Review ~ PLAYING IT CLOSE by Kat Latham

Where do you go to escape everything when you're one of the most famous rugby players in the world? For Liam Callaghan, that place is a remote lodge on Venezuela's Caribbean coast. Perfect, except he doesn't exactly want to be alone with his thoughts. Enter Tess Chambers, the ultimate distraction.

 

Still reeling from a professional disaster that's made her all but unemployable, Tess understands the desire to move through life as somebody else. So when instantly recognizable Liam uses a fake name, she runs with it and creates a temporary new identity of her own.

 

Their time spent together in paradise is idyllic but brief—after one passionate night, Liam wakes up to find Tess gone. Returning to London, he's shocked to learn she's taken a job with his team's new sponsor. As the Legends' captain, he'll have to not only figure out how to work with the one woman who ever left him wanting more, but also convince her that their feelings in the present mean more than any lies they've told in the past.

Review ~ SOUTHERN FRIED BLUES by Jamie Farrell

A Yankee Lady Stuck in the South

Divorced wasn’t a label Anna Martin ever wanted. Now she’s a thousand miles from home, underemployed, and lonely, but she’s squeezing this lemon life gave her and turning it into lemon meringue pie. Never again will she let any man—especially another military man—get in the way of her career.

 

A Southern Gentleman Military Officer

Jackson Davis believes in family, football, and Uncle Sam. He treats ladies right, takes his uniform seriously, and he loves his dog, but he doesn’t reckon he’s built for true love. After all, if a man good as his daddy couldn’t do it right, what chance does Jackson have?

 

One Undeniable Attraction

These two vulnerable souls are as different as cornbread and ketchup, but they fit together like sweet butter on hot biscuits. Short-term, they’re exactly what the other needs. But when their hearts get involved, they’re both gonna end up with a big ol’ case of Southern Fried Blues.

Review ~ SWEET SOUTHERN BETRAYAL by Robin Covington

Privileged and ambitious attorney Teague Elliott is on the fast-track to getting everything he wants. All he has to do is stay on the straight and narrow and a high-profile political career is his for the taking. Until he wakes up naked with a Vegas showgirl...

 

Risa Clay has worked hard to put her showgirl past behind her and start fresh. But she owes ten grand to the wrong people, and to pay off her debt, she agrees to betray a stranger. . .but she ends up with a husband and guilty conscience.

 

Savvy and determined, she double-crosses the mob, goes on the run, and turns up on Teague’s doorstep armed with a dangerous secret, a marriage license, and the power to ruin his well-planned future. She thought using Teague again would be easy, but the passion that exploded between them in Vegas didn’t stay in Sin City and betrayal is the last thing on her mind.

 

Now Teague has to choose between the future he’s planned for all his life, or the one with Risa that he can’t turn away from.

Review ~ BE MINE FOREVER by Marina Adair

For Trey DeLuca, the idea of settling down was entirely unsettling. As VP of sales for his family’s wine company, he’s never in any one city—or with any one woman—for long, which is how he likes it. But when family obligations keep him temporarily grounded in his hometown, he finds the perfect distraction. She’s sweet, gorgeous, and sexy as hell…only her life screams commitment.

 

Between raising her son and struggling to keep her dance school afloat, Sara Reed has her hands full. Dance students she needs—a steamy tangled sheets cha-cha with a self-admitted commitment-phobe? Not going to happen. But sparks fly as the town prepares for a big Valentine’s Day gala, and Trey strikes a deal with Sara…he’ll “manny-up” and watch her son in exchange for ballroom lessons.

 

With love quickstepping ever closer, Sara needs to teach this playboy some new steps or risk losing him—and her heart—forever.

5 Star Review ~ AUTUMN IN THE VINEYARD by Marina Adair

Frankie Baudouin has a hundred reasons not to trust Nate DeLuca. First, he’s a DeLuca. Second, he kissed her—in front of the entire town—and then never called. Oh, and he’s after her land. Sorrento Ranch is Frankie’s last chance to prove to her family—and to herself—that she has what it takes to be an award-winning winemaker. And she will stop at nothing to ensure her success—even if it means playing nice with the starched, sophisticated, and oh-so-sexy Italian.

 

For Nate, Sorrento Ranch is more than just soil and grape vines; it was his father’s dream—a dream Nate is determined to make a reality. So when he finds himself forced to cohabitate with a hot-headed, irrational, and incredibly gorgeous Baudouin, Nate is surprised to discover that chaos could be so much fun—especially when she sleeps in nothing but lace.

Review ~ SAFE IN THE TYCOON'S ARMS by Jennifer Faye

  

The man behind the headlines...

