In Total Surrender – Anne Mallory

 

love the title of this book.  What I love more is whose surrender it is.  The hero is so dark, one has to wonder how he can find the light.  But, of course, he does—its romance.

Andreas Merrick is a big time crime lord.  If you read Regency, you will understand how unusual a hero this is, at least, in historical.  His thought process is fascinating.  Ms. Mallory does a fabulous job in convincing the reader how he little he believes in his deserved happiness.

Enter, our heroine, Phoebe Pace.  Her father has been showing signs of losing his mental facilities over the course of the past few years.  She and her mother have, so far, been able to keep her father’s illness a secret.  (In current day, it’s known as Alzheimer’s.)  Phoebe has single handedly kept the family business above water, but it’s ripe for takeover.  She manages this by posing, somewhat, as a ditz with an over-bright smile and…food—an unorthodox method.

She shows up on Andreas’ doorstep.  But he has several dark secrets of his own.  That’s all I am willing to say.  Suffice to say this book is more unusual than the Historicals I usually read.  But I loved it.  You will not be disappointed…I promise.  —Kathy L Wheeler

Stuffed Sleigh Contest

While many of you may be over the stove cooking up something delicious for Thanksgiving, I am thankful my mother in law said I don’t have to BRING A THING. (Except for my beautiful family, of course.) Now, my MIL has known me for 17 years and she’s grown to accept that I don’t like to cook, am not very good at it and I’d be happy eating a turkey sandwich for T-day, let alone a big fancy meal. But fancy we shall have! So it gives me great pleasure to offer one of our Sleigh Ride readers a “thank you” gift for purchasing the anthology that’s sure to get you in the mood for the holidays. It even has a fruitcake! And it wouldn’t be a sleigh ride without hot cocoa, right? And some hot guys? So, without further ado, I present to you SLEIGH RIDE: A Winter Anthology and the awesome BIG STUFFED SLEIGH contest. Remember, you can always gift it to a friend, too.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

All this plus a cozy throw!
Package includes:

Michael Buble “Christmas” album (Target edition with 3 extra songs) ~ $17 value

Lady Antebellum “A Merry Little Christmas” album ~ $7 value

ILU “text” Coffee mug, in honor of Dani Stone’s, “No Place Like Home” story and her crazy coffee cup collection ~ $7 value

Cozy throw to cuddle up and read Sleigh Ride with! ~ $30 value

Box full of books including:

FALLING TOGETHER by Marisa de los Santos (hardback, $26 value)

YANKEE DOODLE DIXIE by Lisa Patton (hardback, $25 value)

RECKONING FOR THE DEAD by Jordan Dane (mass market paperback, $8 value)

AND SHE WAS by Alison Gaylin (mm paperback, ARC, no retail value)

SLICKER by Lucy Jackson (trade paperback, $15 value)

SPIN by Catherine McKenzie (trade paperback, ARC, no retail value)

THE ATLAS OF LOVE by Laurel Frankel (trade paperback, $15 value)

DRAGONSWOOD by Janet Lee Carey (trade paperback, ARC, no retail value)

How to Enter:

Send (forward) your receipt from the purchase of SLEIGH RIDE by end of day Nov. 30th, 2011 to buzzbooksusa (at) me (dot) com. A confirmation e-mail in return will confirm your entry in the contest.

Where to buy Sleigh Ride: (as of 11/11/11)

print book from our Buzz Books site here

for the nook: BN.com for nook

or the print book or ebook for the kindle: Amazon

Sleigh Ride includes short stories by Samantha Wilde, Maria Geraci, Maggie Marr, Megan Barlog, Malena Lott, Dani Stone, Jenny Peterson.

Call Me Irresistible – Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Jennifer Cruise did a quickie interview with Susan Elizabeth Phillips on Amazon.  These two power romance writers of comedy have words flying across the page like daggers laced with shards of humor that will have you rolling with laughter.  It’s worth the read.  http://amzn.to/fDwf3X

Oh, wait.  My review!

Call Me Irresistible brings back characters from several of Ms. Phillips books from past years.  That is, in and of itself, most fun.  I thought her set up in this particular story was different from her past books.  But, of course, I loved.  I bought the hardback, after all.

Meg is the screwed up daughter of two very successful parents who have decided to let her flail on her own.  Not to mention her two successful brothers.  All she has is an over abundance of pride.  Now she has to

Sink or swim.

Make or break.

Do or die.

She heads for Wynette, Texas for her best friend, Lucy’s, wedding.  After one look at Lucy, Meg is convinced Lucy is marrying this perfect man for all the wrong reasons.  So Lucy runs, leaves Ted standing at the altar.  Something you might want to know about Ted:  he’s rich, cannot say no to helping anyone, good looking, smart-genius really…well, he uh, in a word, perfect.

Back to Meg:  Everyone knows Meg talked to Lucy and now she’d disappeared.  The whole town turns on her.  After all, she just talked an ex-president’s daughter into not marrying the perfect man.

But Meg’s charmed life has just left her dangling over the ocean and heaven just let go of the rope.  Now, she finds herself drowning with no money, no marketable job skills, no home except her clunky car and twenty eight dollars to her name.  When she tries to ease her way out of town without paying her hotel bill, the cops stop her and haul her back.  To pay the bill she finds herself a maid at that same hotel cleaning toilets.

The ocean just got much deeper.

Are you totally ensnared now?  Good.  It’s a great book.  — Kathy L Wheeler

All I Ever Wanted

Guest review by Mary Jo Springer

Kristan Higgins scores other winner with her new novel, All I Ever Wanted. Ms. Higgins’ unique and quirky characters will have you longing for your own hometown and your high school friends.

When we first meet Callie Grey she is being dumped by her ratfink boss and boyfriend, Mark. To make matters worse it is her thirtieth birthday. Looking for a “distraction” to ease her out of her failed relationship, Callie sets her sights on the new town vet, Dr. Ian McFarland. However, she’ll have to stand in line because every single women in town is clogging his office with suspicious animal aliment. Agreeing to do some PR work for Ian, they begin to fall in love. Their promising relationship comes to a screeching halt when Ian finds her in Mark’s arms. He vows never to be anyone’s second choice. Callie has to convince him that he is ‘all she ever wanted’.

Grab a copy of All I Ever Wanted, put your feet up, open a bottle of wine and indulge yourself: it’s a great ride.

BUY THE BOOK

Stolen Kisses – Suzanne Enoch

A scoundrel so dark and a heroine so consumed with propriety is doomed for disaster, but of course, Suzanne Enoch carries it off as no one else can.  Lillith’s mother ran away with another man when she was only twelve.  Now it is up to her to live down the scandal through an advantageous marriage.  Her father’s obsession with her becoming a duchess sets a series of events in motion that have you racing for the end of the story.

Jack, the hero and a Marquis in his own right, has a reputation so black and lurid Lillith cuts him when he steps forward for an introduction.  Now he is out for revenge and that revenge is to ruin her, literally.

One really nice twist in this story is Lillith’s brother, William.  The typical younger brother who gets away with everything while the older sister has to not only save the family name, but fend off a myriad of suitors, pacify the hateful aunt, and make sure said brother stays out of trouble.  The difference in this story is the brother is not an idiot.  And I love how this brother comes through for his sister.

Ms. Enoch is truly a master when it comes to telling the story through her characters.

www.klwheeler.com

www.twitter.com/kathylwheeler