Guardian Angel by Julie Garwood is the second book in the set of three novels, Guardian Angel follows on the heels of The Lion’s Lady. I didn’t know this when I started and was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the book. Usually I dislike sets of romances because one couple or half of a couple ends up irking me due to their actions in a previous book. However, Lyon and Christina are already wedded by this point and I loved them in their story. I did wonder as to their purpose in this novel, but Lyon is clearly Caine’s friend and trustworthy ally which Caine will need before the novel is up. Speaking on ends, I thought the ending to Guardian Angel was lacking in some fashion. I can’t put my finger on it but the ending left me feeling vaguely like how the ending of The Wedding made me feel… unresolved I guess.

The Marquess of Cainewood is on a mission. Revenge coldly calculated, this ruthless man has set out to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of the notorious pirate known only as Pagan. The pirate would meet his maker, and then perhaps Caine’s father would get some peace. Sitting in the back of a pub that had become his haunting place since his brother’s death, Caine’s evening is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of an angel with fiery red hair. She’s scared, trembling, but determined.

Her first question is about his identity… is he Pagan?

His charade as the pirate was working, but instead of drawing out the real Pagan, he got a maiden in distress. She asks him to kill her before the men after her catch up and do the job themselves. She wants to die quick and painlessly and hoped the honorable Pagan would help her. Honorable indeed! Caine refuses and shoulders the burdens of the young woman.

Jade he will find leads him on a merry goose chase after criminals who do and don’t exist. And all the while she is flitting about trying to keep Caine occupied, a real mystery is brewing… but also passion. Can Jade keep her heart safe or has a man finally pierced her shields to the vulnerable girl inside?

Rating: 4 Stars

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Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer is enchanting and will assuredly transport you to another world. Georgette Heyer, praised to be the new Jane Austen, was born in 1902 and her tales are quite old but hold the same classic feel as any one of Austen’s novels. I can picture the whole novel as a movie and am surprised that I’ve not seen it made into one. Of course I haven’t checked in at IMDB so I could be quite wrong about its silver screen status.

This is my first time reading Heyer and such I found it tough to start (as such it’s affected my rating). The writing while at first difficult to read and to get into because of the level of vocabulary and particular word phrasing which is unusual for today’s standard’s. However it gets easier the more you read. By the end of the book you’re practically flying through the pages trying to get to the end of the story and see the leads get their happily ever after.

In the true spirit of a Regency novel, this novel includes a secondary romance to entertain us. Neither romance goes to the bedroom, in fact the first and only kiss mentioned is at the very end of the tale. My one fault with the story was there was much too much time spent on ditherings going on around the leads and not nearly enough time focused on them. They were more thrown together in the beginning when Dominic kidnapped poor Mary than later.

Mary Challoner is determined to save her sister from scandal and intercepts a letter from Marquis of Vidal to her sister Sophie arranging an illicit tryst. A daring scheme to take her sister’s place and fool Vidal comes to her and Mary rushes through with it, barely thinking out the consequences.

When Vidal finds out he’s most upset and assuming her to be like her untoward and loose sister, Vidal forcibly takes her the rest of the way to France. Once there, Mary is able to make her true nature known and flummoxed Vidal is forced to do the one thing he never thought to do – propose marriage. Imagine his surprise when Mary refuses! What’s a Marquis to do?

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Originally posted 2008-09-02 05:43:56. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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The Heiress by Jude Deveraux started off exceptionally well in my opinion but tapered off into mediocrity and stayed there after the jumpstart. It’s too bad that it did that as my initial impressions of the novel were four out of five stars. The editing felt choppy in the middle and was completely disconnected towards the end. There was a distinct lack of transitions between scenes and as I read I felt like I was missing the good parts, the parts that tied everything together.

It was hard to feel for the characters after the initial start as well. There was no chemistry between the two of them in the end and that’s what killed the book. I kept reading though hoping it would turn around and be the amazing story it started off as. No such luck.

Axia has forever been stigmatized by her fortune. When people first meet her, they dismiss her, but that soon changes when they hear about how she is the Maidenhall Heiress. Their entire demeanor would do a one eighty. Men previously uninterested would turn fawning gazes her way and declare their undying love and devotion. For once Axia would love to be wanted, needed, and desired for who she was rather than how much money she represents.

