Since I’ve still got quite a few backlogged reviews to post, I’m bundling the following contemporary romance novels into a round-up review, just to save some time. The books

Title: Heaven, Texas
Author: Susan Elizabeth Philips
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Year Published : 2007

Stand alone or series: Book #2 in the Chicago Starrs series

Why I read it: The author is new to me, and the back cover description of the story sounded interesting.

On the Back cover:

Former sports star Bobby Denton has agreed to lend his fame and his name to a movie. But when he doesn’t show up the film company sends straight-laced Gracie Snow to bring him to the set with surprising results.

Despite his dazzling good looks and killer charm, Bobby has reservations about being a movie star- and no plans to cooperate with anyone from the studio, let alone shy little Gracie. But though she comes across as a wallflower, Bobby soon discovers Gracie is really a steel magnolia and the more time he spends in her company the more he finds himself drawn to this plain Jane with a heart of gold…

In my books …
If you enjoy humour in your romance, then this book is definitely up your alley. From page one, when the hero Bobby Tom (or BT, as he’s referred to in the book) mistook Gracie for a stripper, a birthday treat he presumed was arranged by his friends, and tried to ‘teach’ her how to do her job, the author makes you laugh out loud with the hilarious situations both lead characters get into, the bantering between the two and of course, the undeniable chemistry between them.

It’s time for me to catch up on my backlog of book reviews, so I’ve grouped these romantic suspense books into this bundled review.

Now, I’ve long admired the way The Book Smugglers structured their review post, and since one of the Top 10 Things I’ve resolved to do this year is to be more disciplined about posting, I figured that having a good structure to emulate would help a lot in clearing the backlog, so with a little bit of tweaking and my own creative interpretation, here are my opinions of Kill Me Twice and Thrill Me to Death by Roxanne St. Claire.

Title: Kill Me Twice
Author: Roxanne St. Claire
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Pocket
Year Published : 2005

Stand alone or series: Book #1 in the Bullet Catcher series

Why I read it: Having read books 4 to 6 for the TBR Challenge hosted by Avidreader Keishon last year, and enjoyed them tremendously, I thought it was a good idea to back track and go back to the series debut which began this sexy, thrilling series.

On the Back cover:

WATCH YOUR BACK

Alex Romero is the hottest “Bullet Catcher” in the business. Tall, dark, and deadly if necessary, this high-priced bodyguard’s got the muscle and the moves — especially when it comes to the ladies. Alex can keep his beautiful clients out of danger, but sometimes they can’t keep their hands off of him. Now Alex has one last chance to prove he belongs among the elite force known as The Bullet Catchers, but his assignment is stacked…against him.

WATCH YOUR HEART

Private investigator Jasmine Adams is fiercely independent and fearless under pressure — she doesn’t need some hunk-for-hire’s help to catch the creep stalking her twin sister. But when Jazz uncovers bigger forces targeting her sister for death, she’s glad to have Alex’s brain and brawn handy. From the steamy streets of Miami to the sultry beaches of Key West, Alex and Jazz try to fight temptation as they race to keep a madman from fulfilling his promise to kill not just once, but twice. And some temptations are too powerful to resist….

If I were asked to name one great male romantic fiction author 2 years ago, I would have said “None comes to my mind.”

However, having read A Walk to Remember and watched the movie (on YouTube, no less!), and recently followed that up with the heart-achingly sweet war romance (well, sort of), I can confidently name Nichols Sparks as a favourite male author now. I gladly recommend Dear John to all die-hard romantics.  Here’re the reasons why …

Synopsis:

A rebel in his younger days, John Tyree joined the army “because he needed to” and to make something out of an aimless life with an uncommunicative father. While on home leave one summer knowing he’s ready to turn over a new leaf, he met the lively Savannah Lynn Curtis, the girl of his dreams. The attraction is mutual, and the budding romance quickly turned into a serious vow, on John’s part to marry her when his tour of duty is over, and on Savannah’s part to wait for him.

However, none of them could foresee the great change that 9/11 would wrought to their lives and their love. Faced with the choice of country or love, John made a decision that changed their future. Now, finally returned, he would finally learn the transformational power of  love.

It’s the New Year, and time for me to catch up on that backlog of book reviews, over the next couple of weeks (I hope!).  One post that has been sitting in my draft folder for the longest time, is that follow-up to the Great Western Drive spearheaded by Kristie, Sybil and Wendy some months back.

Well, I had the chance to read through several Western romances from different eras in the last couple of months: Diablo (1990s), The Scotsman Wore Spurs (1997) by Patricia Potter, and Never Love A Lawman by Jo Goodman (2009). Without further ado, here’s how they stack up in my books …

I have Kristie to thank for pointing me in the direction of Diablo. I’ve read other books by Patricia Potter but never touched any of her Western romances until the Great Western Drive. And since the UBS I visited carried The Scotsman Wore Spurs, I took that out on rental too.

A brief summary on Diablo … Kane o’Brien, a.k.a Diablo, was sentenced to death when a US marshal who wanted information on a secretive, and notorious outlaw hideout called Sanctuary, approached him with a deal.  Find out where it is, and he and his friend would be pardoned. However, nothing prepared him for temptation in the form of Nicole Thompson when he rode in to Sanctuary.

Well, I did promise that the next post would be about Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld series, didn’t I? And since I’ve been slacking off on posts — the understatement of the year, if ever there was an award for it – it’s more than time I make up for it, so here goes …

For a reader who’s been weaned on fairy tales, Arthurian legends and Greek myths in her childhood, and got hooked on paranormal/ urban fantasy stuff late in her adulthood, this series is a dream come true. I can’t think of another series that combines, urban fantasy, Greek mythology in the form of the Olympians, the Titans and the mystery of Pandora’s box, and melds it into the framework of a paranormal romance novel so successfully.

Quite frankly, apart from Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling and Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series, no other story arc has captured my attention in a long while. Let me share with you why.

Every once in a while, you come across a book series that not just entertains but engages with its lively characters, credible universe building, and snappy dialogues which grab your attention and spark off your imagination.

The Immortals after Dark series by Kresley Cole surely showcases some of the best paranormal rom writing there is. I was wary of stories of werewolves, vampires, demons and witches before picking up the first book of this series, A Hunger Like No Other. Having watched one vampire movie too many, and skeptical of being bitten by what I call, the ‘para rom’ bug, I was totally and pleasantly blown away by her sheer talent in reinventing Lorekind and giving paranormal an alternative spin on the traditional vampire and werewolf tale.

Of course, Ms Cole has gone beyond that, to weave in other urban fantasy characters using the coven of Valkyries as the catalyst of many a wonderful work which followed. I may have lapsed in following up on the series, but I never forgot the characters Ms Cole created.

Recently, I had the immense pleasure of finishing up not just books 4 to 6, Dark Needs at Night’s Edge, Dark Desires After Dusk and Kiss Of A Demon King, but also the prequel written as a novella, The Warlord Wants Forever. Let’s talk about Dark Needs at Night’s Edge first.