Cover Sneak Peak (Aka the Happy Dance cover)

Today was worse than a 'Monday from Hell' at work (that's saying a lot!) but when I came home I saw an email from Suzanne McLeod.Then  I actually screamed, squeeeeed and made a 'happy dance'.

Suzanne sent me the new US cover of The Bitter Seed of Magic which will be released in December. I'll share it with you but be warned that this might not be the final version (her eye color might need some fixing). 

I feel so honored to be quoted on the cover of this book. *squeeeeeeee* This is one of my favorite read this year (and a favorite series!) and I still can't believe it. 

Thank you so much Suzanne for letting me know about it and letting me post a special preview of the cover!

Spellcrackers.com series:

#1 : The Sweet Scent of Blood

#2:  The Cold Kiss of Death

#3: The Bitter Seed of Magic

Have you read this series?  As you can guess I highly recommend it *g*

Is there anyone else who's impatiently waiting for the release of the next book in the series?

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ARC Review: Shameless by Anne Stuart

Blurb:

A long string of tragic loves haunts Viscount Benedick Francis Alistair Rohan. Cool and cynical, he's weary of life's fickle games and wants a prim and proper wife he can ignore while indulging his sensual appetites.

Lady Melisande Carstairs is nothing less than a tornado storming into Benedick's measured life. Possessed of boundless energy and the soul of a reformer, Melisande always conquers, whether it's saving the souls of soiled doves or seducing the man she's inconveniently fallen for. When she informs Benedick that his brother's newly revived Heavenly Host has graduated from simple carnal debauchery to sadistic violence, he's compelled to investigate, undercover. Under those covers, however, is Melisande herself, playing a dangerous game in the name of justice.

And the Heavenly Host has just seen her hand, and more…

Caro's Review:
Shameless is the 4th book in the House of Rohan series. I am a big fan of this series and I just couldn't wait to read this last installment. It was on my Auto-read list, it was such a sure thing in my mind that I would read it that I didn't read the book synopsis. So when I started the book, I didn't really connect the dots. You see, the first 3 books followed the House of Rohan on 3 generations. So I was expecting Shameless to be about the kids of the previous heroes. Ah! Of course I should have read the synopsis!  Shameless is set about 5 or 10 years (I can't remember the exact number!) after the end of Breathless and is about Miranda's (Heroine of Breathless, you still following?) oldest brother.

What a good surprise! When I finally realized who it was about and how it was situated , it all clicked together and I'm pretty sure I squealed. *wink* . Benedick, the hero was married during the set of Breathless and  for some reason I didn't think he would get his story. I thought him safe in a somewhat good marriage. I also saw him as a stuffy lord. Oh what a delight it was to realize he was actually quite wicked and such a cynic person.So what? Yes I love my heroes wicked, evil and dangerous, and Anne Stuart delivers! Each time!  All the heroes of this series are wicked in their own way, they are all very different but each very delicious.

Benedick is a cynic but he has his reasons. He's been married twice and both wives died in childbirth leaving him without an heir. So he decided to find a wife to get that heir and a spare. He just wants a brooding mare, someone he can just forget all about outside the bedroom. As you can imagine, it won't work that way ;).

Melisande is not your typical lady. For once she lives with more than 20 former prostitutes! She's the widow of a wealthy elderly lord. Now with her money she tries to reform prostitutes and help them find a real respectable job. As you can imagine she's not really someone who would be invited to balls and party by Society. I found Melisande very likable, she's a good woman and she really wants to help save these girls. I found her devotion to her 'gaggle' very endearing.She might have been married but Melisande is still a near-virgin when it comes to the pleasures of sex. It was cute to see such an innocent woman leaving with women who enjoyed having sex so much and it made me laugh a few times.

When Melisande hears that the secrete society called the Heavenly Hosts has been revived and that now they started becoming very violent with prostitutes/young women she decides to act. Melisande knows Benedick's brother, Brandon, is a member of this secret society so she decides to warn Benedick about it and asks for his help. I really enjoyed seeing them together, they have such a chemistry!  *swoon* They don't plan to get involved with each other but it's like it's out of their hands. The more they fight it, the harder it is. God, I loved Benedick, he's such a jerk! He has a vicious tongue, very cutting.   The smex scenes are hot and very well written. Benedick is confident in his skills and I just love that in my heroes *g*.

