'Heart of the Matter' by Emily GIFFIN

Received from the publisher

Tessa Russo has the perfect life – she has two beautiful children and is married to Nick, a pediatric plastic surgeon. She is the envy of other playground mothers, and her still single friends. But she can’t help this nagging suspicion that not all is right in her world. It’s partly the fact that she left her job as a University Professor to become a full-time mum. It’s a little to do with Nick’s job, and medicine making her a jealous mistress. But it’s also her mother, pointing out all these various cracks and fissures, warning Tessa of her own broken marriage and causing her to wonder “would Nick ever?...”

Valerie is a single-mother living out her worst nightmare. A phone-call in the middle of the night, telling her to come to the hospital because her six-year-old son has had an accident. Charlie, while at a sleepover, falls into a fire and burns one side of his face and his hand. Nick Russo is called in as his plastic surgeon... and so begins Valerie’s crush on the doctor-savior, which slowly turns into infatuation, that is eventually reciprocated…

Two women. Two very different lives. One man who will force them to intersect…

This was a hard book to put down. I absolutely ate it up, largely because it feels somewhat voyeuristic. Whenever you hear or read about someone’s adulterous affair a few questions run through your head – why did they do it? Who was she? How will the wife react…? That last one is especially juicy – how is Sandra coping? Will Elin divorce him?

2010 seems to be the year of the cheater. Tiger Woods, Jesse James, Ashley Cole… you can’t walk past a newsstand without seeing garish headlines proclaiming the end of ‘Brangelina’, because Brad’s gone back to Jen (who he left for Ang in the first place!). And I must confess to eating up such tabloid stories. As a general public, we can’t help ourselves. It’s partly the fact that celebrities misbehaving will always fascinate us. But I think it’s also the fact that cheating is such a relatable issue – infidelity is like an equalizer. Whether you’ve cheated, been cheated on or know someone of the former or latter, everyone has a story about unfaithfulness.

And that’s why Emily Giffin’s book is so darn fascinating. She explores those salacious issues – not just as they relate to the scorned wife, but also the ‘other’ woman. Each chapter alters between Valerie and Tessa – and the changing perspectives make for a very fulfilling and compelling read. Through both women, Giffin is able to tease out all those scandalous and hurtful questions - observing them from two very different angles.

Giffin deals with infidelity in a very tender and real way. Her characters make mistakes, have regrets and try to pick up the pieces of their damaged lives. This is not a book of absolutes, and is all the better for it. There are no villains in this book - no black and white solutions –, which means it is relatable and firmly grounded in believability and sympathy… because life is all about the gray areas.

The only perspective not offered is Nick’s, which works very well. He remains a bit of an enigma to readers as well as Valerie and Tessa. It leaves a certain amount of mystery and uncertainty in the lives of the characters – and you will keep wondering and guessing at the outcome of their lives, right up until the last page. That level of mystique is also Giffin showing respect for her readers – she does not give direct answers to her characters problems, nor does she make excuses for them. Instead, Giffin allows readers to make up their own minds, come to their own conclusions and try to analyze the various reasons behind characters actions.

Readers are somewhat predisposed to be more sympathetic toward Tessa. It's partly the fact that Giffin is writing for a female audience, and as a whole readers will be automatically more likely to side with the wronged party, no matter the extenuating circumstances… But it's also a certain writing technique Giffin uses. Tessa’s perspective is told in first-person – making readers privy to her innermost thoughts and feelings. But Valerie’s chapters are told in third-person. It’s quite a clever method that at once distances readers from Valerie, while giving a front-row-seat to Tessa’s world. That being said, by the end of the book lines really begin to blur and Giffin garners as much sympathy for Valerie as Tessa, pushing readers to alter their condemnations and allegiances.

Then she fiddles with her diamond ring, spinning it twice around, and says, “I could never forgive Daniel if he slept with a hooker. It’s just so gross. I couldn’t forgive anything that sleazy. I’d rather he fell in love with someone.”

