Never Too Much by Lori Foster

Confirmed bachelor and diner/hotel owner Ben Badwin enjoys women. So when the new landscaping business owner across the street comes in all dirty and worn out, Ben plans to "enjoy" her. But Sierra Murphy is not interested. She just wants to work and try to forget the past she is running from. But Ben isn't giving up, and when her past comes to find her, he does everything he can to keep her around and protect her because his bachelor days were over the second she walked into his life.

Cute! Not mind blowing, and not as good as some of her work, but a cute story. I also enjoyed the secondary romance between his mom and the hunky older landscaping guy.

Wild by Lori Foster

I've been looking forward to this last Winston Brothers book! Zane Winston is used to women throwing themselves at him, but none have been quite so unusual as the Gypsy palm reader next door to his own electronics shop. Her exotic dark looks aren't really to his taste, but he finds himself oddly intrigued. He goes to talk to her at her home above the store, only to find out that Tamara Tremayne is not so exotic after all! Her long dark wig and black contacts hide a beautiful blonde woman who stirs his interest. But Tamara will have to sell her shop and move if she can't figure out who is trying to sabotage her shop and ruin her business. Now that he has found her Zane will do anything he can to help her and keep her around forever.

Loved it! Plenty of twists and turns, great love scenes, and a very fun cast of characters. Great series!

The Duke by Gaelen Foley

*Slight spoilers in this review!*

The Duke of Hawkscliffe is a paragon of virtue. So when his ladylove dies suspiciously he decides to do whatever it takes to find the killer, if there is one. When he risks his reputation by taking a mistress who is connected to his suspect, he never intends for the relationship with the beautiful courtesan Belinda Hamilton to be anything but a farce. But for a courtesan he realizes she is very innocent, and as he closes in on the killer, he also digs deep and learns who this woman really is and what horrible circumstances brought her to this profession. Before either of them know it they have broken the courtesan rule and fallen in love.

I admit I have mixed feelings about this book. There are two things I don't especially love in a romance novel -- rape of the heroine (no matter who did it), and a heroine who is a courtesan. This novel contains both elements. There were two things that allowed me to forgive the author. One, she does not go into details about the rape. It happens, you're there, but you aren't forced to "live" it. Two, the Duke is her first lover after the rapist takes her virginity, so it's not like she has been around the block before meeting him. Honestly, this was a very emotional touching story, and if I were not familiar with Gaelen Foley and already a fan of her books, I may not have read this in the first place. It has a very romantic (slightly over the top) ending, though I didn't feel that Hawk came around fast enough. It was very Pretty Woman meets the Regency, and not a bit 'o fluff, but worth the read for Foley fans.

Highland Guardian by Melissa Mayhue

Romance novelist Sarah Douglas decides she needs to get away and throw her life to the fates and see what happens. So she goes to the first Scottish cottage she finds in her search for her getaway. Sarah hopes to overcome her writers block and come to terms with her ability to sense feelings of people, but her unexpectedly handsome landlord Ian MacCullough has some other ideas for how she can spend her time. Ian is a half fae guardian -- he guards the fae portal and protects humans from rogue fae. When he realizes that Sarah is also half fae, he fights his feeling that he may just have found his elusive soul mate. But an evil pure blooded fae has plans to use Sarah to get back to the land of fae, since as a half fae female Sarah can see the hidden portals, putting her in great danger and forcing her to dig deep into her hidden gifts and powers to save herself and the man she loves.

I enjoyed this story. It was a light easy read in an interesting setting with lots of fun characters. It didn't set me back on my heels or anything, but it was worth reading and kept me interested throughout!

The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe

This is magical and mesmerizing tale about the Drakon, a race of people who can shape shift into a smoke or dragon form. They live in their shire far into the European hills, away from outsiders. Everyone from their race are not allowed to live outside the shire in order to protect their secret. But every once in a while someone will fake their death and escape to the outside world. When Rue turns 17 she comes into her powers and becomes the alpha female. As such she would be required to marry the alpha male Christoff. She has been in love with him for years, but she refuses to have him this way, so she flees, faking a drowning to keep the tribe from looking for her. But 7 years later, the tribe hears of someone who turns to smoke and steals jewels, and they know that one of their own are in London, so they set up a trap to catch their smoke thief.

As usual Shana Abe draws you in and fascinates with this unusual tale of love and magic. I enjoyed it a great deal. The only reason I can't give it a 5 is because the ending felt a little forced. I wasn't completely convinced that Rue was ok with going back to the shire. In fact I am sure she didn't want to, she just wanted to be with Christoff. I am looking forward to reading more about the Drakon!

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

So, I didn't actually finish this book. I realize I am going to be in a major minority here, but I had trouble getting into it, and I read through half the book trying to get into the story. It wasn't that it wasn't good, it just wasn't to my taste. Eve is a pretty moody and damaged, and she has a hard job. Frankly, the thought of reading an on-going series about her and her job is kind of depressing to me. In this particular book she is trying to find someone who is killing prostitutes, and some of the subject matter is graphic and rather violent. I did enjoy Roarke as a hero. His caring and suave charm towards Eve was endearing, but I can't see reading the whole series just for him. I'll be chalking up this series as not for me.

Sawyer by Lori Foster

I WAS going to read Shanna by Woodiwiss, but it looked so long, and I felt so tired just looking at it... so I picked this small volume instead. Lazy, I know. LOL! Anyway, this was a very cute, light read. Honey Malone (yes, her read name) is on the run from unknown people who are trying to kill her. When she crashes into a fence and winds up in a pond as a result of being very sick with a fever, it's sheer luck that the fence and pond belong to Buckhorn county's hot doctor Sawyer Hudson and his band of equally hot brothers. Lucky girl. Sawyer insists that she stay with them while she recovers and they try to figure out who could be trying to kill her and why. Sawyer has sworn off marriage, but something about Honey makes him reconsider.

I really enjoyed this story. It wasn't mind blowing (hence the 4 rating), but it was short, sweet, and hot. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the Buckhorn series! I have enjoyed everything I have read from Lori Foster!