Burning Reflections by Rachel Carrington
Title: Burning Reflections Author: Rachel Carrington
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1-59998-373-7
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: 179 pages
Publishing Date: 2006
When attorney Morgan Hennessey keeps turning down dates from a mild-mannered colleague, Dexter Canfield, little does she know that within him lurks the heart of a psycho who likes to play with fire. After he plays with his favourite blow torch game Morgan ends up in the hospital for quite some time, scarred both physically and emotionally. Since the psycho got away Morgan’s not sure where to turn and her ex-husband’s arms are awfully tempting. He’s the sheriff of her home town and she is desperate to feel safe.
Evan Hennessey has been missing Morgan since the minute she left. They had been best friends for twenty-odd years and when their marriage went south they promised they would still be friends. He wanted more than friendship and with a killer after Morgan, Evan would stop at nothing to keep her safe. So he brought her home. Determined to protect her, and remind her why they were good together, Evan never suspected the killing spree that would lead Dexter to their door.
Can Evan prove that he still loves Morgan and that her scars don’t change who she is? Will he be able to protect both Morgan and his townspeople without any more casualties? Or will Dexter allude him as he has alluded so many others and in the process destroy a love that was never meant to die?
This book started off with a heart-pounding weird feeling that lets you know things are not going to go well for the heroine. I think I sat forward in my chair as I read the first chapter. What happened was not what I expected and I think I actually gasped out loud.
Ms. Carrington has written a brilliantly evil character in Dexter Canfield. One who likes to play with fire but not really as your typical arsonist. He’d rather burn people than buildings, although I don’t think he really discriminates a lot (well, I guess he does decide that hookers aren’t worth eliminating so that must count for something!) His character is well fleshed out and he gave me goose bumps.
I also loved the relationship between the hero and heroine, although I would have liked to see more reasoning behind why Morgan really left Evan in the first place. There was some answers but it didn’t really satisfy me. They seemed perfect together and I guess I needed more of a reason to believe she would just walk away from that. Maybe it was that I needed more info on him being a Navy SEAL and some kind of undercover cop in New York. That was only handled very briefly so I didn’t get a sense of what that was all about.
Other than that I loved this book. I liked all of the characters, found the love story real, and the suspense was very well-done.
I give it 4.5 Flames (Review for Gotta Write Network)
Labels: Rating 4.5
Dolce and Diana by Cassidy Kent
Dolce and Diana by Cassidy Kent
Phaze
Diana Radford isn’t really looking forward to the arrival of Chance Kohler and his game show entourage, but the publicity that she can garner for Dolce, her restaurant, and Cease and Sekkle, her resort, is supposed to be worth it. Chance has a reputation with the ladies and was, apparently, killer in the kitchen as well. Competing against him on his game show makes her nervous but all Diana wants to do is prove her skills in the kitchen because, win or lose, all press is good press.
Chance Kohler was the latest and hottest celebrity chef. He had taught himself skills that were envied by others and had brought himself to his current fame with hard work and dedication. On his show he had faced off against some of the best chefs around and always come out on top. Of course, the last show had seen him embroiled in a hot scandal but in reality he tried to play things low key. The only place he ramped it up was in the kitchen. That was the place he knew he was the best and some new chef wasn’t going to get him kicked off his own show. After he saw her cooking in designer duds and fancy shoes Chance knew there was no way Diana was going to best him.
Things get hot in the kitchen, and then even hotter elsewhere, as Diana and Chance come face to face and the laws of attraction and good food are combined.
This book is a winner. Combine good food, a hot couple and some nasty exes and how can it not be. Add to that a tropical locale and I’m wishin’ I was there. I have no idea how Diana cooked in those heels, I wouldn’t attempt it, but to each their own. The only thing that surprised me was how fast that Chance became proprietary over Diana but it wasn’t entirely unbelievable, given close proximity of the couple on both the show and island.
With Dolce and Diana Cassidy Kent has outdone herself with wonderful characterisations, food and locale descriptions. There is nothing sexier than a tropical climate and good food. Well done!
I give this 4.5 Ayres (RORR)
Labels: Rating 4.5
The Pickle My Little Friend by Evan Trevane and Shawn M. Casey
The Pickle My Little Friend by Evan Trevane and Shawn M. Casey
The Wild Rose Press
Detective Jack Carter is working on the Bicycle Chain murders and his eighth victim has just been found. No matter how hard he works he seems to be one step behind. But this victim is different. This victim is holding a bag with a pickle in it. Something keeps nagging at him but he can’t put his finger on it until his secretary, and object of his lusty thoughts, Vicky Peik stand just a little too close. When it dawns on him that he has smelled her perfume at several of the murder victims locations he thinks he has the story wrapped up. Little does he know that Vicky has been a step ahead of him, herself. She has been trying to steer him in the right direction and in the process becomes the target of someone with a warped mind. Can either Jack or Vicky figure out what’s going on before it comes between their potential romance?