“Really?” MC says. “I think I could get over something physical – maybe not a hooker, but a purely physical, one-night-stand kind of thing… But if Rick actually loved someone… that’s a different story.”

April looks contemplative and then says to me, “What would bother you more, Tess? Hot sex or love?”

I consider this for a second, then say, “Depends.”

“On what?” Romy says.

“On whether he’s having hot sex with the girl he loves.”

Emily Giffin is touted as being a ‘chick-lit’ author. That term is sometimes said in a derogatory way, as though ‘chick-lit’ is a lesser literary feat. I don’t believe it is, and I think Giffin is a perfect example of why that genre tag is not at all insulting. In ‘Heart of the Matter’ Giffin is exploring an old issue with a great deal of finesse and compassion. A plot centered on unfaithfulness may be what initially ‘hooks’ readers – but it becomes pretty obviously early on that there’s a lot more going on in ‘Heart of the Matter’. Ultimately Giffin’s book is about the repercussions our mistakes have on those we love, and the tightrope we find ourselves walking between forgiveness and trust.

This is a compelling read. The plot of infidelity is juicy and salacious, but it’s Giffin’s tenderness towards her imperfect characters that will appeal and resonate.

5/5

UK, US release: 11 May 2010

'A Matter of Blood' by Sarah PINBOROUGH

Received from the publisher

From the BLURB:

The recession that grips the world has left it exhausted. Crime is rising in every major city. Financial institutions across the world have collapsed, and most governments are now in debt to The Bank, a company created by the world's wealthiest men. But Detective Inspector Cass Jones has enough on his plate without worrying about the world at large. His marriage is crumbling, he's haunted by the deeds of his past, and he's got the high-profile shooting of two schoolboys to solve - not to mention tracking down a serial killer who calls himself the Man of Flies. Then Cass Jones' personal world is thrown into disarray when his brother shoots his own wife and child before committing suicide - leaving Cass implicated in their deaths.

And when he starts seeing silent visions of his dead brother, it's time for the suspended DI to go on the hunt himself - only to discover that all three cases are linked ...As Jones is forced to examine his own family history, three questions keep reappearing: what disturbed his brother so badly in his final few weeks? Who are the shadowy people behind The Bank? And, most importantly, what do they want with DI Cass Jones?

‘A Matter of Blood’ is the first book in Sarah Pinborough’s ‘The Dog-Faced Gods’ trilogy.

This is a dark and sinister read. Not least of all because it hits so close to home. Pinborough is writing about a not-too-distant future, only a few years away in fact. The GFC (Global Financial Crisis) has not abated, and in an effort to limit the fallout a conglomerate World Bank is created. Funded by billionaires Gates and Branson, in partnership with Japan, China and Russia, ‘The Bank’ now runs all of the Western World’s property and bank accounts in a bid to stave off a crippling depression. It is indeed a corporate-run world, and the times they are a changin’. Crime is on the rise, health-care is nonexistent and citizens are on-edge.

It is in this climate that the city of London is rocked by reports of a serial killer on the loose. ‘The man of flies is among us’ – preying on young women and leaving a gruesome maggot trademark that the papers would salivate over.

On the case is Detective Inspector Cassius ‘Cass’ Jones.

DI Jones brings to mind a very apt Raymond Chandler quote; “Police business is a hell of a problem. It's a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there's nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get.”

Jones is an imperfect hero, to say the least. He is dogged by memories of an undercover stint, in which the criminal underworld lured him in, and never really let him go. He is a self-confessed skirt-chaser whose marriage to wife Kate has never fully recovered from his first, and subsequent, infidelities. He snorts coke (recreationally) and has far too much in common with the heavyweight criminals he polices.

But there’s something undeniably appealing about Cass Jones, even when there shouldn’t be. He is very aware of his various vices, even embarrassed by them. He believes himself to be irredeemable - a lifetime of bad choices and stupid mistakes and he’s all but written himself off. He is his own underdog, and you can’t help but hope that he finds something within himself that is worth fighting for.

