Day / July 15, 2011

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Catch Me by Lorelie Brown

Format: E-bookcatchme
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Carina Press
Hero: Elmer Dean Collier
Heroine: Margaret Bullock
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 18, 2011
Started On: July 15, 2011
Finished On: July 15, 2011

Set in Arizona territory in 1882, Catch Me by Lorelie Brown is an entertaining romance of the American-Western variety that fans of the genre should not miss out on. Lorelie Brown serves the reader with enough adventure, red-hot passion and a love between two strong-willed people who have no clue as to what they are in for when fate throws them together in the most trying circumstances.

22 year old Margaret Bullock, daughter of the current sheriff of Fresh Springs is at her wits end as to how to obtain money for her ailing father’s treatment. Maggie does the only thing a headstrong and willful woman who won’t take what fate hands over lying down would do – rob the only bank in Fresh Springs and leave her hometown with the intention of never to return.

Elmer Dean Collier is a man who seems to have lost his way since the loss of life as he knew it five years back. A bounty hunter who has lived on the high that each righteous kill brings lifting up the haze of anger that has shrouded him since that fateful day five years back, Dean knows that it wouldn’t be long before he loses whatever shred of humanity that is left within him if he were to continue as he has been. Tired of the constant round of killing his life has become, Dean grabs at the chance of becoming the new sheriff of Fresh Springs upon capture and return of the woman who seems to have robbed the town’s only bank.

Blinded by the need to turn his life around and attaining his one chance at redemption, Dean at first doesn’t pay heed to the mischievous, daring and headstrong woman who turns him inside out when he at last manages to find Maggie. Bit by bit, Maggie manages to chip away at the coldness that seems to have become his protective shield for so long, until all he can think about is surrendering himself to the warmth he is sure to find in his captive’s arms.

Maggie though an innocent knows when passion blindsides her that there would be no regrets for her where Dean is concerned and she is determined that they both experience what their bodies seem intent on telling them would be one tempestuous coming together. But Dean is a man not to be swayed on his mission to deliver Maggie as he has promised, a promise that seems to eat away at him as their destination draws closer, making him question whether the peace that he hunts would embrace him if he were to give up the woman who has managed to sneak her way into his heart.

Catch Me is a novel that urges the reader to turn the pages, to keep on reading to find out whether the sexual tension that simmers between Maggie and Dean is as explosive as one would hope it to be, to experience the way Dean crumbles by bits and pieces until ultimate surrender is all he can think of and to find out the secrets that seems to shroud the lives of Maggie’s father and that of the infamous banker whose less than stellar intentions nearly drive Maggie and Dean apart for good.

Dean reminded me of the type of heroes that Maggie Osborne creates, the type of hero that I immediately fall in love with, as beneath their rough, gruff and tough exterior lies a man who hurts a lot more than I can even comprehend. Maggie is the type of heroine who is feisty, sensual and giving, the type of woman who can turn a man’s well ordered life all around until he is left with only one choice, i.e. to love and cherish her till death does them apart.

With invigorating banter between Maggie and Dane to liven things up along the 3 week journey these two make from Texas towards Fair Springs and the characters that are introduced in between, Catch Me is a story that well earns its position as a great read. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

Favorite Quotes

Their lips clung and released, then came back again. His tongue dipped into her mouth and she received it with a quiet sigh of welcome.
She was sweet like apples. Sweet to the taste, to the touch, to all his senses. More succulent than anything he’d dared touch for a long time. He’d been lost in the dark, but if he gripped her tightly enough maybe she would lead him out.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo | Carina Press

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Don’t Look Back by M.J. Fredrick

Format: E-book
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Hero: Captain Gerard Delaney
Heroine: Dr. Olivia Olney
Sensuality: 3.5
Publication Date: August 12, 2010
Started On: July 13, 2011
Finished On: July 14, 2011

Don’t Look Back by M.J. Fredrick is going to be a hard book for me to review, not because I didn’t love the story that unfolded but rather because of just how much the story drew me in and wrapped its words around me, making me savor every emotion that it wrenched from me that I want to do this book the justice that  it deserves. Before I begin my review however, there are two things that I would like to thank the very wonderful M.J. Fredrick for. Number one being for the blog post that she published which drew my attention to this gem, and the second for being generous enough to give me a copy of this book which I appreciate from the bottom of my heart.

Don’t Look Back kicks off seven years prior to the start of the actual story when Dr. Olivia Olney is rescued by a team led by Captain Gerard Delaney from Special Forces who specializes in hostage recovery. Broken, battered, raped and barely alive, Olivia finds the strength to persevere and come out fighting by never letting go of the image of the tough blue-eyed soldier who arrived to her rescue when she had right about given up hope.

Seven years later, Olivia is a changed woman, the scars of the ordeal that she underwent which she carries with her every day. However, that doesn’t stop her from helping out the less fortunate souls who struggle to survive the depths of hell that is war riddled Africa, even if it means going back to the one place that brings back the nightmares of how she was captured and tortured at the hands of violent and vicious men.

When her best friend Jill gets taken as a hostage by the man who imprisoned Olivia and introduced her to the depths of hell, there is no stone that Olivia would leave unturned in her quest to rescue the one woman who stood by her through every single step of her recovery. When Olivia finds out that the soldier who has haunted her dreams since the night of her rescue is very much alive and living in exile in Spain, she doesn’t hesitate to pull out all the stops, even kicking Delaney where it hurts to get him to lead their rescue operation.

Delaney is a man who has been stripped bare of everything, a man with nothing left to lose who remains in hiding, fearing for the life of his son and his ex-wife whom he has left behind. Three years of merely existing comes to an end when the sexy and vibrant Olivia sashays into his life, opening up the wounds that have been quietly festering all this while. Olivia forces Delaney to confront his fear of failure and his reluctance to go back to a country that has already taken too much from him and left him high and dry.

Making their way to Amadan, a jungle-choked country with very poor roads begins their journey towards endless violence and danger which seems to lurke amidst every step they take. But the biggest threat comes not from the danger to each of their lives but rather that to their hearts when desire races like a raging inferno through both of them until there is no choice left but to surrender.

Combining sizzling sexual tension, toe-curling passion, heart pounding adventure and vicious war lords whose agendas change as swiftly as that of the colors of a chameleon, M.J. Fredrick earns herself 5 solid stars for penning such a fantastic romantic suspense that ALL fans of the genre must read. Bringing together two souls who have already seen the worst life can offer, but still has the courage to stand tall, both Delaney and Olivia are heartwarming and endearing characters that I fell in love with right from the very beginning.

In my opinion, the fact that M.J. Fredrick portrays the story in gritty and realistic terms to the very last detail made this earn a spot from my favorite reads for this year. Raw and honest in the gut wrenching emotions that it brings forth, heartbreaking in the details of the rape and torture that is part of every day life for women in the region, Don’t Look Back is a novel that has got it all. If a well-balanced romantic suspense with a bit of dark edge to it is what you want, don’t hesitate to pick this one up and let yourself be taken away on an intense adventure that would have you biting your nails before halfway through!

Favorite Quotes

To compensate, she took a deep breath and found herself with a noseful of Del-scent. Something about the sharp smell of him, lying beneath what might be Old Spice, made her want to bury her face in his throat and breathe him in.

Words escaped him. All his energy was in controlling his desire. He had no business looking at her, no business wanting to run his fingers through her hair, to bring her body against his and warm her with his kisses. He was the last thing she needed in her life.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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