Review: Coyote Heat (SEALs On Fire Book 1)

Title:  Coyote Heat (SEALs on Fire, Book 1)
Author:  Desiree Holt
Genre:  Erotica
Book Size:  64 pages 191 KB

A wild weekend in Key West with Team Arapaho is just what Navy SEAL Miguel "Coyote" Cruz needs after a tough mission. Cold beer and hot women. The last thing he expects is to meet a woman who singes his body with the slighted touch and stokes the fire in his guarded heart. Too bad she's determined not to fall for a military man.

An author who consistently produces excellence in storytelling and quality of writing is Desiree Holt. She crosses romance genres with ease and I've enjoyed reading all of her books to date.

Coyote Heat is a novella size story with a Navy SEAL hero who ultimately finds his love. Filled with sexual tension and erotic scenes that is consistent in Ms Holt's books, this book is an adventure from start to finish.

The character of Miguel "Coyote" Cruz, who is enjoying a little downtime in Key West after completing a dangerous mission, is sizzling and enigmatic. The heroine, Cori Sutherland, isn't into military guys but finds Coyote one hot number whom she can't resist.

Enter the tug and pull of passion and love scenes hot enough to melt your eReader's screen, and you have Coyote Heat.

Great short story with a "Happily For Now" ending, leaving the reader hoping for a longer second book to continue where this one ends.



**** 4 Star Review

Review: Kidnapped the Wrong Sister

Title:   Kidnapped the Wrong Sister
Author:   Marie Kelly
Genre:   Erotica
Book Size:   138 pages / 424 KB

Blurb taken from Amazon:

 “I had a phone call from my brother not long after I left you … he told me that you had ripped up the cheque, he had a lot to say about that, along with a few other things, none of which I will bore you with…. Not a smart move Miss Brown”

“And why is that Mr Dranias” she had bit back her eyes angry daggers

“Because you forced my hand….I told you there was no way that I was letting you get your greedy little hooks into my brother.. so welcome to my island”

Diona had looked at him, the confusion on her face so clear

“Wh…what do you mean” she stuttered

By now Nikias Dranias had moved so close to her that there was only about a foot between them, and she could see his dark eyes as they looked down on her with triumph on his face

“I mean Miss Brown that you will be staying here, until you’re due to return back to the UK, when I personally will put you back on the damn plane and out of our lives. My brother, has a very short attentions span Miss Brown, and I’m sure that once you are out of the way, he will quickly find other little playmates with which to fill his day.

Diona had looked at him with shock, her eyes wide with disbelief

“You can’t do that “she cried out

He had smiled back his eyebrow lifting

“I think you will find I already have”

Mistaken for her sister, Diona Brown had been tricked into visiting the island home of the Billionaire Nikias Dranias, who planned on keeping her there as his prisoner to stop his brother from marrying the woman he believed to be no more than a gold digger.

However passion had quickly flared between the two, and now Diona had found that she has to escape to not only save her sister but also herself from the enigmatic and distrustful Greek.

Oh. My. God.
DNF
I was able to choke down a sizable amount which enabled me to say: this is quite possibly THE WORST book I've ever read.


Why, you ask? Just look at the blurb copied straight from Amazon. Do you see all the punctuation errors? News flash - it gets worse!

The writing is worthy of a grade school graduate. I'd say junior high, but I've corrected those students works whose writing exceeded that of Marie Kelly. The story is weak, the plot predictable, the characters fall flat.

With too many abominations to the English language, I decided the best course of action would be to quit reading before I ruined my eyes.

DNF

Review: The Vampire's Warden

Title:   The Vampire's Warden
Author:   S.J. Wright
Genre:   Classified as Paranormal Romance however there is no HEA ending.
Book Size:   201 pages/2905 KB

He moved. It was a flash in the moonlight, a blur of motion like I’d never witnessed before. No human had the capacity to move like that. When I found myself face-to-face with him there in the meadow, I knew without a doubt that the journal was authentic. I knew that my grandfather hadn’t been crazy at all. Because a foot away from me stood a vampire.