Cass smiled back. ‘I’m capable of a lot of things, Gary. We both know that.’ He leaned in closer, as if about to whisper a secret, and was pleased to see a twitch of something close to fear in Bowman’s own expression. ‘And another thing we both is that I’ll always be the better fucking copper. So keep my case warm for me and I’ll see you when this is sorted.’

Cass turned and walked away before Bowman could speak. He hoped he couldn’t see his clenched fists in the pockets of his own off-the-rack suit jacket.

Despite all of his negatives, Cass Jones is a damn good cop. Not least of all because he feels an obligation to the victims whose murders he investigates. He imagines those victims are clawing at him, their hands always picking at his clothes as they beg for his attention and delivery of justice.

He squeezed his dead brother’s memory to one side and felt it instantly replaced by the cold fingers of the murdered dead that quietly pulled at him. It felt like they’d torn a way through his skin as easily as digging up through the soft earth of a grave. Coke was a fucker like that. When it woke you up, it woke all of you up.

It’s an eerie image that Jones conjures for himself; but it illustrates his relentlessness, and the heavy burden he places on himself to do the right thing. If not for himself, then for the dead whose afterlife is entrusted to him.

Jones’s already complicated life is further shattered when his younger brother commits murder-suicide; killing his wife, son and then himself. Jones is dragged into the murky depths of his brother’s murderous motivations – and Jones comes perilously close to the breaking point when he starts seeing his dead brother’s ghost.

What is this eerie apparition trying to communicate to Cass? And how does his brother’s death link to ‘The Bank’ and the ‘Lord of Flies’ serial killer?

This book is an absolute feast of genre. It is a thriller, but with heavy supernatural undertones that undercut the murder-mystery and make it all the more sinister and intriguing. Pinborough evokes such a bleak setting and her characters are so gray that her writing is reminiscent of noir 'hardboiled' fiction. And certain aspects are also quite Shakespearean; like Cass's dead brother haunting him from beyond the grave being Hamlet-esque in reference. Pinborough is quite masterful in her marrying of these various genres and sub-genres, making the book a truly exciting read.

Pinborough can write gritty and gruesome with the best of them, but it’s her over-arcing conspiracy/thriller plot that will lure you in and ensure that ‘A Matter of Blood’ stays with you long after you’ve put the book down.

In ‘A Matter of Blood’ Pinborough has built a very bleak future that is entirely too close for comfort. She weaves a tangled web that I cannot wait to unravel in the next two books of the ‘God-Faced Dogs’ trilogy.

5/5

'The Dead-Tossed Waves' by Carrie RYAN

Received from the publisher

From the BLURB:

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She's content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry's mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother's past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Carrie Ryan’s novel, ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’, was one of my favorite books of 2009. In fact, I count it as one of favorite books of all time.

Ryan’s debut was an exhilarating and frightening tale set in a post-apocalyptic universe. ‘Forest’ told the story of Mary, and her village’s fight for survival in the aftermath of a disease that destroyed the world, as we know it. The ‘unconsecrated’ do not die; they are savage and ravenous, desperate to taste flesh and pass on the virus that wiped out millions…

The Chairman steps forward and the world around me drops to nothing. Hundreds of people holding their breath at once.

“What are we if our barriers fail us?” he begins. “If our security fails us? If our safeguards fail us?” The Chairman’s voice is deep, loud. It rolls over each one of us, filling the crevices between us. Everyone around me leans forward, all eyes on him.

“One bite,” he continues. “One bite will wipe out a city. One bite is what wiped out our world so long ago. One bite is everything that stands between what we have built here and annihilation.”

‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ is a companion novel to ‘Forest’. The story picks up years later and is about Mary’s daughter, Gabrielle ‘Gabry’. Gabry’s life is forever changed when one reckless, youthful act of defiance sees the death of her friends and forces Gabry to realize her own fragility.

