. By the end, I was wondering how many more victims would be defiled by this sicko before he was caught. I could not figure out if he was really good at staying two steps ahead of the police or were they inept. The ending was anticlimactic for me given the pace of the book. Others might find it satisfying though.

I guess the romance elements of Roll the Dice are truer to life than others because Kai and Aurora had so many personal demons to contend with in order to decide what they wanted to do. There was not a convenient set of circumstances that allowed for love to blossom for the couple. In the end, it was still seemingly undetermined what was going to happen. Coming to the end of the book was more like reading end of a chapter. I thought, “Really? She is going to end the book like that?” The author sucked me in so that I would be forced to buy the next installment. I do not like be sucked in for anything. I begrudgingly bought the next book so that I could see how their story ended.

Reader, take notice. This series of books is written in such a way that you have to read them in order AND read all of them to get the whole story. That is something I wish someone had told me before I chose the book.

If this sounds like something you would like, click any of the links to buy on Amazon.

Stranded in a snowstorm together means he’s the love of your life

Jan15

Spellbound & Seduced (A Sinful Regency Christmas) – ♥♥♥

Set in the Scottish Highlands, Lawrence traveled there to become the new laird. A curse was placed on her family hundreds of years before that doomed the husbands of the daughters in family to death a year after marriage. It was love at first sight, but Jura was determined not to fall in love. However, something about Lawrence made her very curious. The inclement weather meant he was stranded at her house for several days. That gave them plenty of time to explore these feelings that had for one another.

This is one of those books that, besides the love scenes, it does not make sense why they fall in love with each other. Love at first sight is supposed to be the explanation. But for me, always trying to find the logical in any situation, I am left confused. Did I miss something? Why did they fall in love?

You are probably surprised at this revelation. Considering the fact that I love to read romance novels, you probably thought I was a great romantic at heart who believed that people can know with a touch or glance that it is true love. In truth, I like love stories but I need some conflict or something that reveals the type of person the main character is. That creates a believable story of why the other person fell in love with them.

Back to Jura and Lawrence’s story…Despite the fact that I do not think they knew each other well enough for protestations of love, I did think it was sweet how they did it. They communicated their feelings plainly and that helped ensure there was no misunderstandings.

Overall, Spellbound & Seduced (A Sinful Regency Christmas) was a short book to read with a cute story. You could finish it in under an hour.

Click any of the links to buy Spellbound & Seduced (A Sinful Regency Christmas) on Amazon

Good Girls Don’t but they need to do better

Jan5

Good Girls Don’t (Hqn) ♥♥♥

Tessa is trying to do everything to hold her family together. All she has are her two brothers who are at each other’s throats because they differ in opinion of how to operate the family business. When there is a break-in, investigator Luke is on the case. Sparks are flying between them two and this prompts Tessa to seek Luke out for some consenting adult activities.

Tessa hides their affair from her overprotective brothers (which I think is a little ridiculous). Luke was a reluctant party in the affair because he is still bitter from the fact that his ex-wife left his while she had cancer. What does that say about him? His sick wife would rather be alone than have someone like him to lean on?

Tessa’s personality mildly annoyed me. On many occasions, she acted like a brat and tried to control everything to keep her brothers insulated. In her attempts to play peacemaker and keep everyone content, she would tell little lies. Deception gets complicated very quickly. This would end up stressing her out. When Tessa went off on Luke, I thought she was an idiot because there was no reason to take out her anger on him. She was exposed for all her misdeeds but she flipped it to make him somehow responsible.

Overall, Good Girls Don’t was more about Tessa coming to terms with her own bad behavior than the actual Tessa-Luke romance. Even with both of them being two emotionally messed up individuals, there is a happy-ever-after ending and all loose ends are resolved.

Side note: I still do not know what was the purpose of spending so much time on Wallace’s sex life. I do not see what it added to the story.

Great products for aromatherapy projects

Nov15

One of my many hobbies is aromatherapy. I was studying fragrances and scents before it became the cool thing to do. Now days, there are so many different companies out there that are offering essential oils and blends to consumers. Unless you are fortunate enough to live in a place where there are brick and mortar stores selling these products, you probably will have to go online to find what you need.

For the best prices on the best quality products, I go to Amazon

I use a few different brands depending on what I need.

For pure essential oils, I use Edens Gardens and Aura Cacia.

They both have therapeutic grade pure essential oils. This means that I can feel safe using in recipes where I will potentially ingest the oil. I do not eat the oils, but if I am putting a blend on my skin, I want to ensure that the essential oil will not cause an adverse reaction. Some of my favorites are Ylang Ylang 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil, Aura Cacia Pure Essential Oil Lavender — 2 fl oz, and Aura Cacia Essential Oils Peppermint.

For essential oil blends and carrier oils, I like the Now brand. I have tried and tested others, but Now seems to have best selection and the highest blend concentration ratio of essential oil to carrier oils. A good example of that is Eucalyptus Lemon blend. I love the NOW Foods Lemon Eucalyptus Oil, 1 ounce. Ounce for ounce, I think that Now’s Now Foods Grape Seed Oil, 16 Ounce and NOW Foods Jojoba Oil, 16 ounce are the best quality at reasonable prices.

When it comes to aromatherapy, your blends are only as good as your ingredients. Using low quality ingredients reduce or negate efficacy. In other cases, they could cause negative or allergic reactions. For me, Now, Edens Gardens and Aura Cacia are the best brands of what is on the market currently.

Indian Moon

Nov10

Indian Moon ♥♥

Quinton is a Native American man working for an environmental company that writes reports about the environmental effects of logging companies. The irony is that he accepts bribes from logging companies to ensure that he approves whatever they are doing. He gives creative spin of their actions to the EPA with little regard to the local flora and fauna. Regina is a wife of the logging company owner that Quinton is there to survey. Granted it is a very abusive relationship, but she is still married!

The only thing I hate worse than love triangles is a “romance” where one or both parties are married, especially when the person is cheating on their spouse. When I realized that Regina was going to be the love interest, I was curious how the book was going to end. I did not like the premise of the book, but I was still giving the author a chance to weave an interesting story.

Even though Regina was married, her husband was so abusive that she yearned for love and tenderness. I am not saying that I condone her method of obtaining it, but I can see how that situation could happen. Quinton was a man that has lost his way, his morals, and his character. Through his love for Regina, he was able to redeem himself. I do not like the way he chose to do that, but considering he probably felt he had to pay penance for all those hidden sins/bribes, he saw it as justice.

I cannot say that I recommend this book, but others might find it interesting. If you focus on Quinton’s road to redemption and less on a married woman having an affair, parts of the story have some merit. As a romance, I found the story depressing.