Honor Among Thieves by Elizabeth Boyce

Hello everyone,

Hopefully you’re all enjoying the weekend and have managed to find some time to relax with a good book. I myself spent the morning reading while my two dogs sprawled out my bed like they owned the place. The book I read was Honor Among Thieves by Elizabeth Boyce and as soon as I finished it I knew I had to write a review of it.

The book:

Grave robbing ain’t no job for a lady… 

To pay off her recently deceased brother’s debts, however, Lorna Robbins must take drastic measures. When she happens upon a resurrectionist gang stealing his corpse, she does the unthinkable and joins the criminal outfit to save her family estate and her younger sibling. For the first time in her lonely, duty-driven life, Lorna finds herself leading a treacherous and exciting double existence. By day, she becomes a popular lady of the ton, relying on society gossip to help her body-snatching gang. By night, she becomes the grave robber known only as the Blackbird.

Surgeon and anatomy teacher Brandon Dewhurst relies on resurrectionists to bring him the specimens he needs to further his research on pregnancy. When his usual suppliers become unreliable, and then downright sinister, he’s reluctantly drawn further into the black market. As Lorna and Brandon both target the same body—a pregnant woman who is still very much alive—they find themselves powerfully drawn together time and again while trying to maintain their own respectable facades. But this daring duo is courting danger, and romance is a complication neither can afford.

My thoughts:

I know this is a book that will stay with me long after I finished reading it. The writing, the character development and the plot were all superb but these are not the main reasons why this book will stick in my memory. It was the world that Elizabeth Boyce chose as her setting for Honor Among Thieves, the underbelly or dark-side to Edwardian medical advances.

All or Nothing by Kendall Ryan

Hey everyone,

Hopefully your weeks are all going swimmingly and if they’re not you’re half way through so keep your chin up until the weekend. This week I’m reviewing All or Nothing by Kendall Ryan a hot contemporary romance. I loved the cover and blurb but what did I think of the book? Let’s find out...

The book:

As one of the world’s most sought-after male models, Braydon is no stranger to the finer pleasures in life. The last thing he wants to do is limit himself, especially when it comes to women. His best friend, Ben, might’ve settled down, but Braydon doesn’t want to waste his youth on the messy complications of commitment. He wants fun. He wants easy.

Ellie isn’t looking for a casual relationship, but her tough and sassy personality instantly attracts Braydon, who proposes a “friends with benefits” arrangement. Unable to resist the powerful pull of the charming bad boy, Ellie eventually relents, though she longs for all-consuming love.

As the two spend more time together, Ellie soon realizes that Braydon’s posing skills extend off the runway. His carefully crafted façade masks a secret hurt that he’s reluctant to share with Ellie, even as they embark on a passionate affair that sends them hurtling toward a fate neither expected. Can Ellie risk her heart while she waits for Braydon to let her in, or will she be forced to demand all or nothing?

My thoughts:

Firstly I should probably admit that I haven’t read the first two books in Kendall Ryan’s By Design series and as such for the a little while I had very little clue what was happening, who people where and how they knew each other. It was obvious that our hero and heroine, Braydon and Ellie, had met before and had some sort of history but what that history was I had know idea. It made it a little confusing to understand they’re familiar but caustic reactions to each other, however, this quickly passed and I soon immersed in their story. Kendall Ryan’s writing is seriously addictive; I just couldn’t stop reading this book, because I needed to know what would happen between these two characters. I was hooked from the first page where our hero and heroine prevent anyone interrupting their friends from having, an intimate moment shall we say, on their wedding day.

“Sex noises seemed really out of place in a church. Call me old-fashioned, but I was certain of two things: One, doggie style should be reserved for the bedroom, and two we were all going to hell”.

Mr. Jaguar by K.A. Merikan

Hey everyone,

As promised a second blog post in a single weekend, don’t say I never spoil you! A slight change in genre from yesterday as Mr. Jaguar by K.A. Meridian is a contemporary MM romance. This book was written as part of the Love’s Landscapes event created by the M/M Romance group on Goodreads and is therefore inspired by a photograph, but thats enough background about the book. Also if you missed Saturday’s post feel free to check it out!.

The Book:

Mike Miller’s life has gone to shit. The formerly popular high school quarterback now works at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The last thing he needs is meeting the guy he used to bully at school and seeing him all polished up. James is now the proud owner of an amazing silver Jaguar and a self-made millionaire. It seems that the day couldn’t get any worse for Mike, but James ‘Lovelace’ Austin might just turn out to be his golden ticket out of the job he hates.