This second novel is glorious. ‘Forest’ introduced readers to a changed world riddled with fear and disease, as seen through the eyes of one girl and her close-minded village. ‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ sees Ryan’s story grow, as layers are added to this destructed world and the plot thickens…

In this second novel Ryan explores more complex issues that arise from the aftermath of infection. She puts a very human face to the post-apocalypse, and also ties up loose ends created in ‘Forest’. Whereas the first novel concentrated on the disease’s effect on one small village that was secluded from the rest of the world, in ‘Dead-Tossed Waves’ Ryan gives readers a glimpse of the more far-reaching disaster. She introduces ‘Soulers’ – a crazy cult that has arisen, who believe immortal life can be found in an unconsecrated’s bite. Gabry and her friends talk about traveling to ‘The Dark City’, the last bastion of city life, and one of the only densely populated urban areas to survive since disaster struck. Then there’s ‘The Recruiters’ – an army of citizen volunteers who patrol village borders and kill the undead.

Ryan’s series is firmly grounded in the horror genre. Her scenes are cinematic and spine tingling, at once exhilarating and terrifying. But it’s not enough to simply say Ryan’s books are about ‘zombies’. Sure, the unconsecrated are frothing, horrifying and undead – but there’s real heart behind the zombie plot. Ryan’s series is ultimately about hope – that tiny ember that pushes humanity to survive against all odds: to keep trying, fighting and holding on, no matter what.

Ryan beautifully encapsulates this idea of survival and hope in the tender romances of her protagonists. In ‘Forest’, Mary was torn between her love for two brothers – Harry and Travis. Gabry follows her mother’s footsteps in ‘Dead-Tossed Waves’ as she has conflicted feelings for her childhood sweetheart, Catcher, and a stranger she meets beyond her home’s border, Elias. These romances have real heat to them – the characters spark on the page and it’s impossible for readers not to feel just as torn as Mary and Gabry between the loves of two good men. These romances are so important to the story and they hold such weight – after all, love is worth fighting for, and one of the best motivators for survival.

He raises his fingers to my lips. He traces them slowly. I reach out my tongue, touching his thumb. He groans surrender low in his throat and reaches his hand to the back of my neck, grabbing me and pulling.

Carrie Ryan is a perfect example of the Young Adult genre’s growing popularity and widening readership. The genre is no longer just for the audience of its namesake – adults are reacquainting themselves with a genre that is growing more sophisticated and garnering more publicity than books in its adult counter-part. ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ and its companion novel, ‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ are two books that will appeal to young adults and adults alike for its dark themes and complexities.

If you haven’t already, I implore you to read ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ and then ‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ for a sinister but fulfilling read.

5/5

US and UK covers

'Faith & Fidelity' by Tere MICHAELS

From the BLURB:

New York City Vice Detective Evan Cerelli has lost his wife, the only person he ever loved and slept with. He's trying to get on with his life, build a life for his children. Former Homicide Detective Matt Haight is a ladies' man, all sex, no commitment. He's depressed, having a midlife crisis, and not sure where his life is headed.

The two find friendship in the bottom of a shared bottle. When the friendship turns to love, it shakes two straight men to the core and flips their lives inside out. Kids, families, careers that are not gay-friendly -- can all the love in the world overcome the obstacles to faith and fidelity?

This is Tere Michael’s first book, and it’s very, very good.

Ever since Josh Lanyon’s ‘Adrien English’ series I have had an insatiable craving for M/M romances… and this certainly hit the spot.

The book starts out quite sombre. We meet Evan at the lowest point in his life – his wife, Sherri, has been killed in a car crash and he is left to raise four children alone.

Matt Haight is also at a low point – he retired from the police force years ago after ‘narcing’ on some crooked cops, but he still feels the gaping loss of his blue family even now. He hates his job, is nearly 50 years old and he doesn’t do long-term relationships.

Matt and Evan meet at a mutual friend’s retirement party – they hit it off, and start meeting for casual drinks. Over these drinks they spill their guts – Evan about how much he misses his wife, Matt about how much he misses the force. At some point their platonic friendship becomes something… more.

