Book Review: Love’s Portrait by Monica Burns

When Julia Westgard commissions a nude portrait of herself, her rebellious behavior puts her at odds with the Marlborough Set’s most notorious rake, Morgan St. Claire. From the first moment Morgan sees Julia’s portrait, he’s determined to have her. But the woman he meets is a far cry from the image on canvas. What starts out as a simple exercise in seduction quickly evolves into a quest to reveal the true Julia Westgard. With each sensually, erotic encounter, he employs every seductive weapon at his disposal in hopes of making Julia see she really is the woman in Love’s Portrait.

My First thought when I finished Love’s portrait was “well crap”. That was because I said I would not start a new book until after new years once I finished that one and well there is a bit of time left until New years. Pushing that aside..

Love’s Portrait introduces us to Julia and Morgan who are both strong and stubborn personalities. However they both have their pains and things that hold them back from the happiness they could both have. For Julia her now dead Husband Oscar forced her into submission and I do mean forced her into submission. Securing her to their marriage bed and rutting, as well as several other forms of abuse they left her scarred and afraid of the bondage of marriage.

For Morgan he grew up in an unhappy household. His parents did not love one another by the time he came along and they fought constantly. So his Father ignored him until he came of age to take over the family Company and his Mother resented him as he looked more and more like his Father. So all of this made Morgan also swear off marriage. However what happens when the unmovable object meets the unstoppable force?

A very hot and erotic romance novel is what you get. Monica Burns has created a very intense relationship and I fully enjoyed each moment. The erotic scenes were plentiful but not over the top and all of them very well written. I love the give and take of the dominance and submission between Julia and Morgan but also the way that their relationship grows. Both of them without seeking it find solace in one another and healing for the past harms. I love it! This whole wonderful relationship thanks to a painting and a handkerchief.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Darkborn by Alison Sinclair

For the Darkborn, sunlight kills. For the Lightborn, darkness is fatal. Living under a centuries-old curse, the Darkborn and the Lightborn share the city of Minhorne, coexisting in an uneasy equilibrium but never interacting. When Darkborn physician Balthasar Hearne finds a pregnant fugitive on his doorstep just before sunrise, he has no choice but to take her in. Tercelle Amberley’s betrothed is a powerful Darkborn nobleman, but her illicit lover came to her through the daytime. When she gives birth to twin boys, they can see, something unheard of among the Darkborn. When men come for the boys, Balthasar is saved by the intervention of his Lightborn neighbor-and healed by the hands of his wife, Telmaine. Soon he finds himself drawn deeper into political intrigue and magical attacks, while Telmaine must confront a power she can no longer keep sheathed in gloves, a power she neither wants nor can control.



Step into the world of the Darkborn the Lightborn and the Shadowborn in this interesting story that has been woven by Alison Sinclair. I can say one thing for this book I found it to be very unique. It took me a little longer to get through than I might have liked because I had to adjust myself to a lot of the terms used and how things worked, such as Sonn. However once I adjusted myself to the language of the book I found it to be very enjoyable.

The main players in this book are the husband and wife pair of Balthasar and Telmaine and the shadow hunter Ishmael. The web that is drawn in this book is very deep and there is no way that it can be completely summed up in just over 300 pages. A good thing this book is the first book of a series right? You are never fully sure what is going to happen next in Darkborn from magic, to fires to kidnappings. It really does take you on an adventure throughout.

I personally enjoyed the way that Alison Sinclair switched the perspective of the story from one character to the next. While in some stories it can be irritating it really seemed to fit the layout and the plot of this one. Telmaine goes from an unlikeable character to one I admired and hope to read more about in the next novels while her Husband was one I clicked with right away. Over all this is an enjoyable book once you are able to immerse yourself in the different world that has been created for you.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Vital Needs of the Dead by Igor Sakhnovsky

What needs might the dead have? Our loved ones stay with us after they’ve gone. Love, death and memory breathe in unison in the novel by Igor Sakhnovsky.

The Vital Needs of the Dead is a tender coming-of-age story set in the provinces of the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. At the center of this story, praised by Russian critics for its blend of realism and lyrical sensibility, lies the relationship of young Gosha Sidelnikov with his alluring and mysterious grandmother Rosa, who becomes his caregiver when he is virtually abandoned by his busy and distant parents. This relationship colors Sidelnikov’s subsequent forays into first love and sexual awakening. Even after her death, memories of Rosa accompany him into his adventures as a provincial student. Then, one miserably cold winter night, her voice commands him to immediately depart for a place he’s never been before, precipitating a mysterious chain of events.

