Book Review: Trace of Fever by Lori Foster

Trace of Fever by Lori Foster

Publisher: HQN Books

Publish Date: May 31, 2011

Paperback, 400 pages 
Fiction, Romantic Suspense
Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor #2
 ISBN: 978-0373775750

My Review:
Why I read this: I like Lori Foster books and read the first one in this series and really liked it so I couldn't wait to read the second book.



My thoughts:  
Oh my, if Trace wasn't taken and Priss wasn't a tough kick-butt woman (plus the fact that I am happily married), I think I would have to go search for Trace Rivers (or whatever last name he was going by at the time).

This book is hot!  And really it's just the tension, Ms. Foster is wonderful in building the sexual tension and the romance.  But that is not all there is to this book.  There is quite a bit of suspense.  What makes Trace tick?  Can he get to the bottom of Murray Coburn's business without being figured out.  Who is Priss, what is she doing and what is she hiding?  All of these questions pop in the book and the plot is so well-done that the almost 400-pages of reading went by really quickly then I was upset when I was done.

Of course, the characters are essential.  Trace isn't just a hot, hunky man.  He's a tough-guy with a soft side for his sister (who makes her first appearance in When You Dare) and a protect all attitude for his good friend Dare and his wife Molly (also from When You Dare).  He also has a distinct sense of right and wrong and he won't hesitate those on the wrong side, but protect and do all he can for those on the right side of things.  I liked Trace from the beginning.  He's not a perfect good-boy, far from it, but he's not a complete bad boy either, and that is why Ms. Foster named this series, Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor.  They truly do, Dare did, Trace does and Jackson is the same for the third book and I can't wait to get to know him more.  Trace is a man's man and also one women swoon for, especially Priss, but not at first.

Priscilla Patterson, may look mousy and average and seem like the type of woman that can be manhandled and walked all over, but Trace quickly figures out that she is not all that she seems.  But somehow he must keep her story up to protect her from the biggest bad guy, Murray Coburn, who Priss insists is her father.  But Trace also knows she is up to more than it seems.  Priss is more than she seems, she's tough and she's out for revenge and with Trace she wants to experience all she has missed in men.  I really like Priss.  As with a lot of Ms. Foster's female characters, she's not one to sit and take being walked over or frisked (except when a hot man is doing the frisking).  Priss can stand on her own.  She also does not trust easy or fall in love easy, but Trace is making her list of don'ts extremely hard to keep.

Both protagonists are amazing characters and I like that we get to go deeper than pretty packaging with both of them.  On the other side of the coin, Ms. Foster has also created some true bad guys in Murray Coburn and his sidekick/lover Helene.  Both are as evil as it gets and their evilness is what keeps you on the edge of your seat through the entire book.

Great protagonists, evil bad guys, romance, suspense, this book has the best of all of these.  I loved Trace of Fever.  It's one of those perfect romances to read and enjoy on these hot summer days.  So run and pickup this book to throw in your beach bag, pool bag or your purse to read and take you away from real life for a few hours.
If you missed it the first book in the series, When You Dare is still available and the series will finish out with Savor the Danger on June 28.


My Rating: 4.75/5.0


About the Book:
Undercover mercenary Trace Rivers loves the adrenaline rush of a well-planned mission. First he'll earn the trust of corrupt businessman Murray Coburn, then gather the proof he needs to shut down the man's dirty smuggling operation. It's a perfect scheme—until Coburn's long-lost daughter saunters in with her own deadly plan for revenge.

With a smile like an angel and fire in her eyes, Priscilla Patterson isn't who she seems to be. But neither is the gorgeous bodyguard who ignites all her senses. Joining forces to plot Coburn's downfall, Priss and Trace must fight the undeniable heat between them. For one wrong move, one lingering embrace, will expose them to the wrath of a merciless opponent….

