Review | Loreth Anne White - The Slow Burn of Silence

 

An ex-con, wrongfully convicted of a heinous crime, returns to a small mountain town determined to prove his innocence, reclaim the heart of the woman who helped put him behind bars, and win back the right to meet the daughter he learned about in prison. But his arrival stirs up dark secrets and re-ignites a fierce and consuming passion that just might get the woman he loves, and his child, killed.

Nine years ago Rachel Salonen and Jeb Cullen were soul mates--deeply, irrevocably in love. Until the night two young women went missing from a party in the woods. One was found raped, beaten and pregnant with no memory of what happened. The other is still missing. A small mountain community was torn apart and a young relationship shattered when nineteen-year-old Jeb was arrested for the heinous crime, and Rachel was forced to help put the man she loved behind bars. Now, nine years later, Rachel believes she's finally put the past to rest when her sister dies suddenly in a fire and she's made guardian of her adopted niece. A child, she learns, who was conceived that terrible night of violence, a child whose DNA was used to convict Jeb. And when Jeb is unexpectedly released from max security, Rachel sees that the past has only just begun... ... Because Jeb has come straight home to Snowy Creek. To prove his innocence, reclaim his life, his home. And to meet the daughter he learned about in prison. A daughter Rachel will do anything to protect. And when the town turns violently on Jeb, Rachel will once again be forced to take sides. This time she chooses with her heart. But her decision could cost everything she holds dear--including her niece's life. Because someone in town will do anything to keep the truth buried...even kill.

~*~

Review | Veronica Larsen - Entangle

 

It begins small.
His smoky blue eyes strike hers until the air between them flickers.
Her whispered suggestion blows the spark into a flame.
A guarded heart. A relentless pursuit.
An insatiable chemistry that yields to a torrid affair.

Alexis Stone
I tried to do things the right way. I wore the big white dress and rode off with Prince Charming. Then Charming changed his mind. Some people rush to fill the holes left by their past, but I stripped my life bare. Right down to the essentials: Me, myself, and I. Now I'm thriving, running a successful company and I'm sure I've got everything I want. Enter Leo, a gorgeous, blue-eyed specimen of a man, who walks into my company and introduces me to a level of attraction that is inescapable, undeniable, and utterly consuming. I have two choices, I can either edge around the intense chemistry between us or plunge right through it until there's nothing left. I'm done playing by the rules, but nothing can prepare me for what's on the other side.

Shorties | Heather Lyons - The Deep End of the Sea

 

What if all the legends you’ve learned were wrong?

Brutally attacked by one god and unfairly cursed by another she faithfully served, Medusa has spent the last two thousand years living out her punishment on an enchanted isle in the Aegean Sea. A far cry from the monster legends depict, she’s spent her time educating herself, gardening, and desperately trying to frighten away adventure seekers who occasionally end up, much to her dismay, as statues when they manage to catch her off guard. As time marches on without her, Medusa wishes for nothing more than to be given a second chance at a life stolen away at far too young an age.

But then comes a day when Hermes, one of the few friends she still has and the only deity she trusts, petitions the rest of the gods and goddesses to reverse the curse. Thus begins a journey toward healing and redemption, of reclaiming a life after tragedy, and of just how powerful friendship and love can be - because sometimes, you have to sink in the deep end of the sea before you can rise back up again.

Review | Mia Sheridan - Die geheime Sprache der Liebe

Piper | das Buch auf Piper | hier kaufen

Als Bree in der verschlafenen Kleinstadt Pelion ein Häuschen am See mietet, hofft sie, hier endlich die Ruhe zu finden, die sie so verzweifelt sucht. Dann trifft sie Archer Hale – einen jungen Mann, von dem die anderen Bewohner nur wissen, dass er zurückgezogen auf seinem Familienanwesen lebt und dass er bei einem Autounfall in der Kindheit sein Gehör und seine Stimme verloren haben soll. Doch als Bree sich bei einem Ausflug auf sein Grundstück verirrt und sich nervös stotternd dafür entschuldigt, antwortet er ihr …

Review | Bethany Lopez - 8 Weeks

Is eight weeks enough time to earn back the love of someone you've betrayed...the only one you've ever loved?

