MASTER OF SIN by Maggie Robinson

PUBLISHER: Brava, April 2012
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: Scotland 1820
SERIES: Courtesan Court, #4
AUTHOR SITE: Link
MY GRADE: A-

FROM PUBLISHER: Andrew Rossiter has used his gorgeous body and angelic face for all they’re worth – shocking the proper, seducing the willing, and pleasuring the wealthy. But with a young son depending on him for rescue, suddenly discretion is far more important than desire. He’ll have to quench his desires – fast. And he’ll have to find somewhere his scandalous reputation hasn’t yet reached…

Miss Gemma Peartree seems like a plain, virginal governess – or so she hopes. No matter how many sparks fly between them, she has too much to hide to catch Andrew’s eye. But with a stormy Scottish winter driving them together, it will be hard to keep her secrets. Especially when Andrew feels he has found the woman who can restore his soul – one kiss at a time…

MY THOUGHTS:

Andrew: He’s thrity-two, blond and blue-eyed. He had a rough childhood. His mother was a prostitue and he doesn’t know who his father is. He was taken in at seven by a grown man and molested by him. He went on to become a prostitute himself for both men and women. He doesn’t seem to have any self-worth. He’s very detached from his own son.

Gemma: She’s twenty-two, Italian, brown haired and brown-eyed. She seems pretty confident and she’s not a virgin. She’s the daughter of a courtesan so she’s got something in common with Andrew. I don’t like how she pushed herself on Andrew when he gave no indication that he was interested in her. He was indifferent towards her but she didn’t let that stop her, oh no.

I liked that there was a big age gap, ten years, between them. I always love that between the main couple. This story had the right mix of humor sprinkled throughout. I like how the author cleaverly incorporated

 the name of her Courtesan Court series and made herself Lady X, author of a risqué book series.
I didn’t like how Gemma declared her love for him in less than a month’s time and I don’t really understand why they wanted to marry so soon. What’s the rush?

Overall, I really liked the story and look forward to the next by Maggie.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

WHEN WE WERE STRANGERS by Pamela Schoenewaldt

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins, 2/2011
GENRE: Historical Fiction
SETTING: Italy/America 1880′s
HEROINE: Irma Vitale, 20
TIMESPAN: 8 years or so
MY GRADE: B-

FROM PUBLISHER: “If you leave Opi, you’ll die with strangers,” Irma Vitale’s mother always warned. Even after her beloved mother’s passing, 20-year-old Irma longs to stay in her Abruzzo mountain village, plying her needle. But too poor and plain to marry and subject to growing danger in her own home, she risks rough passage to America and workhouse servitude to achieve her dream of making dresses for gentlewomen.

In the raw immigrant quarters and with the help of an entrepreneurial Irish serving girl, ribbon-decked Polish ragman and austere Alsatian dressmaker, Irma begins to stitch together a new life…until her peace and self are shattered in the charred remains of the Great Chicago Fire. Enduring a painful recovery, Irma reaches deep within to find that she has even more to offer the world than her remarkable ability with a needle and thread.

MY THOUGHTS: I was a bit disappointed in this novel. The plotline was interesting but tedious to read most of the time. Too much time was spent on her mundane day-to-day work as a seamstress in Ohio, then California. A couple of interesting things happened to her, which I won’t spoil, but when those parts were resolved, I got bored and was wishing the book would hurry up and end.

Heroine was totally likeable as were most of the characters, even the bad ones. A good story must have their bad characters, right? I didn’t like when she started working with the lady in the clinic or when she started going to nursing school. It just didn’t interest me.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

INSATIABLE by Opal Carew

PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2/2012
GENRE: Contemporary Erotica
SERIES: No
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A-

SYNOPSIS: Crystal never dreamed her engagement would end this way. With her fiancé breaking her heart the day of the wedding…and his best man stepping in to mend it. Now she’s about to embark on her dream honeymoon with the sinfully sexy best man. But when the groom shows up determined to win her back, she ends up in a highly unusual situation…on a honeymoon for three.

Caught between two gorgeous guys—each determined win her hand by showing her the most pleasure—Crystal has an impossible decision to make. Who will she end up with once the honeymoon is over? And how can she follow her heart when it belongs to two men at once?

