Finding Him (Covet #2) by Rachel Van Dyken-a review

FINDING HIM (Covet #2) by Rachel Van Dyken

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au / B&N paper / < Chapters Indigo paper /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 25, 2020

Coming out of a coma was one hell of a wake-up call. While I was in the dark, my estranged twin brother, Bridge, had replaced me in the company I owned and swept up my fiancée in the takeover. With my ruthless reputation, can I blame them for falling in love? I have to look long and hard at where I’ve been and where I’m headed. Alone time? The universe has other plans.

Our family’s secluded Vermont cabin comes with a gorgeous—if at first, unwelcoming—surprise. She’s renter Keaton Westbrook, a social media superstar struggling with her own private grief. As a winter storm bears down, we’ve found something to keep us warm—an intimacy neither of us expected and both of us need.

After we say goodbye, what happens then? Keaton and I are longing to reconcile with our painful pasts. I can’t bear to do it without her. Is it too much to ask of fate to give us a second chance at life and love?

••••••••

REVIEW: FINDING HIM is the second instalment in Rachel Van Dyken’s contemporary, adult COVET romance series focusing on businessman and heir Julian Tennyson, and model / writer / social media darling Keaton Westbrook. FINDING HIM can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading book one STEALING HER for back story and cohesion.

SOME BACKGROUND: At the age of fifteen, twins Bridge and Julian Tennyson were separated as a result of their parent’s divorce. Bridge had always promised Julian he would protect his brother but years of separation meant the two had become strangers until the fateful day when Bridge would be pulled back into his brother’s world. Having lived with his ailing mother, Bridge watched from the sidelines as his brother Julian excelled in the business of high finance, a business that was destroying Julian and the woman with whom he was about to marry. A near fatal accident left Julian Tennyson in a four-week coma during which time his fiancé left and married his twin brother Bridge.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Julian and Keaton) FINDING HIM follows the building relationship and romance between businessman and heir Julian Tennyson, and model / writer / social media darling Keaton Westbrook. Julian Tennyson was struggling in the aftermath of an accident, and the resulting loss of his fiancé to his brother Bridge. Told to take some time off, Julian headed to the family cabin only to come face to face with social media darling and America’s sweetheart Keaton Westbrook, who had rented the cabin from their corporate head quarters in an effort to write a book focusing on her relationship with her late, best friend Noah. A snow storm and the subsequent loss of internet connection found Julian and Keaton stranded together where they would work side by side on a book about Keaton’s grief in the aftermath of losing someone she loved. What ensues is the building relationship between Keaton and Julian, and the potential fall-out as Keaton continues to struggle with grief, and the perceptive attitude of social media towards her possible relationship with America’s bad boy, as Julian battles between head and heart knowing their time together is coming to a close.

Keaton Westbrook is the daughter of celebrities, and as such her relationship with Noah, and his subsequent death became one of the most popular trending stories in social media. When a publisher suggested Keaton write a story focusing on her love with Noah, our heroine went into seclusion only to face her future in the guise of bad boy Julian Tennyson. Julian’s reputation and the fall-out of his relationship with both his brother and his former fiancé precedes his introduction to Keaton Westbrook but forced time together found Julian considering a second chance at love but a love predicated on Keaton’s social media standings, and the public perception of Keaton’s new love. Grieving the recent death of his beloved mother, Julian understands Keaton’s loss but struggles with her inability to move on from the past. The $ex scenes are passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are reintroduced to Julian’s brother Bridge, and his new wife Isobel but the majority of the story line focuses on Julian and Keaton’s time together in the cabin, in the woods.

FINDING HIM is a story of grief and recovery; of friendship and family; of acceptance and love. The premise is engaging and captivating; the romance is seductive and sweet; the characters are broken, struggling but healing.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one STEALING HER.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Stealing Her (Covet #1) by Rachel Van Dyken-a review

Stealing Her (Covet #1) by Rachel Van Dyken-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / Chapters Indigo /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 5, 2019

My estranged twin brother, Julian, was always the wonder boy – and soon-to-be CEO of our ruthless father’s corporation. My mother and me? Left behind. Now, years after tearing our family apart, my father dares to ask “me” for a favor? Pretend to be Julian while he fights to survive a tragic accident. It can save the company. Nobody will be the wiser. It’ll be our secret.

