romance

Review: When I Look to the Sky, by Barbara S. Stewart

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“Cause when I look to the sky something tells me
you’re here with me
And you make everything alright

And when I feel like I’m lost something tells me
you’re here with me
And I can always find you when you are here”

-Train-

Oh my word….I need a minute…..

OK, I have sat here for two hours writing and deleting and writing again. This is the 5th time a book has made me wanna just type…It was awesome. I cried. Buy it. But that won’t do it justice, will it?

This is the second book in a trilogy. The first, Rock and Roll Never Forgets, was one of the ones I couldn’t write a review that was worthy of it. But I have to give this one a go. I’ll try not to spoil the first book by telling you of this one. But you REALLY must start from the beginning. You MUST!!! I’ll be buying these in print, because some of the proceeds go to The American Cancer Society. That makes me love these even more.

When I finished Rock and Roll, I was devastated. The last 25% of the book I spent crying. I won’t spoil it, but I will say, you may need tissues. The entire love story was so romantic and tragic. The love, that was shown, was overwhelmingly beautiful. I never wanted the story to end. I wanted to know what happens next.

But I admit, I was scared to read this one. After the last, I didn’t know if it was gonna live up to the emotions I felt. So I put it off for a while. But when I finally picked it up, I knew I wasn’t gonna be disappointed. And I knew I was gonna need tissues. 🙂 Just reading the beginning, I was already crying.

Carlee always felt loved by Andy. He gave her everything she ever needed or wanted. She’s been through a lot, in her young age, but her Papa was always there. And she loved him with all her heart. When Andy surprises her with a European vacation, she never imagined that it would bring her another man to love and change their lives forever.

While eating at their hotel, she meets Matthew. I loved the way we see him for the first time and get his view of her. He was instantly smitten and so sweet to her. Offering to be her tour guide, was perfect. 🙂 It was cute to see Andy find ways to have Matthew join them in their travels.

I loved all the point of views we see. This book shows us what everyone is feeling and seeing. But not in a confusing way. They have so many people in their lives and they all have a part to play. You see Andy as he is watching his sweet girl move farther from him and closer to another man. You watch Carlee experience everything for the first time. You see Matt try to be the best man he can, for his girl.

Watching Matt’s and Carlee’s romance reminded me of the good times between Andy and Carlee’s mom, Beth. They were very slow and sweet. Innocent kisses and hugs and long phone calls. Now, I love romances with a bit of sauce in them, but not every story needs that. I think if they rushed into things, it would’ve ruined it. They way they took their time to get to know each other was perfect. And when Matt needed Carlee, she jumped to his aid. They leaned on each other through the hard times and grew closer through the good.

“I think about more than ‘now’ when I look at you…I can’t wait for every tomorrow with you…”

Music played such major character in this series. I was constantly looking up the songs to listen while I read the scenes, which undoubtedly made me cry more. I’ll never hear “Unforgettable” without thinking of Andy.

DO YOU KNOW MEL?

The camp scenes were just so touching. I won’t say much more. I don’t want to spoil that part. But if I ever have a chance to be a part of something that amazing, I’m going to jump on it.

While we’re watching Matthew and Carlee’s love story we see Andy and Carlee’s love. They love each other so much it hurts. It’s been only them, for so long, he has to learn to let go of his little girl, and it breaks his heart.

“I’m going to bed now and cry myself to sleep…Wake me in the morning. I need a few more minutes alone with you before I share you with Matthew…forever.”

“Papa, I love you.”

“Carlee Elizabeth, you just don’t know.”

*wipes eyes*

After I typed all of this out, I read the last book, Feel Like Makin’ Love, and that was the perfect ending to a wonderful series. I am so glad I went straight to it, after this one. It answered the few questions I had. But really, I just needed closure. I needed to know that everyone was OK.

There is so much more I want to say, but it would spoil it, so I’ll leave you with this.

It was awesome.

I cried.

Buy it.

~Melpomene

Rock and Roll Never Forgets (The Rock and Roll Trilogy)

When I Look to the Sky (The Rock and Roll Trilogy)

Feel Like Makin’ Love (Rock and Roll Trilogy #3)

Review: The Christmas Wish by Katy Regnery

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20131026-223743.jpg Just Released!