If you read Breathless, you'll remember Brandon, the youngest Rohan. He was so young and cute and innocent. Really brave too. The man we meet in Shameless is just a shadow of his old self. Brandon has been to war and he's come back wounded both physically and in spirits. He gave up on life and he's become reckless. We get glimpses of him and what happened when he came back from war. Now, I have to tell you I'm REALLY hoping  he's getting his book because if not I'll be pissed. Why? Because we get glimpses of his story and a possible romance and I couldn't believe it ended this way. Anyway, I can't say more but I am crossing all my fingers and toes we'll get his book. (I've spent 2 hours on the web searching for any indication there would be one but *sob* I couldn't find any info about it *sob*)

I LOVED that we got to see quite a lot of the HEA of Miranda and Lucien (Heroes from Breathless, yes I also do Cliffnotes as you can see *wink*). I remember raging at the ending of Breathless because it didn't have an epilogue. *squeeeeeeeeee* We get it in Shameless. Seriously I was grinning the whole time we got to see Lucien and Miranda.  And we see them from Benedick's POV, which is pretty hilarious since he HATES his brother-in-law so much. I loved seeing their life through his eyes. I can't thank Anne Stuart enough for indulging us like that. *g*

I was ecstatic when I finished Shameless! It has an epilogue!!! *squeee* And a very good one. It's not cheesy I promise, because I'm not sure Anne Stuart can do cheesy. But it left me smiling and feeling very good.  <3

Shameless is a wonderful book, it really does justice to this series. You want to root for the characters and it's hard to stop reading once you started. It keeps you enthralled and always wanting more while giving you some closure about the story (and about the previous book). I still feel pretty emotional about this book. It sure left his mark in my mind and in my heart (see? I can be cheesy!)

ps: I'm sorry about it being such a long review. And THIS is the short version ;) 

I give Shameless 4 1/2 Stars.

With a Shiny HEA, full of hopes and happiness

Author Links:
Website

Book Links:
Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

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ARC Review: Kisri by Moira Rogers

Blurb:

After three years at war, Ennon bears the burden of seeing the High Lord's vast armies home. Keeping thousands of fiercely independent lions in line isn't easy. When his soldiers discover a beautiful, royal female hidden beneath an illusion spell, the lure of her inheritance threatens the order of his camp.

The men of her family protected Kisri, until the war stole them away. Tired of defending herself from greedy suitors, she's in search of her only remaining male relative. Instead she finds Ennon, her cousin's most dangerous warrior. Perhaps the only man in the kingdom who has no interest in claiming her birthright. Which makes him unique...and tempting.

Delivering Kisri to his High Lord's side--while keeping his distance--is Ennon's one and only duty. Yet Kisri's untutored advances crack his formidable resistance. And she proves to be a dangerously adept student. Especially when their passion wakes a magic beyond their control...

Warning: This story contains a dangerous shapeshifter warlord, a lioness with a sword, innocent passion, sexual awakenings and a happily-ever-after worthy of any fairy tale.

Susi's Review:
I really adore Rogers' writing- their voice is just enthralling. It grabs you and bang- 2 hours later you finished their novella without even noticing how time passed. It was like that with Kisri- the way they tell their tales.

In Kisri we are thrown back into the fantasy  world around our 4 shifter nations. This time we see the side of the lions. Ennon has to escort the High Lords' cousin to him- unharmed and untouched but as you can imagine it doesn't happen that way.

Kisri is the High Lords' cousin- this makes her nobility for the lions and she never had a shortage of admirers who try to get  her attention. But the ground rules changed in the last few months and now she's to stand up for herself or find someone who will do it for her. Kisri is a strong woman but also still a girl. She seemed strong and independent at times but in other moments she was rather shy and seemed to be very young. I would have loved to read more about Kisri's past and why she had to run. Yes, we are told what happened but that is just not the same as seeing it while reading. Also I always waited to see why Kisri is deemed untameable. In my eyes she was rather nice and all. I always waited for the stubborn lioness to come out but all her moments of "play" were again pretty tame in my eyes.