I can play Dad’s favorite. I’ll do anything for Julian. And for my mother, who’ll want for nothing.

But this double life comes with a beauty of a hitch: my very real feelings for Julian’s fiancée, Isobel. Not only am I betraying Julian, I’m deceiving a woman I love. She doesn’t suspect a thing. As lies compound, lines are crossed and loyalties tested, all I can ask myself is. . .what have I done?

Because sooner or later something’s got to give. There’s no way I’m giving up Isobel. But once the truth is exposed, it might not be my choice at all.

•••••••••

REVIEW:STEALING HER is the first instalment in Rachel Van Dyken’s contemporary, adult COVET romance series. This is personal trainer Bridge Anderson Tennyson, and Isobel Cunningham’s story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Bridge and Isobel) STEALING HER follows the building relationship, predicated upon a lie, between personal trainer Bridge Anderson Tennyson, and Isobel Cunningham. At the age of fifteen, twins Bridge and Julian Tennyson were separated as a result of their parent’s divorce. Bridge had always promised Julian he would protect his brother but years of separation meant the two had become strangers until the fateful day when Bridge would be pulled back into his brother’s world. Having lived with his ailing mother, Bridge watched from the sidelines as his brother Julian excelled in the business of high finance, a business that was destroying Julian and the woman with whom he was about to marry. Enter Isobel Cunningham, and the woman with whom Bridge would fall in love. What ensues is the growing relationship and love between Bridge and Isobel, and the potential fall-out when the truth is revealed.

Bridge Tennyson had no idea what was about to happen in his well-ordered world. Having been abandoned by his father when his parents separated, Bridge is now commanded to pretend to be his brother Julian, in an effort to save Tennyson Financial, and the father he never knew. But things don’t go according to plan when Bridge falls in love with his brother’s fiancé, a woman who has suffered heart break and pain in the wake of Julian’s cheating and scandals. Isobel Cunningham struggled with the ‘new’ Julian Tennyson following a miraculous recovery from a near fatal motor vehicle accident but it wasn’t only the physical recovery but the change in personality that triggered something deep within our story line heroine. Little by little Isobel began to suspect that all was not right with the man she once loved, a man who was already stealing her heart.

The relationship between Isobel and Bridge is based upon a lie. Bridge must pretend to be his brother in order to help his brother, and his mother and her astronomical medical bills, but Bridge never expected to fall in love. Guilt will not be enough to push Isobel out of his life, but Bridge will make reparations including serving up his father, on the proverbial platter, in an effort to take down the once powerful Edward Tennyson. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Bridge’s twin brother Julian Tennyson, their father Edward Tennyson, and their mother, as well as Julian’s PA Kelsey.

STEALING HER is a story of family dysfunction, power and control; a story of heart break and loss; of secrets, lies, love and happily ever after. The premise is entertaining and energetic; the romance is captivating and emotional: the characters are colorful and dynamic but I struggled with the missing backstory following the parents’ separation and divorce- I wish we saw some of the struggle and fallout of separating the once loving and close brothers.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

 

Follow: Website / Facebooks / Goodreads / Twitter /  Instagram

Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she’s not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.

She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband, adorable son, and two snoring boxers! She loves to hear from readers!

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Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves – a Review

Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves – a Review

CovetLinks to order Covet: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else?

Chris and Claire Canton’s marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he’s offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire’s concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can’t weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely.

Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop, and they run into each other again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they’re spending hours together.

Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire’s marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn’t take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she’ll never cross.

 

Review

Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves is another fabulous book about love, life, situations and subjects that push our emotions, and question our beliefs.  Covet is a wonderful story of a marriage that starts to slowly fall apart, caused by normal life situations, and how we handle them.    

