Book Review: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure aka @AnneRiceAuthor June 2, 2011
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty was a lovely shock to the system for me. It was phenomenally written by a psuedonymed Anne Rice.
A beautiful languid, lovely prose all the while describing harsh, violent, erotic scenes. Sometimes I was reading, mouth agape. Other times I realized I was curled up in a ball, tucked all up as I read. All the while I was eager to read, eager to learn more of Beauty’s journey or if her prince would be redeemed. I was wanton to know how, or even if, Beauty and her counterparts would rebel or escape, but then again, her alternatives were nothing. It was exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time.
You feel sad for Beauty, but then again you want her to keep going and be strong and prevail. I found myself thinking of things for her to do, how to escape her enslavement to the prince who freed her.
It’s such a dichotomy. Freedom from sleep only to be bound in slavery. At what cost can you find true freedom?
Our Beauty is a spoiled, rich girl, idle and bored, although she loves her family and is always the epitome of well-bred princess. But then she’s awakened after a hundred years of sleep and taken from everything she’s ever known, enslaved by a prince and his mother, the queen, and kept in a violent atmosphere of debauchery and pain, pleasure and gluttony.
I was fascinated by the story beyond the obvious “erotic adventure” as the book touts on the cover.
Age old question… what is freedom? Am I to describe someone else’s freedom? Should it be my version of freedom or theirs? Who’s is right? If our Beauty and the other Prince and Princess slaves find freedom within their pain and captivity, through the actions and commands of others, is it still freedom?
Also, what is too much? My limits may be different from your limits? How do you know until you push past them and realize you’ve gone too far? This is what Beauty begins to learn.
At the end of the first book, you are left asking, “But what happens next?” and I eagerly picked up the second “Beauty’s Punishment.”
Now we find out what Beauty is really made of now that she’s been ripped away from her captor prince and thrust into the village.
If you want to push your limits and really read a gorgeously written tale, I highly recommend The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.
Not for the faint of heart.
Book Review: ARC of Tangled Past by Leah Braemel @LeahBraemel May 28, 2011
I was interested in this story mainly due to it’s poly relationship premise. I enjoy historical romances, but I don’t always get into Westerns, this was a different kind of Western though. Although there were the fun cattle rustling, horse riding, dirty varment kind of stuff within the pages that you’d hope for within a Western Romance novel, Tangled Past also has an intricately woven romance story line that you normally don’t see. It is unique and very well thought out.
Yes, it is a romance. There are flowery prose and professings of love, but there are two male main characters and they are vying for the love of our female lead, Sarah. They are also vying for each other as well as Sarah.
Jackson is rough edged and abrupt, but he’s honest and loyal.
Nate is kind and sweet, but earnest and passionate.
I couldn’t help but fall in love with both of them right along with our tough Sarah.
Sarah’s life hasn’t been easy and even though her tale is very realistic for this time period and sometimes hard to read about, you come to find her strength and drive very enduring and attractive. Nothing ruins a romance more in my opinion than a “wilting flower” as Miss Martha calls them, the wise sage in Tangled Past.
Leah does a lovely job of creating three distinct characters that bring three distinct pieces together into a beautiful relationship. Their connection reminded me of a symbol I have tattooed on my back, the Trinity Heart Celtic Knot. Where one piece ends, another begins so there is truly no end. I would have loved to have been able to read more, especially later in the story.
I did find several type errors that brought me out of the story a few times, but that’s the beta in me. I’d love to give this story a once over before it’s published to make sure it is grammatically correct and reads smoothly. This story is quite enjoyable and deserves to sparkle.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical romances, especially of the Western variety. I’m sure it’s not easy setting this balance that you find in Tangled Past. Leah handles polygamy with care and it’s not only emotional but beautiful and erotic. I would definitely like to read something from Leah again.
Thank you again to Carina Press for allowing me to preread their ARCs. I very much appreciate being given these opportunities!