The first half of the book concerns Matt and Evan separately freaking out over their feelings for one another. Both are ‘guy guys’, and have always previously been attracted to women. Evan’s only sexual partner was his wife, who he met when he was 14. Matt was always a one-night-stand kinda guy, a self-confessed ladies man. Separately they are completely floored by their homoerotic dreams and the pulse-racing feelings they have when around each other. But after a late-night profession, everything comes out in the open…

“Just tell me next time, okay? You can say whatever you need to man, more than anything else, we’re friends.”

“Friends in a beer commercial sort of way?”

Matt laughed. He moved gently until they were both on their sides and facing one another.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Wanna go out and rebuild your engine block?”

They laughed, moved their bodies in tiny increments, until the right parts were aligned. Matt watched Evan’s eyes darken with arousal – this was better. This didn’t feel like guilt. No, this felt like – a hard-on.

Evan and Matt are great. They’re both Alpha males, but in their sexual relationship they never try to one-up each other. They are both navigating this new and strange relationship as best they can, with the utmost decorum and understanding. It’s thrilling to watch, and very, very sweet.

It’s all made doubly complicated by Evan still being a grieving widow… and further by the fact that he has children to ‘come out’ to. If you thought Adrien English and Jake Riordan were complicated… they’ve got nothing on Evan and Matt!

At times I felt a little squeamish at how difficult the men’s situation was. There were moments when reading this that I literally gasped and thought “how the heck will this work out?!”

There were also times when I found the whole concept quite unbelievable. Evan being gay wasn’t so much a stretch – when you consider that he found his wife when he was 14 and they were each other’s only sexual partners, there’s a bit of wriggle room for believability because Evan never got to ‘experiment’ with his sexuality. But Matt Haight is in his late 40’s, and an ex police officer. He’s a ladies man and very Alpha. Yet he takes the whole dormant homosexuality thing quite calmly and reasonably. I thought, given the situation, Matt would have been more outwardly confused – manifesting in anger and self-loathing? That was my only real qualm with the story – that Matt wasn’t more destabilized by his feelings for Evan.

I loved this book. Apart from the fact that Matt and Evan are completely hot-to-trot and smouldering… this is actually a real page-turner. The stakes are so high, there’s so much on the line for these characters that I could not stop reading. I was totally sucked in.

Thanks to Ms. Smexy for recommending yet another M/M winner!

4/5

Tere Michael’s second book is about a character that briefly appears toward the end of ‘Faith and Fidelity’.

'The Darkest Passion' by Gena SHOWALTER

Book received from NetGalley

From the BLURB:

This is an another sizzling instalment of the "Lords of the Underworld" series as Aeron, keeper of the Demon of Wrath, finally meets his match...For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence. An angel - demon-assassin - has been sent to kill him. Or has she? Olivia claims she fell from the heavens, giving up immortality because she couldn't bear to harm him. But trusting - and falling for - Olivia will endanger them all. So how has this 'mortal' with the huge blue eyes already unleashed Aeron's darkest passion? Now, with an enemy hot on his trail and his faithful demon companion determined to remove Olivia from his life, Aeron is trapped between duty and consuming desire. Worse still, a new executioner has been sent to do the job Olivia wouldn't...

This is the 6th book in Gena Showalter’s ‘Lords of the Underworld’ series.

I am a fan of this series. Showalter mixes fable and Greek mythology and stirs it all up into a steamy romance with smoking hot Alpha male demons. What’s not to love?

Each male in the series is possessed by a demon – wrath, rage, pain, lies, disease, death – and each book concentrates on one of these men as they find the woman whose love releases them from their demonic inner prisons.

‘The Darkest Passion’ follows Aeron the keeper of Wrath, as he meets a fallen angel, Olivia. Olivia ‘Liv’ has been following him for months now, and Aeron has felt her holy presence and been frustrated by her hovering. But as he meets her in the (fallen) flesh, he can’t help but be intrigued…

“I watched you,” she continued, “as well as those around you, and I… ached. I wanted you, and I wanted what they had – freedom and love and fun. I wanted to play. I wanted to kiss and to touch. I wanted joy of my own.” Her gaze met his, bleak, broken. “In the end, I had a choice. Fall… or kill you. I decided to fall. So here I am. Yours.”

