[BOOK REVIEW] Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

Title:  Devil in Winter

Author: Lisa Kleypas

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2006

Number of Pages: 455 pages

Date Read: 3/31/2011

Series: Wallflowers #3   

Publisher:  Avon

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 I have recently been reading Lisa Kleypas' “Wallflower” series and so far, I have enjoyed the series immensely!  This time, I have read the third book in the “Wallflower” series called “Devil in Winter” and in this book, we are introduced to the relationship between Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent and Evangeline Jenner!  Full of drama, forbidden love, and a rake that you would have never seen reforming himself, “Devil in Winter” will certainly go up any romance novel fans' alley!

Evangeline Jenner (Evie, for short), the shyest of the Wallflowers, has escaped from her terrible relatives to marry someone powerful enough to get her out of her terrible situation and the one person that Evie encounters to make the dangerous proposition of marriage is none other than the notorious rake Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent!  Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent may seem like the most dangerous man around London, but Evie will soon discover that there might be a warm side to Sebastian that no one else has ever seen.

After reading "It Happened One Autumn", I kind of did not have any feelings for Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent after he kidnapped Lillian Bowman and I was wondering to myself about how Sebastian would be able to redeem himself after that fiasco.  Well, when I read this book, I was just blown away by how Lisa Kleypas was able to make the former notorious rake into quite a charming and kindhearted hero of this story!  I honestly loved the couple Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent and Evangeline Jenner and  I will admit that I thought that the match was a little odd because Evie is so shy and Lord St. Vincent was so vindictive and cold when we first met him, but Lisa Kleypas was able to make that odd pair up work so well in this story that I found myself cheering on for the couple.  Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent was truly a one of a kind hero in this book because it was so surprising for me to see him transform from a cold rake to a loyal and kind character the moment he met Evie and I just loved the way that Sebastian would do anything to protect Evie from any kind of danger that befalls her and believe me Evie is constantly threatened throughout the book, but Sebastian was always there to rescue her.  I also loved seeing the deeper side of Sebastian, as he was at first frustrated with Evie because he did not know about what love is all about since he has spent most of his life chasing after women and never really getting into a serious relationship. Probably my most favorite moment with Sebastian was when Evie's horrible uncle, Uncle Peregrine tried to take Evie back to her relatives and Sebastian single-handily beats up the uncle and if that does not score sexy points for Sebastian, I do not know what does!

Evangeline Jenner is currently my most favorite heroine in the romance novel universe because she may be shy at first, but as the book goes along, she become a strong and caring person.  What I really loved about Evie is that she truly cares about Sebastian and all her friends and my favorite moment with Evie was when Sebastian got extremely ill after he got shot and Evie was there to comfort him in his time of need.  That moment there truly showed me how much Evie truly cared about Sebastian and how she was always willing to help out anyone, no matter how dangerous the situation is.  The true highlight of this book for me was Sebastian and Evie's relationship with each other as they started out as the usual bickering couple you would see in many romance novels, but as the book progresses, they became an extremely loving couple to puts all other romance couples to shame.  What made Sebastian and Evie's relationship so magical was how Evie's stammering (which she was well known for) had immediately stopped when she started spending time with Sebastian and that right there proved to me that love can cure almost anything.  I thought it was really cute about how Sebastian would literally crumble whenever he is near Evie since he has never known what it was like to love someone and that gave us a lot of cute moments between Evie and Sebastian.

There are many sex scenes in this book so if anyone feels uncomfortable about reading these scenes, then they can skip over these scenes if it is too much.

Overall, out of all of the “Wallflower” series I have read so far, “Devil in Winter” remains to be the most touching and emotional book of the series and it was magical to see both characters overcome their fears of society in order to be together! Lisa Kleypas fans, I would definitely recommend this book to absolutely anyone!! Now, I am going to read the next book in the “Wallflower” series, "Scandal in Spring"!