I tried to like this book. Really, I did. But I found the story confusing without a solid idea of who exactly is Sarah's love interest. At first you're lead to believe it's Alex. But then the interest shifts to Michael. Throw in a sister who's character fell flat and a housekeeper who we don't get a clear picture of, and the reader is left with pure literary chaos.

The least favorable aspect for me was the ending. To be classified as a romance, which the author has clearly done, the story must end in a HEA or HFN at the least. This is neither. Please - don't pass your work off as a romance when there isn't any romance or the proper ending!

WARNING: cliff hanger without an ending. (Which totally sucks.)

This confusing tale meanders around one flitting thought after another which string the reader along as we wait for it to get better. A redeemable factor for the author is an interesting concept of Vampire jail, called caretaking, which could have been so much more.

The book needed an editor to go after numerous and repetitive punctuation mistakes. I admit to being bored and skimming over large sections of the book to find the next interesting scene and yet lost no translation in the story.

I would not classify this book as an adult romance but as a regular YA paranormal story.

* 1-Star Rating

Review: Brash

Title:  Brash
Author:  Nicola Marsh
Genre:  Contemporary Romance (sensual)
Book Size:  183 pages / 501 KB

Jess Harper is so tired of being good… 


Thrust into the dazzle of Burlesque Bombshells, Vegas’s premier dance venue, the small town librarian has no option but to embrace her inner vixen.
Especially when blast from her past, sexy Aussie celebrity chef Jack McVeigh is still determined to keep their relationship strictly hands-off. 


This time Jess isn’t surrendering without a fight and armed with her hot props and Bombshell moves, Jack doesn’t stand a chance. 


When Jess and Jack are sequestered on an island to orchestrate the burlesque wedding of the year, sun, surf and sizzling sex are on the menu! 


But will the fiery couple come back for seconds?

From beginning to end, an excellent story. What a pleasure to read and follow the growth and adventures of the characters.

Yes, there are steamy scenes but nothing that'll make you cringe, these are well thought out and beautifully written. I liked the concept of a good-girl librarian who remembered her one-time crush from ten years prior. I thought the idea of her month long vacation with her brother in Australia a bit weird and wondered if Marsh could have created Jess and Jack's initial meeting in a different way. Lord knows I'd NEVER spend a month with my brother on vacation. But I digress...

This fun story has humor, sexy scenes, and lots of character interaction. Well edited and formatted (which is a major plus in my eReader book!), I look forward to reading more books by Nicola Marsh.

***** 5-Star Rating

Review: Her Lord and Protector

Title:  Her Lord and Protector (formerly titled On Silent Wings)
Author:  Pam Roller
Genre: Historical Romance (also listed under gothic)
Book Size:  211 pages / 4825 KB

Destitute and voiceless, a jilted bride living under the guardianship of an aloof man who may have murdered his wife wonders if it’s her heart, or her life, that hangs in the balance.

His is a heart of iron...
Embittered lord Alexander Fletcher must shelter a penniless mute in his ancestral home, Drayton castle. Although he makes no pretense he resents the intrusion, the woman stirs his heart into an unwelcome gallop. He wants only to be alone and not to love another woman who, like his wife, might grow to hate him so much she will take her own life.

And she is slowly melting it...
Lord Drayton's detachment only adds to Katherine Seymour’s distress of losing her voice. But after he gives her a searing kiss just before he introduces the husband he's chosen for her—and whom she promptly refuses—she discovers his horrid secret.

But someone is watching.
Only Agnes Cooke knows how Alex's insane wife died, and she will not hesitate to kill again in order to be the next Lady Drayton. Watching Alex go out of his way to help Katherine regain her voice, however, is more than she can take. This plan will require more than just laudanum and mercury....

