This was a very fun story. Both characters were very real and I fell in love with them very quickly. Carter is a man that is jaded to commitment, although I didn't quite grasp why until near the end. There are a lot of hints and I was probably being a bit dense about it. He's running from his family and his family's company and legacy. He is forced to come back to it all when he finds out his Aunt is dying.

Enter Lauren - a blast from his past that he's never quite forgotten or gotten out of his system. She's an art PhD (which I totally loved) and is trying so very very hard to prove herself to the world. One of Carter's not so nice relatives insists on calling her "the help" and I just wanted to haul off and slap her each time. She was such a sweetheart that I couldn't stand anyone being mean to her.

So, in order to put the dying Aunt's heart at peace, Carter and Lauren pretend an engagement - not the most original plot, but there are some very fun twists and turns in this one. What was supposed to be a small lie kept in the family quickly snowballs out of control.

The ending was very touching and some of you may cry. You can really tell that the family cares for each other and just didn't quite now how to show it at times. The final scene was quite beautiful and made for the perfect ending.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

The setting in Twice in a Blue Moon really got me - I soooo want to go see the Ice Hotel and the Northern Lights now. The whole arctic wilderness was a fantastic setting for this romance. Both characters love the wilderness - but for different reasons. They thrive under very physical conditions, and I think I was expecting to see just a little more "stunts" from this. It seemed like I wanted a little more wilderness adventure style to this sometimes.

There was a very slight paranormal aspect to the romance as Melanie feels the presence of her deceased husband very strongly at times. But this is about as far from a ghost story as you can get. This is about two very lonely people finally finding that perfect someone to complete them.

It was such a sweet story - and I loved the dogs. How you can you not love sleigh dogs? A few of them even had a very distinctive personality. It was fun to see them worked into the story (along with a couple of real life reindeer). I really disliked Melanie's co-worker, Hayden, though. He was too much of a complete jerk. Even the bad ones should have a reason or some other redeeming quality.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

This was a really fun book. While I never quite grasped Augusta's need for a lover - her way of finding one was fun to watch. Especially once she met Joss. Their conversations were brilliant and very inappropriate (and they do mention this to each other). They were so perfect for each other and neither one wanted to admit it. They were both very proud - at times a little too much for my taste, but not even literary characters should be perfect.

Lord Sutcliffe - now there was one crazy person. As Joss's cousin, employer, and primary reason for being in Bathe, we see him and hear about him quite often. He's a harmless type of crazy and his little magic tricks and childish enthusiasm were sooo much fun. He was a great foil to Joss's seriousness.

Even though many of the conversations between Joss and Augusta seemed a bit frivolous, deep down they were really learning some fairly deep things about each other. While there wasn't too much wooing and courting in this romance, it was one that came about on a much deeper level. It happened at the level of two like souls finally connecting.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

This was a great book two. I got to see a lot of my favorite people from the first book, and the overall story arc really progressed in a great new way. As the government begins to try and limit the rights of the Magic Born even further, Elizabeth Marsden does everything she can to stand up for them and prevent the change from happening. But, her reasons aren't what everyone thinks they are. As a Magic Born living as a Normal, her lifestyle is in constant jeopardy of being uprooted and seeing her sent to Freak Town.

Vadim is a big secondary character in book one, and I really liked a chance to get to know him better. I just wish I had liked him a bit more. He has a really good side to him, but we saw most of it in the first book, and in the second we see other sides, but I didn't always like where it went. He's a bit of a tortured soul - and those are really hit and miss for me. I did enjoy a glimpse of his trickster younger self when he magics the Christmas ornaments though.

Elizabeth seemed a bit like a sacrificial lamb at times. She was an amazing character with some really fantastic motivation behind everything she does. Watching her cope with her untrained magic was so sad, but it all made sense. I really loved her, and I didn't quite see what she fell in love with in Vadim. She is really the center of the story though, so I got to see a lot of her. I can't wait to see what happens next in the world as the Magic Born become more restless and the Normals become more willing to forgive their past transgressions. It looks to be very exciting.

While Christmas may be in the title of this book, it is just a really nice wintery read. Selene and Rayez get off to a big of a rough start - seeing as how she captured him and all. But they manage to have a few civil conversations and agree to help each other with one bad guy, and end up doing it with two. Now there is another djinn in the story that may have been mentioned in a previous story? There seemed to be just a tad bit of backstory that I missed.

I loved the take on the sorcerer and how he was using Selene and her brother for power. It was a twist on some of the more common rules of magic to make it something a little more unique and exciting. The big "fight scene" was very intense for being in a novella. The whole story was just very well done.

