Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT alison reviews His To Possess by Delores Fossen

Today’s book review is from team member Alison, she blogs at http://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/

Alison chose to read and review His To Posses by Delores Fossen from The HarlequinE Shivers Boxset volume 3

His to Possess by Delores Fossen

When Olivia meets the enigmatic and handsome Lucian Wilde for the first time she feels that she knows him and also feels an overwhelming attraction for him. The feeling is mutual and the two realise they are being possessed by the souls of two lovers who have brought them together to help solve the mystery of their murder. Finding themselves in danger, they struggle to find answers, wondering if the attraction they have for each other is genuine or if it is simply a memory, an echo of the passion shared by Marissa and Damien.

This is a very clever idea for a modern gothic romance. The two main characters are likeable, particularly Olivia whose vulnerability is well-drawn without making her seem completely helpless, and adds a subtle yet strong edge to her character.

However, I did feel that the relationship between the two wasn’t developed enough – it all seemed a little too rushed. And, without spoiling the ending, the whole ‘reveal’ was over too quickly and conveniently – all the pieces put together in a rather hurried way, with Lucien simply telling Olivia all the information needed to fill in the gaps. After all that tension, it was a bit of a let-down. At times too, the writing was a little clunky, and there were lots of dialogue tags like mumbled, spat out, verified etc., that, once I started noticing them, became very distracting.

That said, ‘His to Possess’ is a good bit of escapism with enough tension and heat to keep you turning the pages.

On the whole a good read – 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Now released as single books find a copy of this book here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

Guest Author Barbara J Hancock

Today our guest is Barbara J Hancock, author of yesterday’s book “Darkening Around Me”, here is a link to the post. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-52h

Let’s Find out more about Barbara.

1) Where is your home town?

I was born in Roanoke, Virginia a very green but growing city in the southwest part of the state in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

2) How long have you been writing?

Writing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. The first writing I sold was a Nocturne Bites to Harlequin. I sold a gothic vampire romance to Samhain Publishing soon after. To my surprise, no one wanted to buy the Beauty and the Beast fan fiction I wrote when I was eight years old!;)

3) What genres do you enjoy writing most?

Unusual works for me. Out of the ordinary. I like elements of the supernatural or paranormal. When Harlequin E announced the modern gothic Shivers line, I found the perfect place to play…because shadows, mysterious heroes, danger and larger-than-life passion!

4) How long have you been writing for Harlequin?

I sold my first novella to Harlequin in 2008.

5) In Darkening Around Me the statues in the garden were quite haunting, what’s the best bit about writing scary parts?

Sensation! I love to feel what I write and I to try to pass along those feelings to readers. If your pulse picks up, if your breath catches, if your heart flutters…I’m doing my job. If you’re completely taken away from workaday worries and consumed by the suspense or danger or passion I’m creating with my stories and characters, then there’s nothing that pleases me more. Because it’s about escape really. We all have ordinary every day right outside our windows. I write to experience something beyond ordinary and to share that experience with readers.

6) I like the scary dolls that Mary made, what gave you the idea for them?

Dolls are one of those classic horror elements that has always worked to make me nervous whenever I’ve encountered them in stories or movies. Is it their lifelike qualities that make them seem to have a potential for movement? Is it the flutter of those blink-y eyes? In Darkening Around Me a spirit is communicating by causing obsessive compulsive behavior in the people it haunts. For me, the scariest part about Mary’s dolls was the repetition and the fact that even though she obviously spent a lot of time making them, she didn’t take care of them after they were made. They were left to rot in a room full of identical dolls. <pardon me while I cross the room to turn on the light>

7) Tell us about “Lost in Me” your first Shivers book for the HarlequinE series.

Lost in Me was such an exciting opportunity. I’d written the first scene with Chloe in St. Mary’s painting the nearly forgotten man and set it aside years ago. I didn’t know her story yet, but I knew it was going to be powerful. Sometimes an idea has to sit and steep. When my editor asked if I’d like to do a Harlequin Free Online Read to promote the new Shivers line, I knew right away that it was time for Chloe’s story to come to life!