In a dive-y diner in a small Montana town, Katy Regnery serves up a Christmastime romance full of hope. Tess is the townie with a bad reputation – and it’s all true. Lucas is an ex-con whose only crime was protecting the ones he loved. They work together, befriend each other, and learn to trust one another. Tess and Lucas dream bigger than their small town, and together they know they can make their Christmas wishes – and their dreams – come true.

The Christmas Wish is a clever, sadness-to-gladness romance told in about 40 pages. The brevity works because Katy Regnery keeps the focus on just the two main characters. By the end, my heart was full and my faith in humanity restored. And she’s got me thinking about what my own Christmas wish will be. 🙂

–Calliope

Buy it now The Christmas Wish

Review: The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins

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5 stars for this October 29 release!

I’m a romance junkie, and after reading so many, I’m hard to impress. The Perfect Match totally impressed me. This novel has it all – sweetness, complications, misunderstandings, true love, misgivings, honesty, and family loyalty. Higgins writes a complex, well-thought-out story with multi-layered characters and relevant subplots. I’m telling you, this is one of my favorite romances of 2013!

So now that you know the writing is awesome, here’s a little bit about the story line and characters:

Honor is a hard-working woman who takes care of her immediate family’s needs before her own. She also has had a 15-year crush on an old friend that she hooks up with once in a while. When he rebuffs taking the relationship seriously, Honor shifts her focus to finding pretty much anyone to marry – so she can settle down and have a family of her own.

Enter the meddling grandparents setting up a date for Honor and a visiting Brit named Tom. Unbeknownst to the matchmakers, Honor and Tom have already, embarrassingly, met. They do end up in a relationship, albeit an unconventional one. And then the reader is on the journey with Honor and Tom to see if love will grow and thrive.

Higgins masterfully weaves Honor’s low self-confidence into the story without making her seem pitiful. She writes Tom’s character as sweetly, appealingly arrogant in some ways, and sad and lonely in others. The brothers, sisters, friends and children are all real – whether we see jealousy, sullenness, anger, reluctance or joy.

When I opened The Perfect Match, I expected a typical, light, enjoyable romance. What I got was so much more. The Perfect Match is brilliantly written, complex, and emotional. And the bits of Brit-speak were lots of fun, too.
Love, love, love it!

-Calliope

Buy it now (preorder before 29Oct) The Perfect Match

Review: Candlelight Christmas by Susan Wiggs

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20131022-173802.jpg Release date October 29. 4 stars!

Want to feel the magic of Christmas? Complete with snowy mountains, a house full of loved ones, peppermint hot chocolate, and walks in a winter wonderland? Susan Wiggs delivers all that and more in Candlelight Christmas.

Darcy meets her best friend India’s brother Logan and it’s Like At First Sight. When she sees him again at Thanksgiving, sparks are flying. By Christmastime, they know they have to decide whether or not to pursue a relationship.

Between Darcy’s ex and her demanding family, and Logan’s hard-to-please dad and beautiful son Charlie, the pair have many outside influences. Together they figure out how to overcome the family challenges so their relationship can grow. As Darcy and Logan find out, the spirit of Santa Claus doesn’t only touch children at Christmas. The magic is alive and well in romance too.

I love this book for the Christmas romance, but I appreciate it even more for the family dynamics. Wiggs achieves realistic holiday scenes, positive and negative. We see arguments, hugs, dumb moves, apologies, honesty, bluntness and forgiveness.

I bawled my eyes out during the scenes with Logan’s son Charlie, and sighed with a bursting heart more than a dozen times. Candlelight Christmas is joyous, real, and touching. I’d read another Susan Wiggs novel in a New York minute.

-Calliope

Pre-order and it will appear on your kindle October 29.
Buy it now Candlelight Christmas

Review: Jagged, by Kristen Ashley

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15817361“…love is a show, it’s not a tell”

Ham Reece was always moving around. But he always came back to Zara Cinders. If she called him, he was there. If she was hurt, he’d fly to be with her. But when she found someone more stable, he walked away.

But three years later she finds herself alone and barely scraping by.

By some near death experience, they are brought together. And when he discovers how little she has and what she has gone through, Ham decides to help her. But she doesn’t want to get sucked into Ham again. It’s hard enough being near him, without all her feeling bubbling up to the top.

Ham wants her. He’s always wanted her. He waited til she was ready and now he’s going to show her how ready he is.

