Paperback: 416 pages
Bantam
ISBN-13: 978-0-4402-4577-3
ISBN-10: 0-4402-4577-X
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Book 1 in the Shadow Keepers series
Main Characters: Sara Constantine & Lucius Dragos
For Sale At: Book Depository Store

Summary:
Attorney Sara Constantine is thrilled with her promotion - until she finds out that she must now prosecute vampires and werewolves. The first defendant she'll be trying to put away? Lucius Dragos, the sexy stranger with whom she recently shared an explosive night of ecstasy.

When Lucius kisses a beautiful woman sitting next to him at the bar, he's hoping only to avoid the perceptive gaze of the man he's planning to kill. But what starts as a simple kiss ignites into an all-consuming passion. Charged with murder, Luke knows that Sara is determined to see him locked away - unless he can convince her that he's not a monster. And that might mean making the ultimate sacrifice.

REVIEW
The Paranormal Romance genre is going into a new direction and JK Beck is one of the leading ladies in doing so. Combine the booming Paranormal Romance Novels with the popularity of police law enforcement series on TV and you find a mixture that thrills the reader with suspense and love.

This was what first came to mind when I closed this book after reading it. I was a bit ‘warrior-band-of-brother-exhausted’ and JK Beck has blown new life into my love for reading about vampire’s, werewolves, demons and everything not so common to the human world.

At first it took me some getting used to the pace, world build up, and where this story was taking me, but once I went way down under and got settled into division 6 – PEC (Preternatural Enforcement Coalition), a whole new world of Paranormal Investigation’s, DA’s and their own Judicial System opened up to me, making my heartbeat rise and my longing to read on grow with each page I turned.

Straight away we’re thrown into a murder scene, which on the surface seems a slam-dunk arrest, but turns out to be a lot more complicated that it was at face-value.

Sara is a prosecutor and after her promotion is thrown into the paranormal world, she’s an honest woman, seeking out justice and not feeling ruled with the fact she had to prosecute someone for a crime they might have done according to the evidence on the surface. I found it a bit difficult to connect with her as a character at the start, but as the story progresses I felt she opened up more and more.

Lucius is a centuries old vampire, and within this series, vampire’s struggle with their inner daemon who is seeking blood/souls to feed of and have a craving need for violence. When I came across him the first time he didn’t come across as a straight forward villain to me, more like a rogue out loose in the paranormal world, with a big sense of responsibility, but not feeling sorry for the things he has to do (as an assassin for the Alliance), which aren’t quite so legal or by the book. What I found so great about him was that he didn’t apologize for it. It was either accept him for who he is, flaws and all, or don’t accept him and have it that way, but either way was fine with him. I absolutely loved that!

The love for each other was a built up from a one night stand and like an instant thing, and I would have loved to have seen more pages used for their actual love-relationship but there are only so much pages in a novel to write up. Throughout their encounters it is clear that there is more than just passion for each other so it was a believable development within this story.

Both Sara and Luke are brought into this story with baggage from the past to solve or lay to rest, making them characters that grow along in this story and in their encounters. Their past however, do make cause for obstacles and these could have gone awry leading their own life within the story, but JK Beck knows how to handle it and guide it into a great plotline.

Throughout this first installment in the Shadow Keepers series, quite a few secondary characters come to pass, all complex with a variety of paranormal powers, and I sincerely hope that in the next installments these characters will get a part as well or even their own story. The world build up was really well done, as well. It took some time getting into it, as it is very different from what I was used to reading, but once a bit more settled into the terminology and way of life, it all falls into place. It is definitely a world I want to continue reading about!

Some of the plotlines were predictable, but I didn’t see the major plotline coming, making this read a thrilling one until the end. Towards the end all small and big plotlines were completed leaving me satisfied as a reader. Though there was a point where I got a bit uncomfortable with reading on, which might be a break-point for some readers, I thought it great of JK Beck to not avoid this and use it in her story as it did have a purpose to things IMHO.

Quote of one of my favorite characters in this novel-Tucker-I just love his humor:
She peered at his shield and ID, then met his eyes, her own filled with confusion. "Homeland Security?"
She stared him down. "Are you shitting me?"
"No, ma’am," Tucker said. "We at Homeland Security do not have a sense of humor of which we’re aware."

This is definitely a strong, compelling and intriguing start of a new series, and I for one am looking forward to being taken back to the PEC and their paranormal investigations!

