Atunah's Romance Haus

This is again a series where its difficult for me to do reviews for. I have the same problem with the Kate Daniels series and Mercy Thompson. As the series goes on, there is just stuff happening that has to be read in order and I hate spoiling. So I'll keep it to the characters.

Zoey, I still love you. She is just so cute. We are now really starting to see her grow into her role. The one she never asked for. She is making some decisions that are long reaching. Before, she would just basically go with the flow and deal with the monsters and how stuff was happening. It was more of a reaction to everything. Now she is starting to be more in a active role in her life. She wants answers, she is learning to say no and taking charge. Its really nice to see. 

Its also nice to see her relationships grow and how she is realizing that all that crazy is now her family. 

I also like that her friend and business partner is finally becoming more of a character and is not in the dark anymore. This gives the opportunity for them all to be working together. Kind of like the crew on the TV show "Grimm". 

It will also be interesting to follow the bigger story line that opened up in the last part of this installment. Very intrigued. 

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I got $62 back from the settlement, not as much as some, but more than I thought. So because I am a one click addict, I am spending as fast as I can. I bought 9 books so far and have only a little left now. 

I am putting links in to my loot. :) Don't they look pretty? 

I just could not stop smiling reading this. I think I am still smiling. It is so wonderfully delightful without being cloying. I hate using these cliche words, but it was really charming. :)

Like a fairy-tale for grownups. 

Izzy is just the best kind of heroine. 26 and now alone in the world. Her father died and left her with nothing, even though he was famous for writing stories with Izzy being a big part in those stories. She is down to her last shillings and is being summoned to a Castle for some inheritance from a god father. 

For some reason she ends up inheriting that bat infested Castle with one big problem. There is a Duke still there. Scarred and visually impaired, Ransom is stubborn and kind of like a wounded animal. 

From the first meeting of the two, I could feel the sparks, the chemistry was off the charts. 

She just blows into his dark ordered life like a sparkly charming whirlwind. 

And the other characters are just to sweet. I don't want to say too much, its nicer to just read and experience. There is just such a sense of honor and romance throughout this book. Izzy never gave up on her dreams and she is just so lovable. And as gruffy and hurt as the Duke is, you just want him to have her. 

This is the perfect romance novel to read when you need some smiles in your life. :)

This was a wonderful gothic flavored historical romance. 

We start with the grown up on the streets waif, running from the law, stumbling over gravestones at an Abbey that is inhabited by Alistair Waldegrave.

Inflicted by something horrible, he and his daughter are basically boarded up in the dark inside the Abbey. There are catacombs, dark and scary corridors, suspicious villagers and of course secrets.

This has all the drama that I want out of a gothic. Murder, secrets, passion, villains. 

But what really got me the most was the emotional portrayal of the characters. The hero, horribly tortured by life and circumstances and the heroine with her own scars. I really felt their despair, their longing and most of all, their loneliness. 

There were some scenes in here that ripped my heart out, right along with the characters. I love when I find authors that can give me that. 

I always am most satisfied reading, when an author can make me feel all of the emotions. And when the characters go through a lot and the payoff is absolutely worth it. I pretty much read this in 2 sittings. 

** Thanks to Netgalley, Intrepid Reads and Erica Ridley for providing this novel for review. 

This is the second book in a time travel romance trilogy. I read this one right after I finished the first, without a break. 

I liked the 2nd even better than the first. Here the story is about Myra, who is the sister of the hero in the first book and she is from the past, from Scotland. She has to go to present time for protection from a dark druid woman who needs a druid virgin to break the spell that was put on her. 

Myra meets up with cop Todd, who of course is very suspicious of her. She has nothing but the name of the sister of the first books heroine Tara. Tara in present times of course disappeared and so Todd has to question everything. 

I really like this scenario where for once we get a little insight into the after math of one of those time travels. We often have the heroine just leaving present day and going to the past, but we usually don't ever see the after effects to those left behind in present day and the investigation. We get a bit of that here since Todd is a cop. 

