The Alien Assassin's Stolen Bride - Mich...

Is this planet sanitary? It might be full of bacteria.

I mean; this was clearly tongue in cheek - the villain's name (seriously) is Fucyu T'antor, Tantor being the name of the elephant in the disney 'toon. Yeah; that germaphobe elephant.

What a coincidence - the H is a germaphobe.

That said, I feel like the tongue slipped from the cheek and gave me a raspberry. The bulk of the book was unfunny. You have the H - alien assassin knuckledragger - who is here to kill the villain. His brother (featured in the Ruby Dixon companion) is in another state to kill the villain's brother. The brother had wisely taken antidote to hopefully combat their need to mate when confronted with an unattached compatible female. Our H...didn't. Why? Because he avoids females so as to not deal with the weirdness of his species. Hoisted by his own petard. Heh. The h is his truemate. I can accept this really. What I had a hard time with was his disparagement of earth while following the h around. And this is supposed to win her over? I also had a hard time with her supposedly loving him so much when she'd met him 7 hours before. I mean; I suppose that's part of the tongue in cheek part but... Eh.

Random thought - how did the bad guys get here if earth is supposedly off limits and a special gate has to be constructed by...somebody?

As an aside, the brother's story was more hampered by the author's writing style.

I listened to this book. It wasn't as terrible as I'd expected. Definitely uber cheesy. I've also have never read this author, I know she write some hard core romance (erotica) but I'd say this is very tame. There are some terrible analogies, and a horrible irish accent for the audio. BUT, I was expecting to not even finish this. So I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the overall plot. I may read this author again knowing to be careful of my selections. 

It also definitely doesn't matter if you have read the first one. May have to give that one a try. I assume its about one of the other men in the books :). 

Mail Order Bride: The Stolen Bride Saves...

I really enjoyed this clean, historical, western romance. I voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 5* rating. I liked that it dealt with a fact that many communities dealt with and that was contaminated water supply, which still happens to this day, only from different type of circumstances. The youngest sister of these three, who was shy, came into her own in this story. This does have a small amount of violence in it. Onto the next.

His Stolen Bride by Shelly Thacker is a fantastic read.  Ms Thacker has provided readers with a well written book, complete with amazing characters.  Darach and Laurien's story is full of action, drama, sizzle and suspense.  This fast paced story had me glued to my kindle from start to finish.  I enjoyed reading His Stolen Bride and look forward to reading more from Shelly Thacker in the future.  His Stolen Bride is book 0.5 of the Stolen Brides Series but can be read as a standalone.  This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

"Very well, then." Mary's chin came up. "I will sneak to Kilmorgan with you."

Malcolm closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ye aren't going t' be an obedient and unquestioning wife, I'm thinking, are ye?"

"Certainly not. Englishwomen are resilient creatures. I do not know why people assume we are sweet and docile, innocent and weak." Mary unfolded her arms and rested her hands primly in her lap. "Look at Boadicea, who led forces against the Roman army for a long, long time, Queen Elizabeth, who often had to remark she was 'only a woman' to spare the feelings of gentlemen she could out-think. Even Aunt Danae has survived three husbands and is entertaining thoughts of a fourth, on her own terms. You have no need to worry about me."

A slow smile had spread across Malcolm's face as he listened to her speech. When she finished, his eyes were alight, the depths of gold warm.

"Ye see? I knew ye had fire inside you, lass. An inferno of it. You and me---we're going to burn up the world."

If you like reading about the Jacobite Rebellion,you'd enjoy this one. Malcolm and Mary start off with a "look across the room" kind of romance, which I normally don't like, but it works here because everything that follows that look is hard earned love. The beginning was full of mentions of Jacobite political figures, the climate and atmosphere, and how everyday people (our MacKenzie family) maneuvered around the going ons. I was kind of disappointed when in the middle, we lose a little bit of that (I'm a history nerd) and the story focuses more on our couple Malcolm and Mary. The building blocks of their relationship are created here, making their love more believable from their auspicious start, while the political atmosphere hovered around them but wasn't the focus. The last half reengaged with the Jacobite Rebellion and our couple fighting to stay together. The Battle of Culloden was featured here in a way I've not often seen it, less focus on the battle stratagems and fighting and more on the emotional devastation as it was happening. Our hero is there while family and friends are cut down and how mercilessness the English were about ending the rebellion; it was harrowing to read. 

Even though this is #8 in the series, it can actually be read as a standalone as it's a prequel, the hero is the great-great-or so-grandfather of the previous heroes in the series. 

This had a little different tone than usual romance reads, devastating emotional that this time period can only be, but was better for it. If you're looking to read about a family and couple caught up in the swirling political times, look no further.