The Basics:
Unrestrained by Rhyll Biest
Escape Publishing
Romance
Published November 8, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo
Why I picked up this book:
Well the cover was a decent lure, and I liked the sounds of the blurb.
The Basics:
A Basic Renovation by Sandra Antonelli
Escape Publishing
Romance
Published February 1, 2013
Amazon.ca Kobo
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Blurb:
When it comes down to it, rats in the oven trumps Lesley’s desire to never set eyes on another Brennan family member. So Lesley, a pro at property redevelopment, scrambles to Dominic Brennan’s hardware store for supplies. Dominic knows poison — rat and otherwise — and he sees it in Lesley. The woman ruined his brother’s life. Now that she’s back in town, Dominic’s afraid she’ll drag up the past, the secrets, and the pain. They clash immediately, but mix in a teenage boy, a puppy, some white paint, and some loud music, and what starts as cold fury transforms into a nuclear attraction. This basic renovation becomes a major life refurbishment for them both.
Why I picked up this book:
I'm usually a fan of Harlequin books (Harlequin in Australia is behind Escape Publishing), and this one looked promising what with the cute cover (cute dress, cute boots!), and the potential for comedic crossed wires.
My Thoughts:
Sometimes you pick up a book to read at the exact right time: the book is exactly what you needed in those moments. This was one of those books. I don't know if it was actually as good as I thought it was because I read it at the height of a particularly bad cold, BUT, I loved this book. It kept me happy while I was laid up sick, and that's really the most I wanted from it.
Dominic and Lesley have complicated past and when she comes back to her hometown to flip a house, it all gets splayed out all over town. I loved the tension between these two - both so certain that nothing could ever come of their attraction -, and I appreciated the fact that as each lie from the past was unveiled, their relationship hit increasingly rocky grounds.
There was some business with Lesley's grandfather courting a woman which made me think of the grandmother in the Stephanie Plum books - a supporting character whom I tolerate marginally better than many others as that series grinds on and on (curse you Ranger for bringing me back over and over again!). GP, as Lesley calls him, isn't as irritating, and there's something kind of sweet about his scheming. I kept picturing my grandfather-in-law and my great grandfather who were both active into their early 90s and it made me grin to think of them getting up to these antics. Also, it made me picture a lot of that side of the story happening in slow motion, even while I was zipping through the book.
The relationship between Dominic and his son, Kyle, is so down to earth and... guy-like? Is that a thing? The man-to-man conversations they shared were amusing, awkward, I'd like to think insightful. I liked the way they spoke to each other, and I could completely understand Dominic's worry for his sixteen-year-old as he lobbied for car ownership. I tend to steer away from romance novels where kids are involved (out of habit at this point rather than a preference), but I'm so glad I picked this one up. This relationship was as rewarding as the one between Dominic and Lesley.
Bottom line:
I recommend this one, definitely. There's some heartbreak in it, there's lots of humour as things go from bad to worse in spectacular fashion, there's love at all ages!
5 stars
For fans of contemporary romance, love-hate relationships, renovations, the Stephanie Plum series
The Basics:
Awakening the Warriors by S. E. Gilchrist
Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises Australia)
Erotica, Science Fiction
Published May 1, 2013
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Blurb:
Fran must have been crazy to leave her ordinary (and safe) life and volunteer as a colonist to terra‐form a new earth. Now she is trapped in a prison cell on an alien planet a zillion miles from home and bound for a hideous death in notorious research chambers.
She has one chance of escape. Awaken the long dormant sexual urges of the Darkon Warriors shackled in the next cell.
A desperate job, but someone has to do it.
Why I picked it up:
I picked this up on the strength of the blurb alone. I liked the idea of this prisoner needing to awaken the desires of multiple men also held as prisoners.
What worked for me:
Awakening the Warriors has a lot of potential.
There's a rich universe to learn about - Gilchrist has published previous works set in it, and it looks like she has another coming out in February 2014. There's enough detail about it in this novella to make me curious, but not so much that I feel like I could really strongly describe what makes it tick.
I liked Fran, and I liked that she knew that a fair amount of the pull she felt for the two warriors was related to biology rather than simple lust or some sudden onset of love. I wanted to know more about her, and how she and the Darkon warriors related to each other. The warriors themselves felt less detailed but were still intriguing enough that I want more of them.
The escape was well-written - Gilchrist is clearly comfortable writing action scenes. I could easily picture what was happening and was rooting for *everyone* to make it out alive.
What didn't work for me:
There's too much happening in this novella for me to really sink my teeth into anything - and boy did I want to do that to those Darkon guys. They sound quite lovely, but I didn't feel like the erotica got enough screen time. For one, it takes no effort on Fran's part to awaken the Warriors: being present is apparently enough to turn the guys on, despite their wounds. Then there's a whole escape and travel time afterwards that's virtually void of anything steamy. Which on the one hand is fair enough - these characters have other things on their mind. But on the other hand, when they do come back together, it's pretty jarring.
I think I would have been happier if the erotica had been a little dirtier, grimier to fit the setting, and if there was only the barest implication of an emotional bond - perhaps one entirely based on having saved each other's skins, or one set off by the aforementioned biology. This easily could have been/could be the novella prologue to a more science fiction-based story featuring the same three characters with a menage flair.
Bottom line:
This erotic novella is muddled by having to do too much with too few words. There's a lot of universe lore to fit in so that we have a frame of reference, there's an escape plot, there's what seems like set-up for another novella or novel in this universe, and there's the erotica itself.
I think it would have benefited from another 25 pages or dropping one of those elements. Didn't love it, but there's so much here that I *want* to love, I'll look for Gilchrist's other work.
3 stars
For fans of science fiction erotica, S.E. Gilchrist
