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Indie Reads Appreciation Week & Giveaway

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Welcome to Indie Reads Appreciation Week and Blog Hop!

This activity is hosted by That Bookish Girl and each day for the next week there will be special activities going on to promote some of our favorite Independent authors.

Lets talk about the giveaways first!

I have up for the giveaway a copy of His Elle by Jemima Valentino. To read my post on this click HERE.  I’m also offering up a Barnes & Noble Gift Card!  If that isn’t enough, the Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop starts on Thursday and even more will be given away in that Hop!  I’ll make this giveaway simple, if you want to be entered to win, you need to be a follower and you need to leave me a comment with your e-mail address on it so that I can contact you.

To start off this activity filled week, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite authors, Norah Wilson.  You may not of heard of Norah before, but you should pick up one of her books and see if you enjoy her work as much as I do!  As you will find out she is Canadian like me, but she lives on the other side of the country from me!

Norah Wilson lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada with her husband and two adult children (both in university), a Lab-Rotti mix dog and five rats (the pet kind). She has been writing romance a long while, and has finalled multiple times in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest. She also won Dorchester Publishing’s New Voice in Romance contest in 2003.

Norah writes sensual romantic suspense. The three novels in her Serve and Protect series, as well as her award-winning Lauren’s Eyes, are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, etc. She also writes paranormal YA stories with a writing partner, under the name Wilson Doherty, but the team has not yet published.

Currently, three of Norah’s four romantic suspenses are in the Top 10 highest rated romances at Smashwords. She was also mentioned by Smashwords CEO Mark Coker as one of the Top 50 indie authors to watch on Smashwords. Norah loves to meet fans and make friends on  Twitter and her Website and Facebook.

I have now read three of Norah’s books for The Romance Reviews. Honestly, when I got the first one I wasn’t too excited as I wasn’t a fan of romantic suspense.  So, I started in, and kept reading until I was done!  It was great!  This was Guarding Suzannah, the first book in the To Serve and Protect Series.  I actually enjoyed it so much I asked to be assigned any other books she submitted.  I read and reviewed Saving Grace, and Protecting Paige (which can be seen below).  Although I enjoyed all three, my favorite is Protecting Paige.  Because of that I have asked Norah if I can offer a copy of that particular book in the giveaway that starts on  Thursday!  Here are my thoughts on Protecting Paige, and remember to return on Thursday to enter to win a copy!

Single mom Paige Harmer is at her wits end about her son Dillon, who’s running with a bad crowd. She turns to next door neighbor Cst Tommy Godsoe. Sidelined by a gunshot injury, he just wants to be left alone, but Paige is unstoppable. Before long, he’s drawn into their lives. Paige is going to need a cop in her corner, and Tommy needs Paige to bring him back to life.

This delightful and sensual romance is gritty and real. Protecting Paige combines tension filled action, humor and great writing to produce this amazingly tender romance. It unflinchingly describes the recovery of a cop shot in the line of duty and his commitment to upholding the law and protecting citizens.  Protecting Paige also shows the concerns of a mother who’s son is caught by the underbelly of society.  A riveting read from beginning to end.  Clear a few hours, find a comfy spot to sit and hang on for the ride!

Paige Harmer is a single mom who makes her living making specialty desserts for local restaurants.  Her almost 18 year old son seems to be running with a bad crowd which is causing her increasing concern.  When she moved into her duplex, her landlord told her that her neighbor was recovering from recent surgery.  One day, while worrying about where her son has stormed off to, she cooks too much food and decides to take a plate of hot food over and meet her new neighbor.

“ Now, her neighbor stood framed in the doorway, wearing a pair of white boxers and a thunderous expression.
And oh, Christmas, he was the most gorgeous thing she’d clapped eyes on in years, outside of a Calvin Klein ad.
Despite their current storminess, his eyes were blue as the July sky.  Black hair, a startling contrast to his pale complexion, stood up in all directions, all the sexier for its dishevelment.  Thick, black eyebrows slanted over those killer eyes.  More dark hair crowned his chest in a liberal thatch, tapering to a thin line that arrowed out of sight beneath his boxers.”

