Taming Talia: Review, Interview, and Giveaway

Over her not-so-dearly-departed husband’s grave, newly widowed Natalia Montrose vows to shake off the memories of her abusive marriage by bedding the first suitable man she meets. Enter handsome, flirtatious Jared Fields, who offers to help her manage her assets.
Natalia has no intention of giving up control of the ranch her father traded away—along with her hand—for gold. But she intends to enjoy this stranger’s advances until all her desires are sated.
Jared is a rarity among Pinkerton agents. Well educated, the disowned black sheep of a wealthy New York City family, he enjoys the freedom afforded by his various assignments. But discovering whether the fiery Widow Montrose had her husband killed is a challenge with an unexpected twist. All he can think about is what he’ll do when he gets her in bed.
Natalia and Jared circle each other warily, feeling the pull of sensual heat. But when the Blizzard of 1889 hits, the sexual sparks may not be enough to keep them warm...or alive.

Warning: Contains a sex-starved widow and a saddled-hardened Pinkerton agent who set the sheets afire.

My Review: This yummy western takes place during the Great Blizzard of 1889, a true historical event that of course the history buff in me had to do further research on :) I am also fascinated by Pinkertons of the Old West, so this book was a complete delight for me. Talia and Jared, alone and snowbound for days, absolutely sizzle. I loved Talia's feistiness and independence, and the sexy banter between the two made me smile. Yet besides the passion these two form an unbreakable bond as they struggle to survive and face adversity and danger. A book that made this lover of westerns a very happy reader.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a set of romance trading cards for Seducing the Sheriff and Taming Talia. Winner will be chosen on August 25th.

Author Interview:

1) Tell us a little about your Loving the Lawman series...what inspired you to write an erotic western historical?

The series takes place in the Texas Hill Country and NE New Mexico Territory. Seducing the Sheriff was the first book and centered around Sheriff Cordero Tate and Star Tyler as young lovers who were separated then reunited. Taming Talia takes a secondary character from the first book and  moves to NE New Mexico. Book three will move back to the Hill Country. As for inspiration, I've always loved cowboys. Roy Rogers was my first cowboy hero. But I'd have to say the HBO series Deadwood influenced me the most. I loved the gritty series and loved Timothy Olyphant as the sexy Sheriff Seth Bullock. The series made me want to write about lawmen in general.

2) What kind of research goes into writing your westerns?

Mostly internet, although I have purchased some research books about the daily life of people in the laste 19th century.

3) Do you read a lot of western romance? Who are your favorite authors?

I read more contemporary western romance. B. J. Daniels and Karen Graves are two of my favorite contemporary western authors. Linda Lael Miller for historical western romance.

4) Ebook or paperback?

Ebook if I'm buying. But I confess I love the option of having my books in paperback, too.

5) Would you like to time travel back to the Old West? What do find sexy about that time period?

Truthfully, no. I'm afraid I'd miss all the modern conveniences we take for granted today. Besides, hygiene was pretty much non-existant. I'm a retired nurse and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to handle the increased risk for disease and death.

6) What are you working on now?

Currently, I'm working on book 3 of the Lawman series, Mastering the Marshal. I also have an romantic suspense novel set in Nashville which has been languishing on the back burner.

Links:

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/MarieNicoleRyan.author

Twitter: @marienicoleryan

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/marienicoleryan

Buy Link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/taming-talia-p-6967.html

The Sunday Post #3

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. This meme was inspired in part by In My Mailbox. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Once again this week my book hoarding was out of control! But since 90% of what I acquired was in ebook form I don't feel guilty at all!!! (I was super excited to be accepted as a reviewer for Henery Press...squeee!!!) And I certainly had an exciting lineup of guest bloggers this week! Thank you to all of these wonderful ladies.

The coming week will feature guest blogs/interviews with western authors Marie-Nicole Ryan and Keli Gwyn, and the Feed Your Reader Giveaway Hop begins on Thursday. This week I signed up for BlogFest 2012 in September, the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop in October, and the Candy Cane Kink Giveaway Hop in December, so there are many exciting events coming up!

