Hi Everyone!

I'm reviewing a historical romance I just finished up early this morning. Like, really early. Long story. Anyway, the only reason I was reading that early was because I could not wait to finish this book. So I hope you guys check out the book and enjoy my review! Oh, and I will review The Goblin King once I'm done re-reading it. I finished it last week, but I think I wasn't paying attention or something because I feel like I missed things. So I want to re-read it before I post a review. So for now, Once and Always.

Summary from Goodreads

Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages

Published April 25th 2006

by Pocket (first published 1987)

more details...

ISBN

1416530738 (ISBN13: 9781416530732)

"Once and Always," one of Judith McNaught's most masterful and moving love stories, powerfully brings to life the fiery passion of a free-spirited American beauty and a troubled English lord. Suddenly orphaned and alone, Victoria Seaton sails the vast ocean, eager to reclaim her heritage at Wakefield, the sumptuous English estate of a distant cousin, the notorious Lord Jason Fielding. Bewildered by his arrogance yet drawn to his panther-like grace, she senses the painful memories that smolder in his eyes. When he gathers her at last into his arms, arousing a sweet, insistent hunger, they wed and are embraced by fierce, consuming joy -- free from the past's cruel grasp. Then, in a moment of anguish, Victoria discovers the treachery at the heart of their love . . . a love she had dreamed would triumph not just once, but always.


Review

I totally enjoyed this read. The writing style was smooth and fluid, and the humour was laugh out loud--literally. There was one point in the novel I must have stopped and just laughed for about three minutes straight because it was so funny. I love it when romance novels can give me a good laugh along with a sizzling story line.

And Jason and Victoria's romance was sizzling. These two were at odds from the outset. Jason is furious that his father has announced their nuptials in the papers, and Victoria thinks Jason is the last man on earth any woman would ever dream of marrying. She finds him arrogant, cold, rude and very handsome. And, Jason who is determined not to marry, can't help but find Victoria a vision of beauty who also possesses a spirited nature enough to challenge him and a kind and caring heart. And although neither of them wants to marry the other, they are both very attracted to one another, and learn to care for each other. So, rather against their better judgement these two decide to get married--for the simple reason that they love each other, even though neither of them really realize it themselves.

Of course, their marriage is fraught with difficulties. First of all, Jason can't admit to himself that he loves Victoria. He acts wildly furious and jealous on his wedding night, hurting Victoria, and Victoria in turn demands a divorce. Victoria has led a simple and sheltered life, and she doesn't quite understand London society and some of what she says and does in the following days further alienates Jason. It's not until she finally discovers the horrible truth about his childhood that she comes to understand Jason a little better, and to really let down the barriers in her own heart enough to full acknowledge to herself that she doesn't just like Jason, but that she really truly madly loves him.

Jason, for his part, is sensitive enough to feel deeply hurt by Victoria on their wedding day, but he's ashamed of himself as well for hurting her, and cursing himself for letting another woman worm her way into his life to make it a living hell. But he can't help caring for Victoria, and he tries to meet Victoria half way in making their marriage an amiable one.  He showers Victoria with jewels each time he takes her to bed, which of course Victoria hates, but that Jason figures is all women really want from him. He doesn't believe he's lovable, and it takes Victoria breaking down and telling him that she loves and admires him for everything he's endured for him to really understand that he's keeping up a barrier between them that is hurting them both and to tell Victoria how much he really does love her. It was a raw sort of moment, and it was beautiful to see Jason as his true self the way his father and oldest friend had told Victoria he was: the most loving, devoted man she could want. It was a moment that devastated me.

The second difficulty in their marriage is a man from Victoria's past named Andrew. And I almost cried to see Jason so utterly broken when he thought he has lost Victoria, but luckily it was a scene that quickly turned to a joyous one. If I can get my hands on more of Ms. McNaught's novels, I will definitely read them because this book is one I truly adored. It's going on my favourites shelves!