James, call him Jamie, Montgomery is a dirt-poor Elizabethan knight. He inherited his brother’s earldom after his death to a fever. Unfortunately for James, his brother had gambled away everything leaving the family with nothing and no way to support themselves. James had responsibilities to the tenets whose land had once been Montgomery before his brother’s debts, his withdrawn mother, blind twin sister, and tomboy younger sister. So when Maidenhall offered to pay him to escort his daughter Axia to her betrothed, James said yes.

But then his sisters found out and hatched a plan to use Jame’s beauty to save them from destitution. He would woo the Maidenhall Heiress while she was under his charge and convince her to marry him instead of the man she was betrothed too. However Axia outsmarts James and convinces her beautiful cousin to play the part of heiress to allow Axia freedom on the journey. The tale is a topsy-turvy ride through layers of deception, intrigue, and desperation.

Rating: 2 Stars

Originally posted 2008-08-25 05:41:11. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Secrets of a Proper Lady is a tale of deception, mistaken identity, and double… double crosses, all in the name of love. Victoria Alexander weaves a delightful story all about the comedy of manners and if it wasn’t for the delightful bedroom scene could be considered a Regency romance. The scandalous and amusing misconceptions are definitely worth reading.

Miss Sarah Palmer is being most scandalous in her behavior. On the behalf of her employer, distant cousin, and good friend she is stalking Mr. Sinclair’s secretary, a Mr. Warren Lewis. It is imperative that Lady Cordelia know all about the man her father is forcing her to marry. Mr. Sinclair could have bad breath, loose morals, or worse still be a total bore. Warren Lewis, looking out for his employer and good friend, finds his conversation with Miss Sarah Palmer to be most engaging and informative… at least about Sarah herself.

The more Sarah meets with Warren to learn about Daniel Sinclair, the more she wants to spend time with him. Time not spent talking strictly about Lady Cordelia’s assets or Mr. Sinclair’s. She wants to get to know Warren. He isn’t wealthy, but then again Sarah doesn’t care about that. She is looking to marry for love and she could quite easily come to love the honest and upright Warren Lewis.

Unfortunately for Sarah, she is really Lady Cordelia. Warren Lewis is not her intended, nor the man she is supposed to get to know. But his kisses are intoxicating and his eyes mesmerizing. How can she reveal to him that she is not Miss Sarah Palmer, but the woman his employer is going to marry sight unseen. He would surely despise her! And her father would be most upset because his business would fail without the elder Mr. Sinclair’s money and connections, maybe not immediately, but it would fail and the family would be in ruin. Cordelia has wanted to be considered an adult in her family for years, and here was the opportunity to achieve that; for even spoiled princesses must make sacrifices. If only Warren were the prince she needed, or a knight that could find the treasure and rescue her from her fate.

Warren Lewis is just as conflicted as Cordelia, though he doesn’t know that the woman he loves is his employer’s future wife. He needs a wealthy heiress as all his business dealings and prospects in America are sure to dry up and disappear without a sudden and heavy influx of money. Sarah is a woman whose affections a man should not play with unless he intends to marry her. Warren Lewis can not marry Sarah, because he is really Daniel Sinclair and the heiress he suddenly needs is the woman he’s been avoiding; Lady Cordelia Bannister. How on earth is he going to confront the sweet and charming Sarah Palmer and tell her of his deceit and his intentions to marry another woman? He can’t, he just simply can’t. If only Sarah was wealthy in her own right, or his father’s money wasn’t tide up in preparation for dealing with Lady Cordelia’s father… why then everything would be perfect, he could tell Sarah he loved her and wanted to marry her. If only.

Rating: 4 stars

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I picked up Romeo, Romeo by Robin Kaye on Monday. This was a mistake because as soon as I started reading I couldn’t put the book down. I didn’t want to and I literally tried to multitask while reading and that didn’t work out so well so I just went back to reading. I took breaks for food, sleep, and unavoidable errands. Reading Romeo, Romeo was like finding a new best friend.

Kaye’s writing style is so engaging you are hooked before you finish the first page. I guarantee you will be as engrossed as I was. Kaye writes romance like Janet Evanovich writes serial mystery comedies. I haven’t been so pleased with a contemporary romance as I was with Romeo, Romeo in a good long while. I can see why this book won the Golden Heart Award for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance Manuscript in 2007 at RWA. A Golden Heart Award as you know is given out to unpublished authors and manuscripts.