Shelly has been in love with Cal since they started dating in eleventh grade. Despite everyone saying that the odds were against them, they got married after graduation and built a life together. Now, six years later, she is faced with the ultimate betrayal. Devastated, her first instinct is to call it quits…

After a drunken binge at his best friends’ bachelor party, Cal betrays the one person who has always been there for him, his wife, Shelly. Terrified and realizing she might divorce him, Cal must come up with a way to prove to her that his love is true…

Cal asks Shelly for eight weeks. Eight weeks to convince her that their marriage is worth the fight. Will Shelly be able to trust him again, or will their marriage end the way many others do when faced with opposition… In divorce?

Review | Lauren Layne - Just One Night

Riley McKenna knows sex - good sex, bad sex, kinky sex… Her articles in Stiletto magazine are consistently the publication’s most scandalous - and the most read. But Riley has a secret…all that sexy talk? Not an ounce of it comes from personal experience. Her own bedroom escapades are more limited than even her best friends know. When her editor requests that all columnists write something more personal for Stiletto’s anniversary issue, Riley turns to the one man she’s always been able to count on and calls in the favor of a lifetime.

Sam Compton would do anything for Riley McKenna. Anything except be her experimental sex toy. He refuses her request. At least until she tells him that it’ll either be him or she’ll go to someone else. And that, Sam can’t accept. Reluctantly he agrees to her terms - one night of completely meaningless sex in the name of research. Riley thinks she’s prepared for what awaits her in Sam’s bed. After ten years of writing about sex, actually doing it shouldn’t be that different, right? So wrong. What starts as “one time only” becomes “just one more time.” And then one more. And before they know it, Riley and Sam learn first-hand that when it comes to love, there’s no such thing as just one night.

Shorties | Toni Anderson - Cold Day of Light

Physicist Scarlett Stone is the daughter of the man considered to be the most notorious Russian agent in FBI history. With her father dying in prison she’s determined to prove he’s innocent, but time is running out. Using a false identity, she gains access to the Russian ambassador’s Christmas party, searching for evidence of a set-up.

Former Navy SEAL, now FBI Special Agent, Matt Lazlo, is instantly attracted to Scarlett but life is too complicated to pursue a politician’s daughter. When he discovers she lied to him about her identity, he hunts her down with the ruthless efficiency he usually reserves for serial killers.

Not only does Scarlett’s scheme fail, it puts her in the sights of powerful people who reward unwanted curiosity with brutality. The FBI - and Matt - aren’t thrilled with her, either. But as agents involved in her father’s investigation start dying, and the attempts to stop Scarlett intensify, Matt and his colleagues begin to wonder. Could they have a traitor in their midst?

As Scarlett and Matt dig for the truth they begin to fall passionately for one another. But the real spy isn’t about to let anyone uncover their secrets, and resolves to remain firmly in the shadows - and for that to happen, Matt and Scarlett have to die.

Review | J.B. Hartnett - The Morbid and Sultry Tales of Genevieve Clare

I’m a professional mourner. Caskets, drag queens and dirty old men are all in a day's work. But I'm no stranger to loss and that’s what makes me good at my job. Something is missing though and that something goes by the name of Ahren Finnegan. When faced with the idea of losing one more person from my life, I pushed him away, my one true love.
Now he’s back and this time I don’t think he’s going to take no for an answer.

Review | Zoraida Cordova - Luck on the Line

Despite her name, Lucky Pierce has always felt a little cursed. Refusing to settle for less or settle down, she changes jobs as often as she changes boyfriends. When her celebrity chef mother challenges her to finish something, Lucky agrees to help her launch Boston’s next hot restaurant, The Star. Even if it means working with the infuriating, egotistical, and undeniably sexy head chef.

James loves being known as Boston’s hottest bad boy in the kitchen, but if he wants to build a reputation as a serious chef, he has to make this restaurant work and keep his scandalous past out of the headlines. Getting involved with his boss’s spoiled, sharp-tongued daughter is definitely not on the menu.

As the launch of The Star looms and the tension and chemistry heat up in the kitchen, they’re going to need more than a little luck to keep everything from boiling over.