When we meet Claire Canton, she is with her group of friends from the neighborhood, which reminded me of Desperate Housewives.  Almost all of the wives have their own issues, but this story belongs to Claire, and her marriage to Chris.  They have been married for over 12 years, each being the love of their lives, with two children, Jordan and Josh. Chris was a very successful business man, making good money to give his family a good life, but things have changed.  He has been unemployed for over a year, now going into their savings to make ends meet.  Chris loses his confidence, and begins to take anti depressant pills, which slowly causes him to pull away from Claire.  Claire has been understanding trying to help Chris; but he continues to become more distant, shutting her out.  Claire becomes lonely, somewhat angry, and she herself begins to not care anymore, devoting herself to her children.  Finally Chris gets a job, not quite what he wants, but he needs to work, and this job requires traveling 5 days a week, which will be more loneliness for Claire.   

One day while driving, Claire is stopped by a cop for a broken tailgate. She meets Officer Daniel Rush, who immediately catches her eye, as he is a hunk.  Circumstances accidentally have Daniel and Claire run into each other a couple of times, and slowly a real friendship develops.  Daniel himself is recently coming off of a divorce, and he too is lonely, keeping himself busy working long hours on the police force.

Daniel and Claire spend more time together as friends, both of whom are lonely, texting each other often, having  weekly lunch meetings, riding on his bike, shopping and even going to the movies.  Claire began to look forward to meeting with Daniel, but she was always careful to keep this as a friendship.   As Chris’s visits become less and less, and his distance drives Claire to look forward more and more to her meetings with Daniel. 

Claire confides to her friend, who warned her to be careful. The question comes up Do you think men and women can be just friends?”

Slowly their friendship becomes something more emotionally, as they both begin to care about each other. A romance does build, though there is never any sexual relationship.  Daniel knew it was wrong to care abut Claire, as he did not want to be the reason for breaking up her family, but he couldn’t deny his growing feelings for her.  It was a struggle for Daniel not to push Claire further.  Claire also knows where this could be heading, and that it was wrong, as she still loved her husband, even if he has been distant.  But she also knows she is falling hard for Daniel.  Can she love two men?

Chris recognizes he is away too much from the family he loves, and is pushing himself beyond to work hard to redeem himself, and build his confidence. When Claire and the children get sick, Chris ignores his abusive boss, and goes home for week to take care of his family.  Claire ends up in the hospital deathly ill, and Chris and Claire must come to terms with their lives and what needs to be done. Will Claire stay with Chris?  What happens with Daniel?

This story is written in three different pov’s; Claire, Chris and Daniel, and it was great to be able to see each of their thoughts in these trying times.  This is a wonderful insightful story about love, marriage, relationships. No one does this better then Tracey Garvis-Graves.  She can push our buttons emotionally, making us question our own feelings.

Do you consider a friendship between a man and woman to be adultery if there is no sexual relationship?  Were Daniel and Claire wrong to become friends and spend time together to alleviate their loneliness?  I myself felt torn between the developing relationship between Claire and Daniel.   She cared about him, but fought those feelings that were becoming stronger, as she remained loyal to her husband.  Daniel was a super wonderful guy, who would be perfect for any woman.  He was sweet, caring, and held his emotions in tact, as he did not want her to get hurt. I myself totally fell in love with Daniel. 

Despite that this relationship was wrong or was doomed, you found yourself at times rooting for them.  Personally, I was not on the Chris bandwagon early on, as his shutting out his family caused major repercussions, which he should have handled differently.

In the midst of this story about Claire, Chris, and Daniel, there was an ongoing story of the people around them.  Tracey Garvis-Graves creates some wonderful secondary characters as she shows us life among friends, isn’t always as it seems; with an array of a life changing topics, such as unemployment, finance, gambling, alcoholism, cheating, etc.

Covet is another wonderful and emotional story by Tracey Garvis-Graves.  If you want a simple thought provoking romance with life situations, but one that does have it’s own HEA, then Covet is a must read. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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Possession (Fallen Angels #5) by J.R.Ward-Promotion and Giveaway

Possession (Fallen Angels #5) by J.R.Ward-Promotion and Giveaway

Possession Promotion Banner

With the upcoming October 1, 2013 release of J.R.Ward’s POSSESSION (Fallen Angels #5) the Berkley Publishing Group / New American Library are offering a paper copy of JR’s 1st book in this series, COVET (Fallen Angels #1) to five (5) lucky commenters at The Reading Cafe.

As part of an early promotion, check out our series spotlight and then comment for your chance to WIN 1 of 5 paper copies of COVET by J.R.Ward.

