Reap (Scared Souls, #2)
By Tillie Cole
SUMMARY
Raised as a prototype for the Georgian Bratva's obedience drug, 221 fails to think, act, or live for himself; he's his master's perfectly-crafted killing puppet. Standing at six-foot-six, weighing two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, and unrivaled in to-the-death combat, 221 successfully secures business for the Georgian Mafiya Boss of NYC, who rules the dark world of the criminal underground. Until his enemies capture him.
Talia Tolstaia dreams to break from the heavy clutches of Bratva life. She dreams of another life--away from the stifling leash of her Russian Bratva Boss father and from the brutality of her work at The Dungeon, her criminal family's underground death-match enterprise. But when she stumbles upon her family's captive who is more monster than man, she starts to see the man underneath. A powerful, beautiful, damaged man whose heart calls to hers. But sacrifices must be made--blood for blood...life for life...souls for scarred souls...
REVIEW
This one made me cry
Ok I cried at the end. So heartbreaking again how evil people can be for power and money.
Zaal touched my heart. Talia just took all the risks. At limes I was like this is totally unrealistic, but because the story was just so good I could overlook it.
This has a ton more sex then the first book. Less violence but way more sex. It is hot there is chemistry between Zaal and Talia.
I hope the person at the end is who I think it is and I hope she gets her HEA.
On to the next!
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Raze (Scared Souls, #1)
Raze (Scared Souls, #1)
By Tillie Cole
SUMMARY
TO TAKE BACK LIFE, ONE MUST FIRST FACE DEATH...
By Tillie Cole
SUMMARY
TO TAKE BACK LIFE, ONE MUST FIRST FACE DEATH...
Conditioned in captivity to maim, to kill and to slaughter, prisoner 818 becomes an unrivaled and unstoppable fighter in the ring. Violence is all he knows. After years of incarceration in an underground hell, only one thought occupies his mind: revenge... bloody, slow and violent revenge. Revenge on the man who wronged him.
Kisa Volkova is the only daughter of Kirill 'The Silencer' Volkov, head of the infamous 'Red' bosses of New York's Russian Bratva. Her life is protected. In reality, it's a virtual prison. Her father's savage treatment of his rivals and his lucrative and coveted underground gambling ring-The Dungeon-ensures too many enemies lurk at their door. She dreams to be set free. Kisa has known only cruelty and loss in her short life. While working for her church-the only reprieve in her constant surveillance-Kisa stumbles across a tattooed, scarred, but stunningly beautiful homeless man on the streets. Something about him stirs feelings deep within her; familiar yet impossibly forbidden desires. He doesn't talk. Doesn't communicate with anyone.
Kisa Volkova is the only daughter of Kirill 'The Silencer' Volkov, head of the infamous 'Red' bosses of New York's Russian Bratva. Her life is protected. In reality, it's a virtual prison. Her father's savage treatment of his rivals and his lucrative and coveted underground gambling ring-The Dungeon-ensures too many enemies lurk at their door. She dreams to be set free. Kisa has known only cruelty and loss in her short life. While working for her church-the only reprieve in her constant surveillance-Kisa stumbles across a tattooed, scarred, but stunningly beautiful homeless man on the streets. Something about him stirs feelings deep within her; familiar yet impossibly forbidden desires. He doesn't talk. Doesn't communicate with anyone.
He's a man beyond saving. But Kisa becomes obsessed with him. Yearns for him. Craves his touch. Needs to possess this mysterious man... ... this man they call Raze.
REVIEW
A gritty heartbreaking read
It amazes me how cruel people are to each other. This story is full of evil, but in the end good wins out.
This story is very predictable and you knew how it was going to play out. I can't believe that Kisa's father let his daughter be abused and didn't do anything about it. For heaven sake he is "the boss"
Raze went through so much and it was heartbreaking to read his story.
This story has a great deal of violence, rape, and just total evilness. So if you are not up for it pass on this.
It amazes me how cruel people are to each other. This story is full of evil, but in the end good wins out.
This story is very predictable and you knew how it was going to play out. I can't believe that Kisa's father let his daughter be abused and didn't do anything about it. For heaven sake he is "the boss"
Raze went through so much and it was heartbreaking to read his story.
This story has a great deal of violence, rape, and just total evilness. So if you are not up for it pass on this.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Soul's Fire (Northwomen Sagas #3)
Soul's Fire (Northwomen Sagas #3)
By Susan Fanetti
SUMMARY
Astrid has been a warrior since the day she was old enough to make the choice to live and die with an axe in her hand. She is strong and stoic, powerful and brave, and she has the life she desires, free of complications and distractions.