Time flies when you're having fun because once again it's my turn for Happy Abs Day. I keep saying this but these posts are even harder for me to do than writing reviews. I am just not that visually inclined and definitely challenged in the creative department. But I have managed to concoct something once again...*wipes brow*

This week I wanted to do a collage of black and white pics of abs and while browsing for those images I found a few special ones and decided to dedicate this week's Happy Abs to some celebs who have some great abs AND look yummy in black & white.



And for the fun of it, I haven't put names to the pictures. Some of course are easy to recognize but let's see if you can name them all for me?

These books are on my wishlist and will be devoured the minute they land on my doormat....

After reading Ares's story in Assassin's Honor, I cannot wait to continue with this fabulous new series and read what's in store for Lysander...

Monica Burns - Assassin's Heart
The Order of the Sicari series part 2
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release: September 2010

Website author

Summary:

The truth of the soul.

Lysander Condellaire never understood why he had telepathic and telekinetic powers until the night his Praetorian father tortured him and left him for dead. Now, the half-angelic, half-demonic face he sees in the mirror is a reminder of the monster he must keep hidden or face expulsion from the order of assassins know as the Sicari. But his dreams of Ancient Rome hint at a destiny he finds hard to accept, especially when it involves the woman he loves, but can never have.

The consequences of desire.

A gifted healer in the Order, Phaedra DeLuca witnessed her mother’s murder when she was just a little girl. The haunting memory makes her loathe everything Praetorian. When she travels to Rome in search of an ancient artifact, she must work alongside a man who once cruelly rejected her love and healing touch. But her dreams of Ancient Rome tell of an irreversible and possibly dangerous future. For the distant past and present are about to collide--with the one man she is destined to love.

Catherine Coulter - The Valcourt Heiress
Part 7 in the Song/Medieval Series
Genre: Historical Romance

Release: 5 October 2010

Website author

Summary:

Twenty-four year old Lord Garron of Kersey is on his way home to succeed his late brother, Arthur, as the Earl of Wareham. But on arrival, Garron discovers his home, Wareham Castle, has been nearly destroyed by The Black Demon and his band of bad bad soldiers looking for Arthur's cache of silver coins which remain hidden. The handful of servants who've survived includes a young girl named Merry, supposedly the castle priest's bastard, who is as clever and enterprising as Garron.

Garron is told this Balc Demon destroyed Wareham because no one would tell him where Arthur had hidden stolen silver coins. Equally puzzling is the too-smart bastard Merry -- as well bred, literate and brave as any man he's ever known. Indeed, she galvanizes his people to action before he can even ask her assistance. She's a natural leader and a skilled healer, but Merry has secrest of her own...secrets that could endanger Garron and his peopl. He knows she's hiding something, knows she could bring more bad things down on his head, but he likes her and her fast mind and her ready wit. But can he survive the truth?

After Jack, Deke and Luc the wait is now for wicked lover Hunter...

Shayla Black - Surrender to Me
Wicked Lovers Series Part 4
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Release: March 2011

Website author

Summary:

A secret fantasy.

Hunter had everything until a bullet iced his career as a Navy SEAL. Restless and uncertain about his future, he accepts an intriguing proposition: share an acquaintance’s girlfriend and fulfill her fantasy of a ménage. It should have been just a night of sexual adventure between three consenting adults. But Kata is like no other girl Hunter has ever met. By turns audacious and sexy, then vulnerable and aloof, she’s a heartbreaker he’s determined to master. But he needs more than one night. And he wants to do it alone.

An uncontrollable obsession.

Kata never expected to leave her comfortable relationship and explore something so dangerously forbidden with a stranger. Hard as she tries to resist, the guilty pleasure overwhelms her, and she surrenders herself, inch by inch, to the hardcore man who wants her for himself. Consumed by blazing desire, they’re soon threatened by the shadows of the past. And now to keep Kata safe, Hunter makes her a bold proposition of his own. Saying yes will destroy her heart. But saying no could cost Kata her life.

Jill Shalvis' feel good stories always cheer me up and make me laugh out loud...

Jill Shalvis -Simply Irresistible
Book 1 in the Lucky Harbor Series
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release: 26 September 2010

Website author

Summary:

Maddie Moore’s whole life needs a makeover.

In one fell swoop, Maddie loses her boyfriend (her decision) and her job (so not her decision). But rather than drowning her sorrows in bags of potato chips, Maddie leaves L.A. to claim the inheritance left by her free-spirited mother–a ramshackle inn nestled in the little coastal town of Lucky Harbor, Washington.

