Vixenwriter

From Joyfully Reviewed!

Relentless is filled with heat and erotic passion between two people on either end of the social structure. Abbie has a passion for finding justice for those who are not recognized. Roman was born to rule and lives in the world of the privileged. I absolutely loved how Abbie and Roman came together and then fought for their love. The erotic passion that sprung up between them would have been more than enough to keep me flipping the pages. However watching as Abbie and Roman maneuvered around and through the power struggles of the ranked wanting to keep the power and the unranked wanting a voice just doubled the power of the plot. I was very afraid that Abbie and Roman would end up being two star-crossed lovers but Ms. Dane ended their story in a spectacular way that had me wanting to cheer. Relentless is a do not miss, stand in line when the bookstore opens book. It is also Joyfully Recommended by me to you as one you won’t want to miss.

Top Pick from Night Owl Romance

Fiery, erotic, and rich with plot, this book is definitely a keeper on my shelf.

I just got copy edits on RELENTLESS yesterday so that’s my big project for the upcoming week! Otherwise, I’m reading Larissa Ione’s first Demonica novel (WOW!) and hanging with the kids, one of whom is puky today (sigh)

A new review of UNDERCOVER from Romance Junkies - Chrissy Dionne gives it five blue ribbons and says in part: Wow! This book rocks! Lauren Dane pulls out all the stops with this soul searing, awe-inspiring read. Sera is a ballsy kick-ass character whom I absolutely love. Ash and Brandt are dominant men and each is a member of a ruling Family, which adds an extra complication and emotional aspect to the storyline. Sera’s feistiness really cracked me up but she also has an emotional vulnerability to Ash and Brandt that drew me into the relationship so that I felt like I was there watching as each scene between them played out (and believe me there are some scenes that heated my face and left me tingly all over). UNDERCOVER may very well be Lauren Dane’s best work to date. Definitely a must read and deserving of a special spot on the keeper shelf.

Victoria at Two Lips Reviews gives it 4 1/2 lips and says in part: The D/s scenes in Undercover have a lyrical quality about them, which displays Lauren Dane’s ability to craft sexual situations that make sense matched with her characters’ psyches. I rooted for all three of these characters, hoping that, by the book’s end, they would make their joining a permanent reality. Don’t miss Undercover, a saucy blend of D/s elements within a sci-fi setting.

At the risk of sounding like a crazy fangirl, I love Jaci Burton. I do. When I first came up, she was one of the authors I used to watch and learn from. She’s a professional. She’s a wonderful writer. She’s so good and connected to her readers and she’s a great example and a fabulous source of knowledge and inspiration to newbie writers.

So it’s just not hard at all for me to read her books and Riding Temptation was more than just a fun read, I think, of all her books across all the genres she writes in, this one is my favorite.

Blurb: He’s a biker working undercover for the Feds. She has reasons of her own for joining the Wild Riders. Together, they’re burning up the asphalt and tearing headlong into danger and passion…

The guys always thought of Jessie as their kid sister, except Diaz Delgado. The past few years he’s been watching her—and Jessie’s glad somebody is. Delgado’s dark good looks and killer body have tempted her since day one. Diaz’s unbrotherly urges have been hard to fight but the last thing he wants is to hurt Jessie. But when they both go undercover with killer survivalists, he knows it’ll be hard to keep his distance—especially when the mission takes a risky turn. Now Diaz has no choice but to open himself up to the one woman strong enough to take him on

In Riding Temptation, Jaci takes us back to her Wild Riders (she introduced this group of sexy biker government agents in Riding Wild, the first book in the series). This time we get Diaz and Jessie – in a friends to lovers story that pushes all the right buttons. Jessie has been the kid they all sort of thought of as the baby sister. But she’s grown up now and wants to be a real part of the Wild Riders – and she’s never thought of Diaz as anything like a brother.

