Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter by Jessica Sims

Rating: ★★★★★
Midnight Liaisons: Book 2

This is Book 2 in this series but this is the first book I've read by this author (other than a short story in an anthology). I was fine reading them out of order but I recommend most people read them in order.

This book picks right up from where Book 1 leaves off. Sara Ward is a were-wolf. She was turned years ago by an abusive boyfriend. She was rescued from that boyfriend by her sister Bathsheba who came to get her and killed the dirtbag. Because of the circumstances surrounding her turning, Sara never had a were mentor to show her the were-wolf basics like how to control her changing. Sara and her sister work at a dating service for paranormals. Bathsheba is a human married to a were-cougar. Sara has been generating interest from the local wolfpack. The bulk of whom could have come out of the movie Deliverance. They have kidnapped a female were-cougar and demand Sara is handed over for the were-cougar. A plan is hatched. Everybody in the good guy camp makes it look at first they they will play ball. After the were-cougar is handed over, Ramsey (huge bear-shifter & second in command to the were-cougar leader) claims Sara as his mate. Much to the surprise of everyone, they end up putting on a little show to prove the relationship is the real deal. The wolves are still suspicious and claim they won't put up a fight (for long) if they send one of their own on the pretense of helping Sara learn to control her shifting and to judge how real the mating is. The good guys reluctantly agree.

I loved the many hot & sweet moments between Ramsey & Sara. The chemistry is intense. Ramsey is such a sweetie - he treats Sara so fab, helping her with shifting, soothing her after nightmares, and everything else. I love how Sara conquers her wolf & kicks some redneck wolf ass at the end. Very much looking forward to Book 3 in this series.

Intimate Betrayal by Adrienne Basso

Morgan Ashton, Duke of Gillingham is drawn in to the world of spies, much to his chagrin, because some spy activity is being linked to one of his properties. It's in his best interest to aid the government and find out who the real villains are. About the same time that he is made aware of these things, he participates in an auction for a Viscount's country estate - not that he's all that interested, he bids almost as an afterthought. He goes to the won property, on the way to his own, to inspect exactly what he's won. He fully expects to find the Viscount. What he finds instead is a rather shappy estate and the Viscount's daughter Alyssa Carrington is running the estate in the capacity that a man would as a paid estate manager. Morgan is shocked by this state of affairs. Not only is the pretty and very capable running things, but it appears she has been doing so for some time as well as handling the settling of the Viscount's gaming debts. He is also surprised that nobody has informed Alyssa that the property has been auctioned off. One reason, other than the fact that her father has never given her or her welfare much consideration, is that word arrives that her father has committed suicide. Alyssa is devastated - if for no other reason than the little nest egg that she has been putting aside for the day when something like this may happen is eaten away by her father's other debts. In the end she secures a position of supervising the refurbrishing of Westgate Manor for Morgan's family members. During this time he and Alyssa engage in a very passionate affair. The start of this is a HUGE misunderstanding. Morgan proposes Alyssa be his mistress but he unintentionally phrases it so that she believes he is proposing marriage. I was surprised the misunderstanding went on as long as it did. When they both clearly understand each other, it understandably leads to very hurt feelings. Alyssa winds up pregnant and they end up marrying. The one thing I disliked about this book was how long the enstrangement between the two lasts. It goes on too long for my tastes.

The Importance of Being Wicked by Victoria Alexander

I was looking forward to this book because I'm a big fan of this author, and I really liked what I've read of the hero from appearances in other stories. The heroine has also been a supporting character in a previous book. The setting of this book is Victorian England.

Both the hero and heroine in this book have undergone changes to their personality, due largely to circumstance. They both seem to be unaware of it until pointed out to them by friends and family. Winfield Elliot, Viscount Stillwell was something of a rake in his younger days. After the defection of his cousin, three failed engagements (none of the three being his fault despite public opinion), and some maturing, he is still the charming, likable man he always was but also became more responsible and a man to be counted on. At the opening of the book, a fire damaging his family country home and facing his father's mortality shocks him and have him acting not quite himself at times. Lady Miranda Garrett is a widow. She comes from a large and opinionated family. In her family she was often regarded as the meek and mild one. She later married a man she loved, but she often acquiesced to his wishes and let him take all of the credit for her contributions to his architectural firm. After her husband's death, she is still hiding behind the scenes in many respects. She also continues to let her family think of her as they always have. Win & Miranda meet when Win hires her firm to repair and restore his home. Their first meeting is rocky because Win expects to be dealing with a man. They have a brief battle of wills in which Miranda is the victor. This sets the stage for their future dealings with each other. The meetings are filled with verbal sparring, which eventually leads to attraction. Miranda's intelligence and strength sparks Win to voice some conservative ramblings just to be contrary and draw out Miranda. I like watching the moment when Miranda finally thinks of Win as carming and Win realizes his desire for Miranda physically as well as intellectually. My favorite moments were when he shows her the folly and shows her his romantic side, and when they both sing each other's praises to her family. I like that Win isn't turned off when he finds out that she is the brains behind her firm, only wanting and waiting for her to tell him because he wants her trust. I also liked how, near the very end, he doesn't go for her brother's stupin plan to get her to admit it.
 