Starting over won’t be easy. Yet Maddie sees the potential for a new home and a new career–if only she can convince her two half-sisters to join her in the adventure. But convincing Tara and Chloe will be difficult because the inn needs a big makeover too.

The contractor Maddie hires is a tall, dark-haired hottie whose eyes–and mouth–are making it hard for her to remember that she’s sworn off men. Even harder will be Maddie’s struggles to overcome the past, though she’s about to discover that there’s no better place to call home than Lucky Harbor.

Today I want to talk....construction workers. Since Tuesday this week I've got them buzzing around my apartment complex. And yes, they are buzzing cause I'm their queen bee and they are the workers LOL You're not laughing? Dang, it is a bad attempt on my part to be humorous *sigh*

So I was all ready to let you see some snap shots of these hunks but Sam fried my digi camera @#$%^@#$%^#$%^ *mutters more* I've got no idea how he did it but I took his picture while he was enjoying the panorama from the house he's fixing and poof, there my camera went, I barely got the picture of him on my pc and now my camera is making weird noises.  

So I'm afraid you'll have to do with just one picture from the construction workers in my street! I must confess, Sam is the best among the lot of them *grin* So I'll give him to you extra large so you can ogle every feature he has to give you *grin*



Have a great friday everyone, I'm off to prepare for a great weekend and a sleep over at my sis next week :)

All my ROOB Radar posts have been focused on print books but as many other book bloggers, readers and reviewers, I too own an e-reader which is nicely filled with a bunch of e-books waiting to be read. Yet, I still manage to add more ebooks to my digital library almost every month. This week I want to share a few ebooks with you all that are on my to-buy list.

Release: 2010, August 13
Publisher: Ellora's Cave/Jasmine Jade Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Book 5 in the Wild Irish Series
Website


Summary:
Friday’s child is loving and giving…

Ewan Collins has had the hots for Natalie for years but she continually rebuffs him, supposedly because of their age difference. When Natalie comes to stay with the Collins family for a week, Ewan decides it’s time to make his move in a serious way.

Natalie’s been in a funk since celebrating another birthday alone. When Ewan proposes to help her “get a life”—seven lessons in seven days—she figures, what the hell does she have to lose? Ewan’s plans include tequila shots, fishing, karaoke…and other, more erotic hands-on demonstrations.

But Nat’s loneliness isn’t Ewan’s only obstacle. Tragedy in her past continually takes Natalie to a dark place her mind can’t easily overcome. With support, tenderness and love, Ewan plans to win over Natalie one lesson at a time.

Starting with lessons of the heart.

Release: 2010, August 31
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Western Romance, Erotic Romance, Romantic Suspense
Book 2 in the Red, Hot & Blue Series
Website


Summary:
The best way to heal a broken heart is to jump right back on the horse. So to speak…

After watching the girl he’s crushed on for years fall for his best friend, the last thing special operative Jack Gordon wants is a vacation. If cooling his heels doesn’t drive him crazy, doing it under his family’s scrutiny will.

But once he’s back home things get more than a little interesting. The new farm hand is cute, sexy—and his instincts tell him she’s got something to hide. Luckily, he’s got the skills and the backup to find out what.

Gordon Equine is the perfect place for Niccolina Campolini. The Gordons pay in room, board and cash. And they don’t ask questions. Perfect for a girl on the run…until Jack shows up. Sexy as hell and far too inquisitive, Jack strikes sparks and suspicions that put both her body and her heart in danger.

Jack knows better than to trust a woman with as many shadows as Nicki, but the heat waves of their attraction are messing with his focus. And when her secrets catch up with her, he’s not sure if he’s protecting her from something, or protecting his family from her…

This book has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.

Warning: This book contains extremely stupid gangsters bearing guns, a bored team of special operatives looking for some action, and one Southern gentleman guaranteed to charm your panties off.

Release: 2010, September 7
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Book 4 in Men of S.W.A.T Series
Website


Summary:
Fourteen years of friendship, it all comes down to this…

Sissy Kolchek is a smart-mouthed waitress with a southern accent that’s thicker than honey and a life that isn’t nearly as exciting as some people think. As the daughter of the town tramp (?), she’s cynical about men, relationships and anything marked ‘one size fits all’. Beneath her wisecracks is a woman who secretly longs for a family and a place where she belongs.

Jason ‘Ranger’ Diver is an undercover cop who has seen the dark side of love and wants nothing to do with it. With his chaotic lifestyle, he hasn’t the time nor the inclination to become involved with only one woman especially not his friend, Sissy. He’d fantasized about since high school and when they kissed, she’d rocked his world. Jace is captivated by the woman she’s become and as their relationship grows he finds himself torn the biggest case of his career and the love of a good woman.

