ReviewsByRita2

SHE'S ON TOP
By Susan Lyons
Kensington Aphrodisia
ISBN 978-0-7582-1703-5
April 2008
Trade Paper; $12.95 (US)
Erotic Romance

I suppose we should get married. Rina Goldberg's date interjected into the post dinner conversation. Then he fumbled as he offered her a jewelry box that contained the best-selling engagement ring. It was a proposal, but not the kind of delight any girl, especially a romantic woman like Rina Goldberg, deserved.

Stunned, Rina could not answer immediately. True they had been dating for some months, and they were having decent sex about three times a week, but neither Al nor Rina had ever mentioned love. In fact Rina did not have that strong a feeling about Al. As far as Rina could tell Al didn't show such feelings for her either.

After Al left that evening, unhappy that she had not jumped at his proposal, Rina dreamed of the only man who had ever given her feelings of passion.

Rina was not without friends. She was part of a group called the Awesome Foursome. At their regular meeting that Monday she discussed her concern with her friends. They convinced her that before she settled for Al she should contact Giancarlo Mancini, her first lover. Giancarlo had been the man she had dreamed about the night before a skinny Italian boy she had met in music school.

After music school, Giancarlo had abandoned classical music, he became a music video producer, while Rina had continued her studies at Juliard and was scheduled to try for first chair at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Rina had bought a home in Vancouver and settled down and to teach and play classical music. She still focused on her Jewish heritage and her curvaceous body. Rina had body image issues. Giancarlo, on the other hand, matured from a skinny Italian boy into a handsome member of the entertainment industry traveling widely and spending a great deal of time with exotic entertainers.

Rina and Giancarlo met for a catch up reunion dinner. Sparks flew. They finished the evening in a passionate embrace that convinced Rina she could never be happy with Al. But could she and Giancarlo ever resolve their differences and develop a lasting relationship?

Rina and Giancarlo were believable people. Their differences made them even more exciting together. The other members of the Awesome Foursome were covered in earlier books in the series. It was a very passionate and exciting story, very hard to put down. I give it 5 sparks out of 5

c Reviewed by Rita M., gottawritenetwork.com

Jan. 6, 2008

FATHER OF DRAGONS
Copyright © 2007 by Emily Veinglory
Cover by Anne Cain
ISBN: 1-59998-522-5

Xeras was entirely despondent. His lover, Drin, had been executed and Xeras could not get him out of his head, literally. Drin kept talking to him.

Seeking shelter for the night, Xeras came face to face with a dragon. A green female named Plegura. The next events are clouded from both the protagonist and the readers by sleep. He awakens to find a different dragon there, a male black stone dragon who somehow was involved in the mating. This dragon, a more sociable sort than the female which has gone from the scene, explained that Xeras has been impregnated by the dragons and is expected to bear and rear there issue.

Xeras plods on accompanied only by the voice of his dead lover, until he finally locates the town of Ballots Keep, the closest village on his map. Ballots Keep is a small village guarding an important mountain pass.

When Xeras arrived, he found Plegura was ravishing the village. In a rage, Xeras picked up a piece of wood and ran toward her yelling and threatening to beat her. The dragon dropped the horse she was eating, turned and fled.

The townsfolk and royalty declared him a dragon controller. Xeras is invited to the palace where he is bathed and provided with clean clothing, and a place to stay, Xeras also discovers that Count Carley may just be receptive to his charms.

About this time a contingent from the neighboring Duchy of Thurst arrive. They had brought one of their princesses, Phinia, hopeful that through her they could establish a link between the two lands. Phinia, however, took a liking to Xeras and rumors of romance ensue.

The contingent from Thurst also brings another problem--a dragon has been ravishing their land and they decide to ask Xeras to try to banish that dragon.

Count Carley agrees to go with Xeras to accomplish this task. After a passionate moment in the mountains, they are separated when Xeras is carried off by a dragon. After uncounted days in the dragon's nest Xeras is desperate enough to attempt to climb down the mountain, making a rope out of the dead animal hides from the food offering the dragon has given him. When the resulting rope proves too short, Xeras falls to the trees below. Rescued by the stone dragon he is taken to a wise woman who helps in the premature delivery of the dragon kit.

Again we are spared the detail because Xeras passes out during the delivery. After some time to recover, assisted only by the ghost of his dead lover and the wise woman, the stone dragon appears and returns him to Ballot Keep. He arrives to find his former countrymen have found him and are demanding that he return to their town so the benefits of bearing a dragon will accrue for his effort in bearing and raising a dragon kit.

At this point, Carley is carried off by a dragon and Xeras goes after him riding on Pelegra. Then Xeras returns to his family home where he is put in prison with Carley. If this isn't enough, there are more complications to follow as the book plods to an unsatisfactory conclusion.

I did not see any indication that this book was part of a series, which might explain the cliff hanger ending. The characters are still rather two dimensional at the end of the book. They come in and out and change personalities as they go. I enjoy fantasy, but this book stretches my suspension of disbelief. I am afraid I can only give this book 1 scale out of 5.

c Reviewed by Rita M., gottawritenetwork.com reviewerJanuary 16, 2009

A WEEK FROM SUNDAY
By Dorothy Garlock
Grand Central Publishing
Romance Novel
372 Pages
$12.99

Adrianna Moore returned home from her father's funeral. No sooner had the mourners left than her father's attorney, Richard Pope, informed her that he had complete control not only of her father's estate, but her as well. Adrianna was shocked to discover he expected her to marry him in a week from Sunday.

