Rapture Untamed by Pamela Palmer

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Rapture Untamed
Series: Feral Warriors #4
Author: Pamela Palmer
Source: Personal Purchase
Publisher: AVON
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 9780061794704

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)


The most combative—and tormented—of all the Ferals, Jag is a predator who hunts alone – until daemons terrorize the human population. To stop them, he partners with Olivia, a flame-haired Therian temptress as strong as she is beautiful. But Olivia is no ordinary immortal. The survivor of a vicious supernatural attack, she possesses a deadly and forbidden skill— one that must remain hidden, especially from the powerful Feral Warriors.

As Jag and Olivia’s sensual dance of dominance and seduction gets wilder and hotter, a dark force sets its sights on Olivia, threatening to destroy everything she has vowed to protect. And the only one who can save her soul is the arrogant jaguar shifter she lusts for but dares not love.

MY THOUGHTS

Let me tell you straight off the bat, Jag is one hot mo-fo! Seriously!  Yes he is arrogant and a pain in the wazoo at times, but he does not lack in sexuality and form.  Whew. I was hoping he would jump off the page and come alive before my eyes.

Author Pamela Palmer definitely upped the sexiness factor in this series with Rapture Untamed.  What starts out as a playful game between Olivia and Jag, slowly turns into an explosive — and at times rough — game of wills and sex.  Jag has had some things happen to him in the past that has shaped his personality.  He is hard to get along with and he can be pretty cruel at times to people and friends alike.

Olivia is part of the Therian Guard and has been called to the Feral House to help in the fight against the Daemons.  The only problem is that she is keeping a huge secret and could be the key in getting herself killed by the Feral’s themselves.  When Olivia is forced to team up with Jag and his sexual innuendos, she has a hard time fighting her nature and secret.

This book rocked with the action, suspense, magic and romance.  Each book in the series is getting better than the last — if that is even possible.  With each of the characters playing important roles in the series, we are getting a glimpse at future books with each one.

The ending was horrible in the fact that it is left on a cliffhanger and tortures the reader in having to wait for the next book.  Thankfully, I had the next book handy or I would have gone insane or stalked the author for little tidbits about the series. If you haven’t started reading the series, get on it readers.  You are really missing out on talent and amazing writing!

MY RATING

Outstanding book that will stay on my bookshelf for rereading!

Quickie Blog Tour with Tessa Dare and Contest!

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EDITED TO ADD:
The contest is now closed!!!
Winner is: Daph


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Today I am hosting the very talented Tessa Dare for a quick tour.  It is actually part of a progressive tour going on all day at different blogs at different times!  Tons of prizes to be had readers!!!


Don’t forget to enter the contest for a $75 Watermelon Festival Edible Arrangement found at the bottom of the post!

Now on with the show and meet the main characters from A Lady By Midnight, Kate and Thorne!

SUMMARY

A temporary engagement, a lifetime in the making…

After years of fending for herself, Kate Taylor found friendship and acceptance in Spindle Cove–but she never stopped yearning for love. The very last place she’d look for it is in the arms of Corporal Thorne. The militia commander is as stone cold as he is brutally handsome. But when mysterious strangers come searching for Kate, Thorne steps forward as her fiance. He claims to have only Kate’s safety in mind. So why is there smoldering passion in his kiss?

Long ago, Samuel Thorne devoted his life to guarding Kate’s happiness. He wants what’s best for her, and he knows it’s not marriage to a man like him. To outlast their temporary engagement, he must keep his hands off her tempting body and lock her warm smiles out of his withered heart. It’s the toughest battle of this hardened warrior’s life…and the first he seems destined to lose.

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Kate: Oh, what a lovely blog, Thorne. It’s called My Overstuffed Bookshelf. Look all those beautiful books.

Thorne: What does she do with them all?

Kate: Read them? Just guessing here.

Thorne: *shrugs.*

Kate: For those catching, up, first we decided strong, silent Thorne needs a meme to make him cuddlier. At our second stop, we tried out a few famous memes for size. That didn’t go so well. But now I have a new idea!

Thorne, grumbling: Brilliant.

Kate: Have you seen these e-postcards? So much fun! You can create your own at the Some Ecards site.

Thorne: I don’t think I will.

Kate: But others might like to. And look, I made bunches. I’m going to tell the story of our courtship in postcards. Here you are, in your militia uniform, foolishly pretending that you care nothing for me beyond what’s required by duty.

Thorne: That is not me. What is with that hat?

