Heart Of The Desert by Carol Marinelli
A beautifully written story—the sheikh romance for readers who hate sheikh romances. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in the Mills & Boon Sexy line.
This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.
I’ve never reviewed a Carol Marinelli book, but I’ve tried the author’s work twice; both times were DNF, and I didn’t pick up another one of hers again until I started reading Heart Of The Desert, a sequel to her 2009 M&B Medical, Secret Sheikh, Secret Baby. It’s an absolute keeper.
Georgie Anderson almost had a one-night stand with her brother-in-law, Prince Ibrahim Zaraq, but she turned him down at the last minute and harsh words were exchanged. So when they end up back at Zaraq at the same time, it’s all they can do to be civil to each other.
A series of events finds them stranded in the desert—the desert that haunts Ibrahim and seduces Georgie. But Ibrahim is the third prince of Zaraq, and he’s bound by rules and customs that will never accept Georgie in his life even though each of them knows they may never find anyone else who will understand and accept them so completely.
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Red-Hot Renegade by Kelly Hunter (The Bennetts, Book 5)
This RITA-nominated book is sexy, angsty and deeply moving—everything we love about modern category romance. Oh, and the heroine? She’s the tycoon. This one’s a keeper.
You may have noticed that I’m in the middle of a Kelly Hunter glom. How I missed this awesome Aussie author boggles my mind, but Red-Hot Renegade (published in the US as Her Singapore Fling) is the book that made me first try Hunter’s work. Nominated for this year’s RITA awards, the book also features an Asian heroine with an Australian hero.
The back story for this novel is set up in the previous books of the series, which features the romances of Jacob Bennett’s siblings. Jacob’s estranged wife Jianne is being stalked and, having run out of options, she reluctantly comes to him for help.
Jacob is a martial arts champion who runs his dojo in Singapore. For reasons neither he nor Jianne want to acknowledge, they’re still officially married even though Jianne walked out on the marriage twelve years ago. What makes this reunion story different is that neither of them blame the other—instead, they remind each other of the guilt they feel about not having fought hard enough to save their relationship.
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Affection: a memoir of love, sex and intimacy by Krissy Kneen
Sometimes you find a book impossible to put down, not because of what it says about the world, but because of what it knows about you. Affection is that kind of book.
In Affection, Krissy Kneen intersperses past and present in brief but intense vignettes that readers of her blog, Furious Vaginas, may recognise. And yet the story flows—and does so lyrically, beautifully and at times enigmatically.
It begins with a playful tease—Kneen is bound, at her own request, in the middle of an otherwise perfectly domestic Sunday morning. ‘And that was just the sex part,’ she breaks off cheekily.
Kneen describes her childhood in Blacktown (NSW) and her teen years in Gladstone (Qld) almost always framed against the discovery of sexual pleasure—lying on the carpet, in a crawl space under the house, under her grandfather’s desk, on the beach—and her memories burst with texture.
When she leaves home to study in Brisbane, Kneen’s sexual exploration becomes more uninhibited and more complicated.
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On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
This is a book to be sped through, then read again and savoured and, when it’s tattered and the pages are curling, passed on to your kids.
This is the Melina Marchetta I thought I wouldn’t finish.
The story begins with a shocking scene of children trapped in a car wreck on the Jellicoe Road. But this isn’t the main story.
Twenty-two years later, Taylor Markham is elected to lead Jellicoe School in the annual territory wars against the Townies from the local public school, and the Cadets, who camp out in town for the summer holidays.
But Taylor has other things to worry about. Her dreams are filled by a boy in a tree who whispers in her ear. Hannah, the closest person she has to a mother, has mysteriously disappeared, and Taylor’s teetering on the brink of a breakdown—or worse.
What happened to the kids in the car accident and the boy on the bike who came along to save them? And what do they have to do with Taylor?
I was so confused, I killed a fairy before I even reached page 50.
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The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley (Highland Pleasures, Book 3)
A Victorian romance that doesn’t pull a fast one on the reader. It’s a shame we get only one book a year in this series.
Lord Cameron Mackenzie has been a bachelor ever since his psycho first wife died and has raised his son with the help of his brothers and the women who have married into their family. He’s known for his talent with training race horses, and, of course, for his reputation with women.