Book Review: Notturno by @ZAMaxfield Awesome paranormal read! May 21, 2011
What an emotional story!
I picked this out because it looked like a naughty romp, but it turned out to be more so. Adin’s story made my heart hurt over and over!
I was reading over the last day and my stomach kept dropping. It seemed like every chapter I had to tweet ZA about how much my heart hurt for Adin!
Donte is a lovely vampire character and the entire story just makes you swoon and smile and gasp. ZA has a wonderful way about her fluency and word choice, the way Donte and Adin coin a phrase was just adorable and fun. You could feel the attraction as you’re reading. It starts passionately and ends passionately. It’s a lovely mix of intrigue and action, mystery and conversation. It’s wonderful!
It was a fantastic story. If you’re looking for something that combines paranormal romance with intrigue and fun for a really great read, I highly recommend!
Book Review: His Enemy’s Daughter by Terri Brisbin May 15, 2011
Total bodice-busting, lusty fun 🙂
It was the usual man vs. man, beauty and the beast retelling with a Briton/Norman/Saxon rebellion thrown in for funzies. It was a very quick read. Took me about two hours total from start to finish while we drove up the mountain.
I would highly recommend this if you are looking for some virginity-stealing, swoony, giggly good times with the marauding, hulking good-bad-guy knight and the fierce, do-gooding virgin with spunk.
All around brain candy 🙂
Book Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood 5: Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward April 19, 2011
Okay, so yeah, read this one in about 5 hours and sobbed my eyes out for the last 20 pages.
And when I say sob, I don’t mean delicate, feminine little ribbons of saltwater softly trailing over flushed cheeks… no this was a torrential, cathartic, snotsobbing-style weeping. It wasn’t pretty.
Vishous’ story was so full of pain… I thought Zsadist’s story was painful… it was. This mounted that pain and made it it’s bitch.
God, my stomach still hurts.
The ending was fantastic and I adored the tête-à -tête that was V and Jane co-mingling and challenging each other. It was such a beautiful, real, raw love story. Add the mother stuff, well, for those of you who know me in real life, this all really affected me.
Vishous’ story is just poignant. I don’t want to say more and ruin others reading, but this was an extremely good one.
I think V’s story and Z’s story are by far my favorite so far.
Can’t wait to read on!
Book Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood Book 3 by J.R. Ward April 16, 2011
Holy…
I’m just… there are no words!
This story was probably the best and it has the most pain. The emotions of this story just ripped my heart out.
There was an amazing ending, but the subplots just tore me apart. My heart is still hurting!
“I was dead until you found me, though I breathed. I was sightless, though I could see. And then you came…and I was awakened.”
Truly a fantastic story about Zsadist and his twin Phury, but also Bella, Thor, John, and Wellsie. All of them woven together in such a beautiful tapestry. It was fantastic, but it hurt!
The story of Bella and Zsadist is so wonderfully told and I just achingly intense. I devoured this book and wanted so badly to read more and more of their story.
I’m eager to read on, but after the emotional gutting of this book, I think I need some time off. There’s no rebounding from some of the things you learn in this book, but I’m hoping the next books will have positive things like Nalla.
Oh who am I kidding, I’ll probably start four tomorrow morning…
Book Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood: Dark Lover Book 1 by J.R. Ward April 13, 2011
What a fun read!!! Ward has a great way of mixing old lore and new age all together to make a really fun, exiting fiction story that keeps you entertained for 300+ pages.
I really enjoyed learning about Beth and the brothers. All the different personalities mix together and you can tell it will be fun to learn more. I’ve heard the Zsadist/Bella book is the best, but I would like to know more aobut Wellsie and Tohr too! See? I’ve fallen in love with the whole bunch.
I hope we’ll see more Beth and Wrath throughout the other books. I know they’ll be about the other brothers, but I really liked Beth. I always enjoy a feisty heroine!
booknerdbecca 