When the Book Bubble Bursts

Book Hype. Book Bubble. Whatever you may call it. You wait, wish for that day to come. It comes and it then... it just doesn't matter! That's what happened with J.R. Ward's Covet. I was so excited for it to come out-- visit with my BDB boys but... nothing. So maybe next week or a month I'll be ready to read it or want to read it. But I didn't go out and buy it or download it on my ereader.

Have you ever had that Book Bubble Burst? If so, for what book???

My September Books

Good bye September! Here's a quick glance at what I read last month:

FAVORITE BOOK READ THIS MONTH!

1. Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard (Audiobook)****
Read by Joyce Bean, who read Moning's first three fever books. It was a little hard to get into, and not as funny as To Die For, but Blair is a trip!

2. Causing Havoc by Lori Foster *****
I found Lori Foster... I loved this book and am enjoying the SBC series!

3. The Immortal Highlander by KMM currently listening to
Well I'm still listening to this in October, but it's read by Phil Gigante... sigh!

4. Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare ****
Enjoyable new author. Did not like this one as much as Goddess of the Hunt, but a great new voice in historical romance. I'm actually scared to read the last book of the trilogy!

5. Never Love a Lawman by Jo Goodman ***1/2
My first book by Jo Goodman, I enjoyed, but needed more romance and a bit less details.

6. Simon Says by Lori Foster ****1/2
Second book by Lori Foster, still loving her and Simon!

7. Double Play by Jill Shalvis ****1/2
First book by Jill Shalvis! I will need to check out more of her books. Funny, emotional, tension, sexy, she has the whole package goin' on!!!


I think my 12 books a month days are over with. It was hard to get this much reading in!

Simon Says by Lori Foster

Rating: 4.5

Description: Sexy ex-fighter Simon Evans has the perfect life-until he catches his girlfriend cheating. To work off his rage, he goes back into the ring full-force. But a gutsy and gorgeous P.I. is about to send him reeling with a secret about his family-and one about her heart.

My Thoughts: Ms. Lori Foster, I am now understanding why Roberta calls you her contemporary guilty pleasure! Granted, I only have two books under my belt, but I am planning a whole bunch more. Alpha ripped males, sexy story, a bit of emotion—perfect combo for me and Simon Says was exactly that.

Simon sigh... Shaved head, nice guy and a ripped body. Seriously, what more could you ask for????? Simon busts his soon to be ex cheating on him, and he throws himself back into the ring. While training, he meets Dakota Dream who’s a tomboy and wins his heart over. Cute, entertaining and sexy. This story delivers all that, memorable characters and an SBC world I don’t want to end! I have already ordered Hard to Handle, can’t wait to continue on with the boys!

Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare

Rating: 4

Description: Desperate to escape a loveless marriage and society’s constraints, pampered heiress Sophia Hathaway jilts her groom, packs up her paints and sketchbook, and assumes a new identity, posing as a governess to secure passage on the Aphrodite. She wants a life of her own: unsheltered, unconventional, uninhibited. But it’s one thing to sketch her most wanton fantasies, and quite another to face the dangerously handsome libertine who would steal both her virtue and her gold.

To any well-bred lady, Benedict “Gray” Grayson is trouble in snug-fitting boots. A conscienceless scoundrel who sails the seas for pleasure and profit, Gray lives for conquest–until Sophia’s perception and artistry stir his heart. Suddenly he’ll brave sharks, fire, storm, and sea just to keep her at his side. She’s beautiful, refined, and ripe for seduction. Could this counterfeit governess be a rogue’s redemption? Or will the runaway heiress’s secrets destroy their only chance at love?


My Thoughts: I wasn’t sure, at the beginning of writing this, if this book was a 4 or a 4.5. I am dishing out a 4. While I really enjoyed the book, it didn’t “stick with me” like a 4.5 book should, ya know? I guess, I couldn’t relate to Sophia running away to this extreme, in that time, by herself. I enjoyed all the characters in the book, and a few had great development, Bell’s book comes out tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what Toby has in store for Miss Goodie two shoes! But I loved this high sea adventure!

