An M/F Review: The First Noel by Cara North

Cara North
The First Noel
Amber Allure, December 4, 2011

Links: Author’s Goodreads page | Twitter | Buy book here

Backblurb:
What better gift than Love for Christmas? Can any Marine expect to be so lucky? All Noel wants for Christmas is one hot Marine—Corporal Dickenson—and she plans to get him! With her brother in the service, Noel knows the "code" all too well—that when it comes to Marines, family members of fellow servicemen are usually off limits—but that doesn’t seem to mean anything to her as she pursues her interest with determination and passion. A chance meeting, a heroic event, and a night of sizzling passion all lead to a lifetime of holiday memories to come...

Genre & Keywords:
M/F Erotic Romance, Contemporary, Military, Christmas, Short story

~~~~~
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3
~~~~~

Reviewed by SharonS.:

I picked this story because it is set in Jacksonville, NC where I grew up, and Noel is a student at UNC-W where I did the first two years of my undergraduate schooling. I didn’t realize it was an m/f story. I read lots of m/f, but I don’t like the erotic ones. I just don’t find certain slang words for girl naughty bits very sexy . But I don’t let that affect my rating because this was written for people who do.

This is a 20 page short story about a young woman named Noel, a graduate student at UNC-W in Wilmington, NC. Her brother, Steve, is in the Marine Corps and stationed in Jacksonville, NC, an hour north of her. She is on winter break from school and helping her brother and his wife with their new baby. Noel accompanies her brother to a Marine Corps dinner where she meets Corporal Bruce Dickenson. Steve tells her to avoid this marine because he will be deploying in a few weeks. She tried to do the right thing, but Bruce ends up rescuing her from some drunks in the parking lot and they can’t deny the instant physical attraction. They meet to go bowling and end up in his barracks for an erotic one night romp.

This story starts out well. I like the writing, it is efficient and clean which is needed in a short story. You even get a feel for some of the secondary characters like her brother and sister-in-law. Then the story kind of broke down for me. When Noel and Bruce are in his room they have a conversation during fore-play and sex was odd. They talk about not being one night stand type people, about being clean and using protection, then deciding in the middle of sex not to use protection. Bruce had been with the same girl since high school and caught her cheating on him two weeks ago and here he is asking her to say she loves him during sex even if she doesn’t mean it. Really? That would be kind of creepy to me. The story ends there except for a short epilogue that picks up three years later and that lets us know what happens.

This is a HEA story about two people who act on lust at first sight and despite the odds make it work out. Even though I had my problems with the conversation during sex, it is a well written feel good story for if you are looking for a quick fix.
~

High Five, Low Five Review of Hard To Hold by Stephanie Tyler for the DIK Book Reading Challenge

Stephanie Tyler
Hard To Hold
Mass Market, November 2009

Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Military Romance, SEALs, Suspense, Violence, Africa

Rating: êêê
Heat level: ¹¹

There are some books you really look forward to reading and then they just can’t live up to your own high expectations. There’s no one else to blame but yourself. Hard To Hold by Stephanie Tyler turned out to be such a book for me. Based on three Blaze novels about three SEAL friends by this author I really wanted to read her new contemporary military romance series about the brothers Jake, Nick and Chris, all Navy SEALs too. The first book about Jake was released on November 24, 2009 and the third one a few weeks ago. It took me a while to finish Hard To Hold because I struggled a little bit with the book.

I’ve read this book for the DIK Reading Challenge which made me finish it this month and also makes me write a review now, very shortly after reading the last page. I usually like to wait a little bit longer before putting my thoughts on paper because I like the little distance and objectivity the lapse of time provides, so I can look at a book without it still being under my skin. But I have to post my review in January for the Challenge, so here are my High 5, Low 5 concerning Hard To Hold. The High Five are five things that have impressed me or that I really enjoyed, and the Low Five are five things that had me shaking my head in a less admiring way.

First the Back Blurb:
Lieutenant Jake Hansen has survived some of the riskiest missions known to man. But now the wounded Navy SEAL faces his toughest job yet: smuggling Dr. Isabelle Markham out of Africa without triggering an international incident. Not easy to do when the gorgeous hostage happens to be a senator’s daughter—and about as easy to resist as an oasis in the desert.

