Book Review and Giveaway, Three Copies, Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt

A pleasurable Historical Romance.
Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane) by Elizabeth Hoyt

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Vision (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446558958
• ISBN-13: 978-0446558952

Price: Paperback $7.99, Kindle $7.99
Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Description:
Their lives were perfect . . .
Lady Hero Batten, the beautiful sister of the Duke of Wakefield, has everything a woman could want, including the perfect fiancé. True, the Marquis of Mandeville is a trifle dull and has no sense of humor, but that doesn't bother Hero. Until she meets his notorious brother . . .

Until they met each other.
Griffin Remmington, Lord Reading, is far from perfect - and he likes it that way. How he spends his days is a mystery, but all of London knows he engages in the worst sorts of drunken revelry at night. Hero takes an instant dislike to him, and Griffin thinks that Hero, with her charities and faultless manners, is much too impeccable for society, let alone his brother. Yet their near-constant battle of wits soon sparks desire - desire that causes their carefully constructed worlds to come tumbling down. As Hero's wedding nears, and Griffin's enemies lay plans to end their dreams forever, can two imperfect people find perfect true love?

Review:  These delightful characters get tangled in passion.
Lady Hero is a 24 year old aristocrat who has been trained from a young age to be a Duke’s dutiful daughter.  She knows all the rules of society and decorum.  Her brother has arranged a marriage for her to the respected and handsome Marquis of Mandeville. It is a good match even if there has been no affection or passion exchanged between them.

On the night of her engagement ball Lady Hero stumbles into a room to discover a man and married woman in a compromising situation. She chooses to warn them that the woman’s husband is coming down the hall. This is her first encounter with the cheeky rogue who dubs her “Lady Perfect” and she responds to “Lord Shameless”.  A short time later she is formally introduced to the shameless man who turns out to be her intended’s infamous brother, Griffin Remmington. Mandeville and Griffin have been estranged for several years as Mandeville believes that Griffin seduced his first wife.

The opposite natures in Lady Hero and Griffin draw like magnets and the tension builds.  There are more complications as Hero recognizes that Griffin is much more - better - than society paints him.  However she also discovers that Griffin is engaged in gin distillery and Hero’s ducal brother is set on hanging all such offenders.

As they get tangled in the sparks of desire and passion you wonder how their situation will be resolved.  There are several heavy passion scenes but it all moves pretty quickly to the inevitable confrontations.  The characters and dialogue are fun and the story is engaging to the end.   I enjoyed the history of gin distilleries as part of the story. The author does a wonderful job weaving the story and characters and this is a book and author I can definitely recommend.

Thank you to Hachette for this book to read and for providing three copies for giveaway.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY: 
1. Visit the Author's website or listen to the BlogtalkRadio Interview and tell me something you found interesting;
One of these is required for entry. One entry for Author Website visit and two entries for listening to the interview.
Make sure you leave your e-mail address!

2.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3. For two entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Six total entries possible.) MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL!

THERE WILL BE THREE WINNERS!

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.

* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.

* Limit one win per household.

* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on February 20, 2011.
The winners will be randomly selected from all entries.

Cupid Gone Wild Anthology at eTreasures - Cover Comment Giveaway

In my It's Monday What are you Reading post I mentioned that last week I had the fun to read and do line edits and formatting for five stories plus a FREE READ for a Valentine Anthology release by my publishing company, eTreasures Publishing.
What do you think about these covers?!

Cupid Gone Wild Anthology

Sometimes true love needs help. Five Cupids take on a challenge this Valentine's season: To match the most unlikely couple they can find.

Love Transposed by Pepper O'Neal and Chelsy Day - Free Read

One arrow strait through two chests was all it took for Carpenter/Painter, Dan, and trust fund baby, Jane, to go from making each other crazy, to being crazy about each other.

Love Potion 2-14 by Pepper O'Neal

White witch Kole Trillion has a successful business, customers who swear by her potions and spells. Unfortunately, she also has the bad luck to fall in love with a man who doesn't believe in magic, Police Detective Gage Corwin.

The Bachelor by Heather Hiestand

Abbie Harper didn’t mean to buy the date, but one look at Jake Cordalys and she’s ready for red-hot romance. Jake is not looking for something complicated, but when Cupid is involved, all plans go out the window and romance flies in.

The Boss Wore Red by Delle Jacobs and SamMarie Ashe

Alexandria Bergstrom was chosen because she desperately needed to alter the course of her life. Clint Riordan doesn’t know what will make him completely happy until he meets Alexandria. By giving Alexandria this opportunity to discover her true past, the pairing of Alexandria and Clint will repair past mistakes and produce a new brighter future.