Ennon is a sexy warrior and a strong person. He's one of those men you just can't NOT like. He is the High Lord's right hand and I was a bit surprised about how un-alpha he was with Kisri. Don't get me wrong, I'm usually complaining about the over the top alphas but Ennon could have been a bit more of a challenge for Kisri.
I pretty much liked both characters but I didn't really connect to them. I think I usually need a bit more insight into their characters or their pasts to really feel with them. There love scenes were really good though and I still really enjoyed reading this book.

The story was in retrospective perhaps a bit light but it was definitely enough to keep me glued to the pages.

Kisri is a good addition to the and the Beast series. It shows us a new side and perspective. I loved to actually see how Rogers imagines a different kind of shifters. But I have to say their wolves will always be my favorite. I love this series- the fantasy is wonderful and their books always make me crave more.

I give Kisri 3,5 stars.

with a cute and sweet HEA

Author Links:
Moira Rogers Website, Bree Twitter, Donna Twitter, Facebook

Book Links:
Caro's review @ Book Lovers Inc, Goodreads, Amazon, Samhain Publishing

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Guestpost: Lea's & Tori's perfect HEA

Today we are very happy to welcome two ladies here at Secret HEA society again. Tori & Lea usually blog all around the interwebs, Closetreader, DIK and Book Lovers Inc just to name some of them. Today they are here to talk about their idea of the perfect HEA. Please give them a warm welcome and share your thought with us in the comments.

Tori and I were delighted when Susi and Caro extended an invitation to travel overseas and spend a little time at the Secret HEA Society. Along with their hospitality they asked that I offer my thoughts on the Happily Ever After in romance.

I’ve blogged about this topic before and it is one I’ve personally pondered a great deal because it is ever evolving. I truly believe that it comes down to the question of what in our modern romance reading world, is a "traditional HEA"? I mean, we have humans, aliens, demons, vampires, shapeshifters including werewolves, and any number of other shifter folk, sorcerers, witches, etc. etc. Then of course there are the various sub-genres of romance that all these species, human or non fit into, contemporary, erotic, paranormal, suspense, military suspense, fantasy, m/m, historical and so on and so on.

So, what am I getting at? On more occasions than I can count I've noticed fellow romance readers responding in blog comments, readers groups etc. that they've "gotta have their HEA". I'm not saying that is bad because it isn't, at all! I mean, I look forward to a happy ending incorporated into the conclusion of my current read too. However, are we talking a "traditional" happy ending here, as in a white wedding dress and white picket fence, or as modern women and men reading a variety romance sub-genres are we more open minded regarding an HEA? I would like to think and hope the latter is true.

As an example, if we are talking about a bad boy hero or heroine who has major 'issues' that they work through over the course of a story, wouldn't a more open ended Happy For Now (HFN) seem more appropriate? Maybe the hero and heroine decide to live together or make a commitment to be monogamous and see what happens. In the case of black ops or military heroes, who live on the edge with danger and intrigue at every turn and will likely to continue this life despite finding their love match, I find it more realistic if there is a non-traditional commitment at the end of the story to be together and see how things work out. Now, I'm not saying that a white wedding dress and picket fence isn't appropriate in this type of scenario, because it certainly depends on the characters and the plot of the story. However, for me a more open ended, nontraditional ending is perfectly acceptable too.

Which brings me to paranormal beings, and I'm going to use the example of Larissa Ione's seminus demons from her Demonica series. Now these guys don't just mate, they bond, for-ever. In fact, the female takes on the same dermaglyph markings as the male when there is a blood exchange and sex during what is a physiological as well as emotional bonding ritual.In Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed Series, her alien male vampires mate for life with a unique human female breedmate who has the blood composition the male requires to sustain him. These are just a couple of examples of HEA’s and there are certainly a litany of others in the thousands of paranormal romance novels on the shelves. There quite often isn't a traditional wedding ceremony or white picket fence when you are reading paranormal romance, and it likely wouldn't fit given the dark tone and the alternate societal structures developed in the storyline. Would it?

