REVIEW - KISSED (GIVEAWAY)

"Assured that she may wed her onetime fiancé if he consents to have her, the penniless beauty sets out to win Christian's affections once more - unaware that the rogue has been offered a tidy sum to break Jessamine's heart."

Author: Tanya Anne Crosby
Pages: 389 pages
Publisher: Avon Publishing on June 1995
Form: E-book (from tour for an honest review)
Genre: Historical Romance
Amazon: Buy / $4.99 (Kindle) ( EU price, click to see yours )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $4.99 (Nook)
Excerpt: Chapter 1

"Jessamine Stone's brother would marry her off to a covetous boor to salvage an impoverished estate. But Jessamine can love only Christian Haukinge—the handsome lord to whom she was once betrothed. Assured that she may wed her onetime fiancé if he consents to have her, the penniless beauty sets out to win Christian's affections once more— unaware that the rogue has been offered a tidy sum to break Jessamine's heart.

Embittered over past injustices, Christian has good reason to despise the Stone family—and so ruthlessly agrees to the contemptible bargain. But Jessamine's sensuous spirit, her innocent trust, and her melting green- eyed gaze threaten to undermine his resolve for vengeance—and to heal his deep and scarring wounds with the soothing balm of unconditional love."  ~ From Goodreads

I absolutely love reading a real good Avon romance! You get the high romance, the willful heroine and the rogue hero who lusts after the woman but finds himself honoring her as well. I love that, and Kissed was perfect example of this. Perfect Historical Romance plot of a virgin, courting gone wrong and a pirate who can't keep his hands of the woman he once lost. Add in the pudgy villain, and we have the perfect scene set for enjoyable Historical Romance!

Gimme a tall, dark and handsome pirate with bad case of lust and love for our heroine! There must be kidnapping of the aforementioned heroine by the sexy pirate. Ah, thank you Ms. Crosby. It's been too long since I read one of these and I was awesome to go back to the bodice rippers. ;) Though if I recall right there wasn't and actual bodice ripped but you get the drift, right?

I loved the title Kissed because it so embodied the book, as we are talking Historical Romance there wasn't premarital sex or even heavy petting so it all starts with a kiss, the romance, the lust, the falling in love. Crosby sure described it perfectly and the kissing kept escalating to more and more intensity until it just had to evolve to touching and that my friends was a hot read!

I truly enjoyed Jessamine's character, she was tough, determined and little bit naive about what happened when it came to lust and a man's reaction to her - which cast Christian to even greater light when he had to bite his lip to not act out of society standards and that made their romance such a fun one to read. Of course when the story developed we got to see Jessamine's scorn of Christian even though she still loved him, she almost slipped so many times with her inability to resist his kiss, priceless. Absolutely love this in a romance novel!

I liked the Kindle cover makeover, it doesn't show much more than something going on in the back alley though, I would have loved a more play with his pirate ways, perhaps a ship and her bit more resistant to her embrace for the cover to really have the book's feel. Or if to go with the couple then there should have a been an estate on the background from the first part of the book for it to click. Gorgeous colors though!

See the Giveaway below the rating!

Rating :

Tanya will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Nook Gift Card (winner's choice)
to a randomly drawn commenter during both this and the Speak No Evil Tour.

So Comment on this Blog on the Review to be eligible for the 50$ Book Cash! Yay, books!

REVIEW - LEGENDS

Author: Deborah Smith
Pages: 192 pages
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: August 8th, 2011
Form: E-Book (Review Copy through NetGalley)
Adlibris: Link

"Elgiva MacRoth descends from a long line of bold Scots willing to fight for their heritage. When her picturesque town comes under siege by a corporate raider, she devises a daring plan to stop billionaire Douglas Kincaid. But kidnapping a man off the rooftop of his penthouse and holding him hostage proves far less complicated than saving herself from his intoxicating sensual assault."

His golden eyed redhead captor sure makes staying in a small stone cabin in the middle of nowhere, Scotland, interesting. She cooks good trying to feed him into stupor, and it doesn't help that he feels drawn to her no matter the situation. Douglas Kincaid, a billionaire, isn't used to of being not in control and the fact that the woman holding him against his will is just about as proud and stubborn as he is.

Elgiva's plan is simple, hold Kincaid in the little cottage until he can't be trouble for her village, easy enough. But what is not easy is when the man behind the bars is gorgeous and seems to eye her in a way that makes her stomach twist in the very good way. However this is to end for her she won't go down without a fight, she's doing this for her clansmen, for her village, she has nothing to lose, except maybe her heart to dark haired man who is trying to tempt her from his half of the cabin.

"I'll make trade, El. I'll give you the microphone back if you give me what I want," Douglas told her.
She shivered. "What would you be wanting?"
He met her eyes with a gaze that had suddenly become intense. "Five minutes of you. Just standing here and not making any protests."
Elgiva understood perfectly now, and her knees grew weak. "I'll just let you starve."

This wonderfully tempting story is fun to read and easy to finish in less than a day. Chemistry between Elgiva and Douglas is sparkling, both proud, unyielding, both going for exactly what they want - but stubborn enough to not see they both might end up wanting the same thing. A nice trip to Scotland to see the battle of wills. This book sure isn't boring! Its fun, entertaining, seductive and worth a read.

Rating :

Started Reading : 7th of Aug. 2011
Finished reading : 7th of Aug. 2011