By Invitation Only by Lori Wilde, Wendy Etherington & Jillian Burns

Short, fun and sexy reads
4 Stars

A wedding between famous actress Holly Addison and Texas Tycoon J.D. Maynard on exotic Rapture Island is the celebrity event of the season. Everyone wants an invitation which is the basis for these three short stories.

Exclusively Yours by Lori Wilde
In order to get the story of the year, journalist Olivia Carmichael must fake an engagement with infuriating writer, Nick Greer. The pair have always been at odds but being in such close quarters with each other might make them change their minds.

This was a fun story with great characters. I was able to suspend belief and just enjoy the story although the editing mistakes were quite irritating. Overall a good story that I enjoyed reading!

Private Party by Wendy Etherington
Tara Lindsey wants to know why she wasn’t chosen as the caterer for the wedding of the season. So she decides to crash the party. Unfortunately for her, chief of security, Wade Cooper, catches her in the act. But who will actually end up caught?

For being a short story this was surprisingly sweet and you really felt the relationship build. I liked the characters and was happy for them together as a pair.

Secret Encounter by Jillian Burns
Dr Peyton Monahan has come to the wedding to find the elusive philanthropist she wants to fund her latest research project. What she does find is a really hot guy. Shame that Quinn Smith has been keeping some secrets of his own…

I liked this story but if I’m honest it didn’t completely entertain me. I couldn’t understand why Peyton was so angry at Quinn’s “deception” and their whole relationship was a little unbelievable. But I did still enjoy the story and the characters were likeable enough.


Overall this is a good collection of short stories all centred around a theme but without much connection other than that. They are short, fun and sexy and worth a read if you enjoy Blaze romances. 4 stars.

You Don't Know Jack by Erin McCarthy

A meandering romantic story
3 stars

Jamie Peters is fed up of looking for true love when all she finds are liars, cheats and scumbags. But she can’t help but be a little intrigued when her cross dressing psychic tells her that an accident involving food will bring her a tall, dark and sexy man who is her soul mate.

And then it happens. Jack is the kind of man Jamie has been searching for her whole life – smart, sexy, normal and best of all, honest. But what Jack’s not telling her is that he is really her roommate’s brother, he’s investigating her for fraud and he’s actually a millionaire. But soon the pair are in too deep and the lies just keep piling up. Will they be able to make it work or is destiny ready to be proven wrong?


This book has been sitting on my 'to be read' pile for a long time so by the time I got round to it I was really looking forward to reading it. For some reason, it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

The first part of the book focuses solely on Jamie and Jack as they meet and then get naked. I’m all for sexiness is a story but the long, drawn out foreplay and initial sex scene got pretty tiresome after a while, especially since it drew on for chapter after chapter.

The rest of the book is basically about Jack trying to redeem himself for the lies that he has told. When we got to this bit the book definitely picked up and I enjoyed Jack’s cute little conversations with Jamie as he tried to win her back.

The whole book then took on this fashion of really slow bits punctuated by the more interesting so it did feel a bit disjointed. The story was okay but I did feel Jamie was a little immature and Jack was a little bit wet at times. I just wanted him to get a bit more spark and take charge of what he wanted.

Other than that this was a nice enough story that was okay for a meandering read. I wouldn’t recommend you rush out and buy it but if you’re a fan of Erin McCarthy then it’s probably worth a look. 3 stars.

3 Brides for 3 Bad Boys by Lucy Monroe

Readable and inoffensive set of stories
3 stars

This is a set of three stories about three brothers and the women that finally manage to tame them.

Rand
Rand Alexander always has a gorgeous woman on his arm but since his wife died 6 years ago, he’s never again given away his heart. Innocent Phoebe Garrison has always felt like the unnoticed wallflower on the edge of Rand’s life but now she has a plan – the deed for the property his company needs in exchange for a week in her bed.

This was an okay story but Rand never really came out of his shell and remained from beginning to end a little bit of an enigma. I also didn’t really like the fact that Phoebe was the ex-fiancée of Rand’s brother – it just made her seem a little fickle.


Carter
Carter Sloane needs a bride quickly to ensure he fulfils the terms of his late father’s will and he has just the girl in mind. Daisy Jackson works for his company and has always had a little crush on her boss but she is more than stunned when suddenly he’s proposing marriage. But does he want a bride of convenience or a wife in truth?

