Still Life by L.T Smith

Jess Taylor broke up with her partner Samantha because of her cheating womanizing ways. Enough was enough, never again would she allow herself to be used and cheated on. After the break up, Jess becomes somewhat of a recluse. Staying home, in bed by 9.30 and curled up with a book. Yes, much safer than setting herself up for another heart break.

Jess’s best friend Sophie Harrison has other ideas. She decides that Jess has been off the radar long enough, it’s time for her to re-join the land of the living. Sophie enrols them both in a Still Life art class at the nearby college. Sophie is determined that Jess and the gorgeous art teacher, Diana Sullivan, will hit it off and hook up. It doesn’t hurt that Sophie is interested in Diana’s brother, Dave, either.

But, will art be enough to pull Jess and Diana together? There are twelve sessions of the art class to find out whether Jess will be able to put the past behind her, be brave enough to open up her heart and give love another chance.

I’ve read most of L.T Smith’s books and can honestly say I’ve enjoyed them all and never been disappointed. This book is no exception. In fact, it has become my new favorite of hers.

As always, with any L.T Smith book, it is well written and edited, a page turner from start to finish and both serious and hilarious in parts. Mostly set in and around Manchester, England, the dialect is slightly different to the usual American books I read and review. But, I don’t think our overseas friends will have a problem understanding it.

There are three multidimensional main characters, Jess, her best friend Sophie and Jess’s love interest Diana. They are joined by a brilliant cast of secondary characters all playing their parts to perfection. Even the despicable Lauren played her part exceptionally well. Not that I’m adding in any spoilers, but she’s the one person in a book a reader loves to hate.

This is obviously a romance and the story follows the tried, tested and successful girl meets girl, girl loses girl and gets girl again formula. It’s the journey the characters take in this book that sets it so far apart from a lot of similar romance books. Set in the art world, there is a mix of love, angst, and a wonderful laugh out loud humor throughout. The fact that Jess and Diana are flawed women and each have unhappy pasts adds into the intrigue. The push and pull of will they won’t they get together, will they won’t they stay together, will Jess get her act together is what kept me feverishly turning the pages through to the end.

I’m looking forward to more from LT Smith soon.

 

Hero Worship by Rebekah Matthews

Valerie’s one hope and desire is to have a hero. Someone she can worship and who can rescue her from her unexciting mundane existence. When Valerie was growing up, her hero was Xena Warrior Princess. Xena is a hard act to follow and now Valerie’s grown up, she’s looking for her own real life Xena.

In this collection of stories, we see Valerie’s search for love. Trying to find her happy ever after, all consuming love. We follow Valerie’s progress, her highs and her lows, as she approaches her teens through to her thirties.

Valerie has to contend with many things and many different situations. There is her mother’s mysterious illness, her teenage step sister’s relationship with an older married man, her various jobs and many other situations she finds herself in. Valerie’s escapades are vast and various with never a dull moment as Valerie tries desperately to marry her childhood hopes and dreams with reality. Will Valerie ever find her hero? Or is she asking for too much?

A nice little collection of stories all linked together following Valerie’s pursuit for her hero. Valerie is a multidimensional, yet flawed character. This book tracks Valerie in the many guises of relationships between two women. It goes far beyond simply sex. Valerie has all sorts of different relationships with many different women. Straight, platonic, maternal, Christian and family.

I found some of the book a little hard to follow when it veered between the past and the present in places. But on the whole I enjoyed the stories.

I can’t attest to the editing as the copy I read from hadn’t had it’s final edit. But, what I can say is this copy was fairly clean, so I have no reason not to trust that the published copy is good. 

 

A Sister's Wish by Jennis Slaughter

Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer, Sydney Martin, is serving overseas when she gets a distinct feeling something is wrong with her twin sister, Sasha. Pain and foreboding fill Sydney’s whole being. She instinctively knows something terrible has happened to Sasha.

When Sydney gets the official news of Sasha’s murder, she flies back home to Canada, intent on finding out what happened and who murdered her beloved sister.

A delayed text from Sasha asking Sydney to protect something sends Sydney on a mission to fulfil Sasha’s wishes.