Favourite Quotes

"Lord, girl! Where do you get such ideas? His lordship don't need them powders, and you can tell everyone in the laundry I said so!"

When she began kissing each scar, Jason rolled onto his side and jerked her into his arms. "I love you,"he whispered agonizedly..."I love you so much."



5 glittering stars

Hey Everyone,

It's time for another Waiting on Wednesday. WOW is a meme hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine in which bloggers get to share the books they are waiting on.

So, this week I thought I'd share with you a book that fans of J.R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series having been waiting on for like...ever.

In a word: Qhay. The Goodreads blurb reads:

The eleventh novel in the stunning #1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series--the hotly anticipated story that finally unites Blay and Qhuinn...forever.

Release Date: March  26, 2013
Publisher: NAL Hardcover

ISBN: 0451239350 (ISBN13: 9780451239358)
Add to Goodreads.

If you think the blurb is a little short, well, it's short because for BDB fans, nothing more needs to be said. We have been waiting for Qhuinn and Blay to face their feelings for one another and get together for several books. Several long, angsty books. Fans everywhere are super excited. I am super, super excited!!! That said though, I am a little worried about how their love story will play out. Ward always delivers a HEA, but last time I felt like I was cheated a wee bit. I'm hoping this time I get the story we've all been waiting so long for.

PS--Doesn't Qhuinn look yummy on that cover??

Hello to all my lovely readers and blog followers,

Hope you are all doing well! Well, I have a review ready for you of a great YA read that has my fav supernatural creatures--vampires. Hope you are intrigued, the series looks promising.

Summary from Goodreads

Paperback, 278 pages

Published September 21st 2010

by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

more details...

ISBN

1442408162 (ISBN13: 9781442408166)

Shay could never do the things her friends could--never try out for sports, never go to parties, never fall in love. Because of the mysterious and incurable blood disorder she was born with, she can barely make it through three days of school a week.

But now, her doctor-turned-stepfather has a brand-new treatment that he thinks will change everything. And it does. As soon as the new blood starts pumping into Shay's veins, she has visions of a different life...Gabriel's life. She sees an orphanage, loss, fangs, blood, and lust that she can't explain.

Is Gabriel real? And if he is, could he really be what she thinks he is?

Review

So I picked up Crave this summer and it's my Random Read for the month. Crave is about a girl who is dying of a rare blood disorder. Shay, our heroine, begins to receive transfusions that make her stronger than she's ever felt in her life. She loves the feeling. She also loves seeing visions of Gabriel.

So this book is set up in two parts: the first part is called Dreams, and though it all we get to know Shay and what her life has been like. It's been pretty crappy. She's always been sick, and she hates that everyone treats her differently because of it. She never goes to gym class, she's never dated, her best friend is a mother hen and Shay has always felt weak and looked after by everyone, treated kindly by everyone because of her rare blood disorder. In Dreams, we find out all of this about her, but we also see Shay getting stronger because of the new blood transfusions, and we start to see that she wants to live so desperately. She wants to act like any normal teenager and do stupid things, and just have fun with her friends.

In Dreams, we also get to learn about Gabriel. Gabriel is the boy Shay dreams about whenever she's receiving a transfusion. We see him at various stages in life, first as a young man about to become a vampire, and then as a small child, later as a someone Shay doesn't quite recognize because he seems so unlike himself. But what we do learn about Gabriel is that he values the experience of life. He's the sort of person that drinks in every experience, every moment and really lives. And Shay loves that about him because she's never lived that way, and she enjoys being in Gabriel's body and feeling how much he loves to live.

The second part of the book, called Reality is where things get a little more interesting. We find out Gabriel is real, but we find out some really horrible things about Shay's family. We also find out why Shay is sick, and why Gabriel's blood makes her feel so much better. But this part of the book, while great, made me uncomfortable. We get to really meet Gabriel, but he's not like the Gabriel in Shay's dreams. He's angry, rightfully so, but it seems so out of character, so different that I almost didn't quite know what to make of him. And although he finally becomes the Gabriel from Shay's dreams, a thoughtful, kind man, it happens so near the end that I almost missed how great he is. I almost didn't notice that the writing style wasbeginning to do a lot of showing versus telling, which is a style I enjoy a lot more.