This was a sweet little story and would have worked well if the author hadn’t tried to convince the readers that this was rational behaviour and something that would happen in everyday life. That, for me, meant I couldn’t really enjoy it for a fun little escape from reality that it should have been.


Colton
When straight-laced Colton Denning wakes up in Vegas next to a showgirl after a scorching night of passion he’s shocked and high tails it out of town. When the lovely lady in question, Fayre Cranston, turns up in Mexico where he’s working, Colton is quite keen to pick up where they left off. Until he discovers that she’s his wife.

Again, a fairly standard story that suffers largely due to its short length. It’s not hugely believable and for some reason I had huge issues with the name ‘Fayre’ although both she and Colton were reasonable enough characters if nothing overly exceptional.


Overall, if you have this book then it’s worth a read but certainly not one that I would recommend you rush out and buy. As with many short stories, these suffer a lack of character development and believability due to the story length. They are readable, a little sexy and inoffensive. 3 stars.

Making A Splash by Joanne Rock

Fairly sub-standard Blaze romance
2 stars

Alicia LeBlanc is ready to set sail for her new life running a B&B in Maine. She’s hitching a lift on a friend’s catamaran to take her to her destination. But she must be dreaming because once the boat reaches open sea she realises that her still delectable ex has stowed away on the boat along with her.

Although it was a mistake ending up in Alicia’s bed after all these years, Navy Lieutenant Jack Murphy isn’t one to let an opportunity pass him by. But as their chemistry heats up on the water, will it all fizzle out when they reach dry land?


I’ve always enjoyed a ‘second chance at love’ story and I was excited by the premise of this one as the pair would be stranded together and have to deal with each other and their feelings. Unfortunately, the book just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Alicia was a likeable enough character but, to tell the truth, she came across as a little bland. Jack, surprisingly, didn’t do much for me either. I think the problem was that Jack’s initial reasons for dumping Alicia and joining the Navy seemed a little flimsy and weak. After that, I couldn’t help but feel that every complaint that Alicia had about him (being too controlling etc) was actually true. And since Jack had thought Alicia too young previously, I think she was written as quite bland to ensure she didn’t come across as too immature.

Another surprising complaint about the book was that there was too much sex! Being a Blaze book you’re obviously going to get a hot and sexy read and that’s what I want but it just got a little boring in this particular book. It was as if there wasn’t enough plot so a sex scene was thrown in to try and make it more interesting.

I just couldn’t get into this book, unfortunately. I kept picking it up and planning to read it but I could only manage a few pages each time before I got bored. So it’s not one I would recommend and only 2 stars from me.

Fool For Love by Eloisa James

Not particularly exciting
3 stars

Lady Henrietta Maclellan has always dreamt of having a London season and falling in love with and marrying the perfect man. However Henrietta cannot have children and so she contents herself with living in the country and resigns herself to a life of spinsterhood.

But then Simon Darby arrives in her sleepy little town and makes Henrietta long for stolen kisses, whispered words of longing and illicitly dangerous love notes. Soon the pair are inadvertently causing a scandal and although neither had planned it, each may be exactly what the other needs.


This had all the elements for the perfect story: an arrogant lord who is brought down by the love of a woman who is so far from what he expected yet perfect for him in every way. I so wanted to love this book but it really missed the mark for me.

I liked the premise of the story and at first I liked and was rooting for both Henrietta and Simon as they seemed to play off each other well. However it wasn’t long before my liking for both Simon and Henrietta took a turn for the worse. Simon was described as an elegantly perfect man who wore an astonishingly large amount of lace over his clothing including his red velvet suits. Despite the reason for the lace being explained away, the image of a man, any man, in a red velvet suit does not tend to make me giddy with lust! I could also understand Henrietta and was sympathetic to her plight however when she schemed to trap Simon into marriage simply to suit her selfish wants I really questioned her as leading lady material.

As well as the main story there was the story of Esme and her baby which, despite taking up a fair number of pages, was never resolved by the end of the book. There was also mutterings of Simon’s best friends Rees and his estranged wife and talk of a married Duchess who seemed to have been previously engaged to one of the other characters within the book. I now realise that this book is part of a series after Duchess in Love and before A Wild Pursuit and Your Wicked Ways although if I’m honest this book did little to make me want to read the rest.

