I don't read a lot of category books, but thought I'd post about 2 recent books I enjoyed for entirely different reasons. (This post is kinda long, so I'll do the feedback on book 2 tomorrow).
Beth Andrews - NOT WITHOUT HER FAMILY (Harlequin Super Romance). A couple of A-grade reviews had me searching this one out, and I'm glad I did. It's a fantastic read.
From the opening paragraph I knew I wasn't reading (what I thought of as) a regular Harl Category. There's a freshness in the voice of the author and in the characterization. Not to knock the incredible amount of talent it takes to put out a fully fleshed out story within the confines of category guidelines, but I won't be surprised if Ms. Andrews make the jump to Single Title in the near future.
Synopsis:It's nothing but trouble for Jack Martin, chief of police, when Kelsey Reagan blows into town. Her ex-con brother just became the prime suspect in a murder, and this "reformed" bad girl vows to prove he's innocent. She even blames herself for her brother's jail record—for her brother's convicted crime.
And now Jack's precocious young daughter is beginning to idolize Kelsey.
But an error in judgment nearly cost the widowed cop his career once; he's never going to let that happen again. Not even for a gorgeous troublemaker like Kelsey
I loved the hero and heroine, and the secondary characters felt real. The 'mystery' while not taking up too much time on the page, wasn't obvious (to me at least) in terms of who the villian was. But then again I was focused on the interactions and developing romance between the H/h. This is a pretty hot book. The sexual awareness is there from page one and there's a couple of nicely (and satisfyingly so) executed lovescenes.
Also, I'm not a huge fan of kids in romances. But the hero behaving as a 'responsible' father, and the heroine's uncomfortable reaction to 'the kid' as she refers to her (*g) are well done. A big fat recommend coming from me on this one. Last year I read Jessica Bird's Special Edition release and loved it. I love this book more. Nuff said.
There's an excerpt on the Amazon page and the book page over on eHarlequin.
4 comments:
This does sound interesting. Also not a big fan of children in romance, so if she pulled this off she must be good.
This kid wasn't a mini adult in a kid suit, or one of those too cute lisping kidlets. She had a few scenes, but those scenes were really more about the heroine who was not used to being around kids and therefore pretty uncomfortable. In the first scene, I think she kept backing up away from the hero's daughter. *g* And the hero was note perfect in terms of being a cop. Not the alpha males you usually see in Romance books, more like the cops you'll see on one of those reality/documentary type shows that look at old, infamous, cases.
And the sexual tension/two scenes were verra verra nice and hot.
Hi Vanessa! Wow, what a wonderful way to start my day - thank you so much for saying you enjoyed NWHF!
And I'm so glad Emma came across as a normal kid - not too cutesy or scene stealing *g*
I based her on my experiences with my own three kids who are far from perfect (and perhaps not even normal *g*) but still great and loads of fun :-)
Hi Beth! You wrote a really great book. Supers are not a Harl imprint I tend to check out, and yet, I've been taking a second look at these books since reading yours.
And I made sure to sign up for your newsletter so I don't miss your next release. :-)
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