A PASSION FOR HIM ( Georgian #3) by SYLVIA DAY

Amelia Benbridge still mourns for her childhood sweetheart, Colin Mitchell, who died protecting her. Years later she is practically betrothed to the Earl of Ware, who knows Amelia is still in love with Colin, but also knows they are the suited for one another, even if it's not a love match he is determined to have her. Ware bides his time until Amelia is ready for marriage. He stands by as a friend to her as she continues to pine over her lost love, day by day attempting to convince her they are meant to be because no one knows Ware like Amelia does.

When Amelia comes face to face with a tall dark and masked stranger at a party, she is intrigued and drawn to him. Count Reynaldo Montoya approaches the beauty and Amelia's world goes off-kilter. She struggles with her attraction to him, her guilt over possibly betraying the Earl of Ware and her memory of her true love, Colin. Ware is patient with Amelia, as he has been for years, but he doesn't want to be an after-thought to her.

Colin Mitchell, AKA Count Reynaldo Montoya did not die all those years ago, he did in fact disappear to make his fortune. Colin was a gypsy stable boy and believed himself far below Amelia's station.  All the time with Amelia in his mind and his heart, Colin believed he was doing what's best for her, for he has never and will never love another, but Colin has trouble following him from France. While attempting to find his way back to Amelia, Colin is accused of murder and is now being pursued for retribution. He knows well that there cane be no future for him and Amelia with this hanging over his head. Colin is not even sure that Amelia will accept him when she discovers that he did not die and has purposely stayed away, allowing her to remain in a perpetual state of grief.

A Passion For Him by Sylvia Day is the third book in the Georgian series that was previously released beginning in 2006. Sylvia Day is a brilliant writer with a unique gift for storytelling. A Passion For Him is a tale of devotion that survives time and even becomes more-so with each passing day. I enjoyed Sylvia Day's A Passion For Him, and I highly recommend it. 

~KIMBERLY~

4 Stars (Brilliant)

WHEN SHE WAS WICKED ( A Honeycote Novel ) by ANNE BARTON

Miss Anabelle Honeycote needs to supplement her meager income as a seamstress in a dress shop. Her mother has been stricken with an illness and the pittance Anabelle receives does not cover the medicine and care. Her position as the seamstress puts her in a very advantageous place to hear lots of juicy gossip about the aristocracy in London, and if some of this gossip got out, it could ruin some reputations. In order to help her family, Anabelle has taken up blackmailing some of the objects of the gossip. Things were going moderately well in that department until she is caught by Owen Sherbourne, the Duke of Huntford, who basically gives Miss Honeycote an ultimatum, jail or working for him. The proposition of designing and sewing wardrobes for his beloved sisters is just too hard to pass up, especially when the Duke throws in that he will take care of Miss Honeycote's mother and sister.

The handsome Duke has Anabelle move into his home while she fulfills her end of the bargain, and in the meantime becomes enchanted by the oblivious to her allure seamstress. Alas, Anabelle's station in life is just too far below the Duke, as he knows he must marry someone who on his own level, but he he just can't keep his hands to himself and begins a whirlwind secret affair with the seamstress. Even after he discovers that Anabelle is the granddaughter of a Viscount, he still in denial that a relationship could be possible. 

Anabelle has no illusions, even with the temptation of Owen. She knows that once her job is done, she will fade into the background of anonymity. For the first time in her life, she has friends of sorts, as Owen's lovely sisters, Olivia and Rose immediately take to Anabelle. The sisters have not had an easy time of it as their mother ran away, causing a scandal, and their distraught father does away with his own life. These incidents leave Rose a mute and Owen wracking his brain at how to help her. In the weeks that Anabelle lives with the Sherbourne family, the affects they have on each other are astonishing, especially in the transformation of the working class Anabelle, into the beautiful companion of Rose and Olivia.

This touching story is a revelation that love can overcome all differences once one's eyes are open. I become more and more attracted to the stories where the females are strong and can stand on their own, instead of the simpering lady, backed into a corner. This first book in the Honeycote series by Anne Barton is a wonderful story with interesting characters. I look forward to the next in the series and definitely recommend WHEN SHE WAS WICKED to all.

~KIMBERLY~

4 Stars (Brilliant)

THE RELUCTANT COUNTESS by WENDY VELLA

Patrick "Colt" the Earl of Coulter, thinks that the beautiful Sophie, Countess of Monmouth is a fraud and he intends to expose all of her secrets. Recently widowed, with a young son in tow, Sophie worries on a daily basis that she will be discovered, and attempts to keep herself at a distance to the aristocracy in London to the dismay of her sister-in-law, who wants to show her off. Nonetheless, there is an instant attraction between these two that becomes explosive quickly and confuses both the Earl and the Countess.

When Sophie begins to receive messages of a threatening nature, she shies even further away from any relationship with the Earl, fearing that when her background comes to light he will toss her away in disgust. Until one night, that threat becomes a reality and little Timmy is kidnapped and the only one Sophie thinks that could help her turns out to be Patrick. From this moment on, there is no turning back for the wayward Sophie, who struggles with her past and present every minute of the day.