In her anxiety, she gives Tommy, her neighbour, the impression that she is a bit neurotic with all the rambling about her concerns and her thoughts about the state of his apartment.  She bullies him into eating what she’s made and continues to tell him about her concerns for her son.  Although Tommy isn’t in great shape, he allows her to feed him, make him coffee and bounce ideas off him.  When she leaves to go home he hears her scream.  He finds her looking at a skinned dead animal that has been left on her doorstep.  Tommy immediately becomes the cop that he was and seeks to not only protect her, but to investigate the scene.

This starts the relationship between Paige and Tommy.  Paige is concerned that Tommy is too young for her, and Tommy is concerned that Paige shouldn’t be saddled with an injured cop who is without a job.  Ultimately, they make a great match.  Tommy becomes someone for Paige to care for – to mother – to a certain extent.  Paige and the situation with her son give Tommy something to get out of bed for.

Of all of the books that I’ve read by Norah Wilson, I’ve liked this one the best.  The first few chapters set the scene.  They give the reader a hint of the danger that’s likely to be involved.  They introduce Paige and Tommy in a scene that will have the reader chuckling as well as cringing.  One can just picture Tommy feeling like he is being steam-rollered; staring in disbelief at this woman in his house that doesn’t get the hint that she’s not welcome.  Unable to find the words to stop her from cleaning up his kitchen, chatter like a magpie, and take over his life.

The attraction between Tommy and Paige is immediate.  The chemistry sizzles on the pages!  What was almost more important than the chemistry, was the gentle blossoming of their relationship.  I found myself cheering the characters along!  The progress that Tommy makes with Paige’s son Dillion is delightful to read about.  The interaction between Tommy and his fellow cops is so vividly written that the reader can just visualize the manly back-slapping get-together.  I like that there is enough cop detail, and dog training detail, to round out Tommy’s job and show how his skills are important and something worth trying to go back to.  The scene involving the RCMP and FBI made me feel like I was in an action adventure movie with the good guys conquering the bad guys.   I was cheering all the way!  You really should pick up this book and settle in for a good read!

Protecting Paige is the third book in Norah Wilson’s To Serve and Protect series.

As Norah says above, her books can be found at a number of places.  Here are the direct links to the books on Smashwords:

Guarding Suzannah

Saving Grace

Protecting Paige

How To Woo A Reluctant Lady by Sabrina Jeffries

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ISBN: 1439167559
Publisher: Pocket Star
Release: Jan 18, 2011
Source: I received a copy of this book from the author to read and review

**Keep in mind that this is the book that is available for the March Madness Giveaway Hop Prize**

When a charming rogue proposes she marry him to meet her grandmother’s ultimatum, the Sharpe clan’s strong-willed sister makes a tempting counter-offer that preserves her inheritance and ignites his imagination.

Lady Minerva Sharpe has the perfect plan to thwart her grandmother’s demands: become engaged to a rogue! Surely Gran would rather release her inheritance than see her wed a scoundrel. And who better to play the part of Minerva’s would-be husband than wild barrister Giles Masters, the very inspiration for the handsome spy in the popular Gothic novels she writes? The memory of his passionate kiss on her nineteenth birthday has lingered in Minerva’s imagination, though she has no intention of really falling for such a rakehell, much less marrying him. Little does she know, he really is a covert government operative. When they team up to investigate the mystery behind her parents’ deaths, their fake betrothal leads to red-hot desire. Then Minerva discovers Giles’s secret double life, and he must use all the cunning tricks of his trade to find his way back into her heart.

What happens when you take a strong-willed, on the shelf, gothic romance writer and a barrister that is actually a spy for the goverment?  You get the latest hair-raising ride in the “Hellions of Halstead Hall” series!  Get set for fast action, rich sensuality,  and a clash of strong-willed characters destined to be together.

