Playing the Part by Darcy Daniel

Sweet contemporary romance.  Sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to find out how you got to where you are.

Anthea Cane is a child star turned action hero.  She wants to be considered for more challenging roles but nobody takes her seriously.  When her favorite book, The Farmers Wife< is being turned into a movie she just knows she can do the part.  She gets the casting director to grudgingly agree to allow her to audition.  She has three weeks before the audition so she goes back to the small farming town she spent her early years in to do research. 

Cole Daniels is a blind farmer.  He has no patience for diva actresses or Anthea the girl from his elementary school nightmares.  He could see then but she used to tease him unmercifully.  So when she shows up using a false name and pesters him into letting her stay and do her research he thinks he might just get a little payback. 

These two have more in common than they know and they each have lessons to teach and learn.

I was amazed at how fast I went through this sweet story.  I was sucked in and couldn't put it down.

I’d like to thank NetGalley & Carina Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Winter's Tale (Hidden #4) by Emma Holly

Emma Holly has done it again!  In this grown up fairy tale that takes place in Ms. Holly’s Hidden universe we once again are treated to a steamy tale of sex, magic, lust and love.

December Worth is a new senior at Rackham's School for Young Ladies.  She is entranced by the naked statue in the attached cemetery.  What she doesn't know is that the statue is actually ½ elf ½ faerie huntsman named Hans.  He has been cursed by an angry faerie queen and only true love and true bravery can free him.  Will December be the one to break the spell?

This is one smokin’ hot fairy tale told as only Emma Holly can do.  Keep the ice cubes handy and enjoy.

Bloom by Kate Belle

In this book we find out that sexy Ramon, PHD candidate from Breaking the Rules, has a day job as an instructor at a gym.  Emma is a mid 30’s stay at home mom who has put on some weight and has lost her self-respect.  Her husband works all the time and her kids treat her like dirt.  She can’t remember when the last time she and her husband made love. Emma is determined to get herself out of her rut and so joins a boot-camp at the gym.  Ramon helps Emma to once again see herself as a vibrant, sexy woman and encourages her to get her marriage out of the rut its fallen into.

This is a well told story and while there are elements I had issues with I think the author handled it well.  This story can be read as a stand-alone but I think that the reader will better understand Ramon’s motivations if they read Breaking the Rules first.

Release date - January 30, 2013

I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review

First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) by D.L. Carter

What a delightfully fun read.  Humor runs rampant starting with the title and throughout this quirky tale. 

Amber Kemp has rebelled against both sides of her heritage - her father is a science teacher and her mother is a former witch – by becoming a computer dweeb.  But now her Aunt Lucinda DeGoode (the head of the World Wide Witches Research Association (and Pinochle club.)) has gone missing and it is up to Amber to embrace her witch side to find her.  She receives magical messages like “First Destroy All Giant Monsters” that don’t exactly inspire this almost untrained witch to do her best. 

I adore this story.  I’d like to thank the author for giving me a chance to read and review it.  I had to ask I mean the title alone reminds me of 50’s B movies.  The humor is often wry and tongue in cheek but always there.  Fans of Kevin Hearne and Kim Harrison will love this book.  I can hardly wait for the further adventures of…

The Two and the Proud (Always a Marine) by Heather Long

Another fantastic entry in Heather Long’s Always a Marine 1NS series.
Rowdy is a dedicated Marine.  He has been focused on the job and now he needs to decide whether to reenlist or not.  As part of the process he has scheduled some down time with a one night stand with Madame Eve’s 1NS service.  He wants a woman who “gets” him.

Kim is an inactive Marine now working as an NCIS agent.  She wants a man who understands that a woman is a multifaceted being and can be both a hard ass NCIS agent and a woman.  She is intrigued with Rowdy and the sex is off the charts but can they ever be more than a one night stand?

Heather Long has mastered the art of making these novellas believable.  With the 1NS device she gets to skip a lot of the chase and go right to the part of why these characters would or would not work.  I love this series and anxiously await each new installment.

Breaking the Rules by Kate Belle

Being a professional woman isn't easy on your love life.  All the men in Graces’ life to this point didn't understand her need to succeed in her chosen profession so she has given up men except as friends and colleagues.  Ramon is a research student who is assigned to Graces’ supervision.  Ramon’s topic of research is a work on erotic literature, female eroticism and sexuality.  Ramon’s passion is the human female organism.  In Grace he sees a passionate woman who denies the sexual part of her being.  Through their supervisory meetings Ramon teaches the teacher.

I enjoyed this novella.  It was well written sensuous, erotic and sweet.  This is the first of a series featuring our enigmatic and oh so HOT Ramon.  I do look forward to his future adventures.

Release date Jan 30, 2013

I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

Insatiable (A Sydney Rye Series #3) by Emily Kimelman

After her close escape in Death In The Dark, Mulberry sends Sydney and Blue to London for further training as a private detective and to keep her out of trouble.  When she gets a call from Robert Maxim, a man from Sydney’s past asking for help finding a friends daughter he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. She heads to Mexico and joins up with one of Robert Maxim’s men to find the girl. But nothing in Sydney’s life is easy and she is having problems trying to figure out who to trust.  As problems and paranoia mount Sydney and Blue are in danger and Sydney has to reach out to old friends and new.

Insatiable is a roller coaster ride from start to finish.  With twists and turns you never see coming this installment of the Sydney Rye series is as good if not better than the first.