My first thought with Vital Needs of the dead when I started reading it was that not everyone is going to understand this book. As I continued reading I continued to feel that way. For those born in a privileged western world that have not had to deal with the experiences of something like Soviet run Russia they cannot always identify with what is going on.

Now I am one of those who was born in the Western world but I have done a lot of reading of this era and like to think I can connect with what is being told. Igor Sakhnovsky writes a very detailed story that is full of images that seemed to speak of me. Gosha is a character that I could really connect with and so I was interested in his story and what was happening to him throughout.

Some of the translation could be a little bit rough but for me that did not really take away from the book. A lot of times I think you have to read a book in its mother tongue to get all of the subtle nuances of what is being told. I would recommend this book to someone who is willing to take the time to understand what the story is telling you.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of her having written the bestselling book The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she’s found herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name.

But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: Her incubus is not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the demon, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this supernatural lover from her heart.

I was granted this book to read through Net Gallery and I was very excited to read it. I know you should not judge a book by its cover but the cover art and then the summary drew me in. So I was set up to really like and enjoy this book. Sadly I really just did not.

So why didn’t I like this book? For me there were a lot of plot holes in it things that clearly did not seem to have the background to make sense. How did Callie know she was the descendent of a curse creating witch? Or why love the incubus when he is a shadow but not when he is a real man? This was perplexing to me and of course the lack of a happy ever after makes this to me not a paranormal romance at all.

The story was also too cluttered with background characters. There were so many side characters that had partially or very little explained stories so you cannot really grasp on to anyone and decide you like them or dislike them. When I read a book I want at least one character I can feel truly drawn to with their story. There was just too many buzzing around in this one to be useful.

Now someone who does not mind a bit of clutter in characters and the lack of a happy ever after might enjoy this book. However for me there were just too many short comings to really center myself with the book and enjoy it. I might give the second book a read when I am given the chance to see if I can warm to the characters anymore but I am not sure.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith

From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of history’s greatest love stories. Anne Easter Smith’s novels are beloved by readers for their ability “to grab you, sweep you along with the story, and make you fall in love with the characters.” * In Cecily Neville, duchess of York and ancestor of every English monarch to the present day, she has found her most engrossing character yet.

History remembers Cecily of York standing on the steps of the Market Cross at Ludlow, facing an attacking army while holding the hands of her two young sons. Queen by Right reveals how she came to step into her destiny, beginning with her marriage to Richard, duke of York, whom she meets when she is nine and he is thirteen. Raised together in her father’s household, they become a true love match and together face personal tragedies, pivotal events of history, and deadly political intrigue. All of England knows that Richard has a clear claim to the throne, and when King Henry VI becomes unfit to rule, Cecily must put aside her hopes and fears and help her husband decide what is right for their family and their country. Queen by Right marks Anne Easter Smith’s greatest achievement, a book that every fan of sweeping, exquisitely detailed historical fiction will devour.

I have long been fascinated with the War of the Roses. So after reading the King’s Grace I leapt head first into reading Queen by Right written by Anne Easter Smith and what a journey it was. We follow the story from the very beginning with Cecily Neville and her husband Richard Duke of York. Arguably the War of the Roses started when Edward the Black Prince of Wales died before taking the crown his Father died but a year after leaving Young Richard II as King with his Uncle John of Gaunt as regent but I digress.

Anne Easter Smith takes us on a journey from the time that the young couple meets when Richard Duke of York becomes the ward of Cecily’s Father. While the couple is told they will marry as was the custom at the time they fell deeply in love with one another and their love story is one of the ages. I positively loved following along on each turn in their life that we are guided through by Anne Easter Smith’s masterful writing. From a surprising time in France where Cecily is to come in contact with Joan of Arc before she is burned at the stake to their time in Ireland.

If you know your history you know their love ends in a tragic way but it leads to somewhat more positive things. This time period is when the War of the Roses truly did reach its height even when there was a strong King on the throne nothing was guaranteed. Any fan of historical fiction will enjoy this book immensely. It is packed full of facts so that you do not feel as if you are reading a fiction so much as living events that happened. Queen by right is simply a masterful piece of work by Anne Easter Smith.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Christened with Crosses by Eduard Kochergin

While the mothers in Siberia wait for their soldier sons to return from the war in the west in 1945, the eight year old Eduard secretly jumps on board the trains heading in the opposite direction, heading west, towards Leningrad. Placed in a Siberian orphanage as a child because his parents were arrested as public enemies there is only one thing he wants: to go back home to Leningrad and to find his mother again. It is not only his desperate courage and his youthful agility that ensure his survival, it is also his artistic talent. With his agile fingers the boy is able to bend wire in the shape of profiles of Lenin and Stalin, as if in silhouette. He uses them to cheer up the invalid war veterans on the train stations returning from the front, who then give him a piece of bread, a bowl of soup and who, in a spirit of comradeship, warn him of the railway police and the secret service henchmen wanting to send the runaway back to the orphanage.

