A gentle feuding, Johanna Lindsay

The story of Sheena and Jamie. There was a feud between their clans. All her life, Sheena had heard tales about his great cruelty towards her clan. She was so scared of him that she became histerical when she saw him and could not stay in the same roon as him. But he made her sooo hot! She was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He felt in lust with her before knowing she was from the ennemy clan. Then, it was too late, he was bewitched. He captured her, and forced her clan to give him her hand in marriage. But once married, they had to overcome a new feud between their clans. Whom to give one's loyalty? Sheena was torn between her love for her husband and her love for her family and clan. Jamie was afraid people would question his leadership if he did not retaliate with force agaisnt his wife's clan. But how could he fight against the family of the woman who had become more dear to him than life?

Hearts aflame, Johanna Lindsay

Kristen is the daughter of Lady Brenna and Garrick (Fires of winter). She is very tall and athough she is feminine as well, she is not delicate at all. She is physically strong, and just like her mum, she fights better than most men and she has too much pride for her own good. She is captured by saxons, and become the slave of a Royce, a powerful and most gorgeous saxon. Though Royce is not a viking, he is taller, bigger and stronger than most of them. Just like her mom, she will fall in love with her captor - but not her master, for she will never consider herself a slave, no matter what she is called. Royce had never seen a woman like her. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but she is also courageous, proud, passionated, strong. She does not cry and whimper like the women he knows. He is not afraid to crush her with his strength, physically or mentally, because in all those she is his match. But if the saxon lord is determined to keep her forever, he is not about to marry her for she is a Viking AND a slave. Problem is, Kristen is not about to settle with a slave status forever. How will they find a satisfying solution?

A powerful saxon lord and his strong and beautiful viking slave, Royce and Kristen, are struggling against the burning desire and the overwhelming love they feel for each other. She may be his slave, but they are equal in so many points: pride, strenght, beauty, education, wealth etc. Good match. Excellent book.

Rightfully his, Sharon De Vita

Book's cover:

"Claiming his family
Sophie was the woman Max McCallister had always loved but couldn’t have. He told himself that he did the right thing when he stepped aside so his brother could marry her. And when his brother hadn’t been able to give Sophie the baby they’d always wanted, he’d agreed to become the sperm donor so they could fulfil their family dreams.
But now his brother was dead, and Sophie was a single mother raising two fatherless little girls. Max could fight his feelings no longer. It was time to claim what was rightfully his – Sophie and his twin daughters…"

So sweet, so tender, so... normal and beautiful. No big money or fast cars. Just tons and tons of love, tenderness and happyness. The twins are adorable children and they add quite much to the story. Romance at its best.

The sicilian's christmas bride, Sandra Marton

“She left him because she had already lasted more than his previous mistresses, she loved him too much, was pregnant, and he did not want to commit to a relationship. Hell, wouldn't even sleep the whole night with her. After the lovemaking, he would leave her bed and go back to his place, in the middle of the night. A few years later, he hires a PI to find her and get his revenge because no woman dumps him!!! He needs closure. He never got the opportunity to tell her he was finished with her before she dumped him. So he'll see her, and make things clear!The idiot! Truth is, he never forgot her because he loved her then, and he still loves her. But would he admit to that?

Fires of Winter, Johanna Lindsay

Lady Brenna is a woman like no other. She fights better than most men, she has too much pride for her own good, she prefers working in the stables than doing "women's work" etc. The list is long. She has been captured by Garrick's father and give to Garrick as his slave. She is full of hate and ideas of revenge. She swore to run away from her captor and is not about to be distracted from her aim. Garrick is a powerful viking chieftain who hates all women since his ex-fiancee left him for a richer man. He only seeks women when her body is too much in need. But it has nothing to do with his feelings, his heart. It is purely mechanical. Lady Brenna will change that. The slave will enslave the viking's heart and the viking will tame the formidable Lady Brenna's heart.

The Brazilian Boss's Innocent Mistress, Sarah Morgan

This is an incredibly beautiful story with very interesting characters, an exotic location and a good insight in Green and Fairtraide issues.

The story takes place mostly in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest, exciting and unusual location. The heroine is a young, naive but strong and idealistic English rose. The hero is a cynic, ruthless and cold Brazilian billionaire.

Rafael is a man committed to preserve the Brazilian rainforest and its inhabitants. Grace owns a coffee chain, Cafe Brazil, which is supplied in coffee by a local fazenda. Rafael financed Grace's chain of coffee shops because he thought it would help the local farmers. But after a few years the fazenda is on the verge of financial ruin because Cafe Brazil is paying a ridiculously low price for the coffee. Rafael decides then to withdraw his loan.