[BOOK REVIEW] It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas

Title:  It Happened One Autumn

Author: Lisa Kleypas

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2005

Number of Pages: 529 pages

Date Read: 3/24/2011

Series: Wallflowers #2

Publisher:  Avon

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

After reading Lisa Kleypas’ previous books "Again The Magic" and "Secrets of a Summer Night", I just had to read the second book in the Wallflower series called “It Happened One Autumn” which stars Lillian Bowman and Marcus, Lord Westcliff!  “It Happened One Autumn” is so full of drama, romance one awesome hero and heroine team that any romance fan will eat this book up!

American heiress Lillian Bowman came to London along with her family to pursue a worthy husband of her status.  However, Lillian seems to loathe the handsome yet headstrong Earl of Stony Cross Park, Marcus, Lord Westcliff as she believes that he is a snob and Marcus seems to loathe Lillian also since she is so stubborn.  But this couple will soon realize that their differences might bring them closer together.

*My, I am so breathless!* Oh my goodness, this book clearly defines what a true romance novel is all about!  I just practically love everything about this book – the characters, the plot and the romance!  I loved the way that Lisa Kleypas made the book extremely dramatic yet hilarious at the same time and what I really loved about Lisa Kleypas’ writing is how she made Lillian Bowman and Marcus, Lord Westcliff’s relationship seem so hilarious, especially when they are arguing so much.  I usually disapprove of couples fighting in romance novels, but in this case, the way that Marcus and Lillian argued was so cute!  It is like one moment Lillian and Marcus are arguing about how they should ruled each other’s lives and then the next minute, they are making love to each other!

As much as I loved the plot, the characters were the true highlights of this story!  My favorite characters in this book are of course, Lillian Bowman and Marcus, Lord Westcliff!  Lillian Bowman is truly one heroine I truly enjoyed as she Is not afraid to speak her mind, even in the face of danger and I loved the way that she easily stands up to Marcus and speaks on her opinions, which is an aspect of her character that I truly loved.  I also loved Lillian’s close relationship with the other Wallflowers which included her sister Daisy Bowman, Annabelle Peyton and Evangeline Jenner. Now, I would like to talk about Marcus, Lord Westcliff and man is he something else!  Marcus, Lord Westcliff is one amazing hero as he is described as being muscular yet lean and he is truly headstrong and also speaks his mind!  What I really loved about Marcus is how he truly has a heart full of gold, especially when it concerns Lillian and when Lillian is in grave danger, oh boy, watch out because Marcus can be really frightening when he is angry, which I really admit made me more attracted to his character!  I could go on and on about Marcus, but that would be an extremely long list to go through!  This romance novel is sex scenes galore as it is full of lovemaking scenes between Marcus and Lillian that will have your hairs stand on your ends!

There are many sex scenes throughout this book, so anyone who is uncomfortable with reading sex scenes might want to skip over these scenes when reading this book.

All in all, “It Happened One Autumn” is clearly a novel that defines what a true romance novel is all about and also features my favorite hero, Marcus, Lord Westcliff!  I am definitely going out of my way to read the next book in the Wallflower series, "Devil in Winter"!

[BOOK REVIEW] Tales from the Crib by Henrik Drescher

Title:  Tales from the Crib

Author: Henrik Drescher

Genre: Parenting / Humor


Year Published: 1995


Year Read: 2011

Publisher: Harvest Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sexual Imagery and Nudity)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

“Tales from the Crib,” that title does sound like “Tales from the Crypt” does it not? Well, this book has been on my bookshelf for awhile now and now I have finally got the chance to read this book! At first, I thought that author Henrik Drescher’s first adult book was “Turbulence: A Log Book,” but apparently I was wrong when I read this book. “Tales from the Crib” is an adult picture book by Henrik Drescher and it details the dark side of parents taking care of their children. “Tales from the Crib” might be a bit too crude and creepy, but the humorous set up of the dark side of parenting really made this book worth reading!