Of course there is more time traveling to do and Todd also has to deal at some point with being in the past. I don't want to say to much about the plot, but he held his own among the honorable Scotsman. 

There is a lot of stuff happening in this one and it was so nice to really get to know the whole family in Scotland much better here. We also see how the women are finding their druid gifts more and more and helping to fight along the men against the evil druid woman. 

I will read the 3rd very soon as again, the arc is still going by the end of the 2nd. This is shaping up to be a really entertaining time travel romance series. 

This is the first book in a time travel romance trilogy. Here we meet Tara and her friend who are visiting a Renaissance Fair in modern day California. There they meet up with the villain, a dark druid woman who has been banished to that time. And she needs a virgin of druid descend to break the spell. Tara being both of those things of course is then in danger.

To the rescue come Duncan the hero of this novel and his brother Finlay, who come from medieval Scotland to modern day to prevent the dark druid from finding virgins. And yes, they usually do exactly as one might think. un-virgin the virgins. :) No virgins, useless to the dark druid. 

This time though they take Tara to the past for protection and that is where the story unfolds.

I had a few issues with Tara the heroine, although I can't quite put my finger on why. I have no faults with Duncan though, or his brother. Really the whole family is quite interesting and I really got a sense all the way through that there is a lot more story to tell.

Although there is a nice proper romance ending, there is also the overreaching arc that flows through these books and because the way it ended and where it left another member of the family, I went immediately to the next in the series and started reading it. I just had to know what happened next.

I have owned this kindle book for a while now and I am glad I finally got around reading it.

Overall I really enjoyed it.   

This book was really a nice surprise to me. It was recommended on a forum where we talked about Urban Fantasy books. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was just delightful and dark all at the same time. Zoey, the main character is just so lovable. We experience things from her POV, which can be a problem for me when I don't like the character. But I fell in love with Zoey. She is quirky, a klutz and has the biggest heart known to man.

Of course she is an Empath, but didn't really know she was different. She thought everyone can read people by their feelings. :) 

The book starts out by her waking up and finding her childhood scary monster from the closet, sitting at her kitchen table reading the newspaper. His name is Maurice.

I got hooked right from that moment, how she dealt with that situation and all the other situations that keep happened. And boy is there a lot of stuff happening. Very bad things happening. If you like the dark themes to be mixed in with some quirkiness, this is the one. 

I cannot wait to read the next one, even though I needed another UF series like I need another dust bunny in the house :)

Well I guess my time with Netgalley has come to an end. At this point I get denied everything. Even publishers I previously got approved. I am a small fish I am sure. Harlequin are the latest that are denying me.

Oh well, I tried. Still, it does bug a bit getting those emails. Especially since I got the last one within hours after requesting, on a Saturday even. I guess they really don't want me :(

This is the first in a series of books about the three sons of a Duke. The first to get his story is Harry, the oldest and an Earl. 

We meet Harry as he is pursuing a fluffy pretty Lady he decided would make the perfect Duchess for him.

He is a privileged older son that is used to getting what he wants in life. In his prime, arrogant,  handsome and tall, things are easy for him.  

He follows his chosen one to her family's estate to propose. And that is when the world as he knew it, comes crashing down on him.

A very bad fall from a horse, caused by the childish chit brings him in contact with her practical and less sparkly sister, nicknamed Gus. 

The majority of the novel is about the hero dealing with his very badly broken leg. He spends most of the book in bed with braces around the break.

This novel is set in 1768 and so medical care is still pretty primitive dealing with such injury.

And that is what I really liked about this book. The author doesn't shy away from having such a injury be a huge part of the plot and story all the way through. It doesn't just go away after a few pages and we get to see how the hero reacts to his sudden change of lifestyle. He is grouchy, surly, and especially in the beginning a really bad patient. The journey that he goes through, physically and mentally is very well done. 

The sister of the initial intended, the eventual heroine is the one that not only finds him lying in on the ground after he fell, she is also the one that gets him through not only the horrible pain, but also the despair. 

