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Showing posts with label Stephanie Rowe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephanie Rowe. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Review: Hold Me if You Can
Hold Me If You Can
Author: Stephanie Rowe
Release Date: Jan. 1, 2012
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Soulfire Series #3
ISBN: #978-1402241970
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format(s): Paperback (384 pgs), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book:
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Escaping Hell was the easy part...
Nigel Aquarian has escaped with his life, and with his inner demons. He needs beautiful Natalie Fleming, the woman he’s admired from afar for years, to soothe his turmoil…if only she wasn’t consumed with her own problems…
Staying out is going to be the real challenge…
Ever since her brush with death, all Natalie wants is to run her famous chocolate shop and be left alone. But the only way she can kick-start her powers is by giving free rein to her sensual side, which Nigel is more than happy to help her explore…
With Nigel making quite a convincing case for losing control, Natalie is finding the temptation darn near irresistible…
What B is talking about:
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Natalie Fleming is ready for a fresh start. She’s the only Sweet to ever survive a deedub (“demonic leprechauns of hostile origin”) bite, she has three days to get her chocolate shop ready for inspection, and the temporary restraining order against the creatures that attacked her is supposed to keep her safe. As a Mystic, as well as a Sweet, her sole desire is to create magick male mojo-increasing chocolate treats to help restore hope to the impotent. Unfortunately, her power of suggestion is on the fritz just now.
As a healer and an artist, Nigel Aquarian has dedicated himself to saving every warrior under his care, while finding lasting inner peace, and escape from his internal demons, for himself. But when the new leader of the Den of Womanly Pursuits uses Nigel’s gift of art, his only source of calm and healing energy, to kidnap one of his friends and threaten another, he needs help to get himself under control. The kind of help only Natalie can provide.
Unlike the first two novels in this series, Hold Me If You Can is a little bit more serious in places and adds more levels to the already busy list of conflicts Rowe has woven into her story. While this unpredictability works well to keep the pace of the novel quick and fun, I had mixed feelings about it here as the hopelessness of the two main characters continued to build. I found myself extremely eager for them to have some sort of respite. Still, as the story progressed, then drew to a close, I happily ignored everyone and everything around me, furiously going through the pages, unable to put the book down until the very end.
One of the best things about every book in this series so far is Rowe’s unapologetic infusion of humor into otherwise desperate situations. Hold Me If You Can follows in this tradition beautifully. Clever, snarky lines like, “Ah, it was always unfortunate when someone else had a valid point,” and, “Nigel. Chocolate. Nigel. Chocolate. What should she choose?” are scattered throughout the novel, practically waiting to ambush unsuspecting readers.
Although Hold Me If You Can could be read as a standalone, I highly recommend reading this series from the beginning. Rowe doesn’t spare her conflicted heroes anything, and the backstory definitely adds to the overall understanding of her characters.
The Soulfire series is one of the most unique I’ve read yet, and although it seems to have more conflicts and internal turmoil, Hold Me If You Can handily continues in that tradition. Rowe writes some of the most confused heroes I’ve ever seen, and some of the most beleaguered heroines, but she somehow makes it all work out in the end, with plenty of laughs along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed this addition and can’t wait to find out what delightful torture awaits the next hero.
B’s Rating:
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Enjoyed - strongly recommend (A-)
Labels:
4 stars,
Bs-review,
paranormal romance,
Soulfire Series,
Sourcebooks,
Stephanie Rowe
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comments
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Review: Touch If You Dare
Touch If You Dare
Author: Stephanie RoweRelease Date: July 1, 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Soulfire Series Book 2
ISBN: #978-1402241963
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format(s): Paperback (416 pgs), ebook
I received a copy of this book from the PUBLISHER for the purposes of an honest review.
From the author’s website:
To save their respective siblings, Jarvis Swain and Reina Knight will have to team up to trick Death himself.
Who better than a bad-ass warrior on a mission? Jarvis Swain is the ruthless, confident aggressor Reina knows she needs at her back--someone even she can't screw up. This unlikely darkside duo with impressive deadly superpowers of their own may just prove that two wrongs together can be more than right...
What B is talking about:
Jarvis Swain has only been free of the torturous clutches of the evil black witch Angelica for three weeks, but he still can’t find the time to enjoy it. It’s not enough that there are still other warriors to rescue, a coven of peace-loving vampires in need of his assistance, and his missing brother to find, but the deadly burden he’s carried since birth is about to get ugly, and if it does, the world stands no chance of survival.
Reina Fleming has her own set of problems to solve, the biggest of which is stopping the inevitable death of her sister. As one of Death’s guides, who’s up for a promotion to Reaper status, you’d think she had some influence in the matter. If only she could bear seeing any other creature in pain. But, she can’t. Someone as ruthless as the Guardian of Hate should be able to help her connect with her inner killer, right? If only things were that easy.