If it weren’t for Jake, Isabelle would still be halfway across the world, where rebel forces left her for dead. The special ops warrior may have saved her life, but she doesn’t need him to protect her now. Tell that to the ruggedly handsome hunk in full battle fatigues who’s just been assigned as Isabelle’s personal bodyguard. Close quarters aside, Isabelle won’t let Jake anywhere near her heart—until danger throws them together again. And nothing in the jungles of wildest Africa could prepare them for a passion this wild. This crazy. This hot…

High 5

• The hero Jake
One of the highs of this novel for me was definitely Jake’s character. He’s adorable, attractive, wounded, caring and hot. His tormented soul and anger are very sexy and his consideration for Isabelle is really sweet. He’s struggling with his own feelings while protecting Isabelle’s. Maybe his life story was a bit extreme (he had a very abusive youth) and we are made to believe that he joined the navy at the age of 15 or 16 without anyone in the army noticing or doing something to prevent it. That’s quite unbelievable. His grander than grand issues with his past were probably necessary to make Isabelle realize she’s not the only one of them who is struggling with abuse and guilt. For me it would have been enough if Jake just helped her heal by being patient and kind like he was from the beginning without the addition of their shared problems as a remedy to make her whole and trusting again. But that has more to do with one of my lows I guess.
One of the sweetest Jake moments was the one where they have a love scene on the couch in which Jake cuffs his hands behind his back while Isabelle sits on his lap and he tells her that she is safe and can touch herself.

• Good secondary characters
I like a story in which the protags are surrounded by friends and family. Mainly Jake has great people in his life. I especially had a soft spot for Nick, Jake’s stepbrother. He’s easy going, tough and sexy with his habit to walk around the house without clothes.

• Great story building
Ms. Tyler tells a rounded story that is well build. All pieces of the puzzle fall into place in the end. It’s all very well plotted. Her story contains a lot of suspense as well, but to be honest it didn’t bring me once to the edge of my seat.

• Easy writing
Ms. Tyler’s writing style is pleasant. With seemingly little effort she can make a scene visible and tangible. Sometimes she tends to explain a bit too much for my taste and she becomes repetitive, while in other moments (towards the end) she skips a few things. But overall her writing has an easy vibe and doesn’t ask too much (or less) from her readers. For example I like the way she described Jake:
“Nothing about him was overtly pushy or blatant or cocky. He didn’t have to be. He moved with the quiet confidence other men envied, tried to emulate and failed. His commanding presence wasn’t something to be copied, it was something to be earned.”

• Interesting world
Ms. Tyler has the ability to evoke a whole world with her words, an interesting world that I wasn’t familiar with but that became vividly alive before my eyes. She provides us with a lot of information and details to reach that. The lives of SEALs, mercenaries and social/medical workers in Africa were all new to me.


Low 5

• The heroine Isabelle
As much as I liked Jake, I could not feel the same sympathy or tenderness for Isabelle. In fact, she pretty much annoyed me a great deal of the time. And I feel bad about that, given her abuse and ordeal during the kidnapping and all. She sure did deserve my sympathy, and she had it most of the time. But not so much when it comes to the way she treated Jake. Okay, she had trust issues, I got that and sure, she had a hard time giving up her control sexually, I got that too! But I didn’t get her selfishness and her being mean to him at one point. And after denying him his pleasure a few times while she had hers, she finally is ready for him – you know, all the way – after Jake has shown his anger and then she tells him:

“I want you,” she repeated in a husky voice against his ear. “Don’t deny me this.”

The nerve, to be so demanding!

• The very distracting multiple POV’s
From the beginning I was struggling with this book because of the often changing POV, not just between the hero and heroine but between many secondary characters as well. And not their POV on the H/h, nope they all had their own storyline and personal issues. I found these very distracting, since I hardly knew the H/h at that point. Gradually I got used to the multiple POV’s and in the end they were reduced to just a few besides that from the H/h (mainly Clutch and Sarah’s, which was an interesting couple btw).

• Many flashbacks in italic
I don’t really mind flashbacks in a story, they can add something essential, but in most cases it’s enough when the narrator just tells what happened. The showing with the help of flashbacks is not always necessary, especially not when the telling is already done. In Hard To Hold often both the telling and the showing takes place. That’s superfluous imo. Besides that, I don’t need the italics to know that I’m dealing with a flashback – the italics can be omitted!
The bad thing really was that a great part of these flashbacks were from the secondary characters! That was just too much for me, I couldn’t care less. Their POV’s and secondary storylines were enough distraction from Jake’s and Isabelle’s love story, their flashbacks were over the top for me…

• Incomprehensible love
Why Jake and Isabelle fell in love with each other? I have no idea, except that they experienced an intense ordeal together maybe. Perhaps I can see why Isabelle liked Jake in the end, because I myself fell in love with him a little bit, but I never felt her love! I needed more of her thoughts and perspective concerning her feelings for Jake, because now I didn’t believe it. And why Jake loved Isabelle is really beyond me! Not only because what I wrote about her (see my first low) but also because of the lack of an explanation of his feelings.