She is a shieldmaiden, and that is all she wishes to be.
She has been the strong right hand of her jarl since the day they and their allies overthrew the cruel Jarl Åke. Jarl Leif is mighty and honorable, and with Astrid’s help, he has brought great prosperity to their people. Every summer, the raiders sail into new lands, traveling farther and farther, claiming treasure to enrich their people. They meet little resistance from the rulers or the people of these strange worlds.
Until they land in a country whose king has learned the lessons of his neighbors and meets the raiders with a cunning and brutality that matches their own. In that clash, and after it, Astrid’s shieldmaiden’s strength and will is put to the harshest tests.
Leofric is the second son of a king. Without the expectations or attention imposed on his older brother, he is free to live more or less as he chooses. But he is a seasoned warrior and not half so dissolute as his reputation suggests. When his father and brother seek to salve their rage by torturing a captive barbarian woman, Leofric sees their action for the evil it is and does all he can to save her, and then to heal her.
To love her had not been part of his plan.
The captive is strong and stoic, powerful and brave. She is a marvel unlike any woman he’s ever known. But if she is to live, she must learn the ways of his world. If she is to thrive, she must cast aside what she was and become something new. Leofric would give her all that he has and more, but there is one thing he cannot offer.
His world has no word for shieldmaiden.
Note: Explicit sex and violence. Dark themes.
REVIEW
Heart wrenching as always
Another bleed out of the soul book. The story is full of emotion and runs you the gambit of feelings.
Wow I never finish one of the northwomen books without being touched by the growth of each character in ways that I wish I could grow.
Forgiveness and acceptance are very hard thing to learn and at times to put into action. Perceiving something that is unforgivable to you in so many ways, yet putting it behind you offering up clear and honest forgiveness/regret and trying to make things right in spite of yourself. That is awe inspiring to me.
The characters put that into action throughout. They also learned that what the perceived as being weak is really being stronger then you have ever known. Also what is deemed bad or different doesn't mean evil or bad.
There are some dark things in this story and I think the author was so right when she offered at the beginning; that it isn't about the darkness that happened it is about what takes place after that needs the details.
By Susan Fanetti
SUMMARY
Astrid has been a warrior since the day she was old enough to make the choice to live and die with an axe in her hand. She is strong and stoic, powerful and brave, and she has the life she desires, free of complications and distractions.
She is a shieldmaiden, and that is all she wishes to be.
She has been the strong right hand of her jarl since the day they and their allies overthrew the cruel Jarl Åke. Jarl Leif is mighty and honorable, and with Astrid’s help, he has brought great prosperity to their people. Every summer, the raiders sail into new lands, traveling farther and farther, claiming treasure to enrich their people. They meet little resistance from the rulers or the people of these strange worlds.
Until they land in a country whose king has learned the lessons of his neighbors and meets the raiders with a cunning and brutality that matches their own. In that clash, and after it, Astrid’s shieldmaiden’s strength and will is put to the harshest tests.
Leofric is the second son of a king. Without the expectations or attention imposed on his older brother, he is free to live more or less as he chooses. But he is a seasoned warrior and not half so dissolute as his reputation suggests. When his father and brother seek to salve their rage by torturing a captive barbarian woman, Leofric sees their action for the evil it is and does all he can to save her, and then to heal her.
To love her had not been part of his plan.
The captive is strong and stoic, powerful and brave. She is a marvel unlike any woman he’s ever known. But if she is to live, she must learn the ways of his world. If she is to thrive, she must cast aside what she was and become something new. Leofric would give her all that he has and more, but there is one thing he cannot offer.
His world has no word for shieldmaiden.
Note: Explicit sex and violence. Dark themes.
REVIEW
Heart wrenching as always
Another bleed out of the soul book. The story is full of emotion and runs you the gambit of feelings.
Wow I never finish one of the northwomen books without being touched by the growth of each character in ways that I wish I could grow.
Forgiveness and acceptance are very hard thing to learn and at times to put into action. Perceiving something that is unforgivable to you in so many ways, yet putting it behind you offering up clear and honest forgiveness/regret and trying to make things right in spite of yourself. That is awe inspiring to me.
The characters put that into action throughout. They also learned that what the perceived as being weak is really being stronger then you have ever known. Also what is deemed bad or different doesn't mean evil or bad.
There are some dark things in this story and I think the author was so right when she offered at the beginning; that it isn't about the darkness that happened it is about what takes place after that needs the details.
