To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions… • What are you currently reading? • What did you recently finish reading? • What do you think you’ll read next?
So, here's my answers:
*Click on the covers to read excerpts/learn more.*
• What are you currently reading?
A Winter Scandal by Candace Camp. Another holiday themed book. A baby left in a manger discovered by the vicar's spinster sister and a brooch with the insignia of the new lord in town... So far it's hilarious. The banter is witty, the heroine tells it like it is (hmm, seems like I'm reading books with outspoken heroines these days) and the hero is in denial.
Avenger's Angel by Heather Killough-Walden. Grabbed this off of Netgalley and it surprised me. I'm all about the different mythologies of angels, demons, vampires and all things supernatural. This series looks quite promising and can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the archangels and their soulmates.
• What did you recently finish reading?
Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt. Oh sweet Jaysus! This book was total rollercoaster ride of emotions. I laughed myself silly, cried, gasped, jumped, squeaked and danced. I even heardthe Pirates of the Caribbean theme playing during the action scenes. I totally immersed myself in this book. And you can read my review. Oh, river pirates FTW!
Too Wicked To Wed by Cara Elliott. Hello newest favorite heroine! Outspoken, dressing like a man, winning half the ownership of a gaming hell, getting shot at in the dark, kissing the most notorious rake in London. Isn't there anything this woman can't do? Read my review.
• What do you think you’ll read next?
Sweet Magik by Penny Watson. I'm getting into the holiday spirit a little early. I haven't read the first book in the series but let me tell you, the blurb and of course the cover caught my attention. And it doesn't hurt that it's about the Klaus brothers. Yes, Santa's sons.
And anything else I've got for review.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!
SCANDALOUS DESIRES by Elizabeth Hoyt FORMAT: Paperback GENRE: Historical Romance MASS MARKET PAPERBACK: 383 pages PUBLISHER: Grand Central Publishing (October 18,2011) ISBN: 9780446558938
CAN A PIRATE LEARN...River pirate "Charming" Mickey O'Connor has lifted himself from the depths of the slums to be king of St. Giles. Anything he want he gets---with one exception. Silence Hollingbrook has been haunting his dreams ever since she spent a single night in his bed. THAT THE ONLY TRUE TREASURE...Once Silence was willing to sacrifice anything to save the man she loved. Now a widow, she's finally found peace when Charming Mickey come storming back into her life with an offer she can't refuse. But this time she won't be the only one paying the price for his sins. LIES IN A WOMAN'S HEART?When his past comes back to torment him, Mickey must keep Silence safe from a merciless enemy, while wrestling with the delicious hold this widow has on his heart. And in the face of mounting danger, both will have to surrender to something even more terrifying...true love. (source: back cover)
Tell me that you don't want to read this book after watching the video above. Yeah. That's what I thought. I hear your mouse clicking on to your favorite bookstore. *grins*
Um, where can I get my own river pirate? Elizabeth Hoyt has done it once again, keeping me guessing and on my toes at each and every turn. I might have looked like a crazy person to anyone looking in the window: laughing maniacally, gasping loudly, clutching my chest, crying, squeaking and yelling. And finally having that AHA! moment while jumping up and down as to what I have been trying to figure out for the past 2 books. Yeah, I sometimes immerse myself a little too much into my reading. Is it weird that I kept hearing the theme to Pirates of the Caribbean during the action sequences? I think I may need to see a doctor about this.
Backstory: Silence's husband William was accused of stealing cargo. She goes to Mickey, pleading that he give back that stolen cargo so William doesn't get arrested. He in turn tells her she must spend a night with him and she agrees. The next morning, although nothing happened between the two, Mickey tells her to muss her hair, unbutton her dress and walk down the street as if she had had a tumble in his bed. Her family, especially William doesn't believe nothing happened and since then, she's been tolerated by her family. Her husband dies at sea.
Mickey O'Connor is a homewrecking river pirate with a gasp worthy secret. Silence Hollingbrook is totally devoted to Mary Darling, left on her doorstep for safekeeping, and her work at the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children until "Charming" Mickey charges back into her life. Silence hasn't forgiven Mickey for breaking up her marriage.
Mickey's enemy, the Vicar of Whitechapel, is out to get those associated with him, meaning his daughter Mary Darling and Silence. Mickey kidnaps Mary Darling and tells Silence the only way she can be with Mary is to stay at his palace. Since that night with Silence, he can't forget her and seems to have developed a slight obsession with her. He wants to possess her body and soul but is unwilling to give anything in return except endless nights of pleasure in his bed.
Silence agrees to stay with Mickey but tries to assert her independence by going against everything he wants her to do, starting with not going down to supper with him and his men. Mickey tries to starve her so she will come down for supper but his crew turns against him and smuggle food to Silence.