Welcome to the world of Sabrina Jeffries’ latest series about the Hellions of Halstead Hall!  These “Hellions” are the strong willed Sharpe children.  There are 5 of them, Oliver, Jarret, Minerva, Gabe and Celia.  They were orphaned many years before when both of their parents died.  Some say it was a murder-suicide, but Hetty Plumtree, their maternal grandmother did whatever she could to quiet the scandal hide the true details.  She then took the 5 children away to live with her.  She was a working class woman who’s family owns and runs a brewery.  She had arranged for her only daughter to marry a title, a decision that, in hindsight, she heartily regrets! She is now getting older and having some health problems and is determined to hold some great-grandchildren before she dies.  Since none of her grandchildren seem to be willing to settle down and marry, she makes an ultimatum.  If they don’t all marry within the year, none of them will inherit her money.

Here we are at book three already!  These Sharpe “children” are a strong willed lot!  We have had a chance to look at Oliver and Jarrett’s attempts to foil their grandmother, now it is Minerva’s turn.  Minerva has had a lifelong attraction to Giles Masters, one of her brothers’ friends.  After one unfortunate encounter several years ago, she has decided that he can go to the devil.  When she starts writing torrid gothic romances, she models her villain after Giles!

When Giles finds out that Minerva has published an advertisement for a husband in a popular lady’s magazine, he decides that enough is enough.  No other man is going to have Minerva and he head over to to Halstead Hall to interview for the position of “husband”.  Minerva has decided that if she creates enough of a scandal around her Grandmother forcing her to marry, the old woman will back off.  What better way to piss of her grandmother than advertising for a husband and have crowds of men appear on the front lawn, wanting to interview for the position.  She doesn’t count on Giles appearing, but after some thought decides that a pretend engagement is just the thing to piss of her grandmother and both her brothers!

“Over my dead body!”

Hetty heard Oliver’s roar from two halls over and hurried toward it as fast as her cane could take her.  He must have found Minerva.  Damned girl.  Why couldn’t she just marry some decent fellow and be done with it?  Why did she have to drum up this nonsense about interviewing fools she solicited in the papers like a common whore?

Well, Oliver would put an end to that – he wouldn’t want Minerva marrying some stranger either, thank God.

She followed the sound of heated voices into the Chinese drawing room, then stopped short.  Oliver was squared off against that rogue Giles Masters – God only knew when he had snuck in.  And Minerva stood with her hand tucked in the crook of Giles’s elbow.

“What has happened?” Hetty demanded.

Oliver shot her an angry glance.  “Masters has some idiotic idea that he’s going to marry Minerva.”

Hetty dragged in a breath.  Masters? With her granddaughter? Never.  ……

Minerva shot Hetty a sly glance.  “You gave no rules for whom we could marry, Gram, just when we had to marry”

Sabrina Jeffries has the ability to create characters so real that they leap off the pages of her books!  You cheer for them, boo at them, and encourage them along.  Time passes, and you are oblivious,  because you are wound up in the story.  The historical details that she throws in add depth to the story that is being woven around these characters.  She provides just enough history of what has gone on in previous stories  to keep the thread of the characters going, yet each book could easily be read as a stand-alone.

In this particular series, I just love the character of Hetty.  She’s had a hard life.  She’s made bad decisions. But she lives life to it’s fullest, trying not to dwell on her mistakes.  She’s determined to be the strong woman that she is and not show weakness in front of her grandchildren.

We are given more details of the Sharpe parents’s deaths – some questions are answered, but we still don’t know what happened yet.  I think that we meet Gabe’s “nemesis” and are given a glimpse into a possible attraction for Celia.  According to Ms. Jeffries’s website, the next book is called To Wed A Wild Lord and is due to be released November 22 of this year.  That’s a long time from now…..what to do???

For those of you uninitiated into the world of the Hellions of Halstead Hall, you need to pick up the previous two books and find a comfy chair and hang on for the ride!

Ing at At The Pages Turn give How To Woo A Reluctant Lady a score of 5 and says: “From the beginning until the end Sabrina had me hooked to this book.  I finished it one night and that is saying a lot.”

