Review: Everyone Loves a Hero...and that's the problem by Marie Force

Title:  Everyone Loves a Hero...and that's the problem*
Author: Marie Force
Series:N/A
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Format: mass market paperback, digital e-book
Date/Year: February 1, 2011
Reviewed by:  Booklover1335

*This book was provided to me by the publisher for review

Summary from the publisher:

Fame has its perks…

Reluctantly famous, First Officer Cole Langston finds being in the spotlight has its advantages—until he meets Olivia. Having women throw themselves at him everywhere he goes becomes a serious problem when he's trying to convince her she's the one…

And its price…

Olivia has trouble trusting a guy like Cole, and everywhere she turns she sees reasons to run. But he's the only man who's ever seemed to understand her as an artist and as a woman…

Cole is working overtime to prove to Olivia that he's serious, but her deep seated mistrust and his entourage of unwelcomed fans may be more than they can overcome…

My Musings:

Everyone Loves a Hero is the first book that I’ve read by author Marie Force, but it certainly won’t be my last.  In fact as soon as I finished reading this story I was searching out her backlist like there was no tomorrow.  I was addicted, and no other author would do until my romance cravings had been satisfied!  You think I’m kidding?  I’m not. 

This book sparked what I fondly now refer to my “Force”ful reading binge as well as a gushing email to the author.  The only morning after awkwardness I had was in restraining my enthusiasm and considering how I might adequately express my love for this romance novel.  Let there be no doubt, I LOVED LOVED LOVED Everyone Loves a Hero and for one very big reason...the Hero.  I mean how can you not love a hero who does whatever it takes to make you dreams come true and thinks that everyday with you feels like Christmas?

Olivia is a woman who hasn’t had an easy life and has had to work very hard for every thing that she has while sacrificing her personal life in order to help care for her mother with whom she has a strained relationship.  You see, Olivia is so busy treading water and putting the needs of others before her own, that she has lost site of who she is.  She is so used to surviving and feeling unworthy of the love of her parents that she suppresses her dreams and true desires. 

That is until she meets the man of her dreams in one very delectable and more than swoon worthy Cole Langston.  Except that Cole is the one that swooned at Olivia’s feet after being punched by an irate customer in a checkout line at the airport in which Olivia works.  It’s pretty much love at first site for these two, and they meet whenever they can despite living in different cities and having demanding schedules to work around. 

Cole immediately knows that Olivia is someone special for him and begins making changes in his previous playboy life because Olivia is the “one”.  He know it very early on in their relationship.  He comes on strong and is relentless in his pursuit.  He’s a man who knows what he wants, and what he wants is Olivia, so he goes after it.

Olivia on the other hand has a hard time believing and understanding that Cole would reform and become a one woman man instead a one woman in every city man.  She’s not used to the attention and is most definitely not used to being first in anyone’s life.  She’s insecure in not only who she is as a sexual woman (Cole is her first), but as a person and she is constantly questioning if what she is feeling for Cole is too good to be true.  And therein lies their problem as a couple.  I think Olivia’s views of herself, her history of denying and suppressing her needs and wants so as not to be a burden, as well as her self-worth are best illustrated with this passage from the book:

“    ...Watching him, her heart ached.  She wanted him.  Not just physically, but that was definitely part of it.  No, she wanted him.  She wanted to know him, wanted to know he was hers and that she could come home to him, depend on him, be there for him.

    All her life she had kept a tight rein on what she allowed herself to hope for.  As a child, her Christmas and birthday lists would consist of the one item she couldn’t live without, knowing her father would find a way to get it for her.  By putting more on the list, she feared not getting the one thing she desired above all of the others.  She never risked asking for more than she felt she deserved.

    So it was reckless of her to want this man the way she did, to place him first on the list without knowing anything more than his name, his passion for flying, and a few random facts about his family and his life.  What she wanted most, though, was to always feel the way he made her feel just by lying there on the bed, humming softly to himself.  Safe.  Content.  Alive.  Finally, finally alive.”