Eduard spends more than six years on the run, experiencing close encounters with post-war Russia where life and fate have become synonyms. He encounters other stowaways, professional beggars, soldiers returning from the war and wartime profiteers, the mothers of soldiers and war invalids, Chinese from the Ural, Cossacks dealing in hashish, Bashkir Estonians, Russian penal colony escapees and, time and again, orphanage directors. In order to survive the winter he often registered himself voluntarily in the next orphanage, each one always a little closer to the West, running away again before the servants of the Stalinist state are able to send him back to Siberia.

The memoirs of an old man who, as a boy, learned to find his way between extortionate state control and marauding banditry, the two poles that characterize Russia to this day. A story about the awakening of artistic talent under highly unusual Russian circumstances.

I was given the opportunity to read Christened with Crosses by Eduard Kochergin for a blog tour and I must say I feel honored to have been selected to read this book. This story is so gripping and emotional you cannot help but to be drawn into it. There were times I swore I could feel the nip of the Siberian Winter at my feet.


One of the main reasons you feel such a connection to this story is that it is Eduard Kochergin’s story told how he lived it. Spending part of his life in an orphanage in Siberia you can imagine that he had some rough times. Once he escapes from the orphanage he flees to St. Petersburg in hopes to find his Mother.


I have always enjoyed reading about Russian History and this time of upheaval is one that I have studied. However despite my knowledge of things I was left somewhat unprepared for this story of someone who actually lived the hardness that war torn times in Russia offered. I don’t want to give to many secrets away from Christened with Crosses because you really need to read it yourself to appreciate the story. I found it made me look back and rethink some of the things in my life that I complain about and realize perhaps they really are not that bad.


I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history and living.

 

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The King’s Grace by Anne Easter Smith

The bestselling author of A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York takes a young woman that history noticed only once and sets her on a quest for the truth about the murder of two boys and a man who claims to be king.

All that history knows of Grace Plantagenet is that she was an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV and one of two attendants aboard the funeral barge of his widowed queen. Thus, she was half sister of the famous young princes, who — when this story begins in 1485 — had been housed in the Tower by their uncle, Richard III, and are presumed dead.

But in the 1490s, a young man appears at the courts of Europe claiming to be Richard, duke of York, the younger of the boys, and seeking to claim his rightful throne from England’s first Tudor king, Henry VII. But is this man who he says he is? Or is he Perkin Warbeck, a puppet of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, who is determined to regain the crown for her York family? Grace Plantagenet finds herself in the midst of one of English history’s greatest mysteries. If she can discover the fate of the princes and the true identity of Perkin Warbeck, perhaps she will find her own place in her family.

Grace was a real person, but only mentioned once, in passing, in one official record. Therefore, this is not the sort of historical fiction where it’s based on the template of a well known historical figure’s documented life. However, i read the whole almost 600 page thing, so you know it had to be good. This book tries to tackle the mystery of the princes in the tower, through the point of view of their half (illegitimate) sister, Grace. I’m always hearing about henry viii, so it was interesting to be reading about his parents and grandparents for a change. the writing style was engaging, and well done enough so that i flipped in and out of liking the main character; she wasn’t one dimensional. I’m about to tackle another super long book by Smith, hopefully it’s as good. The worst thing about reading this is lugging a heavy enormous book with you everywhere. If you can get over that, and the fact that not everything happened exactly as written (but really, that’s how most historical fiction is) you can learn a lot about the time period and the politics that were going on at the time.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Spying in High Heels (A High Heels Mystery #1) by Gemma Halliday

L.A. shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears – along with AUD20 million in embezzled funds – and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD’s sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her…