NetGalley:


A Christmas Home by Greg Kincaid (LOVE this series!!!)
A Study in Revenge by Kieran Shields

In My Mailbox/Inbox for Review:
Foul Play at the Fair by Shelley Freydont
Death in Four Courses by Lucy Burdette
Last Wool and Testament by Molly MacRae
How to Tail a Cat by Rebecca Hale
Wall to Wall Dead by Jennie Bentley
Murder Unmentionable by Meg London
Death in the Memorial Garden by Kathie Deviny
Her Sky Cowboy by Beth Ciotta

For Review from Henery Press:


 
Bought:

Taming Talia by Marie Nicole Ryan
A Cat was Involved by Spencer Quinn
Texas Outlaw (Wild Texas Nights, Book 1) by Adrienne deWolfe
Confessions at Midnight by Jacquie D'Alessandro
Lakota Surrender by Karen Kay
Cats and Cowboys by Ruth Hartman
Don't Die Under the Apple Tree by Amy Patricia Meade
The Sherlock Holmes Handbook by Ransom Riggs
A Love Forbidden (Heart of the Rockies) by Kathleen Morgan
Chasing the Sun (Land of the Lone Star) by Tracie Peterson
Mew is for Murder by Clea Simon
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany
Buckley's Story by Ingrid King
Pecked to Death by Vanessa Gray Bartal
Between a Clutch and a Hard Place by Gayle Trent

Guest Blog: Amy Metz

When Amy Metz, author of the delightful Southern cozy Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction (buy here), asked me if I had any requests for her guest blog today, I asked if she would write about a day in GPJ from the eyes of Jack's adorable basset hound, Ezzie. Enjoy!

A Day in GPJ with Ezzie

Jack gets my leash out of the closet, and I know we’re going somewhere. I hope we’re going to Tess’s house. She always has something good to eat. 

The first person I see when we leave the house is our next-door neighbor, Louetta. 

“Hi, Jackson! Hi, Ezzie!”

“Hi, Louetta, how are you today?” Jackson calls across the yard.

“Still kickin’, but not very high. Hirey’all doin’?” she hollers back. 

“Finer’n a new set of snow tires. We’re on our way to Tess’s house.”

“You give her a smooch for me, now, ya hear?”

Jackson laughs. “If I have to.”

We step on the sidewalk and even though my legs are short, I’m out-pacing old Jackson. I pull and strain on the leash, leading the way to Tess’s house. I’m not sure who’s more excited to be going to see her—him or me.

“Mornin’, Taterhead!” Jackson calls to the postal carrier. “Is it hot enough for ya?”

“Oh, it could be worse,” Taterhead calls back. His head doesn’t look like a tater. I wonder why they call him that. Folks have the strangest names. I’m glad Jackson had the good sense to name me Esmerelda, even though he only calls me that when he’s mad at me. I like it when he calls me Ezzie. 

I stop and sniff at Mrs. Hookumbaker’s mailbox, and I pick up a stick to take to Tess. Next we run into Skeeter Duke, and while Jackson stops to talk to him, I stick my head under a clump of hydrangea bushes. 

Jack tugs on my leash and we’re off again. We pass by the town green where old Clive and Earl are playing a game of checkers. 

“Earl, you’re so crooked, when you die, they’ll have to screw you into the ground.”

“Clive, you’re just jealous because you’re dumb as a box of hair and couldn’t win a game if your life depended on it.”

“Mornin’, boys. Who’s winnin’?” Jackson asks. “Or need I ask?”

“I am,” they both say in unison.

“Say, y’all been up to Slick & Junebug’s today?”

They look at him like he’s lost his mind.

“Of course you have. What’s the blue plate special?”

“Meat loaf, mashed potatoes and cornbread,” Earl says without looking up from the board.

“Sounds good. I’ll probably see you up there in a while.”

“Not if we see you first,” Clive calls after us. I think he’s kidding.

We walk on and next thing I know, we’re coming up to the bookstore, where Pickle’s out front sweeping the sidewalk. He has the skinniest legs of anybody I’ve ever seen. He wears a different color of Chuck Taylor tennis shoes every day. Today he has on green. Jack stops to talk in front of the open door, and when I see Martha Maye inside, I tear off toward her as fast as my little legs will carry me.

“Ezzie! How’s my girl?” She bends down to pet me, and I roll over on my back so she can rub my belly.

“Martha Maye, I’m sorry. The little dickens got away from me.”

“Aw, I’m always glad to see this old girl.” Who’s she calling old? “Whatcha’all doin’?”

“We’re headed over to Tess’s. We’re going to help her around the yard.”

“Well, don’t work too hard. And give her a smooch for me.”

“I you insist.” Jack groans, but I think he’s faking it. 