•••••••••••••••••••••

#1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward explores what really happens when good and evil toy with humanity in her new novel of the Fallen Angels, as the salvation of a doomed soul depends once again on a crossroads…

Seven deadly sins. Seven souls to save. This is the first battle between a savior who doesn’t believe and a demon with nothing to lose!

Fallen angels series

POSSESSION
Fallen Angels #5
by J.R.Ward
Release Date: October 1, 2013

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Possession JR Ward

When Cait Douglass resolves to get over her broken heart, throw off her inhibitions, and start really living, she’s unprepared for the two sensual men who cross her path. Torn between them, she doesn’t know which to choose–or what kind of dire consequences could follow.

Jim Heron, fallen angel and reluctant savior, is ahead in the war, but he puts everything at risk when he seeks to make a deal with the devil–literally. As yet another soul is unwittingly caught in the battle between him and the demon Devina, his fixation on an innocent trapped in Hell threatens to sidetrack him from his sacred duty…

Can good still prevail if true love makes a savior weak? And will a woman’s future be the key, or the curse, for all of humanity? Only time, and hearts, will tell.

________________________________________

Covet
Fallen Angels #1
by J.R.Ward
Release Date: October 29, 2009

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Covet Redemption isn’t a word Jim Heron knows much about-his specialty is revenge, and to him, sin is all relative. But everything changes when he becomes a fallen angel and is charged with saving the souls of seven people from the seven deadly sins. And failure is not an option.

Vin DiPietro long ago sold his soul to his business, and he’s good with that-until fate intervenes in the form of a tough-talking, Harley-riding, self-professed savior. And then he meets a woman who will make him question his destiny, his sanity, and his heart-and he has to work with a fallen angel to win her over and redeem his own soul.

_____________________________________________

Crave
Fallen Angels #2
by J.R.Ward
Release Date: October 5, 2010

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Crave

 

Isaac Rothe is a black ops soldier with a dark past and a grim future. The target of an assassin, he finds himself behind bars, his fate in the hands of his gorgeous public defender Grier Childe. His hot attraction to her can only lead to trouble-and that’s before Jim Heron tells him his soul is in danger. Caught up in a wicked game with the demon who shadows Jim, Isaac must decide whether the soldier in him can believe that true love is the ultimate weapon against evil.

________________________________________________

ENVY
Fallen Angels #3
by J.R. Ward
Release Date: September 6, 2011

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

EnvyAs the son of a serial killer, homicide detective Thomas “Veck” DelVecchio, Jr., grew up in the shadow of evil. Now, on the knife-edge between civic duty and blind retribution, he atones for the sins of his father- while fighting his inner demons. Assigned to monitor Veck is Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly, whose interest in him is both professional and arousingly personal. And Veck and Sophia have another link: Jim Heron, a mysterious stranger with too many answers… to questions that are deadly. When Veck and Sophia are drawn into the ultimate battle between good and evil, their fallen angel savior is the only thing that stands between them and eternal damnation.

______________________________________________

RAPTURE
Fallen Angels #4
by J.R.Ward
Release Date: September 25, 2012

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

RaptureMels Carmichael, reporter for the Caldwell Courier Journal, gets the shock of her life when a man stumbles in front of her car outside the local cemetery. After the accident, his amnesia is just the kind of mystery she likes to solve, but she soon discovers they’re over their heads with his past. Over their heads with passion, too …As shadows walk the line between reality and another realm, and her lover’s memory begins to come back, the two of them learn that nothing is truly dead and buried. Especially when you’re trapped in a no-holds-barred war between angels and demons. With a soul on the line, and Mels’s heart at risk, what in heaven – or in hell – will it take to save them both?

After reporter Mels Carmichael hits a disheveled man with her car
outside the local cemetery, she pays a visit to the stranger in the hospital. The only thing he remembers of his past is seeing a name written on a headstone: that of Jim Heron—a fallen angel charged with rescuing souls from the seven deadly sins. Now, as Mels struggles to help this mysterious stranger rediscover himself, Heron himself returns to prepare for a battle between good and evil.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

About The Author

FOLLOW J.R.Ward: Website / Facebook / Goodreads /

Jessica Rowley Pell Bird was born on 1969 in Massachusetts, USA. She is the daughter of Maxine F. and W. Gillette Bird, Jr. She began writing as a child, penning her thoughts in diaries as well as inventing short stories. She read her first Harlequin Presents novel in a rose garden when she was in her teens. She was hooked immediately. By the time she went to college, she had boxes and boxes of Harlequins and Silhouettes. Every year, her mother would ask why all those books had to live in the house and Jess would reply that if even one of them disappeared she would know. (She’d catalogued them.)

