Red Dust by Fleur McDonald
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a signed copy of Red Dust. The contest ends midnight on Wednesday, December 23 AEST.
Fleur McDonald’s debut novel evokes the rugged beauty of the Australian outback through the eyes of a strong protagonist, but this might not be enough for genre readers.
If there’s one type of contemporary romance I’d like to see more of, it’s the good old outback romance. I don’t mean generic romances set in the outback where the hero is a land baron with money to spare. I mean romances set in the harsh landscape of rural Australia, where people struggle against the vagaries of nature, and where I can feel the hot dust on my tongue as I read the story.
If there’s one thing Red Dust does well, it’s capturing the beauty and roughness of outback Australia.
When Gemma Sinclair’s husband dies in a plane crash, she takes on the task of managing Billbinya, their 100,000-hectare sheep station. Although she’s managing to stay afloat
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Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James
Like the games of chess that run through this series, the romances are filled with strategy, intrigue and surprise moves.
This series begins with Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont, who returns to England from France in the late 1700s (during the Georgian period) to be with her husband, Elijah, from whom she has been estranged for several years. Elijah had what seems like a heart attack while at parliament, and he has asked Jemma to return so they can begin the process of begetting an heir, while he still can. Jemma was a well known social butterfly in Paris and had somewhat a scandalous reputation. Her return to England allows her to renew her friendships with her contemporaries—most of the other duchesses in this series—and due to her love of chess, begin a friendship with the Duke of Villiers, her husband’s ex-best friend.
The series is interspersed with several chess matches as, like chess itself, a game of intrigue, coquettishness and desire is played out between the characters of each novel. Everyone gets their happy ending, of course, but not without several machinations of their own or of others’—just like a chess game.
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Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry
BOOK GIVEAWAY: Read on for a chance to win a free copy of Dark Country. The contest ends midnight on Friday, December 11 AEST.
Bronwyn Parry’s second novel is a much more intricate thriller that balances romance and suspense in a way that should appeal to the broadest possible audience.
Dark Country opens with Morgan ‘Gil’ Gillespie’s return to Dungirri, hinting at his troubled past and discomfort at returning to a place that holds nothing but bad memories. He’d been involved in a fatal car accident that landed him in prison, so he’s not expecting a warm welcome from the town. Along the way, he meets police sergeant Kris Matthews. Gil is wary of cops, but an incident sparked by old grievances puts him under Kris’s care for the next 24 hours.
The next day, a dead woman is found in the boot of Gil’s car, and as violence escalates, Gil realises he’s endangering the people he cares about and that it may be impossible to walk away from the town this time around.
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Sweet Seduction by Maya Banks (Sweet Series, Book 3)
A blend of sympathetic characters, the heroine’s emotional journey and hot fantasy sex overcome the far-fetched plot in Maya Banks’ latest erotic romance.
The drama between Nathan Tucker and Julie Stanford stems from a Big Misunderstanding: he’s so in awe of her that he can barely get 2 words out in her presence and instead comes off as uninterested. Julie is a drama queen and doesn’t accept his apparent disinterest with good grace. Oh, no, this brassy chick makes a final attempt to get Nathan’s attention by throwing in a free blow job with his back massage before telling him that she is no longer offering him her services (those of a legitimate nature, at least) and avoiding him for a week out of sheer vindictiveness and petulance. After all, why shouldn’t he know what he’s missed and keep her from being the only frustrated one?
She doesn’t feel bad about violating her professional ethics or deliberately stirring Nathan up knowing she has no intention of letting things go further and decides to exorcise her Nathan demon with an anonymous threesome at The House
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The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber (Strangely Beautiful, Book 1)
An original paranormal Gothic romance for readers who love their alphas melting into a puddle and their melodrama dial set for ‘high’.
Percy Parker was raised in a convent, where she was left abandoned as a baby. At the age of 18, she is sent to the Athens Academy, a quiet, secluded place of learning in the centre of London where both men and women have the opportunity to learn and make something of themselves. (Not bad for the 19th century.) It is a tumultuous time, for the Ripper has come to the streets of London, striking fear into the hearts of everyone.