We go out the door and up the road, then take a left onto Tess’s street. She’s out front pulling weeds, and Jack says, “She looks prettier than a glob of butter on a stack of wheat cakes, doesn’t she, girl?”

She smiles when she sees us, and I suddenly realize I lost that stick I picked up for her. I nose around while Jack and Tess do some mooshy stuff. Then I hear the magic words. 

“Do you all want to come in for a cookie?”

My favorite word. Life is good in Goose Pimple Junction.

Last Days of Freedom Giveaway Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Last Days of Freedom Giveaway Hop!

There will be a different book given away at each of the stops. At the bottom of this post are all the sites participating in the book hop. Make sure to visit (and follow) everyone and enter their giveaways! :-)

So, on to my part in the hop!

Didn't get to Italy this summer? Neither did I. Travel there via the pages of a book with Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun, and the sequel Bella Tuscany. I'm giving away a lovely box set of these two classics. Simply leave a comment with your email address so I can contact you...and if you choose to follow my blog I'll enter you in my giveaway twice. Good luck and have fun!!!



From My Journal: PJ Alderman's Port Chatham Mysteries

Inspired by my many book journals, this feature spotlights books I've read and loved in the past that I wish to bring to your attention.

My first introduction to this series was browsing the New Release shelf at Barnes and Noble and the cover of Haunting Jordan grabbing my attention, in particular the witch's cap perched atop the turret on that magnicifent Victorian house. I picked it up and read the blurb:

Jordan Marsh left L.A. for the quaint Pacific Northwest town of Port Chatham in pursuit of some much-needed R & R. As the prime suspect in her cheating husband's murder, she had been hoping to immerse herself in the restoration of the charming Victorian she'd just bought--and put all talk of homicide investigations behind her. But as she soon discovers, the coldest of cases cry out to be solved, too.

For this old house comes fully furnished--with two garrulous ghosts who have a century-old murder of their own they'd like her to look into. Now, if Jordan can keep the L.A. police at bay, and sort through a suspect list of shady characters circa 1890, she might just clear a wrongly accused man's name--and her own.

Instantly intrigued, I bought it and started reading it that night. I devoured 400+ pages in just a few days and it quickly became one of my favorite mysteries of all time. I was thrilled to discover it was the first book of a planned series. A long year and a half passed before the next book, Ghost Ship, was released:

A recent transplant to Washington State's charming seaside town of Port Chatham, Jordan is still getting used to sharing her slightly run-down but historic lodging with ghosts. As if living with the long-deceased isn't enough of a challenge, she's just found a corpse: The town's notorious womanizer Holt Stillwell is lying on the beach with a bullet in his head.

Before Jordan can reel in a suspect, another victim surfaces. And this one isn't taking murder lying down. Holt's ancestor Michael Seavey, the Pacific Northwest's most infamous shanghaier, has materialized in Jordan's house, seeking to solve his own death in a suspicious shipwreck in 1893. With two murders to solve and a killer on the loose, Jordan faces yet another equally terrifying prospect: her growing attraction to the very alive and criminally attractive pub owner Jase Cunningham.

These delightful mysteries are set in Port Chatham in the Pacific Northwest, and the heroine is Jordan Marsh (also a suspect in her own husband's death), who solves present-day murders and crimes from the port towns' violent past (shanghaiing and brothels!), usually assisted by a ghost or two who had been a suspect in the century-old crime. They are perfect for readers like me who can't get enough small town cozies and historical mysteries.

Sadly, another year and a half has passed and so far there is no sign of a book three. I'm crushed; I love, love, love this series. I long to spend more time with Jordan and her ghostie friends in the quirky Victorian she's restoring. Whatever the future holds for the series, these two gems will stay on my keeper shelf forever.

Guest Blog: MK McClintock

Beauty and the Beast: My Thoughts on the Romance Genre

By MK McClintock

ro·mance

1. a novel or other prose narrative depicting heroic or marvelous deeds, pageantry, romantic  exploits, etc., usually in a historical or imaginary setting.

2. the colorful world, life, or conditions depicted in such tales.

3. a medieval narrative, originally one in verse and in some Romance dialect, treating of heroic, fantastic, or supernatural events, often in the form of allegory.

4. a baseless, made-up story, usually full of exaggeration or fanciful invention.

5. a romantic  spirit, sentiment, emotion, or desire.

