Carina Conte has had a crush on her
brother’s best friend and her own childhood friend Max Gray since she
was a teenage girl. After suffering an embarrassing night, Carina
runs off to earn her MBA degree leaving Max and her feelings for him
behind. When she returns to work at her brother Michael’s new bakery,
she is still treated by everyone in her family, including Max as if
she’s a child. Carina has a warm heart and isn’t really fit to take
over her brother empire in the long run, as she let’s things slide
with employees more easily then Max does. Max cannot ignore the fact
that the girl who practical grew up with is now a woman sporting very
womanly curves. Thought even Max has a hard time treating her as a
grown up. In his mind he still remembers the emotional teenager she
use to be, that would cry.

Carina has her own goal now in the
states, she want’s to be like an American woman and is tired of being
treated like a child. When she sees Max, the unmistakable attraction
has her ending up in his arms over and over again, but never crossing
the boundary. When the two are forced to go on a trip to Las Vega’s
together on a conference, she manages to talk Max into a one night
stand. An evening that was suppose to rid both of them of the sexual
tension between them. Too bad her mother arrives the next day and
demands marriage if Max wanted to save his and his families honor.

I truly enjoyed this book, and I have
to say I almost feel bad for missing out on the first two. But
reading this one has given me the drive to try the other two as well,
starting with book one since it appears it would make more sense with
the revisiting characters. The attraction between Max and Carina
sparks fast throughout the book. I love their characters a lot, and I
really did like Max. My heart broke for him learning about his past
and why he had a hard time finding himself a good man for any woman,
especially Carina. I thought her brother Michael and her mother were
very annoying. Forcing her into marriage like that was ridicules,
just because she had she had a one night stand. Thought later one
when she explained why she did it, it made me smile.

The first half of the book was about
Carina wanting people to look at her as something other then a child.
She was a grown woman and she had her needs. Of course she wanted
those needs to be taken cared of by Max himself.

The second half dealt with the almost
forced marriage and the hardship they had to endure being thrown into
it like that. I was expecting something more then a plain Vegas
marriage, but it wasn’t really expended one.

Both Max and Carina were very likeable
characters, and the story took me on a roller-coaster ride,
especially when I found out why Carina had left – it nearly broke
my heart. Beautiful and sexy story, with amazing writing and
wonderful character. I cannot wait to back track and read more.

                                                          

Published
September 11th 2012
by Entangled Select  

Amazon | The Book Depository

Mature Content Advisory, must be 18+

Summary from Goodreads

   

Fleeing with only her
bow, horse, enormous pet wolf, and the cryptic clues hidden in her
mother’s medicine journal, healer Meg Boswell gallops north towards
freedom, running from the man who falsely accused her mother of
witchcraft. Cursed with magical healing abilities, Meg knows that if
she’s captured, she will die like her mother—atop a blazing witch’s
pyre.

Winter winds rip across the Highlands, pressing Chief
Caden Macbain forward in his desperate plan to save his clan. He’s not
above using an innocent woman to bargain for peace if it keeps his clan
from starving. But Meg isn’t who Caden thinks she is, and when she kills
a man to save the clan, he must choose between duty and her life. For
although he captured her to force a peace, Meg’s strength and courage
have captured Caden’s heart. 

Review

Courtesy of Entangled
Publishing, LLV through NetGalley in exchange of an
honest review.

Meg Boswell knows that just like her mother, there is something
different about her. Cursed with healing abilities she is on the run
from her father Boswell in hopes to escape accusations of being a
witch and dreading the same terrible death as her mother, burned in
the witches fyre. With her she carried her mothers journal with clues
that might hand her the salvation she is seeking away from Boswell.

Chief Caden Macbain in a desperate attempt to save his clan from the
Munro’s in hopes to bring in peace between the two over centuries old
feud, is on a mission. Unfortunately that mission revolves around
kidnapping Meg Boswell, a niece to the Munro and his wife, in
exchange of that peace.

I really enjoyed this book. First, I
loved the fact that she had a wolf pet named Nickum who is always
lurking in the shadows protecting her. I thought that really added to
character development. Second, Meg is a character that was easy to
like. She is very ambitious, and she kind of grows into her own
person by the end of the story. I love her character, she had a very
gentle kind of soul but it was filled with fire by the end of the
book as she grew under Caden’s protection.

Caden Macbain is irresistible and he
has a hard time resisting the woman that stumbled into his life. He
thought his mission was going to be hard, but when she ends up
stumbling into his clan while running away – it’s hard to keep his
mind off the woman who thinks she is a welcome visitor to the clan.
As it turns out, Meg brings her own share of problems.

The book was interesting and I thought
it was well written. I have to admit it was probably my second
highlander book ever, but oh my did I enjoy it. It was easy to read,
easy to follow, and it had so much stuff going on that it kept you
well engaged. Everything flowed so smoothly. The chemistry between
Caden and Meg sparked, and there were even times that I felt a little
sorry for the both of them. Kept me reading and on the edge of the
seat in the very end. A perfect combination of romance and fantasy,
with a lace of lovable characters and a hard to resist alpha-male.

Published
July 9th 2012
by Loveswept (first published July 2012) 

Loveswept Contemporary Romance, 300 pages

Series:  Star Harbor

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Source:

Courtesy of Random House Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Summary from Goodreads
  

Courtesy of Random House Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Deep Autumn Heat is the first book in the Star Harbor series which revolves around the Grayson brother’s and I must say, Sebastian Grayson is simply love. His a star chef that owns his own restaurant Helena in New York City and when he ends up in Lexie’s cafe, he steams her world.

The chemistry between the two cracks and pops out of the book. The attraction between them feeds and stems out of the fact that the two are both chefs and have a low for cooking and food in common. We get introduced to a small town, where characters come to life, making this book very well rounded.  Where everyone knows everyone’s business, the book really generates a great small town feel. The Grayson brothers are very likeable, and their personalities are different. Sebastian’s personality really shines. His a bad boy chef, who learns throughout the book how to get reacquainted with his love for cooking again and Lexie Meyers is just a girl to do it.

The pull between them has you wanting more, the attraction undeniable. The story is a mix of suspense and romance as Lexie Meyers is in town harboring her own secrets. After receiving nasty threats on the back door of her little dinner, she invests the help of Cole Grayson the local police chief for help, and Sebastian has a hard time staying away from the woman that pulls to him like a magnet. Of course Sebastian Grayson really knows hot to generate heat, leaving Lexie Meyer’s unable to draw away from everything it promises. I really enjoyed the beginning of the series, especially Sebastian and his story. Thus far he is one of my favorite  character’s in the series and it was almost a shame when the book ended. It left me wanting more. It kept me on the edge of my seat with the pages turning.

A glorious delight, a sinfully delicious page turning masterpiece. Anna Campbell’s craft of brilliance has created an endearing romance novel with characters that practically dance out of the pages. The emotions feel so raw and real that it left me feeling and hurting for the characters. Sidonie Forsythe a young woman who agreed to repay her sisters debt had me drawn to her from the first introduction.
The relationship and temptation between Sidonie and Jones make the pages burn with their desire, a read that felt almost impossible to put them drawing you back over and over again like the pull of lust between the two characters.

I loved Anna Campbell’s writing, the emotions she bought out felt so real. It made me happy and ache for their torture. A little gem I was happy to discover and cannot wait for more from this amazing author.