• Lack of love scenes
There weren’t many love scenes between Jake and Isabelle. And no, I’m not only talking about the hot kind (although I’m a big fan of those and to be honest the love scenes between Clutch and Sarah were a welcome addition). I’m also talking about tenderness and sweetness between the two. Of course, the physical part of their relationship was hindered by Isabelle’s abuse experience. But that part was stretched out way too long I think.

Those were my five highs and lows. Overall, Hard To Hold was an okay read for me. It didn’t meet my high expectations by far and I’m the only one to blame for that ;). My dislike of certain elements in this story is personal. I hope that the second book, Too Hot To Hold, about Jake’s brother Nick, will be more than an okay read for me, since I already purchased it. When my high expectations had something to do with my rather harsh judgment of Hard To Hold than maybe my very low expectations of Too Hot To Hold will make me like that one way better!

Todays Man Candy & New Exciting Book Blogs

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I choose today’s hottie with the hero of Hard Too Hold by Stephanie Tyler in mind. I’m reading that novel about stubborn, sexy SEAL Jake right now. I must admit that I’m having a hard time with it. But I also gotta say that it’s maybe my own fault because my expectations were unrealistically high, after reading many positive and exultant reviews.

What I’m having troubles with is the shifting focus on almost all the secondary characters all the time, which includes their POV’s and their memories that result in rather annoying flashbacks printed in italic. This keeps me from really getting into Jake and Isabelle’s love story. I want to know more about thém, their thoughts, their feelings and I want to see more of the two of them together *sigh*

Am I asking to much? (for the record I’m at page 121 of 265).

And than there are a few new book blogs that I really like and have high expectations of (oh oh ;)) In case you haven't found them yet, check them out:

1.
The first is The Raving Readers blog, run by three friends since the end of December. They already had a great contest and guest appearance from author Susan Lyons. They have romance book reviews and column like topics as well.

2.
The second is Quick ‘n Dirty Romance Reviews, the new blog from fellow Dutch girl Pearl, who created this blog because she lacks the time to give all the books she reads a proper, full review. This mini-review blog is enjoying to read because of the nice format of Pearl’s reviews.

3.
And the third blog is one I found out about today and is having its grand opening tomorrow: it’s called Book Lovers Inc. Ten Book Lovers, all very recognizable, will review books from all sorts of genres, host giveaways and have guest authors.

Are there other new romance blogs I have missed?

Review of Heat of Passion by Elle Kennedy

Elle Kennedy
Heat of Passion (Out of Uniform, #2)
Samhain Publishing, March 2009

Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Uniformly Hot: Navy SEAL

Rating: êêêê
Heat level: ¹¹

The Back Blurb:
Carson Scott is the king of one-night stands, so a naughty encounter with a sexy brunette in a nightclub supply closet is right up his alley. When his mysterious seductress disappears, he’s blindsided by an unfamiliar emotion—disappointment. One thing’s for sure...if he ever encounters his lady of the evening again, he won’t let her slip away so easily.

Between her catering business, family issues, and her broken heart, Holly Lawson has too much on her plate to think about committing to a serious relationship. Hot, sweaty, anonymous sex with a Navy SEAL...now that sounds like the perfect appetizer to take the edge off. With no plans to ever see him again, she indulges in a fling. Only to come face to face with him weeks later while working a wedding.

Worse, Carson is hell-bent on the one thing she doesn’t want. The R word. She has no intention of falling for him, but in the face of his seductive, mind-changing methods, her resistance is crumbling...

I love hotties in uniform and Elle Kennedy’s heroes from her Out of Uniform series are very sexy navy SEALs who live up to my expectations. Earlier I’ve read the first story in this series, Heat of the Moment, and liked it a lot. Carson made his entrance while enjoying a threesome with his best friend and fellow SEAL John and his lover Shelby. In Heat of Passion John and Shelby are getting married and Carson has a hot encounter with a mystery woman at their bachelor/bachelorette party, in a supply closet! She rocks his world but she immediately disappears after the best sex of his life. Carson realizes that he’s done with the one-night stands and the threesomes of his past. Envying John and Shelby’s love, he wants his own special woman.

One month passes by before he bumps into the mystery woman again. She’s catering at his friends’ wedding. Holly gets the shock of her life when she spots the hot SEAL in his white dress uniform at the wedding she’s working, with whom she had anonymous hot sex a short while ago. It was meant to stay anonymous and now he’s asking her out on a date. No way, she can handle more than a fling. But Carson is persistent – he wants a relationship with her. They settle on great, steamy sex. And steamy it is!

Carson is ridiculously sweet and totally falling for Holly. She still thinks she doesn’t have time for a more serious relationship, with her demanding family and her study consuming all of her time. But Carson helps her realize that her family is depending on her too much, only she doesn’t want to admit it and she kicks him out. When she finally can and wants to make up with him, Carson’s been sent off on one of his secret military missions for god knows how long. It makes her reconsider her feelings for him.

