Review: The Circle Eight: Tobias

Rating: 3.5 stars

Title: Tobias

Series: The Ciirlce Eight #6

Author: Emma Lang

Genre: Historical Western Romance

Source: ARC provided by Bewitching Book Tours

Cover: 5 stars

Characters: 3.5 stars

Plot:3.5 stars

Heat: 2 stars

Freshness: 3 stars

Addictiveness: 3 stars

Total:(14/16) 3.5 stars

Rebecca Graham has chosen her prince when she was still a teen. Sadly he has proven to be a toad. Now, five years later, she is the town's healer, has a satisfying life, and has her heart locked inside of her chest. However, none of this prevents her for falling again for the same jerk.  Does she like to suffer? Can she avoid him? Or is destiny telling her they are fated to be together?

Tobias Gibson has been destined from birth to be a bad person. When his grandfather dies, he almost left earth with him. Five years later he has barely manage to survive. Living without proper hygiene, getting drunk all the time, has been his career for these last years. When tragedy hits his family once again, he decides to man-up and help out. What he is not expecting is life's curve ball in the form of his old love Rebecca Graham. Does a man deserves second chances? What about third? 

Tobias is the sixth book of a western series that involves a family of eight and the hard life at the 1800's. Haven't read previous books from this series, I believe I have miss some important facts of the family's history, that would definitely have enriched my read.

This book has a well written plot, with good characters and a great setting. Rebecca is a good example of a strong Texan woman that veers away from the standard to create a path for herself. Tobias, I have separated in two. The first-part-of-the-book Tobias, is not one that I like. Is a bit irrational, from my part but, I have a big thing with hygiene and cleanness, and just reading about him living in a shackle, pissing and pooping almost anywhere, was a bit of a turn-off for me. I know the building of this description has a point in the story, but it kept distracting me with out-of-places thoughts. The second-part-of-the-story Tobias, I like. He is a man looking for redemptions, better yet, he is a clean man, proactively going after redemption. 

Ms. Lang has catch my interest, and I'm really looking forward to read about Cat and Benji's books. In fact they are very appealing characters.Now, I know I'm going back to reading the previous books of the series, so I can better how the characters evolve through the time.

You may read this book because you've been following this series from the start; you should read this book because you like western romances; but you MUST read this book because you like to see someone break-out of their shell and rebirth!

"She thought she knew what love was, but she was so very wrong. It wasn't a fluffy, pretty cloud to catch and admire. It was an elemental connection between two hearts and souls, the essence of life.""

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Review: Julia's Double Chance

Rating: 4 stars

Title: Julia's Double Chance

Series: Madame's Joly's House of Passion 1

Author: Em Ashcroft

Genre: Erotic Historical Ménage Romance

Source: ARC provided by Manic Readers

Cover: 3.5 stars

Characters: 5 stars

Plot: 4 stars

Heat: 5 stars

Freshness: 4 stars

Addictiveness: 3.5 stars

Total: 4 stars (19/24)



Charles Tait and Snow Mason are great with finances. Even without a title they are some of the richest men in London. Right now, they are bored with their life. They don't have much else to conquer and they are tired of the old games at whores houses. What they need is the challenge of finding a woman of their own. When business brings Lady Ashcott their way, they know they have found what they are looking for. Sadly, they can be her heroes, but she cannot be their salvation. She is a lady, and they will never be respectable enough for her. Would fate throw her into their path, if there couldn't  be any hope for them?

Lady Julia Ashcott has just become a widow. After doing what is best for her family by marrying an old friend of her father that was forty years older than her, she decides she has paid her due. Now, she will please herself. When once again her father tries to take her power away from her, she looks for help at the hand of the two young gentleman that will set her finances straight. They are offering a lot more, is she daring enough to take it?

Julia's Double Chance is a refreshing take on erotic ménage. It has the good descriptive sex scenes that is usually found on ménage reads, but they have a vintage vibe that has worked perfectly for a historical. The author's choices of  props for the scenes are so creative, that has given me a permanent smile through out the story. It feels like a sexy black and white movie. Classy!

