Haunting Beauty by Erin Quinn--Review

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade (August 4, 2009)

Erin Quinn

Danni always believed she was an abandoned child. Then the seductive Sean Ballogh appears out of nowhere with a startling story challenging everything Danni thought was true. He claims that Danni's family has been searching for her ever since she disappeared twenty years ago. He's come to bring her home to Ireland. Now, Danni must rewrite history to save her family, to fight a force more evil than she ever imagined, and to reunite herself with the man she was destined for-or risk living forever in time as nothing more than an ethereal memory, a tragic and haunting beauty.

My Thoughts:

Always feeling like she was different she hid her gift to the point that she completely blocked her past, remembering nothing more than an image of her mother dropping her off at preschool, never to return again. She grew up being shuffled from foster home to the next. She can no longer block out her gift and is faced with the haunting images of a family torn, a gorgeous man that she senses wants her for some purpose.

Sean walks into her life with stories of her disappearance and the knowledge that her family has been searching for her. They are swept into another time and place where they must put the clues together before the sands of the clock run out. Danni must right the wrongs done to her family in order to find a happiness to last her for a lifetime.

Haunting Beauty is a spellbinding mystical story of love lost and paths crossed. It is not an epic romance by no means, but it surely will drag you into the lives of this family and have you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to find out if the pull that Danni and Sean feel toward each other will finally bind them. My only problem with the book is that I thought it lacked in the romance department, great paranormal though.

Rating: 4 stars

Sojourn With A Stranger by K. Celeste Bryan

Winter ROR Challenge #8. Title with four words
Rating: 5 stars

Blurb:

Penniless when she arrives in Norfolk , her mother and father drowned at sea, Raine Brinsley would give anything to return home to her grandfather in Maine . When Derek Stafford, owner of a large plantation, offers a solution to her dilemma, she’s stunned, if not outraged. She’d prefer to fulfill the contract to have his child and forget about him and his self-serving scheme. But she hadn’t counted on the decadently-delicious passion he’d awakened in her.

Derek’s only desire was to father an heir for Stafford House, thus securing his future. He didn’t count on the Scottish lass with dark green eyes to interfere with his well-laid plans. But after one night in her arms, guilt, not to mention the loss of his heart, became his penance. Now he’d do anything to get her back, anything to quench the hunger and passion tormenting his soul.

My Thoughts: ***Sigh*** What can I say... this was such a good book! K. Celeste Bryan did a superb job in this story!!! I was immediately pulled into the story of Raine and Derek.
Raine is a young woman full of Scottish blood... and we all know how stubborn those Scots can be! When faced with the tragic loss of her parents she finds herself stranded in Norfolk without a penny and refusing to write to the only relative she has left. She will not except Derek's offering to pay her way home, willing only to work in his employ to save money to make her own way home. Derek comes up with another plan... a very selfish one at that. If Raine agrees to Derek's schemes she will have enough money to get home, take care of her Grandfather, and never worry about money again.
Bryan makes you love, hate, and pity Derek. He was selfish and selfless. He blames himself for his late wife losing her mind, that and the decisions he has made since Raine showed up on his doorstep sends him running from Stafford Hall when Raine needs him the most.
I didn't want the story to end. It was another late night of reading...
There was love, loss, mystery, and ghosts in this book. It is a must read that has landed a permanent spot on my shelf under favorites!!

Nicholas by Elizabeth Amber

Rating: 4.5 stars

Published: 2007

319 pages

Back Cover: Nicholas looks very much like what he is- the handsome, successful heir to a vineyard in Tuscany. But Nicholas is much more, for he is one of the last in an ancient line of satyr men. And the dying king of Elseworld wants him not only to marry, but to wed one of the king's own daughters- a half-human, half-faerie woman unaware of her heritage. Nicholas won't shirk his duty to produce heirs to guard his race's legacies, but he never plans to make his bride his only lover. A satyr's sexual hunger and sensual skills are legendary. One woman will never satisfy him.

Or so Nicholas believes until he meets Jane. As spirited as she is fey, as beautiful as she is innocent, she is nevertheless determined to make her new husband hers alone- and she is eager for him to teach her every deliciously carnal secret he knows.

WARNING! This is a REALLY HOT book... very explicit!!

Review: This was my first experience with a novel of this type. I have read several paranormal romances but this one has topped the cake. As said above this is a very sexually explicit book. There were things in this book that actually shocked me...well not really but they should have! The sexual scenes were great, if not a little beyond my comfort zones. I thoroughly enjoyed the story too.

Jane is completely unaware of her heritage. She is ashamed of the changes that she has been experiencing since puberty... not those of a normal well bred English girl. She abhors anything having to do with wine... she blames wine for her mothers death and her father's downfall. Her father has moved Jane and her sister to their aunts home in Italy. Her aunt has some grand schemes going on... a very devious B**** to say the very least.

Nicholas accomplishes the task set out for him rather easily. Not only has he has found Jane, the daughter of the King of Elseworld, but he has arranged a marriage between them. Jane does not understand why Nicholas would ask for after only a short meeting.

I was not very happy with Nicholas's treatment with Jane at the beginning of their marriage. I could not believe that this man who's sexual desires were so great could be this cold toward the woman who was going to spend the rest of her life with him and bare his children. I was relieved when Jane took matters into her own hands and tipped the scales into her favor. The love that eventually bloomed between these two was sweet and very passionate.

If you are looking for a change of pace and something completely shocking to your senses, try this book out. I look forward to reading the remaining books in the Lords of Satyr series.