Gray was a bit broken, but it wasn’t enough to be bitter like he was. He was bad, but he had a heart for every bad thing he did, he was charming and I loved his charisma. Pairing him up with Sophia, perfect!

Ms. Dare is an autobuy for me, if you haven’t read her yet, I would recommend checking her out!

**I am doing a awful job of keeping up with my blog... just wanted to say sorry!

Causing Havoc by Lori Foster

Rating: 5

Description: Sexy, sculpted extreme fighter Dean "Havoc" Connor has knee-melting good looks-and thick skin. But not from his brutal sport's enclosed rings. Orphaned and torn from his sisters as a boy, he has no family. That is, until he gets a letter revealing how much the once-little girls want him back in Harmony, Kentucky.
To stop his sister from marrying a man as sleazy as he is wealthy, Dean finds himself teaming up with her pretty-but-smart-mouthed friend Eve — who's heard of "Havoc's" reputation and doesn't need some hunk trampling on her heart. Now all Dean has to do is protect his sisters, win Eve over, and expose a devious criminal.
And he thought winning the heavyweight cage fighting belt was hard.

My Thoughts: I have to say I just LOVED reading my first Lori Foster book AND reading about fighters! I felt like I was reading real people, real issues. So what if it was a little predictable?

Dean Havoc Connor goes to his hometown after getting a letter from his long lost sis. He never imagined that the letter would introduce him, for the first time, a family. Oh, and he just happens to meet the love of his life, Eve. How sweet (and sexy) were they together? VERY! I have got to check out her backlist, because I really enjoyed Causing Havoc. I couldn’t wait for the next book to arrive from PBS, so I bought Simon Says, and am reading his story!

Gotta love it when you find a new author! Thank you Lori Foster!!!

Winners of Highland Rebel!!!

The winners of Judith James' Highland Rebel are:
Randi
etirv

Please email your address to kevin_cindy at verizon.net by Friday 9pm EST!

A big thanks for Judith James for stopping by!

Time Travel Tuesday w/ Judith James & Giveaway!

Ms. James' new book is out and she's here today!!!!

The Scarlett Pimpernel, Dangerous Liaisons, and Highland Rebel

Hello Cindy. It’s great fun to be here on Time Travel Tuesday. I just hope I’m doing it right! There are two places I’d like to go today. First I’m going to time travel back to a day when I was home sick from school in my parent’s basement and I happened upon a movie that’s become one of my favourites of all time. That would be The Scarlett Pimpernel. I was captivated by the grand adventure, the exciting action sequences and the poignant love story, as well as the irony of the Pimpernel, a much admired hero and master of disguise, hiding in plain sight, even from his wife, as the supercilious, slightly bored, vain and frivolous Sir Percy. Perhaps it was here that I first got the idea of an outwardly jaded aristocrat, who can change his clothes and change his speech and turn himself into a beggar or tinker as he goes about a secret life no one else suspects. I refer of course to Jamie Sinclair, the handsome hero of Highland Rebel, my new book in stores now, who can change from a courtier to a tinker or beggar in a matter of minutes; and Catherine his wife, who suspects there is more to the man that she married, and longs to see him without his mask. I’ve included a montage from that wonderful movie, as well as Sir Percy’s favourite banal poem, and an exciting scene from one of his rescues.



Another favourite movie that was an inspiration for both Highland Rebel and my first book, Broken Wing, was the dark and delicious Dangerous Liaisons.

The blurb for Highland Rebel includes the following line.

“Disguised as beggars, or glittering amongst the courtiers at Whitehall Palace, Catherine and Jamie join forces in an age where treachery and adultery are the fashion, and cynicism, cruelty, and barbed wit the qualities most admired.”

Dangerous Liaisons, based on an exposé thinly disguised as a novel by Pierre Laclos, a military man and courtier, is a scathingly funny, endlessly fascinating and somewhat diabolical work about French courtiers whose greatest prey is each other. It was written around the time Broken Wing takes place, but could apply equally well to the notoriously hedonistic, often cruel, and always witty Stuart courts.