I loved Olivia and Aeron. Throughout the book Aeron battles with his ‘inner’ demons as well as his real possession, the demon Wrath. Aeron thinks himself less because of all the bad deeds he has carried out in his life. This makes things tricky when he finds himself attracted to the ethereal, Olivia. It makes for a very intense and sweet romance and a genuine ‘will they or won’t they?’.

This book has lots of revelations about the ultimate battle being fought between the Gods and demons - the overarching story arc of the series. Much is revealed about the ‘big player’ in the battle, king Cronus. And because of these spoilers, the battle for Pandora’s box really kicks into high gear. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, all of this won’t mean a whole lot… but fans will be thrilled to know that in this book there are spoilers-galore that hint at the trajectory of the next few books.

My one complaint about ‘The Darkest Passion’ would be a hastily (and neatly) wrapped ending. It’s a little rushed and too conveniently ‘happily ever after’ for my tastes. But that might just be me…

One thing I love about this series is the cast of characters. In each book Ms. Showalter sets up the players for the following book… ‘The Darkest Lie’ is the seventh book, and will follow keeper of Lies, Gideon. He’s one of my favourite characters because his dialogue is so tricky and I’m always genuinely impressed by the loopy meanings Showalter comes up with for him. Gideon is frequently saying things like “I want to be bored senseless” – because if he speaks a truth, he gets zapped with intense physical pain. His storyline and love-interest is set up in ‘The Darkest Passion’ and it’s definitely going to be intriguing… no spoilers, but be prepared for an “oh my God!” moment when his love interest is revealed.

I also love Paris, Keeper of Promiscuity. Paris is cursed to always seek out sexual conquests, or else wither and die. The only catch is once he ‘has’ a woman, he will never again feel a sexual stirring for her. So he is fated to never fall in love, or keep a woman. I think Paris is one of the most tragic characters, but his potential (maybe, possible?) love interest is also set-up in this book, and I am *really* looking forward to that one!

‘The Darkest Passion’ is smouldering and intriguing. Showalter beautifully combines high-stakes drama based on Greek Mythology and a demonic war within an action-packed series full of delicious Alpha males. What’s not to love? If you haven’t already I would highly recommend that you get stuck into the ‘Lords of the Underworld’ series.

4/5

P.S. – thanks to Larissa for introducing me to the wonderful NetGalley website. They give you book galleys – for free! To review!... I know, I was excited too!

'The Raven Prince' by Elizabeth HOYT

From the BLURB:

There comes a time in a woman’s life when she must do the unthinkable - and find employment. For the widowed Anna Wren, that means taking a job as female secretary for the Earl of Swartingham. Secretaries are always male - never female - as Anna well knows but the real downfall of her career is the realisation that she is falling in love with Edward de Raaf - the Earl. But when she realises that he is going to visit a brothel in London to take care of his 'manly' desires, Anna sees red - and decides to take advantage of the opportunity to also take care of her 'womanly' desires - with the Earl as her unknowing lover. But the Earl has another reason for going to London. He is formalising his betrothal and trying (with little success) to forget about a secretary that has no right being female. Unhandsome, he knows that no woman wants him. Except for the mysterious lady with whom he spent two unforgettable nights at Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most scandalous brothel in London. But when Anna’s plan is revealed, a bit of blackmail is thrown into the mix, a proposal is rejected and even the Earl himself will be unprepared for the intrigues that ensnare them.

This is the first book in Elizabeth Hoyt’s ‘Princes Trilogy’.