About the Author: 
Lori Foster first published with Harlequin in January 1996. Her second book launched Temptation Blaze and her 25th book launched Temptation Heat. Since those early days, Lori has routinely had 6 to 10 releases a year. She's a Waldenbooks, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly and New York Times bestselling author with over 50 titles published through a variety of houses, including Berkley/Jove, Kensington, St. Martins, Harlequin and Silhouette.
Website
Twitter
Facebook

FTC Information: I received this book from Tricia Carr at Media Muscle (Meryl L. Moss Media Relations) for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws (if Amazon had an affiliate program they would be required to collect sales tax).  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Book Review: A Season of Eden by Jennifer Laurens

A Season of Eden by Jennifer Laurens

Publisher:Grove Creek Publishing

Publish Date: October 20, 2008

Paperback, 248 pages
ISBN: 978-1933963907
Young Adult, Fiction

My Review:

I have read several of Jennifer Laurens books now and I have never been disappointed.  She has a writing style that I really enjoy, it's almost lyrical and she is good at really getting to the heart of teenagers.  A Season of Eden is no different than other books I have read by her.  I raced through it, felt like I was one of the characters and thoroughly enjoyed the book's entertainment value.

Eden is a high school senior, she's popular, she has a boyfriend and great friends, her home life isn't so great with a stepmom she doesn't like and a dad who has ignored her since marrying her stepmom.  But she takes life in stride and everything seems to go her way.  She starts taking choir because she needs and easy A to finish out her Senior year, but she is thrown when a very handsome young teacher enters the classroom that first day.  Suddenly she is less interested in her boyfriend (though she confesses the spark was gone before) and more interested in choir.

Mr. Christian is new at teaching but he is passionate about music.  He loves teaching and it shows.  He is attracted to Eden but knows there are boundaries he should not cross because he is a teacher and she is a student.  Now don't start going ick, student-teacher relationship.   It's not like that.  Eden is 18 and James (Mr. Christian) is 22.  And the relationship that starts is almost sweet and magical.

I don't want to giveaway much more, but I really like the self-discovery that Mr. Christian inspires in Eden.  I like her in the beginning and like her even better in the end, he really makes her into the person she can be, without really changing her.  The character development is amazing.  I like how Ms. Laurens seems to get right into the teenage girl psyche in this book.  It never feels put-on, Eden feels real.  The way she falls for Mr. Christian seems right on target for a teenage girl and her feelings for others in her life as well.  The emotional well runs really deep in this story and I enjoyed that aspect.

The book moves quickly and I found it hard to put down, the feelings felt like my own as the book progressed.  I can only imagine how teenagers will feel reading this book.  It's great for lesson-teaching (in small ways) and for pure entertainment value too.

Some of my favorite interactions and quotes from the book are:

"I'll take this saccharinely sweet stuff to the garbage bins." I started to pick up a stack but his hand wrapped around my wrist. I froe. Delicious fire shot through my body where his skin met mine. "Don't."   His voice was coarse. "We'll keep them after all." He let go of me and I looked at where he'd touched me.
He stepped back. "I need to get back to work." He inched backward toward the open door of the office.  I didn't move. Then he turned and went inside.

 This is a great one about what is expected of the popular crowd:

I walked toward the faculty parking lot, winding my way to the main covered walkway to the final strip of buioldings and outdoor halls that would take me to the lot.  I thought about what Leesa had said.  It was requisite that my friends and I walk around with smiles. We were the best dressed, lived in the biggest houses, belonged to the right clubs, drove the nicest cars. That was more than the picture of perfection--it was the reality show of perfection.

And a final one that shows how Eden starts changing how she thinks:

I'd listened to enough in class that the repulsive reaction I'd had initially was nearly gone now.  As I drove down PV Drive, I tried to listen to the melody, like he'd taught us to.  The violins were strong, like a wind blowing through the trees.  In my mind I saw a dark forest. When I heard tinkling bells, I imagined the leaves on the trees shimmering with the sound.

As a parent, there are no warnings I would give for this book, there is very little bad language (maybe one or two instances of damn or hell) and no sex.  There is kissing and alluding to sex in the past, but that is all.  There are great lessons in the book yet teenagers will enjoy it for the book contents as well.

My Rating:  5.0/5.0

About the Book:

He's my teacher. I shouldn't be alone with him. But I can't help that he's irresistible. I let the door silently close at my back. He stared at me, and a taut quiet stretched between us. "I like hearing you play," I said, moving toward him. He turned, in sync with my slow approach. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. I rested my clammy hand on the cold, slick body of the baby grand. "May I?" The muscles in his throat shifted, then he swallowed. "Eden." My knees weakened, like a soft tickling kiss had just been blown against the backs of them. "Is it okay?" I asked. His gaze held mine like two hands joined. He understood what I was really asking. "Let me stay," I said. "Please." "You're going to get me in trouble," he said.