Finally, the number of modern Americanisms in this book was truly appalling – babies 'spitting up' and people telling others to 'give over' were just two of the more memorable that had me shaking my head in annoyance. Then you have to add in the surprisingly frequent amount of spelling and grammar mistakes littered throughout the text as well as some baffling instances of repeated words.

I’ve read and very much enjoyed Eloisa James before but I would only recommend this book to avid fans or those reading The Duchess Quartet in order. It’s not truly terrible but it just didn’t grab or hold my attention to any degree. 3 stars.

The Seduction of Scandal by Cathy Maxwell

Romance full of intrigue and deception
4 stars

Daughter of a duke, Lady Corinne, refuses to marry Lord Freddie Sherwin. He may be the catch of the season but he’s also a pig and Corinne only wants to marry a man she can love. So rather than face a life of misery she runs away. Only to find herself in the arms of notorious highwayman, Thorn.

Thorn is involved in a dangerous game – his identity is a mystery, his life a secret. Until Lady Corinne tumbles into his arms and turns his world upside down. If he wants her silence he must hide her until after her wedding day passes. But when passion flares it might be the most dangerous thing either has faced before or perhaps the start of a lifetime of adventure.


This is the fifth book in Maxwell’s Scandals and Seductions series after A Seduction at Christmas, The Earl Claims His Wife, The Marriage Ring and His Christmas Pleasure. Corinne briefly featured in the last book but apart from that the books stand very much alone and in this one at least, there are no appearances by the main characters from previous books.

From start to finish I really loved this book. It is full of intrigue and romance all the while maintaining the lightness that put me in mind of The Scarlet Pimpernel. However, the real highlight of the book for me had to be Thorn. When we first are introduced to him I was intrigued as to how he would fare as a romantic lead but he turns out to be a brooding, tortured and lonely man who desperately needs the love of a good woman. I liked Corinne too and together the pair had good chemistry. The writing was sharp and this is the kind of story you’re desperate to pick up again if you can manage to put it down in the first place.

My one negative about the book was the sheer number of typos. It drove me mad to see duplicated words, spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes on top of the smattering of Americanisms dotted throughout the book. I realise that this isn’t necessarily the fault of the author so it’s a shame that it affected my feelings about a book whose characters and storyline I otherwise very much enjoyed.

Having said that, if you like regency romances that you can get lost in and really root for the characters then I would very much recommend this book to you despite its faults. 4 stars.

For Love or Legacy by Ruth Cardello

Enjoyable second part of the trilogy
4 stars

Nicole Corisi will do anything to break the terms of her tyrannical late father’s will – even if it means pairing up with ruthless businessman Stephan Andrade to do it. But not only is Stephan her estranged brother’s rival but he’s also the man Nicole could never forget.

Stephan is one step away from ruining Dominic Corisi and taking back the legacy that was stolen from him years before. When Nicole walks back into his life he realises he can put a new spin on his revenge until he realises he might have to choose between reclaiming his legacy and the love he has found.


This is the second in the Legacy Trilogy after Maid for the Billionaire and before Bedding the Billionaire. You probably could read them on their own but it’s so much better if you read them in order so you know who’s who in the supporting characters and situations.

Although looking forward to this book I was wondering whether I would identify with Nicole as she seemed a bit snippy in the first book. I was glad to be proven wrong as she instantly came across as a real woman who had insecurities but a real strength about her. She was fun and likeable and a great foil for the delicious and broody Stephan. The pair also had good chemistry although I would have liked to see a little more action between the pair in the earlier stages!

The storyline was interesting and I was always keen to pick up the book and continue where I’d left off. The writing flowed and the style was very readable. The book also nicely set up Jake and Lil’s story which I’m very much looking forward to. And I have to make mention of the second last line of the book which I thought was so sweet and made me swoon!

Like with Maid for the Billionaire, I feel that this author shows exactly how Mills and Boon Modern/Harlequin Desire books should be written. Men who are powerful without being too arrogant and women that are strong enough to tame them. I am really enjoying Ruth Cardello’s books and would recommend you give her a try. 4 stars.