Advanced copy received from publisher for an honest review

I have to say, I have enjoyed every book of Nora Robert/JD Robb I have read so far, and this was no different with The Collector.

Professional house sitter and writer Lila enjoys a bit of people watching, making up tales for herself of the people she observes.

Until the night she witnesses a murder.

What ensues is a tale of romance, murder, suspense, mystery, intrigue.

Enter Ashton Archer - brother of one of the murder victims. And now things get interesting.

Ash and Lila's worlds are already more interweaved more than they realise, but now they are forever entwined.

We are drawn into a world of murder, mystery and priceless antiquities. We have a story that shows us just what lengths some people will go to to get what they want. And what other people will do just for the love of it (definitely not my kind of fun!)

While this is a suspenseful book, the suspense is not in the "who dunnit?" aspect of the story, as it is not really a secret who does things, It is more of a where and when suspense.

There are secondary characters in The Collector, some that I loathe and some that I love. I love love love Luke and Julie. With a little history of their own which plays out in the story, they are the perfect balance for all that is happening in Lila and Ash's life.

Whether writing as Nora Roberts or JD Robb, I am always taken on a ride with her stories. We ride the highs and the lows of her characters and their relationships and she draws us right into their lives.

While I did miss the little twist in the tale that we usually get when writing as JD Robb (who doesn't love Roarke and the In Death series), this leans a bit more to the romance side of things, which I still love love love.

Ms Roberts could write the telephone book, and I would still read it!

ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

We first met McKenna and Knox in When I Break, and When I Surrender follows on direct from the end of there, so you will need to read When I Break first

After a misunderstanding leads to McKenna and Knox drifting apart, we get so see what they will do to get back to where they had finally gotten.

McKenna's past comes knocking on her door, forcing her to finally make decisions that she has put off for so long. Knox's past is never far from either of their minds as they tread water, trying to save what they had.

I love the way Knox looks after and looks out for his brothers. He lives and breathes for them, and it is wonderfully sweet, especially with his littlest brother. McKenna's unconditional love for "her boys" is a joy to behold, since she has not had that for herself in so long.

When I Surrender is filled with love, pain, forgiveness. We are there as the walls that Knox and McKenna have built up around their hearts start to crumble. We can see how good they are for each other, if only they could do see it themselves. There were plenty of moments when I just wanted to slap some sense into one or the other of them, wanted to yell at them to get their act together.

McKenna is so selfless, trying to atone for the guilt she feels over things in her past, she does everything for everyone else, leaving little time to do anything for herself. I cheered when she finally had her epiphany.

There are plenty of great secondary characters. Knox's brothers are delightful, as much as a handful that they are. You can feel the changes in them, as you can feel the changes in Knox. And also the changes in McKenna. As imperfect as they are, they are perfect for each other.

Then there is Brian, McKenna's best friend.... my thoughts on Brian are still a little unsure. I can understand his actions at times, but I don't like them a lot of the time. He can be kind of a jerk at times.

And then BOOM! Just as we think that things are starting to go as we want them, we are hit with a doozie of a cliffhanger!! Here we go again on that rollercoaster Ms Ryan has taken us on so far.

I may have sworn at my Kindle and cursed at Ms Ryan when I came to that ending!!! Thankfully we don't have too long to wait until we get the finale to Knox and McKenna's story, When We Fall (due out in May 2014)

Candy Store is a sweet (see what I did there!!) sexy romance, a quick read that I enjoyed very much. In fact, I seemed to walk away after reading it craving chocolate truffles!!!

I am not a fan of the insta-love romance, but with only 120 pages I had expected as much to occur.

Love the attraction between Callie and Derek, that instant attraction has the air around the crackling with sexual tension (which they certainly had a way of breaking, anywhere, anytime. And I do mean ANYWHERE!!) And

Although everything happens in fast forward in this novella, I did love the progression of their relationship, but it did feel just a little bit rushed at the end.

I have read a lot of Ms Andre's work and have enjoyed it all, and Candy Store was no different.

Zack Love is known for his witty rom com Sex In The Title, but with The Doorman, he has made a departure from that kind of book.

Have you ever wondered "How did they know that about me?" "How did they know that was going to happen?"

The Doorman is a thought provoking novellete that takes place between Alex and Lenny, one of the doormen at his apartment building. Their daily conversations are usually lighthearted conversations about life, the universe and everything.