About the Author:

Jennifer, aka JM Warwick was born and raised in Southern California and her hometown of Palos Verdes Estates flavors her books: A Season of Eden and An Open Vein. She doesn't limit herself to writing one genre, and was the first to author four romance novels centered around the popular sport of ballroom dancing. Now, she focuses on writing young adult. She has YA novels published under her YA romance name of Jennifer Laurens: Falling for Romeo, Magic Hands, Nailed and the Heavenly series: Heavenly ( 2009) Penitence (2010) and Absolution (2010) A Season of Eden and Overprotected. Two are under her other YA author name: JM Warwick - A Season of Eden and An Open Vein. Jennifer lives in Utah and has 6 children.

Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

FTC Information: I received this book through The Teen Book Scene to review for the current tour.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Book Review: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Publisher: Harper Perennial (Reprint edition)

Publish Date: May 17, 2011

Paperback, 304 pages 
Fiction, Literary Suspense
ISBN: 978-0060594671

My Review 
Why I read this:  I heard lots of good things about this book when it first came out and wanted to read it, but never did.  So it was on my must-read list when the TLC Tours book list came around.

My Thoughts: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a definite thriller but in a much more subtle nature than a lot of thrillers out there right now.  This one's thriller aspect is based on secrets which are peeled away little by little and keep the reader guessing.  As each layer peeled away I learned something I didn't expect to learn and loved it.  The book kept me enthralled from the first page to the last page.

Characters dominate this book.  You have the white man/white boy, Larry who everyone in the county thinks kidnapped a girl, raped her and killed her 25 years earlier and got away with it.  You also have the black man/black boy, Silas who was the town's success story the boy who made it to Ole Miss playing baseball and then returns home to be a Constable in a town that still seems to be in the 1960s with their race relations.  I like how Mr. Franklin creates the characters, each having their own lives that intertwine for a little while.  I like their differences and both of their easy-going manners.  I think they typify most people.  Neither are racist, though they could be, one is southern through and through and one grew up for a big part of his life in Chicago, but down deep they are similar and I like that.

I think the town/county is also a setting.  The book is based around secrets the characters holds, but the setting is important too, I just don't think the book would work as well if it was set anywhere but in the south.  The south gives the right feel to the book.  I also like the fact that Mr. Franklin doesn't vilify the south in this novel.  The people are good or bad, not the area they are from, the south is simply a setting that lends the perfect backdrop to the story.

Mr. Franklin's writing is also intriguing.  He has a way with words that puts you into the characters and visually paints the scenery.  I've never been to rural Mississippi and though I live in the south, I believe coastal North Carolina and Mississippi are two different types of areas but I could see what he was describing when he describes the house, the barn, the cabin in the woods, the small town of Chabot.  It was all clear in my mind as well as the characters themselves.  Mr. Franklin works your imagination to bring you right into the scenery and the book along with the characters.

Some of my favorite parts of this book were Mr. Franklin's writing which I will share here:

He ducked a low vine, wary of snakes. Cottonmouth-moccasins, his mother used to call them. Mean ole things, she'd say.  Big and shiny as a black man's arm, and a mouth as white as the cotton he pick.   (I love this because I have always wondered why they were called cottonmouths and now I know - and the description is so perfect.)

Another example that shows some humor:

Silas said, "Maybe he can't get cable out here."
"He could get a ******* dish" [sorry I didn't want to put the expletive here]
"Guess he reads books instead."
"Reads books."

And a final example showing how remarkable the descriptions are:

Smaller somehow, darker wood, more weathered.  Vines and kudzu had nearly overtaken the place.  It seemed the heart of some struggle, as if the vegetation were trying to claim the structure back into itself, pull it down, the earth suddenly an organic breathing mass underneath.  Silas could almost feel the friction, hear the viscous grumble of digestion.

If you like haunting stories that revolve around secrets.  If you enjoy thrillers with a easy-going pace that builds the tension bit-by-bit.  If you enjoy books that grab you with their characters and don't let you go until the end, then Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is for you.  I am glad I embarked on this journey and will look forward to more of Mr. Franklin's journeys in the future.