Warning: Copious amounts of hot lovin’, random bad guys wrecking havoc, a goat named Casper, more sexy cops than you can shake your nightstick at and the deliberate destruction of the English language.

Release: 2010, September 17
Publisher: Ellora's Cave/Jasmine Jade Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Stand Alone
Website

Summary:
Briefs are Elena Thomas’s life, whether they’re legal at her day job or on the men in the erotic novels she writes. She’s just fine with saving her imagination for her books until temptation appears in the form of Nunzio, the smokin’ office IT guy. When he discovers one of her scorching books shooting out of the printer, Elena’s not sure if he wants her because she’s inventive or because he thinks she’s desperate. That doesn’t stop her from taking advantage of his “services”.

On her desk. On the copier. And, oh yeah—in her boss’s chair.

Nunzio’s shocked to learn Elena’s wall-hugging persona hides a wildcat of a woman with delicious fantasies and an enticing wit. She’s exactly what he’s been looking for in an adventurous lover—and girlfriend. He knows she enjoys their sexual research. Now he just has to convince her that sizzling sex is only the first chapter of their blazing-hot romance.

Release: 2010, October 26
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Book 4 in the Granite Lake Wolves Series
Website


Summary:
Score one for the underdog…er…wolf.

TJ Lynus is a legend in Granite Lake, both for his easygoing demeanor—and his clumsiness. His carefree acceptance of his lot vanishes, though, when his position as best man brings him face to face with someone he didn’t expect. His mate. His very human mate. Suddenly, one thing is crystal clear: if he intends to claim her, his usual laid-back attitude isn’t going to cut it.

After fulfilling her maid-of-honor duties, Pam Quinn has just enough time for a Yukon wilderness trip before returning south. The instant attraction between her and TJ tempts her to indulge in some Northern Delight, but when he drops the F-bomb—“forever”—she has second thoughts. In her world, true love is a fairytale that seldom, if ever, comes true.

Okay, so maybe staging a kidnapping wasn’t TJ’s best idea, but at least Pam has the good humor to agree to his deal. He’ll give her all the northern exposure she can stand—and she won’t break his kneecaps.

Now to convince her that fairytales can remake her world—and that forever is worth fighting for.

By popular demand: Clumsy sidekick wolf grows up, sarcasm reigns, and the wilderness gets wilder. Includes hot nookie in places you expect—like a remote cabin—and places you don’t.

Release: 2010, October 26
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance
Book 1 in Extreme Racing Series
Website


Summary:
From zero to sixty in a heartbeat—if she doesn’t throttle him first.

When CJ Randall arrives in Nevada to cover the Celebrity Pro/Am Off Road Rally for DRIVE Magazine, she’s already stuck between a cactus and a hard place. Her boss has made it clear if this article doesn’t measure up, her job is wrecked. Then she gets a look at the “pro” half of her “am”: Tan. Rich. Overconfident. Unsuitable. Bachelor. Lacking. Ethics.

T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

She’s sworn off tall, dark and handsome men. Too bad the desert heat is making her hyperventilate like a hormone-crazed teenager.

Despite her makeup-free face and ready-to-go attitude—a far cry from the high-maintenance women he’s used to—Bryce Danvers doesn’t expect CJ to last an hour. To his surprise, she toughs out the entire day. The least he can do is show his appreciation with some fast food and a friendly kiss.

The instant their lips connect, warning klaxons go off in CJ’s head. He’s a taste of heaven she can’t afford to sample again. Bryce finds himself wanting to give her generous curves a bumper-to-bumper inspection. And his focus on the checkered flag shot all to hell.

Warning: If you like your stories PG-13, this is not the book for you. If you like Boy Scout race car drivers with clean-cut reputations, you should pass. And if you like to breathe while reading, steer clear. Love, laughter and hot, hot, hot sex scenes will leave you gasping for air.

Hi Everyone!

It is another Happy Abs Day at the ROOB blog, and today our happy abs are all wrapped up in kilts! Kilts come in many different styles these days, there is one for every occasion...

So let the fashion kilt parade begin...

Traditional blue or casual red... yet yummy! Leather kilt for a sexy evening... It works for Chris Capaldi imo... Eccentric or jeans... Gerard Butler is dressed to kilt... Naughty, mini or thong kilt... Outdoors, romantic kilt... Trendy or lowrider kilt...  So the cross hatch pattern does not dominate the kilt anymore... The kilt has found its way into the 21th century! Happy kilted Abs Day!