The cast of characters Kaye created are as fabulous and as endearing as any of the Stephanie Plum characters. Rosalie, the heroine can cuss in four languages, but three don’t count in her mind and will give her bonus points with God. Rosalie’s a turn around CFO with a tough as nails assistant named Gina who can also add loyal and kindhearted to her resume. Rosalie is as Italian in her looks as Gina is Latino. The two women are best friends.

Dominick Romeo is the owner of a string of car dealerships. He was a bad boy Morelli type of character in his youth and got into a spot of trouble that turned his life around. He’s now the Italian version of Donald Trump in New York and has surrounded himself with shallow Barbie doll type girls until he got tired of them and of the game.

The meet cute: Dominick has had a terrible weekend. Everything that could go bad in his opinion has. He thinks he’s gotten a double dose of the saying ‘trouble always comes in threes.’ Throwing the towel in on figuring out the mess that was his Viper, Nick grabs the keys to the wrecker and hauls himself home. On the way home he spots number six by the road kicking and cussing at her car.

Rosalie is livid. Her stupid brother took her money and her car and never once put the money to good use. Now she’s stranded without a donut-sized spare let alone the full one she paid her brother to get. Seeing Nick pull over to help, she wonders if the bonus points she’d been earning over the last little while were about to be cashed in for the help she needed. Of course something is weird about Nick. Since when has a wrecker just happened by and pull over– especially after she’s called around and nobody was open or available? And since when has a lowly mechanic had an expensive haircut and dress shoes?

Dominick convinces her to get in the wrecker after proving he’s not some whacked-out psychopath and drives her home. He finds himself incredibly attracted to her and wonders how to get a date. There are only two things wrong with the situation in his mind. One she’s got a boyfriend and he doesn’t poach, even though he thinks the guy is an idiot. Two, Rosalie turned out to be the younger sister of the boy he got in trouble with in his youth which was sure to cause bad blood. What’s a guy to do? Wait for her to dump the first boyfriend that’s what, and to speed her along to that end he tantalizes her with almost kisses.

Rating: 5 Stars for Hot, Steamy, and Hilarious!

I am definitely keeping an eye out for Kaye’s next novel!

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While You Were Sleeping is one of the sweetest movies I have ever seen. This movie is entirely based on a series of misunderstandings and hilarious situations. The movie features an all star cast including Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, and Jack Warden. Everyone was amazing in this film. I even liked Michael Rispoli as Joey Fusco Jr.

Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, played by Sandra Bullock, is a Chicago transit tollbooth worker. What Lucy most wants out of her life is a stamp in her passport and a reason to not work every holiday. She is also hopelessly besotted with daily commuter, Peter Callaghan, played by Peter Gallagher, whom she has never met.

Peter is a charming schmuck, but Lucy doesn’t know this. One day after flashing his perfect white smile in her direction Peter gets mugged on the platform for the L train and falls onto the train tracks. Lucy saves him from certain death and follows him to the hospital.

There a nurse overhears Lucy dreaming aloud to herself and misinterprets. Lucy is ushered in to see Peter, but he is in a coma. Minutes later his family bustles in and the nurse introduces Lucy to them as Peter’s fiancée. Oh boy! Now the fun starts!

Well you can imagine. The mother and father are hysterical in these moments. I love Peter Boyle as Ox Callaghan. Saul, the beloved sort of godfather, played by Jack Warden is a hoot and the grandmother Elsie played by Glynis Johns will leave you in stitches. Elsie sort of reminds me of Grandma Mazur in the Stephanie Plum novels, just crazy in a different way.

As the story spins out Bill Pullman playing as Peter’s brother Jack is suspicious of Lucy. She is not his brother’s type. Surprisingly both find themselves drawn to each other. Jack gets possessive and there’s this whole scene about “The Lean.” Loved it! But they’re not supposed to be with one another as Lucy is Peter’s fiancée.  Jack has a great scene with Peter in the hospital while Peter is still in his coma. Poor Jack!

Anyway the fun is watching Lucy navigate her way through muddy waters. She loves the Callaghan family and doesn’t want to give them up and if she comes clean about who she it they won’t want her anymore… not even Jack. Or so she thinks. Feel good fluff!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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