AIN'T NO SUNSHINE: Men Reveal the Pain of Heartbreak by Kimberley A. Johnson and Ann Werner

PUBLISHER: CreateSpace, May 2011
GENRE: Non Fiction
FORMAT: Paperback and Kindle
GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: What sorrow lurks in the minds of men suffering from a broken heart? Ain’t No Sunshine knows! How do men feel when they lose someone they love? Do they cry? Do they obsess? Do they call psychics? Under the protection of anonymity, thirty-eight men describe in detail how they’ve dealt with the pain of heartbreak. Whether it’s because of divorce, betrayal, death or simply getting dumped, the raw honesty of these men may surprise you. Modern American society so often discourages men from admitting to emotional pain, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. From an early age men are taught to “suck it up.” Women often think men have it easier when it comes to the pain of heartbreak. But is that really the case?

Ain’t No Sunshine provides an opportunity to unlock those mysteries in this informal collection of stories. Interviews with therapists, psychics and bartenders are included and provide informative insights into how men react to a broken heart. Love is never easy. Loss of love is always difficult. Here is proof that not only do men struggle, sometimes the struggle is more difficult than it is for women. Ain’t No Sunshine is a rare glimpse into the elusive male psyche.

MY THOUGHTS: This was a sad and very interesting glimse into the minds of men who are hurting after deaths and breakups. Some hurt just like women do but they mostly keep it inside. I liked hearing all the different stories and was surprised not only by how many men sought therapy, even years after their breakup, but by how many of them chose to not have sex for years afterward.

I do think men are less emotional, at least outwardly, than women and wasn’t surprise to read that a therapist said men tend to express themselves through writing and poetry.
I throughly enjoyed this book but wished it could have been longer.

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

ANY WICKED THING by Margaret Rowe

PUBLISHER: Berkley, May 201
SETTING: England, 1818
HEROINE: Fredericka Wells, 28
HERO: Sebastian Goddard, 31
VIRGIN HEROINE? Yes
PURCHASE: link
GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: Ten years ago Sebastian Goddard, heir to the duke of Roxbury, had a night of reckless passion and was betrayed by his oldest friend Fredericka Wells. Devastated, he embarked on a new life of debauchery that earned him the nickname Lord of Sin.

Now Sebastian has returned to find his estate in ruins, and Freddie more seductive than ever. He’s determined to pay her back in spades. But Freddie makes him an offer…she’ll be his mistress for a month if he’ll consent to sell her Goddard Castle.

Sebastian plans to scandalize Freddie-to tease her every desire and leave her wanting. But his fiery-willed lover soon teaches him the past may not be what it seemed.

MY THOUGHTS: This is another spicy historical. I liked that the hero and heroine grew up together, though as adults didn’t seem to get along too well. The hero was once imprisoned for eight months and had developed an opium addiction and, fortunately for him, overcame it. He wasn’t the nicest hero. He was always a bit rude toward the heroine and I didn’t feel any emotion for her coming from him. He only lusted after her.

Freddie was her own woman, not a wimpy heroine in any way. She was content to be single and didn’t want to marry. She had her own money, which her father left her when he died. She fancied herself in love with Sebastian for most of her life but I never felt it.

The two made a deal to have sex with each other for a month and boy, did they have fun and so did I reading it! There was plenty of graphic sex and if you’re reading it for that reason alone, you shouldn’t be disappointed. They were childhood friends, and housemates, that happened to fall in lust but I, as the reader, was left feeling disappointed by their lack of affection for each other.

I must say I LOVE the cover. It’s very pretty!

Margaret Rowe also writes under the name Maggie Robinson.

I received this from the publisher or author in 2011 in exchange for an honest review.

TEMPTING EDEN by Margaret Rowe

PUBLISHER: Berkley, June 2010
SETTING: England, 1818
GENRE: Fiction/Erotic Historical Romance
PURCHASE: link
VIRGIN HEROINE? No   
MY GRADE: A-

FROM PUBLISHER: Eden Emery is no stranger to sin. To keep her sister safe from harm, she’s paid a steep price with her body-and very nearly lost her soul. But when Baron Ivor Hartford, the man who has dishonored her, finally dies, her troubles are far from over.

Major Stuart Hartford, the late baron’s nephew, is in the market for an honorable wife, but first he has to take care of the matter of his Uncle Ivor’s ward, Eden-a young woman who makes him question the virtue of being proper. For the passion she incites burns away his inhibitions and inflames his heart.