Cole is everyone’s dream romance hero.  He’s handsome, sexy, great in bed...and did I mention that he is a hero (as in saved someone’s life), and he goes to great lengths to make Olivia’s dreams come true by encouraging her to follow her passion to become an artist.  With his love and support Olivia becomes the person she’s always wanted to be, but never had the courage to pursue or feel worthy of.  I think that is what really resonated with me so strongly because I truly believe that the love of the right person will help you become the best version of yourself that you can be.  Someone who will support your dreams and love you despite your faults.  Cole is that man for Olivia.  Yes they have their problems and misunderstandings most of which stem from Olivia’s insecurities (and one seriously mental ex-girlfriend), but she grows as a heroine and learns to trust in their love which ultimately leads to their happy ending.

I can’t recommend Everyone Loves a Hero highly enough.  It pushed all of the right romance buttons for me.  A to die for hero.  A heroine who grows into someone that not only the hero can love, but that she can love too.  Romance.  Passion (lots and lots of passion). And Love.  I hope that you read Everyone Loves a Hero and love it as much as I did because for me it was perfection!  LOVE LOVE LOVE...yeah I kinda really loved this story :)

Ratings:

Overall: 5 stars!
Sensuality level: 3.75 (about as hot as you can get without being an erotic romance IMO)

For a complete understanding and definition of the ratings at Seductive Musings, click here

Other Reviews: 

• Babbling About Books and More
• The Season for Romance
• The Good, The Bad and the Unread

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

Read more...

Review: Moonstruck Madness by Laurie McBain

Title:  Moonstruck Madness*
Author: Laurie McBain
Series: Dominick series #1
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher:Sourcebooks Casablanca
Format: trade size paperback & digital ebook
Date/Year:  February 2011 (re-issue)  originally published in 1977
Reviewed by: Booklover1335

*This book was provided to me by the publisher for review


Summary from the publisher:

She’s one thing by day, something else altogether by night…

After escaping the slaughter of her clan at a young age, Scottish noblewoman Sabrina Verrick provides for her siblings by living a double life, until the night she encounters the Duke, and her secret and all she holds dear is threatened…

He’s so disillusioned, he’s completely vulnerable…

With his inheritance at stake, Lucien, Duke of Camareigh, sets a trap for the Scottish beauty with the piercing violet eyes, never imagining what will happen when the trap is sprung…

As their lives become irreversibly entangled, Lucien and Sabrina become each other’s biggest threat, as well as their only salvation…

My Musings:

I’ve really enjoyed some of the older romances that are being republished today.  It allows newer romance readers like me to discover some remarkable romance reads that are truly timeless.  It’s how I first discovered Laura Kinsale, but before accepting any offer to review a book I check it out the best that I can.  I like to read the back cover copy, and an excerpt if I can to see if it might be something that I would enjoy reading...after all time is short, and no one likes to waste their precious reading time.  Luckily with a book that is being republished it’s easy enough to find reviews and opinions so I was fairly confident that Moonstruck Madness would be a book I would enjoy reading because of all of the glowing recommendations...and after all the book sold over a million copies back in 1977 so it should be a great read, right?  Unfortunately, all of my somewhat careful vetting let me down this time.

Moonstruck Madness follows the life of Sabrina Verrick, granddaughter to a Scottish Laird, and daughter to an English Marquis.  Her story begins during the Jacobite rising in Scotland where she witnesses the defeat of her grandfather and his men and she and her two siblings along with an Aunt flee Scotland to return to England to escape most certain death, only to find an impoverished and neglected estate where they have to do whatever they can in order to provide for themselves.

At a young age Sabrina finds herself the sole provider for her family due to the absence and negligence of the only parent she has left who they haven’t seen for over twelve years.  As a young woman of spirit and daring personality she creates a persona of “Bonnie Charlie” who takes from the rich who can afford it, and gives to the poor who need it, but risks the hangman’s noose every time she masquerades as the thief.  While risky, she’s never felt truly in danger until she robs the wrong man, Lucien, the Duke of Camareigh who becomes single mindedly determined to catch the thief who has been terrorizing the neighborhood.

Lucien is a man resigned to the fate of marrying for reasons other than love in order to gain the inheritance that his grandmother is holding ransom.  He is a man that probably suffers ennui like most titled aristocrats, until he encounters “Bonnie Charlie”.  His plans for Bonnie Charlie alter when he discovers that “Charlie” is not a young lad, but in fact a beautiful young woman.  A seduction ensues, and circumstances find the two married despite their love/hate relationship while escaping death more than once.