My Rating:  4.75/5.0

About the Book:

In the 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas “32″ Jones were boyhood pals in a small town in rural Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry was the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, black single mother. But then Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie and she was never seen or heard from again. He never confessed . . . and was never charged.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary, shunned existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has become the town constable. And now another girl has disappeared, forcing two men who once called each other “friend” to confront a past they’ve buried for decades.

About the Author: 

Tom Franklin is the author of Poachers, Hell at the Breech, and Smonk. Winner of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship, he teaches in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program and lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife, the poet Beth Ann Fennelly, and their children.

Tom’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, May 17th: Eclectic/Eccentric
Wednesday, May 18th: Book Journey
Thursday, May 19th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Monday, May 23rd: That’s What She Read
Tuesday, May 24th: Chronicles of a Country Girl
Wednesday, May 25th: Lit and Life
Wednesday, May 25th: Helen’s Book Blog
Thursday, May 26th: Life In Review
Tuesday, May 31st: Raging Bibliomania
Wednesday, June 1st: Life in the Thumb
Thursday, June 2nd: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Tuesday, June 7th: Jo-Jo Loves to Read!
Wednesday, June 8th: Debbie’s Book Bag
Thursday, June 9th: Books and Movies
Friday, June 10th: My Reading Room
Monday, June 13th: Wordsmithonia
Tuesday, June 14th: Crazy for Books
Wednesday, June 15th: Teresa’s Reading Corner
Thursday, June 16th: Unputdownables
Friday, June 17th: Rundpinne

FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher through TLC Book Tours for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Karyn Henley's (Breath of Angel) Top Ten Songs

Today I welcome Karyn Henley, author of Breath of Angel which is currently touring at Teen Book Scene.  Today she is sharing one of her Top Ten Lists.

I like all kinds of music, and I love almost any kind of harp music. I’ve taken harp lessons, though I’m still very much at the just-play-for-fun level. But that’s probably why Melaia is a chantress and harps are a major part of Breath of Angel. As for a top ten list of other songs that stir my heart:

“Scarborough Fair”

“Greensleaves”

“Ode to Joy”

Pachelbel’s Canon in D

Anything by Vivaldi

“Sailing” by Christopher Cross

“Classical Gas”

Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”

Anything by Yanni

Karl Jenkins’s “Adiemus” albums

Thanks Karyn for sharing with us today.  I will have a review of Breath of Angel in the next few weeks up.


About the Book:
The stranger’s cloak had fallen back, and with it, a long, white, blood-stained wing.
When Melaia, a young priestess, witnesses the gruesome murder of a stranger in the temple courtyard, age-old legends recited in song suddenly come to life. She discovers wings on the stranger, and the murderer takes the shape of both a hawk and a man.

Angels. Shape-shifters. Myths and stories—until now.

Melaia finds herself in the middle of a blood feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm. When Melaia becomes a target, she finds refuge with a band of angels attempting to restore the stairway. But the restoration is impossible without settling an ancient debt—the “breath of angel, blood of man,” a payment that involves Melaia’s heart, soul, and destiny.

View the video trailer here.

Book Tour: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Publisher: Harper Perennial (Reprint edition)

Publish Date: May 17, 2011

Paperback, 304 pages 
Fiction, Literary Suspense
ISBN: 978-0060594671

*** My review will be coming later today though I am really enjoying this novel at the moment.  It has interesting characters and great building suspense.  ***

About the Book:

In the 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas “32″ Jones were boyhood pals in a small town in rural Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry was the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, black single mother. But then Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie and she was never seen or heard from again. He never confessed . . . and was never charged.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary, shunned existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has become the town constable. And now another girl has disappeared, forcing two men who once called each other “friend” to confront a past they’ve buried for decades.

About the Author: 

Tom Franklin is the author of Poachers, Hell at the Breech, and Smonk. Winner of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship, he teaches in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program and lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife, the poet Beth Ann Fennelly, and their children.