But Eden has vowed to never again cede her destiny to a man. And Hart is left with no choice but to tempt the temptress herself…

MY THOUGHTS: Boy, was this one dark story with a heroine who had an unusual past. We got to hear about it through book excerpts what were written by her sex partner, Ivor. They were graphic and a bit disturbing. Eden really had no choice in the matter when she began a sexual relationship with him four years earlier, at the age of eighteen. Even though she had to do it, she loved every minute of it.

I didn’t really sense a love connection between Eden and Stuart even though we were told they loved each other. I never understood why Stuart wanted to marry her so soon. I never understood why she turned him down so many times. She did feel she was unworthy but that too didn’t seem true. Both characters were very likeable but I wish Stuart had been a little more alpha.

All of the sex scenes were very graphic and I enjoyed them. There was even one with the heroine using a dildo anally. I preferred the scenes that were between Eden and Ivor to those between her and Stuart, the hero. I think the ones with Ivor were more graphic and detailed.

I found it interesting that the author created a young heroine, twenty-two, who was very skilled/experienced at sex and actually liked it. That’s not the usual type of historical heroine we’re given and I found it a refreshing change.

Ms. Rowe also writes under the name Maggie Robinson. You can check out her website here.

Books by Margaret Rowe:
-Tempting Eden June 2010
-Any Wicked Thing Mar 2011

Books by Maggie Robinson:
-Mistress by Mistake May 2011
-Not Quite a Courtesan (short story in Lords Of Passion) Dec 2010
-Mistress by Midnight Jan 2011
-To Match a Thief (short story in Improper Gentlemen) August 2011
-Mistress by Marriage Sept 2011

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

THE SOLDIER by Grace Burrowes

Publisher: Sourcebooks, 6/2011
Setting: England  
Hero: Devlin St. Just 
Heroine: Emmaline Farnum 
Rating: D/2 stars

SYNOPSIS: Devlin St. Just has tried everything to escape his demons. But his responsibilities are multiplying and his despair deepening, until beautiful, enigmatic neighbor Emmaline Farnum steps in...

Devlin's torn spirit calls to Emmaline, but even as she gives in to his irresistible caresses and her own growing desires, she's keeping a devastating secret...

Protecting Emmaline becomes Devlin's urgent mission, if only he can overcome the forces that are driving them irretrievably apart...

MY THOUGHTS: I didn't enjoy this story from the start. Hero and heroine met way too soon and acted too familiar with each other, as if they'd known each other for years. We didn't get to know them at all beforehand. Both were very likeable and there was chemistry between them from the beginning.

What I didn't like most of all was the character, Winnie. She's a small child, cousin to Emmaline, and is related to Devlin by marriage somehow. She's introduced just a few pages in and dominates the entire storyline. There's hardly a page she's not on in some way, either speaking herself or hero and heroine are speaking about her. I feel her dialogue is much more mature than a real five or six year old would ever speak. She sounds just like an adult most of the time. I also had trouble believing that a grown man of thirty-one would allow a child he's just met, who already has a home, move in with him the night they meet.

The rest of the novel is bland and uninteresting to me. If Winnie hadn't dominated the story, I might have liked it, but who can say? I won't be trying this author again.

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

MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION by Anna Campbell

Publishing Info: Avon, April 2011
Setting: England 1827
Heroine: Antonia Smith, 27
Hero: Nicholas Challoner, 31
Timespan: 8 months
Grade/Rating: D

SYNOPSIS: London's most notorious seducer, Nicholas Challoner lives solely for revenge . . .

The dashing, licentious Marquess of Ranelaw can never forgive Godfrey Demarest for ruining his sister—now the time has come to repay the villain in the same coin. But one formidably intriguing impediment stands in the way of Nicholas's vengeance: Miss Antonia Smith, companion to his foe's unsuspecting daughter.

Having herself been deceived and disgraced by a rogue—banished by her privileged family as a result and forced to live a lie—Antonia vows to protect her charge from the same cruel fate. She recognizes Ranelaw for the shameless blackguard he is and will devote every ounce of her intelligence and resolve to thwarting him.

Yet Antonia has always had a fatal weakness for rakes . . .

MY THOUGHTS: I didn't care for this novel at all. I thought it was very silly and pointless. I didn't really care for either the hero or heroine. The hero wanting to 'ruin' someone the heroine was looking after was lame and not much was done with that element. From my point of view, the very thin storyline was really just the hero and heroine having a sexual relationship with each other from very early on. There were a few hot sex scenes but I pretty much skimmed them because I couldn't make myself become interested in it. From very early on I could see the story was going nowhere so I had to do a little bit of skimming. Bottom line: skip this one. It was so bad and I'm actually angry at the time I wasted on it.

