Review: Unwrapped with Erin McCarthy, Donna Kauffman, Kate Angell

Unwrapped is an anthology with contemporary Christmas stories by authors Erin McCarthy, Donna Kauffman and Kate Angell.

Blue Christmas by Erin McCarthy

In Blue Christmas, Erin McCarthy sets her story in Kentucky. While on her way to Florida and a Christmas cruise in the Caribbean, Blue Farrow hits a blizzard and another car while driving through a Kentucky highway. Luckily she collides with Christian Dawes, a hunky gentleman and a Santa in the making. They wind up spending an unforgettable night at the No Tell Motel unwrapping each other for Christmas.

I loved this novella by McCarthy. Blue is a bit of a Scrooge trying to get away from all the holiday craziness, but she can't resist the charming Christian. He's not just hunky, but a fun, funny and charming man who loves Christmas and is on his way home to see his family. This is a novella, but both Blue and Christian get to know each other as they spend a night they'll never forget and by the end the reader gets the sense that these two will be enjoying each other's company for a long time to come. A hot and wonderful Christmas novella.

Santa in a Kilt by Donna Kauffman

Donna Kauffman sets her Christmas novella in the isle of Kinloch, Scotland. Shay Callaghan has been in love with Kira McLeod for a long time, but he's not the type of man who can give a woman forever. Kira is the forever kind of woman. Kira has her eye on Shay and after her best friend's wedding decides that she's going to make a move. Soon the two are having a hot affair, but will Shay realize that he's also the forever kind?

I liked Santa in Kilt, although it seems to be part of a series with other characters making appearances and an impact in the story. Shay and Kira's relationship is quite sexy and the fact that they've known each other for a long time helps with the development. However, as I said above there is a sense that this story is part of a series and at times I felt a bit lost while reading it -- as if I were missing something. The Christmas holidays are depicted in a subtle and meaningful way.

Snow Angel by Kate Angell

Allie meets Aiden on the ski slopes during a Christmas vacation and the two of them have a hot and torrid Christmas Eve together. It's an unforgettable night for Aiden, but before morning comes Allie leaves without a trace. Three years later Allie walks into Dutton's department store on Christmas Eve to purchase gifts for her sisters while a blizzard is raging throughout Chicago and when power is lost she has to wait it out with none other than Aiden! She has a lot to explain and he has secrets to reveal.

Snow Angel is the most romantic of the three stories with a man who could not forget a woman he met three years before. I really like Aiden's yearning for Allie and the tribute to his feelings for her is quite beautiful. Allie is a bit tough at times, although she also comes through in the end. Snow Angel is an enjoyable read full of Christmas details.

Overall Unwrapped hits the spot if you're looking for sexy contemporary romance stories set during the holidays. All three stories are engaging with sexy couples, interesting circumstances and wonderful settings.

Category: Contemporary Romance - Holidays
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Brava/ October 1, 2011
Source: Kensington Publishing
Grade: B

Poetry: Walt Whitman, Song of Myself II

Poet Walt Whitman
May 31, 1819 - March 25, 1892

Song of Myself

II

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes.... the shelves

are crowded with perfumes,

I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,

The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

The atmosphere is not a perfume.... it has no taste

of the distillation.... it is odorless,

It is for my mouth forever.... I am in love with it,

I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,

I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

The smoke of my own breath,

Echoes, ripples, and buzzed whispers.... loveroot, silkthread,

crotch and vine,

My respiration and inspiration.... the beating of my heart....

the passing of blood and air through my lungs,

The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore

and darkcolored sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,

The sound of the belched words of my voice.... words loosed

to the eddies of the wind,

A few light kisses.... a few embraces.... reaching around of arms,

The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,

The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along

the fields and hill-sides,

The feeling of health.... the full-noon trill.... the song of me

rising from bed and meeting the sun.

Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? Have you reckoned

the earth much?

Have you practiced so long to learn to read?

Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin

of all poems,

You shall possess the good of the earth and sun.... there are

millions of suns left,

You shall no longer take things at second or third hand.... nor

look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres

in books,

You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,

You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.