I do think historical romance readers tend to see a more traditional HEA in that genre as it has to be kept in context with the times. Traditional marriage was the norm otherwise the woman was considered a whore and the man a hedonist. Of course the guy playing around was accepted and often expected in the good old days but that is a whole other topic, and don’t get me started. (I think in some respects that archaic attitude still prevails today. lol)

In contemporary and erotic romance I've read a number of more nontraditional types of HEA's, HFN’s or even one night stands where there is no commitment expectations whatsoever and I have been very satisfied. In fact, as I mentioned above, for me anyway, this type of conclusion added realism to the story. As a case in point in the polyamorous romance I like it when the conclusion is more open ended because I feel the lovers involved in this type of relationship dynamic would have significant issues to sort through - jealously being the major one. I guess, from my perspective anyway, I find it much more appropriate for there to be an HFN - "I love you both and we will see where this takes us", conclusion rather than a rush to the church for wedding bells (not to mention in many places in the world polygamy is not only considered taboo-it’s illegal - lol).

So what is my favorite type of HEA? As you can see from my ramblings above, I don’t have one. I like a conclusion to the love story that fits the relationship development in a compelling well-written romance, no matter what the sub-genre.

So, what are your thoughts regarding a Happily Ever After in a romance? Does it have to be wedding bells and the white picket fence, or can you handle a more open-ended relationship commitment?

Many thanks to Susi and Caro for inviting me to blog at the Secret HEA Society today. :-)

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Review: Breathless by Anne Stuart

Blurb:

Ruined beyond repair and shunned by London society, lovely Miranda Rohan rebelliously embraces the freedom that comes from having nothing left to lose. However, this dangerous course throws her under the power of the darkly enigmatic Lucien de Malheur—known to many as the Scorpion.

Seeking to destroy the Rohans, Lucien traps Miranda in a marriage she thinks is based on friendship but instead is rooted in vengeance. Yet even when she realizes the truth, their enmity fuels a shocking passion—and perhaps even more.

Such a man might drive anyone to murder....

Caroline's review:
Breathless is the 3rd book in the House of Rohan series. I loved the first 2 books and I was a bit scared to read this one. Anne Stuart has been known for her abrupt endings and I knew this one didn't have an epilogue. This is why it took me months before I dared read it. How wrong I was! This book was amazing. It made me go all 'O_o' quite a few times but in the end it was just a fantastic read.

Lucien is the most wicked, the most ruthless hero I've ever read about. In comparison the heroes of the first 2 books were very very tamed. He's soooooo wicked. Lucien wants revenge for his sister's death. He wants to make the Rohan family suffer really bad. So in order to get this revenge, Lucien had Miranda kidnapped and ruined. He paid someone to do this and marry her but she escaped and her family protected her. Now a few years later she's happy to live outside society. But she feels lonely, she's been shunned by the rest of the world. This is not enough for Lucien, he wants to make her and her family suffer all their life. He bids is time, you know the saying 'revenge is better served cold', well this hero believes in it. He plans on winning her trust and then seduce her.

I think what really surprised me is that I thought Lucien would reform. He would soften with time, but he's one wicked son of a b*tch. Don't get me wrong, I loved this character but he's very evil. The whole book kept me on edge. Miranda is a fantastic character, she's strong and she is very courageous. I loved that nothing would keep her down, she tries to see the positive side of everything. When Lucien brings her to his gloomy ruin of an estate he thinks he'll kill her spirit (seriously that's his goal for the whole book! if that's not ruthless what is!). How wrong he was! It was hilarious to see Miranda remodel the house to her liking.

What had me in hysterics was that their fight for power never cease. The ending of the book was really abrupt and it was very bittersweet. More bitter than sweet though. I'm seriously hoping we'll see what happened to them next in the new book in the series (Shameless).

As in all the books in the series there is a secondary romance. I loved seeing Jacob Donnelly and Jane Pagett fall in love. He is London's most notorious thief and she is the heroine's best friend. I LOVED this romance. I was so eager to see what would happen to them. Their chapters were so good I couldn't stop reading. They meet by accident, she surprise him while he's stealing something and it's passion at first glance. She doesn't know who this wicked man is, it was too dark when they met. So when they meet again, she doesn't recognize him. Oh how I LOVED those 2! It was sweet and hot and I was rooting for them from the start. I loved everything about this story. Very satisfying. I even wish we'd seen more of their story.

Breathless is the best book in the series in my opinion. It had me raging and shouting at the book. I loved to hate the hero. Even a month after reading it I'm feeling strongly about it. Anne Stuart did her magic again and gave us a book you cannot easily forget.

I give Breathless 4,5 Stars

With a Devil of an ending!

Author Links:
Website

Book Links:
Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

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