Review | Victoria Purman - Someone like You

When Lizzie Blake knocks on the door of Dan McSwaine’s beach house at Middle Point, she barely recognises the man who answers. Whatever happened to the guy who swaggered into her home town with a grin and left with her heart in his back pocket? Lizzie wonders if he’ll ever be that man again - and if she should risk everything she’s built her life on to help him.

Dan can’t normally bear to be more than ten minutes from a hip bar, an imported beer and a group of hot women. So what is he doing holed up in a falling down beach shack at Middle Point? All he knows is that he’s made some crazy decisions since the night a truck slammed into his car and almost killed him. The first one was to think that buying a crumbling piece of coastal real estate was a good idea. The second crazy decision was to try to hide away from the world when a woman like Lizzie Blake is determined to drag him right back into it…

Review | Toni Anderson - Cold Pursuit

Single mom Vivi Vincent is thrust into her worst nightmare when she’s trapped inside a mall during a terror attack along with her eight-year-old son. With the help of Jed Brennan, an FBI special agent on enforced leave, Vivi and her son survive the assault. But the danger is far from over.

Vivi’s son may have witnessed critical details of the terrorists’ future plans and is targeted for death, but he’s mute, and he’s traumatized. Still someone launches a strike against the FBI’s safe house, and Jed fears the bad guys have an inside man. No longer knowing who to trust, he hides mother and son in a log cabin deep in the heart of the Wisconsin Northwoods. There Jed and Vivi try to figure out how to unlock the information inside her son’s head. What they don’t bargain for is the red-hot attraction that flares between them, or the extent of the sinister plot that threatens to rip apart not only any chance of happiness they might have together, but also the very fabric of American society.

Review | Monica Murphy - Owning Violet

I’ve moved through life doing what’s expected of me. I’m the middle daughter, the dutiful daughter. The one who braved a vicious attack and survived. The one who devoted herself to her family’s business empire. The one who met an ambitious man and fell in love. We were going to run Fleur Cosmetics together, Zachary and I.

Until he got a promotion and left me in the dust. Maybe it’s for the best, between his disloyalty and his wandering eye. But another man was waiting for me. Wanting me. He too has an overwhelming thirst for success, just like Zachary—perhaps even more so. He’s also ruthless. And mysterious. I know nothing about Ryder McKay beyond that he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.

One stolen moment, a kiss, a touch . . . and I’m hooked. Ryder’s like a powerful drug, and I’m an addict who doesn’t want to be cured. He tells me his intentions aren’t pure, and I believe him. For once, I don’t care. I’m willing to risk everything just to be with him. Including my heart. My soul. My everything.

Review | B.N. Toler - The Suit

Fed up with the farm life and his one-time love of training horses, John Wilson has traded his tattered boots and jeans for power suits and cufflinks. Through hard work and determination, John has just graduated from law school and is focused on a fresh start. Refusing to let his bitter past hinder his future, John is intent on moving forward with his new life. Except there’s one last thing he has to do - settle old debts before he can truly move on. Unfortunately, settling debts involves him returning to a life he’s worked hard to forget. A mind-numbing summer working on a horse farm awaits him, and he’s dreading every damn minute of it.

Edie James is mourning the loss of her grandfather when John Wilson shows up in his perfectly tailored suit, reeking sexiness and city elegance - everything she’s not. Their meeting is less than pleasant as they both distastefully size up one another.

She thinks he’s arrogant and a white-collar yuppie.
He thinks she’s a simple, goody two-shoes farm girl.

Edie’s grandfather made a new will before he passed leaving stipulations in order for Edie to inherit the family farm. And as if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the suit has to work on the farm with her for three months to settle a debt he owed to her grandfather. And he’s moving in with her.

With a rocky start, the two seemingly polar opposites call a truce and attempt to be friends. As their unexpected friendship blooms, an attraction develops and both realize their first impression of each other is far from the truth. Now this once dreaded summer is set to be the hottest and most unforgettable they've ever had.

Review | Meghan March - Beneath this Mask

He loves me, and he doesn’t even know my real name.

The limelight that follows him could expose everything I’m hiding.

But even knowing the risks, I can’t force myself to stay away.