On Sydney’s arrival in Canada, she meets Sasha’s best friend, top notch computer programmer, Chance O’Neill. Sydney and Chance had no way of knowing they would fall head over heels in love and end up on the run whilst trying to unravel the mystery Sasha was working on and in turn solve her murder.

Will Sydney and Chance find the truth before the truth finds them and silences them both forever?

This is the first book I’ve read written by Jennis Slaughter. What could have been a riveting page turner was unfortunately marred by several things. First of all, the editing was bad. There were numerous typos throughout that simply pulled me out of the story. The second point was the over use of the two main characters jobs, constantly seeing the SEAL and the programmer really grated on my nerves. The third major point was the amount of sex scenes. I’m fully aware that in a new relationship, sex is in abundance and I do enjoy a red hot sex scene in a book. But, this gratuitous sex was a page filler. This in turn added endless pages of fluff to what would otherwise have been a really good story. I ended up skipping through the numerous repetitive sex scenes to get to the actual story.

If you like sex scenes in abundance, don’t mind the bad editing and the annoyance of not using the characters names, the story is reasonable.

 

Starting Over by Jen Silver

Ellie Winters hasn’t always had an easy life in the past. Even now her life, although it’s in order, isn’t running smoothly. It’s about to get even bumpier too. Ellie lives on a remote farm on Starling Hill that she inherited from her deceased parents. She lives with her recently ex lover, Robin Fanshawe.

Robin loves the ladies, lots of them and has been unfaithful to Ellie on numerous occasions, which is why they are no longer lovers. They do have a truce though, none of Robin’s women are to visit the farm. Unfortunately a woman Robin has been seeing is about to shatter their pact when she arrives on the farm to stay. This is the beginning of a chain of events which will change both Ellie and Robin’s lives forever.

Archaeologist, Professor Doctor Kathryn Moss, Ellie’s ex lover, also arrives on the farm, hoping Ellie will allow her and her team of university students to begin a dig in her field. Ellie agrees. But, will the field be the only thing being dug up? Or will Kathryn and Ellie dig up their past relationship putting an end forever into Ellie and Robin’s truce and any hopes of a reconciliation?

Will Robin realize the error of her ways and infidelities and put her ‘love them and leave them’ past behind her? Will Ellie even consider having Robin back in her life as her lover?

Who is the royal buried on Starling Hill?

History, romance, intrigue, mystery, infidelity, love and loss are all entwined together in this wonderfully well written, fast paced, debut romance from the pen of new lesfic author Jen Silver.

I had the pleasure of reading a short story written by Jen and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought from reading that story that Jen would be capable of great things. Now I know for sure she’s capable of great things having read and thoroughly enjoyed her debut novel. I found myself flying through the pages at break neck speed to find out how the story ended. Which was okay, because I then started the book again and read it more slowly to make notes for this review. No surprises that I enjoyed it just as much, if not more the second time round when I could savor the story properly.

My favorite character was Ellie. Long suffering until she took charge of her life. Once she did, Robin found herself on the other side of the fence finding out what Ellie had put up with for years. I don’t want to go into any details of the story, or put in any spoilers. But suffice it to say, that this book is an emotionally charged roller coaster of ups and downs, twists and turns. Angst one minute and laugh out loud the next.

This is a story which grabbed me from the beginning. Both Ellie and Robin have their faults and flaws. It’s their journey on the path of love in this story that shows how love can conquer almost anything. But, it also shows that relationships have to be worked on and the course of true love doesn’t always run smoothly.

Will Robin and Ellie get back together? Or has their ship sailed? You’ll have to read this to find out.

 

Pigeon Post by Jae

A short story

Submissive Wrasa wolf shape shifter, Kelsey, has always obeyed her superiors. But when she receives a letter from Madsen, the Wrasa’s alpha, Kelsey isn’t sure she’ll be able to comply with his unusual latest orders. Madsen and the new Wrasa PR company want a big celebration in the form of a Wrasa Pride Parade in Washington D.C to celebrate the one year anniversary of their involuntary worldwide coming out to the human public. They want Kelsey to head the parade.

For those of you who haven’t read any of this series, wolf-shifter Kelsey lives with her partner, Rue who is human and her adopted son Danny, who is Wrasa. One year has gone by since Kelsey ‘outed’ the Wrasa to the world. The object of the big parade is to show the world how harmless the Wrasa are. The antics that follow on in this story are very amusing and entertaining.

