The complex relationships of two Olympic ice skating dance teams give different views of skating for the gold. American skaters Kerry and Adam are out of gold medal contention, or at least Kerry thinks so, skating one last Olympics for the benefit of her partner, Adam, who is in love with her even after their personal relationship ended long ago. For Russian skaters Elena and Mikhail, Elena is driven to win gold by any means, to the point that she has demanded to be paired with Mikhail to accomplish her goal, much to Mikhail’s chagrin. In Russia, he isn’t given a choice. However, he sees the opportunity to gain asylum in the U.S., and he has information that he hopes will help to barter his escape from the ties his home country binds him with. Lucky for him, Kerry’s brother works with the C.I.A.

Even before he approaches Kerry to ask for her help, the chemistry between them sizzles, and yet a personal relationship is out of the question knowing what lies ahead of him.

The story follows their cross country trek to win Mikhail’s freedom from Russia, from his overbearing partner, and from a haunting past. Mikhail and Kerry discover they have much in common along their personal journeys to the Olympic dream. Followed by the Russian mafia and people with their own personal agendas to stop them, this is a thrilling tale that kept me reading to find out how it all unfolds. Ms. Bellacera does a brilliant job of creating well-rounded characters that you cheer for and boo for. There are even moments when you feel sorry for the antagonist—well almost.

In the interest of disclosure, there were many editing snafus. My favorite one was an errant search and replace, where the letters t-u-n-a were replaced with c-a-v-i-a-r and “whole word” clearly wasn’t selected. This created one spectacular word that stopped me dead in my tracks until I was able to solve the puzzle of what that word was meant to be. There was also one section of the story that stretched my imagination beyond belief – while the bad guys chased after Kerry and Mikhail, they had an uncanny ability to know exactly where they’d stopped. The truck stop for food I could buy, but later, when they switched cars, it didn’t make sense to me how the bad guys 1) knew they had stopped to do that, and 2) knew – traveling across the width of the entire country—which car lot and in which city they stopped (this also turned into a copyedit error—which city did they stop in?). That “bad guy” scene wasn’t necessary to the story or to the plot.

That being said, the occasional editing errors did not stop me from enjoying the story as a whole. It was a very entertaining read and I would highly recommend it.

Amy catches her fiance doing the dirty with another of their coworkers. She cancels the wedding and decides to take the "trip of a lifetime honeymoon" to Italy, but she doesn't want to go alone. Without another option, she signs onto an internet "travel chums" website and her ad is answered by "Mallory." It isn't until she gets onto the airplane that Amy discovers Mallory is a man.

Mallory recently escaped from a mistake of a marriage. Rich and handsome, it's hard to sort through the gold diggers to find someone to spend the rest of his life with, someone to produce an heir with. On a bet with his cousin, he signs onto the Travel Chums website as a diversion.

The story is familiar, but it is still a light-hearted romp through some of Italy's famous tourism attractions.

Chris Redston has been plagued by vivid dreams all his life, dreams that are turning into nightmares. Worse, when he wakes up, someone is leaving him notes about the dreams he’s having. But they couldn’t be real, could they?

As a Searcher, Princess Allara is waiting for “The Gifted” to cross the barrier between worlds, even though his appearance will spark a war. A once in a lifetime occurrence, the new Gifted will be the second one in her lifetime after the first Gifted nearly destroyed her home.

The story follows Chris on his journey as a reluctant hero, never really sleeping but instead crossing from the world he knows into an alternate universe each time he “falls asleep.” Initially he doesn’t believe what is happening to him and is duped into creating a rift between the worlds. The story that ensues is his journey from apathetic to champion, from blame to forgiveness. The alternate world is drawn with beautiful clarity and the wars that follow Chris’s arrival are intense and realistic. Through the alternate world he is able to find peace in his real world, even as both worlds begin to crumble. It’s up to him to find the key that will restore the balance between the two.

On the plus side: I really enjoyed the story. The author leaves enough bread crumbs to guess at the final outcomes and resolutions. It was a compelling read, one that held me in the story through to the end to a natural conclusion.

On the down side: Brooke’s character didn’t really resonate with me, but she was probably the only one I didn’t quite get (I think it could have been written without her). While Orias’s motivation was explored in depth, there came a point where I became impatient with him. As a “berserker,” I didn’t quite buy into the length of time/justification he spent in voluntary captivity. It didn’t ring true, in spite of the author’s attempts to convince me.

Overall, recommended. A time travel with an open door to a world where dreams become realities.

Bryony Russell is determined to find out who framed her father for embezzlement and subsequently murdered him, leaving her sisters and her without a home and with a shadow over their name. First on her list of suspects is Lord Kilmartyn, a rake and her father’s business partner, a man who seems to have escaped the scandal unscathed. So Bryony infiltrates his household as the new housekeeper, one in a succession of unsuccessful women who have been driven out by the Lord’s virago of a wife.

Adrian Bruton is an Irishman living in England, a lord by virtue of his wealth rather than birth. His ties to Ireland leave him in a precarious position, one which his spiteful wife holds over his head as blackmail. To pique her, he hires the new housekeeper in spite of his wife’s objections that Bryony “Greaves” is too ugly to bear the sight of.

What happens after that is fairly predictable. Adrian finds himself drawn to Bryony, a woman he assumes is a spy, but he doesn’t realize until further on what she's after. Bryony knows her employer is a rake and although she intends to avoid him, she kisses him when she believes him to be in a drunken stupor. I have to say that didn’t quite ring true for me. HOWEVER, that did not detract from the read for me. I did enjoy this well-written story. Gothic romances are among my favorites and I would likely read this again. On the downside, stories that start with an intention of adultery, no matter what the circumstances, generally detract from the experience. I’m not going to tell the author how to write her story or what might have made it easier for me to countenance (here I go being prudish!). To the author’s defense, she did an excellent job making Adrian a man of questionable character, so it fits with his personality. Unfortunately, that didn’t make it "all right." And I’m dwelling on a minor flaw in the tale. Bryony’s character shines through. She’s hard-working, determined, industrious and loyal. These are the virtues that redeem her, and her weakness for Adrian makes her human. I enjoyed the story overall, but the personal issues I had with it force me to grade it a little less than a five (issues another reader might not stumble over).