As the days go on, Silence begins to see a different side of Mickey. He's not just the ruthless river pirate but also a broken boy, forced to grow up at a young age without the love of his mother. Silence soon realizes that Charming Mickey has a hold on her. She sees him softening towards Mary Darling and thinks that there may be a future for them. A real future, if only he'll give up his pirating and make money legally. Mickey can't due to his fear of losing it all. He's worked so hard to build his empire, from a poverty stricken boy to a man who has more than what he knows to do with. The Vicar of Whitechapel is closing in and Mickey must make a decision that could change all their lives.
Gah! There's just so much more I want to say but I don't want to spoil it for you. So many things revealed, I thought I was going to die of shock. *sigh* River pirates FTW!
FAVORITE QUOTE: "He treasured her, treasured her tears, treasured her love for others. Her heart might even be big enough to fill that empty space in his own chest. Perhaps she could be his heart as well."
OVERALL: Gah! I am totally floored. Utterly stunned. In typical Elizabeth Hoyt fashion, this book gripped me from the first page until the last. Another fantastic read. My love for Elizabeth Hoyt knows no bounds and this book has made me fall in love with her latest series a little more, in a non-Edward Cullen creepy kind of way. The third book in the series and one step closer to the reveal of the Ghost of St. Giles. Once again, Ms. Hoyt has ensnared, captivated and enthralled me, weaving a wonderful story of love, heartbreak, redemption and forgiveness encased in a fast paced, adrenaline pumping, heart thumping, gut wrenching, tear inducing, gasp worthy plot twists of a read. I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series thanks to the titillating morsel of an excerpt at the end of the book. Is it Summer 2012 yet???
***review copy provided by Brianne Beers of Grand Central Publishing***
Happy Friday!!! It's been a while since I've done this. Sorry I've been slacking but I've been planning something wonderfully fabulous for you guys in December involving some of your favorite authors, books given away and lots of fun festive interviews and guest posts. I'm so flipping excited about this and the awesomesauce known as Laura Chaplin (former tweeter behind the RomConInc twitter handle and you can now follow her here) has been helping me every step of the way, my personal cheerleader. :)
Anyway, enough gushing or Laura's head might explode. *kidding*
Here are my Five Friday Faves:
Pocket Books. They've been gracious enough to send me 2 books to review which will be releasing on Tuesday. Freakin' Pocket Books you guys!!! That's really huge for me. You can find my review of A NOVEL SEDUCTION by Gwyn Cready here and I'll be posting a review of A WINTER SCANDAL by Candace Camp as soon as I'm done reading it.
Avon Netgalley Requests. I went on a Netgalley bender requesting everything in sight. Hey! What can I say? There's some awesome releases coming out that I've been dying to get my hands on. I have been auto approved to view/review titles by Avon. Thanks Pam Jaffee! That means I don't have to wait for someone at Avon to approve my request for any of their titles. I can automatically download them. I've been smiling like an idiot since finding out and I had to tell someone.
Holiday scented candles. Yeah. Like Karen Erickson, I'm a candle freak. I just love the smell of them, especially the sugar cookie and spice market ones from Michaels. I'm also a fan of Yankee Candle.
Sugar cookies. I've been baking like there's no tomorrow which, isn't good for RBW. Seriously. High in sugar, fat, calories and everything under the sun. See the thing is, my mother in law send a large priority box of Halloween candy and among the candy are Pumpkin Pie Hershey Kisses. Yes, they taste like the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. I decided to bake thumbprint sugar cookies and smash the Hershey Kisses in the middle of them and send all the cookies to school with my husband. Apparently he's got a math book club. Yup.
SCANDALOUS DESIRES by Elizabeth Hoyt. ZOMG! This book arrived yesterday afternoon and I've been dying to get my hands on this. Thanks to Grand Central and Brianne B for providing a review copy. One step closer to the reveal of the Ghost of St. Giles. The cover is gorgeous, the step back is steamy and I'm slowly savoring this book. P.S. There's an excerpt at the end for the final book in the series. *dies* I can't bring myself to take a peek. Gah!!!
Sooo...what about YOU? What are you loving this week? New books, movie (speaking of, The Three Musketeers is out today), music (oh dear lord, JBiebs has a holiday song out already), or new product?
Giveaway Warning: Massive Romance Reader SQUEE Moment Ahead
There comes a time in a romance reader’s life when something amazing happens. Something awesome. Something really, really cool that makes you emit a high-pitched shrieking sound which then causes everyone around you to gape and stare. That shriek often sounds something like SQUEEEEEEEEE.
Dear friends and fellow romance readers, you might have a SQUEE moment ahead in your future.
Five huge romance fans who just happen to be romance authors as well have decided that we want to give you the opportunity to receive complete, SIGNED backlists of one of your very favorite authors (and yes, that means EVERYTHING they’ve ever written).
The romance fans/authors who are participating are: Ashley March, Shana Galen, Lila DiPasqua, Vanessa Kelly, and Heather Snow.
