Book Review

NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRES
by Heather Graham

Genre: Historical Romance, Paranormal, America
Sensuality: MILD
Setting: 1862 and 1864 West Virginia

RT Rating

Graham’s unique tale cleverly blends Civil War history, vampire myths and lore and of course, heart-pounding romance. It’s perfect for those who love intricate historical details, lush scenery and old-fashioned romance.

Half-vampire/half-human Megan Fox’s search for her long-lost brother lands her deep in the middle of the Civil War, where she joins forces with her brother and his soldier friends. One friend in particular, Cole Granger, isn’t quite as willing to trust her as the others. With enemies all around, she can’t blame him for his suspicions. However, her deep attraction to the man and her commitment to justice put them together. Can she earn his trust?

Cole Granger doesn’t trust easily and with traitors all around them, he has good reason. When a sultry and seductive half-vampire shows up, there’s no way he’s going to take her at her word. Yet he’s drawn to her both physically and emotionally. As her secrets unravel, Cole will have to decide what to trust, his heart or his head. (HQN, Dec., 352 pp., $7.99)

Reviewed By: Annette Elton

Publisher: HQN

Published: December 2010

Reader Rating

4 Stars

Average Rating: 4 Stars
(14 ratings)

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Girl in a Vintage Dress

Submitted by Nas on June 24, 2011 - 6:13am.

GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS is the latest presentation by author Nicola Marsh for Harlequin Romance series.

Lola Lambert grew up in a household of fashionable women. Her supermodel sister and their fashion conscious mother tried their best to get Lola to be a picture of themselves. But Lola was content to be the ugly duckling of the family. Her opinions didn’t matter, what she liked didn’t matter so she just went along with everything rather than make waves.

Then she moved to a new city and reinvented herself. She opened up her dream shop of vintage clothes and accessories. Busy with her business and her new life she had no time for love or romance.

In walked Chase Etheridge, a modern business man, who couldn’t be parted with his Smartphone for even a second, and who ran his business with all the modern gadgets! Chase wanted to organize a hen’s night party for his sister.

How Lola takes away Chase’s phone to enforce the rules of her shop and how Chase convinces Lola to take on the job of organizing a vintage themed hen’s party for one whole week is full of entertaining moments. Though modern, Chase feels the attraction between this lover of all things vintage, Lola and himself. They are polar opposites. Yet the chemistry between them just can’t be denied.

During the week of the party, Chase finds himself drawn back to his fabulous mansion to check on the chicks, as he keeps telling himself. Whereas he used to keep away from his house and it’s representation of a happy family. He has grown up without a happy family. But meeting Lola, he dreams of creating his own happy family.

GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS is a wonderfully tender romance that I found charming, absorbing and moving. Nicola Marsh is a terrific writer who creates likeable characters readers are sure to take to their hearts. I found Lola to be a realistic, flawed yet resilient heroine who seriously lacks self confidence and is constantly under-selling herself and Chase was a strong, charismatic and turned out to be a sensitive hero, I absolutely adored. Even the secondary characters, the four B’s are to be loved.

I liked author Nicola Marsh’s style. It seemed like she is writing about real people in situations that could happen. Scenarios come alive as do the people with her use of witty dialogue and situation that helps us know them better.

GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS is well worth reading!

 


 

The Man Who Could Never Love

Submitted by Nas on June 24, 2011 - 6:06am.

 

THE MAN WHO COULD NEVER LOVE is another Harlequin Presents Extra by the fabulous pen of USA Today Bestselling author, Kate Hewitt.

With a loveable heroine, who lacks self confidence in her femininity, women will relate to, a gorgeous but  tortured hero everyone will love and plenty of twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats, THE MAN WHO COULD NEVER LOVE is a fabulous story, romance readers shouldn’t miss.

The Count of Cazlevara decides to marry because he needs an heir to inherit his title and all it entitles. So he approaches Anamarie Viale with a business like proposition. Because Ana ticks all of Vittorio’s checklist boxes.

Ana, herself was resigned to live without love and marriage and after considering Vittorio’s proposition, accepts it.

Though, she knows that this is a marriage of convenience only, she still yearns for her husband’s love. She realizes that she had deceived herself when she’d agreed to a loveless marriage as a business arrangement. Love may not be comfortable but it was everything.

 The depth of characterization and intense emotional scenes amid the tension and betrayal drama made this story believable.

I finished the story in one sitting as I wanted to know what would happen next, and had the happy mushy feeling in my heart by the time I ended it. I gladly give it 5 stars.

A wonderfully written and richly layered love story from one of Harlequin Presents’ most popular authors, THE MAN WHO COULD NEVER LOVE is another keeper from the always fabulous Kate Hewitt!

RED HOT by Solara Gordon

Submitted by Anonymous on June 14, 2011 - 5:03am.

RED HOT by author Solara Gordon is a sweet and sensual story.

Bunny, a single mother of three older kids, finds herself attracted to the next door fire station's fire chief.

Brent also feels the chemistry between them yet does not act on it. The circumstance around their first hot kiss is hilarious.

Bunny's previous experiences with dating is not good and she is reluctant to commit to a fireman. As her hsband was a fireman and lost his life along with her mother's in a fire.

And Brent's first experience with marriage was not good as well.

This story is liberally spiced with humor, pathos and heartfelt emotion. And I kept thinking how the author would bring these two characters together for their happily ever after.

You just can't help but root for these two characters to get to their happy ending. I didn't want the story to end just then. But who wants a good romance to end?