The charm though comes through when he feels a little better and I really loved the interactions between Harry and Gus. I loved seeing her bloom and starting to sparkle in her own way.  

And often when novels are suppose to be set in Georgian times, they still feel like Regencies to me. Not so here. I finally felt the proper time, which is quite a feat considering most of the novel plays out at the heroines family estate and not in fashionable London. 

I am really looking forward to the next in this series. 

Thanks to Netgalley, Random House and Isabella Bradford for providing the eARC

A misunderstood hero, who's ugly past keeps sticking to him like glue and a somewhat stiff and proper heroine who isn't easy to like. For me, that makes for interesting reading. 

So we have a puppet master, the Duke of Montford. He has "collected" orphan children of kins over the years and then sets them up for advantageous marriages to further his agenda to enlarge the family prestige and coffers.
Or something like that. They are basically his wards.

The heroine came to him when she was 8 years old.
He arranged her marriage and she is now a widow as we start the novel. And the will her dead hubby leaves behind splits the estate between her and a cousin, Constantine, who will now inherit. He has the estate, she has the money and from this it seems there seems but one solution, they must marry. Seems simple enough, but it isn't.

I really liked that both had a lot of learning to do of each other. She was not very approachable and for me it was a bit hard to like her. Not sure if I ever quite completely warmed up to her. But somehow it all worked for me. The two have a kind of chemistry that cuts through all of her stiffness and it also opens up his hardened heart. It really is the slow getting to know one another what makes this romance. 

A great start to a series and I am looking forward to reading the next. I do want to find out more about the Duke of Montford and Lady Arden and their rivalry about setting up these marriages. Its a bit distasteful, but I am intrigued nonetheless.

For me this had a different tone to it than the previous books. Not in a bad way, just different. I think its because this is the first time that Mercy and Adam spend that much time together without any of the other pack or vampires or the usual clan that surrounds them. 

Besides the very beginning where we see Stefan and again at the end, most of the book is set in a kind of national park that is run by Native Americans. 

I really liked that we got to know more about Mercy's heritage, or should I say didn't get to know. I am confused about all of it a bit, just like Mercy. :)

Crazy new creatures and Mercy once again having to get bloodied. What else is new. I think Adam said something to the effect that Mercy doesn't start most of the stuff, but she finishes it. So true. Trouble does seem to follow her. 

Another great installment in this very interesting world. 

I am quite split on this book to be honest. Let me first start out by saying that I absolutely love the change of usual scenery we find in historical romance. 

This is set in 900 something, pardon me for not recalling the exact year. :). It is set in Ireland at a time where the Norse were also mingling with the locals, not always peacefully and there were other enemies like the Danes. 

I have read several by this author and I always love the way she pulls me into the time and place and gives me fully fleshed out characters. I wasn't disappointed on that score here. The land and its people as strange as they are to me, it felt real. 

I could almost smell the sea. 

The reason I picked this particular book was reading the reviews of people I follow and how split the opinions are. That intrigued me. I addition to the setting that is. I think the only other Viking romance I read was some Sandra Hill and those are very very different. Those are meant to be funny. 

As this book starts we get a sense of the despair and hunger of the people in the settlement and how they have basically given up. I guess its hard to think positive when your body and spirit are weakened by hunger. It set the somber tone of the book that stayed with me to the end. 

As the hero is married, I wasn't really sure how this would work out. The times were very different then and there really weren't any bad guys so to speak in it. I felt horrible for all involved. Nobody was happy about the situation. 

But some of the emotional cheating that is going on between the hero and the heroine did bother me. Even though I could somehow understand it in some way. And to me there very much was cheating. Emotionally and also on a intimate level, just not going all the way so to speak. 

Even though I loved this setting and the world and the people, because of the subject and the somber tone throughout, it was a bit depressing. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to live and survive in those days. 

I found the customs and beliefs that were touched upon here very interesting. 

I can totally see how some would hate this book for its contents and others liked it. It really is one of those personal things. 