Rough & Tumble (The Haven Brotherhood, #1)
Rough & Tumble (The Haven Brotherhood, #1)
By Rhenna Morgan
SUMMARY
A self-made man with his fingers in a variety of successful businesses, Jace Kennedy lives for the challenge and he always gets what he wants. From the start, he sees Vivienne Moore's hidden wild side and knows she's his perfect match, if only he can break it free. He will have her. One way or another.
Vivienne's determined to ditch the rough lifestyle she grew up in, even if that means hiding her true self behind a bland socialite veneer. Dragging her party-hound sister out of a club was not how she wanted to ring in the New Year, but Viv knows the drill. Get in, get her sister and get back to the safe, stable life she's built for herself as fast as humanly possible. But Viv's plans are derailed when she finds herself crashing into the club's clearly badass and dangerously sexy owner.
Jace is everything Vivienne swore she never wanted, but the more time she spends with him, the more she starts to see that he loves just as fiercely as he fights. He can walk society's walk and talk society's talk, but when he wants something, he finds a way to get it. He's proud of who he is and where he came from, and he'll be damned if he lets Vivienne go before showing her the safest place of all is in the arms of a dangerous man.
REVIEW
This is the first book I have read from this author.
I thought the story had an interesting plot. I wish the characters had some more background information intead of it just being told. I think the story could have been a great deal better with some flashbacks so we could live the history. There was insta-love. Wham one look and they were forever for him.
Viv, well I wasn't all thrilled with her. I never truly understood why she made herself so reserved. I mean if you explain that your dad got shot in a bar but you weren't really emotionally involved with him as your dad...kinda contradictory. I just didn't get her at all.
Jace was hot and I liked him. I still wished we had more background and less telling about his past. I really think that stopped me from really connecting with the characters. The sex was hot though.
It just needed more. It would have been really great with how Axel and Jace started Haven and even how all the boys met up. Arghhh it could have been spectacular!
Received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
By Rhenna Morgan
SUMMARY
A self-made man with his fingers in a variety of successful businesses, Jace Kennedy lives for the challenge and he always gets what he wants. From the start, he sees Vivienne Moore's hidden wild side and knows she's his perfect match, if only he can break it free. He will have her. One way or another.
Vivienne's determined to ditch the rough lifestyle she grew up in, even if that means hiding her true self behind a bland socialite veneer. Dragging her party-hound sister out of a club was not how she wanted to ring in the New Year, but Viv knows the drill. Get in, get her sister and get back to the safe, stable life she's built for herself as fast as humanly possible. But Viv's plans are derailed when she finds herself crashing into the club's clearly badass and dangerously sexy owner.
Jace is everything Vivienne swore she never wanted, but the more time she spends with him, the more she starts to see that he loves just as fiercely as he fights. He can walk society's walk and talk society's talk, but when he wants something, he finds a way to get it. He's proud of who he is and where he came from, and he'll be damned if he lets Vivienne go before showing her the safest place of all is in the arms of a dangerous man.
REVIEW
This is the first book I have read from this author.
I thought the story had an interesting plot. I wish the characters had some more background information intead of it just being told. I think the story could have been a great deal better with some flashbacks so we could live the history. There was insta-love. Wham one look and they were forever for him.
Viv, well I wasn't all thrilled with her. I never truly understood why she made herself so reserved. I mean if you explain that your dad got shot in a bar but you weren't really emotionally involved with him as your dad...kinda contradictory. I just didn't get her at all.
Jace was hot and I liked him. I still wished we had more background and less telling about his past. I really think that stopped me from really connecting with the characters. The sex was hot though.
It just needed more. It would have been really great with how Axel and Jace started Haven and even how all the boys met up. Arghhh it could have been spectacular!
Received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Heart's Ease (Northwomen Sagas, #2)
Heart's Ease (Northwomen Sagas, #2)
By Susan Fanetti
SUMMARY
The follow-up to the bestselling Viking romance, God's Eye.
When raiders from the North land in Olga’s world and take it over, she is captured and made a slave. She and her people suffer at the hands of creatures that seem more beasts than men, and not even her talent and skill as a healer can help them.
But one barbarian, big and golden, seems different from the others. He doesn’t revel or partake in the suffering of the new slaves, and, when he learns that Olga is a healer who knows some of their words, he releases her from her bonds.
The raiders stake claim to Olga’s world and mean to settle it, and she and the rest of her people who survived make a new community with the invaders. The barbarians who destroyed her world and made her a slave grow to be her friends and her equals.