Kate: Never mind the details. Here’s the second one, where you’re pushing me away to “protect” me.

   
Thorne: I don’t appreciate those quotes around “protect”. I was trying to protect you, no quotes about it. And that vest…? The ponytail? I can’t even. 
Kate: Oh, hush. We’re getting good now. Here’s where you’re kissing me and pretending it will never, ever happen again. But I knew it would.
   
Thorne: At this rate, this is going to take all day. 
Kate, riffling through cards: You were rather stubborn, but my main concern is that these cards are about to become rather NSFW. 
Thorne: NSFW? Should I even ask? 
Kate: Oh, Thorne. You don’t need to ask. NSFW is your normal state. And upon reflection… (blushes deeply at one particular image) Right, I think we need to find something more wholesome. Don’t miss the next stop… Kate and Thorne’s meme struggle takes a furry twist at the Avon Romance blog at 3PM EDT!
  Feel free to play around on the Your E Cards site and have fun making your own! 

CONTEST

$75 Watermelon Festival Edible Arrangement

 What is the best card (or gift) you’ve ever received or sent “just because”?

Just answer the above question in the comments with a valid email address to be entered!
Hurry! The contest is only open for an hour and closes at Noon!


A Lady By Midnight by Tessa Dare

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A Lady By Midnight
Series: Spindle Cove #3
Author: Tessa Dare
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Publisher – AVON
Release Date: 8/28/2012
ISBN: 9780062049896

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)


A temporary engagement, a lifetime in the making…

After years of fending for herself, Kate Taylor found friendship and acceptance in Spindle Cove–but she never stopped yearning for love. The very last place she’d look for it is in the arms of Corporal Thorne. The militia commander is as stone cold as he is brutally handsome. But when mysterious strangers come searching for Kate, Thorne steps forward as her fiance. He claims to have only Kate’s safety in mind. So why is there smoldering passion in his kiss?

Long ago, Samuel Thorne devoted his life to guarding Kate’s happiness. He wants what’s best for her, and he knows it’s not marriage to a man like him. To outlast their temporary engagement, he must keep his hands off her tempting body and lock her warm smiles out of his withered heart. It’s the toughest battle of this hardened warrior’s life…and the first he seems destined to lose.

MY THOUGHTS

Stand back people! I have found another author who knows her stuff when writing a Historical Romance!  Tessa Dare is now on my auto-buy list and I am not ashamed to admit it!

There are so many words and emotions that come to mind when I try to describe this book.  Beautiful. Entrancing. Witty. Suspense. Humor. Passion.  Seriously the list could go on and on.  I love how the author made Kate strong and independent.  She has a superficial flaw and has not let it bring her down — well, not too much.  She realizes what people see when they look at her, but she has accepted this and moved on.  Being orphaned at a young age and left to the care of a mean woman in charge,  she never let it get to her in a way that ruined her.  She accepted it for what it was and made a life for herself teaching music to her students.  Yet, even though she has made an honest life for herself, she still wonders about her family that gave her up.

Thorne was a man that you instantly knew was a man who could make a woman feel loved and safe.  He was a soldier and is very protective of Kate.  While the two share a past, only Thorne is the one who is aware of this.  Kate has forgotten their time together when she was young, but Thorne has never forgotten Kate.  He has watched over her from a distance and they both grew into characters the reader will love.

When unexpected people arrive claiming to be Kate’s true family,  Thorne doesn’t trust them even though he does know some secrets in either confirming or denying their accusations.  He claims Kate as his fiance and vows to get to the bottom of it all.  If only Kate could remember her past, then all could be sorted out.  Together they must learn the truth and fight the passion they both are experiencing for each other.

I enjoyed this book so much that I am looking forward to sitting down and reading the first two books in this series so I can enjoy all of the characters presented better.  While characters from previous books are mentioned and appear on the pages of A Lady By Midnight, a new reader of the series should have no problem reading this book out of order. Another wonderfully written story that will sweep you away!

MY RATING

Outstanding book that will stay on my bookshelf for rereading!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

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About Last Night
Author: Ruthie Knox
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Personal Purchase
E-Book Edition
ISBN: 9780345535160

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Cath Talarico knows a mistake when she makes it, and God knows she’s made her share. So many, in fact, that this Chicago girl knows London is her last, best shot at starting over. But bad habits are hard to break, and soon Cath finds herself back where she has vowed never to go . . . in the bed of a man who is all kinds of wrong: too rich, too classy, too uptight for a free-spirited troublemaker like her.