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

REAP THE SAVAGE WIND by Ellen Tanner Marsh

PUBLISHER: Ace, 1982/Berkley, 1984
SETTING: 1764 Scotland, England, America
HEROINE: Merewyn MacAilis
HERO: Ian Montague
TIMESPAN: within 6 months
BODICE RIPPER? Yes
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: From the safety of her family castle to brutal degradation at the hands of a vicious enemy, the beautiful, headstrong Meiewyn MacAilis suffers agony and torment as she strives to restore her family's fortune.

But run as she might from despair and danger, there is no escaping Ian Montague. Like a fragile flower, she trembles in his hungry embrace... her own wild passion igniting as the urgent demands of his desire claim and conquer her... as the power o their love consumes them both.

SPOILER SUMMARY: The heroine is seventeen, has blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin and has Nordic ancestery. The hero has long dark hair and gray eyes. I don't think his age was given because I never read it.Hero and heroine meet early on in Scotland. She travels to his home to confront him about something and it turns ugly. Ian actually tries to strangle her with one hand while he's gripping her hair with the other. She flees and later is falsely accused of thievery and prostitution by someone whom we later find out is named William Rawlings, who's twenty-seven. She's shipped off to America and is to become an indentured servant but doesn't in the end.

Ian somehow finds out she's been kidnapped and rescues her. They continue to be combative toward each other. Not a whole lot goes on from here on out except a couple of interesting things that help the story along.

William is in a room at an inn with a prostitute, whom he murders while in the room with her. He dumps her body into the river.

Merewyn is out with someone (Ian?) and they run into Ian's jealous old flame, Elizabeth Comerford. She's got brown hair and pale green eyes. She's with William, the man who had Merewyn arrested but he doesn't recognize Merewyn at all. Merewyn recognizes him right away. He later becomes a bit obsessed with her, especially when she won't tell him her name. Elizabeth tells him who Merewyn really is, that she was  kidnapped and is being looked for but he still doesn't know she's the one he had arrested. Elizabeth comes up with a plan. She wants Ian, who is now engaged to Merewyn, and William wants Merewyn. So they send her a note telling her they know who she is and William wants to meet with her. Merewyn is terrified that William will recognize her and tell everyone that she was in jail for prostitution and is desperate to flee London, where they are now.

Ian and Merewyn marry and Ian finds a note that she was to send William. Ian mistakenly believes they're having an affair and abandons her and travels somewhere. Merewyn is out riding one night and William followes her. He plans to murder her. She'd previously threatened to tell the police that he had her falsely imprisoned for prostitution. William is terrified that if she brings his name up to the police that they'll somehow connect him to the murdered prostitute. And they later do.

Merewyn sees him chasing after her on horseback so she takes off on her horse and ends up at an abandonded home. She runs inside and tries to hid from William. He's chasing after her in the dark and shoots her in the arm. He ends up falling through the floor and dies when he lands. Her brothers show up just then and take her back home to Ian, but he's not here. They later reconsile and live happily-ever-after.

MY THOUGHTS: I've had this book a little over 1 1/2 years and finally read it. I enjoyed it but not as much as I'd hoped. My favorite part was when William and Elizabeth came up with their plan to ruin Merewyn. William never ended up with her, as planned and Elizabeth never got to be with Ian again.

This novel and Ian definitely fit the criteria for a bodice ripper. Ian is very angry and abusive. Not only did he try to choke Merewyn when they first met but is always threatening to do her harm. He once threatened to box her ears and another time asked her if she was trying to provoke him into murdering her! Say what?! A couple of times he ripped her gown off and even once told an acquaintance that he planned to 'beat her into submission.' Ain't he a keeper?

Merewyn is your typical fiesty heroine, never afraid to mouth off to the hero when necessary. She held her own against him. She was treated badly by him and somehow came to love him in the process. Their love came out of nowhere and wasn't at all believable. But that's OK with me.

It was believed that William murdered the prostitute in Scotland, Nellie Arling, but we never learned of how the authorities discovered that. I guess it's to be assumed he was seen entering the room with her or was seen dumping her dead body.