The Wrong Target by Sherry Gloag

Headmistress, Tina Blackberry and Ryan Thomas can't control events after Ryan's daughter steals his coveted golden arrow and takes it to school, But put Cupid on the job and nothing can go wrong, or can it?

The Hollywood Hookup by Chelsy Day

Actor Casey Jones and Stunt Woman Sandra Benson have a history. Can Cupid get them past the animosity and prove that true love in Hollywood is NOT impossible?

---

The Hollywood Hook-up by Chelsy Day

Love Potion No. 2-14    
by Pepper O'Neal     

The Boss Wore Red

 by Delle Jacobs

and

SamMarie Ashe

The Wrong Target by Sherry Gloag

The Bachelor 

                          by Heather Hiestand                           

FREE READ at bookstore, Smashwords and ARe:

Love Transposed 

by Pepper O'Neal and Chelsy Day

Available at eTreasures Publishing Bookstore
Available at Amazon for the Kindle

      and at Barnes & Noble for the nook

Also available at ARe (All Romance eBooks)

Available in multiple formats at Smashwords

Follow Senior Cupid X and the chatter. I just saw the first official report at Star Shadow Blog.
Follow twitter Hash tag  #cgw11

Also check back for info on the Kindle Giveaway by eTreasures starting 2/4!

Enter This Giveaway:

Now my faithful followers - Want a chance to win the anthology in pdf, kindle, nook or other ebook formats?

• Comment here and tell me which cover you like best. :-)  LEAVE YOUR EMAIL!

• Extra Entry if you are a follower - tell me follower name and how you follow, GFC, Twitter, Goodread or subscription.

• Open Internationally.

• I will pick a winner from all comments. Ends Monday 2/14 at 10pm Central.

Book Review and Three Copies Giveaway: How Sweet It Is by Sophie Gunn

There are some unusual conflicts in this sweet story.

How Sweet It is by Sophie Gunn

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Forever; Original edition (January 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446561991
• ISBN-13: 978-0446561990

     Price:  Paperback $7.99; Kindle $7.99
     Genre: Contemporary  Romance
     My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Product Description
Single mom Lizzie Bea Carpenter learned long ago that no white knight was coming to save her. A hardworking waitress at the local diner, she's raising her daughter to be like the independent women in her "Enemy Club"--high school rivals turned best friends, promising to always tell each other the whole truth and nothing but!

Yet part of Lizzie wishes she did have a man's help, just for small stuff, like fixing up the house. Her fairy godmother must have been listening, because Dante "Tay" Giovanni soon appears. He's sexy, kind, and offering assistance--no strings attached.

Slowly, steadily, Lizzie's heart opens. But the grip of the past is fierce, and nothing in life is ever really free. Tay has his own tragedies to overcome, but if he can, he'll fix more than Lizzie's home. He'll show her just how sweet it is to be loved by him.

Review: This is a “sweet” story filled with likable characters and surprise twists to the end.

Lizzie is a likable character although stubbornly independent. Living in a small town she has had to bear the stigma as an unwed mother since being left pregnant her senior year of high school. She is fortunate to have inherited her small family home but she has been unable to afford to properly maintain the property so it has become a bit ramshackled.  But 14 year old Paige wants the house fixed up to impress her father who is coming to meet her at Christmas.

Tay happens to be in the diner and overhears Lizzie’s wish for a handyman when she announces it to her three friends in the “enemy club.” Tay came to town to deliver money to the daughter of the woman he killed in a car accident.  The daughter wants nothing to do with him and claims she will throw the money into the gorges the town is known for. Tay tries to find the money during his insomniac nights walking the streets. While the lost money creates its own set of  problems, Tay begins to work on Lizzie’s house as a way to use his time and ease his conscience.

Lizzie insists she is being independent and not relying on a man.  Yet she consistently calls on her brother-in-law, Tommy, which creates friction with her own sister, Annie. Annie is suffering from postpartum depression and there is an added conflict involving Annie's jealousy of Lizzie. 

Lizzie doesn’t want to accept charity from Tay but she is unexpectedly attracted to his muscles as he fixes her gate and fence. Lizzie and Tay are drawn to each other and I like the dialogue especially with the pensive Tay. But can Lizzie overcome her stand of accepting no help and can Tay overcome his guilt to be able to consider a future?

Tay is a difficult character because of his depression and guilt. However his underlying strength and kindness seep through.  I also liked the secondary characters in the “enemy club.”

I’m not sure the blurb really prepared me for this read.  I expected it to be light and perhaps funny. It is light and has warm humor but it is not really funny.  It raises two very serious questions:
1. What would you do if you caused a car accident that killed someone and how would you overcome the guilt from that event?
2. What would you do if you found a duffel bag full of two Hundred Thousand dollars?