Moonstruck Madness has a much larger scope than most romances that are being written and published today.  And there are times that I really miss that, but in this case I felt that the plot of the entire story was more important than the characters that the story was about.  Through the course of the story it touched on so many things that I didn’t feel that any of them were adequately explored.

I also had issues with some of the transitions and pacing of the story.  At times it felt that some things took too long to develop, but other times I felt that feelings or insight into a character moved too rapidly or were overlooked and I found myself stopping and re-reading passages thinking that I must have missed something, only to find that I had not which is why I felt that I was reading the book through Google preview, where certain sections or passages have been deleted because of what felt like a disjointed writing style.  For instance, within a span on only 12 pages the hero of the story goes from being the enemy, to the heroine seducing him to aid in her escape, then finding that she loves him after one night of making love to him with little to no insight into her feelings and why they changed so abruptly.  The reader fully understands her reasons for hating him (even though that is a strong word to use), and I never could grasp why she loved him especially since neither of their motives had altered or changed.

Sabrina and Lucien’s entire love story was a lesson in love and hate being closely related emotions and I really missed some of the internal dialogue and insight into what these characters might be thinking or feeling which you generally get in romances that are being written today.  If the story would have been written today pages and pages would have more than likely been cut from the beginning.  Focusing less on her ties to Scotland, which really only served as her inspiration for “Bonnie Charlie”, and more on her non existent relationship with her father.  More of the heroine’s feelings would have been expressed instead of just in the actions that she took. The villains, who were fantastically self centered and evil, would have been allowed to be exceptionally bad, then dealt with adequately. 

As it stands, I don’t think Moonstruck Madness translates well in the 21st century.  I also don’t think it will appeal to as many of today’s romance readers in the same way it did to readers in the 1970’s  despite some of the reviews you may have read.  Some readers harbor a soft spot for it because it was one of the first romances that they read, but as a reader looking at it without sentimentality; I sadly found it lacking emotion, as well as character depth and growth. And while Laurie McBain created a superb cast of characters and supporting characters I didn’t feel that any of them were explored and written to their full potential as a book being published today.  I really wanted to like Moonstruck Madness, and if I just looked at the overall plot of the story the idea of it is actually very good, but where it let me down was with the hero and the heroine and the reasons why they love one another.  I never did fully understand the love in this romance.  And for me, that is the most important thing.

Ratings:

Overall:  2.75 stars
Sensuality level:  2.0

For a complete understanding and definition of the ratings at Seductive Musings, click here

Other Reviews: 

• Luxury Reading
• The Royal Reviews
• History Undressed

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

Read more...

Review: The Mistress House by Leigh Michaels

Title: The Mistress House *
Author: Leigh Michaels
Series:N/A
Genre:  Historical Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Format: mass market paperback & digital ebook
Date/Year:  February 2011
Reviewed by: Booklover1335

*This book was provided to me by the publisher for review


Summary from the publisher:

Three beautifully intertwined love stories…

The rules are made to be broken…

When the handsome, rakish Earl of Hawthorne buys the charming house across the back garden from his town home, he never expects the lovely lady he installs there to ensnare him completely…

Again…

After Lady Anne Keighley marries the earl, it seems a shame to leave the house empty, so she offers it to her childhood friend Felicity Mercer, who discovers that the earl’s gorgeous cousin is precisely the man she’s been waiting for…

and again…

Finally, feisty Georgiana Baxter moves into the house to escape an arranged marriage, and encounters the earl’s friend Lord Julian Silsby late one night in the back garden. The handsome soldier is more than willing to give her the lessons she asks for…

There is plenty of gossip, scandal, and torrid speculations surrounding the “mistress’ house”, but behind closed doors, passions blaze…

My Musings:

This is the first book that I’ve read by Leigh Michaels. I was drawn to the concept of the three romance stories revolving around a house...kind of a “if the walls could talk” kind of intrigue.

The first of the three novellas is the story of Anne, a widowed woman who wants to safeguard herself from ever having to marry again by setting out to completely ruin her reputation. So she approaches the Earl of Hawthorne to put her in a compromising situation thus ultimately gaining the freedom she desires. Predictably they fall in love and marry despite their initial intentions, and the reader moves on to the next novella in this collection.