But Lenny has a knack of predicting things in Alex's life ~~ too precise to be simple guesses.

In in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Alex, an agnostic to the core, questions what he believes, even confronting Lenny about a lot of things.

The Doorman makes you think. What if? How? Why. Everything happens for a reason, but is there a higher power behind what does happen?

This is a short novellete (less than an hour of your time to read), but Zack Love packs a punch into that short read.

ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

I Won't Give Up On You begins right where Have I Told You left off, so you will need to read it first.

In the aftermath of the events at the end of Have I Told You, Caston and Sabrina (Bre)are struggling to come to terms with what it means for both of them.

Bre's dance career is over before it begins, Caston is shattered that he nearly lost the woman he loves.

Caston and Bre ride a rollerscoaster during the course of this book. While they deal with Bre's recovery and moving forward with their fledgling relationship, there is so many outside forces trying to keep them apart.

Beverly is up to her old antics, and throwing in a few new ones while she is at it. She is an evil cow, there absolutely nothing redeeming about her at all! With the help of Bre's ex Mark, the chaos and havoc they cause is unbelievable.

Caston is also forced to deal with lies from his past that are affecting him deeply to this day. How the people in his life, his so called family could treat him they way they do with so little thought about what it does to him is pretty despicable really. Though there may be a couple of little outcomes at the end that make me despise their behaviour a little less. But not much.

While there are the horrible characters, there are also those that I love love love. Jon and Sara are fantastic, especially Sara. There are a few "awkward" moments between Sara and Bre too ~~ just a little bit hot there too!!

We also catch a sneak peak into the future, but I am not going to tell you what happens there, you will have to read for yourself.

FL Jacob has weaved a tale of love and lies, hope and dreams. There is intrigue and suspense, twists and turns at every page. And there is some hot sexy times too (can't forget them, can we!)

I Won't Give Up On You is a perfect conclusion to Caston and Bre's story, and I can't wait to see what FL Jacob gives us next.

ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW ~~ 4.5 stars

They say not to judge a book by it's cover, but damn, when you get a cover like Phenomenal X ^^ you just know that the book is going to be HOT!

I am a fan of a fighter almost as much as I am a fan of a rock star, and Michelle Valentine writes great stories for both.

Xavier "Phenomanal X" Cold is a wrestling star. Recognised everywhere he goes, it's hard to know who wants to know him for him, or who wants to know him for his money.

Anna Cortez, recent college graduate, has lead a sheltered life thanks to her religious upbringing and over protective father.

After a chance meeting, things will never be the same for either of them.

The attraction between them is instant and intense. Talk about spontaneous combustion of underwear!! You can cut the UST with a knifte it is so thick!

I love them trying to keep things in the "friend zone". Blind Freddie could see that these two were always going to be more than friends!

The good girl meets bad boy is not a new theme in books these days, but it is the execution of Phenomenal X that made it different for me. Xavier's childhood still plays on his mind, and affects him daily. It was a really shitty childhood and how he has come out of it as well as he has shows his strength.

Anna struggles with what she feels and what she wants, against what she has always been brought up to believe. She is breaking the shackles of her devout Christian family, and she blossoms before our eyes. At times I wanted to just go to her and say "snap out of it!!" but I could understand her confusion after 21 years of being told what she is feeling is wrong.

When Xavier and Anna finally get their act together ~~ YAY!!!~~ things go from smouldering to smoking hot! These two steam up the pages and burn up the sheets!

There are some pretty horrible secondary characters in Phenomenal X. Xavier's ex-PA Deena is a golddigging whore and a grade A bitch. Every time she was in a scene I wanted to hiss! Rex, another wrestler is just horrible. Out for what he can get, and doesn't care who he tramples on his way to getting it.

But for the bad, there is the good. Nellie and Carl, who took Xavier under their wings when he was a troubled teenager. Brian, another wrestler, and his wife Liz are real. Kind, supportive, true friends to Xavier. And Anna's Aunt Dee and cousin Quinn are wonderful. Just love those two to bits. More family than Anna's family have ever been.

I have been a fan of Michelle Valentine since I first started reading her rock star "Black Falcon" series, and now a fan of her Hard Knock series. She has drawn me into the world of Xavier and Anna, and I don't want to leave.

But then I got to the end and I was all..... WHAAAAAAAAT!!!

Oh no you didn't Michelle Valentine! Please please please don't make us wait too long, because that was some cliffhanger you left us with!

