This RITA® Reader Challenge was written by Kate. This book finaled in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category.
Plot Summary: Navigational grimspace “jumper” Sirantha Jax forms an army to defend colonists stationed on the outskirts of space from a legion of flesh- eating aliens.
That’s one heck of a short summary. Wowser.
And here is Kate’s review:
read more »This RITA® Reader Challenge was written by Laura. This book finaled in the Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure category.
Plot Summary: It’s been thousands of years since Raum’s angelic wings turned from white to black, and the Destroyer of Dignities and Robber of Kings never looked back. These days he’s also on the outs with Hell and works with a motley crew of ex-demons on a new mission: snuffing out lesser demons and their half-human progeny.
Raum’s latest assignment brings him to a small Vermont town—and a sweet, funny half-demon, half-human he’ll risk everything to save. Ember Riddick stirs him as no woman ever before—and she holds the key to what Lucifer will move Hell and Earth to prevent: his team’s redemption.
But Ember’s secrets are as dark as Raum’s midnight wings. And their fate may leave them entwined but destroyed.
And here is Laura’s review:
read more »Lindlee is back with a RITA® Reader Challenge review, this time for a book that finaled in the Paranormal category.
Plot Summary: Faced with a custody battle for her daughter, monster-killer Ashe Carver has hung up her stakes and taken a job at the public library. But then after centuries guarding a supernatural prison, the dashing Captain Reynard strides into her world. He has only weeks to live unless Ashe finds the thief who took his soul-and he’s too drop-dead gorgeous to die…
And here is Lindlee’s review:
read more »Lindlee also reviewed this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, which finaled in the historical romance category. Lindlee herself has finaled in the Freaking Awesome category. Incidentally, her grade also matches my grade from my review of this book.
Plot Summary: After surviving the perils of Egypt, Peregrine Dalmay, Earl of Lisle, is back in London, facing the most dire threat of all: his irrational family . . . and Miss Olivia Wingate-Carsington. A descendant of notorious—but very aristocratic—swindlers, the delectable redhead has the ability to completely unhinge him and a long history of dragging him into her scandalous schemes.
Olivia may be Society’s darling, but she’s aware a respectable future looms menacingly. And so when Lisle is forced to go on a family mission, she sees this as the perfect chance for one last adventure—even if it is with the one man in the world she can’t wrap around her finger. But really, she only wants… read more »
Chelsea S. selected this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, which finaled in the paranormal romance category.
Plot Summary: Nathan Lesperance is used to being different. He’s the first Native attorney in Vancouver, and welcome neither with white society nor his sometime tribe. Not to mention the powerful wildness he’s always felt inside him, too dangerous to set free. Then he met Astrid Bramfield and saw his like within her piercing eyes. Now, unless she helps him through the harsh terrain and the harsher unknowns of his true abilities, it could very well get him killed. Astrid has traveled this path before. Once she was a Blade of the Rose, protecting the world’s magic from unscrupulous men, with her husband by her side. But she’s loved and lost, and as a world-class frontierswoman, she knows all about survival. Nathan’s searing gaze and long, lean muscles mean nothing but trouble. Yet something has ignited a forgotten flame…
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This book did not receive a review in the RITA® Reader Challenge, and so I’ve found some strong reviews elsewhere to supplement the collection. I did not, however, assign a letter grade. This book finaled in the Inspirational Romance category.
Plot Summary: Widow Rachel Boyd struggles to keep her ranch afloat and provide for her two young sons, though some days it feels as though her efforts are sabotaged at every turn. When her cattle come down with disease and her sons’ lives are endangered, she must turn to Rand Brookston, Timber Ridge’s physician and reluctant veterinarian. While Rachel appreciates his help, she squelches any feelings she might have for Rand—her own father was a doctor and his patients always took priority over his family. Rachel refuses to repeat the mistakes her mother made. But when she’s courted by a wealthy client of the local resort, she faces a choice: self-sufficiency and security or the risk…
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This review for the RITA® Reader Challenge was written by a woman with more than one online moniker, so I picked my favorite: lizzle4rizzle. HA! This book finaled in the paranormal romance category. NB: I have a second review of Rebel coming later.
Plot Summary: Nathan Lesperance is used to being different. He’s the first Native attorney in Vancouver, and welcome neither with white society nor his sometime tribe. Not to mention the powerful wildness he’s always felt inside him, too dangerous to set free. Then he met Astrid Bramfield and saw his like within her piercing eyes. Now, unless she helps him through the harsh terrain and the harsher unknowns of his true abilities, it could very well get him killed. Astrid has traveled this path before. Once she was a Blade of the Rose, protecting the world’s magic from unscrupulous men, with her husband by her side. But she’s loved and lost, and as a…
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Jennifer reviewed this book for the RITA® Reader Challenge, which finaled in the Romantic Suspense category.
Plot Summary: It’s been a year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly saw his wife Rachel alive. Now he’s received an anonymous phone call claiming Rachel is alive. To find her, Ethan will have to doge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise.
And here, in convenient list formation, is Jennifer’s review:
read more »Lindlee wanted to apologize for the length of this RITA® Reader Challenge review, but I wouldn’t let her. When a book sets you off, the angry reactions often make the best reviews. This book was a finalist for Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure.
Plot Summary: “I’m in this thing until I decide I’m out. You got that?”