MY THOUGHTS: Wow is the best word to describe this book. The sex scenes are XXX and there were so many that I lost count. There were m/f, m/f/m, m/m, and f/f, just to name a few scenarios. I don’t find the plot line to be plausible at all and is why this didn’t get an A+ from me. But I didn’t get this for the plot line, if you know what I mean.

I really liked all three main characters and they certainly had chemistry. I don’t like that their ages weren’t given but I’m assuming they were in their late 20s/early 30s. We didn’t get much backstory on any of the three and I was disappointed with that.

Overall, the sex scenes were scorching, creative and neverending and I was very pleased with them. This is, by far, the most sexually graphic novel I’ve ever read and Opal Carew has made a fan out of me!

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

THE OTHER COUNTESS by Eve Edwards With Book Trailer

PUBLISHER: Delacorte, July 2011
GENRE: Young Adult Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1582
SERIES? The Lacey Chronicles, #1
MY GRADE: B+

SYNOPSIS: Ellie—Lady Eleanor Rodriguez, Countess of San Jaime—possesses a worthless title, but her feisty spirit captivates the elite of the Queen’s court—especially the dashing new Earl of Dorset.

William Lacey, Earl of Dorset, has inherited his father’s title—and his financial ruin. Now Will must seek a wealthy bride and restore his family’s fortune. If only he hadn’t fallen for the beautiful but penniless Ellie . . .

Sparks fly whenever Ellie and Will are together, but circumstances—and the conniving interference of others—threaten to keep them apart.

MY THOUGHTS: I enjoyed this. Though it’s young adult it didn’t really seem like one, and that’s a good thing. Eleanor, ‘Ellie’, is just sixteen years old. She lives with her alchemist father, who’s not really liked my many. Her mother is deceased and her Spanish title was passed on to her, though she doesn’t use it. Her father’s English and their last name is Hutton.

William is just eighteen and is the oldest of four. He met Ellie years before and was very rude to her and years later when they meet again, it’s the opposite! He’s taken with her right away and she feels the same. Though he’s titled, the family is poor and he fights their attraction so that he can marry a weathy girl. Things don’t go as planned and it works out in the end for both of them.

My favorite characters are Lady Jane and her maid, Nell. Jane is cold and wealthy and becomes friends with Ellie though she shouldn’t because of their stations in life. Nell finds herself in a situation with Jane’s brother Henry and plots to find a way out of it and succeeds. Henry’s a not so nice character who takes a liking to Ellie but she refuses what he wants of her. He’s a bad man but that’s why I like him.

What I didn’t like about the story and what kept if from getting an A+ was the stuff involving Ellie’s father and her meeting her relatives near the end. The relatives were totally unlikeable and were overly religious and I just didn’t find those two parts interesting.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

TOUCH OF A ROGUE by Mia Marlowe

PUBLISHER: Brava, March 2012
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1859
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Jacob Preston has three requirements for a woman desiring access to his bed: She must be enthusiastic in affairs of passion, jaded in matters of the heart, and – to ensure the first two qualifications – she must be married.

Lady Julianne Cambourne’s unmarried status should render her firmly off limits. Instead, it proves a temptation, especially when she comes to him in desperation, looking for the kind of answers only he can give. For, beyond his rakish reputation, Jacob is known for the mysterious power of detection he commands through his sense of touch. And Julianne, surrounded by secrets that threaten to ensnare her in a deadly trap, will do whatever it takes to recruit his skills…using every form of persuasion at her disposal…

MY THOUGHTS: This was a pretty interesting read. I don’t normally read anything paranormal but tried this one. Both lead characters are likeable and get along great together. She first contacts him because she needs his help finding a missing sixth dagger. She plans to sell the set because she desperately needs the money. They have great chemistry and the sex scenes are hot.

I didn’t mind hearing about Jacob’s gift of sight but I was totally uninterested in reading about Druids and won’t again. I also didn’t understand why Jacob wanted to marry Julianne so soon after meeting her and was puzzled as to why the author threw that in so soon. I feel this book should be labeled as historical fiction instead of romance.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.