 

When billionaire Lucas Carrington returns to his New York mansion, he never expects to find beautiful stranger Kate Whitley making herself at home. Invited by his aunt to stay, he soon discovers she's a woman in need. She's raising funds for her sick daughter, so he agrees to let her stay--temporarily!

 

Kate may not belong in Lucas's high-society world, but she sees there is more to this tycoon than the headlines suggest. Yet with so much at stake, can she trust herself and her heart with New York's most sought-after bachelor?

Review ~ ALL ABOUT CHARMING ALICE by J. Arlene Culiner

Alice Treemont has given up hope of meeting the right man and falling in love. Living in depopulated Blake’s Folly, a quirky community of rusting cars, old trailers, clapboard shacks and thirsty weeds, she spends her time cooking vegetarian meals, rescuing unwanted dogs and protecting the most unloved creatures on earth: snakes. What man would share those interests? Certainly not Jace Constant whose life in Chicago includes elegant women, fine dining and contemporary art.

 

Jace has come to Nevada to research the new book he’s writing, but he won’t be staying; as far as he’s concerned, Blake’s Folly is hell on earth. He’s disgusted by desert dust on his fine Italian shoes, dog hair on his cashmere sweaters and by desert bleakness. As for snakes, he doesn’t only despise them: they terrify him.

 

So how is it possible that each time Alice and Jace meet, the air sizzles? That she’s as fascinated by him as he is by her? That they know their feelings go deeper than raw desire? Still, it looks like this relationship is doomed before it starts: Jace won’t be around for long, and Alice wants to avoid the heartbreak of a short fling.

 

In need of some juicy romantic gossip, the other 52 residents of Blake's Folly have decided Alice has been alone for long enough. The attraction between her and Jace is obvious to everyone, so why worry about essential differences? If you trust in love, solutions do appear. But don’t those solutions call for too many compromises, too much self-sacrifice?

5 Star Review ~ DOWN AND DEAD IN DIXIE by Vicki Hinze

To live, sometimes ya gotta die!  Daisy Grant is in a heap of trouble.  She stumbles into a mob turf war and now somebody wants her dead.  Daisy may be small-town to the bone, not at all the kind of woman to deal with the Southern Mafia, but she knows how to get creative fast!

 

Enters the way-too-attractive Mark Jensen... He didn't mean to rescue anybody, and he certainly didn't mean to go on the run because of a stubborn, sassy woman.  Soon they are up to their ears in so many wacky characters they don't know who's on their side.  Daisy and Mark decide that to live, sometimes ya gotta die.  And sometimes to die right takes . . . practice.
 

5 Star Review ~ NEVER BEEN READY by J.L. Berg

Leah Morgan was done with men. After barely surviving a horrendous childhood, and a boyfriend who bailed when things got rough, Leah had given up on love. Then she met him, Hollywood’s new golden boy who suddenly had eyes only for her. She tried to convince herself that one night couldn’t hurt, but after six months, the memories of his mesmerizing gaze and searing touch still invaded her every thought.

Declan James had just one rule when it came to women. Keep it simple, and never linger. That all changed the moment he met Leah. Even across a crowded bar, he could tell she was different. Sweet, with just the right amount of sass, she made him break his golden rule and now he couldn’t walk away.

When casual becomes anything but, and emotions run deep, will Leah and Declan fight their fears, or let old insecurities tear them apart? When Declan’s past comes roaring back in a way neither of them could have expected, will they stand united or be torn apart by the challenges that lie ahead?

It was only supposed to be one night, but only forever will do.

5 Star Review ~ SECRETS ON THE SAND by Roxanne St. Claire

Zeke Nicholas has turned his mathematical genius skills into a mountain of money. But Zeke sits on that mountain all alone, longing for the one thing money cannot buy: the true love of a lifelong partner. Zeke grew up near Barefoot Bay and is staying at the resort for a week while he’s in town for a family event. Enter Mandy Mitchell...the maid. Except to Zeke, Mandy is much more than that—she was the object of his every teenage fantasy back in the days when she was known as “Mandy the Magnificent” and he had the unflattering high school nickname of “Ezekiel the Geekiel.”

 

Zeke is no longer a geek—he’s gorgeous. And Mandy doesn’t feel so magnificent since her marriage fell apart and left her up to her eyeballs in debt and despair. One look at Zeke, and she knows he’s exactly the kind of trouble she should avoid. One look at Mandy, and Zeke turns his relentless ability to get what he wants into a full-on seduction. But can Mandy face down the secrets of her past to find a fairy-tale future with Zeke?

