A bit... Ok, usually I prefer my anthology to have a recognizable theme...other than the title. Or at least to be all in the same sub-genre.

 

The LLM - a second chance romance. The H/h are negotiating a divorce. The h has spent however many years they've been married essentially doing nothing to rock the boat. The H has spent that time getting his way. At some point, they stopped communicating, or maybe he just kinda forgot her. I'm not sure. There was no-one else for either one of them. He'd sold his company and bought a sports car. She'd spent entirely too much time alone not to read something into that. They go spend time at their seaside cottage on the advice of their lawyer/friend. And well, being forced to interact with each other lead to hot sex, a few heated discussions, revelations that his behavior made her feel insecure, etc.

 

I'm not familiar with the second author. The story was interesting I suppose. Heroine is the family doormat where everyone assumes she's going to deal with their mess. Her mother had a heart attack and dumped her business in the heroine's lap, the brother stole her key and had an affair using her apartment, a client/friend/something of said brother made a copy of the key and started stalking the h - after she'd stapled his pants shut (something about him flashing her at his wedding rehearsal), and also after he'd filed charges against her. The H was the brother to a previous client, and also a bounty hunter. He spent entirely too much time trying to marginalize the h while at the same time giving into the attraction. I wanted to kick him in the nuts more than a few times over the things he said to her.

 

Third... I would guess this loosely ties in to Laurentston's pride/pack/whatever series seeing as how there are mention of Smiths. it was...odd. The H was more creepy than sexy really, and I got the feeling "No" wasn't in his vocabulary. There was the usual set of quirky characters.

I think what makes this book only a three instead of a five for me is how predictable it is. I really enjoyed the writing style, characters and chemistry between Alyssa and Hunter but there was no suspense for me. Every major plot point was painfully obvious and that kind of ruined it for me. 

 

I haven't read any of the previous books in the series, but it wasn't necessary at all as this is a great stand alone story. I did enjoy the brief background on Alyssa and Hunter's shared history, which gave enough context to their instant attraction to make me believe it. Childhood crushes meeting up as adults is almost always a recipe for some great banter and this book did not disappoint. I enjoyed the playful teasing and nicknames between the lead characters without it bordering on annoying. It was a perfect balance of sappiness for my tastes. 

 

As far as characters go, Hunter was a solid hero with his skills and sarcastic wit. His PTSD and insecurities made him flawed enough to feel authentic. I really enjoyed that he had an outlet to deal with his issues (even if he didn't want to share it with anyone else) instead of bottling everything up. Alyssa on the other hand was strong from start to finish and I wanted everything to work out in her favor. It could be argued that her character was weak for agreeing to marry someone she didn't love, but given the context of the engagement, I would say that was still a strong choice even if it wasn't the right one. 

 

I'd definitely recommend this book if you're in the mood for some fast paced romance with solid writing and interesting characters, just don't expect a lot of suspenseful moments.

 

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.

Exposing the Heiress - Jennifer Apodaca When Hollywood heiress Alyssa Brooks discovers that her fiance is being paid to marry her, she dumps him, only to have him turn stalker on her. Unfortunately Alyssa has told him things that no one else knows and he uses those secrets to his advantage. As his threats get worse, she turns to her childhood friend and one time crush Hunter Reece, a former Marine sniper, now security specialist.

For Reece, meeting with his littles sister's best friend, brings back memories of when he was still untainted by the horror and misery of war. Once a talented sculptor, now all that he can do with his hands is bring darkness, death and destruction to life, be it in clay or reality.

Only with Alyssa, he finds himself moving towards the light. Her fierce determination, courage and bravery inspire him to create beauty again, to hope again, for a life filled with happiness and love. He is supposed to protect her, save her from her psychotic fiance, but she just may be the one who is saving him from the part of himself that has become a nightmare

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Was not sure about Exposing the Heiress. Ms. Apodaca is an author I had not had the pleasure of reading before. I was wary because I am not really a mystery reader. But I was proven wrong. There were so many angles and curve balls in this story that I forgot everything else for the day and sat down to read the book all the way through. Exposing the Heiress turned out to be a sexy thrill. I enjoyed it . Thank you Entangled and NetGalley for the ARC. Thank you Jennifer Apodaca for this wonderful story. Received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Ladykiller Roman - Jennifer Apodaca,Helm...

Inhalt:

 

 

Privatdetektivin Holly Hillbay hat ihren stressigen Polizistenjob an den Nagel gehängt, um im idyllischen kalifornischen Badeort Goleta ein ruhigeres Leben zu führen. Alles was sie möchte, ist Strand, Meer und einen eisgekühlten Ladykiller (den Drink).
Doch als sie ihren ersten Auftrag erhält, ist es mit der Ruhe vorbei. Ein Mann verdächtigt seine Frau, ihn zu betrügen. Holly findet schnell heraus, wer der Liebhaber ist: Cullen, ein ausgekochter Ladykiller (nicht der Drink). Doch als sie denkt, ihre Mission sei erfüllt, wird Cullen ermordet aufgefunden … Quelle: Goldmann Verlag

 

Meine Meinung:

 

Schon in den ersten paar Seiten wird man in Holly Hillbays Berufsleben eingeführt. Sie ist Privatdetektivin und soll im aktuellen Fall eine Frau ausspionieren, die angeblich fremd geht.
Kurze Zeit später trifft sie auf den zweiten Protagonisten Wes Brockman.
Die Vorstellung der Charaktere erstreckt sich über das ganze Buch. Holly, sowie Wes tragen ein Geheimnis mit sich herum, dass sie auf keinen Fall preis geben möchten.
Dadurch gewinnt das Buch auch langsam an Spannung, die zwar gemächlich, aber in einer Tour steigt.

Da es sich bei dem Buch (höchstwahrscheinlich) um einen Ladykrimi handelt, darf der romantisch-erotische Teil nicht fehlen. Dieser Teil wird meiner Meinung nach gut in die Handlung eingebaut. Ich denke, dass sich manche Frau an diesen eingebauten Szenen erfreuen wird.
Allerdings ist dadurch bald (übertrieben gesagt) auf jeder zweiten Seite das Wörtchen Sex zu lesen. Ob nun bei ihrem Fall als Privatdetektiven oder in ihrem privaten Umfeld.

Was mir auch aufgefallen ist, so wird das Wörtchen “beißen” oder “um sich beißen” immer benutzt, wenn Holly sich verängstigt, unsicher oder in die Enge getrieben fühlt.
Ein interessanter Ausdruck, den ich bis dato noch nicht kannte. Anfangs hatte ich damit Schwierigkeiten, da ich nicht richtig begriff, was es mit dem Beißen auf sich hat. Erst mit der Zeit kam ich dahinter.
In unserer Gegend nennt man das “Giftpfeile verschießen”.

Die Schreibweise ist recht einfach und sehr locker, so dass ich dem Geschriebenen gut folgen konnte.
Das Buch ist im Erzählstil geschrieben und es wird größtenteils aus Hollys Sicht erzählt.
Was es mit dem Titel des Buches auf sich hatte, das bekam man erst mit der Zeit und mit gewissen Aktivitäten heraus. Wirklich gut gemacht!

 

Fazit:

Man kann sich einfach von der Geschichte treiben lassen, oder miträtseln.
Ich habe mich größtenteils treiben lassen und nur am Ende richtig mitgefiebert.
Kann das Buch nur empfehlen!
Von mir bekommt es fünf von fünf Sternen.

 

Am 6.6.2009 rezensiert.