Zahir - Her Ruthless Sheikh: 50 Loving States, New Jersey

4/5 Stars

Multicultural

Pages: 220

Zahir is the second book of the Ruthless Tycoon’s series by Theodora Taylor. It gives us lawyer “Prin” Jones and King Zahir of a fictional country called Jahwar. The story begins where the first of the series, Holt, started – at a party. When the couple meets, Prin is a student who’s been invited by the prince of her young dreams who also happens to attend her school. Unfortunately, following a case of mistaken identity, she finds herself in the arms of her prince’s brother, Zahir. Although their encounter is a steamy one, it ends in insults, anger, and a seemingly intense dislike. Ten years later Prin, now a lawyer, arrives in the country of Jahwar to attend her best friend Sylvie’s wedding. A wedding that’s being hosted by the now King Zahir. The animosity between Prin and Zahir hasn’t died, particularly on Zahir’s side. He’s cold, rude, and dismissive. When Prin needs a favor things blow up. One argument and a kiss in anger and Prin finds herself marrying her enemy. Although it isn’t meant to last, the two must overcome their dislike and cultural differences for the length of their marriage.

With These Four Rings by Ana E. Ross

Published: June 2015

Pages: 245 pages

Diversity: Multicultural

Rating: 3 out of  5

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review*

Today I'm reviewing the fifth book in the Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls series by Ana E. Ross. In general I'm a fan of the series which is always a bit of fun escapism with some very sexy men. For me the series ended with book 4; however, much to my surprise the author released With These Four Rings, which is sort of a follow-up to the original four books. I walk away from it with mixed feelings. Parts of it I really enjoyed, others not so much. It may be easiest to break it down by couples:

Mine Tonight by Lisa Marie Perry

Mine Tonight is the fourth installment of the The Blue Dynasty series by Lisa Marie Presley. The series revolves around the Las Vegas Slayers, a fictional football team marred by a scandal caused by its former owner. It is also about the Blue family who now owns it. Unlike previous books, a member of the Blue family is not the focus in Mine Tonight. Instead, the story focuses on one of the previous owner's sons - Santino Franco (his brother Nate was in Book 1), and Bindi Paxton his father's ex-fiancee. Santino is a former player for the Slayers who suffered a devastating injury due to his father's machinations. These injuries have had a profound and life-altering affect on Santino who sets out to find his fleeing father. To do that he needs help from his father's gold-digging ex-fiancee, Bindi. Bindi is a woman with whom he's never gotten along with, yet she is also a woman that he has more feelings for than he's comfortable with. Bindi is rethinking her gold-digging ways and taking a hard look at her life. She relunctantly agrees to help Santino, but she's got a bit of an agenda of her own. She too has feelings for Santino. Can these two overcome their history, find Santino's father, and find love together despite the lies between them?

Forever with You by Farrah Rochon

Forever with You is a story that takes place in a town called Gauthier. Ms. Rochon apparently pens a series called Bayou Dreams that, I believe, centers around this fictional town and his populated by characters who play a minor role in this book. Despite its connection to the series, Forever with You is a standalone title and I had very little difficulty understanding what was going on, and I think other readers will find it easy to follow as well.

Now to my review. This is a very sweet and tame tale about a widowed mother named Leslie who has two girls. Her life is all about raising her daughters following the death of her husband some years ago. When not focused on raising her daughters, her life focuses on work and her place as president of the Parents Teacher Organization. Some people in town, especially the little old ladies at church, feel it's time for Leslie to meet a man, but that isn't a part of her plan. If only the new principle wasn't so tempting! Gabriel

Taken by Koko Brown

I want to start off by saying that the cover of Taken is one of my favorite covers of the year. It is striking in the intensity of the model's stare and clearly it's not a cover that has launched a thousand previous books.This guy just seems to stare through you (even though he's a bit heavy on the smudgy eyeliner) and dares you to pass up on the opportunity to read his story inside. With that cover and a fair idea of what the book was about, I was pretty certain I was in for a fantastic few hours of reading. I mean, this had all of the makings of a book that I should have loved. A story set in the early 1900s. African-American siblings who were not destitute, but educated and successful. A heroine who's a nurse in 1908, and a foreign hero, arrogant and unwilling to take no for an answer. Strong and plucky, our heroine is someone who would keep our hero on his toes and make him work for her affections. Add in a journey to Africa and rich, descriptive writing - well, just gimme a comfy spot, a glass of wine and don't interrupt me I'm reading. Sigh. Unfortunately, Taken didn't earn the five star rating that I would like to give it.