But Grace cannot accept it without a fight! He is renowned for being very bad, without mercy, a real devil in business. He is also very secret; he likes his privacy and preserves that by living in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. That is enough to discourage senior businessmen, but not Grace. Not because she is tougher than everybody, but because she is an idealistic and trusting girl, who strongly believes there is good in every human being, no matter what is said about them. She obtains an appointment of 10 minutes with him, and flies courageously in the dangerous forest to meet the most dangerous wolf in his lair!

When he first sees her, he is overwhelmed by a surge of masculine lust so intense that it is painful. When she first sees him, she forgets everything and suddenly feels lethargic. The atmosphere between them is clearly electrically charged. He wants to teach her a lesson and plans to journey with her in the forest to introduce her to the poor farmers she is underpaying with no care for the consequences. She is happy to stay, that gives her more than 10 minutes to convince him to extend his loan. A hot romance is about to start in the heart of the rainforest. The heart of the wolf is about to be stolen by the innocence of the English rose.

Grace and Rafael story was deeply moving. The two of them are damaged. Rafael has been abandoned as a child, cheated into marriage by a money-grabbing ex-wife, and constantly chased for his money by gold-diggers. Now he believes that all women are only interested in his money and the good sex he can give. That works for him, since those are the only things he has to offer. His heart, if he has one, is safely guarded. Grace is dyslexic; she was considered stupid at school and has spent all her life trying to prove to everybody that she is worth something. Now though an adult, in the inside she is still a child who tries to gain her father's love. But all her past and current disappointments cannot stop her from believing in the goodness of the human beings and she still has a lot of love to give.

Once she poured her love and trust into Rafael, he had no chance at all but to love her in return. It is an encouragement to all the people who have been damaged by life to never give up on their dreams, on love and happiness. If life is a gamble, better gamble for the best, hum? Not only is it a wonderful love story, but it also gives a good life's lesson. 6 stars and a keeper!

Hot Summer Bride, Sandra Marton

A billionaire is left custody of his niece when his sister died. He hires a beautiful and rich pampered heiress as a nanny. The girls falls in love with the baby and the tycoon. She ends up marrying him to protect the child from going to foster care or to be brought up by an opportunistic money-grabbing grandmother. But they fall in love, etc.

I'm a great fan of Sandra Marton. I loved her Prince's series, and I bought this book because I thought I would enjoy it as much as I did the others. But I was very disappointed. The plot is good, but the way the story is told is a bit ... mechanical. I think she just applied some writing techniques and did not put her heart into it. At the end of the story, I still did not know the characters, I hadn't warmed up to them, and I was not even sure they loved each other. No emotion, not enough interactions between the hero and the heroine, Cold. Cold. Cold. Some little inconsistencies did not arrange things. Earlier in the story the girl says she would like to have a marriage based on love. A few pages later, she says she is not the marrying kind. She is also pictured as very meek; she was not as fiery as you would have expected from an independent heiress. And all through the story, the hero and his lawyer behave towards the heroine like she is some money-hungry woman, when in fact she is a rich and proud heiress. It just didn't add up.

I know Sandra Marton is working on a sheikh series now, and I hope they are going to be incredibly beautiful stories just like her last series (The Italian prince's pregnant bride, The Greek prince's chosen wife, The Spanish prince's virgin bride). No, I don't merely hope. I'm confident she will produce wonderful stories like before. She is too good a writer not to.

The Italian billionaire's secret love-child, Cathy Williams

Charlie is eighteen and madly in love with her summer fling, whom she thinks is struggling woker with no money. Riccardo is twenty-six, super-rich, and thinks he is having a fling with a mature twenty-four years old woman who, just like him, wants to have some fun, no strings attached. The "fling" ends dramatically when each one discovers the truth - or should I say the lies- about each other. But their passion was not without consequences...

Eight years later, they bump into each other, and the passion is still there. She is wary of him. What will he do if he discovers they had child together? And even though she still dreams of him at night, nobody wants to get burned twice in a relationship with no future. But the more she avoids him, the more he pursues her. Soon he learns that he is a father. And he will do whatever is necessary to be a full-time father... with the most satisfying bonus of bedding Charlie.

The plot is good, but the story lacks passion. Riccardo is a bit weak for an alpha male. Charlie lacks the fire that makes great heroines. Really, the beginning is very good. But by chapter two, it is pretty boring. Even their daughter was not a great character. She could have played a more important role. I was very disappointed by the story.