Now, while I am waiting for book 2, I am off to YouTube the wrestling!!

4.5 stars!!!

ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

I completely adore the Lawyers In Love series, have from the minute I picked up the first book, The Law of Attraction.

And Legal Briefs is another great chapter in this series. The characters do cross over from the first 2 books, but you could read this as a standalone. But why would you want to do that and miss all the hi jinx and hilarity of the first two books?

Lily Adler is a trained lawyer, but works as a law librarian by day, sexy romance writer by night. Adam Roth is an assistant District Attorney.

They have known each other since they were in nappies, and they have been butting heads for just as long - since the "glitter" and the "fruit roll up" incidents . But they say it is a very fine line between love and hate, and this pair have been toeing that line for ooooh about 20 years!!

I have been impatiently waiting for Lily and Adam's story since they became a bigger part of the series in book 2.

I can't get enough of their banter. It is smart, it is sassy, sometimes I could not help but snort-laugh as I read. There is one particular discussion about tic tacs that just had me in tears of laughter!!

There is an undercurrent to all of their interactions, and you could cut the sexual tension with a butter knife!

I love love love the rest of their group of friends (who we have all met previously). And I love that all of their friends know how Lily and Adam feel about each other and are just waiting for them to get their act together.

And when they get together, damn do things steam up!! Hot Hot Hot!!! And some of the sexy talk is just hilarious

"Adam! God damn it! Will you f&^k me already?!"
"Very nice Ms. Romance Novelist." He laughed as he stood up.
"Fine. Will you thrust your turgid manroot into my dewy petals?"

I love that we get more of the "Scooby Gang" as I have come to know them. Gab and Braden, Jess and Cam, Bruce, Mark. These are the kind of friends we all need (and I want to be part of the gang!!) They are each others fiercest supporters, but they are also the ones who will give each other the most grief (in that way you can only be with your closest friends).

Then we have the residents in Lily's apartment building. What a motley crew that lot are, all with their bizarre perks that keep us intrigued as well as amused. And don't get me started on Adam's mother and older sisters! These ladies are relentless!!!

Ms Silber has created a series that just keeps getting better and better. As we get more involved with these lawyer's lives, I just want to learn more and more. There is plenty of love and laughs, and I can't wait for the next book (and the novellas in between!)

ARC RECEVIED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

The premise of The Good Girl was inspired by a sexual bucket list Ms Nichols read.... and I am glad she did read it.

Willow and Wyatt could not be further apart on the sexual experience scale. They lived in the same college dorm for a couple of years, and she was forever seeing random women do the walk of shame from his room.

Willow is no virgin (thank goodness for that, the virgin meets manwhore story is getting a bit over done!!) but she is seriously lacking in epxerience.

She has been groomed to succeed. Nothing more. Nothing less. And now she has her sights set on writing a column.... a sex advice column!

Wyatt is not the man she has always thought, and your heart will melt when you find out what he is really up to all along.

I loved the banter between Wyatt and Willow, especially as we learn more of how similar their upbringings are.

It is hard with a novella to get that intense connection between characters, as everything is in fast forward mode. However I did not feel this too much with The Good Girl (except for the ending felt a bit rushed).

It was not hard to see where the story was going to end up, but it was a fun ride getting there. There were so laugh out loud moments, some sad moments, some moments that just put a big ol' smile on my dial.

Their exploits as Wyatt works his way through the sex lists with Willow is great. The set up to some of them even better! And as the book progresses, you can feel the the confusion of both our MC's as they realise that they have crossed that line from friends with benefits/experimentation only to maybe being more.


So, does Willow get the dream job? Will Wyatt leave as planned? Or will his pair work things out and get their HEA?
Uh uh! For that you are going to have to read for yourself!

I have read a few of Ms Nichol's previous works, and as with them, I very much enjoyed The Good Girl, and I look forward to reading more of her work in future.

Oh, and make sure you do check out the Bucket List posted above. I was surprised at how many I could cross off!!

ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

It is a fine line between love and hate, and Melanie and Xavier are toeing that line.

After an argument, Melanie and Xavier who are planning their "together forever", split up a with miscommunications and misunderstandings, seem to be separated forever.

6 years down the track, their lives come back together through the illness of Xavier's wife.