Carson and Holly are a lovely couple. They complete each other, a former bad boy and the good girl. Their chemistry is great and the love scenes are explosive and well described. Although Heat of Passion is just a short story (about 70 pages in my ebook version), the characters are vividly and well developed and very, very likeable. Especially Carson is a considerate, attractive, loving and sweet hottie who’s easy to love.

If you’re looking for a fast, cute and steamy story about a sexy as sin navy SEAL and his sweet, sassy girl, I can recommend this one. And it seems as if there’re gonna be a lot more installments in this series, considering the number of hot SEAL buddies of Carson and John that were introduced in this story. A third book has already been published: Heat of the Storm, starring their buddy Will. Yep, gonna want to read that one as well!

Review of Some Kind of Hero by Michelle Cary

Michelle Cary
Some Kind of Hero
Samhain Publishing, April 2008

Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Wounded Soldier, Ménage a trois (M/F/M), Abuse, Violence

Rating: êêêê
Heat level: ¹¹½

The Back Blurb:
After serving his tour of duty in Iraq, Sergeant Derek Rison returns home to find his apartment—and his life—in ruins. Sitting in the back booth of a local diner, contemplating his options, Derek meets waitress Jordan Minx, a petite brunette with a sad smile and a big heart.
Well-intentioned Jordan offers him a place to sleep, but an accidental encounter in the bathroom lands them both in her bed. Derek discovers a woman with an insatiable appetite for sex and a secret to hide—her “boyfriend” blackmails her to be a toy for his group of kinky friends.
Bolstered by Derek’s love, Jordan finds the courage to do the right thing. But the cost of freedom could be her life.

Warning, this title contains the following: Explicit sex, spankings, ménage a trois, violence.

This story is very fast paced and packed with lots and lots of action. I think maybe it was a bit too much and too fast in the short span of time of the storyline. But if you like to be gripped by action and hot sex scenes, this might be just the book for you. From the very first page the hero and heroine are figuratively getting on a train together, to not jump off again, because it keeps riding and riding, even while it takes some quite impossible curves.

Ex-soldier Derek meets waitress Jordan when he returns wounded from Iraq and finds his apartment burned down. She offers him her couch for the night and one thing leads to another. Within a couple of days they have hot sex (with some out-of-the-blue-but-one-time-only spanking), share their secrets and fall in love. But Jordan can’t commit to a relationship with Derek because she has a boyfriend. And she happens to be financially dependent on that guy. I found this in itself a bit incredible but even more so when it turned out that she let him abuse her sexually. She’s a sweet woman but she annoyed me as well because of this impassiveness and dependency.

The relationship between Jordan and Derek felt genuine though. He’s not only hot as sin but also very easy to like and his feelings for her are heartwarming. His character was less well developed as the heroine’s though. The story is written mostly from her point of view. He’s really good for her, especially after what she’s been through. And he knows how to encourage her without pushing her into something she doesn’t want to do. The perfect man, right? Jordan does realize her luck and she dares to believe in a happy future for herself again. But their happily ever after is postponed shortly by some unexpected events. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this turn of the story, which involved a matter of life and death (I’m trying not to reveal too much…). It was unexpected but very plausible and it added some good emotional tension.

There’s just one thing in the storyline I’m not too thrilled about: the ménage scene between Jordan, Derek and Derek’s business partner (who was gay but unexpectedly turned bi). It’s not the scene in itself that bothered me, because that was kinda hot. But it was too farfetched with these three characters: Derek didn’t seem to be the kind of guy that likes threesomes, and Jordan had a nasty history with ménages instigated by her abusive boyfriend. Although she engaged willingly in the threesome it didn’t seem to fit at all.

But overall, I liked this book, because the storyline was interesting and the writing was good. The characters were well developed and there was plenty of action and emotional tension which elevated the suspense.

Review of Private Maneuvers by Denise A. Agnew

Denise A. Agnew
Private Maneuvers (Hot Zone, #3)
Samhain Publishing, April 2008
Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Uniformly Hot: Special Forces
Rating: êêê
Heat level: ¹½