Tom’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, May 17th: Eclectic/Eccentric
Wednesday, May 18th: Book Journey
Thursday, May 19th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Monday, May 23rd: That’s What She Read
Tuesday, May 24th: Chronicles of a Country Girl
Wednesday, May 25th: Lit and Life
Wednesday, May 25th: Helen’s Book Blog
Thursday, May 26th: Life In Review
Tuesday, May 31st: Raging Bibliomania
Wednesday, June 1st: Life in the Thumb
Thursday, June 2nd: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Tuesday, June 7th: Jo-Jo Loves to Read!
Wednesday, June 8th: Debbie’s Book Bag
Thursday, June 9th: Books and Movies
Friday, June 10th: My Reading Room
Monday, June 13th: Wordsmithonia
Tuesday, June 14th: Crazy for Books
Wednesday, June 15th: Teresa’s Reading Corner
Thursday, June 16th: Unputdownables
Friday, June 17th: Rundpinne

FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher through TLC Book Tours for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

Book Review: The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie

The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie

Publisher:Westside Books

Publish Date: December 15, 2010

Hardcover, 334 pages
ISBN: 978-1934813447
Young Adult, Fiction

My Review:

The Princess of Las Pulgas is an amazing book. I could not put it down. It felt real, dealt with real situations, played on real sympathies and really didn't pull any punches.  It's about finding yourself wherever you are and being true to yourself and knowing and finding your true friends.  It is a feel-good book with important lessons and great entertainment value.

Carlie's life has dealt her a tough blow with the loss of her dad to cancer.  While she's still reeling from that situation, she learns that she, her mom and her brother have to move from their house in Channing to Las Pulgas which is nowhere near the same type of area she is use to living in, it's a little rougher and their apartment is much smaller.  Life is a big change for Carlie and her brother Keith and her mom as well.  The high school is a real eye-opener for both of the siblings.  Keith wants nothing to do with the track team, Carlie wants nothing to do with anyone, she wants to remain friends with her best friend Lena in Channing and her hopeful new boyfriend Sean who is also in Channing.

She however begins to meet some much more colorful people that teach her that people aren't always what they seem.  The transition she faces is challenging but wonderful to watch.  Both her, Keith and her mom have major changes to face and choices to make whether to accept what they have been given or just give up.  The story is amazing and it flows so well.  I love seeing Carlie change and also her brother Keith as well.  The characters have very real reactions in this book and I loved getting to know the students as Las Pulgas was great too.  Ms. McKenzie has a great way of bringing her characters to life and those characters shine in The Princess of Las Pulgas.

This will go down as one of my favorite YA books so far this year.  It is just that enjoyable.  If you want a wonderful contemporary YA novel then The Princess of Las Pulgas is for you.

My Rating:  5.0/5.0

About the Book:
After her father's slow death from cancer, Carlie thought things couldn't get worse. But now, she is forced to confront the fact that her family in dire financial straits. To stay afloat, her mom has had to sell their cherished oceanfront home and move Carlie and her younger brother Keith to the other side of the tracks to dreaded Las Pulgas, or "the fleas" in Spanish. They must now attend a tough urban high school instead of their former elite school, and on Carlie's first day of school, she runs afoul of edgy K.T., the Latina tattoo girl who's always ready for a fight, even on crutches. Carlie fends off the attention of Latino and African American teen boys, and one, a handsome seventeen-year-old named Juan, nicknames her Princess when he detects her aloof attitude towards her new classmates. What they don't know is that Carlie isn't really aloof; she's just in mourning for her father and almost everything else that mattered to her. Mr. Smith, the revered English teacher who engages all his students, suggests she'll like her new classmates if she just gives them a chance; he cajoles her into taking over the role of Desdemona in the junior class production of Othello, opposite Juan, after K.T. gets sidelined. Keith, who becomes angrier and more sullen by the day, spray paints insults all over the gym as he acts out his anger over the family's situation and reduced circumstances. Even their cat Quicken goes missing, sending Carlie and Keith on a search into the orchard next to their seedy garden apartment complex. They're met by a cowboy toting a rifle who ejects them at gunpoint from his property. But when Carlie finds him amiably having coffee with their mom the next day -- when he's returned her cat -- she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems in Las Pulgas. 

About the Author:
Native Californian C. Lee McKenzie has always been a writer. But she's also been a university professor and administrator, and for five years, she wrote and published a newsletter for university professors. Her fiction and nonfiction for young readers has been published in the award-winning e-zine, Stories for Children, and Crow Toes Quarterly has published her ghostly tales. When she isn't writing, Lee hikes in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Los Gatos, California. She is also the author of Sliding on the Edge, a young adult novel published by WestSide Books in Spring 2009.

FTC Information: I received this book through The Teen Book Scene to review for the current tour.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.