❧❧❧❧❧❧

Poetry by Walt Whitman: Poem taken from Leaves of Grass (1855, Kindle edition) (Other editions of Leaves of Grass vary including last  one in 1891), Drum Taps (1865), Sequel to Drum Taps (1865), Good Bye, My Fancy (1891)

Review: Tis the Season To Be Sinful by Adrienne Basso

The Season For Surprises. . .

Juliet Wentworth knew what she was getting into: a marriage of convenience that will save her estate and protect her family long into the future. But she wasn't expecting to find the passion of a lifetime in her new husband's arms. After just one night, Juliet knows a marriage in name only will never be enough. . .

The Season For Seduction. . .

Richard Harper's beautiful new bride has him reeling with desire--and running for cover. After all, falling in love was never part of the bargain. Yet when Christmastime celebrations bring him back to their country manor and back into Juliet's arms, Richard finds his wife is determined--and all too able--to win over his heart, one kiss at a time. . .

Tis The Season To Be Sinful by Adrienne Basso is a sweet, heartwarming, family Christmas historical romance that also happens to be quite sexy! Now, I have to admit that the sexy part of it was a bit unexpected and maybe it shouldn't have been, especially with that title, but I think what really threw me about this book for a while is that all those factors are combined and work quite well.

Ms. Basso uses the marriage of convenience trope to develop the romance between the beautiful widowed Juliet and Richard, a lonely American industrialist working in London. Richard wants to purchase an English estate and needs a society wife to serve as a hostess, but hopes she will also assuage his lonely nights. Juliet as a widow with three children and a controlling brother-in-law who holds the purse strings finds herself in dire circumstances. She needs income from her son's inherited estate and decides to sell it to Richard, however her brother-in-law will not allow it. He needs a wife for business purposes, she needs a husband to ensure a better future for her children. However, although it is clear that these two people make the decision to marry each other for convenience's sake, they are adults and passion also becomes a strong factor in their decision.

This is true for both Richard and Juliet and they are both upfront and quite open about their strong attraction for each other from the beginning making this a refreshingly adult situation. There is no coyness in Juliet's part, on the contrary she's a highly sensual woman and Richard wants her more every day. It takes a while for their actual relationship to take off though and the romance develops slowly. If or when misunderstandings do crop up this couple deals with them by talking and working out the issues one at a time, even as they disagree. Richard's past is explored this way as intimacy takes the place of sex between them. Julia is the first to recognize the change in their relationship, and Richard is the one who fights it. Fortunately she's relentless in her understanding and in the loving way she handles the situations.

The Christmas holidays are grandly represented in this story. As I was reading all the beautiful scenes describing a traditional English Christmas in the countryside, I was reminded of Mary Balogh's holiday stories and well... I love those! These scenes convey the heartwarming traditional holiday season atmosphere and tell the story of a loving family in the making. The secondary characters blend in with this story to help it along with the children, especially the two boys, making a real impact.

So, surprise, surprise, so far Tis The Season To Be Sinful is my favorite holiday read this year. It has everything from a really sexy couple that steam up the sheets, to three wonderful children who add to the story with pranks that provide some really fun moments as well as some emotional ones, and a wonderful representation of the holiday season.

Category: Historical Romance - Holiday
Series: None
Publisher: Zebra/October 1, 2011
Source: Kensington Publishing
Grade: B+

Visit Adrienne Basso here.

Review: Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane, #3) by Elizabeth Hoyt

Can a pirate learn that the only true treasure lies within a woman’s heart?

“Charming” Mickey O’Connor is the most ruthless river pirate in London. Devastatingly handsome and fearsomely intelligent, he clawed his way up through London’s criminal underworld. Mickey has no use for tender emotions like compassion and love, and he sees people as pawns to be manipulated. Yet he’s never been able to forget the naive captain’s wife who came to him a year ago for help—and spent one memorable night in his bed...talking.

Widowed Silence Hollingbrook is impoverished, lovely, and kind--and a year ago she made a horrible mistake. She went to a river pirate for help in saving her husband and in the process made a bargain that cost her her marriage. That night wounded her so terribly that she hides in the foundling home she helps run with her brother. Except now that same river pirate is back...and he’s asking for her help.

I loved Wicked Intentions and thoroughly enjoyed Notorious Pleasures, Books 1 & 2 of the Maiden Lane historical romance series. However with Scandalous Desires, Elizabeth Hoyt has cemented my love of this series and officially makes it an absolute favorite. I loved this book!