Romance is no longer romance, or so many new book genres would have you believe, but don’t let yourself be fool. Romance will always be true to itself, no matter its variations. Whether some view romance as fanciful and baseless or charming and heroic, romance is more than just a story or words written in a book.

I subscribe to the #5 definition of romance—a desire, an emotion, and a spirit. Think of the last romance-genre book you read. Did it feel sexy or romantic? There’s a difference. Did you know two people were in love because of their bedroom exploits or because you felt their passion and energy whenever they spoke or were on the same page together? Did you believe their love or were they just saying the words?

As the relationship between Gabriel and Isabelle unfolded, they surprised me with how much they made me feel. I cried when they cried and I felt so happy for them during their moments of joy. They altered my writing path and ultimately how I wrote the story. Do they have passion? Yes! Do you know it and feel it? Absolutely! Does your imagination fill in the spaces between the sexual lines? Oh yes!

My favorite romance books are those with the spirit of romance. What are your thoughts on the romance genre? Do you like romance or do you prefer steamy moments viewed through open doors, or do you believe they are one in the same?

*****************************************************

McClintock is an entrepreneur, baker, photographer, tour host, reviewer, and multi-genre author. She was born on the west coast, but after less than eight years she left with her family to the Rocky Mountains. After more adventures around the country, business-college, and culinary school, McClintock found a place to call home in Montana.

​

Over the years McClintock traveled the country and visited magnificent Scotland. She dreams of a time when life was simpler, the land rougher, and the journey more rewarding. With her heart deeply rooted in the past and her mind always on adventure, McClintock will always call Montana home.

Book Information

Formats:Paperback and Kindle

Publisher:Trappers Peak Publishing

ISBN-13:978-0615638799

ISBN-10:0615638791

Release Date:August 1, 2012

Series:The Montana Gallaghers

Author Links

MK McClintock Website:http://www.mkmcclintock.com

Official Blog:http://mkmcclintock.blogspot.com

Goodreads Profile:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5438837.M_K_McClintock

Amazon Author Page:http://www.amazon.com/author/mkmcclintock

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/MK-McClintock/454576274571336

Twitter:https://twitter.com/#!/MKMcClintockMTor @MKMcClintockMT

Kindlegraph:http://www.kindlegraph.com/authors/MKMcClintockMT

A Spoonful of Murder

Book Description: Winter is big business in small-town Snowflake, Vermont. Tourists arrive to hit the ski slopes--and what could be more satisfying after a chilly day of carving powder than a steaming bowl of soup?

When Lucky Jamieson inherits her parents' soup shop, By the Spoonful, she realizes it's time to take stock of her life. Should she sell her parents' house or move in herself? Does she really want to run a restaurant business? And what about her grandfather Jack, who seems to be showing signs of Alzheimer's?

But her life decisions are moved to the back burner after an icy blonde tourist is found frozen to death behind the soup shop. and Lucky is bowled over when her soup chef, Sage DuBois, is led out of the kitchen by the police. As suspicion and speculations snowball, Lucky decides that the only way to save her employee and her business is to find out herself who iced the tourist--and landed her chef in the soup...

My Review: Being a lifelong Vermonter I have been so excited about this new series since I first heard about it...you just don't see many cozies set in Vermont. My anticipation was well founded...this wonderful first entry to the Soup Lovers mystery series sucked me right in when the tranquility of a New England blizzard is shattered after a body is found next to the dumpster behind By the Spoonful and the restaurant's chef is arrested for the murder of the rumored town tart.

This is a book that deals with heavier matters than cozies usually do. Lucky has returned to Snowflake following the tragic deaths of her parents in a car crash. She arrives to discover her beloved grandfather, the only family she has left, is showing signs of Alzheimer's and PTSD. Because of her family troubles, and the fact that the soup shop may not survive being the scene of a crime, Lucky is prone to making some wild accusations that get her into some hot water. I was suspicious of one character early on and was proven correct, but what followed the revelation of the killer still really surprised me.

The secondary characters in Snowflake are really charming as well: Jack and Sage in the soup shop, gossipy sisters/clothing store owners Cecily and Marjorie, old timers/restaurant regulars Hank and Barry, and especially local doctor Elias, the older man Lucky has always had a crush on and now has a chance with. I'm really looking forward to seeing this relationship develop.

Looking for a way to beat the heat this summer? Settle in the air conditioning and lose yourself in a Vermont winter with this wonderful new series.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher with the request for a review.