Ainsley Douglas is a widowed lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria (yes, it’s not a Regency!) and a good friend of one of the Mackenzie wives’. She’s been sent to their house party to retrieve incriminating letters that are being used to blackmail the queen. She’s encountered Cameron before—in smouldering but unfulfilled circumstances—and finds herself caught up with him again in her attempt to retrieve the letters.
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The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
I’ve made up my mind. This is my favourite Melina Marchetta book. If my house caught fire, I’d probably grab it on the way out.
We have a signed copy of The Piper’s Son to give away. We’ll post details of the giveaway this week, so watch this space!
Last year I declared Saving Francesca as my favourite young adult book, but that’s not totally accurate. It’s my favourite teen novel. The Piper’s Son is a little more grown-up, and in this book, Melina Marchetta moves more firmly into young adult territory.
I was crying before I got to the end of chapter one, right through to the end, and I loved every minute of it.
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Heartless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate, Book 4)
The latest instalment of the Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series proves that some things can get even better with time.
Alexia Maccon (nee Tarrabotti) has got herself into trouble again. Aside from the ‘infant inconvenience’ that has led to everyone trying to kill her—featuring, this time around, zombie, semi-mechanised porcupines—she has to solve a plot to assassinate the Queen. All while waddling about, moving, investigating her husband’s past, fussing over members of the pack and having tea.
This latest instalment of the Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series proves that some things can get even better with time. This book was just as witty and compelling as the others—I read it at every possible moment—and even more creative. (The porcupines were totally original.) Alexia, despite being preggers and totally dependent on her parasol, hunky werewolves and her unflappable butler to prop her up, still manages to save the day and pop out a baby besides. (Yes, the progeny makes its appearance in this one, which is not a spoiler since you can tell that from the size of her in chapter one.)
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Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison (Elder Races, Book 1)
The perfect antidote for a paranormal romance slump. I have been sucked into another series!
Pia Giovanni has been blackmailed into stealing something from a dragon’s horde. After becoming the only being in the world to get away with it, she finds herself targeted by Dragos Culebre, a powerful member of the Elder Races. (Yes, he is a dragon. Yes, he lives in a big tower in New York.)
Dragos can’t believe someone has managed to steal from him, but instead of dismembering the thief he finds himself, well, feeling. At the same time, he knows that there’s more to this theft than meets the eye, and before long he and Pia are on the run, trying to unravel the plot against him.
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Lunch in Paris: A Delicious Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard
Well-written, poignant, and romantic. Each chapter comes with a few recipes, most of which feature in the story. I loved it all.
In line with Travel Tuesday (#traveltuesday) on Twitter, Wandergurl will review a travel book once a month.
Elizabeth Bard met her Frenchman at a conference, and later met up with him in Paris. On their first date, she slept with him before dessert. Thus begins Lunch in Paris, a beautiful story of romance, Paris, growing up and learning how to be an adult.
And, of course, there’s the food. All the glorious food. Each chapter comes with a few recipes, most of which have been described as part of the story.
And I really loved the romance:
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Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey
The premise may stretch the imagination, but the conflicts and emotions in this book felt so real they made my heart ache.
When Keri Daniels’s boss finds out that Keri had been childhood sweethearts with ‘the most reclusive bestselling author since J. D. Salinger’, she’s given an ultimatum: dish the dirt or get the sack. Keri hasn’t seen Joe Kowalski in eighteen years, ever since she left him to pursue a career in the big city. So when he agrees to an interview if she goes camping with him and his family, she figures she can endure it to guarantee her promotion.
Joe was devastated when Keri left, and his heartbreak led to some serious alcohol abuse. But he feels some old sparks and thinks Keri might be open to one last fling. His twin sister, Terry, doesn’t think it’s a good idea and is determined to make Keri pay for what she did to his brother … and for some other grudges Terry has carried over from high school.
Exclusively Yours starts off with a very category romance feel, with Keri being coerced by both her boss and Joe into stepping outside her comfort zone and into a situation where she and Joe are forced to be in close proximity. But Stacey develops the story into a well crafted exploration of the issues that turn love into something unbearable and what it takes to repair broken relationships.
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