Free ebook Friday! Free read! Bastard by Brenda Novak

To some men honor is just a word….


Jeannette Boucher, a young French beauty from a family left penniless by the revolution, must marry against her will to save them all from ruin. But almost immediately after the vows are spoken, she learns that her old English husband is impotent—and in his desire for an heir, he plans to compromise her in the worst way.

Determined to escape such a fate, she stows away on one of His Majesty’s frigates. But a woman alone is in constant danger.

To Lieutenant Treynor, honor means everything….

Born a bastard to a wayward marquise, Lieutenant Crawford Treynor was given to a poor farmer to raise and was maltreated until he ran away to join the Royal Navy. Treynor is determined to prove he’s as good as any other man and rise to captain his own frigate. But once he finds Jeannette aboard The Tempest he must decide whether to return her to the man he knows would abuse her—or risk everything, even his life, to keep her safe.

Hurry and grab this book. These things don't stay on sale indefinitely and the regular price is $2.99. Try Brenda Novak out for free. I have not read any of her historicals and this one has great reviews so far.
get it here. I'm sorry this is for kindle users only. www.amazon.com/The-Bastard-ebook


Find out more about Brenda Novak and her books here www.brendanovak.com

Tiger Eye (Dirk & Steele Series #1) by Marjorie M. Liu

Review by Sarah
Back of the Book Blurb:

The first book in Marjorie M. Liu's extraordinary Dirk & Steele Series!

Long ago they roamed the earth — dragons, tigers . . . shapeshifters — men who wore the forms of beasts. Their world was magic. Now it is gone. But some remain . . .

He looks out of place in Dela Reese's Beijing hotel room— exotic and poignant, some mythic, tragic hero of an epic tale. With his feline yellow eyes, he's like nothing from her world. Yet Dela has danced through the echo of his soul and knows this warrior will obey her every command.

Hari has been used and abused for millennia. But he sees, upon his release from the riddle box, that this new mistress is different. There is a hidden power in Dela's eyes—and with her, he may regain all that was lost to him. Where once he savaged, now he must protect; where before he knew only hatred, now he must embrace love. Dela is the key.

For Dela, he will risk all.
Review: This is Liu's debut novel (2005) and the first book in the Dirk & Steele series (about a secret psychic detective/security type agency). It's a fun, fast read full of romance, action, magic and danger and I zipped right through it. As the novel begins, Dela is in China and buys an ancient puzzle box from a mysterious old woman. She is quickly assaulted by a creepy man who wants the box, but escapes and returns to her hotel room, where she opens it and out comes Hari. Hari is a seven foot tall hunky tiger shifter who was cursed to be imprisoned in the box over two thousand years ago, and is released as a slave to whoever buys and opens the box. Dela is horrified by Hari's story and promises to give him his freedom and try to break the curse. But before they can figure anything out an assassin comes to Dela's hotel room and attacks her. Soon Dela and Hari are being pursued by both an unknown assassin and an evil mage, and they head to the United States, where Dela has an extensive family and friend network of fellow psychics of varying abilities who are able to protect her and figure out who wants her dead.

The characters are really well developed in this book - Dela, Hari and the rest are believable, interesting, multi-dimensional, full of quirks and foibles. The relationship between Dela and Hari develops easily and naturally as they get to know each other, building trust, respect, affection and lots of lust. Liu can write sexy scenes with the best of them, and those scenes combined with a real sense of danger, and genuine humor as Dela brings Hari up to speed on the 21st century (he was last let out of the box 600 years ago), mark Liu as one of the best writers of paranormal romance. I've read several of her books, but this was the first Dirk & Steele book for me, and I am very excited to read the rest. Tiger Eye introduced at least a half dozen characters whose stories I can't wait to read.
5 out of 5 Modokker Book Pick Stars

Fore more information check out the author's website at www.marjoriemliu.com.

Harlequin Holiday Collection: Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

Review by Sarah
Back of the Book Blurb:


A struggling B&B owner scrambles to hide the dead body wrapped in her Christmas tree from a visiting camera crew—and from her still-irresistible reporter ex. A waitress and a sexy FBI agent mix business with pleasure while investigating a crime over the holidays. A crime lab worker finds herself in danger six days before Christmas...and only her off-limits but oh-so-attractive coworker can help. And two childhood friends rediscover their sense of wonder—and love—when reunited for the holidays.