With terrorists hot on her heels, nuclear chemist Zoe Wilkinson races to elude capture. The last person she expects help from is her ex-boyfriend Cooper Kennedy. But when their plane crashes, stranding them in the desert, the stifling heat pales in comparison to the scorching desire Zoe still feels.
On undercover assignment for the navy, Coop can’t believe the woman who ruined his life is back. Zoe’s always been trouble. And nothing’s changed—not even the consuming lust she sets off in him. But when Zoe’s kidnapped, Coop must race against the clock to protect the woman he loves.
Here’s… read more »
Wylykat reviewed this novel for the RITA® Reader Challenge, but had a very difficult time outlining what she didn’t like about it without giving away what she thought were spoilers to the story. I’ve included them, so you can highlight to read if you’d like to do so.
Plot Summary: Lindsay Fox and Nathan Fisher couldn’t be more different. In fact, she knew after her one-year stint with the NYPD, she’d driven her former partner as crazy as he’d driven her. He was even part of the reason she left the force, although she’d never admit that to him! So she’s more than a little surprised when Nathan answers her ad for a new investigator.
Working together now they discover a delicious chemistry beneath their differences. Could they actually become more than partners? Then they take on the challenge of an unusual case—one that reminds Lindsay of her own painful past. Her instinct is to push… read more »
It is RITA® Reader Challenge season ‘round these parts, and Rachel stepped up to review this book, which was nominated in the Romantic Suspense Category.
Plot Summary: Six years ago, Lucy Kincaid was attacked and nearly killed by an online predator. She survived. Her attacker did not. Now Lucy’s goal is to join the FBI and fight cyber-crime, but in the meantime, she’s volunteering with a victim’s rights group, surfing the Web undercover to lure sex offenders into the hands of the law. But when the predators she hunts start turning up as murder victims, the FBI takes a whole new interest in Lucy.
With her future and possibly even her freedom suddenly in jeopardy, Lucy discovers she’s a pawn in someone’s twisted plot to mete out vigilante justice. She joins forces with security expert and daredevil Sean Rogan, and together they track their elusive quarry from anonymous online chat rooms onto the mean streets of… read more »
Taking a slight break from our steady diet of high-fiber romance (what? Sure it is. If you’re reading paper books, that’s fiber. And if you’re reading digitally, you’re eating air. Either way, healthy!) Carrie S. has a review of a nonfiction book.
And now for something - completely different:
I was at the library when I saw this book, A Covert Affair: Julia and Paul Child in the OSS. Well, who doesn’t love Julia Child? I was so excited that I got little heart shapes in my eyes, like a cartoon animal in love. Paul and Julia had such an amazing real life romance, and here was a tale of their war years as secret intelligence agents and, later, the pursuit of alleged communists by McCarthy. Then, I thought to myself, “Spies! Spies are geeky!” and I knew you wonderful geeky Bitches must hear all about this book even though it is a biography and not a romance novel. In some ways, I was deeply disappointed. The book lacked depth and context, and its primary focus was on characters other than Paul and Julia, which was a surprise given the… read more »
This book was a departure from romance reading for me. Spoiled is not a romance. It’s a YA novel, with a minor romantic element, and a long-distance relationship element. Without meaning to I stepped out of the genre and thoroughly enjoyed myself. But be ye aware, this is not a romance.
That said, I really enjoyed it. It’s freaking hilarious. It is funny and fluffy and sudsy and silly. Really, you have to like silly humor a bit to enjoy this book.
In fact, it can be summed up in two words: Chanandaler Bong. If you get that reference, and you like pop culture jokes and silly humor, this book will give you an abdominal workout to go with the increasing upper arm power of your Shake Weight. Here’s an excerpt.
No, wait, before I do the excerpt, I have to do the plot summary. Molly Dix is a regular girl in Indiana, reading celebrity magazines and running and going to school and coping with her mom’s illness, until her mother, days away from death due to cancer, reveals that her… read more »
Anne tackled this Novel with Strong Romantic Elements for the RITA® Reader Challenge. Thanks, Anne!
Plot Summary time! A young woman plunges from a Las Vegas sightseeing helicopter, landing in the Pirate’s lagoon in front of the Treasure Island Hotel in the middle of the 8:30 Pirate Show. Almost everyone writes her off as another Vegas victim.
But Lucky O’Toole smells a rat. She’s head of Customer Relations at The Babylon, the newest, most opulent mega-casino and resort on the Strip, so she’s got a lot on her plate: the Adult Film industry’s annual awards banquet, a spouse-swapping convention, sex toy purveyors preying on the pocket-protector crowd attending ElectroniCon. Still, Lucky can’t resist turning over a few stones.
When a former flame is one of the snakes she uncovers, Lucky’s certain she’s no longer dealing with an anonymous Sin City suicide. To top it all off, Lucky’s best… read more »
Steph tried out this inspirational romance for the RITA® Reader Challenge, but alas, it was not meant to be.
Here is the plot summary: What happens when an idealistic student nurse encounters an embittered army doctor in a stagecoach accident? How will she react when she learns her training didn’t prepare her for tragic reality? How will he, an army deserter, respond to needs when he vowed to never touch another patient? Can these two stubborn mules find common ground on which to work and bring healing to West Texas? And now, Steph’s review:
I am a huge inspirational romance fan, but there were several (okay slightly more than several) times that I nearly gave up on Doctor in Petticoats. Honestly, had it not been on the old Kindle, I would have probably thrown it across the room a time or two. This makes me sad, because the title gave me such hope that… read more »
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