The complete, SIGNED backlists they’re giving away are books from the following authors (henceforth known as “The Amazing Authors”):
Before we can give these awesome prizes away, though, we need you to show how fanatical of fans you are. Since we know that you’re already following The Amazing Authors on Facebook (you are, aren’t you??), all you need to do is follow the authors who want to give away these complete, signed backlists to you. We all have to reach a certain number of followers; once that happens, then we will run a Facebook giveaway on our individual pages where you can enter to win the complete, signed backlists from the Amazing Authors.
(Please note, you must follow and enter on each of the five Facebook pages to be eligible to win each backlist. The giveaway won’t happen until AFTER the goals are met for ALL of us, and the giveaways will be open to US and international residents! All books will be in English as print books; if any books in the Amazing Authors’ backlists are currently our of print, used books will be purchased for those titles so that the backlist will be complete.)
Ashley March (must reach 2500 total “Likes” in order to give away Lisa Kleypas backlist)
Shana Galen (must reach 2000 total “Likes” in order to give away Julia Quinn backlist)
Lila DiPasqua (must reach 3500 total “Likes” in order to give away Elizabeth Hoyt backlist)
Vanessa Kelly (must reach 2000 total “Likes” in order to give away Cynthia Eden backlist)
Heather Snow (must reach 2500 total “Likes” in order to give away Julie Garwood backlist)
Those are the rules! Tell your friends, tell your family, tell any fellow romance fan you know. Soon, 5 lucky winners will win a complete, signed backlist from a favorite author that will make you SQUEEEEE!
GO AND LIKE THOSE AUTHORS TODAY! HELP THEM REACH THEIR GOAL OF "LIKES" ON FACEBOOK AND YOU MIGHT BE THE LUCKY RECIPIENT OF LISA KLEYPAS, JULIA QUINN, ELIZABETH HOYT, CYNTHIA EDEN OR JULIE GARWOODS ENTIRE BACKLIST.
Giveaway Warning: Massive Romance Reader SQUEE Moment Ahead
There comes a time in a romance reader’s life when something amazing happens. Something awesome. Something really, really cool that makes you emit a high-pitched shrieking sound which then causes everyone around you to gape and stare. That shriek often sounds something like SQUEEEEEEEEE.
Dear friends and fellow romance readers, you might have a SQUEE moment ahead in your future.
Five huge romance fans who just happen to be romance authors as well have decided that we want to give you the opportunity to receive complete, SIGNED backlists of one of your very favorite authors (and yes, that means EVERYTHING they’ve ever written).
The romance fans/authors who are participating are: Ashley March, Shana Galen, Lila DiPasqua, Vanessa Kelly, and Heather Snow.
The complete, SIGNED backlists they’re giving away are books from the following authors (henceforth known as “The Amazing Authors”):
Before we can give these awesome prizes away, though, we need you to show how fanatical of fans you are. Since we know that you’re already following The Amazing Authors on Facebook (you are, aren’t you??), all you need to do is follow the authors who want to give away these complete, signed backlists to you. We all have to reach a certain number of followers; once that happens, then we will run a Facebook giveaway on our individual pages where you can enter to win the complete, signed backlists from the Amazing Authors.
(Please note, you must follow and enter on each of the five Facebook pages to be eligible to win each backlist. The giveaway won’t happen until AFTER the goals are met for ALL of us, and the giveaways will be open to US and international residents! All books will be in English as print books; if any books in the Amazing Authors’ backlists are currently our of print, used books will be purchased for those titles so that the backlist will be complete.)
Ashley March (must reach 2500 total “Likes” in order to give away Lisa Kleypas backlist)
Shana Galen (must reach 2000 total “Likes” in order to give away Julia Quinn backlist)
Lila DiPasqua (must reach 3500 total “Likes” in order to give away Elizabeth Hoyt backlist)
Vanessa Kelly (must reach 2000 total “Likes” in order to give away Cynthia Eden backlist)
Heather Snow (must reach 2500 total “Likes” in order to give away Julie Garwood backlist)
Those are the rules! Tell your friends, tell your family, tell any fellow romance fan you know. Soon, 5 lucky winners will win a complete, signed backlist from a favorite author that will make you SQUEEEEE!
A Winter Scandal by Candace Camp. Another holiday themed book. A baby left in a manger discovered by the vicar's spinster sister and a brooch with the insignia of the new lord in town... So far it's hilarious. The banter is witty, the heroine tells it like it is (hmm, seems like I'm reading books with outspoken heroines these days) and the hero is in denial.
Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt. Oh sweet Jaysus! This book was total rollercoaster ride of emotions. I laughed myself silly, cried, gasped, jumped, squeaked and danced. I even heard the Pirates of the Caribbean theme playing during the action scenes. I totally immersed myself in this book. And you can read my review. Oh, river pirates FTW!