The odd thing about this novel is that I hadn't even heard about it until my son found an online wish list that he thought was mine (because all it had on it was books!). So he bought it for me for Christmas, and me, always willing to read something different, dove in.

The novel follows a family, from their Croatian roots on a small, out of the way island, to some of them emigrating during the Balkan Wars, to the ones left behind who had to find a way to survive. And that's what this story is ultimately about. Survival. The impact of the war on this family, how it changed each one of them and shaped the younger generations who didn't understand. To tell you any more would be to deprive you of the wonderful intricacies with which this story has been interwoven.

The first rule of swimming is to stay afloat, and that's exactly what each of these characters has been taught to do.

An excellent novel that I would highly recommend.

Teenaged Lucy accepted an invitation to a party while visiting her aunt, not knowing that she was a target. A slightly-older-than-her Mason rescued her when he found out about the sociopath host's plans for her. Together, they set a standard they would measure the future against.

When Lucy returns thirteen years later upon the death of her aunt, Lucy uncovers secrets and plots and the truth about her rescue from that party. That same truth reveals an unsavory secret about her aunt and about the cause of her aunt's "accident."

A thirteen year old mystery, murder, intrigue and a wealth of suspects keeps you reading while Lucy and Mason back into a relationship that started on that fateful night when he first rescued her. An excellent tale of moral fiber, this is one I will keep on my shelves to read again!

Escaping a tainted childhood, Alezea leaves her family, determined to make her own way in the world. While she isn’t as independent as she hopes to be, her life takes a “normal” turn, until the devil finds her and pays her visits, resulting in the birth of a son. No longer in control of her destiny, she accepts that the devil will punish her if she does not comply with his wishes, and allows evil incarnate to raise her son.

As Alezea’s son, Thomas lives a sheltered life, spending most of his time with his father. He is raised to be a killer at the tutelage of his father, a social misfit and outcast with no one else to turn to. Alezea’s employer witnesses Alezea’s grief one night and suggests a religious camp to save Alezea and her son. Alezea sees the road to salvation and willingly embarks on it, hoping, for the first time, to redeem her son’s soul.

But Thomas doesn’t want to be redeemed. On his journey to punish his mother and the rest of her family, he meets a cousin with the intent of continuing the devil’s line.

This story will have a polarizing effect on its readers. There will be some that embrace it and there will be some that hate it. I have to say that the writing was not “crisp” but the story kept me reading. I could comment on some of the aspects that rub me the wrong way, but the overarching theme was “can you redeem a sociopath/serial killer?” And I kept reading to find out if Thomas was redeemable. The plot was well thought out, the journey was paced well. The conclusion was satisfying.

By definition, two stars translates to "it was ok"

The story is written in first person, a fairly egotistical man sending a letter to recount his adventure as an ex-pat in the South of France. He's an antiques dealer of questionable moral standards who doesn't intentionally try to break the law. On his trip to view an antique at a convent (and we never do know what it is he was so enamored of) he runs into a colleague of even more questionable standards (although he prefers not to think about that part) and decides to stay a while. What follows is a walk through adultery, breaking and entering, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and even murder.

Written in a European style (I might compare it to Oscar Wilde), some of the idioms were at the edge of my reach. The author generously provided translations of the foreign phrases he uses (with the exception of the quotes that begin chapters). There were two characters in the book named Brian (near as I can tell, since one showed up after the other one was off the page) which was confusing. The plot felt a little thin to me. The narrator, while presented well, was still not really a likable sort. For the most part, he prefers to turn a blind eye to the events happening around him and does not accept any responsibility when he is drawn into some of the intrigue. At the end, he is invited to take a shower in the letter-recipient's hotel room, in spite of the fact that she clearly doesn't like him, which didn't seem at all plausible. And in the course of the book - his discourse to her - he decides at the end that there are things he should leave out of the story, and yet the entire story is his letter to her (so clearly he HAS told her).

The pacing was good, this wasn't a book I slogged through. The action/adventure sequences were well drawn and had me reading to find out how they would be resolved and how he would be involved or not involved. Several plot points were left dangling (what happened to Estrade/Anguillar?, what happened with the antique? What WAS the antique?) So yeah, mixed review on this one.

This books was fun. Action packed, silly, sassy, and romantic, all at once. There is a moment toward the end where the heroine is TSTL, but she can be forgiven for being preoccupied,

Jinx is the guy behind the computer, the man at the base for Blackthorne, Inc. who supplies information to the guys in the field at the drop of a hat. The Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds, the Abby Sciuto from NCIS. Until a mission goes south and he feels responsible. In order to "fix" it, he becomes one of the field operatives, running through the jungles of Mexico, and to make matters worse, a cop has attached herself to him.

Desperate to find her kidnapped sister, Elle seeks out the Blackthorne operative to help her. She knows a lot about the case he has been sent to “fix” and is sure her sister has been taken by the same bad guys.

Dangerous Connections is a fast-paced, action-packed adventure, following Jinx and Elle as they fall in and out of danger from being kidnapped at a Mexican resort, to being forced to work for a drug cartel, to being rescued by other Blackthorne operatives only to be captured once again. Fans of Ms. Odell's Blackthorne, Inc. novels will enjoy the next installment of the series.