The author has done a good job of creating good characters and weaving a warm and interesting story around these two issues. I enjoyed the forgiveness struggles and the second chances presented. I would enjoy reading more from Ms. Gunn and recommend this book as an entertaining and quick read.

Thank you to Hachette for this book to read and for providing three copies for giveaway.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY: 
1. Visit the Author's website or check out Five Fun Facts and tell me something you found interesting;
One of these is required for entry.  If you do both it will count as two entries.
Make sure you leave your e-mail address!

2.  For another entry comment on the Author's Guest Post.

3.  For another entry answer the Question: What would you do if you found $200,000.00?

4.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

5. For two entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Seven total entries possible.) MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL!

THERE WILL BE THREE WINNERS!

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.

* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.

* Limit one win per household.

* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on February 18, 2011.
The winners will be randomly selected from all entries.

Guest Post - ...Other Jobs Before I was Published by Sophie Gunn

Author Sophie Gunn

"I Was/Am a Waitress in Real Life - or Other Jobs Before I Was Published."

I’m one of those strange people who have always been a writer.  It started when I was fourteen and got paid for my first writing job: a dollar a line.  Yep, I was addressing envelopes for Artie Greenberg’s bar mitzvah.  I was a calligrapher.  Weird, huh?  But my mother was a calligrapher, so I knew about five “alphabets” by the time the other kids were learning cursive. I addressed wedding envelopes, designed invitations, filled in names on certificates. Whatever needed writing, I was there with my ink, nibs, and pens. 

But after I graduated college, I needed a real job. So I went into advertising copywriting.  I loved every minute of it. The people were mean and horrid, and I adored them all. “Come back when it’s funny,” they’d say. Or, “It’s okay. Now throw it out and make it good.”  These were the people who taught me to write. They taught me not to settle for the first idea. They taught me that collaboration makes every idea better. They taught me to take criticism (a lot of criticism!) and to revise, revise, revise.  The world of advertising in Manhattan was brutally competitive, which brought out the best in my writing. It had to be fast. It had to be funny. It had to be smart. Then I had to go back over it ten more times, and come back when it was funny.

These are the lessons I hope I brought to writing HOW SWEET IT IS.  (But also, notice the awesome typography on the cover. The word “sweet” is beautiful, isn’t it? I wish I could still write like that...) 

Thanks so much for having me here on the blog today.  To find out more about me and HOW SWEET IT IS, please visit my website at http://sophiegunn.com. 

Thank you Ms. Gunn for sharing some of your experiences with us today. 

Check out the Review and Giveaway for a chance to win this book!

Giveaway Deadly Heat AND Deadly Lies by Cynthia Eden

DOUBLE YOUR ROMANCE and SUSPENSE with two Cynthia Eden books!

DEADLY HEAT Pub. Feb. 1, 2011 Six months after her lover died in an arsonist's blaze, firefighter Lora Spade calls in the FBI's elite Serial Services Division to track the elusive killer. When Special Agent Kenton Lake is lured into a violent inferno, Lora pulls him to safety and is stunned - not by the fire, but by her own searing attraction to Kent. For the first time in months, she longs for something other than vengeance. Kenton's interest in Lora should be purely professional. But one fleeting kiss and he can't get her out of his mind. Her combination of strength and vulnerability makes him want to protect her, and that means solving this case - and fast. For even the passion igniting between them can't hide a terrifying truth: Lora is the next target in a murderer's sadistic, fiery game.

DEADLY LIES Pub. Mar. 1, 2011 FBI Special Agent Samantha Kennedy is haunted by memories of the serial killer who abducted her. To keep the darkness at bay, she pretends to be a different, more confident woman. This Samantha doesn't fear every unknown face. So she throws caution to the wind and shares a night of unbridled passion with a handsome stranger. One night isn't enough for successful entrepreneur Max Ridgeway. He wants more of the sexy, smart, mysterious woman who slipped away before dawn. When they meet again, their attraction is undeniable-until his stepbrother goes missing, and Max realizes that Samantha isn't who she seems. But they must trust each other to trap a ring of bloodthirsty kidnappers before the nightmares that terrorize Sam become irrevocably real.

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Follow @CynthiaEden on Twitter

Like Cynthia Eden on Facebook

Friend Cynthia Eden on MySpace

Visit CynthiaEden.com

THANK YOU TO HACHETTE FOR PROVIDING THREE SETS OF TWO BOOKS FOR GIVEAWAY.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY:

1. Visit the Author's website  and tell me something you found interesting;OR tell me why you want to read these particular books.
One of these is required for entry.  If you do both it will count as two entries.

Make sure you leave your e-mail address!

2.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3. For three entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Six total entries possible.) MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL!

THERE WILL BE THREE WINNERS!

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.

* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.

* Limit one win per household.

* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on February 18, 2011.
The winners will be randomly selected from all entries.