Felicity is the second and most interesting of all of the three heroines. As a young and impressionable woman she met a man with whom she fell in love, who seduced her then abandoned her despite his protestations of love stating that they could not marry because his family did not approve of her. She comes to London to visit her childhood friend in hopes of gaining the one thing that she feels will help her cope with the loss of the man she loved....only to find out about his lies and deception, while falling in love with his brother...the man she’s blackmailed to gain her heart’s desire. But not to worry it all works out rather easily to everyone’s ultimate happiness.

The third and final mistress of the house is Georgiana, who is the youngest and most rebellious of the three heroines. She runs away from her guardian because of an arranged marriage to a man she’s never met and does not wish to marry. She finds herself attracted to a man she finds in the garden next to the house and decides that she wants him to teach her how to be a mistress. They are wildly attracted to each other, thus less than careful and are discovered in a compromising position. Little did either of them know that what they were dreading or avoiding is exactly what they inadvertently find with each other. What are the odds?

While each of the stories in this book was slightly different, they are all similar which creates continuity between them. The heroines proposition the hero, they become intimate, they fall in love, and they marry and live happily ever after. One of the things that I enjoyed about the circumstances the heroines found themselves in was that each of them approached their hero for seduction for their own reasons. They took control of their destinies, at least to the extent that they could in the world and society that they lived in.

The stories in The Mistress House were very likeable with sweet heroines, sexy heroes who each easily fall for each other with no great obstacles to overcome, no villains, nor unfortunately any significant character growth, and therein lays the biggest issue that I had with Leigh Michael’s latest historical romance. I love romances that involve a little more heart and emotional connection, that pull the heartstrings and makes me sigh, cheer for them, cry with them, or laugh with them and I just didn’t get as much of that as what I would have liked from this book. It's possible that if each of these stories would have been it's own book instead  of a novella that the characters and their emotions would have been able to be explored to a more satisfying conclusion.  As it was I felt that you barely got to know them before the story ended.  I enjoyed it, but I didn’t come away loving it with the desire to read it over again. That being said, The Mistress House has a pleasing style, and interesting plots that I am sure many readers will find to their liking. If you are looking for a light romantic diversion then you might find that Leigh Michael’s The Mistress House will appeal to your romance lovers heart.

Ratings:

Overall:  3.5 stars
Sensuality level:  2.75

For a complete understanding and definition of the ratings at Seductive Musings, click here

Other Reviews: 

• All About Romance
• The Good, The Bad and the Unread
• My Book Addiction and More

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

Read more...

Monday's Muse....and the budget busting release week

Sorry, but the image containing the Monday's Muse has been removed from this blog so as not to violate any copyright issues.  Thanks for your understanding!

I don't think our Muse this week has graced a cover of a romance novel, but I think he is definitely cover worthy.  I also don't think he needs any more explanation because it would just take away from your Muse viewing time...and I wouldn't want to do that to you  :)

If you missed my post yesterday on Red Carpet Romance Heroes in honor of the Oscars that were awarded last night, you still have time to enter to win either Julie James's Just The Sexiest Man Alive and/or Diana Holquist's Sexiest Man Alive...a fitting theme considering this week's Muse.

This week at Seductive Musings:

•  I'll have winners, reviews and a new giveaway

Also of note:

• Romcon 2011 has extended it's reduced rate special for early bird tickets for this fabulous  romance readers event.  Beginning March 16th the rate will increase from $175 to $210 .  If I could go to one romance inspired event this year, this is the one that I would LOVE to attend.  If you'd like to attend and save even more money, use the special code "seductive" during checkout and save an additional $20 making the ticket only $155!  This discount code is special just for Musings readers so I hope some of you are able to take advantage of the additional savings (but feel free to share it with family, or friends).    If you'd like to find out more about the events, the authors that will be attending and all of the fun that is planned I would urge you to visit the Romcon site.  Is anyone here going? I so want to go.
• Author Ashley March begins a month long March Madness celebration at her blog with guest authors and guest bloggers ALL MONTH LONG! You can learn more about it on the Contest tab of the blog or at Ashley's blog.  I've seen the line up and it's fantastic!...and not only because I will be a guest too :)

Finally, Happy Release Day to the following authors who have new releases this week, but most especially Lorelei James, Margaret Rowe, Beth Williamson, Maya Banks, Shayla Black, Monica Burns,  Lora Leigh, and Beth Kery (aka the budget busting release week):

 
 

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

Read more...