JR WardJess finished her first romance manuscript the summer before her freshman year of college. She attended Smith College and graduated with a double major in history and art history. She then received a law degree from Albany Law School. Shortly after that, she began working in the healthcare industry in Boston. She spent many years as one of the premier medical center’s Chief of Staff. While working as a lawyer in Boston, she completed two novels more and started a number of partials. In 2001, Bird married John Neville Blakemore III. Both her mother and her new husband kept telling her to send something in to an agent, a publisher, the Tooth Fairy, anyone. She thought they were nuts, but eventually got her nerve up and bought a lot of stamps. Since getting published, she has written contemporary romances as Jessica Bird and paranormal romances as J. R. Ward. She has been a Rita Award finalist, received two Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice nominations and has been a HOLT medallion finalist.

New England born and bred, Jess is surprised to find herself living south of the Mason Dixon line. (But that’s what happens when you marry a Southern gentleman.) She and her husband live with their golden retriever, who oversees her writing in a supervisory role.

Giveaway

The Berkley Publishing Group / New American Library are offering a paper copy of COVET (Fallen Angels #1) by J.R.Ward to five (5) lucky commenters at The Reading Cafe

Covet

 

1. Please register using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

2. If you are using are social log-in, please post your email address with your comment.

3. Giveaway is open to USA only.

4. Giveaway runs from September 19, to October 1, 2013

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Covet (In This Life #2) by Terri Herman-Ponce: a review

COVET (In This Life #2) by Terri Herman-Ponce: a review

Covet

Amazon

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release date March 25, 2013

COVET is the story of threatening secrets, risky espionage, and one man’s discovery that instinct can be more powerful than reason.

All professional soldier David Bellotti has to do is steal a wallet from drug lord Zev Sahin. A simple operation to snag the key card to Sahin’s compound and hand the card over to the woman who hired him. But when David finds a photo inside the wallet of his lover, Lottie, kissing another man, he discovers his life isn’t what it seems and that the people in it are keeping dangerous information from him.

Ex-lover, Monica, is carrying the biggest secret of all. Determined to get David back into her life, her secret will become her strongest weapon against him. But protecting his love for Lottie won’t be easy for David. As images of Lottie’s murder start surfacing, David realizes he’s reliving ancient memories from over ten thousand years ago—from a life that’s linked to Lottie and Monica now, and that will once again end in Lottie’s death if he can’t find a way to stop it.

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

REVIEW: COVET is the second storyline in Terri Herman-Ponce’s continuing saga of past life regression and the complications it reveals.

In This Life (Book #1) centered on Lottie Morgan as she journeyed between present day and flashing back to ancient Egypt where her life begins to unravel. But the past continues to haunt Lottie only this time, her lover David is along for the ride.

Covet is told from two POVs. David Bellotti is the main POV with third person narration to keep the reader abreast of what is happening. David’s life begins to fall apart when his past life regressions reveal more than he ever thought possible. And like reincarnation, there are people from his past willing to make amends, seek revenge or continue where their past lives left off. Only this time, the number of players is much larger and involves present day criminals and suspects. And his recent past, as in twelve years earlier, will come knocking on his front door to add further complications to an already uneasy peace in his relationship with Lottie.

Terri writes an amazing and fascinating storyline of suspense, mystery, betrayal, hatred and love-a love that transcends the ages and a hatred that follows with every incarnation and life. And like the first storyline in the series (In This Life), Covet is fast paced, well written and will keep you on the edge of your proverbial seat. Many new players with many more potential storylines and a hint of a possible betrayal from someone too close to the action had me wondering where it was all going to lead. Terri’s imagination crosses the distance of time as do her characters and stories.

READING ORDER
1. In This Life
2. Covet

Copy supplied by the author.

Reviewed by Sandy

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