Discover these four classic seasonal novellas:

And a Dead Guy in a Pear Tree by Leslie Kelly (2007)

Seduced by the Season by Merline Lovelace (2008)

Evidence of Desire by Debra Webb (2008)

Season of Wonder by Marta Perry (2002)



Review: Released as a free e-book in 2011, this collection includes four holiday-themed romance novellas. They were a fun, fast read and the first three were pretty good.

And a Dead Guy in a Pear Tree is the story of Zach and Holly, two college sweethearts who haven't seen each other in eight years, since they had a huge argument and misunderstanding. Holly has returned to her hometown and has turned her grandparents' mansion into a bed and breakfast. But the B&B isn't doing well, and her last chance to save the family home is to get good publicity from a famous TV travel show. But right before the TV crew shows up, a dead guy pops out of the Christmas tree she's just bought. Turns out he was an escaped criminal, and Zach, now a crime reporter, has tracked him to his hometown. He and Holly soon reunite, sparks fly, and there are some genuinely funny, zany shenanigans as they try to hide the dead guy until after the travel show has finished filming. This novella was fun, cute and sexy.

Seduced by the Season takes place in Dublin, Ireland and is notable for creating a very strong sense of place in a short story, using lots of history and detail to transport the reader into the story. Clint is an FBI agent on the trail of an art thief, and Sophie is a waitress at the local tavern. Clint is feeling out of his league on this case, as he knows nothing about art. When he learns that Sophie is working her way through her PhD in Irish art, he enlists her assistance to use her expertise. The fact that they are both incredibly attracted to each other adds romantic suspense to the story. Sophie is a bit of an odd character, as she is an American who likes to speak with a thick Irish brogue at times, but overall this was an entertaining and lovely story.

Evidence of Desire is the story of Olivia and Jacob, two crime lab forensic scientists. Olivia has just relocated from Boston, and has the hots for Jacob, who has shown zero interest in her. When Olivia starts to experience a string of suspiciously bad luck (car won't start, work goes missing, computer issues, she's being followed), Jacob helps her out and Olivia decides to throw herself at him, hoping for the best, in spite of the fact that her new workplace discourages office romances and Jacob has been little more than brusque with her. So although that felt stalkerish/forced, the mystery of Olivia's "bad luck" was well done and left me guessing until the end.

Season of Wonder is the only dud in the collection. It is the shortest of the four or else I wouldn't have finished it. Allison has returned to her family's island cottage to prepare it for selling. She is accompanied by her daughter, and is recovering from a divorce. When she gets to the island after an absence of 15 years, she soon meets up with her childhood friend David, who has been in love with her his whole life. Before their initial conversation is over David has agreed to be her free handyman thinking she's moving back, and Allison decides not to tell him she's getting it ready for sale. Nice, huh? Allison is condescending and snarky, and David keeps wondering what happened to his "angel-girl". His "angel-girl" says things like "I see you still say 'Hey' instead of 'Hi'" - so of course David mends her cold, broken heart and there's a happy ending. It was stiff, awkward and hard to read.

3 out of 5 Modokker Book Pick Stars

Check out Leslie Kelly's Harlequin Blaze title Slow Hands - it's currently being offered as a free e-book

Book Review: Four for Christmas by RG Alexander

Dreaming of a White Christmas led her straight into their arms…


In this holiday spin off of the bestselling novella Three For Me? Saving a man in a snowstorm leads Georgia Bale to an isolated cabin, where three men have an important promise to keep. A promise Georgia soon becomes caught up in herself.

She just wanted to survive Christmas, and her bad holiday karma. She had no idea that accepting a friend’s invitation to Colorado would lead her to her perfect man. Times three.

What does an eccentric writer do when a compassionate doctor, a dominant police officer, and a handsome adrenaline junkie only have eyes for her?

Use her imagination.

But when the storm clears, she’ll have to decide which path to take. The way back home, or the road less traveled.

Warning: A bit of heart tugging, excessive use of imagination, role playing (the dirty kind), foursomes, holiday magic, a guardian angel or two… and the kinky use of holiday themed beverages.