I did not get a chance to actually try the recipes - a few of the ingredients are not things we normally keep around the house - but then I don't cook much either. However, after reading the recipes - I must say they do sound quite good.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

I really loved Ella and was excited to see how the vanilla girl would become what Master Kyler was looking for in a sub. She has a bit of luggage in her past though - luggage she thinks she's overcome, but it is still standing in the way of her being truly happy. A lot of this book is about situations that directly involve Ella's past and at times it was very interesting and thoughtful, but at other times it was just a little too much in her head and not enough out of it.

Kyler was a good guy, but he was probably my least favorite of the doms so far. Now, that may sound bad, but he was still a great dom and he is competing against some really good characters from previous books. He just thought he was right all the damn time, and sometimes he needed to listen to what Ella wanted instead of assuming he knew what it was instead. And while he wasn't completely wrong - he was far from right as well. This was my big problem with him - his "I know everything" attitude.

Their story remains very beautiful, perhaps even more so because of these character traits. There were several times I thought the couple had fallen apart forever and somehow they managed to make it through and come out there other side even closer than they had been before.

Let's start with what I loved about Wolf's Capture. I loved Brody and his wolf. They were beyond adorable and their little conversations were so great! I love it when a shifter can actually interact with their inner animal. Brody is also one very clever man. His training in the military was perfect for this situation and he has quite a few great ideas. Layla was a little more iffy at first for me. I couldn't decide if I thought she was weak for doing what she was told, or if she was strong for not letting it completely break her. In the end, she ended being a very strong, if occasionally overly sassy, heroine.

The one little tiny thing that I didn't quite like was the length of the escape attempt and the planning (or lack of) that led up to it. Maybe I was just being impatient, but I really wanted them to just get their butts moving already! While I appreciated the level of detail that went into figuring it all out, it just took a tad too long for me.

The end of the book was fantastic. I got to see some of the awesome guys from Kodiak Point again - but I wish we could see the girls as well. I bet Tammy could really whip some butt if she wanted to and Jan was quite the bad ass already. The ending of the story reveals a ton of stuff - but still not quite enough to solve the mysteries that have been hanging on so far through the series. Eve Langlais is doing a great job of giving enough new clues each time without really telling us what's going on.

This all means that I will most definitely be reading Grizzly Love when it comes out - soon I think.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

This was an interesting story. I really enjoyed Keelin. She was fiery and smart. And she came up with some pretty creative ways to try and get Gianni to run the other way. It was quite amusing to watch her little schemes, and she comes very close to succeeding. But Gianni is a smart man - and he's not about to give up the one thing that will seal the business deal he needs to change his image.

As far as arranged marriages go, this one was an odd one - mostly because I've rarely seen them in modern settings. It did leave me really disliking Gianna near the beginning - he came off incredibly cold. He quickly becomes more lovable though and as I got to learn more about him and his reasons, I could almost understand why he thought this was what he needed to do.

Of course there is some drama before they find their way to be together, no romance is complete without it. Theirs was a little too contrived for my taste with people jumping to far-fetched conclusions that I just didn't quite believe. Gianni and Keelin do make a very fun couple and the ending was just about perfect.

We get to see a little about how the rivalry between the two hotels has played out in Rome, but we don't really into that part of the overall story arc too much in this one.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

This book was tons of fun and it came really super close to getting that 4th star. I loved watching Russ and Susannah interact, it was the perfect example of an opposites attract relationship. Their conversations were witty and their accidental touches sparked some seriously hot thinking.

My favorite parts were watching them interact in each of their respective new environments. Susannah showed just how tough she could be hiking a mountin in freezing temperatures (you sure won't find me doing anything like that - I need warmth). This is when things really started for the two of them - in close quarters sharing a tent it was hard to to react to each other. I was a bit disappointed in her side of the show. While Russ got to take her into his environment for a few days, she only seemed to get a couple hours of "domestication" on her show with him. The story carries it a bit further outside of her show, but I really wanted to seem him try to cook and clean while chasing a kid around.

Overall, this was quite fun. There is some silly social media and blog posts that really helped to bring their relationship to life. I just really wanted to see Russ cook asparagus.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

As an erotic story, this was a pretty good one. There was plenty of chemistry between Ruby and Captain Price and lots of hot sex to go along with it. It was very well written and the historical setting really stood out in the story.

We get to see a little bit about the past of both Ruby and Captain Price, and his tattoo is truly something magical. I can't image how much it had to have hurt - but it seems to be well worth it. Ruby is fascinated with it and I think I would have been as well. Unfortunately, this was about the extent of learning about the characters and getting to know them. Even as a non-romance erotic novella, I still expect a little bit more story with the sex.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*