5 Star Review ~ THE BARGAIN by Christine S. Feldman

Tomboy Shannon Mahoney has always been a lot more comfortable with power tools than high heels or lipstick, and she wishes she could reinvent herself and finally tell her perfect boss, Drew Kingston, she has had a crush on him since high school. But she is just as tongue-tied and awkward around him now as she ever was, and long-familiar patterns are hard things from which to break free…

 

Ladies’ man Michael is a former bad boy looking for redemption. He is desperate to atone for past mistakes that he made with his family, but younger brother Drew has cut him out of his life and refuses to even speak to him. Which means Michael needs help getting to Drew.

 

And so he approaches Shannon with a proposition: If she will get Drew to agree to hear him out, Michael will mentor Shannon in how to win his brother’s heart. Suspicious of Michael’s motives, Shannon initially enters into the bargain just to make sure Michael isn’t actually in town to cause trouble for Drew, but the two unlikely allies are surprised to discover they enjoy each other’s company far more than either expected.

 

Shannon starts to realize that maybe love isn’t about reinventing yourself after all. It’s about finding your perfect match.

5 Star Review ~ WHERE THEIR HEARTS COLLIDE by Zoe York

Karen’s finally decided what she wants to do when she grows up. Too bad it’ll mean leaving behind her new neighbour, who’s stirred up a different kind of grown up feelings. But when he rebuffs her attempt to have a fling before she leaves Wardham, Karen knows it's for the best. A clean break, no messy emotional entanglements.

 

Intense and private, Paul has recently moved to Wardham for a more family friendly job, leaving behind a career as a homicide detective in the city. He only has his ten year old daughter a few nights a week, and he doesn’t want any distractions or drama while he tries to repair their relationship.

 

But Karen is right next door, and everywhere he goes. His resolve to keep his distance only lasts until she needs a true friend in her corner, and he realizes he can’t imagine life without her.

Review ~ CHRISTMAS ON 4TH STREET by Susan Mallery

There's nowhere better to spend the holidays than with New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery in the town of Fool's Gold, where love is always waiting to be unwrapped… 

Noelle Perkins just got a second chance at life, and she intends to make the most of every minute. That's why she ditched a frustrating legal career to open her own store in Fool's Gold, California. The Christmas Attic celebrates everything that's magical about her favorite season. Business is booming, and as a bonus, gorgeous army doctor Gabriel Boylan has offered to help out during the holiday rush. 

Gabriel's memories of Christmas past contain more sour grapes than sugar plums, thanks to a drill sergeant father who ran his home like a boot camp. Spending the holidays with his family while he recuperates from injury sounds as appetizing as last year's eggnog. Still, there are some enjoyable distractions in town, including sunny, sexy Noelle…and the red-hot mistletoe kisses they can't stop sharing. 

Gabriel didn't think he was made for happily-ever-afters. But when fate hands you a love as sweet and surprising as this, only a fool could refuse….

5 Star Review ~ SNOWBOUND WITH THE SOLDIER by Jennifer Faye

Maybe this Christmas…?  

 

It has been seven long years since Kara Jameson last saw Jason Greene. Returning home as a wounded war hero, Jason looks a shell of the man she once knew. Yet her heart still skips a beat as if it was yesterday….

 

Stepping back into civilian life, Jason looks to Kara for help. But there's too much water under the bridge—not to mention too much lingering attraction.

 

But it seems that the mountain weather has other ideas, and when Kara and Jason end up snowbound together they are forced to confront the ghosts of Christmas past.

Review ~ What Once Was Perfect by Zoe York

She shuttered her heart and walked away...

Heading home always stirs up mixed emotions for Laney Calhoun. Twelve years ago she left for graduate school, broken-hearted. She's found professional success, but positive personal relationships have proved elusive. Running into her ex-boyfriend fans flames she thought long extinguished, renews her interest in love. Not with Kyle, of course. Never again. But as sparks fly and items of clothing disappear, she scrambles to lock down her heart.

 

...Now he has a second chance to get it right.

Kyle Nixon let Laney slip away once. Their chemistry together is undeniable, but a few days of steamy sex over the Christmas holidays won't be enough to convince her to let him back into her heart. Even if she did trust him again, her career as a surgeon is a day's drive away from the hometown that he loves, and the life he once chose over her.

Review ~ Take Me Home for Christmas by Brenda Novak

Christmas is a time for remembering…

Too bad not all memories are pleasant! Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned.

 

But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive. So when he goes missing, she secretly hopes he'll never come back—until she learns that he died running from an FBI probe of his investment firm. Not only has he left Sophia penniless, he's left her to face all the townspeople he cheated.…

 

Sophia is reduced to looking for any kind of work to pay the bills and support her daughter. With no other options, she becomes housekeeper for none other than Ted, now a successful suspense writer. He can't bring himself to turn his back on her, not at Christmas, but he refuses to get emotionally involved. He learned his lesson the last time.

 

Or will the season of love and forgiveness give them both another chance at happiness?