Private Maneuvers is the third installment in the Hot Zone series by Denise A. Agnew which is about soldiers. The protagonists of this third book were already introduced in the second, Unconditional Surrender. The hero, Jake, was one of the Special Forces soldiers that came to rescue when the heroine of that second novel was on a tour gone bad in Mexico. The heroine, Marisa, was part of the travelling party. The moment they met, they instantly felt attracted but didn’t act on it. Now they meet again when Jake takes a job as a temporary bouncer at Marisa’s uncle’s tavern. Marisa is working there too as an accountant and there happened to be some threats. Jake admits that he took the job to get to know Marisa better. Marisa doesn’t want to become involved with Jake because of a former bad experience with a soldier boyfriend. Piece by piece they get to know each other and their secrets and insecurities are revealed.
The plot is well dosed and contains some good elements. But the storytelling is a bit faltering at times. The dialogues are sometimes not very smooth or flashy either, but I liked it that Jake and Marisa talked a lot about serious things, their past issues and feelings, before they fell in bed with each other. What I missed, in the previous books as well: the hero and heroine having friends with whom they interact on a regular basis and in a different way than with their lovers. It can tell a lot about someone’s character. And it was good to have some suspense added although the threats never got really threatening. The physical parts of the story were a bit disappointing when it comes to quantity. And all the talking beforehand diminished the hotness a bit ;-). But the lack of quantity is made up by the high quality of the elaborate love scene. It’s sexy and sweet, as the hero and heroine of Private Maneuvers are.

Back Blurb:
A woman craves. A man wants. Their collision pitches them into the hot zone.
Hot Zone Book 3

Sometimes a woman craves what she shouldn’t want…
Marisa Clyde wants nothing to do with the soldier acting as a temporary bouncer in her uncle’s tavern, even though the stoic, six-feet-of-smoldering hunk rescued her during a tour gone bad in Mexico. While those few short moments sent their sexual tension screaming off the charts, a devastating hurt in her past now blocks her willingness to surrender to him. He’ll only be in town a month. If she can just wait it out, he’ll soon be out of her life.

Sometimes a man wants more than a woman is willing to share…
Jake Sullivan watches Marisa like a hawk, well aware his need to protect is messing with his mind and making him care way more than he should. Priding himself on clinical detachment in the game between man and woman, he figures once he’s slept with her, she’ll be out of his system for good. But that’s before he experiences her at a deeper level—and learns she just might be in danger again.

Warning: Beware of sizzling sexual tension and extreme emotional connection between hero and heroine. Sex, when it finally happens, is enough to blister

Review of Caught off Guard by Tonya Ramagos

Tonya Ramagos
Caught off Guard (The Heroes of Silver Springs, #1)
Siren Publishing, October 2006
Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Uniformly Hot: Firefighter, Shared past
Rating: êêêê½
Heat level: ¹¹

Caught off Guard is the first novel by Tonya Ramagos for me, which I purchased because of the firefighter theme of the series that the book is a part off. And I liked it a lot. The hero and heroine are great characters. Veronica is a sexy, confident, strong and kind woman who has set her mind on Dean. And he is a former bad-boy-turned-responsible, a well-proportioned, hot and very sweet guy, completely thrown of his feet by Veronica seducing him. I easily fell in love with him, because of the way the author portrayed him and gave insight in his thoughts and feelings. His attraction for Veronica goes way back and he can’t resist her. Their first encounter is amazingly hot, but at the same time cute and sort of funny because of Dean’s surprise, that is voiced well by the author. Veronica thinks she doesn’t want a relation, just to have sex with him. And the sex is sizzling, they hit it off great. But Dean wants more and has a hard time convincing Veronica, he patiently shows her by silent actions. In the mean time she has her parents to deal with and her sex shop to run. It’s enjoying to read how they interact and start to grow on each other. A nice prospect is the reappearance of some of the minor characters of Caught off Guard in the next installments in this series. The second book, Twin Games is already on my TBR pile and I’m looking forward to it!

Back Blurb:
Fire Department Captain Dean Wolcott has struggled to tame the wild boy ways of his childhood. Now an adult, he's a responsible and respected member of the Silver Springs Fire Department. But with all he has achieved, there is one thing he still longs for…Veronica Abbott. The sweet, innocent, rich girl was always been out of his league, but that never stopped her from monopolizing his dreams. Now she's back, and the woman she has become leaves Dean with his jaw touching the floor! After a life of domineering parents and becoming a widow in her mid-twenties, Veronica is finally in control of her future. And a future of excitement, surprise and spice is exactly what she wants. Her new business—a shop of sexual favors and lingerie—is sure to give her some of that, but it’s the prospect of Dean Wolcott that really lights the fire inside her.