The Good, The Bad & The Unread gave this book an “A” and said: “So, needless to say, this book instantly blew fresh life into me with the emotion Ms. Jeffries shares with us concerning Minerva on the very first page. My heart wept for her young broken heart. And then I smiled at the way that brokenness healed. A perfect beginning to a wonderfully written story.”

A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh

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ISBN: 978-0-385-34330-5
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release: Jan 25, 2011
Source: I purchased this book to read and review

Book 5 of the Huxtable quintet. Constantine Huxtable, who takes a new mistress in London every spring, meets his match in the notorious Hannah, widowed Duchess of Dunbarton, who refuses to take no for an answer when she decides that he will be her lover for the Season. But both harbor secrets, and in the uncovering of them they begin to fall in love.

Finally we come to the end of the Huxtable series by Mary Balogh. I am so happy to report that the last book in her latest best selling series features Con Huxtable.  We see many glimpse of Con throughout the other books in this series.  He seems to have many faces.  His father married his mother two days too late, making Con illegitimate.  His mother dies early; his father also dies early, and is no winner!  His younger brother, Jonathan Huxtable was born with what was probably Down’s Syndrome and only lived for 16 years.  He had an incredible effect on those lives that he touched during his short life.  When Elliot came into his title at an early age, he was suddenly Jonathan’s guardian and his former childhood compatriot, Con, did everything he could to make that job difficult.  The end result was some wrong assumptions and a divide was created between Elliot and Con that lasted for years.

Hannah Reid was born a commoner, but married a duke after a 5 day acquaintance, when she was 19 years old.  He was many years her senior, and many assumed that she married him for his money.  She expected to be a widow in a few short years, but instead, had 10 years with him to learn from him.  Many rumors had floated around through the years about her life with the duke and her supposed infidelities.  She is now coming out of her year of mourning determined to take a lover.  She sets her sights on Con because  she considers him “safe”.  Con is well known for taking a different lover every season and then gracefully ending the affair when he heads back to the country at the end of the season.

These two characters are so unlikeable on the surface.  Hannah is the quintessential “Ice Princess” only showing the world what she wants to show them.  Maintaining control and playing games.  Con has apparently done many things that make him to be a very unlikable person.  He supposedly stole from his disabled brother, he is an unrepentant rake, and he seems to have a secret life in the off season.

Frankly, when this book started, I had no interest in learning about Con.  I thought Mary Balogh should have stopped this series at 4 books.  That idea was reinforced when we started to learn about Hannah and her superficiality.  I was about to put the book down until suddenly the layers started peeling off of both of these seemingly unlikeable characters.  The story grew from that point.  I’m a rather sentimental type of person, and it is not unusual for me to end a particularly moving book with a kleenex in one hand, book in the other.  I’m not shy to admit that I found this book to be so moving that I was in tears for the last hour of reading.  My husband would come in and check on me periodically, and still I read on.  I can’t say that I have read a more moving or more appropriate ending to a series of books.  This book has to be one of my all time favorite novels!  I think it is certainly one of the best written books that I have read!  Get ready your box of kleenex and prepare to finish the story of the Huxtable family in grand form! Enjoy!

RTBookReviews has given A Secret Affair 4.5 stars, labelled it a Top Pick and nominated it for the 2010 Regency-Set Historical Romance.  They had the following to say: “The Huxtables, that scandalous, delicious family, return as the black sheep finds a woman more notorious than he. Balogh has taken a classic plot and infused it with maturity of character and content. It’s a love story about grown-ups for grown-ups; those who appreciate the nuances of relationships, full of passion, trust, friendship and love.”

“Mary Balogh has masterfully woven a romantic tale of the importance of family, of compassion, and of love and forgiveness in this fifth book in her series about the Huxtable family. A Secret Affair will not disappoint, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the “secrets.” Viki Ferrell, Fresh Fiction

“Balogh has saved the best for last; Constantine-dark, wicked, and cryptic-has a perfect foil in Hannah, and their encounters are steamy, their romance believable. Though series fans will be disappointed to see it come to a close, they couldn’t ask for a better way to go out.” Publisher’s Weekly