Overall I found it very absorbing and it really did pull me into the world. Which is why I probably need something a bit more happy and fluffy as my next read :)

This was my first by O'Banyon and it will not be my last for sure. I am glad to find out that much of her back list is now available on kindle. I picked this as my prime loan for this month to see if I would like the writing and now I know. I love it. 

I assumed this was written a while back, mainly because I don't really come across these sweeping native american historical romances anymore in the new releases. But it looks like this was first published in 2010. And that is good news. It means these types of romance are still being written today. I have been going back to somewhat older stuff lately to find the real immersing historical romances. Somehow the new stuff is lacking some of the drama and epic-ness, for lack of a better word. 

This one has all of what I ask for in a romance with the NA theme. The struggles, some ugliness, the spirituality, nature, growing love, heartache longing, culture and happiness. 

It starts out dark and painful and the way to happiness is not easy and covered with sharp rocks. But those are the kind of romances I love. I want there to be some depth to it, some meaning.

I read this in almost one sitting. It was such a page turner and such a pleasure to read. It had just the right combination of everything and the sense of adventure I was looking for. I really didn't want it to end. 

I'll be reading more of this author soon and I am happy to see there is an extensive back list to pick from with many different settings.  

This is the second in the Honeycote series. The first was about the older sister, this one about Daphne. 

It was overall a charming book. 

We have a heroine that posed for two scandalous paintings to pay for her mothers medicine, before her elder sister snagged the Duke and then there is the hero, who owns one of the paintings and or course notices her. 

He agrees to help her find the other painting and so they fall for each other during the adventures so to speak. The hero has a severely painful disfiguring injury to his leg from the war and is a bit of a grumpy one for it. 

What I had issues with was the hero using his leg to push the heroine away. I just got a bit tired of is "I am the unworthy of you cripple" routine. And he kept that up even after he deflowered the heroine. Then suddenly, without the benefit of getting his insights on why he changed his mind, he asks her brother in law the duke for her hand in marriage. 

Overall enjoyable, but the hero "cripple" waffling got old. 

I did very much like Daphne though. She sets her mind on having him and have him she is. :). Mr Grumpy gets the delightful big hearted Miss. 

I chose this one randomly after I had just finished a historical romance. I had already owned it for a while and now I don't know why I waited so long to read it. 

I started it last night. The idea was just to read a chapter or so and then go to bed. I came up for air at 3 am and had plowed through 60% of the novel. That is how much it gripped me. It just grabbed me from the first few pages and didn't let go. 

I think what worked so well was that many things were unveiled fairly early on, while more stuff kept getting mysterious. By not dragging everything to the end, it kept my interest. The main issue was that the heroines identity was not kept from everyone until the end which is often done and then nobody has any time to develop a meaningful relationship.

Here we get the opportunity to see the fallout from it all early on. Yet, there are more secrets and mysteries to be revealed. Its this revealing in stages that kept interest going throughout. 

Is this all realistic? Nope. Was I flying through the pages at night while my eyes were drying out to rocks? Yep. :)

Just a great romantic suspense. 

I am a huge fan of this series. This is the 4th installment and I read it right after I finished #4. I was on the edge of my seat and just had to continue. But now I wish I had waited a bit with reading 3 and 4, maybe stretch it out a bit longer since the last, #5, won't be out until May. Darn. 

I said I was stunned after reading the last one, but I am just as stunned after this one. Its a different stunned, yet still an emotional one. 

As I finished this I realized how far we, or should I say Kathleen, have come since the series started. My goodness a lot of stuff happened. Kathleen, the at times ditzy pretty blonde princess, has grown up. She has been through the wringer and back and then all over again. So have Blane and Kade really. 

And I have to be honest, I really had no clue which direction it was going to go here. Its like watching a train wreck at times when you know someone, or all of them are going to have their heart ripped out one way or another. 

The suspense is superb as ever as the talons that weave through out the series come unglued and untangled. 

And again, over 400 pages fly by like nothing. What a story teller.