“I’m here, Zara, as in I intend to stay here…I like the people, I like the work…But this is mostly where I wanna be because your’re here.”

Ham gets her a job and takes care of her. But she tries really hard not to fall for him, but, of course, she does. How can you not. The man was sex on legs. HOT. The way he bosses her and talks to her, very hot. No nonsense kinda guy. Needed to fan myself a few times.

Of course there’s a HEA. This is a Kristen Ashley book. And we love her rough and sexy men who practically throw their women over their shoulders and make them listen. I’ll probably grab the first four books in the series, just for more sexy alphas.

I received this ARC for an honest review.

~Melpomene

Release date November 5, 2013
Forever(Grand Central Publishing)
Buy it now Jagged

Review: Heating Up the Holidays 3 Story Bundle

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18283138 Heating Up the Holidays is a 3 story bundle with Play With Me by Lisa Renee Jones, Snowfall by Mary Ann Rivers, and After Midnight by Serena Bell.

I want to devote this whole review to Snowfall because I overwhelmingly loved this novella. I count myself as incredibly lucky to have read Mary Ann Rivers’ debut of The Story Guy just a few months ago. I fell in love with her intelligent and humorous writing then but hoped that it wasn’t just a one time thing. This second novella shows me that I’m not to be disappointed!

Jenny Wright moves into her new housing in Ohio where she is doing research as a Microbiologist. When she moves in she gets mail for the previous tenant which leads to online communication between herself as “Lincoln” and “C’. They begin to flirt online back and forth less and less innocently. Meanwhile Jenny is dealing with slowly losing her sight due to a degenerative disease. She’s horrified at this idea and cannot wrap her mind around this. Jenny is working with Evan Ford, her Occupational Therapist to try to make her life a little more manageable while the changes happen.

I cannot express my love for this book and this author in the right way. Yes there are scientific and technical terms throughout the book due to Jenny’s technical occupation. Halle-freaking-lujah! I, for one, was so happy to read a book, even a novella, that had an intelligent woman, with a scientific job as the main character. I’m not a scientific person but I was able to read this just fine. There are many books that tend to be dumbed down in general and I didn’t feel like this at all with this book. I was racing to get to the end of the novella, the last 20% or so I finished and then immediately re-read because I was doing my speed reading to get to the ending.

Jenny and Evan are so very real, very funny people. Jenny does not take slowly losing her eyesight very well and tends to throw fits, which I can only imagine would be the case in the real world. I just really appreciate the intelligence and humorous insight that this novella seems to have.

So obviously, I am supposed to be having some kind of therapeutic moment here, where my other senses get honed on the strap of this exercise and maybe later I’ll finger-spell W-A-T-E-R into his ginormous hand and we’ll embrace with joyous laughter.

Also there is a small piece at the end of the story that just about killed me. A very small detail which will probably stick with me for a very long time.

I absolutely cannot wait for the full length novel debut of Mary Ann Rivers, Live, coming in January of 2014. I have a feeling that she will be an auto buy for me for pretty much ever.

Buy it Now Heating Up the Holidays 3-Story Bundle (Play with Me, Snowfall, and After Midnight): A Loveswept Contemporary Romance

Review: Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis

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20131021-222044.jpg Jill Shalvis’ Lucky Harbor line of romance novels win my heart every time, and Always on My Mind doesn’t disappoint. As a matter of fact, Shalvis threw in some crime/suspense as a bonus, and I loved it!

Leah and Jack have had a thing for each other FOR-EVER. Due to guilt and work issues and being too chicken to “risk their friendship,” they’re not honest with each other about their true feelings. Enter the “let’s pretend” concept that eventually morphs into a very real happily ever after.

I liked Shalvis’ authentic “guy” scenes where the firefighters are busting chops and being competitive — but always having each others’ backs when needed. The scenes with female friends having girl talk didn’t seem as natural, but were still fun to read.

Jack is of course the hero in this novel, but before he can save Leah from herself, they both have to figure out who is committing some local crimes. Jack and Leah have the help of some local amateur sleuths, and I was entertained by their capers.

Shalvis gives us enjoyable subplots – a grandmother and a middle-aged mom each embark on budding romances, a bakery and other small-town businesses evolve, and Jack and Leah’s friends are set up for what I hope will be the next installment of a Lucky Harbor love story.

Always light and fun, Lucky Harbor romances include likable characters and loyal friendships. Four big shiny stars for Always on My Mind!