Diaz is one of those broody heroes – dark, past filled with scars and he’s afraid he’ll harm Jessie even though his feelings for her grow each time they’re together. A mission throws them into very close quarters and soon enough they’ve both finally given in to the passion they’ve felt. But he tries to keep his emotional distance and she’s hurt that he pushes her away.

Burton’s skills with sexual and romantic chemistry shine in Riding Temptation. Diaz is burning up the pages hot and Jessie is not a stupid heroine who takes a lot of guff or who does dumb stuff. She recognizes her mistakes but she pushes Diaz and Spence to listen to her opinion on things as well.

The overall mystery plot is well done, the pacing in tandem with the romance makes the book flow well (it’s hard to balance all that!). Riding Temptation is a great read and it’s a fabulous example of what erotic romance can be – not all sex but the sex is hot, well plotted story outside the romance and paced in a fashion that delivers a very satisfying package.

There’s a reason why you see readers talking about her so often as a great read – Riding Temptation is just more proof that Jaci Burton will be around in five years, and ten.

CONTEST: because I loved this book so much I’m going to run a contest to give away a copy shipped directly from Amazon.com to the lucky winner. All you need to do is comment here with your favorite contemporary read so far of 2008 and I’ll choose a winner at random on Monday October 6 at noon pacific.

Like whoa am I glad it’s Friday.

For your perusal – Dane/Hart discuss pr0n while we watch it so you don’t have to…

I’m talking about sex and writing at Chicklitgurrl’s All the Blog’s a Page

I’m going to be putting up all sortsa reviews tomorrow! All three Alien Huntress books by Gena Showalter, Ann Aguirre’s insanely good Wanderlust, Cindy Eden’s most fabulous story in Everlasting Bad Boys and there might be more. I haven’t put up reviews in a while so I’m guessing there will be more.

Oh! And the ever so lovely Anya Bast’s Strands of Sunlight is now available!!!

Blurb: Rhiannon always thought she was just a lowborn peasant. When a mysterious lord buys her contract of servitude and brings her back to his keep, she finds out she’s actually the bastard daughter of a great lady. She also discovers she’s prophesied to kill the man responsible for her mother’s undoing.

And prophesied to die while doing it.

At the keep, Rhiannon is caught between two men. Tristan is the severe and sometimes brutal lord who introduces her to erotic bliss and binds her there, helplessly addicted to his every whim. And Gareth is the shining, handsome knight who treats her like the lady she never knew she was. In competition, Tristan and Gareth tempt her with physical pleasure beyond her imagination. Both of them stake a claim on her body, but only one of them will win her heart.

20,000 / 90,000 (22.2%)

RELENTLESS

Wheee! Cooking. And I’m heading into the real heart of the book, which is always interesting pacing wise. Each book has its own unique challenges so we’ll see what they are with Relentless.

I got an amazing review from JERR for Stripped (in the What Happens in Vegas anthology) today!
Heather says in part:
Stripped by Lauren Dane
Rating: 5 Stars
Heat level: O

Ms. Dane’s Stripped was truly amazing and my favorite story in the entire book. Dahlia is such a strong character that you truly feel her emotions as the story progresses. Nash grows also; he goes from a love em and leave em millionaire to a caring guy who falls for a graduate student! The sex is off the charts and eye popping!

A very nice way to start a Sunday if I do say so myself. Thank you JERR and Heather.

I finished Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas last night. Like totally devoured it. I’ll be reviewing it this upcoming Friday but this book was so good. I loved it. I also read Noelle Mack’s Wild and liked it a lot. MY TBR pile is still huge!

I finished copyedits on Undercover. Whew. And I still like the book even if I really don’t want to look at it again for at least six months. It’s always iffy when you look at a book after you’ve looked at it what seems like a zillion times so it’s a relief I’m happy with it still.

I finished Jeri Smith-Ready’s Wicked Game last night. It’s been a while since I’ve been this totally gonzo about a book. I just really loved it. It’s smart, the writing is clever, tight, sexy in the right places, tense in others, scary here and there and totally original.