Unbeknownst to Percy and the rest of London, the Ripper is a manifestation of chaos, and the only thing that prevents him and other spirits from tormenting the city are the six guardians: Alexi, Rebecca, Michael, Elijah, Josephine and Jane, who were selected in childhood by the goddess to protect the city. Each of them has a special gift, and aside from defending London they commune on a regular basis in a chapel in Athens Academy,
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Soulless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate, Book 1)
Gail Carriger’s steampunk paranormal historical romance mixes Victorian manners, werewolves and hickeys in a book that’s a little different from the average paranormal fare.
Alexia Tarabotti is a souless (literally!) spinster with a fondness for parasols, living in a Victorian London populated by supernaturals who are well organised and fully integrated into society. One day she accidentally kills a vampire, and Lord Maccon, head of the Bureau of Unnatural Registry (BUR) is compelled to investigate. (Did I mention Lord Maccon is a hot werewolf?) Alexia’s propensity to get herself into trouble—though by no real fault of her own—means that she and Lord Maccon are constantly being thrown together, with expected and unexpected results.
Soulless is what I would call a steampunk romance. There’s enough technology and innovation to constitute an exploration of that theme, and there’s enough kissing and werewolf hickeys to make it a romance. It’s a good intro to steampunk for urban fantasy readers who are looking to try it
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What Happens In London by Julia Quinn
Julia Quinn bounces back to form with this witty romantic comedy. Squees all around.
I discovered Julia Quinn after reading The Duke and I many, many years ago. I loved the Bridgerton series but honestly found the books after that to be sadly lacking. I didn’t like The Secret Diaries of Miranda Cheever and I found The Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume to be repetitive and disappointing. So I waited a while before buying this one and was pleasantly surprised to find Quinn back to her old form.
What Happens in London was lovely and delightful. I haven’t been able to say that about a book (much less one of Quinn’s) in a while. It made me smile at the most inopportune moments. I had to put it down and wait until I got home so people wouldn’t think it was silly that I was laughing to myself.
Olivia Bevelstoke is the daughter of an earl. She’s a bit bored this season since her best friend married her brother (see The Secret Diaries of Miranda Cheever) and moved away. She’s got a new neighbour, and the gossipy friends that she has now have told her that he killed his fiancée. So she decides to check him out.
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I managed to read 7 books for the challenge (total of 8 for the month), when for the past 5 months I’d only managed 2-5 a month, so I think I achieved what I set out to do and that was to get over this slump and read more.
The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison
This was a book I had in my TBR box for a while, mainly because someone had spoilt something in the previous book, For a Few Demons More, so I was a bit put off reading that one and not about to jump ahead. I finally read For a Few Demons More before the challenge and decided to forge ahead with The Outlaw Demon Wails while the details of the last book were still fresh in my mind.
Rachel Morgan is determined to squash her inner adrenaline junkie and make wiser decisions that won’t land her and her friends in so much trouble. But a request for her help in obtaining an elf DNA sample from the ever-after leads to a revelation of Rachel’s true origins and changes her perspective on family and risk-taking.
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Addition by Toni Jordan
Toni Jordan’s debut novel was a delight to read. It’s not often I come across unconventional protagonists, and this one has become a favourite.
“It all counts.”
So begins Toni Jordan’s debut novel about a woman with a peculiar problem: She counts—everything.
Grace Lisa Vandenburg lives by numbers—from the number of letters in her name, to the number of bites it takes to eat a flourless orange cake sprinkled with poppy seeds from her local cafe, she shapes her world using whatever unit of measurement presents itself.
So when she finds herself 1 banana short at the grocery checkout, what’s she supposed to do?
My shopping trolley has 2 trays of chicken thighs, fat and glossy,
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Cold Front by Ann Somerville (Pindone Files, Book 4)
Because who could resist that cover? Seriously.
When I was offered the chance to read an M/m romance by Australian author Ann Somerville, I scrolled through her website and the book with the shirtless man in tight black pants with his hands cuffed behind his back brought out my inner cover tart.
Then, when I read that it was along the lines of an M/m BDSM paranormal CSI, I was even more interested in the story because just one of those would have been enough to attract my attention. The book contains two prequel novellas, One Brief Encounter and A House is not a Home, followed by the novel Cold Front, which is the focus of this review.
One Brief Encounter
One Brief Encounter is told mostly from Dekan hon Cerimwe den Tsikeni’s point of view. Dek met Rensire hon Parmin den Vizinken in a bar while visiting Ren’s home region for police training and they had an immediate connection.
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