I am super excited to receive these three books — two recent favorites I didn’t own, and a third I’ve been dying to read — and am overwhelmed by your generosity! Thank you!
What a way to wrap up a great year of reading.
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Ever the model of restraint, I took a wee break in between finishing object of my obsession Outlander and starting this, Dragonfly in Amber, the second book in the series. And what do you know! The book starts back in 1968, after twenty years of Claire having lived with her first husband, Frank Randall, and raising their daughter, Brianna. “WHAT?” I cried, tempted to chuck this brick of a book across the room. And then I kept reading. Make no mistake: Diana Gabaldon is playing the long game. There is no shortage, from my understanding, of Claire and Jamie Fraser getting into hairy […]
Share the post "What a way to wrap up a great year of reading."
11/20/2014 's CBR6 Review No:80 | 
| Tags: alwaysanswerb, Diana Gabaldon, Highland Romance, historical fiction, historical romance, Outlander | Category: Fiction, History, Romance | 4 Comments
I mean, the price was right.
Bedding the Wrong Brother (Bedding the Bachelors #1) by Virna DePaul
Bedding the Wrong Brother is a serviceable contemporary erotic romance that is, importantly, free on Kindle. It’s a pretty short story, so there isn’t any particular lip service paid to anything like a “plot” or “character development.” What we know is this: our heroine, Melina, has known the Dalton twin brothers, Max and Rhys, since childhood. Melina went on to have a respectable life in academia, but never really came alive in the bedroom. Part of this is because she dated jerks, and it’s partly because she has carried a torch for Rhys, but believes he’s out of her league. […]
11/18/2014 's CBR6 Review No:79 | | Tags: alwaysanswerb, Contemporary Romance, erotica, Virna DePaul | Category: Fiction, Romance | 0 Comments
A well-deserved re-visit.
The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan
This very short novella is a prequel to the 8-volume Brothers Sinister series, telling the story of Serena Barton and Hugo Marshall. Parents to Oliver and Free (the protagonists of full novels 2 and 4 in the series), they are initially adversaries, pitted against each other by the current Duke of Clermont. See, Serena is carrying his illegitimate child, and the Duke is already in the doghouse with his wife who, naturally, is the one who comes from money, and the Duke needs that money. Since Clermont would rather his wife not find out about this latest indiscretion, he needs […]
11/18/2014 's CBR6 Review No:78 | | Tags: alwaysanswerb, Courtney Milan, historical romance, Regency Romance | Category: Fiction, Romance | 0 Comments
A Hundred Years of Secrets
The Hundred Year House by Rebecca Makkai
Goodreads summary: “Meet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents’ wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house; Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth; and Bruce, her step-father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time. Then there’s Violet Devohr, Zee’s great-grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room. Violet’s portrait was known to terrify the artists who resided at the house […]
11/13/2014 's CBR6 Review No:77 | | Tags: alwaysanswerb, contemporary fiction, literary fiction, Rebecca Makkai | Category: Fiction | 0 Comments
This series is awesome.
Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews
This isn’t going to be a great critical review, I’m sorry to say. I really enjoyed this book and I feel that it’s a perfect addition to an already stellar series, which I raved about in one of my earlier CBR6 reviews. Goodreads summary: “As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like […]
11/4/2014 's CBR6 Review No:76 | | Tags: alwaysanswerb, ilona andrews, Kate Daniels, magic, shapeshifters, supernatural, Urban Fantasy | Category: Fantasy, Fiction | 7 Comments
Contemporary romances for when you don’t want to overthink it
Sex, Love, and Stiletto series by Lauren Layne
The Sex, Love, and Stiletto series is three books so far, and there will be a fourth. It’s about a group of four women in the infamous “Dating, Love, and Sex” department at Stiletto magazine, who are each, basically, Carrie Bradshaw, but each one has her own specialty when it comes to writing about romance. The series is fun and harmless, if not especially relevatory, romance. The sex scenes, especially in the first two books, are appropriately steamy and well-written. The books are short and can be easily devoured over the course of a few hours. They break down as […]
Share the post "Contemporary romances for when you don’t want to overthink it"
10/27/2014 's CBR6 Review No:75 | | Tags: alwaysanswerb, Contemporary Romance, lauren layne, New Adult, new york | Category: Fiction, Romance | 0 Comments
Our own worst enemy
Cibola Burn (The Expanse #4) by James S. A. Corey
SPOILERS for previous books in the Expanse series! Goodreads summary: “The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity’s home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world. Among them, the Rocinante, haunted by the vast, posthuman network of the protomolecule as they investigate what destroyed the great intergalactic society that built the gates and the protomolecule. But Holden and his crew must also contend with the growing tensions between the settlers and the company which owns the official claim to the planet. […]
10/27/2014 's CBR6 Review No:72 | | Tags: Aliens, alwaysanswerb, epic, james s.a. corey, space opera, the expanse | Category: Fiction, Science Fiction | 0 Comments