Red Carpet Romance Heroes

A few weeks ago (for the Superbowl) I featured romances that I loved that had heroes that were football players, so I thought in honor of the Acadamy Awards Oscars tonight that it might be fun to feature romance heroes that are movie stars.  I mean who doesn't love a movie star?  Some of my favorite "real" movie stars are...

Movie stars are like American Royalty...we don't have princes, but we do have George Clooney :)  I don't know about the reality of being in love with one of these leading men, but it's something that I love in fictional romance novels.

Some of my favorites that I've read have been:

• Jude's Law by Lori Foster.  There was a time a few years ago that I couldn't get enough of Lori Foster after first discovering her and contemporary romances...and the "Law" series remains a favorite to this day.

When it comes to love, he plays to win

There’s only so much frustration a guy can handle before he gets a little nutty. For Jude Jamison, his frustration has a name—May Price. She’s everything the former Hollywood bad boy actor came to Stillbrook, Ohio, hoping to find: open, honest, lovable, and full of those luscious curves you don’t find on stick-figure starlets—curves May doesn’t seem to appreciate in herself. Every time Jude tries to get close to the skittish business woman, to take her in his arms, she thinks he’s joking. Joking? Joking does not involve lots of cold-shower therapy.

Time for new tactics. If May can’t respond to his sly compliments and sexy innuendos, he’ll just have to spell it out for her. Jude Jamison is going to lay down the law for May Price. And after that, she’ll have no delusions about just how much he wants her…

• Cajun Heat by Joann Ross from the anthology Bayou Bad Boys.  What can I say I LOVED those Brava Bad Boys anthologies and this one by Joann Ross featuring a movie star hero that has a cajun accent definitely brings the heat :) (this one is currently bargain priced @ Amazon)

Louisiana men?  Honey, talk about the Big Easy...

Bad boy bayou movie star Gabriel Broussard has come back to his Louisiana hometown for some peace, but things only heat up the minute he reunites with Emma Quinlan. With her lush body and hearty appetite, she’s no Hollywood matchstick, and oh, chere, does he like that!

Emma just has to stop thinking about her former Cajun crush, so she makes a list of all the things she wishes he’d do to her and buries it in a graveyard at midnight. But Gabe finds it and intends to fulfill every blissful one of them...

There’s a bad moon rising on the bayou... and the Bad Boys have never been better...

• She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot....this was Meg Cabot before she became The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot.  I love her historical romances (aka Patricia Cabot) so when I found out she had a few contemporary romances I knew I had to read those too, except that I like the cover on the version that I have better than this one which I think gives it more of a chick-lit kind of feel.

There are a few places screenwriter Lou Calabrese would rather be than crammed into a helicopter with Jack Townsend, star of her claim to fame, Copkiller, and whose ex just ran off with Lou's ex. Talk about uncomfortable. But when, halfway out to the isolated arctic location where Copkiller IV is currently shooting, their pilot turns murderous and their helicopter crashes, Lou realizes her day has just gotten a lot worse.

Now, while family and friends back home fret over her disappearance, Lou is on the run in the arctic wilderness with America's sweetheart Jack Townsend and only the contents of her purse, his pockets, and their mutual knowledge of survival movie trivia to keep them alive. Can these two children of Hollywood put aside their differences and make it back home without killing each other? Or much, much worse, actually start to like one another?

Then there are these that I would love to read sometime soon...

• Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James.  I meant to give author Julie James a try last year and for some reason never got around to it.  Now, with her new contemporary romance,  A Lot Like Love coming out this week, I think it's time to make that happen.  I've heard such good things about Julie James and I don't think you can go wrong with a book that has "Sexiest Man Alive" in the title!

Cool. Calm. Collected. 

Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan. In the courtroom she never lets the opposition see her sweat. In her personal life, she never lets any man rattle her–not even her cheating ex-fiancé. So when she’s assigned to coach People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for his role in his next big legal thriller, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob’s charms. Even if he is the Jason Andrews.