Review of Male Call by Denise A. Agnew

Denise A. Agnew
Male Call (Hot Zone, #1)
Samhain Publishing, May 2007
Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Uniformly Hot: Iraq, Love Letters
Rating: êêêê
Heat level: ¹¹

This is the second book by Denise Agnew I’ve read. My first one (Unconditional Surrender) happened to be the second novel in the Hot Zone series. Male Call is the first one in this series. I wasn’t very positive about Unconditional Surrender but I’m glad to tell I liked Male Call a lot better. The background stories of the protagonists are simple and clear, and therefore plausible and not interceding or disrupting the storyline. Again the hero is a hot, well-built military guy, but now he’s actually being a soldier from the start of the story. The pen pal thing with actual letters is, in this era of email, a bit far-fetched but sweet and well-written. The H/H falling in love through their letters is completely believable and makes you anxious to read about them finally meeting each other. And when they do, it’s great.
Their attraction is tangible and goes from sweet to hot in a short time. Sometimes I wondered about the language, for example what to think of a sentence like this: “Sean’s body moved like poetry until the distance between them collapsed.” (p. 37). I’m not a native English speaker so it could just be me, but it seems weird and it’s hard to picture what’s meant by this. But the important thing is that the story is developed well and the characters are portrayed nicely and the plot flows naturally to a satisfying end!
I’ve got books 3 and 4 in this series to look forward to and another two books by Denise Agnew on my TBR pile, Under His Protection and In Her Defense, about SWAT guys. I’ve bought these books partly because of the beautiful book covers. I also discovered that there’s a third SWAT-book, and that Ms. Agnew has written a series about firefighters (Meltdown and Combustion). So a lot of hot heroes that I’m gonna add to my wish list. In the meantime I will also try a few free stories from the authors website that I recently learned about, look here>>> if you wanna check it out for yourself.

Back Blurb:

Her sexy letters are his only lifeline in his dangerous world…
Successful computer software engineer Eve Carmichael melts under yet another hotter than hot letter written by Reserve army soldier Sean O’Callahan. Yet Eve can’t take the thought of his life in danger overseas, and she resolves to get a sex life—and a life period. That means forgetting Sean before anything bad can happen to him. To celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday, Eve plans a trip to Male Call, a male review club. Still, she worries about Sean. She hasn’t received a letter from him in too many weeks. And oh, how she longs for those flirtatious, hot letters.
Sean finds Eve’s letters to be the only lifeline in his increasingly chaotic world. As their feelings grow hot and heavy, he can’t wait to return home and kindle that pure firepower.
When Eve receives a letter from Sean saying he’s been wounded, her fears are realized. But fate and a little mischievous planning by her friends will serve up the greatest surprise of all.

Review of Able-Bodied by Karen Foley

Karen Foley
Able-Bodied
Harlequin Blaze, February 2009
Genre & Keywords: Contemporary | Uniformly Hot: Delta Forces | Injured Hero | Reiki Heroine | Opposites attract
Rating: êêêê½
Heat level: ¹¹

I like Karen Foley’s former Blaze books a lot. And Able-Bodied didn’t disappoint me either. The author invests a lot in character development. In Able-Bodied the hero is a bad ass military hunk, who is in pain. The heroine is a fragile looking but brave practitioner of Reiki and she happens to be able to take away people’s pain. So he needs her and it turns out that she also needs his protection when someone from her past comes after her. They make a nice couple and them hooking up together is plausible. Both are scared for commitment but enjoy the hot sex they’re finally having, very much. Only when it comes to admitting their feelings for each other I feel like Karen Foley rushed the story a bit. Still, I enjoyed this Blaze, but not as much as her other books. Maybe it’s because I’m not that fond of unbelievably large and hulky guys, especially not when they hook up with tiny little women. So, I didn’t fall in love with the protagonist, though I normally like reading about men in uniform (of any kind!). Because Ms. Foley knows how to tell a story and put some excitement and steamy love scenes in it, Able-Bodied was still a great read!

Back Blurb:
Uniformly Hot-series. Subject: Ransom Bennett, Delta Force Operator Current status: Injured but still hot-blooded! Mission: Regain crack military reflexes. Prove he's ready for active duty. Obstacle: Hannah Hartwell. Fascinating. Tantalizing. His new neighbor. All Ransom wants is to get healthy enough to return to the field. But sexy Hannah is testing his composure. The woman is under his skin…but she's also fleeing a shady past. Damn! Hasn't he learned not to play with fire? Still, Ransom can't help exposing her secrets…and a lot more! Then it's on to his post-injury mission. The highly clandestine operation will involve delicate negotiations, complex maneuvers and fiery explosions. And that's just in Hannah's bed!

Review of Unconditional Surrender by Denise A. Agnew

Denise A. Agnew
Unconditional Surrender (Hot Zone, #2)
Samhain Publishing, October 2007
Genre & Keywords: Contemporary | Uniformly Hot: Special Forces | Reunion
Rating: êê
Heat level: ¹

The ingredients of Unconditional Surrender were promising, but, gosh, this book is poorly written! The hero is a muscular Special Forces soldier, the heroine a sweet but insecure archaeologist and they haven’t seen each other for years (twenty to be exact, which is in my opinion a little bit too long to make it convincing that they still want each other). Now they are back in town for their high school reunion and their attraction revives. But another girl from their past intervenes and the heroine’s dangerous vacation becomes the subject of discussion and causes problems in their newfound relationship. Only these issues are not convincingly causing a problem at all. They seem to be written into the story with the single purpose to add friction to the relationship but don’t appear genuine at all, because the author hasn’t worked them out very well. This book in general lacks believability; I didn’t buy any of it, not their love, not their attraction, not their concern, not their dialogues, not any of their feelings. I really hope this will get better in the other stories in the series, since I already bought some other books by Denise A. Agnew.