Adrianna had no idea the older man had any feelings for her, and she had none for him. Unable to figure out what to do, but in fear of him, she gathered what money she could and ran away with her father's car and what belongings she could carry. She hoped to find safety with an aunt in Mississippi. Unaccustomed to driving in the rain, she crashed into an oncoming truck, injuring a man, damaging some cargo, wrecking her car and stranding herself in a small town.

Once there she agrees to work for Quinn Baxter, the owner of the truck. His shipment of liquor for his bar was damaged and his piano player suffered a deep cut on his hand. Adrianna agreed to stay in his home, help take care of his brother, Jessie, who had been bedridden in a bus accident a year before and to play for the sing alongs in his bar twice a week.

She believed once the car was repaired she could get the money from the bank, pay him for his liquor and be on her way before Richard Pope could find her. But it's not as simple as it sounds, however. Quinn Baxter has a live-in house keeper, Lola. Lola takes an instant hatred to Adrianna and is convinced the girl is trying to take her man.

Lola is also ignoring Jessie, she calls him a cripple and wants to ship him off to clear her way to Quinn. Adrianna, on the other hand, tries to befriend Jessie, helping him with his school work so he can graduate high school with his class. She fought to convince Jessie that he could move forward with his life whether or not he regained the use of his legs.

Anna, as Quinn calls her, falls passionately in love with Quinn. Things come to a head when Richard Pope arrives in town having tracked Adrianna down. Along the way we meet some delightful minor characters, Gabe, a Cajun who runs the bar and plays piano for Quinn. Another is Roy Long, a bar patron who claims to be related to Huey Long, notorious governor of Louisiana.

This is a delightful book. There is character development even including the minor characters and the villain of the piece. I found it hard to put it down. It was believable and had a great involved plot. I would give it 5+ drinks out of 5

c Reviewed by Rita M., gottawritenetwork.com reviewer
January 18, 2008

HANDYMAN
By Jodi Lynn Copeland
Kensington Publishing Corp.
Aphrodisia
ISBN: 0-7582-2212-1

COMING IN FIRST
Lissa Malone, an Interior designer, had just given in to her house-mate Sam's paranoia and decided she needed to find a nice man. The problem was the only men she had ever been attracted to were "Bad Boys." When she saw Thad Davies talking with a boy at the Almost Family youth services office, she thought she had at last found a good guy. His business card read "Thad Davies, Handyman Loose Screws Construction."

Lissa called Thad for a roofing job on her house, but somehow Thad misinterprets her call as a request for the other side of his business. Along with his partners, Nash and Benny, the Loose Screws supplement their construction work with Gigolo services.

Lissa's gay house mate, Sam, was suspicious from the beginning that Thad was actually a nice guy and kept telling Lissa to watch out.
As Lissa's roof is replaced, she develops a very hot, passionate, relationship with Thad? But would the relationship last when she discovers what he and his partners really did for a living? What will come first in his life? Lissa, construction, or his other activities?
59 pages

NOT A SECOND TOO LATE
Genevieve Louton arrived at her bachelorette party only to find her younger sister, Allison, had taken over the plans from her best friend, Tia, and invited her mother, Debra Louton, and several very minor cousins. Instead of a wild evening with male dancers she was facing punch and tea sandwiches.

Though Genevieve had always accepted the dictates of her family and done what everyone wanted, this was too much. She ran away from the party and went to a bar across the river. There she met Nash a current partner in Loose Screws construction company and gigolo services.

He agreed to be her naked dancer if she masturbate for him. After a wild evening, he takes her to Tia's place. Tia suggests that her finance, Tom, is possibly not the right man for her and Genevieve agrees. She worries though about repercussions because her father was both Tom's boss and godfather.

Talking to Tom she decides to take two weeks off from the engagement to test her love and live her own life free of the family. Having nowhere else to go she hires Nash to be her boyfriend for the next two weeks. He agrees to take two weeks off and allows her to move in with him.

Two weeks of hot sex brings them closer together. Gen comes to the conclusion that Tom (no sex before marriage) is not the man for her, and when she returns home from her two-week experiment she makes this decision permanent. She finds Tom and her sister, Allison, having sex on the floor.

Allison steps into the planned wedding to marry Tom and Gen takes her place as a bridesmaid.

Nash unaware of the change of brides hurries to the wedding. Will he make it in time?

THIRD TIMES A CHARM
Holly Daringer was a psychiatric therapist. She was having a crisis, however. Her first private patient, a woman, had killed herself then her second leaves a note saying that she was to blame.

Benny Nash, Thad's partner at Loose Screws construction company and gigolo services, was also having his own problems. His foster mother had died. Since her death, he had been talking about returning to his childhood habit of cutting himself .

Tia suggested they kill two birds with one stone and introduce her cousin, Holly, to Benny. Holly needed a distraction, and Benny needed help with his problems. Tia told Benny that Holly needed verbal communication from her boyfriend. She told Holly that she should indulge in sex with Benny to drive away her problems. Prepaying for Benny's services for three hours a day for the next week, she convinces Holly to visit the handsome carpenter/gigolo.

After a week of mind-blowing sex, it appears that a win/win situation has been achieved. Then Benny walks in on a conversation that reveals Holly's occupation. He freaked accusing Holly and his friends of setting him up. Have all their efforts been compromised?
These three short stories, around 55 pages each, are a unit because the three men are partners and friends. All the characters are well drawn and interesting and as the story develops each man's life progresses. If you enjoy your story loaded with sensuous sex, very hot and delightful and a good story and characters as well, this is the book for you. 5 kisses out of 5.

c Reviewed by Rita M., gottawritenetwork.com
January 24, 2008