Confident. Famous. Irresistible. 

Jason Andrews is used to having women fall at his feet. When Taylor Donovan gives him the cold shoulder, he’s thrown for a loop. She’s unlike any other woman he’s ever met: uninterested in the limelight, seemingly immune to his advances, and shockingly capable of saying no to him. She’s the perfect challenge. And the more she rejects him, the more he begins to realize that she may just be his perfect match. . .

• And then there's Diana Holquist's Sexiest Man Alive....I guess great minds think alike :)  After reading the description on this book I thought that this would be a great vacation book because it sounds sexy and funny at the same time.

Shy No More Worksheet

Name: Jasmine Burns
Imagine the person who intimidates you. Naked. I'm intimidated by Josh Toby, the world's biggest movie star. Who has to imagine him naked? I've seen it on a forty-foot screen.
Breathe deep. Did I mention he's Josh Toby? As his costume designer, I'm supposed to dress him. And undress him. Oh, and my psychic sister Amy, who has never been wrong, named him my One True Love. Breathing is completely out of the question.
Ask for what you want. What I want is for him to stop being so...irresistible! I want not to fall in love with a man who's stalked by the paparazzi, whose washboard abs could cut glass, and whose movie star girlfriend is the most stunning creature ever.
Believe you can do what needs to be done. Then do it. So, all I have to do is believe I can resist Josh Toby. Resist those deep violet eyes, those strong, muscular arms, and the way he makes me feel like the only woman on earth. Couldn't be easier. Yeah right...

• Last year I discovered Sarah Mayberry, so when I saw she also had a novel with a movie star hero title Burning Up, I added it to my book reading wishlist.

Somebody get some ice... it's steamy in here!

Spending a month as personal chef for an overindulged--and mouthwatering--man? Sophie Gallagher is so up for the challenge. She's immune to charm...or so she thinks. Because when big-screen star Lucas Grant turns up the temptation, she discovers--up close and personal--he's earned the name hottest man alive.

Sophie is fun, vivacious and couldn't be further from Lucas's bimbo bombshell type. Much to his surprise, she's captivated him. But as sizzling as they are between the sheets, once his hiatus is over, the credits will roll on this fling. Saying goodbye, however, isn't as easy as he'd thought. Will this production be The End of the Affair... or Love Actually?

• Then of course there's Susan Elizabeth Phillips, who it seems that I have majorly been missing out on between her football heroes and her movie star romance heroes.  I've got to put her on my list of authors to try this year.  She has quite a few titles with movie star heroes so instead of listing them all separately here, I just included them in the Amazon widget below.

How about you?  Do you like movie star romance heroes?  If so what are some of your favorites?  Which ones did I NOT mention that you would recommend? Do you watch the Academy Awards, or are you like me and just watch the pre-show to see the red carpet fashions (or just the recaps later)?  Have you seen any of the movies that have been nominated this year?  I have to admit that I don't think I've seen any of the movies nominated for best picture, best actor or best actress.  I used to, but not so much anymore...maybe that's why I love movie romance novel stars instead :)

How would you like the chance to win a few of my Red Carpet Romance Heroes picks?  Berkley romance was very kind in offering to giveaway Julie James's Just the Sexiest Man Alive, and Forever romance has offered to giveaway Diana Holquist's Sexiest Man Alive so you have the chance to win two times the sexy! Here's how you can enter to win....

Here are the rules:

• Mandatory:  Answer any or all of the questions I asked in the post, favorite red carpet romances, favorite movie star, Oscar predictions, the fashions? Share the Hollywood love in the comments and you are entered to win.   (good for 1 entry)
• Mandatory: You MUST be a Google Friend Connect (GFC) follower in order to be eligible to win (unfortunately an email subscriber, or subscription in Google reader, and a follower are not the same thing so make sure you are signed up as a follower if you'd like to win this book)
• If you have a blog, or even if you don't, you can earn extra entries by telling your friends. If they successfully enter to win and mention that you sent them you can each earn extra entries. You can blog about it with a link to this post, post it on Facebook, Twitter, email...or even word of mouth (good for 5 entries for the referrer and the commenter for each friend) . Please note that to earn the points they must mention your GFC name so that I can match you.
• Purchase any item from the Seductive Musings Amazon store by using this link, or the Amazon widget contained within this post and email a copy of your purchase receipt to me no later than the deadline to enter (email available in sidebar). Sorry purchases made prior to this date do not apply, and link contained in this post must be used. No faxes or snail mail copies are allowed. No purchases are necessary to win. (good for 25 entries, or 50 entries if a purchase is made from the featured author's available titles)