This story was interesting in that it read like an old-time PI book. It was hard to keep up with who did what and that’s always good in a suspense but the romance wasn’t that believable for me and the twist at the end left me feeling oddly dissatisfied. However, this story was well-written and if you enjoy investigative tales the way they used to be told then you should enjoy this short story.
I give this 3.5 Ayres (RORR)
Labels: Rating 3.5
Stealing Amy by Randy Jeanne
Stealing Amy by Randy Jeanne Triskelion Publishing
Bad things keep happening to Amy Harrington, and none of them are her fault. Someone stole her identity and seems to have run off to Mexico with it. When her car is towed, another credit card declined and she is arrested for the second time, Amy decides to take matters in to her own hands and track down her identity thief.
When Amy meets Nick Cavenaugh, an architect on his way to the location where she has pinpointed the suspect, she uses his lack as of an assistant to her advantage. He’s a hot man who needs help getting around in Mexico and Amy is just the girl to help.
As straightlaced, uptight Nick and carefree and casual Amy spend more time together they start driving each other crazy, and not always in a bad way. Unfortunately when Amy learns that the INS now suspect her for smuggling illegal aliens across the border she ends up in a lot more trouble than she bargained for and someone wants her dead.
I liked this book from beginning to end. It was a fun and fast read. The heroine made me laugh out loud and her attitude about everything made me wish that I thought more like that. Even as someone kept taking over her identity and getting her in trouble she tried to carefree. Combine her with the sexy but uptight hero and it made for a great read. Best of all, the heroine saved herself in the end, while Nick had to come to his own conclusions and take care of his own issues that had been plaguing him. The characters were well built and the addition of several side character, including Amy’s rather neurotic mother and the alcohol swilling bad guy with many faces.
I read this all in one sitting. The pacing and tone of the book was well done – there was fun and suspense, a very hard combination but it worked here. I will definitely look forward to reading more from this author.
I give this 5 Ayres (RORR)
Labels: Rating 5
Rubies of Fire (Dept 57)by Lynne Connolly
Dept 57 Rubies of Fire by Lynne Connolly Triskelion Publishing
Andreas Constant is undercover as the sleazy, office dude who hits on all the women in the CIA Department of Internal Business. He is actually vampire orphan and a field agent for Department 57, which is another department of the CIA, who are investigating a leak that apparently came from the DIB. He has been slowly getting to know everyone and entering their minds without them noticing. He has also been attracted to Roz Templeton since day one on the job and upon entering her mind he finds that she’s another vampire.
Roz has been working in the department trying to uncover leads to the two family member’s untimely and unorthodox deaths. She has been trying to stay away from the office sleaze, Andreas, but somehow finds herself drawn to him. When she discovers he’s undercover, looking for the same answers she is, she allows her passion and desire to take over. When the danger hits too close to home they find out that they might be the only ones they can count on.
Rubies of Fire is an intense, on the edge of your seat suspense with a paranormal twist. Or perhaps that would be an intense paranormal with a suspense twist. Either way, it was good. Initially, I found it a bit hard to follow all of the departments, jobs, and various Talents (which include vampires, shifters, dragons and sorcerers) but as the story settled in it started to make more sense.
I loved all of the characters in this book, most especially Fabrice Germain, the virgin sorcerer. The hero and heroine were also interesting and believable, and the heat between them seemed real. There was no doubt in my mind that they were meant to be together. There are a lot of characters and sometimes that is slightly confusing as well, most notable when editing errors use the wrong characters name at the wrong time. There were a couple of editing errors which caused a blip in my reading enjoyment, most especially when Candy states in one case that she’d known Fabrice for a long time and then only two pages later says she didn’t know him; however the plot carried me through and I was able to move beyond the errors and really get into the story.
You will need to know that there are some rather shocking elements (for the unprepared) and eyebrow raising issues in this book but they are handled well. The author tackles homoerotic issues as well as rape but not the way you would expect. In my opinion she has done a good job of creating and layering her characters and story so that these elements are believable for the plot. Other than the issues mentioned above I really enjoyed this story. Apparently this is book three in a series. I will look for the first two and I certainly hope Fabrice will come into his own story from Department 57 very soon.
I give this 4 Ayres (RORR)
Labels: Rating 4
Title: Burning Reflections