There is no need to have read any of this series first, this short story stands alone well. But, I defy you to not rush to buy them right away. I love these multidimensional characters and their stories.

The story is a bit longer than some shorts, but Jae is well known for penning epics. It goes without saying Pigeon Post is well written and a page turner from start to finish, a story to enjoy more than once.

 

Twisted Lives by Ali Spooner

As Bet is fleeing from her abusive husband with her four year old daughter, Kylie, her car breaks down. It is a twist of fate that it should happen right outside the entrance to the home of property developer, Alex Graves.

When Alex arrives home and sees Bet’s plight and the lovely little munchkin, Kylie, asleep in the passenger seat, Alex is spurred into action. She offers Bet and Kylie her hospitality and the run of her home.

Alex and Bet had no way of knowing that this simple act of kindness would change their lives forever. Unfortunately for them all, as well as bringing them love, it also brings danger to their door.

I’ve read many books by master storyteller, Ali Spooner and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. Ali’s writing is what I call ‘my go to comfort reads’. I simply can’t read her books just once. Her stories and characters resonate with me long after I’ve finished reading her books.

This story is a romance, a page turner that hooked me in from the very first page and kept me enthralled through to the last page. A sweet and tender, heart warming love story, that is sizzling hot in parts, with a touch of angst and humor too. The romance between Bet and Alex begins almost immediately. Virtually love at first sight. Bet, Alex and the loveable four year old, going on twenty year old, Kylie are the three main characters. They are backed up by a strong cast of secondary characters each essential to the progression of this well written, fast paced story. I made the big mistake of starting this book late one night. I’ll never learn! I couldn’t put it down, so it was another late night.

As with all of Ali’s books I’ve read so far, the story is never simply ‘just one theme’, as in this case, just ‘another romance’. There is a brilliant storyline apart from the romance that runs through the book with a touch of intrigue throughout, whetting the readers appetite for more. 

This is a nice length book, but still not long enough for me. I wanted much more. I’m hoping for a sequel or at the very least a novella or short story to see what is next in the lives of Alex, Bet and Kylie. These characters are far too precious not to visit them again. 

 

Destination Alara by S.Y Thompson

Vanessa Swann, (Van), veteran of the Gothoan war, has her first starship command as a newly promoted Captain. It’s the twenty fourth century and although technology has vastly changed, deviousness, greed and war amongst the species hasn’t.

Van is searching the outer reaches of the galaxy for signs of rebel activity when she finds herself unexpectedly teamed up with Admiral/Princess Cade Meryan. Cade is the leader of the Coalitions flag ship and heir to the throne of Alara.

Van has always been a player, one for loving and leaving the ladies. Now she’s smitten with Cade’s beauty. But, it would be unprofessional of her to pursue her attraction, plus she feels Cade may be a little out of her league.

When faced with numerous attempts on Cade’s life, Van needs a clear head to keep her safe. With the threat of a galactic war and the safety of millions of people to look out for, Van’s work is cut out and it is not going to be an easy task to keep Cade from harm.

Both Van’s and Cade’s lives will never be the same again as the battle to defeat the enemy begins.

I’ve read some of SY Thompson’s books before and I’ve enjoyed them all. I’m not a great fan of sci/fi, but I have to say this book exceeded all my expectations. It’s well written and an edge of the seat page turner from the first page right through to the last. There are so many ups and downs and twists and turns, it’s like being on a roller coaster ride that is full of exhilaration and excitement.

SY Thompson has created a fantastic, easy to visualize, descriptively scenic world set in the twenty fourth century. Although the technology has far advanced, the reader is still able to understand exactly what is happening and visualize it, and is not blinded by science. Throughout the book is a slow burning, hot, sweet and tender romance that may or may not get off the ground. But, it’s fun watching it develop and anticipating it’s outcome.

The two main characters, Van and Cade are multidimensional and are backed up by a wealth of wonderful secondary characters, each essential to the fast paced progression of the story through to it’s dramatic ending.

Although this book concluded, it would be really nice to have a sequel or a follow on story with these characters in this brilliant new world.