Back Blurb:
She wants the adventure of a lifetime and isn’t willing to sacrifice it for any man… All he wants is to keep the girl he loved and lost safe, even if she hates him for it…
Archaeologist Fredricka “Freddie” Bodine returns to her hometown for her twentieth high school reunion, unaware that her old crush, Keith Wallace, has blown back into town. One memory is etched deeply on her brain—the high school prom where she shared a single, emotionally revealing dance with him. They’d both left town after graduation, feelings unresolved and teen angst firmly in place.
Keith doesn’t want her to travel to Los Diablos, a lawless area he’s visited during Special Forces ops, and the place where his sister was killed years ago.
As they grapple with family pressures and the exploding passion between them, their battle of wills may just lead them to the truth living in both their hearts.

Review of One on One by Cathryn Fox

Cathryn Fox
One on One
Samhain Publishing, February 2009

Genre: Contemporary | Best Friends Turn Lovers | Firefighter
Rating: êêêê
Heat level: ¹¹¹

One on One is a lovely short story about two best friends becoming lovers. Taylor is lusting after firefighter Christian for a long time now, but all they do together is watching movies and sharing ice cream. Her friend helps her to form an idea how to seduce him, namely playing the best friends card. She’s going to ask his advice on getting men to notice her. With the result that he can’t resist her.
I like best-friends-turning-lovers stories and the fact that the hero is a sexy firefighter is a big bonus. But even without these elements Cathryn Fox writes a hot story. The sex scenes are steamy and the protagonists are very likeable. We learn about both their feelings because the point of view changes continually between Taylor and Christian. Their perspectives on the events are sometimes funny and add to the hotness of the attraction between the two of them. One on One is a quick but fun and hot read!

Back Blurb: It was just a sexy game. Then things went south…

Taylor Dayton has been holding back a secret from her best friend, firefighter Christian Bain: he’s the only man who can douse the flames inside her. It’s time he noticed her as more than an ice cream and movie pal. What better way to melt the blinders from his eyes than propose an irresistibly sexy grooming session?

Christian can hardly believe the woman from his erotic dreams has just issued a siren call no red-blooded male can resist. He’ll give her what she wants, and when he’s done with her, she’ll need more than a fire hose to cool her down.

When their little game leads them to discover their secret fetishes and fantasies, they realize that this sexy seduction is no longer just a game.

This time, it’s for keeps.

Product Warnings: Hot sex in creative places, may leave reader salivating for more…

Review of Seducing Simon by Maya Banks

Seducing Simon is a very well written and totally sweet romance. When I bought it I was under the assumption that it was an erotic romance, but it wasn’t. It was my own sloppiness that caused this misunderstanding, but I don’t mind reading a contemporary romance once in a while, so it was fine. And I couldn’t have chosen a better book for the occasion.
Because this novel was really a great read: full of suspense, very nice characters and hot firemen (which is definitely a bonus), lots of heartbreaking and sweet emotions, and besides the tender moments enough drama. So I liked it a lot and couldn’t put it down when it was time to go to sleep.
I did love the setting of four friends living in one house together. And the other characters did get to play a good part in the story as well. They weren’t just there for decoration but added something to the plot.
And I do like the friends-falling-in-love type of plot a lot. Besides all that, Maya Banks just knows how to tell a story that’ll get to you. Her great dialogues are contributing to that.
I did of course miss the hot love scenes ;-) and if it weren’t for that I would’ve rated this story with 5 stars instead of 4 stars.

Back Blurb: One fateful night, Toni Langston seduces her best friend, the guy she’s been in love with forever. Two problems—he doesn’t remember a thing that happened and now she’s pregnant.
Toni Langston has been in love with Simon, her best friend, for years. The night Simon breaks up with his long time girlfriend, he and Toni make love. Toni is devastated and humiliated when, in the heat of the moment, he calls her by his girlfriend’s name. The next morning, Simon remembers nothing of the previous night and Toni is only too relieved not to remind him.
Two months later, she discovers she’s pregnant. She wants Simon to love her, apart from any obligation he might feel because of the baby. So she embarks on a quest to seduce her best friend, to make him see her as more than a little sister, to make him love her as much as she loves him. It works. Maybe too well. Now when things are perfect, she faces telling him of the secret she’s kept.