–Calliope

Buy it now Always on My Mind

Pre-order the next Lucky Harbor book, coming in February Once in a Lifetime
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Price Drops on Some Favorites!

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Waking up on the weekend to price drops on books by a favorite author … sigh … It can only be beat by a lovely cup of coffee. 🙂

Julie Carobini writes sweet, charming beach reads. I’ll be picking up a few more today for $0.99!

Enjoy!

-Calliope

20131019-073717.jpg Buy it now Chocolate Beach

20131019-073726.jpg Buy it now Truffles by the Sea

20131019-073737.jpg Buy it now Sweet Waters

20131019-073747.jpg Buy it now Fade to Blue

20131019-073755.jpg Buy it now The Spa at Winter Beach

Review: Stripped, by Jasinda Wilder

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What can I say, the premise of this book intrigued me. A virgin stripper and a movie playboy. Doesn’t that intrigue you?

Grey grew up in a very sheltered household. I mean, VERY sheltered. I could relate to that part, the most. I was completely clueless all through high school, but never to this extent. This was downright scary, how she could do nothing remotely worldly, according to her father. All she wants to do is dance and make movies. Both are of the devil, so her pastor father doesn’t allow this kind of activities.

“You must break free, in yourself.”

But when her life is completely turned upside down, she makes the decision to leave and do what she needs to do to follow her dreams. Even if that entails becoming a stripper, just to get through college.

This is the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. She is barely making it and the dancing is taking a piece of her away, every time.

But then she sees him. Dawson Kellor. Super sexy movie star is watching her dance. She can’t turn away. He can’t turn away. She knows something is happening.

…I’ll never return from this place, for I know the taste of temptation. I’ve sinned; I’ve fallen.

He wants her. She wants him, but she doesn’t want to want him. He is famous and can have anyone. Why would he want a stripper?

“I’ve always been entitled, you know? I’m that horribly obnoxious kind of person who’s always had everything and owns the fucking world, okay? But I’m not entitled to you. I have to earn you.”

The torment she goes through, while trying to figure out how to survive, is gut wrenching. She was not meant for this world. But he won’t let her go. No matter what she does, there is no escaping this man. He is her jail.

“His arms are like prison bars, but it’s a cell I have no desire of escaping.”

Throughout the entire book, you see what this super sheltered life has done to her. She can barely function. She struggles with what she believes is wrong and evil, but her heart doesn’t doesn’t give up. She breaks through those barriers and you rejoice with her.

“I don’t know what to believe.”

“Believe in me.”

This is the second book I’ve read by Jasinda Wilder, and I like her style. I can’t wait to see what’s next on her agenda.

~Melpomene

Buy it now Stripped

Review: Holding Out for a Hero by Amy Andrews

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20131014-151939.jpg Ella remembered her school years with tears and a hard heart. Her mother was an outcast and she was treated like one too.

Jake had similar bad memories – a drunk, neglectful father gave kids fodder to tease Jake – and a reason for Jake to be sullen and rebellious.

Fast forward 20 years when Ella is the principal for a low income school, and former rugby player Jake is a philanthropist under the guise of the local pub owner. Ella needs Jake’s help to save the school … and while they’re working that out, they’re also working out some romantic tension.

I loved that Jake was a humble, honest guy who felt protective of Ella and her brother. He was an appealing alpha hero who stood up to idiots who disrespected women.

Ella might appear as somewhat of a crybaby to some readers, but I saw her as a strong woman who had shouldered so much in her life, accomplished so much, and finally felt safe enough with someone (Jake) to grieve for her childhood and her mother.

The truly beautiful thing about this book was the exploration of appealing subplots: Rosie the goth chick dates Simon the straight laced politician. Rosie’s aunts try to save their house from developer’s greed. Rosie and Ella celebrate their friendship on a daily basis.

The facets of Holding Out felt real. I felt like I was Ella, crying my eyes out to my man one minute, trying to straighten out a teenager the next, having a cocktail with my best friend later on, and finally looking for solace with my aunties across the table.

Holding Out for a Hero is a romance, but it’s also a commentary on friendship, staying true to yourself, and not letting your perception of the past color your future. Amy Andrews gives us all that, plus a hot rugby player hero and a happily ever after.

–Calliope

Buy it now Holding Out For a Hero