I am quite selective and unforgiving of my regency romances. I have my favorites (Julia Quinn, Lisa Kleypas, Tessa Dare, Jennifer Ashley) and I remain quite loyal and exclusive to those authors. I will occasionally venture outside the regular and try reading a new regency romance author, but if I’m not hooked after the first 10 or so pages I will give up. I suppose it’s because regency is a romance sub-genre I do love to read, but I have to be in the *mood* to read it. And I know from past readings that Quinn, Kleypas, Dare and Ashley deliver just the type of story that quenches my regency romance craving.

I picked ‘The Raven Prince’ off the library shelf on a total whim, based on the fact that a Julia Quinn quote appears on the cover.

I was more than a little pleasantly surprised.

To begin with, I loved the characters. Neither Hoyt’s leading man or lady is conventional of the genre. Edward de Raaf, Earl of Swartingham, has a pockmarked face left over from childhood smallpox. He maintains that he has grown out of vanity and doesn’t care if his scars disgust people – but his actions betray him, and when he starts courting a potential Ton bride he bluntly asks her if his marks are repulsive. Edward also has a terrible temper on him – and he has been known to throw priceless ornaments in a fit of rage. He definitely was not your typical regency hero. Edward is prickly, and it takes a while for Anna and the reader to peel back his layers and see what lies beneath his stoic demeanor.

Anna has been widowed for six years. But before her husbands death she had her ideals of love and romance dashed because her husband cast her out of his marital bed when it became apparent that she was barren. In the last year of his life, Anna had to endure her husband’s infidelities and nurse heartbreak long before his death to fever. When we meet her Anna is desperately trying to maintain her little Essex cottage, support her mother-in-law and keep her head above monetary waters. She is an intelligent, well-educated lady who is forced to (*gasp*) get a job in order to support herself.

Anna and Edward were a wonderful pair – and it’s because of their heat and chemistry that I loved ‘The Raven Prince’ so much. Edward and Anna spend the first half of the book dancing around their feelings for one another, but when they do finally come together their passion is combustible!

Thick eyelashes almost hid her hazel eyes. “Make love to me.”

Something inside him, maybe his heart, stopped for a second. “Anna.”

Her lips were soft and yielding. He was not gentle, but she didn’t protest. She opened her mouth sweetly and gave and gave and gave until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

Hoyt writes beautiful sex scenes. At this point, having read so many various romances and erotica I don’t think there’s much literary smut that can surprise me. But occasionally an author will come along and catch me unawares (chapter 32 of Jeanine Frost’s ‘One Foot in the Grave’, for example). Hoyt was one such author. It’s not that she writes her characters in various complicated Kama Sutra positions – it’s just that the sex scenes were wonderfully visual and titillating… and quite a writing feat when the two most important sex-scenes span several pages with absolutely no dialogue. Just description. And despite the lack of dirty-talk, they made for really captivating reading and added layers and complications to the characters emotions. I was pretty awe-struck, to say the least.

‘The Raven Prince’ does have some drawbacks. Toward the end the plot gets rather unnecessarily emotionally complicated, Hoyt keeps piling on reason after reason for Edward and Anna not to be together – but the reasons are paper-thin. Stuff like; Anna doesn’t want to be cheated on again.

Hoyt also tries to create a she-villain in the book, in the form of a blackmailing town busybody who is out for Anna’s blood. But the stakes are never high and the reader is never really led to believe that this villain will succeed in hurting Anna.

But aside from those small complaints, I really liked this book. The characters made it for me – Anna and Edward were not at all conventional romance leads, but they had such chemistry that they were a joy to read.

I will definitely be picking up more Elizabeth Hoyt books – and adding her onto that small list of regency romance authors I trust with my genre cravings.

4/5

'Slow Heat' Pacific Heat #2 by Jill SHALVIS

From the BLURB

After a woman claims she's pregnant with Wade O'Riley's love child, Major League Baseball's most celebrated catcher and ladies' man is slapped on the wrist by management and ordered to improve his image. His enforcer is the team's publicist, the tough and sexy Samantha McNead.