I’m so pleased that I was able to read and review the second novel in this series! The first, Kiss At Your Own Risk (review HERE), was sweet, kooky fun, and I believe Touch If You Dare has officially made it a tradition. Rowe has a talent for making what should be completely horrific spew-your-drink funny instead.
No cliché is safe in Rowe’s capable hands. First, there’s a group of vampires who refuse to bite (unless, of course, the couple are married first—morals please, people!) much less kill. Then, we have the Sisterhood of the FairyTale Hero, a society of women who consider any man who isn’t a complete lout, but whom they can then convert to worthiness by love, natch, beneath their consideration. Add in one Cupid looking for a career change, and a Grim Reaper who’s having trouble with his false eyelashes, and you’ve got one of the funniest debacles I’ve had the pleasure to read in a long time.
Rowe not only skewers familiar themes, but gleefully tears them to shreds, like ripping petals off a flower when a bad day is no longer worth the effort. The chapter summaries for Touch If You Dare should read: “Healing with Hate,” and “Loving You to Death—For Real!” One of my favorite quotes is, “He’s dying because of love…Give him some hate and a reason to live.”
There are plenty of steamy scenes in the novel, as well. Jarvis and Reina don’t do a very good job of denying the sexual need they have for each other, and that’s a good thing. Most of these scenes are based on desperation of some kind or other, but Rowe deftly gives each one its own, unique brand of desperate, making every one sweeter than the last.
Touch If You Dare is a disturbingly charming novel that encourages readers to look on the bright side of the disaster about to unfold and enjoy the show. Reina and Jarvis are stubborn, funny, and sweet, and even though a happy ending was almost guaranteed, I was still laughing and cheering them on the whole way. Rowe has made this second in the Soulfire Series just as good as, if not better than, the first. It was a fun and easy read, which I very much enjoyed, and I’m very excited to see where she takes the warriors next.
My Rating:
Loved it – enthusiastically recommend (A)
Friday, December 31, 2010
Review: Kiss at Your Own Risk
Kiss at Your Own RiskAuthor: Stephanie Rowe
Release Date: January, 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Soulfire series, Book 1
ISBN: #9781402241956
ISBN: #9781402241956
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format(s): Paperback, ebook
I received a copy of this book from the PUBLISHER for the purposes of an honest review.
From the author’s website:
He needed a killer woman...
Blaine Underhill is one lucky man after having recently escaped a century and a half of imprisonment at the hands of an evil witch. Now he’s determined to save his still-enslaved friend, but in order to do so, he’ll need the help of one of the world’s most lethal women.
She was drop dead gorgeous, literally...
Trinity Harpswell is sick and tired of being a Black Widow. Having managed to go three years without accidentally killing anyone she loves, she’s one short week away from freeing herself from this killer curse forever. When Blaine tracks her down and convinces her to help him, little does Trinity know that the next seven days are going to be murder!
What B is talking about:
Trinity Harpswell is a recovering Black Widow, or is trying very hard to be. Whenever she develops feelings for a man, her inner spider is triggered and she is compelled to kill him. Now, she’s seven days away from ending her curse forever. No more intentionally dating the most repulsive men she can find, no more making herself look as awful as she feels, no more “Oops, guess what I just did again” relocations for her family…just a normal life. Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple for Trinity.
Blaine Underhill has just escaped over a century of torturous captivity at the hands of the powerful Black Witch, Angelica. When one of his friends is betrayed and recaptured during their getaway, however, he becomes determined to find a way to rescue him and kill the witch once and for all. His plan only has a few flaws, namely that she can’t be killed, and any rescue attempt will only land Blaine and his friends right back where they started. Only one kind of being is guaranteed to be able to kill anything, and Blaine needs one fast: a Black Widow.
Sometimes the best books are the ones that make you laugh when you’re not at all prepared for it. Kiss at Your Own Risk, the first in Rowe’s new Soulfire series, definitely falls into that category. If this book wasn’t as much fun to write as it was to read, Rowe pulls an excellent bluff. Too much alpha in your alpha-male? Give him some disturbingly keen domestic skills. Having trouble finding a name for your monster? Make one up, like “Schnoodemgon.”
Blaine and Trinity are an impossible perfect pair, but they handle their respective burdens with hilarious resignation and considerable sarcasm. They are distrustful of hope, and cynical enough to always expect things to get worse, yet they stubbornly continue to fight for a happier future for themselves. Their path towards intimacy is a rough one, and even somewhat predictable, but once they do fall into each other, it’s as sweet as it is sexy.
Kiss at Your Own Risk is a light, sweet story that was great fun to read. Rowe does away with the burden of convention from the beginning, allowing the story to be thoroughly enjoyable, while creating warm, endearing characters that are very much worth cheering for. I highly recommend it as a quick, “feel good” read, and hope that the sequel won’t be far behind.
My Rating:
Loved it - enthusiastically recommend (A)
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