SARA BENNET - A MOST SINFUL PROPOSAL

Release Date: August 2010
Book 1 in the Husband Hunters Club
For Sale At: The Book Depository Store

Synopsis
A most wicked education...

Marissa Rotherhild has always behaved exactly as a proper lady should, and it has done absolutely nothing for her. So now she has made a most sinful proposal. She wants to live only for pleasure, and she wants Lord Valentine Kent to instruct her in the ways of love and lust. Caring not for scandal or the whispers of society, she craves his every wanton touch.

It is every rake's fantasy.
Lord Valentine Kent has never before been so tempted. Though he is every bit the gentleman, from the moment Marissa arrives at his country estate he can think of nothing but her wild, dark curls and luscious curves. But submitting to passion must wait until he completes the search for an ancestral treasure.

It is a most honorable endeavor.
But Kent and Marissa will soon discover that even the best of intentions is no match for a desire as desperate as theirs . . .

ALEXANDRA ADORNETTO - HALO

Release Date: August 2010
Book 1 in the Halo trilogy
For Sale At: The Book Depository Store

Synopsis
Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone - especially herself - from the Dark Forces. Is love a great enough power against evil?.

JILL MARIE LANDIS - HEART OF STONE

Release Date: March 2010
Part of the Irish Angels series
For Sale At: The Book Depository Store

Synopsis
Finally free to pursue her dreams, Laura Foster is trying hard not to fall in love. She knows that the Reverend Brand McCormick's reputation would be shattered if her former life is discovered. But it's not only Laura's history that threatens to bring Brand down - it's his own..

CHARLES BROKAW - THE LUCIFER CODE

Release Date: August 2010
Bk 2 in the Thomas Lourds series
For Sale At: The Book Depository Store

Synopsis
Thomas Lourds ventures to Istanbul University in Turkey to examine artifacts never before seen by Western scholars. He's barely off the plane before he's kidnapped by ruthless people who leave a string of dead bodies in their wake. They want Lourds to translate coded writings that they hope will lead them to a lost scroll authored by John of Patmos - the same John who wrote the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The writings on the scroll might bring about the end of the world - or might stop it. They might even raise the Devil himself - but there are signs that the Devil has already risen and that he is very interested in Thomas Lourds.

No one knows for sure what will happen if the scroll is found, decoded, and translated, but several powerful men are seeking it, and they will stop at nothing to get it. And one of those people has ties to the US government, ties that lead directly to the White House. Before he knows it, Thomas Lourds is in over his head, dodging spies, crooks, and bullets. He needs help to stay alive - and he has it in the form of a beautiful but deadly Irish Republican Army operative, and in his old flame, Olympia Adnan. Can they navigate the secrets hidden in ancient Istanbul's most secret depths before they are killed? Or will they be too late to stop the terrible workings of the Devil himself before he can bring the world down around them?.

All good things come in threes and I've discovered some new series that have at least three releases scheduled in 2011. I know, it's still a long way but before you know it you are shopping for Halloween, Thanksgiving and X-Mas!

I discovered Lisa Renee Jones via facebook and this cover caught my eye but the blurbs *thud* Me.Wants.Now!

Lisa Renee Jones - THE ZODIUS SERIES
website 

THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL: SIN AND SATISFACTION

Sourcebooks Casablanca (May 2011)

The world will never be the same after a top secret government projects creates super soldiers with alien DNA injections and those soldiers divide between good and evil.

The Hero: Michael

He is sin and satisfaction, lust and damnation, a lethal weapon created from the greed of man. A human soldier injected with alien DNA, he is one of many, yet none are like him, a legend within this new race, split between good and evil. Untamable, he has walked on the dark side, returned to the light, but it matters not, for he is feared, misunderstood—lethal in all ways possible. Women desire him, lust for the mysterious warrior, hungry for the raw passion that touches his every breath. Men envy his stature, his power; they lust to control him. But there is no controlling a creature such as he, no taming the primal fires within him. He is the past, he is the future.

He is Michael.

ZODIUS #2: STERLING

Sourcebooks Casablanca (October 2011)

Adam, the leader of the evil Zodius soldiers has developed a street drug from his newborn’s DNA that is so addictive that he could easily created a worldwide dependency on him as the only source, as withdrawal kills the user. This drug will give Adam the power to rule the entire population if his plan for mass distribution is achieved. Sterling, and a brilliant, cancer stricken scientist, must stop Adam before it’s too late. But can Sterling trust this woman when he discovers this drug might be her only way of surviving cancer?. Is he in bed, and in love, with the enemy?