One of the best things about the free Kindle downloads is that some of them do take you out of your normal comfort zone so there is always a chance that you will find a new author or genre that will then tempt you to purchase more of the same. This book did not do it for me at all. It was rather like listening to one of those teenage girls that just blather on and on about nothing with a few kernels of bits that do matter- with some meaningless and inane bits of TMI. Sadly, I don’t have any patience with these personality types (I am working on it!) and I did not have any patience with this book at all and I am glad that none of my hard earned cash went to actually purchase this masterpiece. The heroine is awful, the plot really thin and I am just so far out of the target market that it seems a bit unfair to rate it as “I did not like it” – but for me – no, no,no, and not many redeeming qualities. If you saw my Musing Monday you know I could not even finish it.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Darkness Awakened (Order of the Blade: Primal Heat Trilogy #1) by Stephanie Rowe


The Calydons are a race of ancient immortals cursed with a dark side. Each Calydon is destined to meet his soul mate, to be so drawn to her that he is unable to resist bonding with her through the rituals of his race…

…but their destiny is to destroy each other and all they care about the moment their bond is complete.

Quinn Masters will stop at nothing to rescue his rogue teammate. To save his blood brother and ensure his brand of justice triumphs, Quinn will break every rule of his kind and partner with the sensuous, courageous woman destined to be his ultimate destruction.

Haunted by a brutal past, Illusionist Grace Matthews will risk everything to save her kidnapped sister, including putting her life in the sinfully capable hands of an immortal warrior whose ravaging kisses and intense passion propel her ruthlessly toward a fateful destiny she can’t afford to believe in.

This was a fun book to read. Definitely had action and tense sexual parts and I started enjoying the characters. I was disappointed in the ending but only because I wanted more and I don’t have the next book yet. It’s not perfect, and I wasn’t too sure about the whole curse thing to start with – I really like JR Ward and this certainly has a lot of her elements which is good and bad. But at the end, I was happy. Looking forward to the next book.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Concubine: A Novel by Norah Lofts


Acclaimed and beloved historical novelist Norah Lofts brings to life the danger, romance, and intrigue of the Tudor court that forever altered the course of English history.

The king first noticed Anne Boleyn as a heartbroken sixteen-year-old, sullen and beautiful after a thwarted romance with the son of the Earl of Northumberland. “All eyes and hair,” a courtier had said disparagingly of her, but when King Henry VIII fell for young Anne, nothing could keep him from what he desired. Against common sense and the urgings of his most trusted advisers, Henry defied all, blindly following his passion for Anne, using the power he held over the bodies and souls of all who reside in his realm and beyond. Anne’s ascent to the throne elevates her from lady-in-waiting to the highest position a woman could attain, but her life spirals out of control when Henry is driven to desperate acts of betrayal and violence. The consequences of Anne’s rise to power and eventual demise are felt well beyond the inner circle of the court. Loyalties, to church, to queen, to country, are tested, and — in the wake of the king’s volatile passions — can be an unpredictable matter of life and death.

First published in 1963 and adored by readers for generations, Lofts’ lush and moving portrayal of the ambitious and doomed Anne Boleyn will continue to reign as a classic retelling of this epic chapter of history vividly brought to life.

The book is very well done, despite the fact it has a slightly dated feel to it – the kind of stale whiff you get from historical fiction written in the early to mid twentieth century. Still, Lofts did her research, showing off the Tudor court and characters with the precession and brilliance of a master jeweler. However, she did so much research that she likes to show it off by quoting either a primary or secondary source at the beginning of each chapter.

Yes, it’s good to know she followed the facts rather than just making it up and as she went along but a lot of the facts she quotes would have been great scenes themselves – she should have developed the quoted text into scenes rather than just having the facts quoted act as scene bridges as she jumps from one year to the next.

The characters were great. They weren’t quite believable – they all just, just fell short of true complexity, and their motivations are often painted in broad strokes that makes all their actions combined hard to follow. She makes excellent progress in showing a deep psychological portrait of her main characters, but doesn’t quite pull it off – though I am happy to admit she comes close.

She does amazing work putting Henry on the couch and doing a Freudian analysis of his actions, yet she still has him and a lot of other characters bluntly spelling out actions and motivations with the subtly of an anvil. Meanwhile, the character of Anne Boleyn is not quite real sounding. Her maid keeps dosing her with poppy juice to help her sleep, and she drifts through the whole book as if drugged. All of the known characteristic – the humor, wit, and temper – are told rather than shown, making her a very unbelievable Anne Boleyn. However, for the past 500 years people have talked about how Anne Boleyn had something about her that was indescribable, so it’s understandable that yet another writer was unable to pin down just what is was about this woman that caused so much to happen.

My Gemstone Rating:

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