Obsession (Year of Fire)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obsession (Year of Fire)

by Florencia Bonelli

Released in English: 7/23/13

 

 

I absolutely loved this very long and suspenseful book!    It is a whopping 611 pages so it has plenty of time to develop all the characters.   The main female character is Matilde, a pediatric surgeon, who is from Buenos Aires, Argentina.   She is in the airport, about to go to Paris to learn French, with her best friend and fellow doctor, Juana.  They are taking an intensive French language class to prepare for a trip to the Congo, where they plan to work as medical missionaries.   On the flight, Matilde meets Eliah Al-Saud, who is a Saudi Arabian prince with an Italian mother, who principally lives in France.   He is a great character, with many facets to his life, his past and his character. Of course, he is a very strong, very protective male who takes over the young doctor's life in a short time. He was a military pilot and now is involved in many secretive military activities.   Matilde is very beautiful, smart but vulnerable and they fall in love fast, despite their many differences.  It turns out that their families have known each other for many years, which brings complications.   One of the many things I like about this book is that even though it has the typical storyline of a not so wealthy younger woman with an older, wealthy man, they both have been married before meeting. Also, the author does a wonderful job describing the many locales in which the story takes place, including Paris, London, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and more. The story has a lot of dramatic twists and turns and plenty of steamy scenes.  The book also has a host of secondary characters to make the story interesting, including Juana, Matilde's BFF, Eliah's friend, Shiloah, who is an Israeli politician, Roy, Maltilde's husband and good friend of her father, Celine, Matilde's sister and a top European model.  Both Eliah and Matilde keep secrets from each other, that come out near the end of the story, leading to some dramatic consequences which set up the next part of the trilogy, which takes place in the Congo. The Spanish version of Obsession (Year of Fire) book came out about two years ago and the second part of the trilogy is also out in Spanish.  I looked all over for news of the Congo book being translated, but can't find it.  I hope it is translated soon. The third part is called Gaza, and I can't find it in Spanish or English, yet.  I really look forward to reading the rest of this great love story.

 

 Ms. Bonelli is from Argentina and writes her books in Spanish, so this book was translated with mostly good results.  Some of the translation is a bit off, such as Eliah refers to his mom as his "old lady."  To native English speakers, old lady commonly refers to a girlfriend, not a mother.  But, all in all, the translation is well done.   And, for the  $3.99 on Amazon, you can have many hours of reading fun!  Obsession (Year of Fire) can be bought on Amazon and from other booksellers.  It is called Caballo de Fuego in the Spanish version, which means "Horse of Fire," which refers to the type of Chinese zodiac sign he was born under and his secret name he uses at work.

 

 

FIVE STARS

 





Fear of Falling

Fear of Falling
by S. L. Jennings
Released 7/15/13

 

I was really hoping to love this book, but I didn't.  I liked it, but I didn't love it.  This novel has the potential to be so much better.  I liked the two main characters, Kami and Blaine.  She is an emotional wreck, literally running from her past. Like many of these type of books, she has a gay friend, in this case, a girl named Angel.   She also has a good male friend, Dom, who is a "man-whore," with a different girl every night.   The author could have spent a few more pages letting us get to know more about them, instead of just the superficial stuff.  And, I found the plot very predictable. More angst and plot twists would have been an improvement.  The redeeming part of the book is the love story between two damaged people, surviving their pasts together.  Kami has trouble loving anyone after a horrific childhood.  Blaine is an Alpha male, wanting to protect her, and also has demons of his own.   The blurb says this is "inspired by true events," which, of course, means, it is kinda true!

 

 

The author, S. L. Jennings, has two other books out, both of them paranormal romances as part of the series called "The Dark Light."  I hope she continues to write because she has the potential to be very good.

 

 

Fear of Falling is available on Amazon for $3.99 and is 319 pages.  It is also available elsewhere.

 

 

3 STARS

 



Forgotten Sins

 

Forgotten Sins

by Rebecca Zanetti

Released 7/2/13

 

 

This is a suspense/romance book with the focus on suspense.   The plot is fast paced and all about danger to the heroine, Josie.   She is in constant danger, brought upon by her relationship with her husband, Shane.   She married Shane without knowing him well, then after two months of marriage, he disappears, only to reappear in her new hometown, injured and with amnesia two years later.  As I wrote that, I could not help but notice how unrealistic it sounds. So, yes, much of it you have to suspend disbelief, but once you do that, the writing style is well done and the characters very likable.  Josie was raised in the foster system, which is a frequently used storyline in romance novels, but Shane's story is a new twist on this, in that he was raised as basically a military medical experiment, without parents.  He craves the love of a good woman, having never had that in his youth.  He finds that in Josie.  I also liked the relationship with his brothers and the family loyalty they show despite their troubles.   This is the first book of a series, which I assume will be about his brothers. All of the brothers are very much Alpha males and Shane is very possessive/protective of Josie, in an endearing way.  Some of the plot was rather predictable, but there were plenty of twists and turns to keep this book exciting.  If you like suspense/romance, you will like this novel.

 

Forgotten Sins can be found on Amazon and other booksellers.  I bought it for $2.99 and it is rather lengthy for this sort of book at 384 pages.  (One of my pet peeves are the very short, yet priced the same as full length books being published now.  Like many of you, I am a very quick reader and some of the books only take me a few hours to read. This was NOT one of those!)