While the blurb is somewhat of a spoiler and gives the ending away (why do that??), I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the author's storytelling abilities.

Each page I read kept me turning for the next. Excellent research in writing the story, the characters, costumes of life in 1667 England were well played-out. I particularly like how even though the heroine is mute for most of the book, her thoughts and actions are easily known.

If you're not into head-hopping, quick-fly point-of-view changes, then the author's writing style may not be for you. I will say that while I don't care of this type of writing, I enjoyed the story none-the-less. It's easy to follow whoever's head you're in at the moment. (which might say a lot for the author's writing ability)

In the end, I'm glad I took time to read this well-written story with an excellent HEA, feel-good ending.

***** 5-Star Review

Review: Irish Moon

Title: Irish Moon
Author:  Amber Scott
Genre:  Fantasy Romance
Book Size:  344 pages / 812 KB

A promise... is a promise and Ashlon Sinclair refuses to let anything deter him. When the chest he vowed to conceal with his life is stolen, his only hope in recovering it is also his only distraction--Breanne O'Donnell.

In her bones, Breanne feels much amiss in her mentor's sudden death. But who would murder the king's own druid? Moreover, how is is his demise linked to the mysterious stranger left behind? 

Their searches intertwine and attraction beckons putting their lives and their hearts at risk under an IRISH MOON.

 

 

What a great story. I love when a book keeps me up late into the night. 

 

Ashlon and Breanne are wonderful characters whose lives are inevitably entwined when fate brings them together.  A former Templar Knight, Ashlon is entrusted by the deceased Jacques DeMolay with the duty of retrieving and delivering a special chest containing a rare item. Breanne is a druid (witch??) in training, until her mentor is discovered murdered.

The story is fantasy, paranormal, and suspense all rolled into one. Action, adventure, and romance bring the well-developed characters to life. When reading the story, you can almost imagine yourself moving along within the scene. Mental images of the historical world are easily incorporated into this fast-moving tale.

The pet peeve of mine is in the final editing. Words and punctuation were missing, which were glaringly obvious to me. That said, I still enjoyed the story immensely.

**** 4-Star Review

 

 

Review: Dark Genesis (The Darkling Trilogy Book 1)

 Title:  Dark Genesis (The Darkling Trilogy Book 1)
Author:  A. D. Koboah
Genre:  Science Fiction / Fantasy
Book Size:  299 pages / 722 KB

Life for a female slave is one of hardship and unspeakable sorrow, something Luna knows only too well. But not even she could have foreseen the terror that would befall her one sultry Mississippi evening in the summer of 1807.

On her way back from a visit to see the African woman, a witch who has the herbs Luna needs to rid her of her abusive master’s child, she attracts the attention of a deadly being that lusts for blood. Forcibly removed from everything she knows by this tormented otherworldly creature, she is sure she will be dead by sunrise.

Dark Genesis is a love story set against the savage world of slavery in which a young woman who has been dehumanised by its horrors finds the courage to love, and in doing so, reclaims her humanity.

 While this isn't the genre of story type I normally read, once started I had to read it through to the end.

The story is slow to start, almost to the point of dragging, but then picks up and you're on taking back into time with wonderful storytelling. There are a few nit-picky points that took the book down a notch - such as the British form of English when the story takes place in America. Another item that kept throwing me out of the story is the use of metric measurements in place of imperial (or standard). I wouldn't know how far a dozen meters is, for instance, and I doubt a slave would either.

I think the author must have researched her subjects and location extensively to bring it all to life the way she has. Linguistics is another High-Five as Luna's speech pattern is perfect and true to form from beginning to end. I did become rather annoyed at her constant bursts of anger which seemed a weak form of keeping the story's romantic element alive.

The ending was not one I enjoyed, but reminded myself this story wasn't a romance. I'm sure others will like it and I can appreciate a story well written and edited.

**** 4-Star Review