Tag Archive | Kensington

REVIEW: Just a Little Christmas by Janet Dailey

Dec20
Just a Little Christmas Book Cover Just a Little Christmas
A Cowboy Christmas #3
Janet Dailey
Contemporary Romance
Zebra
September 26, 2017
E-ARC
320
NetGalley
12 Books of Christmas
September 21 - December 7, 2017

Believe in second chances this Christmas . . .
 
Ellie Marsden couldn’t wait to shake the dust of Branding Iron, Texas, off her heels and chase after bright lights, big city, and a wealthy husband. Now she’s come home, divorced, a little disillusioned, and a whole lot pregnant. Leave it to her one-time high school sweetheart, cattle rancher Jubal McFarland, to point out that citified Ellie is as out of place in small-town Texas as her teacup poodle. So why is there something about being back—and being with Jubal—that feels surprisingly right?


Jubal’s eight-year-old daughter, Gracie, needs a mother, but he hasn’t found the perfect woman. Or maybe the problem is that he did find her, and had his heart broken when she left town. Gracie’s already falling hard for Ellie and that ball of fluff she calls a dog. And no matter how hard the rugged cowboy tries to resist, there’s no denying the appeal of first love and sweet new beginnings—especially when there’s a little Christmas magic in the air . . .

The 12 Books of Christmas Reading Challenge

Welcome to the 12 Books of Christmas! This is my EIGHT contribution and I’m excited to share reviews for twelve holiday books over the next coming weeks.

For more information about this reading challenge and to join go here: The 12 Books of Christmas Challenge

Review

Just a Little Christmas was a cute, if not very memorable, holiday romance.

Honestly, it’s been awhile since I read this one. I really should have written this review sooner. So I’ll try my best to conjure up some thoughts and feelings for this story.

So basically this is a girl leaves her small town for the big city and breaks her boyfriends heart in the process story. She comes back, divorced and pregnant, and basically it’s a second chance romance.

The characters were mostly not very memorable for me. Except Jubal’s name. It’s not one I’ve heard before and I cringed every time I read it.

The author did a good job of including a kid but not making this a book with an annoying kid in it.

Honestly, I don’t have much else to say about this one! If you’re in the mood for a cute little Christmas romance this could the book do the trick, but for this reader at least, it did not leave a lasting impression.

 

I received an advanced release copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

QUOTES

But come tomorrow morning, the whole town would know that Ellie Rae Marsden, daughter of perfect parents, high school honor student, cheerleader, homecoming queen, and big-city sophisticate, had fallen off her pedestal and landed hard on her butt.

 

It really was Ellie Marsden, or whatever her name was now. Elegant, citified, and—Jubal’s stomach lurched as his gaze moved downward—pregnant. Lord help him, she was as round and ripe as an October pumpkin!

 

Ellie kissed him back, the joyous tingle surging all the way to her toes. The colored lights on Main Street swirled in her head. Carols sang in her ears. For the first time since coming home to Branding Iron, she felt like Christmas.

 

Ellie faced nothing but an uncertain future here. Could she really build a life in a place where she’d never wanted to be, with a man who still had every reason to turn his back on her?

REVIEW: Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti

Jan19

Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti

Series: Scorpius Syndrome #1

Read: December 29, 2016 – January 7, 2017

Format: ARC Ebook (NetGalley)

My Book Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: January 26, 2016

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Pages: 384

READING CHALLENGE: #TBRChallenge

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

With nothing but rumors to lead her, Lynn Harmony has trekked across a nightmare landscape to find one man—a mysterious, damaged legend who protects the weak and leads the strong. He’s more than muscle and firepower—and in post-plague L.A., he’s her only hope. As the one woman who could cure the disease, Lynn is the single most volatile—and vulnerable—creature in this new and ruthless world. But face to face with Jax Mercury…

Danger has never looked quite so delicious…

REVIEW

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

While being entirely way too smutty for my tastes, Mercury Striking is a well thought out page turner.

With the Scorpius bacteria on the loose, more deadly than the plague, Jax Mercury has created his own community in Los Angeles where the people are protected and everyone does their part. Meanwhile, Lynn Harmony aka “Blue Heart” is fugitive #1. Said to be carrying a mutated strain of the Scorpius bacteria, she is supposed to be turned into what’s left of the government if she’s found. As the former head of the CDC, she’s too valuable to let go.

So obviously this is a romance. And it’s a steamy alpha male romance at that. Personally, I don’t get the whole alpha male attraction. They’re mostly just jerks. Jax isn’t too bad, as far as Alpha’s go. He’s got a lot of backstory and reasons for acting the way he does. He’s got a past and demons to conquer.

Lynne is far from the damsel in distress herself. She’s got a brain and knows how to use it. She’s got her own demons to vanquish and together with Jax, they may just be able to take on the world.

I was surprised by how much I liked about this book. The action was good and kept the story moving. The explanations for the Scorpius bacteria was well thought out and interesting, it wasn’t a last minute cop out thrown together by the author in order to get the characters in bed together. It was legit. And I liked it. The side characters were also very interesting and I have a feeling there is plenty to find out about each of them in the future.

As far as what I didn’t like, as I said before, I’m not one for books with lots of sex. It’s just not my reading preference. If you like a lot of sex scenes, this is the book for you! For me, it was too much. Especially a particular scene in the book which was WAY too rapey for my liking. The author knows each partner wanted it, but there was no way that Jax knew she really wanted it. She said no, and he did it anyway. It left a really bad taste in my mouth and if I were the kind of reader who quit partway through a book, I would have quit. Aside from that scene, I had no other major issues with the book.

 

So, should you read it? If you like LOTS of sex scenes and romance novels that have more substance than just the romance aspect, YES. If you don’t like sex scenes, you may have a harder time. You could always skip over them, but you’ll miss some of the relationship development.


Get the Mercury Striking here:

Amazon | Nook | iBooks | Kobo

~ Add to Goodreads ~

QUOTES

 

Her shoulders went back, and she rested her head, staring up at the roof. “I’d love to be useless.”

 

Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. – G. K. Chesterton

 

“I have an IQ well into the triple digits, Mercury. Killing you right now surrounded by your people would be incredibly stupid. I’m not stupid.”

 

The world either wants her dead because they blame her for not stopping the illness, or they think somehow there’s a cure in her blood since she’s the only one with a blue heart.

 

The guy was quoting Nietzsche? What kind of an ex-gang member turned army special ops turned leader of a vigilante group knew philosophy?

 

“A gentleman would give me the bed.”
He scratched the stubble next to his scar. “All the gentlemen are dead, baby. Soldiers and survivors are what we have now.”

 

For a badass, dangerous killer of a soldier who had no problem wielding a belt, Jax Mercury sure liked to cuddle.

 

“This doesn’t mean I need to get your name tattooed to my ass, does it? With the former gang affiliation, with military and the new group, I’m unaware of the protocol.”

 

“You need a woman.”
“A woman is the last thing on earth I need,” Raze countered.
Jax raised an eyebrow. “A guy, then?”