Ciara is a smart but not perfect heroine. A grifter (oh how I love twisted characters) trying to go straight for a host of believable and layered reasons. Her job at this funky radio station makes sense. The way she acts with the vampires makes sense. The way she interacts with Shane her sort of boyfriend/vampire makes sense. I liked her a lot because she was accessible in a really wonderful way.

The mystery/suspense element was well done. The worldbuilding was clever and believable and the romantic sub-plot handled well and in proportion to the story. On top of all this? Jeri is a really, genuinely nice person, which is all too rarel.

Wicked Game is a really good book and if you haven’t grabbed it yet you really should. You won’t be sorry at all.

And lastly, my husband is home from his business trip so yay! A long weekend without copy edits or a super close book deadline, a new book opening up in front of me to write, time with my family – it’s all good.

I just finished Fated last night so I can now take a quick breath, talk about some books and then dive right back into my part of the proposal for No Reservations – my next book with Megan Hart.

Let’s see…

Click the cover to read an excerpt and to buy!
Candice Gilmer’s Unholy Night releases on May 5!

Blurb: Can love be found on the unholiest night of the year?

There are some things Marissa Van Dyke won’t do — celebrate Halloween is one of them. When she’s guilted into attending a Halloween party, a flamboyant woman dressed as a gypsy claims Marissa will be saved three times before she’s finally free.

Foolish Halloween games, according to Marissa. Her life is fine; not perfect, but good enough, and nothing could save her anyway.

All she wants is to leave the party until a man named Neil Drigan materializes at her side, making her forget everything but his hauntingly familiar green eyes. His animal magnetism is a dangerous temptation on a night she’s always reserved for mourning.

Can there be salvation under his powerful presence — even on such an unholy night?

It’s sexy, sad, emo – all good things!

Also! A fabulous print anthology is now available!

Magical Seduction featuring three of my favorite authors – Anya Bast, Mandy Roth and Cathryn Fox!

Blurb:
Witches, werewolves, things that bump in the night…And three arousing tales of sexual delight.

CATHRYN FOX- Web of Desire
Good witch Ally gets naughty when she discovers her long-lost high school sweetheart caught — literally — in a web of lust and seduction.

MANDY M. ROTH -Solo Tu
When Francy shows up after five years of separation to tell her beloved Dante, a werewolf, that she’s engaged to a vampire, he seduces her with a steamy surprise of his own.

ANYA BAST -Tempted by Two
Not only did Miranda just learn that she’s a half-blood fae, but she’s also got two — two! — deliciously muscular mates. She’d better adjust to all the sexy attention before a vengeful goblin tries to get in on the threesome….

I’m nearly done with Dancing with Werewolves so I’ll hopefully be able to post a brief review next week.

Last Wolf Hunting – I have a teeny bit left to go! I’ve been sneaking peeks around writing but now I can devote more time to it. I will say – so far it’s FABULOUS!

Dirty Girls – anthology with Saskia Walker and Rachel Kramer-Bussell – some of the stories are incredibly well written – I’m going to post on this one later in the week when I talk about what strikes me as good, short erotica and why.

Anyway, my husband has been gone on business all week and he comes home today! Wheee! Off to do laundry and stuff. Have a great weekend!

You can read for yourself in the excerpt below but Hotter After Midnight is a really good book. Cynthia Eden takes all my favorite things about the paranormal genre and gives them an interesting and unique twist. It’s sexy – like hella, grab you from the first time Colin and Emily lay eyes on each other sexy.

Emily is smart and not in a contrived sense. She’s very human even though she’s a little more than human with her gift. She’s tortured in her own way, weighed down by the secrets she keeps. Eden does a great job with her inner dialog, not going overboard with it but lending a sense of intimacy well matched to Emily’s character.

Colin is well, guh, whoo, guh, hot. Dark. Tortured. He’s got a secret. He’s very very alpha but not crossing the line into jerk.