Scandalous Desires opens with Mary Darling having been taken by Charming Mickey O'Connor and Silence demanding her return. It is then that she finds out that Mickey is the baby's father marking her as a target of the river pirate's enemies. Given the chance of staying and caring for Mary, Silence chooses to stay even if it means placing herself in O'Connor's hands again. Mickey has Silence exactly where he wants her, in his palace and at his disposal, or so he thinks. Silence is lovely and kind, but Mickey hurt her terribly in the past and although she'll do anything for the baby, she won't give in to Mickey. The previous year at her request river pirate Charming Mickey O'Connor saved her husband and exacted a terrible price that cost Silence her reputation and marriage. Soon after, her husband died at sea and baby Mary Darling was abandoned at her doorstep. Caring for her beloved Mary Darling helps Silence get through this time of sorrow, and she's not about to let a ruthless criminal like Mickey O'Connor keep her away from her baby.

In Scandalous Desires, Elizabeth Hoyt maintains the excellent atmosphere already established in the first two books of the Maiden Lane series by taking the reader back to the St. Giles slums as the setting for this romance, however she expands that setting by making her central couple inhabitants of St. Giles and keeping the action there.

As opposed to the first two books in the series, there are no aristocrats as protagonists in this story. Instead with Mickey O'Connor's character, Hoyt focuses on the life and personal history of a criminal who grew up in the streets of a slum and rose to power by thieving and killing. Mickey is unacceptable to society even as he is feared, envied and respected for his cunning, wealth and power by a certain element in St. Giles. But where Mickey deviates from the previous male protagonists in this series and where Hoyt pushes the envelope with this male character is in that she makes him a real criminal, with not only a violent history but a present life that is also filled with violence and danger, crimes and killing -- one that he doesn't want to give up.

I wondered how Hoyt would redeem such a character for the reader, or if she could. Of course Hoyt delivers and redeems him up to a point by exploring Mickey's past while he falls head over heels in love with Silence Hollinbrook. Mickey's year-long guilt feelings over how his actions affected Silence's life and his yearning for Silence's tenderness and passion make him a passionate and sweet romance hero. There is an extreme contrast between the acquisitive man who will go to criminal lengths to get more, and the man who needs love, passion and tenderness in his life -- the cynical vs. the vulnerable. Mickey is flawed and quite irresistible!

Silence fights her attraction to Mickey and holds on to what she believes was the perfect love she shared with her dead husband. However, once Silence sees behind the criminal and into the man that is Mickey and falls in love with him, she accepts and embraces that love. In this she is a more traditional female romance protagonist, yet Silence in her own quiet, loving and nurturing way is also a passionate, determined woman once she knows what and who she wants in her life. I admire her for loving Mickey no matter what others say about him, but also love the fact that she sticks to her beliefs when it comes to what it is best for herself and her beloved Mary Darling.

The plot is quite engaging with a mixture of action and quiet moments used to build the romance, and secondary characters that include a crazed criminal as Mickey's enemy, Mickey's gang of river pirates, where there are characters that fall under those gray areas, and of course Silence's family and an appearance by the the Ghost of St. Guiles. There are some violent scenes that set the tone for the overall story and really fit in with the St. Giles setting. I enjoyed all of it, including a brief appearance by Caire and Temperance and the set up for Winter's romance.

Scandalous Desires has everything offered by the first two books in this series: great action and pacing, interesting secondary characters, excellent atmosphere, an action-packed climactic scene, and to top it off an excellent passionate romance between two very different people who love and in the end complement each other perfectly. And don't worry, Hoyt not only uses sexual tension to build up the romance, but she also delivers by including plenty of her signature hot and sexy scenes. I enjoyed everything about this romance!

Now we wait for the next installment in the series and Winter's romance which promises to be an exciting one. I can't wait to read it!

Category: Historical Romance
Series: Maiden Lane Series
Publisher/Released: Grand Central Publishing/October 18, 2011-Kindle Edition
Grade: A

Visit Elizabeth Hoyt here.

Series:
Wicked Intentions, Book 1
Notorious Pleasures, Book 2
Scandalous Desires, Book 3

The Birthday Gift!

The best ever birthday gift for a reader born under the Scorpio sign this year. The Kindle Fire!!!

Score!!!!