Alyssa Ross has had to live up to "the one that got away and broke his heart" since she first met Xavier. Even on her death bed, she can feel the tension between Melanie and Xavier, and it does not take much for her to realise who Melanie is, as hard as Melanie and Xavier try to hide it from her (not in a bad way though).

The emotions flow off the page in Fragile Bonds. The love, the hate, the sadness, the confusion. It is the first time that I have read a book with this kind of storyline, and I may have shed a tear or two as I was reading.

It is a story about love and loss, forgiveness and redemption, second chances.

As sad as the base story line is, the love between Xavier and Melanie is one that cannot be stopped. After all the years apart, the bad feelings between them, they have always loved each other.

As we learn more about Xavier and Alyssa, I really didn't like him for a while. He was such an asshole to her for no other reason than that she was not Melanie. I know why she stuck with him, but how she didn't throttle him, or at least walk away I don't know.


Jacob is the reason she hung around, and he really is a scene stealer. He made me laugh, he made me cry. So many things for a 4 year old boy trying to understand about his dying mother.

I did like the changes we see in Xavier. He goes from standoffish with his son to his son being his entire world. I also loved the attachment that forms between Melanie and Jacob.

We get the back story as to why Xavier and Melanie originally broke up. That was pretty devastating when we get to the heart of it.

I loved that Melanie and Xavier didn't just jump right back into their relationship. Even though his wife knew that he always loved her, I would have been disappointed if they had just fallen back right in where they had left off. Watching both Xavier and Melanie deal with the guilt they feel, how they feel they are betraying Alyssa by moving forward.

There are some pretty great secondary characters in Fragile Bonds. Melanie's "gay husband" Tyler is great. No matter what his feelings are about Xavier, he is all for Melanie finding happiness. Xavier's brother Braydon I wanted to strangle at the beginning but that didn't last long.

And then there is Melanie's best friend Stacey. There are no words for what I feel for her ~~ and what i felt for her was nothing good! I am not a violent person, but this one person made me want to hurt them! You will have to read to find out why I despised her so, but you will know when you get to it!

While there are hints of light BDSM through the back story, that is not what Fragile Bonds is about. It is about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary loss. It is about mending broken hearts. It is about earning back trust.

I dare you not to shed a tear or two whilst reading Fragile Bonds. Whether tears of sadness or tear of happiness, I am sure you will feel the urge to cry at some stage.

ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW - 3.5 stars

Nick Ragusa is the prince of the Chicago mob family, who is father is priming him to take over the "family business"

Jackie Marks is your average working girl, who has been involved with a gangbanger since high school.

The circumstances of their meeting are anything but normal and so is their relationship.

You will know that I a sooooooo NOT a fan of insta-love relationships. Insta-lust yeah sure ~ who hasn't seen a hottie while out and about and had dirty, lustful thoughts about them?

Nicky and Jackie's relationship took the insta-love to an all new level! Before I could blink there were declarations of love. This just really takes me right out of the story. When there is no build up to a relationship it just puts me right off.

The relationship started quite promising. Nicky sees Jackie in a crappy situation and is concerned about her. But then things just take off at warp speed. And I think that this is what irked me the most. If they had had more time to get to know each other rather than being "I love you but I don't know you and don't like you"? When characters go from not saying more than a couple of lines to each other, then are humping like rabbits, yeah, this doesn't work for me. This may just be me though.

Unfortunately I couldn't connect with Jackie ~ at all. She just seemed to be there but didn't really contribute to the story for me. In fact, at times I felt that the romance part of the story could probably been left out of things all together.

But I did like Nicky. There were things that I think we could all relate to. Sure, not the mob boss stuff, but living up to family expectations, even when they are not what we want for ourselves ~ yeah, of course.

Selfless love of our family, who we would do anything and everything for. I was a little jealous of the large extended family that he had, as coming from a small family we did not have lots of aunts and uncles, cousins etc who we could spend a lot of time with. I could practically hear the loud dinners, everyone trying to talk over each other.


I also did like the gang banger/mob war part of the story. I don't know if we needed Jackie to be the catalyst for this all starting, since the worlds of the two main protaganists overlapped so much anyway?


Plus, we also did not get much of the cage fighter side of Nicky. I am a bit partial to a sexy fighter, and since fighting is a big part of him and his life, it was disappointing that we got so little of it.


I do like Ms Vernon's writing and have read plenty of her other works, but unfortunately this one just did not do it for me. But this is just my opinion and the things that irritated me probably won't you!