The Greek tycoon's mistress, Julia James

This is a very good story. Theo is such a great character! And Leandra is more than a match for him. Professional actress Leandra Ross agrees to help a friend (Theo's cousin) by posing as his mistress in oder to resist family pressures to get married . Obliging his dying grandfather who wants grandchildren, Theo arrives in town to convince his cousin to return to Greece and marry. But upon seeing Leandra, Theo is shaken, moved, overwhelmed. It goes far beyond a sizzling sexual attraction. He then determines to make her his. Leandra knows better than to mix with a womaniser like Theo. He helps himself with women, samples and discards them. But when she is whisked on his private island, she feels helpless under the impact of his sheer physical presence. This book is full of emotion, the characters are very much alive and the ending is great!

Harlequin, les livres que votre coeur attends

J'avais 13 ans, j'étais assise sur une marche de la terrasse, la branche d'un haut cocotier me protégeait des rayons du soleil. Sur mes pieds, un livre. Sur la couverture du livre, un homme et une femmes, jeunes, beaux, amoureux, s'embrassaient. Je tourne quelques pages et je lis: "les livres que votre coeur attend". Ah bon? Je commence ma lecture. Au bout de deux heures, je ferme la dernière page et je confirme: c'est bien un livre un mon coeur attendait. Il s'agit d'un Harlequin série Azur. L'histoire débute sous le soleil dans une île paradisiaque et se termine sous la pluie dans la campagne anglaise. Le héros me fait penser a Tom Cruise - en plus grand - et l'héroïne me rappelle Cendrillon dont les aventures ont berçé mon enfance. Ils vivent un conte de fée classique: un beau prince délivre une belle princesse- ici de la pauvreté et de la solitude- l'épouse, lui fait un bébé (pas forcément dans cet ordre) et ils s'aiment et vivent heureux jusqu'à la fin de leurs jours.

Depuis, j'en lis regulierement. Et pourtant, c'est irréaliste, sans suspens aucun (a part peut-etre celui de savoir si la femme tombera enceinte avant ou apres le mariage), les hisoires se ressemblent toutes. Mais c'est un excellent break: je ne réfléchis pas quand je lis ces romans. Ça me détend, ça me fait rire, ça m'attendris, ça me relaxe. Ça remplit sa fonction: me distraire!

Vive les romans d'amour!

Spring bride - 4 stars

This book is one of the Landon's Legacy series. It is the story of Kyra and Antonio. Kyra is the only sister of Cade, Grant and Zach. She is a youngish beautiful heiress who is the apple of her daddy's eyes, and a baby in her brothers' eyes. All her life she had played the role of the perfect daughter for her control-freak father, and the happy girl for her over-protective brothers. But it was all a pretence. Underneath this appearance, laid an unsatisfied girl who wanted to embrace life more freely and be taken more seriously.

Antonio is a thirty something successful half Castilian-half Mayan business man. He never knew his father and was poorer than a church's mouse. In addition, he has an issue with women born into money. His first love was an heiress who mocked and ridiculed his proposal because he did not have a blue blood.

How do Antonio who cannot stand pampered heiresses and Kyra who cannot stand controlling men fall in love with each other?

They meet across a room at a charity dinner, unprepared for the desire that hit them. They desire and hate each other on sight! A few weeks later, they meet again when Antonio rescues Kyra from an attack. She was on holiday in Venezuela and lost all her money and papers. She did not want to call on her brothers because they will patronise her. Instead, she asks for Antonio's help. Antonio finds there an opportunity to teach a spoiled heiress some humility. He forces her to work as a maid in his island in order to earn her return to America.

But she never ever had the opportunity to really do her chores. Her first day as a servant quickly becomes her first day as his special bed partner. The passion is intense and the love quick and strong. But before they open their heart to each other, a misunderstanding separates them. They will be reunited when a restless Antonio starts a cold revenge against Kyra by attacking her late father's business. I loved how he hid his trembling hands and managed to talk coldly to her at the same time. I loved how she confronted him, not pleading with him but demanding answers.

With those two strong characters, sparks were meant to fly! This is a good book.

Mistress of deception - 4 stars

Alan is Ebony's guardian since she was fifteen. He is around fourteen years older than her. She hero-worshiped him, then it turned into love when she was seventeen and thew herself at him at eighteen. He felt in lust with her when she was eighteen. He resisted because he felt guilty. However, 3 years later, they started a steamy, all-consuming and very secret only-sex affair. Around them , everybody thinks they cannot stand each other. When the book starts, she is tired of being his dirty secret and wants to leave him to marry an old friend.