Review ~ DARE TO LOVE by Carly Phillips

Since finding out his father had another family on the side, Ian Dare swore to be the upstanding, responsible man his cheating parent had never been.  When it comes to his relatives, he gives his all but in relationships he offers the bare minimum.  But one glimpse of sensual Riley Taylor arouses his dominant and protective instincts and Ian is entranced.  He will do anything to possess her ... and does.  But any future with Riley must include him extending an olive branch to the half-brother who is a constant reminder of the pain he'd rather forget.

 

Independent and always in control, Riley Taylor makes no apologies for choosing men carefully.  Relationships have never been a priority and she believes herself hardened to domineering men - until she meets charismatic Ian Dare.  He manages to turn a simple kiss into an all out assault on her senses and when he takes control in the bedroom, she's stunned to discover she likes it. As their affair heats up, they soon realize they complete each other in ways neither imagined.  But Riley's past is closer than she cares to remember, and her struggles with Ian's dominance might just cost her everything.

REVIEW

Ian Dare does not want to be at his father's birthday party.  He only shows up for his sisters.  They may have forgiven their father for hurting the family, but he has not.  When he is about to leave, his sisters plead with him to stay.  And this is when he see's her.  He has no idea who she is, but she is on the arm of his step-brother.  His sister Olivia goes up to him saying I thought you were leaving.  He tells her I changed my mind.

 

When Riley Taylor walks into the ballroom with Alex Dare, her best friend, she feels someone staring at her and then she sees him.  She is unaware of who he is.  As the night progresses and Ian makes his move when she is by herself, things get a little heated.  But the only problem is Riley is there with Alex.  Riley informs Ian that she and Alex are just friends, Ian really likes this.

 

Ian and Riley both have demons in their closets so to speak and don't do relationships.  So what they're doing is new to them.  Both Ian and Riley have trust and control issues.  The questions is will they be able to trust one another?  Things get very intense when they’re together.  The heat and passion between Riley and Ian is incredible and is smoldering HOT.

 

Dare to Love is a touching and heartwarming book.  It catches you off guard and will leave your heart pounding fast.  The love and friendship with the secondary characters is wonderful.  Carly takes you on a ride of emotions in this book and I loved every minute of it.

 

Rating: 5

 

Release Date: November 13, 2013

Book Length:  256 pages

Source: Author

Reviewed by: Mona

Reading format: Available in eBook and Paperback

Purchase from Amazon (Kindle or Paperback) or your favorite eRetailer

Places to find Carly Phillips:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Review ~ SECRET SISTER by Emelle Gamble

To their friends, Nick and Cathy Chance have the perfect marriage. High school sweethearts who’ve been together for ten years, they’ve weathered challenges and are as committed as they were when they first fell in love. Cathy trusts Nick, Nick’s world revolves around his wife, and the future looks golden.

To everyone who knows them, Cathy Chance and Roxanne Ruiz have a perfect friendship. They connected in grade school and since then have been each other’s confident and trusted advisor. Cathy loves the gorgeous Roxanne like a sister, Roxanne has fun-loving Cathy’s back in every situation, though lately there’s been tension between these two best friends…

And then, on a sunny summer morning, the unthinkable occurs, throwing into doubt the truth of what each of these people really know about themselves and one another.

Will Roxanne’s sacrifice be too little, and too late? Should Nick’s love for his wife be strong enough to risk trusting his heart more than logic? Can Cathy’s devotion to Nick give her enough strength to convince him to see her for who she really is?

Secret Sister proves how strong, how stubborn, and how trustworthy love can be as Nick and Cathy and Roxanne are challenged to overcome the secrets, the lies … and one extraordinary twist of fate that turns their lives upside down.

Review ~ THROUGH THE SMOKE by Brenda Novak

A shocking betrayal…

 

Riches. Power. An ancient heritage of pride. The Earl of Druridge wanted only for an heir. So when he learned that his wife was carrying another man’s child, he was filled with a thirst for vengeance.

 

But he wasn’t the one who caused Katherine’s death. Or was he? To his horror, he remembers nothing of that dreadful night, when their last shocking confrontation ended in scorching flame and cold blood.

 

A forbidden love…

 

Rachel McTavish, the beautiful daughter of a coal miner, knows something about the fire that took Lady Katherine’s life. In secret, the strong-willed girl strikes a bargain with the desperate earl: he must send his physician to help her dying mother or he may go to the scaffold—and the devil. The earl agrees, but Rachel is still unsure that her revelation will be enough to save him when so many wish him dead.

 

Passionately drawn to the nobleman, despite all the doubt and mystery that shrouds him, Rachel wonders if he can really be a murderer. Or if he is the only man who will ever own her heart…