Review of Lover's Knots by Katherine Cross

Just finished Lover's Knots by Katherine Cross and I truly enjoyed it! Wow! For those who don't enjoy M/M romance it's probably not that hot, but for those who are openminded about that, it's a really great, hot and loving story. It's a historical romance as well, and the 18th century setting just adds to the reading pleasure and suspence.

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Back Blurb: Third Lieutenant Andrew Clayton wanted senior officer Daniel Barret from the moment they first met. Something about the charismatic man with the scarred knuckles and street-tough voice heats Andrew’s blood and makes his body ache. He’d give up everything for just one taste of the forbidden—his position in Society, his commission…even his life.
Daniel’s sure he’s losing his mind. Nothing else could explain his obsession with noble-born Andrew or his constant desire to spread him across the wardroom table and mark his fair skin. In His Majesty’s Royal Navy, the punishment for their love is death. One misstep could have them both at the end of a hangman’s noose.
But everything changes when they’re granted an unexpected leave. Far from the captain’s watchful eye, Daniel agrees to one week—seven days to explore each other’s bodies, to let four years of suppressed desire consume them—before they must return to their ship and the way things were. But some passions can’t be tamed once unleashed, and some dangers are worth the risk.
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Erotic scenes enter the story very early in the shape of Andrew's dreams. At first you don't see through this, but it's a great trick of the author because it gives her the opportunity to tell their first advance twice, and to let them display their attraction in public at some point - something that's impossible in the 18th century society. These erotic scenes are very hot - with Daniel, the man with the lower position in society, as the dominant partner. He's a natural leader where Andrew is more of a follower. I don't mean that their relation is about dom/sub, although there's some tying up in two of the love scenes. But actually these scenes are about Daniel's surrender to their love, even when he is the one who's handling the ropes.

The historical background does add a interesting layer to the story. I've learned a few things about life on a ship, and it didn't bother me that Daniel's and Andrew's love story was intertwined with war scenes. They were great for the suspension in this book, as well as the acts of jealousy of fourth lieutenant Sinclair, who's threatening to discover their secret.

The feelings and emotions of the two heroes did get a prominant place in the writing, especially their feelings of lust were well written about, but also their feelings of love. Those of Andrew were a bit more underlined than Daniel's. It was sweet how defensive and angry he became when Daniel was badmouthed by some guys in a bar. I guess, the love scenes were that hot because of the clearly present love and admiration between the two lovers. I think it was very well done!
So I rate this book with 5 stars!

Elle Kennedy's Heat of the Moment

Heat of the Moment is a very hot and sensitive story (about 55 pages in my digital version). Really well written with lovable characters. Besides that I like to read about men in uniform the men in this story are particularly sexy and gifted with eloquence. So although this is just a short novella I rate it with 5 stars. I'm looking forward to the second story in this 'Out of Uniform' series by Elle Kennedy: Heat of Passion. It tells the story of Carson, the third person that joined the threesome in Heat of the Moment.

Back blurp: Shelby Harper has lusted over Navy SEAL John Garrett for over a year, but no matter how many sexy signals she sends out, the man shows a complete lack of interest in getting naked. Then she overhears Garrett talking to his SEAL teammate-a discussion in which they conclude she's vanilla. Stung, Shelby sets out to show them exactly how un-vanilla she is. Garrett can't believe it when sweet, sexy Shelby suggests a wild and sweaty ménage. He's been trying to figure out how to ask her out without coming off as a guy who only wants to get in her pants-her friendship is too valuable to him to risk it. But if a crazy, heat-wave three-way is what Shelby wants, then he's ready and willing to give it to her. Once she gets it out of her system, however.well, then he'll let her know he wants her all to himself.
Warning: This title contains two dangerously hot Navy SEALS and a heroine determined to get it on with both of them. Be prepared to take a cold shower (or maybe two) after reading this heat-wave ménage.

Review of Maritime Men by Janey Chapel

I like reading about men in uniform, so I thought this novella (ca. 60 pages in my version) would be full of great characters. The back blurp announced an attraction between two Navy SEALs, which is difficult in the not so gay friendly military world. A story full of potential conflicts, issues and struggles. But none of that was the case in Maritime Men.
I missed that a lot. Janey Chapel didn't give the reader much insight in the thoughts and feelings of her two main characters, Cooper and Eli. The story is told from Cooper's point of view but is mainly describing what's happening, hardly what he's feeling. This is a huge shortcoming imo. I like to read about the feelings and thoughts of the characters.
Besides that, the story lacked suspense as well. There's hardly a beginning, middle and (happy) ending. So it's not much more than a few hot (but a bit emotionless) scenes amidst some military training action scenes and bar scenes. All nicely placed after one another and nothing more. So no more than 1.5 stars out of 5 for this story.