Nev Chamberlain feels trapped and miserable in his family’s banking empire. But beneath his pinstripes is an artist and bohemian struggling to break free and lose control. Mary Catherine—even her name turns him on—with her tattoos, her secrets, and her gamine, sex-starved body, unleashes all kinds of fantasies.

When blue blood mixes with bad blood, can a couple that is definitely wrong for each other ever be perfectly right? And with a little luck and a lot of love, can they make last night last a lifetime?

MY THOUGHTS

I first heard about this book from some of my favorite blog buddies after seeing them rave about it.  I didn’t purchase it right away because I wanted to read more reviews about it before clicking on the Buy Now button on Amazon.  I wanted to get a wide range of reviews on this book because the positive reviews were huge.  So I finally decided to just go ahead and buy it.  I actually was able to read this within a few hours from start to finish.

First of all I will say that “City” — aka Nev — is one hot piece of eye candy.  Rich, sophisticated, artsy, and hot in bed is just a few qualities this man possesses.  He is the whole package and more.  It is true that he does have some flaws such as having a hard time just standing up to his overbearing mother and brother, but I was willing to overlook it since the author was obviously using this as part of the plot motive.

Cath was my main button pusher of this book.  This girl has had a hard life, but come on.  She had so many witchy moments that I wanted to slap her.  Here she has this great guy willing to do such great things for her and she lets her past interfere with her emotions.  I can understand being afraid of being burnt again in the love department, but she took it a little too far.

One of my favorite parts of this book was when Cath explained her tattoo’s on her body.  They had significant meanings, but the whole scene was emotion packed.  Also, there is quite a bit of sex scenes in this book, but they are not overly done.  Sure the first few are hot and descriptive, but the following ones are perfectly balanced for the book.

Ruthie Knox has a great writing style and the book flowed nicely.  The only real problem for me was the character of Cath.  I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy her that much.  Heck, City’s Mom was more entertaining to me than the main character and she was a cruel lady.

For a quick and entertaining read this one filled the bill.  Just don’t get your hopes too high in loving the heroine.  The hero of this book is the one you need to anticipate because City truly stole the book for the wow factor.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Bookish Confessions

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each Tuesday features a different topic and you post your top ten list related to the topic.

This weeks topic is Top Ten Bookish Confessions.



1. Ear Dogging those pages makes me want to howl in frustration.
No matter what you do, please do not fold those corners over in those pretty babies!  If I see you do it I will dig through my purse or under my seat for a piece of paper just so you won’t do this.  I would even rip a sleeve off my shirt to tear into strips for you to use. Talk about sharing the shirt off my back for reading!

2. Most of my books come from friends or used book stores.
Now this isn’t because I don’t want to spend money or that I am cheap!  I simply just don’t have a good book store in my town.  The only place you can purchase books in person in my town is a Kmart.  They never have new releases on the shelves until months later and it is very frustrating.  Sure I could buy online but where is the instant gratification with that?  So I don’t get to have the new releases right away. I wait for my friends to pass theirs on or look in the used book store.

3. RIP Borders. 
I still cry over this.  If I went to the next town over (a 40 minute drive), I always stopped by there.  Plus my best memory is from Borders.  (see the next number)

4.  I have only met two authors. TWO.  They usually do signings 3 hours south of me, but I can’t afford the gas nor do I have the time to make the drive.  My first author signing was at Borders with Alyson Noel.  The other author I met at another book store and it was TK Richardson.

5.  I will dig through the second hand stores for books that might be signed.  I have found 5 books so far at our local Goodwill that have been signed copies that people have gotten rid of.  Do you not understand how much this irks me?!  If an author takes the time to sign a book, people should take the time to put them on their shelves.

6. I have a plastic bin full of author bookmarks and goodies. 
I am slowly making scrapbooks for all of them, but with three kids it is a slow process.

7.  I will power through 5 books in a weekend, but it takes me almost 2 weeks sometimes to go over my notes and write the review.  This is something I am trying to work on.  Honest. 

8.  I carry a book with me constantly.
I buy purses big enough to at least hold a paperback book.  I take them with me everywhere! Every room in my house has one.  (and yes, even the bathroom)

9. If I see someone in a store browsing books and I have read the one they are looking at,  I will tell them if it is worth the price or not.  Yep. I am even a book pusher in person people. Be warned.

10.  In my library at this moment, I own close to 2000 books.  They are stuffed in shelves.  They are making my shelves sag. I am not ashamed. Some people collect shoes and such. I collect books.