Love Edy by Shewanda Pugh

I don't read YA romance books for the most part. Reading about kiddies in love and angst really doesn't hold much appeal to me as an adult woman. That's not meant to be judgmental of anyone who does enjoy this genre, it just ain't for me. Because it is so popular however, I figured I would give Love Edy a shot (plus I'm really loving that cover). Well I'm happy to say that not only did I read it, but I ended up liking Love Edy. Quite a lot actually and I'm so glad that I gave it a try. The author has a very beautiful voice and the words just seemed to flow in the telling of this story. It grabbed me from the start and held my interest and curiosity captive until the book was finished. There were some things that I didn't care for, but the good outweighed the bad in my opinion.

Flower in the Desert by Lavender Parker

I am super excited about sharing my review of Flower in the Desert with all of you. This is surprisingly the first book that I've personally had the pleasure of reading by author Lavender Parker. So what made me pick up this one? There was just something about that cover and the title that just caught my attention. It's just that simple. And of course it didn't hurt that it is only $0.99! I one-clicked it and I am so glad that I did! I really didn't plan to read the entirety of this book when I downloaded it, but I was just a bit curious since my trigger finger didn't give me time to read the sample first. Once I started reading I found Flower in the Desert to be a very engaging and exciting book that I just kept on reading until the end.  But I'm jumping ahead of myself...

For Love & Liberty: Untold Love Stories of the American Revolution by Alyssa Cole, Lena Hart, Kate McMurray, and Staey Agdern

For Love & Liberty is an anthology set during the Revolutionary War. It is unique in that it is not only culturally diverse, but also features a m/m storyline. Typically Revolutionary War romances only tell the story of one type of couple, so initially this intrigued me. There are four stories featured in this anthology. In the first story entitled Be Not Afraid we have a love story with a hero who is a slave fighting as a Patriot and a heroine who is a runaway slave who has decided to take her chances with the British and their offer of freedom away from America. The second novella is A Sweet Surrender and the hero is a British soldier who is nursed back to health secretly by the heroine who is a Native American/African woman. The third story, Rebels at Heart, is a m/m story about an ex-slave and an eccentric American man who masquerades as a British man of wealth. The final short called Home, is the story of a young Jewish couple who are faced with war days before they are to marry and the choices that they must make for their future.

The Bad Death by Naima Haviland

I wish that I could say that I liked this book, but unfortunately it was a miss for me in many ways. The story is basically about a slave woman named Anika (or Annie) who is possessed by the spirit of a modern ballet dancer (who Anika and the other slaves call a hag). The spirit that has hitched a ride in Anika's body is in love with Anika's master Julian. Anika on the other hand is attracted to Marcus, another slave who acts as an overseer on the plantation. There's somewhat of a love triangle going on, but it isn't the main storyline. There are monsters called plat-eyes who are drinking people's blood and either killing them or turning them into plat-eyes as well. When a person is turned to a plat-eye they've died a "Bad Death" because they didn't die and stay dead the way that they should have. As you can guess a plat-eye is a vampire and there's a whole lotta death happening on the plantation. Anika becomes the go to person to kill the vampires.


I'm a fast reader so it rarely takes me a long time to read a book. The Bad Death was so confusing however, that I could barely force myself to continue. A week in and I was just at the halfway mark and contemplating throwing in the towel, however, out of courtesy to the author who had lent me a copy I felt obligated to stick it out.

The Pros: Marcus. Here was a great character who did what he thought was best for his fellow slaves even if it was unsavory. He is an intelligent and proud man and was the one character who stood out. This might seem insignificant, but I liked the cover art. It's vibrant and Anika's eyes are mysteriously haunting and intense. It's also refreshing to see a cover that isn't on every other IR or AA romance that's currently on the market.

The Negatives: There are several areas that were a problem for me, such as the depiction of slave life on the plantation. I also really didn't care for the whole ballet aspect of it. Ballet (yes ballet) seems to give Anika the skills necessary to fight the vampires but it just seemed silly to me. I also wish I could have learned more about the hag. We get flashbacks as the hag makes Anika dance, but they are disjointed and don't really reveal anything that you haven't already figured out. Julian is another problem for me. He was just too annoying in his refused to listen and seemed weak minded to me. He was the one person everyone felt had to be protected from the truth. The ending was also a negative for me because it didn't really end anything. There were so many loose threads and unanswered questions that I just felt frustrated.


My Final Thoughts: The Bad Death had a lot of potential and I was initially very excited to have the opportunity to read it. Unfortunately it was too unbelievable in too many ways for me to enjoy. Although the ballet aspect seemed silly to me, it was a potentially clever and original effort that missed its mark.


Note: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Ratings: 2 Stars
Publication Date: August 29, 2013

Pages:  494

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