When James Austin meets Mike Miller, his high school crush and tormentor all in one, working at an old, dirty gas station, it feels as if the stars have finally aligned in his favor. He wants to finally get his revenge on the guy, but when Mike turns out to be gay, the whole afternoon takes a turn for the surreal. Instead of just humiliating Mike at his workplace, James decides to hire him for a weekend at a conference he’s attending. A hot guy by his side is the only accessory James needs to rub his success in the faces of his frenemies.

My Thoughts:

Mr. Jaguar was so much more than I expected an amazon freebie. This is a fantastic portrayal of the enemies to lover’s trope, with both Mike and James learning to look beyond their high school knowledge of each other. Since leaving education they have both grown beyond the stereotypes of the quarterback and the nerd. Yet in many ways, like in real life, the experiences they had in school have helped define their personalities. Particularly James who is still socially awkward around people, despite being a successful businessman; he lacks confidence around his peers in the industry, hence his decision to hire Mike for the weekend.

Tempted by a Rogue Prince by Felicity Heaton

Hey everyone,

Firstly apologies for the lateness of this blog post, life as been crazy hectic this week both at work and at home leaving very little time for reading. To make up for it this will be two post weekend, so feel free to come back tomorrow and check out that book as well. Anyway enough of my excuses and on with the reason we’re all here the book Tempted by a Rogue Prince by Felicity Heaton a hot paranormal romance about an elf and a witch.

The Book:

An elf prince on the verge of losing himself to the darkness, Vail is maddened by the forty-two centuries he was under the control of a witch and forced to war with his brother. Now, he roams Hell seeking an escape from his terrible past and the heads of all who bear magic. When demons of the Fifth Realm capture him, he sees a chance to end his existence, but when he wakes in a cell to a beautiful female, he finds not death but his only shot at salvation—his true fated mate. 

Captured by the enemy of the Third Realm when the war ended, Rosalind has spent months in the cells of the Fifth Realm with her magic bound, forced to heal the new king’s demon warriors, and haunted by the lives she has taken. When she’s brought to heal an unconscious man, she discovers her only hope of escape has come in the form of her worst nightmare and the first part of a prediction that might spell her doom—a devastatingly handsome and dangerous dark elf prince.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book. It is one of the best paranormal romances I have read in a long time. When I first brought the book it was merely due to the fact it was about an elf because unless I’ve been living under a rock this is not a common species to write about in the paranormal world. It’s usually demons, vampires, shifters, ghosts but not elves and being a huge Lord of Rings fan I just had to read it. I mean have you seen Legolas in those films, if he doesn’t convert you the wonder of elves no one will... Well expect perhaps Vail. The most perfectly tortured hero who is maybe just a teeny tiny bit insane.

My Wildest Fantasies by Julianne MacLean

Hey everyone,

This book was first published by Avon a few years back and I’ll be honest I wasn’t even aware of its existence. In fact it was quite a few years later that I randomly stumbled upon the newly released audio version on Audible. After the reading the blurb and listening to the sample (an essential step IMO) I immediately brought In My Wildest Fantasies. 

The Book:

Julianne MacLean's thrilling Pembroke Palace Series begins when a young and innocent aristocratic lady is rescued from a runaway coach by a heroic stranger on a horse-who appears like a phantom out of the mist in a fog-shrouded forest.

Lady Rebecca Newland cannot forget the captivating nobleman who saved her life, and she sets out to meet him again when she is of an age to be courted. Unbeknownst to her, her timing is impeccable, for Devon Sinclair, the future Duke of Pembroke, has just been informed by his mad father that he must take a wife before Christmas in order to thwart a family curse and preserve his inheritance.

Lady Rebecca is everything Devon could want in a wife - she is beautiful, charming, and she desires him openly. But can a marriage built on fantasy succeed, or will the lovers be forever entangled in the seductive web of their mutual passion for what occurs each night the marriage bed?

My Thoughts:

A historical romance with a strong heroine, a gothic influence is a book I wanted to love and for the first half I did, however, for me it all went down hill after the marriage took place. At the start I loved Rebecca and Devon, the chance meeting in the foggy forest had me hooked. Rebecca seemed intelligent, curious and brave; Devon was strong, heroic and noble. The sparks were instantaneous, only destroyed by Rebecca being seventeen and therefore far too young for Devon.