A beguiling and stirring romantic story that is sure to tug at readers' heartstrings and leave them with a great big smile on their face at the unusual ending.

I loved it and recommend it to all readers of romance!

RED HOT by Solara Gordon

Submitted by Anonymous on June 14, 2011 - 5:03am.

RED HOT by author Solara Gordon is a sweet and sensual story.

Bunny, a single mother of three older kids, finds herself attracted to the next door fire station's fire chief.

Brent also feels the chemistry between them yet does not act on it. The circumstance around their first hot kiss is hilarious.

Bunny's previous experiences with dating is not good and she is reluctant to commit to a fireman. As her hsband was a fireman and lost his life along with her mother's in a fire.

And Brent's first experience with marriage was not good as well.

This story is liberally spiced with humor, pathos and heartfelt emotion. And I kept thinking how the author would bring these two characters together for their happily ever after.

You just can't help but root for these two characters to get to their happy ending. I didn't want the story to end just then. But who wants a good romance to end?

A beguiling and stirring romantic story that is sure to tug at readers' heartstrings and leave them with a great big smile on their face at the unusual ending.

I loved it and recommend it to all readers of romance!

The shattered rose

Submitted by Anonymous on May 4, 2011 - 5:01pm.

Most readers dislike reading about adultery in historical romance, including me. Reading this novel reminded me why. It is hard to understand or empathise with the heroine. It is harder to understand the hero's love for the heroine, given the circumstances. What surprises me is the lack of any real discussion about the adultery or the lack of any real sense of repentance for the pain the heroine causes to the hero. Maybe this is because of the hero-centric narrative. But it leaves a bad taste. There is little real romance in the book save for the secondary couple's story, which was distracting to me. The way the initial part of their marriage is presented, there never is a sense of any deep love between the H and h, which  makes it all the more difficult to understand how the H could so easily forgive the h, especially when he learns that (SPOILER ALERT) she seduces the other man. All in all I'd give this 3 stars out of 5, mostly for the historical setting.

The shattered rose

Submitted by Anonymous on May 4, 2011 - 5:00pm.

Most readers dislike reading about adultery in historical romance, including me. Reading this novel reminded me why. It is hard to understand or empathise with the heroine. It is harder to understand the hero's love for the heroine, given the circumstances. What surprises me is the lack of any real discussion about the adultery or the lack of any real sense of repentance for the pain the heroine causes to the hero. Maybe this is because of the hero-centric narrative. But it leaves a bad taste. There is little real romance in the book save for the secondary couple's story, which was distracting to me. The way the initial part of their marriage is presented, there never is a sense of any deep love between the H and h, which  makes it all the more difficult to understand how the H could so easily forgive the h, especially when he learns that (SPOILER ALERT) she seduces the other man. All in all I'd give this 3 stars out of 5, mostly for the historical setting.

The Best By Far

Submitted by popper6895 on April 28, 2011 - 8:04am.

Of all the books this one is by far the absolute best. The emotional and physical aspects are just so intense you won't know whether to laugh or cry..but you will do both. The "needing" scene alone is worth the price of the book plus some. My heart was broken and then rejoiced for Zsadist and even though it has been a long time since I read this book I will never forget it or him. We all need a Zsadist in our lives...who doesn't love a 6'6" scarred and tortured hunk of vampire?

Who knew young adult books could be so chilling?

Submitted by Anonymous on April 2, 2011 - 12:12pm.

On the surface, Kendall is your typical all-American teenage girl. She plays soccer with her friends, hangs out with her boyfriend and helps her parents plow their potato farm in rural Montana. More than anything, she just wants to be like everyone else, but she’s constantly plagued by obsessive compulsive thoughts of being stalked by a deranged killer. And when a fellow classmate disappears, her OCD-riddled mind goes into hyper-drive. Her paranoia intensifies when Jacien – a mysterious new boy who always seems to be watching her – moves in next door.

 

Unable to resist the urge to count, check off and categorize everything in her one-room schoolhouse every morning, Kendall doubts her sanity on a daily basis. And when cryptic messages screaming “Help Me. Save Me!” appear on the missing student’s now-empty desk, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. Things really get weird when she finds her boyfriend – the only boy she will ever truly love – sitting at the desk in a trancelike state. And when he goes missing, she knows she must decode the desk’s messages and uncover the town’s secrets before she, too, vanishes.

 

Well known for her New York Times best-selling “Wake” series, this fabulous author (with great hair, I might add!) has mastered the art of creepy, edge-of-your-seat storytelling. One scene in particular raised the little hairs on the back of my neck, a sensation I haven’t felt since reading Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot!

The Shepherd by Ethan Cross

Submitted by Anonymous on March 18, 2011 - 12:27pm.

I have read The Shepherd.  It is one of the most intelligent and sophisticated books I have read, and I have read many books.  It has a lot of suspense and surprises in it.  I would love to have another one.  I also like the setup of the book very much.  I give it a 5-star rating.  Janice Lynch

The disgraced Princess

Submitted by Anonymous on February 18, 2011 - 3:13pm.

        Gerd Gillian has been attracted to Rosie Matthews since she was eighteen and he kissed her.But he got so jealous when he noticed that she was attacted to his senior brother instead.

         And now he has become king to his country and he needs a Princess.He then found out that Rosie was still a virgin and he wants to marry Rosie so badly it hurts, but he was scared she does not have the same feeling for him,but for his brother. Is he right about this?Does Rosie have any feelings for Gerd's brother?