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The Dark Knight by Elizabeth Elliott

Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Dark Knight
(Montagues #4)

Elizabeth Elliott
Medieval Romance
Pub date: 26 June, 2012 (ARC review)

H/h - Lord Dante Chiavari/Lady Avalene de Forshay
Setting: England, 1293.

Read in June 2012.
My rating:
                                       
                                                            [spoiler alert]

For me, storywise Dante’s book wasn’t as per my expectations. Somehow I was hoping for something more. I, again, felt that the story was dragging in the middle, without anything interesting happening. At times, I found Avalane quite the wishy-washy thing too. But there are good things in this book as well, one of them is definitely Dante himself. He was just... so romantic. :D I wasn’t impressed by him in Betrothed but WOW, I saw a really different man in here. Totally enjoyed EE’s writing and all the historical connections as usual.

This story takes place 5 yrs after Betrothed. In there, we knew that Dante was working as King Edward I’s personal assassin. There were many conflicts and Dante’s boorish activities pissed me off. But his sister and only living relative, Claudia fell in love and finally married Guy, who loved her back equally.

His childhood was a tragic one. Dante’s parents died because of a betrayal done by his aunt’s husband, Lorenzo. This man poisoned Dante’s father, an Italian merchant and his mother, an Englishwoman, was later murdered with torture, also by Lorenzo. The three siblings, Roberto, Dante and Claudia were cast off from Italy with a scheme which and robbed off their inheritance. I don’t clearly remember how they survived but Claudia was left in the care of their mother’s brother, another greedy bastard called Lonsdale. Roberto turned into a hired mercenary and as he was a impetuous man, he paid for his rash decisions with his life (in The Warlord).

Now, Dante was taken in by a King’s adviser called Mordecai, who is a magician and has sights into the future. Mordecai trained Dante to be a weapon of destruction, with all kinds of skills. Dante is very handy with various weapons as he is good at being a chameleon. For many years he has killed on the King’s command; all traitors of the crown one way or the other. This, of course, shaped Dante and even though he can be called very efficient, in the core, there was a softness still lurking because the man inside, before he became what he is today, used to wear his heart in his sleeves. And, even though Dante doesn’t let remorse take him over, he was still bombarded by those after he met Avalene.

A Wedding Story by Dee Tenorio

Friday, June 29, 2012

A Wedding Story (novella)
A free installment

Dee Tenorio
Contemporary Romance
Published in 2011

H/h - Bobby Wichowski/Ruth Anne Barbellis
Setting: Present time.

Read in June, 2012.
My rating:

                                                    [might be spoilerish]

Damn but this little free novella so goooooooooood!! It was fun, hilarious and absolutely made me fall in love with both Ruth Anne or ‘Rhubarb’ and Bobby. This is my first read of DT’s books and I’m so glad about it. If you’re a sucker for enemies turned lovers theme, this would be an almost perfect example... why I say ‘almost’? Will try to explain.

Betrothed by Elizabeth Elliott

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Betrothed
Montagues #2

Elizabeth Elliott
Medieval Romance
Published in 1996

H/h - Baron Guy of Montague/Lady Claudia Chiavari
Setting: England, 1288.

Read in June, 2012.
My rating:

                                              [spoiler alert]


So, I ended up disappointed in Guy’s book. Since he didn’t appear in The Warlord, I didn’t know what to expect of him really. But as a character, I liked him, as I liked Claudia, the heroine. But the story wasn’t satisfactory. It started out excellent and was that way for about half the book. After that, I felt it dragging and I was losing my interest. Then there were other twists in the story that pissed me quite a lot. Honestly, afterwards, I thought that even the relationship development and the chemistry between Guy and Claudia were spoiled by the moronic actions of both of their brothers. Now, let’s see what I can cover in my review.

The Warlord by Elizabeth Elliott

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Warlord
Montagues #1

Elizabeth Elliott
Medieval Romance
Published in 1995

H/h - Baron Kenric of Montague/Lady Tess of Remmington
Setting: England, 1283.

Read in June, 2012.
My rating:

                                                    [spoiler alert]

I decided to try Elizabeth Elliott’s earlier books when I got approved for an ARC of her very recent publication. I just wanted to sample her writing and I’m very happy that I did. I must admit that I loved her writing and The Warlord is one of those books that will always have the ability to warm your heart, no matter what. I say this because, honestly, for the first half, I was very annoyed with the heroine, Tess’s TSTL activities and the hero, Kenric’s uber caveman behavior aka ‘me-man-you-listen-woman’! It’s not always bad, but even then I wanted to smash something because I was so frustrated and thought this is going to end up as one of those boring reads for me. But on the second half, it turned utterly marvelous! Everything sort of turned around and the book slapped me hard on the face for even trying to look down upon it! My exact feelings because everything, everything was just soooo goooood! I’ll try to elaborate it all in my review.

The Knife’s Edge by Stephanie Draven

The Knifes Edge (novella)
Historical Erotic Fantasy Romance - A free installment

Stephanie Draven
Historical Romance/Fantasy/Erotica
Published in 2009

H/h - Sir Dardanus/Queen Nestra
Setting: In some fantasy land.

Read in June, 2012.
My rating:

                                                        [spoiler alert]

The Knife's Edge is a very short, free novella by Stephanie Draven. She was a new-to-me author before I chose to give this a try. The good thing about it was, I liked the idea of the novella, along with the author’s writing. The not-so-good part was I was fooled in thinking this novella was longer than it actually is, the rest of the pages were full of except from another book by her. This kind of, , made me unhappy. I wanted the story to continue for a while more. Also, I didn’t really think it was erotic in that sense, despite the fact that it’s called ‘Historical Erotic Fantasy Romance’.

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Thief of Shadows
Maiden Lane #4

Elizabeth Hoyt
Historical Romance
Pub date: 26 June, 2012 (ARC review)

H/h - Winter Makepeace/Lady Isabel Beckinhall
Setting: London, 1738.

Read in June, 2012.
My rating:


                                                       [spoiler alert]

Here I am, trying to write a review for Thief of Shadows. I loved this book, loved EH’s writing and so happy that Maiden Lane is continuing for a good while. I know the Ghost’s identity, which I kind of guessed from book #2, but it was fun because Winter blew my mind. There’s NOTHING wintry about him, mind you! His intense regard and confidence for everything, from the Orphanage to Isabel was just... *sigh*

Blame the Rain by Maya Banks

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Blame the Rain (novella)
A free installment

Maya Banks
Contemporary Romance
Published in 2007

H/h - Cameron Ducote/Lily Carruthers
Setting: Present time.

Read in June, 2012.
My rating:

                                               
                                                    [spoiler alert]

It is that time of the month again when I’m in need of a quickie...


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Punya
I love to read in my spare time and do reviews the books I read. My blog Punya Reviews just turned 6 in 2017 and still going strong. I love music and traveling. Sometimes, I wish I could live inside a book, having my own HEA. :)
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