Alright, before I get into the pros of this book, I will now talk about what this book looks like because it is really does have an effective on how people view this book. The set up of this book is pretty creative if not a little deceiving because the book is shaped as a baby bottle and on the cover; there is a picture of a bunch of babies inside a crib. Sounds like a cute little book, does it not? WRONG! This book is truly one-hundred percent pure adult content! Henrik Drescher has certainly done a brilliant job with both the illustrations and the writing of this book; well, this book is technically not a novel, it is more like a picture book but I guess you could call it a graphic novel. If you ever get your hands on this book, then you can decide whether or not this book is a picture book or a graphic novel. I am going with “picture book” because there are mainly pictures in this book rather than words that complement the pictures and Henrik Drescher is mainly a visual author as most of his books use mainly images rather than words to describe the situations that the characters of his books go through. What I really loved about this book are the various phrases used to describe the dark situations that parents have to deal with when they have children such as “Bachelor hoodwinked” and “Post-Partum Interior.” Henrik Drescher’s illustrations are laugh out loud funny and creative as the illustrations are mostly shown in orange, black and white colors which give the illustrations a crude yet hilarious look. I also loved the way that the images take on the various phrases about child rearing in an extremely literal sense, such as the phrase “Post – Modern Interior” where there is an image of a couple sitting in a nice clean room and on the next page where the phrase is “Post-Partum Interior,” the couple is still sitting, but the room is really messy and is destroyed because there are children in the room wrecking the place apart. I also loved the way that Henrik Drescher draws the children as little mischievous devils which really reinforces the idea that children are a burden in this book, according to the dark side of parenting idea, as they have mischievous grins on their faces and have sharp teeth.

~WARNING! THERE IS A LOT OF ADULT CONTENT IN THIS BOOK! ~

Do not let the baby bottle shaped book fool you! This is clearly a book for ADULTS ONLY and here is why. There are two things in this book that is not a norm for children’s books:

SEX AND NUDITY!

There are sex and nudity abound in this book as there are images of nude parents and even some images of parents having sex and this sort of makes me feel a little uncomfortable which is why I took off half a point from the rating. It is one thing to read about sex and nudity in a romance novel, but it is another thing to actually see images of nudity and sex and the problem with that in this book is that the characters looked a bit creepy and it just made the nudity scenes so creepy to look at.

Overall, adults who want to read books about the dark side of parenting in a humorous light might love this book!

[BOOK REVIEW] The Bride by Julie Garwood

Title:  The Bride

Author:  Julie Garwood

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 1989

Number of Pages: 358 pages

Date Read: 2/28/2011

Series: Lairds' Fiancees #1

Publisher:  Atria

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Some Graphic Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now as you have noticed, I have been reading many historical romance novels lately and some of my favorite types of historical romance novels have to deal with Highlanders since the men in those novels are ultra sexy! Well, Julie Garwood’s “The Bride,” is definitely no exception and it was the first book that I have read from romance author Julie Garwood. “The Bride” is surely one hot romantic story that will set your romantic senses afire!

By order of King Henry and King Edgar, the strong and mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid to marry an English bride and who does he choose but a strong and independent woman named Jamie Jamison! At first, Jamie refused to get along with the mighty laird and Alec wanted to tame her strong heart, as these two are from two different worlds, they will soon realize that their different worlds might come together!

(Whew! Let me pull myself together here!) Alright, this book was so amazing that I am almost at a loss of words to figure out how to express my love for this book! Julie Garwood has certainly done an excellent job at writing this book as it is full of hot romance, drama and even a little humor here and there. I loved the way that Julie Garwood included so much humor in this romance novel as many romance novels that I had read in the past rarely contain a degree of humor. What I really loved the most about this book were the characters, especially Jamie and Alec, the two most interesting characters out of the entire book! Out of all the romance heroines that I have ever read about, Jamie had to be my favorite one! Jamie was such a strong and independent heroine as she had courage beyond all reason as she easily stood up to the supposedly dangerous Highlanders and can even fight like a lioness! I also loved the way that she cared for other people, especially her stepsisters whom she loved very much and how she refused to let anyone get in the way of doing her duties for her family.

Now Alec Kincaid, man he was truly something else that I had to save the best character for last! Alec Kincaid is easily one of the best heroes ever created as he is both gentle and strong in his nature. What I really loved about Alec Kincaid’s character was the fact that he is extremely strong, especially during the scene where he beats up a band of outlaws single-handily by using his bare hands (my heart is seriously pounding fast for the awesome power of this handsome Highlander!) I also loved the detail that Julie Garwood puts in describing Alec’s physical appearance, which is mainly muscled and huge and that makes him one sexy giant Highlander! I also loved the brief glimpses of Mary and Daniel’s relationship with each other and I am definitely looking forward to reading more about their relationship with each other. There are also many love making scenes that will have romance fans swooning over with joy and I was nearly swooning myself when I read these scenes!