How is he going to talk her out of that? Is she going to bargain for a more public relationship? If so, how is Alan's family going to react when they discover that he has been secretly sleeping with the sweet and innocent Ebony since years?

Alan is a hero not everybody would like. Though he sometimes does some good deeds (who does not?), he is jealous, unfeeling and he uses her as a sex doll. I really did not see why Ebony loved him so much, apart from his good looks. Really. But then, they say love is a mystery.

Ebony, on the other hand, was a very likable heroine. Apart from the fact that she accepted the secrecy of her affair with Alan, she was a very independent and modern woman. She was also very successful in her modelling career and had a big heart.

A sizzling sexual tension, a love-hate all-consuming relationship, a dark passion. It is burning here!!! You've got some dramatic scenes, like when Alan's mother catch the two lovers naked in Alan's bed. She nearly got a heart attack so much was her surprise. One of her first thoughts is "when did it start?". She is terrified of the response and breathe when Alan tells her that it started when Ebony was twenty-one years old. Brrrr.

You should really read it. As a guardian-ward story, it was really good. I really liked the fact that he only started lusting after her when she was a young woman. Well done, Miranda Lee!

A rich man's revenge - 4 stars

This is the first book of the trilogy "Three Rich men". I did not give 5 stars because the heroine was too cold towards her long-lost father at the end of the book. It reminded me of the very cold woman she was before she met the hero. But apart from that, it is great.

I loved this book because it was original. The hero is not classic. Though Charles is mega-rich, he is not the arrogant jerk, cynical type. Though he has good allure and class, he is not the classic gorgeous type with the face of a fallen angel and the body of a Greek god.

But the most surprising is that Dominique, the heroine, is a mega-beautiful gold-digger. The man of her dreams must be rich, but not oozing charm, otherwise she may fall in love with him. Too bad. She targets Charles and ends up falling hopelessly in lust and in love with him. Actually, he had far more power over her than she had over him. Talk of a plan that backfired.

At the beginning of the book, Charles learns about her gold-digging past. He then thinks she married him for his money. But when a woman simply melts at the first sexy look you give her, you think twice before jumping to such a conclusion. That is what made this novel so interesting.

Miranda Lee shows very well how much Dominique loved her husband, how insecure she was, how much power he had over her. You end up liking this heroine quite much, because everyone can fall and deserves a second chance. You'll like travelling with the heroine in the journey towards redemption. And you'll see why every woman needs the love of a good man! The emotion is great, the sexual tension and scenes are great, the style is great. You'll love it!

The greek tycoon's unexpected wife, Annie West - 6 stars!!!

Tessa and Stavros met in a civil war-torn South-American country. He was there for business when he heard of a foreigner held prisoner. He pretended she was his bride and married her in order to save her. But on their way out of danger zone, a bomb exploded and they got separated. She thinks he died, and cherishes the memory of a wonderful, gorgeous and generous hero who gave his live saving her. He is the star of all her fantasies, the man of her dreams. Stavros also believes she died and carries the guilt of not having being able to save her.

The book starts four years after those events, on the day Stavros celebrates his engagement to a beautiful, poised and ultra-perfect Greek fiancee. And guess who rings the bell? Tessa, of course.
She came to give back the engagement ring he gave her, having been able to trace him thanks to his well media-covered engagement.

As you can imagine, the situation is explosive. Stavros now has a very secret wife and very public fiancee. Great! What a man to do in such circumstances? How can a man explain that to his fiancee? his family? his business associates? But the most important question is: what is he going to do with this wife? So many problems... But if anyone can solve them, it is alpha-male Stavros. And his method is quite... forceful.

The style is just brilliant! You cannot breathe until you've finished the book. If I had two words to describe this book, I would say: "such intensity"! The book is sooo intense, from the very beginning to the end. And even when it finishes, the intensity carries on. You are hungry for more.

You'll love Stavros. Forget all the alpha-male heroes you've ever known. This is "the one". He got emotion, passion, strength, and a very big heart. But he is also bad... really bad ... sooo bad! He is a mixture of the typical sheikh and the very sophisticate European. When I finished reading the novel, I felt like "he is the only man left on the planet".

You'll also love Tessa. She is proof that you don't need money to have class. And that is not something you usually see in poor heroines. God, if possible, she got more class than lady Di. And more heart as well. She had a very difficult life, but her inner class and gentleness kept her soo beautiful and strong inside! I really liked the fact that she was a strong woman, but she was completely helpless with Stavros. It just emphasized how powerful the love was between them.

If you ever want to read a romance novel with good style, explosive passion, incredible intensity and lovable characters, read that ONE.