So, book one was great! It ended on a cliffhanger which made me want to scream, but I can pick up book two easily enough I think. I think book one was largely about set up, bringing the two characters together and setting up some back story and now that we have that foundation, I'm hoping that the rest of the series will be a lot more powerful. As it was, this book really was well paced and the story is engaging enough that I found it hard to put it down. I wish the authors had done a better job of showing instead of telling, but I started to see that at the end and I'm thinking the next book will be more polished in that regard.

4.5 glittering stars

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are having a wonderful day. So, you all know I'm a self confessed highlander romance addict. So, somewhere between starting Jane by April Lindner, which I reviewed here and finishing it, I read Never Seduce a Scot. I'll admitt to being a little ADD when it comes to reading at times. Sometimes in the middle of one great story, I want to jump into another. I can't help it. I've been like that since I was a kid. Anyway, here is my review of Banks' newest novel.

 Summary from Goodreads.

Mass Market Paperback, 372 pages

Published September 25th 2012

             by Ballantine Books

more details...

ISBN

0345533232 (ISBN13: 9780345533234)

Eveline Armstrong is fiercely loved and protected by her powerful clan, but outsiders consider her “touched.” Beautiful, fey, with a level, intent gaze, she doesn’t speak. No one, not even her family, knows that she cannot hear. Content with her life of seclusion, Eveline has taught herself to read lips and allows the outside world to view her as daft. But when an arranged marriage into a rival clan makes Graeme Montgomery her husband, Eveline accepts her duty—unprepared for the delights to come. Graeme is a rugged warrior with a voice so deep and powerful that his new bride can hear it, and hands and kisses so tender and skilled that he stirs her deepest passions.

Graeme is intrigued by the mysterious Eveline, whose silent lips are ripe with temptation and whose bright, intelligent eyes can see into his soul. As intimacy deepens, he learns her secret. But when clan rivalries and dark deeds threaten the wife he has only begun to cherish, the Scottish warrior will move heaven and earth to save the woman who has awakened his heart to the beautiful song of a rare and magical love.

Review

I barely read the blurb of highlander romances anymore. It's like my brain does this: highlander? Check. Romance? Check. Read? Check. It seems anything and everything that is a highlander romance is landing on my to be read shelf these days. They're always a treat.

Never Seduce a Scot is the story of two warring clans, the Montgomerys and the Armstrongs that have been commanded by their king to form an alliance through marriage. Neither is happy about this, but neither can do a damn thing about it. Further complicating this unsought alliance is the outrage both feel about the bride: Eveline Armstrong is thought to be daft and her family are protective of her marrying a Montogmery, an emeny who they think will treat her badly. And Graeme Montgomery is seething mad to be saddled with a bride that's addled in the head and can never give him heirs.

That is, until he learns that Eveline is not only beautiful and sweet tempered, but not daft at all, just deaf. This fact changes everything for both Eveline and Graeme, both of who, despite their family's long and bloody history of hatred, feel drawn toward one another.

It was wonderful to see how Eveline won her freedom from her family. Not that they were cruel to her by any means, but they had inadverently caused her to feel trapped enough that she allowed their misconception of her hearing loss to continue to be understood as a loss of her factulies of understanding. She sees Graeme as both someone she's attracted too because she can hear his voice to some degree, but as a man that she might have a happy marriage with. She doesn't fear him, rather, she feels safe enough with him to begin to try and speak with her own voice. And Graeme becomes something more than the just and honourable laird of his clan. He becomes a man who can show his true feelings because with Eveline, all he has to communicate his love for her is actions. I totally loved the last scene where he both shows and tells her he loves her by shouting it out loudly enough that she can feel the words in her ears, even if she can't hear them. And to do that in front of everyone was very telling as well.