The ending is fabulous and totally true to the characters.

One Night with a Cowboy by Cat Johnson

 

This is the first book I've read by this author. At the opening of the book, Rebecca Hart is in a bad place emotionally because she is laid off from her teaching job at Vassar and she comes home to find her boyfriend moving out of their place. Consequently, she is kind of a downer. Thankfully her bubbly sister Emma helps pull her out of her funk and helps her with her job situation. Unbeknownst to Becca, Emma submits Becca's resume to OSU for an associate professor position - which would be an even better position than she had at the previous school she taught at. Emma and Becca travel out to Oklahoma after Becca gets picked for an interview. Emma convinces her to have some fun and go to a rodeo their first night. Tucker Jenkins is participating in the rodeo with his buddy Jace. Tucker is still nursing a bruised heart from his ex-wife's cheating ways. He and Becca lock eyes at the rodeo and he and Jace introduce themselves to Emma & Becca. He and Becca manage to have an extremely hot one-night stand. I did appreciate that both parties thought about and practiced safe sex in spite of opting to hook up so soon after meeting. The morning after they both part reluctantly, no numbers are exchanged. Becca figures that Tucker, while nice, is probably in a different town each night riding the rodeo circuit with rodeo groupies aplenty. Tucker figures Becca will be headed back to New York, thus never seeing her and making anything long term impossible. In the end, Becca gets the position at OSU and she and Tucker are surprised to find that they are now co-workers. Becca works in the English department at OSU and Tucker is on the payroll instructing cadets in the military science department. Both are shocked. Both think that the other should have volunteered more information about themselves at their last meeting. They end up rekindling the flame and sparks fly. Things get very hot. The only reason I gave this a 4 star rating instead of 5 stars is because the book description made it seem as though Tucker was strictly a cowboy. I thought maybe he worked on or owned a ranch in addition to riding in rodeos. That's not entirely an accurate picture of him though. He only does the rodeo thing on the side. He is a soldier and primarily a military instructor. If anything, he is more of a military guy rather than a cowboy. I enjoyed the supporting characters like Jace, Logan & Emma. I look forward to reading Emma's story.

"What Happens at Christmas" by Victoria Alexander ARC Giveaway!

I have an ARC copy of What Happens at Christmas by Victoria Alexander. It's a soft cover in color copy. One of the major supporting characters in this book is the focus of Lord Stillwell's Excellent Engagements and is the hero of the next full length book - The Importance of Being Wicked. Anybody interested should leave a comment to this post and include an email address. You can leave like this if you want: letyourmindalone at hotmail dot com.

The deadline will be January 4, 2013.

Only open to thos in the U.S. & Canada

Lord Stillwell's Excellent Engagement by Victoria Alexander

Ok, so...... I was looking forward to reading the teensy ebook Lord Stillwell's Excellent Engagement by Victoria Alexander. I thought the main charcter was super cool in the most recent book What Happens at Christmas (in which he is a supporting character) - very charming & witty (was a little more interesting than the hero, quite honestly). In the book he mentions to the hero how he wrote letters to him over the years telling him of his many past broken engagements. This little ebook is the story behind those engagements. I think they first listed the price on Amazon @ $2.51, however.....I looked at the reviews on Amazon and the majority of them were 1 star negative reviews. I was baffled, but after reading them, I think most reviewers had bad preconceptions of what this was. It seemed like they expected it to be a regular romance and to be longer. I knew it was going to be a shorty and based on the description and the author's own description made me think it will be amusing vignettes told mostly through letters about an interesting character. I wrote Kensington (for whom I am a reviewer) and asked them to either send me a copy or else put a copy on Net Galley and I could get it there. Finally - I checked Net Galley the other day & they had put it there (along with the next book in the series) - except that you can just click "Read" instead of the usual "Request" for the novella. After reading it, I found it to be exactly as I expected. I don't think it's fair to just call it a "teaser" for the next book. It is 3 little vignettes that are amusing & shed more light on an interesting potential hero. The first two help explain what happens in the third. I think - if you've read What Happens at Christmas and you are as charmed by Win as I was and you plan on reading the next full length book in which he is the hero - you should read this novella.

Rake Name