Ms. Ashcroft's characters are very likable and easy to connect. The pace is good and the writing is very well done. 

You may read this book because you enjoy ménage reads, you should read this book because you enjoy Georgian's tales, you MUST read this book, because is innovative and refreshing!

"Am I a wanton?" "A complete hussy, but only the three of us need to know that."

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Review: Highland Wolf Pact

Rating: 4.5 stars

Title: Highland Wolf Pact

Series: A Sottish Werewolf Shifter 

Author: Selena Kitt

Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance

Heat: 3 stars

Source: ARC provided by the author in exchange of an honest review

Cover: 5 stars

Characters: 5 stars

Plot: 5 stars

Heat: 3 stars

Freshness: 5 stars

Addictiveness: 4 stars

Total: 4.5 stars (21/24)

I would buy Highlland Wolf Pact in any store without even reading the blurb. I find it's cover hot, sexy and classy. I love the play of the black and white and I love at how regal it seems. It's also perfectly fitting for the main character.

This story is captivating and different than anything else I've read before. Ms. Kitt, has taken the world of shifters, a sub-genre that I love to read, and has stamped her own mark into it. 

Sybil is an English lady that was raised by her father as if she were a boy. After his death her uncle set up a marriage for her in a strange new place, to a horrible husband. Without thinking it through, she runs away from her fiancee an find a whole new world she could have never imagined.

"There were far more frightening things in the world, she was coming to realize, than what an old women and men told youngsters around the fire to scare them into being good."

This book is a fast-paced thriller that takes the reader into a whole new idea of werewolves and highland warriors. The plot is masterfully created by the author, not letting any loose holes in it. It's not as hot as  Ms. Kitt's books usually are, but the romance is beautifully described and the chemistry between characters is undeniable.

I have enjoyed  this new book immensely, and I'm looking forward to this series. I would recommend this book to any reader that enjoy historical and shifters and like to be surprised once in a while to some fresh new ideas.

"They were wild, untamed, a close-knit pack of warriors, the men strong and protective, the women nearly as strong and just as territorial."

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Review: Shunned no More

Shunned No More by Christina McKnight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 stars
historical romance, book one of a series
ARC provided by Bewitching Book Tours in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Lady Viola is filled with guilty and regrets. She runs away and hides from society because she doesn't want to face her actions as an immature teenage girl.
Lord Brock Spencer is filled with anger. He has run away in the past from the foolish life of the court, but now he has came back to fulfill his duties.
Viola must face her past, Brock must face his present. Will there be a future for them?

cover 4 stars

I really like. I would buy this book in a bookstore. I would have understood by looking at it that it was a historical romance. I enjoy the color and the woman's expression.

characters 4 stars

I like Viola, at least the Viola she has become, and I can understand how foolish a seventeen years old can be.
I like Brock and I understood all the emotions he was faced with.
Some great secondary characters such as Ruby and Harold.
Characters were easy to relate, connect and love.

plot 3.5 stars

Ms. McKinight has created a good plot filled with emotions. The characters are faced with consequences of rushed decisions in a fast-paced plot packed with mystery, deceptions, guilty, rage and all sort of feelings.
The book was easy to follow and it kept me guessing until the end. The romance intertwined was breathtaking in it's purity of emotions.
My one complain is that I wanted more of their relationship and less of their history, so I could have seen more of them together.

heat2 stars

The characters have good chemistry but there isn't many scenes of them together as a couple.

freshness 4 stars

I have really enjoy the idea of the lady being in the wrong. Is not often that we read a heroine as being wrong and not being offered excuses for her behavior. The story is one of redemption, but never of taking the blame away from the character. Really well crafted!

Impressions and Opinion

What I really liked the best about this book was it's strong plot and the author being able to perfectly executed her ideas. It was not the conventional historical plot, on which the lord is a rake and the lady is a damsel in distress.
This book is a journey of redemption, of second chances, of making it better, of making it work.
It did really work for me.
I wish the author would have added a few more scenes of the couple together, a little bit more of the romance per se.
I'm looking forward to reading more from the author.

"It didn't matter. She had the evening's entertainments to prepare for and an image to uphold- no matter the cost to her soul."


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