The friendship she forms with the one who cut her bonds is the deepest of them all.
Leif is a valiant and esteemed warrior who’s raided for many summers. As a leader in this new world they mean to settle, he forges deep, close ties with those who’d been only allies, and sometimes enemies, and with the native people of this new land.
In particular, he’s drawn to the dark-haired healer, whose tiny body holds the will and spirit of a mighty raider.
Leif is deeply loyal to the jarl who’s treated him as a son. When the jarl arrives to view their success, Leif struggles to understand the ways his mentor has grown cruel and deceitful and to see the man he’s loved as a father, whose sons he loves as brothers. But he recognizes the brutal lies for what they are.
Torn between the man to whom he’d long ago sworn his unconditional fealty and the friends to whom he is devoted, Leif makes a devastating choice, trying as best he can to save those he loves, at any cost to himself. Even at the cost of their love for him.
The consequences of his choice are severe. Perhaps too severe to allow forgiveness.
But until there is forgiveness, there can never be ease.
Note: Explicit sex and violence.
REVIEW
Good second part
I liked the story. It did get a little draggy because we had a review of parts of the first book. I know it was necessary, but at times I was bored.
Olga was a darn strong woman, I thought the God's Eye was strong....heck no. She went through so much pain and loss, but kept surviving. I am glad she overcame her hatred to make a happy life.
Leif was very complicated and I did have lots of resentment towards him at the end of the first book. I always felt he could have done more. I too had a hard time forgiving.
Good to visit Vali and Brenna in the book I loved them! There story was better, but this was good too. I couldn't put it down.
By Susan Fanetti
SUMMARY
The follow-up to the bestselling Viking romance, God's Eye.
When raiders from the North land in Olga’s world and take it over, she is captured and made a slave. She and her people suffer at the hands of creatures that seem more beasts than men, and not even her talent and skill as a healer can help them.
But one barbarian, big and golden, seems different from the others. He doesn’t revel or partake in the suffering of the new slaves, and, when he learns that Olga is a healer who knows some of their words, he releases her from her bonds.
The raiders stake claim to Olga’s world and mean to settle it, and she and the rest of her people who survived make a new community with the invaders. The barbarians who destroyed her world and made her a slave grow to be her friends and her equals.
The friendship she forms with the one who cut her bonds is the deepest of them all.
Leif is a valiant and esteemed warrior who’s raided for many summers. As a leader in this new world they mean to settle, he forges deep, close ties with those who’d been only allies, and sometimes enemies, and with the native people of this new land.
In particular, he’s drawn to the dark-haired healer, whose tiny body holds the will and spirit of a mighty raider.
Leif is deeply loyal to the jarl who’s treated him as a son. When the jarl arrives to view their success, Leif struggles to understand the ways his mentor has grown cruel and deceitful and to see the man he’s loved as a father, whose sons he loves as brothers. But he recognizes the brutal lies for what they are.
Torn between the man to whom he’d long ago sworn his unconditional fealty and the friends to whom he is devoted, Leif makes a devastating choice, trying as best he can to save those he loves, at any cost to himself. Even at the cost of their love for him.
The consequences of his choice are severe. Perhaps too severe to allow forgiveness.
But until there is forgiveness, there can never be ease.
Note: Explicit sex and violence.
REVIEW
Good second part
I liked the story. It did get a little draggy because we had a review of parts of the first book. I know it was necessary, but at times I was bored.
Olga was a darn strong woman, I thought the God's Eye was strong....heck no. She went through so much pain and loss, but kept surviving. I am glad she overcame her hatred to make a happy life.
Leif was very complicated and I did have lots of resentment towards him at the end of the first book. I always felt he could have done more. I too had a hard time forgiving.
Good to visit Vali and Brenna in the book I loved them! There story was better, but this was good too. I couldn't put it down.
Prince Not Quite Charming (Morning Glory, novella)
Prince Not Quite Charmimg (Morning Glory, novella)
By Liz Talley
SUMMARY
A city girl can survive…
Or at least that’s what New Yorker Frances Genovese hopes when she agrees to stay in Morning Glory, Mississippi for a few weeks after her brother’s wedding. Though she may not know much about small-town living, she does know a thing or two about the new restaurant her brother’s building. But she didn’t bargain for a big country boy naysaying her vision. And she darn sure didn’t expect to be so attracted to the infuriating contractor.
Clem Aiken knows two things: what it means to be a country boy and the target market for the new eatery. When he and Frances clash on her ideas, he figures there’s one thing to do – teach the sophisticated beauty what it’s like to live in a southern small town. Frances reluctantly gives Clem three days to change her mind about the restaurant design. After all, how hard can it be to bait a hook, fry chicken or go honky tonkin’?