There are many sex scenes in this novel and they are a bit graphic in nature, so anyone who does not like sex scenes might want to skip over these scenes.

Overall, “The Bride” is definitely a novel worth checking out and fans of Highlander romance will definitely enjoy this awesome novel and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of Julie Garwood’s works! 

* 1990 Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Single Title Historical 
* 1996 Romance Readers Anonymous (RRA) Award

[BOOK REVIEW] The Sandman: Fables and Reflections Volume 6 by Neil Gaiman

Title:  The Sandman: Fables and Reflections Volume 6

Author: Neil Gaiman

Artists: Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, and Kent Williams


Genre: Supernatural / Adventure / Fantasy


Year Published: 1990


Year Read: 2012


Series: The Sandman #6


Publisher: Vertigo Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating: Ages 15+ (Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 
 

After reading the fifth volume in Neil Gaiman’s fantastic “Sandman” series, “A Game of You,” I just had to read the sixth volume of the “Sandman” series called “Fables and Reflections.” In this volume, we are introduced to more miscellaneous stories that involve Morpheus and his siblings’ involvement with various characters’ dreams.

Just like the third volume of the “Sandman” series “Dream Country, “ “Fables and Reflections” is mainly a collection of different tales that detail the adventures that Morpheus and his siblings encountered when they are interfering with many people’s dreams. There are a total of nine stories in this volume and they are:

1) Fear of Falling

Morpheus helps a young man overcome his fears of possible failure in his acting career.

2) Three Septembers and a January

Morpheus and his siblings all pitch in to help an old man named Joshua Norton become emperor of the United States of America.

3) Thermidor

Morpheus helps a young woman named Lady Johanna Constantine retrieve the dismembered head of Orpheus in 17^th century France.

4) The Hunt

A Grandfather tells his granddaughter an old tale that details the adventures of Vassily and his visit to claim the hand of a beautiful princess.

5) August

This tale relates about how Augustus Caesar receives a special visit from Dream and decides to play the role of a beggar.

6) Soft Places

Marco Polo, famous explorer meets up with Fiddler’s Green and Dream.

7) Orpheus

This relates the dark tale of Orpheus who loses his love after she is killed by a snake and he decides to go down to the underworld to get her back.

8) The Parliament of Rooks

Matthew the Raven, Cain and Abel and Eve all tell twisted versions of certain biblical stories to Morpheus’ baby son, Daniel.

9) Ramadan

This relates the tale of a famous king in Baghdad named Haroun Al Raschid, who wishes to give up his city to Dream.

Like the third volume of the “Sandman” series, “Dream Country,” this is basically a collection of miscellaneous tales that detail the adventures that Dream and his siblings have with dealing with other people’s dreams and is not technically apart of the major story that was presented in “Preludes and Nocturnes,” “The Doll’s House,” “Season of Mists” and “A Game of You.” Neil Gaiman never ceases to amaze me with his talented writing and brilliant retelling of classic fairy tales and myths.  I always loved the dark and surreal world of Dream and his siblings and it was great seeing them do their duties in the dream world while meddling a bit in the dreams of various people.  Probably my favorite stories in this volume were “Thermidor,” “Orpheus” and “The Parliament of Rooks” because they were all mysterious and intense at the same time. What I loved about the story “Thermidor” was how a young woman was coming up with a plan that would save France from the Tyranny it was place on and the idea about a talking decapitated head was truly creepy yet interesting at the same time! I loved “Orpheus” as it was a truly sad tale with a gruesome ending that really made me feel for Orpheus’ loss of his wife.  “The Parliament of Rooks” was a truly unusual story as it retold many biblical stories such as “Adam and Eve” and “Cain and Abel” and put a dark twist to those stories. I really enjoyed how Neil Gaiman wove various mythologies (in the story “August”) and fairy tales (in the story “The Hunt”) into the “Sandman” stories and created a dark and interesting world within these stories.  Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, and Kent Williams’ artwork just truly stood out in this volume as they are truly beautiful and frightening to look at, especially of the images of the beautiful world that Orpheus lives in as we see green hillsides and gorgeous cliffs.  Since I am a huge fan of gory images, the details being made in the images where characters are beheaded and being torn to shreds was done expertly and I really cringed at the gory images of the characters being killed off in a gruesome fashion.