If you love historical adventure with a tender love story at its core and are fascinated by a close up look at the lives of the jaded and wealthy, you’ll love both The Scarlett Pimpernel and Dangerous Liaisons, and I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy Highland Rebel!

Thanks very much to Cindy for hosting me, and to everyone who took the time to stop by. As always I look forward to questions or comments and would like to ask you if there are any movies that you remember that influenced your reading or writing.



Highland Rebel by Judith James, in stores September 1, 2009!
Amidst the upheaval of Cromwell's Britain, Jamie Sinclair's wit and military prowess have served him well. Leading a troop in Scotland, he impetuously marries a captured maiden, saving her from a grim fate.

A Highlands heiress to title and fortune, Catherine Drummond is not the woman Jamie believes her to be. When her people effect her rescue, and he cannot annul the marriage, Jamie goes to recapture his hellcat of a new wife...

In a world where family and creed cannot be trusted, where faith fuels intolerance and war, Catherine and Jamie test the bounds of loyalty, friendship, and trust...

About the Author
Judith James has worked as a legal assistant, trail guide, and counselor. Living in Nova Scotia, her personal journey has taken her to the Arctic and the West Coast. Her writing combines her love of history and adventure with her keen interest in the complexities of human nature and the heart's capacity to heal. For more information about Judith, please visit www.judithjamesauthor.com

Thank you SO much for being here Ms. James. This was great and I have two movies to add to my Netflix Queue! I really enjoyed Highland Rebel, my reviews up here. I am naming you Queen of pulling my heart strings!

Now for the good stuff, I have 2 copies to give away. Leave a comment by 9PM EST, you are in.

Winner!!!

I used Random.org and the winners are......

tetewa

plain a_m_y

Congrats, please email me your address at kevin_cindy at verizon.net by Monday midnight EST!

I'm looking for more yummy covers from you Ms. Brown!

Guest Post & Giveaway with author Carolyn Brown!

Hello Cindy. Thank you for having me as a guest on your website today. By your cute little counter I’m seeing that lots of folks stop by your site to find out what is the good, the bad and the sexy in the romance genre for the week! Here’s hoping that they find something in my newest release, Lucky in Love, to fit amongst all three categories.

When I thought being a guest blogger on a site that says “Cindy Reads Romance” I wondered what I could offer. Then it came to me in a flash. Actually I was having a warm cinnamon roll right from the oven and thinking if I’d just discovered a book with a hunky, sexy guy on the front, I’d open it up and read the first couple of pages to see if the story lived up to the cover.

With that in mind, I’m offering an exerpt from the very first of the book. I hope it makes you want to keep reading.

Beau stomped the brakes and jumped off the three wheeler, anger boiling up from some where down deep in his scuffed up cowboy boots. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” He shouted at the skinny, short stranger’s back on the other side of the fence. The fool held the reins of a jet black horse and was looking out across the pasture at several white faced heifers and his prize Angus bull that nobody ever borrowed for free, not even his best friends or his favorite neighbors.

“You idiot. That’s my stud bull you’ve cut this fence and let through.” He continued to rant as he passed through the tangled barbed wire. Jim Torres had hired very few dummies in his life, and when he did, they didn’t last long. This man would be riding his big black horse into the sunset before night fall when Jim found he’d cut the fence and let an Angus bull in with a herd of thorough bred white-faced cattle. If Jim Torres didn’t fire him on the spot then Beau fully well intended to string him up in the nearest oak tree. Considering how little the fellow was he could do it single handedly. The man must have cow chips for brains to deliberately cut a fence and let an Angus bull in with pure bred white face cattle. Either that or Beau had just walked in on the first step of a rustling job in which case the man could look forward to spending a long time behind bars.

Milli heard a commotion behind her and turned to see if Alice Martin or maybe even Buster had come to help. Her grandfather, Jim Torres, was going to have a hissy fit seen only in the front gates of hell if that big Angus critter actually bred one of these cows. Thank goodness the big black bruiser was just eating grass and didn’t seem to be interested in the cows milling around him.