Opposites attract in this warm, fun novella set in Morning Glory.
REVIEW
Short sweet lovely
Great as always. 4 1/2 stats
Sweet read about growing into yourself and trusting your heart! I kinda wish it was longer. I wanted to hear more about Clem and if he fixed things with his family. I also wanted the talk between Frances and her dad. I guess that is why I couldn't give it 5. I know I am picky.
Clem was sweet. I really like how he would look at a situation and see what was needed. It was almost like he had a second sense of things. Frances bothered me at first but she just echoed what every girl goes through. I want to be independent, but I want to be taken care of too and does that make me less of a woman.
Loved the end it was so fitting for both of them.
Holds me over till May. Can't wait for the next installment!!!
By Liz Talley
SUMMARY
A city girl can survive…
Or at least that’s what New Yorker Frances Genovese hopes when she agrees to stay in Morning Glory, Mississippi for a few weeks after her brother’s wedding. Though she may not know much about small-town living, she does know a thing or two about the new restaurant her brother’s building. But she didn’t bargain for a big country boy naysaying her vision. And she darn sure didn’t expect to be so attracted to the infuriating contractor.
Clem Aiken knows two things: what it means to be a country boy and the target market for the new eatery. When he and Frances clash on her ideas, he figures there’s one thing to do – teach the sophisticated beauty what it’s like to live in a southern small town. Frances reluctantly gives Clem three days to change her mind about the restaurant design. After all, how hard can it be to bait a hook, fry chicken or go honky tonkin’?
Opposites attract in this warm, fun novella set in Morning Glory.
REVIEW
Short sweet lovely
Great as always. 4 1/2 stats
Sweet read about growing into yourself and trusting your heart! I kinda wish it was longer. I wanted to hear more about Clem and if he fixed things with his family. I also wanted the talk between Frances and her dad. I guess that is why I couldn't give it 5. I know I am picky.
Clem was sweet. I really like how he would look at a situation and see what was needed. It was almost like he had a second sense of things. Frances bothered me at first but she just echoed what every girl goes through. I want to be independent, but I want to be taken care of too and does that make me less of a woman.
Loved the end it was so fitting for both of them.
Holds me over till May. Can't wait for the next installment!!!
Perfectly Charmingly (A Morning Glory Novel Book 2)
Perfectly Charmingly (A Morning Glory Novel Book 2)
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
Morning Glory native Jess Culpepper is desperate to get out of town after divorcing the only man she’s ever dated. She takes a temporary nursing job in Florida and, thanks to the bequest of her late friend, Lacy, has the funds to rent a condo right on the beach. She’s not prepared to literally trip over her old high school lab partner—and definitely not prepared for how deliciously hot he is now.
Ryan Reyes, once known as “The Brain,” has worked hard to become more than the skinny nerd that jocks bullied and girls politely tolerated. At twenty-six, he has retired from science to run a charter fishing business in Pensacola and spend his leisure time catching up on the debauchery he missed. But when the unattainable girl of his teenage fantasies moves in down the beach, old feelings come flooding back.
Their scorching attraction soon leads them into bed—but what starts as no-strings-attached fun is complicated by a return to Morning Glory and the shadows of their shared past. Can the head cheerleader and the geek redefine themselves and forge ahead to find their happily ever after?
REVIEW
No second book slump here!!
Good read again. I wanted to pound my kindle on this one. I tried to just listen while I got my steps in, but again I had to see what would happen. So I listened in the car and then read to finish.
High School is a cruel place and this really brings you back to that in spots and how it taints your view in later life.
Ryan is a man of extremes and he learns moderation and how life doesn't have a plan. Jess learns that life isn't about a making a man happy, it is about you and making your own happiness and accepting the unexpected.
I love the friendship the girls have and it makes you wish for that in your own life. Can't wait for Eden's story. She needs a HEA!!
Good read again. I wanted to pound my kindle on this one. I tried to just listen while I got my steps in, but again I had to see what would happen. So I listened in the car and then read to finish.
High School is a cruel place and this really brings you back to that in spots and how it taints your view in later life.
Ryan is a man of extremes and he learns moderation and how life doesn't have a plan. Jess learns that life isn't about a making a man happy, it is about you and making your own happiness and accepting the unexpected.
I love the friendship the girls have and it makes you wish for that in your own life. Can't wait for Eden's story. She needs a HEA!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)