The Hero: Sterling

He was created, molded, formed from life, love, and misery…

Lethally daring. Ruthlessly passionate. He invites death to his door. Welcomes it with each breath he draws, each step he takes. And thus he is danger. A volatile storm that will sweep across the calm realms of humanity and shake it to the depths of its core. And that storm is…Sterling.

ZODIUS #3: DAMION

Sourcebooks Casablanca (Fall 2011)

General Powell from book 1 has returned and he’s developed a way to create and control a new generation of female GTECHs. He plans to use these women to bring both, the Renegades and the Zodius soldiers, back under his command. The world will be his. Now, Damion, a Renegade, who readers met in book two, will be pitted against one of those soldiers, a woman destined to be both his Lifebond and his enemy. Damion will become her only hope of salvation and their trust in each other the only chance they have to save the world from a madman.

Now when I read Delilah Marvelle's MISTRESS OF PLEASURE & LORD OF PLEASURE I had a great time reading them. But, that series didn't get a chance to continue so safe to say I was thrilled when I found the info on Delilah Marvelle's back-to-back releases from Harlequin and when i read the blurbs it promises to be an ab-fab time in historical land again with the SCANDAL series :)
 
 

Delilah Marvelle – the SCANDAL series
website ~ pre-order

LONDON & SOUTH AFRICA - 1829

Having been raised in the jungles of South Africa, assisting her father in the study of mammal copulation, Lady Justine Fedora Palmer sweeps back into London to embark upon her coming out. She quickly discovers animals are far more civilized than the men surrounding her.

When her father's observations are made public, proving buggery is natural to the animal kingdom, all of London is in a huffing outrage, including His Royal Majesty. Her father is imprisoned and slapped with outrageous penalty fees they simply cannot pay.

Lady Justine becomes more than willing to trade her good name and her place in London's gossip hungry society to secure her father's release. There is only one person she knows she can trust: her father's patron, the Duke of Bradford. A dashing libertine, yes, but one she passionately adores for his unwavering kindness, wit, humor, and a willingness to support her father's studies even as everyone else had laughed her father off.

To her astonishment, the Duke of Bradford is not the same man. His newly marred face hides a scandal that is about to test them both..

 

LONDON & VENICE - 1829

Lady Victoria Jane Emerson's girlish notions were left behind when she is deserted by her first love, Lord Remington, without a backward glance. Five years later, she is being forced to choose a husband by her father who is dying from an unspeakable disease that has obliterated the last of his mind. Though Victoria must marry out of duty, she has vowed to marry a man who will never break her heart.

Jonathan Pierce Thatcher, Viscount Remington, has returned home to London from Venice, free of all his family's debts but is unable to forget the incredible Victoria he was forced to abandon as a means of protecting her from a scandal that had destroyed his life.

To his astonishment, Victoria's dying father has chosen Jonathan and 2 others to vie for Victoria's hand.

Before Jonathan can convince Victoria he'd be a worthy husband, he has to convince himself he is no longer the man he left behind in Venice.

Victoria finds herself falling for the only man she will ever love...for a second time. But when she unearths the truth about the life Jonathan has been living in Venice, her heart is about to be tested. Again.

 

LONDON & ST. PETERSBURG - 1829

If there is anything Tristan Adam Hargrove, the fourth Marquis of Moreland has learned to avoid, it most certainly is scandal. The dark and dashing lord is a true gentleman of honor who would never seduce a woman for his own gain

or pleasure. But he plays the role of a gentleman for a reason, and it has nothing to do with respectablity.

When a raven haired beauty appears one night as his new neighbor, he knows better than to succumb to the desire he feels. He knows little about her: only that she is high born, a protege of the Crown, vain, overly forward, and completely unsuitable for the dark, base passions he hides from the world.

If only his bedchamber window wasn't aligned with HER bedchamber window. If only she would cease taunting him by leaving those damn curtains open just for him.

If only it were not already too late to save her and himself from the scandal he is about to unleash in the name of an untamed passion that has kept him from becoming involved with women for years...

So you see...I have two authors and their three books to add to my 2011 wishlist...and this is already starting in the early days of August. I shudder to think what my wishlist of 2011 will look like by the end of 2010...you think a winning lottery ticket will come attached to the wishlist? I certainly hope so!

What already on your 2011 wishlist?