When Patrick discovers who Sophie really is, he does the unthinkable, he helps her, proving Sophie wrong on so many levels. Through this life-altering event, Sophie begins to trust the Earl of Coulter and he beings to open his heart to the unusually strong Countess. Patrick's own strict and cold upbringing made him believe that love was an illusion until he sets his eyes on the mysterious Sophie.

The Reluctant Countess by Wendy Vella, is a great  story that shows that love surpasses all class stations and cannot be overcome. Sophie is a strong female, but also innocent with all that goes on around her. She constructs a chilly wall of indifference to attempt to show the world that what they say about her makes no difference, but Patrick sees right through that wall and has compassion for Sophie's plight, even though she isn't all she is made out to be. I really enjoyed this story and I do look forward to other books by Wendy Vella. The Reluctant Countess is a strong story with a feel good ending and a story of hope. 

~KIMBERLY~

EArc given by Netgalley for an honest review.

4 Stars (Brilliant)

Guest Reviewer ~Jennifer Butler~ FIGHT WITH ME by KRISTEN PROBY

Fight With Me by Kristen Proby

I've read so many books and it takes a great deal for a book to really stand out to me. Fight With Me is one of those rare books. Hands down, this book is my favorite in the series and one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time.

Julianne Montgomery is an investment banker that is best friends with Natalie from Come Away With Me. Jules as she likes to be called slept with her boss Nate McKenna and has spent the past eight months trying to ignore him and the feelings she has for him.  Nate can’t forget the one night they spent together and finally decides to make a move on Julianne. He asks her to work late one evening with him. Jules is in for quite the shock when he asks her to spend the weekend with him, not working!

This book starts off hot in the first chapter, really the first paragraph and keeps going the entire way through. I couldn’t put it down. I don’t think I have read a character like Nate that has so many sides to him; the successful business man, bad boy (there is just something so sexy about a guy that has tats under his conservative suits), former fighter, romantic boyfriend.  He is such a sweetheart, everything he does with and for Julianne is so romantic. I like that Jules is portrayed as a successful in her career as well as being a beautiful woman.  She is an intelligent woman with a very girl side. The chemistry between the two is explosive! The two of them on the motorcycle is…oh god (I think I have to read it again). There is just the right amount of drama in the book to make you gasp and whole your breath until you find out what happens next. Jules and Nate have to navigate through their personal life while keeping it secret from their work life.

The story continues to bring back previously introduced characters (Luke/Nate and the Montgomery Clan) to create a really well rounded story. I am anxiously awaiting the next story in the series which is supposed to be Jules’s football playing brother William Montgomery! 

~ JENNIFER ~

Guest Review of MERCILESS by Lori Armstrong ~Reviewer Barbara Hill-Kidd~

Merciless by Lori Armstrong

Merciless is the third novel in the Mercy Gunderson mystery series by Shamus Award winning author Lori Armstrong.  Readers have waited two years for this book and Merciless does not disappoint.  Mercy has returned to her home in South Dakota that she is now sharing with Sheriff Mason Dawson and is trying to find her way as a FBI agent fresh from the Academy.  Paired with secretive Senior Agent, Shay Turnbull, Mercy is assigned a murder case on the Eagle River Reservation.  She must skirt the political intrigue between local law enforcement (Sheriff Dawson), the Tribal Police and the Tribal Elders.  There are also many deeply hidden secrets and gossip among Mercy’s friends and extended family that seem to impede the progress of the case.

Assigned to do research, Mercy soon learns that there are more victims of the killer and he has become more brazen.  Mercy soon becomes his next target and engages in a game to the death.  Mercy has never backed away from a challenge and soon the killer is hunted my Mercy at her darkest and most ruthless. 

Adding to the pressure of working a high profile murder case, Mason’s eleven year old son, Lex, moves in with the couple.  I loved the glimpse of domestic Mercy and how she is discovering her deep love for Dawson.  

The Mercy Gunderson series is not for the faint of heart.  Mercy is a trained killer, a former Black Ops Sniper who prefers a good fistfight, a smooth whiskey and a new gun over candlelight and flowers.  She is a strong female who has a take no crap from anyone attitude.  Merciless, is fast paced with a tightly woven story that has a great balance between crime and personal life.  You can read Merciless as a stand-alone book but to fully understand Mercy’s growth, the family intrigue then read the great series in order.

~BARBARA~

REDEMPTION by B.J. DANIELS

One thing you can be assured of when you pick up a B.J. Daniels book, is you are in for one wild ride. Action-packed and chock full of suspense,  B.J.'s books always have the reader sitting on the edge of their seats gnawing on fingernails. as is the absolute case here with Redemption, the second book in the Beartooth Montana Series. 

Once again we are in Beartooth, Montana. Jack French has just gotten out of jail after spending two years in Ranch labor for bull rustling, although Jack insists he did not commit the crime, that in fact he was set up. Jack returns to his old town of Beartooth to mostly familiar faces, but one new one, the new owner of the Branding Iron Cafe, the mysterious Kate LaFond. He hasn't decided yet whether he plans on staying in the town teaming with memories. The solitary and attractive Kate LaFond is a font of secrets just waiting to be discovered by the conflicted Jack, who is torn between staying on the straight and narrow or seeking revenge for whoever had him set up to go to prison. 