The mystery element is well crafted, creepy without going over doing it. There are some truly suspenseful moments through the story and I thought it was weaved into the overall romance storyline well. LOVED the worldbuilding.

Hotter After Midnight drew me in from the very first scene. I’d just meant to peek at it but I ended up gobbling the whole thing down in one big read because I just couldn’t put it down. Cynthia Eden has a damned bright future ahead of her – grab Hotter Than Midnight – you won’t be sorry!

And now to the contest! The book comes out officially on the 29th so between today and 9 pm eastern on the 28th I’ll run a contest. Just comment here on your favorite paranormal romance book or author or heck, even your favorite kind of creature and you’ll be entered. I’ll choose a winner at random on the 28th and send the book via Amazon prime right then. Good luck!!

I meant to do this last week but I’ve been insane with deadlines and then this plague flu so I didn’t get to it. I’ve got quite a few books to comment on though so hold on!

Rhyannon Byrd’s Last Wolf Standing - It’s in books like this in the hands of a fabulous author like Byrd where category can really shine. It takes major skill to write a category paranormal novel because your ability to worldbuild and draw rich characters is reined in by the length. Category novels get a bad rap but it’s hard to do it well.

Luckily for us, Byrd does it not only well but she truly shines in Last Wolf Standing. The story is sexy and fun and the world she’s building is fabulous and interesting.

This is a one true mate story done the way it should be! Mason is a protector, a half-breed wolf/human and he’s a warrior with some pretty deep scars. Torrance is a longer with her own scars but I liked her a lot. I thought her reactions to the various situations were believable – she ran when hello, anyone with sense would have, but she stayed when it made sense as well. She didn’t wait to be saved by the males but at the same time realized they were the ones best trained to fight off the big bad.

I don’t have to tell anyone who’s read Rhyannon Byrd before but the love scenes were really smoking hot and well done for the level of sensuality appropriate for Nocturne.

I’m so on board for the next book, and pretty much anything else Rhyannon Byrd writes, LOL.

Maya Banks’ Sweet Surrender – I read a lot of Heat titles because I like the length for authors to write an actual novel with erotic flavor. Romantic Suspense is really one of my favorite genres so I’m always glad to read them, especially when authors I like write them!! (Jaci Burton, hello!)

Anyway so here’s the lovely Ms. Maya Banks’ second Heat offering – Sweet Surrender featuring cop Gray Montgomery and office manager Faith Malone and Faith has a messed up mom looking for help because of her latest loser boyfriend. Only that boyfriend is the man who most likely murdered Gray’s partner back in Dallas.

Gray’s guilt wars with his attraction to and desire for Faith in a believable way (sadly, this is not always done well!) It’s drawn out sensibly. He’s not a monster, he loved his partner and Faith is pretty much a stranger to him. But because he’s not a monster he begins to see Faith for the innocent she is fairly quickly and he’s a cop – not a man who is prone to harming people who are victims just as much as his partner was.

The D/s is handled with a unique take and one that addresses the emotion as well as the physical aspects. This is not all spanking and handcuffs which is refreshing!

I need to pester her to find out when we get the stories for Faith’s brother and co-workers!

JD Robb’s Strangers In Death – I’m never going to miss a new Robb! The procedural in this one outweighed the personal stuff, which provides a nice flip and a bit of a breather I think. Interesting storyline, the suspect is such a piece of work. More stuff with charles and louise who we haven’t seen in a while and I loved it!

It was a good, solid book, not as emotionally wrenching as the last few have been but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In a series this long, you have to switch things up or it gets old.

One thing – I totally have to say I still don’t think Roarke has done enough to make up for his behavior with Madgalena. I really don’t and when Eve brings it up and says she doesn’t blame him, I still do. He did not take Eve’s side, that’s worse for Eve than having sex with someone else. I really wanted to see him on his knees, totally understanding the depth of the harm he did but I haven’t so it makes me hold back a bit with him and I just love him so much as a character it kills me!