I’m going to break his heart, but mine will shatter right along with it.

Will we lose it all when I reveal what’s beneath this mask?

Review | Jessi Kirby - Der Soundtrack meines Lebens

Für Honor bricht eine Welt zusammen, als der wichtigste Mensch in ihrem Leben stirbt: Ihr Bruder Finn fällt in Afghanistan. Sein Geschenk zu Honors Schulabschluss trifft kurz nach der Todesnachricht ein – Konzertkarten für das Abschiedskonzert der Sängerin, die die Geschwister ein Leben lang mit ihrer Musik begleitet hat. In Finns Auto startet Honor einen Roadtrip quer durch die USA, begleitet von Rusty, Finns chaotischem besten Freund. Der Trip erweist sich als eine Achterbahnfahrt der Gefühle. Bald fliegen zwischen den beiden die Fetzen, doch je länger sie unterwegs sind, desto mehr verwandeln sich diese in Funken…

Review | Toni Anderson - A Cold Dark Place

Justice isn’t always black or white. Sometimes it’s cold and dark.
Former CIA assassin Alex Parker works for The Gateway Project, a clandestine government organization hell-bent on taking out serial killers and pedophiles before they enter the justice system. Alex doesn’t enjoy killing, but he’s damn good at it. He’s good at dodging the law, too - until a beautiful rookie agent has him wondering what it might be like to get caught.

FBI Special Agent Mallory Rooney has spent years hunting the lowlife who abducted her identical twin sister eighteen years ago. Now, during an on-going serial killer investigation, Mallory begins to suspect there’s a vigilante operating outside the law. She has no choice but to take him down, because murder isn’t justice. Is it?

When Mallory starts asking questions, The Gateway Project management starts to sweat, and orders Alex to watch her. As soon as they meet, the two begin to fall in love. But the lies and betrayals that define Alex’s life threaten to destroy them both - especially when the man who stole her sister all those years ago makes Mallory his next target, and Alex must reveal his true identity to save the woman he loves.

Review | Sandra Brown - Kalter Kuss

In einer stürmischen Mainacht wird ein 16-jähriges Mädchen in Austin brutal ermordet. Ein Mann wird verurteilt, doch seine Schuld konnte nie zweifelsfrei erwiesen werden. 18 Jahre später sorgt ein Roman über den Mordfall für Furore. Hinter dem Pseudonym der Autorin steckt Bellamy Lyston, die Schwester der damals Ermordeten. Als ein windiger Journalist die Identität der Autorin lüftet, erhält Bellamy anonyme Drohungen, und sie weiß: Der wahre Mörder ihrer Schwester ist noch auf freiem Fuß und hat nun sie im Visier…

Review | Jill Sorenson - Wild

Zookeeper Helena Fjord has a dangerous job at San Diego’s Wildlife Park. She’s got no time for nonsense, and no interest in handsome, laid-back security officer Josh Garrison. She steers clear of his silly pranks and sexy smile - until disaster strikes.

Josh has been coasting ever since his Navy SEAL dreams went up in smoke. He’s always had the hots for Helena, but the lady is off-limits. When a devastating earthquake hits, the unlikely pair must work together to secure the park’s borders. With wild animals on the loose, aftershocks imminent, and fires blazing across the city, they face serious peril—and a powerful attraction. Josh vows to protect Helena at all costs. But who will safeguard her heart?

2014 | Bilanz

© IF-Blog

Ich wünsche euch allen ein frohes neues Jahr sowie viel Gesundheit und schöne Stunden!

Zum Jahresende hin findet man fast überall Jahresstatistiken. Ich habe natürlich auch so eine Bilanz, um den Überblick über die ganzen gelesenen Bücher zu behalten und diese möchte ich euch ebenfalls nicht vorenthalten.

2014 | Top Ten

Ich bin auch in diesem Jahr meinen Lieblingsgenres Contemporary Romance/New Adult und Romantic Thrill treu geblieben und auf die Gefahr hin, dass ich mich wiederhole,  muss ich sie jetzt zum Jahresende einfach nochmals nennen: Die zehn Bücher, die mich 2014 zum Lachen, zum Weinen, zum Träumen, zum Schmelzen gebracht haben.