For starters i really loved the cover of this book. Covers are usually what first attracts me to a book. This one pops right out at you. I like all kinds of romance related genre's including erotica. It's not often as emotional as this one was. Georgia used to love Christmas and then suddenly it seemed to suck every year. She couldn't get into the spirit of it. She decides to visit her friend in Colorado for Christmas in the hope this year it would help her mood. In the mountains of Colorado in a snow storm she is a little lost and ends up with a flat on her rental SUV. Her faith dog Roux ( Isn't that the cutest name) gets out with her to change the tire and Roux runs off and finds a man in the snow. She ends up saving him and his foster brother ends up saving her when she starts feeling the effects of the cold in her southern outerwear. This sets her up in a cabin with 3 foster brothers. A doctor, a policeman and a adrenaline junkie. Three big ole strapping guys who of course are sexy as hell and as sweet as they come. She find herself attracted to all three and they to her. Her best friend is in a relationship with a guy and a girl, but is something like that for her?  This is the erotic part of the story but the heart tugging comes later. The three foster brothers ( Chris, James and  Flynn) used to be four. One was in the Marines and didn't make it home but he sent these gifts and letters to his brothers every year and this year they had the last one he sent.  Georgia had this awesome grandpa that used to tell her stories about her grandma that she never met.  He was a wonderful man with a big heart and somehow the grandpa and the other Foster brother ( Nick) links them all together. I won't tell you how because you need to read the book to find out but i had a few OMG OMG moments and it wasn't from the sex scenes which were fantastic btw. lol  This was one of the best erotica romances I have read.  There is great sex scenes, good connections between the characters and a kick ass story to go with it all. I read this in  one sitting and was sad to see it end. I am going to be buying the novella related to this one to read. The first chapter is at the back of this one for you to get a peek at. 5 out of 5 Modokker Book Pick stars for Four for Christmas by RG Alexander.

Find out more about RG at her website here www.rgalexander.com . You can also find her as part of the Smutketeers blog with a bunch of Fabulous authors here www.smutketeers.com .

Book review: Undeniably Yours (Kowalski series) by Shannon Stacey

Available in ebook for only right now. Pre order for paperback now for Feb. 2012 release

Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey
One-night stand + two percent condom failure rate = happily ever after?

Bar owner Kevin Kowalski is used to women throwing their phone numbers at him, but lately he’s more interested in finding a woman to settle down with. A woman like Beth Hansen. If only their first meeting hadn’t gone so badly…

Beth’s tending bar at a wedding when she comes face to face with a tuxedo-clad man she never thought she’d see again. She tries to keep her distance from Kevin but, by last call, she can’t say no to his too-blue eyes or the invitation back to his room. Then she slips out before breakfast without leaving a note and, despite their precautions, pregnant.

Kevin quickly warms to the idea of being a dad and to seeing where things go with Beth. After all, he’s not the player she thinks he is. But she’s not ready for a relationship and, given his reputation, it’s going to take a lot to convince her to go on a second date with the father of her child…

This is the 2nd book in the Kowalski series.  For some unknown reason I've been reading these backward. I read book 3 months ago and now this and book one will be next. Pretty sure they would be better in order but I haven't had any real problems reading them my backward way. lol This book focuses on Kevin Kowalski. Six foot two and sexy as all get out bar owner. He doesn't take any BS from patrons in his bar so when a man gets a little drunk grabby with a woman who appears to be his date he attempts to save her from him. All is not what it seems and the man is the woman boss instead. The drunk and slightly disorderly guy ends up with a broken nose and the woman ends up fired from her job. That woman being Beth Hanson who is a wanderer by nature or so she thinks. She likes to travel and find jobs to pay her way as she moves from place to place.  They meet again at Kevin's brothers wedding and sparks fly and after a hot night of sex Beth runs off when she thinks she just one of Kevin's many women. Turns out she's pregnant though and when Kevin finds out he's excited and wants a relationship with Beth. Beth resists often. This book made me laugh a lot. I just love the Kowalski family they are such a big boisterous family and Beth is a only child and a over protected one at that which causes her need to roam. Kevin and the Kowalski clan slowly teach her what a big loving family can give her and that it's time to quit moving around and settle down. The only thing that bugged me about this book is the continued harping on Kevin by Beth about all the cocktail napkins he gets from women in the bar with their phone numbers on them. Grated on my nerves toward the end but the ending made up for it with the way Beth finally decided she loved Kevin and wanted to be with him permanently. Way sweet and a great read too. 4 out of 5 Modokker Book Pick stars for Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey.

To find out more about Shannon Stacey, this series and her other books click here www.shannonstacey.com .