When Wade needs a date for a celebrity wedding, Sam steps up to the plate as his "girlfriend". But given her secret crush on him and that one awkward night a year ago in a stalled elevator with too much Scotch, the whole thing is an exercise in sexual tension.

Wade is thrilled when the pretense turns into an unexpected night of hot passion. But the next day Sam is back to her cool self. As a catcher, Wade's used to giving the signals, not struggling to read them. Now, to win the love of his "pretend" girlfriend, he needs a home run--even if it involves stealing a few bases...

This is the second book in Jill Shalvis’ ‘Pacific Heat’ series.

The first book, ‘Double Play’, was about pitcher Pace Martin. This second installment is all about catcher Wade O’Riley and his romance with the Heat’s PR officer, Samantha McNead.

I really loved this second book, not *as much* as the first, but loved nonetheless.

One thing I appreciate about this series is a well-executed concept. The idea of a series that follows an American baseball team is a great one – plenty of room for high drama, Alpha males and a certain ‘wow’ appeal. Shalvis definitely delivers. The baseball never takes a backseat to the romance because she effortlessly meshes the two and never leaves the reader feeling like the game descriptions are dragging or getting in the way of the romance. Shalvis also does a great job of imbuing her male characters with a deep-seated love of the game, which is infectious. Even for an Aussie girl like me who has never watched a baseball game in her life, I enjoyed reading the nuts and bolts game descriptions… I also liked the baseball-related quotes at the beginning of each chapter (a consistency carried on from the first book).

Wade and Sam are H-O-T. Whew boy!

“I’m falling for you.”

She went still as stone, then lifted her eyes to his. “I don’t expect you to catch me or anything,” he murmured. “But if you could just keep in mind…” And then he kissed her. It was different from all their previous kisses, which had been hard and deep and wet, and instantaneously hotter than flames.

Not this time. This time it was slow and sweet as he kissed first one side of her mouth, then the other before running his tongue along her lower lip until it trembled open.

Wade and Samantha are quite prickly characters and are a bit of ‘opposites attract’ – which notches up their heat-factor big time.

Sam is the Heat’s PR rep and her father also owns the team. She’s perceived as a bit of a spoilt princess, and because of that she throws herself into her job and is 100% committed to the team and proving everyone’s misconceptions wrong. Working in a male-dominated industry also means Sam is quite the ‘ice’ princess – she has to be. She doesn’t bat an eyelash when she walks through the clubhouse and sees butt-naked ball players. She has been witness to groupie hijinks and knows what her players sometimes get up to with their adoring female fans. She remains cool, calm and collected through it all. But underneath she is a rather fragile woman who still can’t completely please her father, hasn’t been able to keep a man and can’t control her emotional and physical reactions to Wade O’Riley.

Wade grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. His mum skipped out when he was a baby, and his dad was an alcoholic who Wade supported with his McDonalds job throughout his teens. Wade is a ladies-man; with his surfer-boy good looks and laid-back attitude women have always come easy to him. Relationships, less so. Wade is embarrassed by his past, and reluctant to let people get close to him. He has abandonment issues – his mother left him and his father chose the bottle over his son. Regardless, he has a soft spot for Sam McNead… the first woman he’s ever wanted to let get close enough to see his soft underbelly.

I loved this book. Wade and Sam are a great pair – both quite stand offish, except with each other. I loved them and their hot, hot scenes.

My one complaint is to do with the plot-trigger of the book. The whole reason Sam and Wade are forced to ‘pretend’ to be in a relationship is that one of Wade’s crazy fans falsely claims to be pregnant with his love child. This little fact is only ever mentioned in passing by the characters – we never meet the fan (though she appeared, hysterically, in ‘Double Play’) and it’s only mentioned once and then never again. But it seems like a pretty big deal, and could have potentially been a very interesting storyline. Instead its thrown-away.

I loved this book, and I cannot wait to read Shalvis’s next ‘Pacific Heat’ installment (apparently it’s about team manager, Gage).

Thanks to Patti of ‘book addict’ for recommending this fabulous series.

5/5