When Jack comes across Kate for the first time, she is being accosted by a man in back of her cafe, and Jack reluctantly steps in to protect Kate, who insists she needs no one to protect her. Trouble seems to come to Kate's doorstep  which has Jack stepping in as her savior again. As much as Kate tries to deny, she begins to have feelings for Jack, but her inability to be honest with him puts a roadblock that prevents a relationship from happening. 

Beartooth's trustworthy Sheriff,  Frank Curry has his own set of problems in the form of a dead body found by the river. This body does not bode well for any in Beartooth. While investigating the crime, Frank stumbles upon a photograph that will have key information. With the help from his former love and town gossip, Nettie Benton, he finds that writing on the back of the photo may be a map. Can this be a map for the treasure Kate is set on finding? While trying to make heads or tails of what's going on in Beartooth, Frank's past begins to catch up with him in the form of a seventeen year old girl named Tiffany Chandler, who rents a room above Nettie's general store. Tiffany comes with a whole set of issues that will shock the normally unshakable Sheriff Curry.

I did not put REDEMPTION down until I read the entire book. I loved it as I do all that author B.J. Daniels writes. She has this unique ability to astound the reader continually with her mystery and suspense.This book was mainly Jack and Kate's book, but I loved  B.J.'s  secondary story line with Frank Curry and Lynette(Nettie) Benton. They are hands down my favorite characters in Beartooth and I want them to have their day in the sun. The Beartooth Montana Series has become one of my favorites. One thing about this town called Beartooth, at the foot of the Crazy Mountains, is there's always something going on, but the inhabitants always end up taking care of their own.

I highly recommend taking this roller-coaster ride of REDEMPTION which is suspense at its best by the Queen of Western Romantic Suspense, in my eyes at least, B.J. Daniels.....

~KIMBERLY~

5 Stars (Hook Line and Sinker)

BEARTOOTH MONTANA SERIES by B.J. DANIELS

PRISONER OF DESIRE by MARY WINE

England: When the mother of Lorena St. John and her two younger sisters passes away, leaving the three girls at the mercy of their cruel stepfather, they all learn though bitter disappointment and hard work, that life is not all that it is cracked up to be. Instead of the pleasant and loving existence they knew while their parents were alive, they now live a dreary and hard one with their stepfather, Geoffrey Godford, rules his home with an iron fist using his step-daughters like servants.  About a decade later, when Lorena is twenty-three, she is told by her stepfather, that he has arranged a marriage for her to a British officer and will leave the only home she has known, for Bermuda, where she will be wed to Commissioner Adam Mordaunt, who has brokered the match with Godford.

Boston:  The Rawlins family is a shipping magnate, born and bread on the ocean with their progenitor, Sebastian being a former pirate. The handsome sons of Sebastian and Brigitte all sail for a living and are just as at home on their ships as they are at hearth and home in Boston.  Captain Warren Rawlins, the eldest son loves his ship, the Huntress, and while he is much sought after with the local ladies, he shies away from the forbidden "M" word. When Warren's younger brother Garrick captains his own ship, the Golden Dawn and takes the youngest, Harrison trouble abounds when the Brits attack and take the Rawlins men captive to the island of Bermuda, where the cruel Commissioner Adam Mordaunt rules his penal colony like a slave master. When Captain Warren Rawlins discovers his brothers and some crew are taken prisoner, and the Golden Dawn left in a wreck, he swears he will rescue his brothers by any means necessary

After weeks at sea, Lorena St. John arrives in hot and sticky Bermuda to a dismal reception by her husband-to-be. Commissioner Mordaunt leaves Lorena to wander the island as punishment for not obeying his orders upon their first meeting. On the island only a few hours, Lorena is taken captive by Captain Rawlins as an assurance his ship and his men will not be harmed by Mordaunt when Warren frees his brother's and the other men. Instead of finding a simpering female who cowers in fear, Captain Rawlins discovers Lorena St. John is a woman like no other, and once caught up in his sails, so to speak, Lorena has a difficult time making heads or tails of the larger than life American, because once she realizes she is free from an unwanted marriage to the savage Mordaunt, she wonders if she is better off staying unmarried. Once Warren realizes Lorena is the catch for him, he is relentless in pursuit of her hand as well as her body.

Once again Mary Wine sucks me in with her strong female character. Lorena is a strong and occasionally stubborn woman and I adore her. Along the way, she learns to adapt to any situation she is in with her wits, not with tears. Warren is a dreamy character with his gentlemanly attitude one moment to the fierce Captain the next. I love how Mary Wine shows the stark contrast between the young, new America and the old and stiff British culture. This story was well told with action and adventure. Now all I need is a sequel!!!! I highly recommend Prisoner of Desire by Mary Wine. I wish more people knew about her work because she is such a great writer.

 ~KIMBERLY~

4 Stars (Brilliant)