I thought the writing was clean and fluid, and the story telling was great. I loved the characters Banks created, and I got to say, I thought Eveline was kick ass. Very forgiving, very accepting, but also very strong and unflinchingly loyal. And very, very brave. It had to cost her a lot to sit in silence for three years to protect herself from an unwanted marriage to an evil man. And it cost her a lot to throw that aside and use the truth as her shield instead of her silence. I also thought that this love story was a wonderful story of hope: the Montgomerys and Armstrongs lay aside their hatred in the end for the love of Eveline. It reminds us that there are things in this world more pure and stronger than hate.

 4 glittering stars

Hello to all my readers and lovely blog followers,

I recently read a seriously devastating YA book. It's a modern retelling of Bronte's Jane Eyre, a novel I've read a few times and always enjoyed. It was never one of my favourites, like Austen's Pride and Prejudice but Lindner's Jane was utterly heart wrenching.

Summaryfrom Goodreads.

Hardcover, 373 pages

Published October 11th 2010

by Poppy

(first published September 23rd 2010)

more details...

ISBN

0316084204 (ISBN13: 9780316084208)

Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.

But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?

An irresistible romance interwoven with a darkly engrossing mystery, this contemporary retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre promises to enchant a new generation of readers.



Review

This novel made me re-think my appreciation of Jane Eyre. I think I need to re-read the classic now that I've read Jane.  I think I'll start off my review by sharing my initial reactions as I was this novel, luckily documented on Goodreads thanks to their progress tracking widget.

At 18% read I wrote: So far I'm loving this. It's traditionally yet modernly Gothic.
At 22% read I quoted from the novel: " 'If I bring you to the top of that hill there'--he pointed--'will you spin around and start singing that the hills are alive with the sound of music?' "
At 56% read I wrote: Bedroom scene in the middle of a lightening storm. That is soo romantic. And hot.
At 57% read I quoted: " 'And you'll always love me? Imperfect as I am?' 'I'll always love you,' I told him, and meant it with all my heart."
And I added on: So, um, I'm officially in love with Nico.
At 63% read I wrote: I'm afraid to read more.
At 65% read I quoted: "I lay there...and let him unmake me into a thousand glittering pieces."
And I added on: Does anyone wonder, with scenes like that, words like that, why I am so undone by this book? Would that I were Jane!
At 70%  read I wrote: I can't do this. She's left Nico, my Nico. Stupid, brave, wonderful Jane. I have to stop reading, this is too hard. Funny, the original novel didn't affect me as much.

Please note, at this point, I stopped reading. I literally got up and started pacing around my apartment like a nutter. It was days before I could pick up the novel again because this is the point in Jane Eyre I hated the most; when she was away from Thornfield Park. And Lindner did such a great job in following the plot line with a modern twist, that I was certain I'd hate the next bit just as much. I didn't, but it made me feel awful. I felt so awful for Nico, knowing how much he was suffering, and how much Jane loved him and yet had to leave, how much it cost them both. It crushed me to see Jane so confused, so devastated by her loss of Nico, that she nearly deludes herself into a life with River.

I was so glad when Jane went to Nico at last, and began help him put the pieces of his life back together, a life of which she was an integral piece.

So, if you've ever thought of reading Jane, or loved Jane Eyre, it's time to read this book. Lindner brings the story alive in a way that is refreshing but still every bit as passionate as the original story. In fact, the modern take allowed me to connect to Jane in a way I never have before. Her passion, her insecurities, her strength shone brighter for me. And Nico Rathburn, the broody rock superstar who is thoughtful and intelligent and just as passionate, just as lost as Jane in many ways, was a stroke of sheer brilliance. I loved to love him. I loved seeing how human he was, seeing how much he loved Jane. I just loved this character.

Jane is going on my favourites shelf.

5 glittering stars