 

 

4 STARS







 





All He Wants



I absolutely loved this book!  It was a keep me up at night sort of read!  Dominic Knight, the hero, is a wealthy, handsome billionaire who meets Kate just as she graduates from college...remind anyone of another very popular series?  Definitely sounds like 50 Shades of Grey, but the story departs rapidly from that book, in that Kate is a lot stronger character.  She is whip smart and fights her attraction to Dominic the whole book, as she knows he is troubled and into lots of kinky sex stuff she is not used to.   The steam in this book is very hot, and well written!  Also, I liked the descriptions of the many exotic locales that Dominic and Kate visit such as Amsterdam's red light district and the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong.  Plus, I love that Dominic, the strong Alpha male, shows a tender side when he is with Kate, that he is not sure of how to deal with.  Isn't that true of many of us when in love?  But, the story leaves a lot of questions unanswered...so I am looking for the next installment, which is not scheduled to be released until Dec. 17, 2013. And, there will be a further installment to complete the trilogy at an undetermined date. The little taste of Part II, All He Needs, included at the end of this book, is intriguing!

All in all, a very quick but intriguing read well worth the $4.99 I paid to Amazon!  All He Wants can be found there and other booksellers.  C. C. Gibbs is the pen name for bestselling author, Susan Johnson. 

 

5 STARS

 



Eternally North

 

 

Eternally North

by Tillie Cole

Released: 5/5/13

 

 

I loved this book, but not at first!  The book starts out with the story for Natasha's betrayal by her boyfriend in one of the most hilariously written "caught in the act" situations I have read, but the witty quips seemed to be all there was to it until you get about a third of the way in. After seeing her boyfriend with another, Tash, as she is called by most of her family and friends, goes to seek consolation with her best friend, Tink, short for Tinkerbell, since he is an outrageously naughty gay man.  They end up randomly choosing to move from their small town in England to Calgary, Canada, where Tash becomes a teacher to rich kids.  One of her students' brothers is a very famous, very large, tattooed movie star named Tudor North.  When they meet in the back room of a restaurant, another hilarious scene unfolds including Tash doing a "slut drop" dance scene, without realizing she has an audience.   One of the many things I like about the book is that they do not instantly fall in love, but instead, slowly build up to it. As the story progresses, you learn that both Tash and Tudor have deep secrets and hurtful pasts.  The way the work through them is a great read, with lots of wit and funny one-liners!  Tink steals the show many times with his antics.  It is definitely a fun book!

 

When I bought this novel, it was only $2.99 on Amazon and well worth the price.  This is Tille Cole's first effort and I hope she writes many more, including the second part of this series.



Eternally North can be found on Amazon and other booksellers.

 

5 STARS

 



 

 

 

 

 



 





Stardust

 

 

Stardust

by Mimi Strong

Released 6/22/13

 

 

This is a funny, enjoyable, light read, especially the antics of the main female character, Peaches.  She is a self proclaimed fat girl, living in a small town, who has a TV star, Dalton Deangelo, literally run into her while he is in town filming a movie.  This plot line is used in many other books, including Love Unscripted by Tina Reber, which is one of my favorite recently released romance books. Stardust differs in that it has lots of funny one-liners from Peaches,  such as when a pesky reporter comes into the bookstore where she works looking for Dalton, Peaches says, " The novels probably have too many words for you, but we do have some nice coffee table books."  Overall, unlike Love Unscripted, this book has the famous man wanting to go to a wedding with the heroine right away, on the first night they meet, which I found to be a bit much.  Really, even non-famous men don't want to go meet a girls' family at a wedding when they first met.   The story continues with dates, steamy sex scenes, one-liners, and such until it comes to a very dramatic cliff hanger that I totally did not expect.

All in all, I found it an amusing book and I recommend it if you are looking for something light to read while at the beach or on vacation this summer.  It is relatively short at 236 pages.

 

Stardust can be found on Amazon and other places.  When I bought it, the cost was $3.99.

 

4 STARS

 

 

 

 



Shine not Burn

 

Shine Not Burn

by Elle Casey

Released 6/8/13

Shine Not Burn is a good, romantic book.  For the most part, it is a light read.  It starts out with the heroine, Andie, going to Las Vegas with her two bestfriends and getting very wild.  Andie is a very uptight Florida attorney who has followed a "lifeplan" for years that leaves no time for fun or spontaniety. In Vegas she meets Gavin MacKenzie, a sexy cowboy who goes by Mack.  He is from a small town in Oregon and gorgeous.   They have a night of uninhibited passion, and end up getting married by Elvis.   Then comes the part of the plot I find hard to believe--they both go back to their friends and lose contact for two years until they finally find their HEA.  

Several secondary characters round out the book, including Mack's family, especially his mom, Maeve, who has a quiet strength and love for her family.   Almost stealing the show is Andie's best friend, a hairdresser named Candice.She quotes medical advice she heard on the TV show, Southpark.  She encourages Andie to live life and let go of all her fears.  She is the funny, best friend every girl needs to have!

There are enough steamy scenes to make this book fun but not so much that there is no plot, like some romance novels.  

When I bought this book on Amazon, it was only 99 cents, which makes it a bargain. In the back of the book, there is a sneak peek of the author's next book, By Degrees, that looked good.  Elle Casey has written lots of other books, but they are mostly for teens. 

 

4 STARS

Shine Not Burn on Amazon