How to enter:

• You can choose to enter as many different ways that you want, but please place all of your entries in ONE comment 

Rules and disclaimers:

• This contest has several different restrictions.  Please see above for specific details
• You must be at least 18 years or older, or of legal age in your country
• The contest will end on March 4th at 11:59 pm EST and winners will be posted after they have been selected
• Winner(s) will be selected using Random.org
• The winner(s) will have THREE days from the date they are posted to provide a mailing address. If you do not contact me within three days a replacement winner will be selected. NO EXCEPTIONS
• The book(s) will be mailed directly from the publisher or author and no substitutions are allowed
• Winners will be subject to one copy per household, which means that if you win the same title in two or more contests, that you will only receive one copy of the title in the mail
• Seductive Musings is not responsible for prizes that are not honored, distributed in a timely manner, lost, stolen, or damaged during transit 
• All giveaways are subject to change/cancellation without prior written notice

Good Luck!

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

Read more...

So Let Me Ask you this....

If authors had the option to do a live chat with Musings readers instead of doing a guest blog post, or an interview of some sort.....would that be something that you would like to participate in?  If the chat was in the evenings what times work best for you?  And if it were only scheduled for one night...a regular night....what day of the week would you be most likely to attend?

Up until this point the only options that I had found that would make this possible were fee based, but I discovered a great free option today so this opens up all sorts of possibilities....but it wouldn't be any fun it if were just me and the author :)

Tell me your thoughts.  Chats....love 'em, or hate em?  If you participate in chats what are your likes, dislikes and pet peeves?  Inquiring minds (me) would like to hear what you have to say.

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

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Winners

Here we are week # 120....well, not really but it seems like it.  Last week I choose a new replacement winner for the Maggie Robinson giveaway (Sheree) but she was just as lucky as the previous replacement winner which means I still need a winner!   So the new winner for Maggie Robinson's Mistress by Midnight AND Mistress by Mistake is Musings follower....

gamistress66

To celebrate the release of Laura Navarre's newest historical romance, THE DEVIL'S TEMPTRESS, she would like to giveaway a digital copy of the book to one lucky Musings follower.

Pam S (pams00)

To celebrate the release of Christina Phillips's second book in her Forbidden series, Captive, she would like to giveaway a copy of either FORBIDDEN or CAPTIVE (your choice) to one lucky Musings follower. 

Tore

The next and possibly last winner in my Epically big Outlander giveaway is Musings follower....

Princess Aurora

(2 copies)

Congratulations!   As always, you can click on any of the links or the book covers found on this blog to purchase the books you are dying to read...even if you didn't win them.  If you didn't win one of these, don't lose heart because I'll have some new ones for you soon!

If however,  you've been lucky enough to have already won these book(s) in another giveaway please let me know so that alternate winner(s) can be selected.  The winners will have until Friday February 25th to contact me with your mailing address, otherwise alternate winner(s) will be selected.  The exception to this rule is all of the winners from the Fantasy Football giveaways...since you completed the form with your mailing addresses you DON'T need to email me to confirm. For new followers to Seductive Musings please take note I do NOT email you that you have won.  The blog post serves as the announcement and it is your responsibility to contact me with your mailing address. You can send your mailing address to me by using the Contact link in the menu bar at the top of the blog then filling out the form.

*I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small (and I mean very small) referral fee for purchases made using a link on this blog. I don't use Amazon to earn money, I use it because the widgets are cool, easy to use, and serve my purposes to showcase books & such with minimal effort, but most importantly they have great prices and offer both new and used items. As a book addict I love that I can find just about anything I want in one place. If you are going to purchase a featured book anyway, and you know you won't pay more by using the links on this blog than you would by visiting Amazon on your own, I will be eternally grateful for supporting this blog by using the links, and don't forget that the referral fees from your purchases will sponsor the "Reader Rewards" giveaways :)

Read more...