Kim Harrison’s The Outlaw Demon Wails – A few years ago I picked up a paper back book with a great cover and a funky blurb and I’ve devoured eveything Kim Harrison has written since.

Given the deeply emotional crash at the end of the last book, I was wondering how Harrison would write Rachel in this book. I think, with Outlaw, Harrison has written what seems “a day in the life” of Rachel Morgan but Rachel really bleeds. She’s trying to overcome her grief at the loss of Kisten and figure out how to move on. She’s dealing with her true heritage and the rusurfacing of her mother’s place in her life. There’s always Ivy and their relationship to deal with and also, the real fact of the short lifespan of pixies.

In the midst of a whole lot of grief, loss and potential for more loss, Al comes back and Rachel has to deal with demons again. Oh and a new vamp has come to town now that Piscary is gone and of course he’s got his incisors and his eye on Rachel.

Nice twists and turns, a trip to the ever after (which opened a whole new OH MY GOD storyline), more Trent (and who doesn’t love his evil butt), ups and downs with Ivy, a new possible love interest handled well given Rachel’s recent loss.

I loved it and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Rachel Morgan.

As many regular readers know, Anya Bast is a dear friend. She’s like one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She rarely says a mean thing about anyone or anything (I know, it boggles as to why she likes me too). She’s also a really fabulous writer who’s taught me many things about craft in the years I’ve read and then knew her.

On March 4, Witch Blood, book two in her Elemental Witches series officially releases although it’s apparently shipping from Barnes and Noble and has been spotted on shelves already.

In this installment, we get Thomas, who we meet in Witch Blood. Thomas is a man wearing the very heavy mantle of leadership of his Coven in some dangerous times. He’s strong, an earth witch to Isabelle’s water witch powers. She’s chaos and emotion and he’s quiet intensity but no less emotional, he’s just more contained.

I loved this book. I loved it from the first paragraph until the very end. The action part of the story is strong, interesting and really well told. Anya’s strength at drawing you into the world she’s writing really shines here. You care about the Coven and her witches, you care about the people, you can see the rooms right down to the wood grain in the floors and you can feel the silk of Thomas’ hair as he lets it down for Isabelle.

Isabelle is a woman filled with conflicts and guilt, she needs revenge for her sister. But she’s not wild and stupid, she’s impassioned and needs to make things right for this woman who accepted her, warts and all. I loved that about Isabelle actually. I loved that we know she’s hard and rootless but her anchor in life was her sister who’s now gone. That element was very emotional for me and I think Anya nailed it and has really shown Isabelle rather than told us about her.

The romance is strong and sexy. The love scenes are, whew, hot, guh! And totally elemental to the story. The way Thomas falls for Isabelle is startling and well written and Isabelle’s reluctance is not one of those romance novel moments when you wrinkle your nose and tell the heroine she’s a twit.

Little unique details like where and how Thomas’ power is stored really made the book extra special. I cannot wait for the next book! Anya Bast has scored yet another hit with her Elemental Witches.

The basics: A water witch, Isabelle Novak has always led a chaotic, nomadic existence. But her life spins out of control when her sister—her only friend and emotional anchor—is killed by a demon. Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, she turns her back on the Coven and the rede they hold sacred: Harm thee none…

When Isabelle first encounters Thomas Monahan, she’s running on pure rage and sorrow, channeling her pain into power—and trying to freeze the life out of a warlock she holds responsible for her sister’s death. Together, they form an uneasy alliance to hunt and destroy a demon of tremendous power. As head of the Coven, earth witch Thomas must thwart Isabelle’s dark impulses, but his very presence stirs deeper desires she never knew she had…

Okay so, because I loved this book so much – how about a contest? I’ll send the winner a copy of Witch Blood straight from Amazon.com upon winning. All you need to do is comment here and I’ll pick a winner at random on Saturday, March 1 at noon pacific. So g’wan and enter!