As with the other volumes in the “Sandman” series, this volume contains many gory scenes such as some scenes of rats being smashed and one scene where a person is beheaded and you can see blood spurt everywhere.  For readers who do not like reading gory scenes, these scenes might be a bit too uncomfortable for them to read.  Also, another problem I had with this volume is that some of the stories lack a bit of action and I often got a little bored with some of these stories and I wished that there was some kind of action going on in some of these stories that would keep me interested in the stories.

Overall, “The Sandman: Fables and Reflections” is a great volume that details the random adventures of Dream and his siblings, but it could have been a bit better if there was more action in the stories.

[BOOK REVIEW] Fairest of Them All by Teresa Medeiros

Title:  Fairest of Them All

Author: Teresa Medeiros

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 1995

Number of Pages: 301 pages

Date Read: 4/2/2012

Publisher:  Bantam Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I have read many books by Teresa Medeiros before, but never have I read a book that was as full of dark passions and trickery as this book!  “Fairest of Them All” is a romance novel by Teresa Medeiros which details how a young woman’s desire to get out of marrying any guy gets out of hand when she ends up being married to a rough Welshman!  “Fairest of Them All” has all the drama, dark romance and lies that will set any romance novel fan’s hearts aflutter!

Holly de Chastel was known as the fairest woman in all of England since her beauty cannot be rivaled by any other.  However, when her father decided to hold a tournament so that way she can be married to a man, Holly decides to put on an ugly appearance to repel all the men from marrying her.  However, Holly would never have guessed that a dark and handsome Welshman named Sir Austyn of Gavenmore would end up winning her hand in marriage and the world starts changing for Holly.  Holly soon realizes that her new husband Austyn has dark secrets that make him evasive from her and what will happen if Austyn discovers Holly’s deceit?

Oh my goodness! This romance novel was one hectic ride as it has levels of lies and deceit between this couples that cannot be rivaled with any other romance novel!  Teresa Medeiros has certainly done an impressive job at writing this story as it is intense from the very beginning and I love the way that Teresa Medeiros builds up the action throughout this novel as I was literally on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what is going to happen to the characters next.  What I really loved about this novel are the characters themselves (even though they have their flaws that annoys me a bit) and Teresa Medeiros wove these characters brilliantly as we were able to see all the things that they have suffered through and how they try to stay strong during their troubling situations.  Holly de Chastel might have spent the majority of the book deceiving her new husband, but she is shown to have a good heart and is willing to tell people what is on her mind, even if it puts her life in jeopardy and it was that aspect of her character that I really enjoyed!  Sir Austyn of Gavenmore is definitely one hero who is both frightening yet ultra handsome and dark at the same time!  I loved the way that Sir Austyn is extremely gentle with Holly when she put on an ugly appearance to steer him away, which proves that Sir Austyn not only judges Holly on her looks but he judges Holly on her character and personality.  It was interesting and terrifying at the same time to see Sir Austyn occasionally break out into a temper tantrum since he can be a really frightening person when angered and I will admit that I was shocked at some of the things he did to Holly in this novel.  I was also head over heels in love with Sir Austyn’s large and muscular body which really made me really want to be in his arms in this book!

For anyone who does not like sex scenes, there are a couple of sex scenes in this novel that are a bit graphic, so it would be best to skim over these scenes if anyone is uncomfortable with them.  One of the problems I had with this book is that Holly is often deceptive towards Austyn throughout this book when she put on an ugly disguise to get out of marrying him.  To be honest, I was glad that Holly did not keep up this deception throughout the entire book and only kept up with it midway through the book, but it was a bit annoying to me that she did not just tell Austyn about her disguise near the beginning of the book instead of letting it drag on for so long.

Overall, “Fairest of Them All” is a clearly brilliant book about lies and deception that romance fans will fall head over heels in love it for many years!