PIRATE'S PASSIONATE SLAVE by Robin Gideon

Publisher: Zebra, 7/1991
Setting: Carribean, 1817
Time span: A few months
Hero: Lord Derek Leiceter York
Heroine: Lauren Masters
Bodice Ripper? Not really
Grade/Rating: B-/3.5 stars

SYNOPSIS:  Lauren Masters was both terrified and furious when a gang of white-slave traders seized her ship. The Virginia vixen swore to fight the cruel rake who carried her off to his cabin...until she saw that Derek York was no ordinary privateer. In his silk shirt and elegant waistcoat, York claimed to be an aristocrat on a secret mission. But when he shed his expensive attire, he became a golden pirate whose muscled masculinity and exquisite loving completely enslaved her senses. Now Lauren had to decide whether her virile captor meant to protect her... or seduce-then sell-her tempting flesh!

Lord Derek, heir apparent to the House of York, had infiltrated this gang of pirates for one reason-to find and rescue his abducted sister. He wasn't in the flesh peddling business, yet when he saw the beautiful ebony-haired Lauren, Derek was consumed by a desire to possess her. At first he imprisoned her in his cabin for her own protection, but soon he was making her his willing slave, roaming her luscious curves and plundering her silken flesh. And when she finally begged him to take her to the frothy peaks of rapture, he knew she'd be forever his...PIRATE'S PASSIONATE SLAVE

MY THOUGHTS: The heroine, Lauren, who's got black hair and brown eyes, in on a ship in the Caribbean, on her way to settle some family business stuff for her parents, who are in Virginia, USA. The ship she's on, Miss Malaki, is taken over by another ship, The Unholy One. The hero, Derek, is captain. He's not really a pirate but is pretending to be one so that he can find his sister, who was abducted a month before when her ship was attacked by pirates.

Derek forces Lauren to stay in his cabin, to keep her away from all the crew members. She hates him instantly but he's attracted to her. He ties her hands together to keep her from struggling and, I believe, rapes her. He repeatedly tells her that he's not going to rape her and that he's there to protect her all the while attempting to have sex with her when she, clearly, doesn't want him to. She stops fighting him and gives in though, still clearly, not wanting it. From the next day and until the end of the story, they have consentual sex all the time.

I didn't care for this novel at all. I'd waited four months to read it and was so disappointed. From the time the hero and heroine meet at the beginning, the entire story is about the two of them trying to find his abducted sister, Amanda. Lots of drama ensues and Lauren gets abducted too. With just a couple of pages left, Derek and Lauren's family find her and they all live happily ever after.

Boring as hell. I don't recommend this and I'm not sure if I'd read another one by this author.

Eight Days in Darkness: The True Story of the Abduction, Rape, and Rescue of Anita Wooldridge by Angela Roegner and Anita Wooldridge

Pub. Date: April 2010 
Publisher: Synergy
Genre: NonFiction/true crime
Rating: C/3 Stars

SYNOPSIS: On June 25, 1998, Anita Wooldridge (21) was taken from her parents' home in broad daylight by a convicted rapist. For eight terrifying days, Anita was savagely beaten and raped by her captor, (Victor Thomas Steel) who locked her in a metal storage cabinet for hours at a time. With only a steadfast faith in God to comfort her, Anita refused to give up hope that she would be found. Eight Days in Darkness chronicles the shocking events of Anita's kidnapping, including her transport across state lines, and the impressive efforts of local authorities and FBI agents which led to her rescue and the dramatic capture and conviction of her abductor. Anita's story is still used today as a case study for prospective FBI agents, and Eight Days in Darkness paints a portrait of the real-life battle between good and evil.

MY THOUGHTS: I was really bored by this book. I didn't find it particularly interesting. Every page was the same as the one before it. I'm very disappointed that the author didn't explore the childhood of the rapist, Victor 'Tom' Steel. Any well written true crime/biography/autobiography/memoir will have a through account of the perpetrators upbringing. We learned nothing much about Tom's childhood, except that his father was abusive and that he has two siblings.

Tom had previously been imprisoned for ten years for raping another woman, long before he met Anita. But that couldn't have been his first taste of crime. Most sex criminals have a history of voyeurism, stalking, obscene phone calls, something but we never learned of any because the author didn't explore his past enough or interview him.

His mother was quite a character. I wanted to know more about her but was told nothing at all. What a disappointment. I found her to be the most interesting person in the book.

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

LOVE'S AVENGING HEART by Patricia Matthews

PUBLISHER: Pinnacle, 1976

SETTINGS: Virginia, July 1717
TIMELINE: 3-4 years
HEROINE: Hannah McCambridge, 16
HERO: Michael Verner, 22-ish
BODICE RIPPER? Yes
GRADE: B/4 stars

SYNOPSIS: Love's dream...
Hannah wondered if her daydreams and nightly fantasies would ever come true. A captive, near-slave to Silas Quint, her brutal stepfather, she lived in squalor, suffering the indignities of poverty and shame. She knew only that she must escape, that must come first. Then to find the man and the lover who'd fulfill her dreams.