She’d only arrived yesterday to help her grandfather while he was recovering from hip-replacement surgery. A cut fence and a big, mean Angus bull in the pasture wasn’t exactly what she had in mind for her first day’s work.

Milli gasped when she saw the man, yelling at her instead of the bull. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“What are you doing here? And why in the hell did you cut the fence and let that stupid Angus bull in with pure breed white faced heifers? Don’t you have any sense at all? Wait ‘til Alice finds out that she’s got a cowhand that don’t know pure breeds from culls. You just as well crawl up on your play pretty back there and go pack your bags, ‘cause Alice Martin is going to fire you by nightfall.”

She pointed toward the three wheeler and shook her finger under his nose, amazed that she could utter a single word to the blonde haired man. Just how in the hell did he get from Louisiana to Oklahoma and why did Alice Martin hire a drunk like him?
© Carolyn Brown, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2009

Does reading an excerpt make you want to find out why Milli thought he was a drunk? Does it make you wonder why she gasped at seeing him? Would you keep reading?


Lucky in Love—in stores September!
When hunky rancher "Lucky Beau" Luckadeau accuses spitfire Milli Torres of stealing his prize bull, she promptly shoots at him, triggering a feud that only gets resolved when they discover they share a steamy hot memory from a night long ago...

It was a night of passion that has always haunted Lucky. The mysterious beauty he seduced at a cousin's wedding disappeared. He's always been lucky at cards, lucky
with cattle, and lucky with land, but he's never been lucky in love.

Now Milli Torres has come to southern Oklahoma to help out on her grandfather's ranch. A cut fence and a big, mean Angus bull in the pasture are bad enough, but then she looks up and sees Beau Luckadeau. Great God Almighty, how did he get from Louisiana to Ardmore, Oklahoma, and what in the hell is she going to do if he recognizes her?

About the Author
Carolyn Brown is an award-winning author who has published 36 historical and western romance novels for the library market, many of them bestsellers in that market. She was born in Texas and grew up in southern Oklahoma. She and her husband, Charles, a retired English teacher, now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma.
Giveaway:
I have 2 copies of Lucky in Love to give away!!!

Just leave a comment by 9PM EST, and you'll be entered to win.



Thanks Carolyn for visiting today, I think the cover is one of the best of they year!

Highland Rebel by Judith James

Rating: 4.5

Description: Set in a dangerous time of religious and political upheaval and civil war, HIGHLAND REBEL tells the story of Catherine Drummond and Jamie Sinclair, two proud and lonely outcasts whose struggle for acceptance and survival draws them together in a partnership based on mutual interest that will transform them both. In so doing it transports the reader to Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, the court of King James II, and the coffee houses, backstreets and taverns of seventeenth century London, while chronicling the brief reign of England’s last Stuart king...

Review: WOW. I've got to say, if you are looking for a romance, this book my not satisfy you. If you are looking for a larger than life, powerful story, it will satisfy. Okay, I admit, was a bit nervous reading this book after reading Broken Wing. I loved that book, and well, I had huge expectations for Ms. James. Thankfully, I had no reason to fear! Even though this book was so different, and I still really enjoyed it. I think the people who may not enjoy it, will have that problem.

Okay, let's talk Highland Rebel. While there were some romantic elements in this story, there are more historical. For the most part these story elements were extremely interesting, especially how Ms. James incorporated the main characters with actual historical events. It brought life to history! I was immersed in this era, the political intrigue, the friendship, the adventure, and wanting a happy ending for Jamie and Cat. As for me, I wanted more romance, and I wanted it sooner. Jamie was stubborn for too long, and Cat was waspish for too long! But in the end, it should not have been any other way between these two characters. Highland Rebel is a very different romance book, but one you will want to read.

Meet Jamie Sinclair, who wears multiple masks. Charmer, spy, rogue, he's a chameleon. Sometimes, even he, doesn't know who he is. One knee-jerk reaction, set an entire course for Jamie and Cat (his hellcat). Jamie meets the one person who can see past the mask. With Jamie unable to deal with the emotion of love, will he keep her or set her free?

Ms. James, you are the queen of Pulling My Emotional Heart Strings! Thank you!