Hannah's sordid life with Quint was soon replaced by long hours toiling as an innkeeper's bar maiden -- literally sold into servitude by her stepfather! It was but the beginning of a wild and tumultuous new phase of life that would test Hannah's very soul. Her fiery red hair, voluptuous body, and impudently beautiful face would attract men -- men of wealth, men of nothing but strength and lust -- and she would have to learn to survive amidst their passions and furies.

After all, she was only a wench, a body to be owned, used or bartered. But Hannah would do more than survive, she would win. She would overcome the sadistic beatings, the rapes, the treachery, the crushing humiliation of her circumstances. She would discover the all-consuming raptures of passion when love came to free her questing heart.

MY THOUGHTS: Hannah goes through hell during the first part of the book. Her stepfather leads her, with a rope around her neck, to an inn called The Cup and Horn. He's forcing her to become an indentured servant for the next five years, until she's twenty-one. The man who buys her is the owner of the inn, Amos Stritch. He's fifty, fat and bald. Amos bought her to 'warm his bed' and because she was a virgin. She's to work at the inn too. He rapes her and beats her several times.

She meets a sixty-three year old Englishman named Malcolm Verner. He's owner of a plantation called Malvern, which is assume the word is a combination of his first and last name. He's wealthy because he grows tobacco. He's got a young son, Michael, whom he assumes is dead. He buys Hannah's indenture papers from Silas and gives them to her; he frees her but she chooses to say at Malvern and continue on as his housekeeper. Malcolm asks her to marry him and she agrees. She's now seventeen.

The rest of the book is a bit boring to me. There is some interesting information about Hannah being octoroon, meaning she's 1/8 African. Her father is 1/4 African. There's some blackmail toward her involving that. Malcome dies and his dead son reappears. He and Hannah begin a sexual relationship, resulting in a pregnancy. She flees to Boston and opens up an inn and had a lover. The plague strikes and kills thousands. Michael finds her and they, and their daughter, Michele, move back to Virginia and they get their happily-ever-after.

I didn't like that Michael was only 22 ish or the secret mission he was on to kill the pirate known as Blackbeard. I also didn't like the plague stuff either. The book wasn't quite as good as I was hoping but it was alright.

There's a sequel to this and is about both Hannah and her adult daughter, Dancer of Dreams.

ONLY WITH YOUR LOVE by Lisa Kleypas

PUBLISHER: Avon, October 1992
BODICE RIPPER? Yes, mild
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: The newlywed bride of a Creole aristocrat, Celia Vallerand prays for deliverance from the bloodthirsty brigands who abducted her from a New Orleans-bound schooner. Though she believes her beloved husband slain and despairs for her own life, the shy French beauty fears above all the dashing privateer who pays a king's ransom to claim her ... and boldly risks capture to possess her.

The most notorious pirate of the open seas, he is called "the Griffin"--a rugged and powerful renegade who arouses within Celia desires as dangerous as they are irresistible. But the magnificent adventurer is a man trapped in a perilous deception--and he guards a shocking secret that could deny him the love of the gossamer-haired enchantress who stirs his manly passions and enslaves his heart.

MY THOUGHTS: This takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States in 1817 ten years after the previous book in the series. The heroine, Celia, is twenty-four. She has blond hair and brown eyes. The hero is Justin Vallerand and he has dark hair and blue eyes and is twenty-five. His identical twin brother, Philippe, is her husband.
 
Sadly, I only liked the first quarter of the book, which was the first 100 pages. So many things, so much action, took place during the beginning that I felt like there was nothing left for the rest of the story. Once Celia moved in with her in-laws the book became very boring to me.
 
Her in-laws were the hero and heroine of the previous book, Only In Your Arms, which was rewritten as When Strangers Marry. Starting when Celia moved in with them, they were featured throughout the entire novel. I don't think that was fair to the readers. They had their own book and ended up with another one. I didn't care for it.
 
Justin wasn't as alpha as I'd have expected him to be, judging by his personality in the previous book. There was a 'forced seduction' scene with Celia early on but other than that I don't think his personality was all that bad. I'd have preferred for him to have been more aggressive in nature. Celia was a bit feisty and was a good match for him. Truth be told, I didn't care too much for either of them.
 
I thought there was too much hanging out at the plantation, since that's where most of the novel took place. I found it mostly boring and some things, like when someone was impersonating another, to be a bit silly and unoriginal. I consider this to be a very mild bodice ripper.