Released from hospital into the care of the man whose eyes have haunted her for a year, a troubled artist returns to Belle Aimée. The antebellum New Orleans mansion is the site of a tragedy Chloe’s mind will not disclose. It’s also home to an unseen presence that traces her steps, visits her studio and lingers near her bedroom.

Waking and sleeping, Chloe grasps at scraps of memory that flutter about her, alighting eventually on her countless canvases. Only under the stormy eyes—and electrifying touch—of Jonathan La Croix does Chloe begin to remember what they once were to each other. What they could be again. Such a man cannot be forgotten forever….

8) I featured Unforgiven book 2 in your Raveneaux series in my April A to Z Challenge, can you tell the readers a little about the plots?

Hunger is book 1 in my Raveneaux gothic vampire series. It tells the story of a golden girl whose life changes in a bloody instant and the hunter who doesn’t give a damn about saving her…at first. The question of Hunger is…What if beauty is the beast?

Unforgiven is Book 2 and it’s the story of the vampire who ruined the heroine’s perfect life in book 1. To this day, Dillon is my most compelling antihero. The question of Unforgiven is…What if the beast is beautiful?

9) Ghost in the machine is described as a Gothic Cyberpunk Romance, that seems to cover several genres, how does that play out?

While Gothic is a genre, it’s also a feeling and a tone. It’s eerie and beautiful. It’s dark and emotional. It can be powerful and transcendent. Woven throughout a gothic is fear of intimacy and whether or not the heroine will have the courage to face that fear. Cyberpunk is often noir or gothic in tone because there’s usually a surreal element of mystery and otherworldliness in cyberpunk stories. Blade Runner would be a well known example of this type of blending. To add another genre to the mix, Ghost in the Machine is Post Apocalyptic as well!

Ghost in the Machine was a first for me in so many ways, but it was also a glimpse into the deepest heart of what I should be writing.

10) Tell us about the other books you have coming out for Shivers Box sets, this year.

I have two kinds of stories coming from Harlequin E Shivers this year. I have standalone novellas and I have a series called Scarlet Falls that takes place in a haunted New England town.

Darkening Around Me is now available as a single title.

Seized by a dark genius, Miles O’Keefe has shut himself away in his ancestral mansion for more than decade. Driven by an unquiet spirit called The Thornleigh Bride, he sculpts masterpiece after masterpiece—and edges ever closer to madness.

His decadent prison is finally breached by Samantha Knox—a woman who has been to the brink of hell and back. She wants—needs—Miles to sculpt her scarred yet strong and beautiful body, to prove she has survived. She sits for him. His hands shape every curve of her body, indulging passion by proxy. Every glance, every word that passes between them brims with desire. With a single touch, it spills over.

But their ecstasy inflames Miles’s ghostly muse, as well. The Bride will neither share her house nor relinquish its heir, whom she has possessed for so long. Not without revealing her deadly secret. Before the end, Samantha will stand once more at the edge of the abyss….

Silent is the House is part of the Volume 2 Box Set released on April 1^st

Grief-stricken Angelica Peters finally visits Allen House, the crumbling mansion she once stood to inherit. She’s immediately drawn to the new heir-the family lawyer whose unearthly obsession soon has her questioning reality…and her sanity. Is it Angelica he desires? Or is he only fascinated by her resemblance to the tragic apparition that haunts the estate?

And then my Scarlet Falls series starts with The Girl in Blue which is in the Volume 3 Box Set coming in July

The unexplained is commonplace and everyone fears the dark in Barbara J. Hancock’s SCARLET FALLS.

A secluded hamlet ablaze in autumn splendor, Scarlet Falls is seemingly an idyllic manifestation of the New England countryside…  But Trinity Chadwick knows better.  The town is undeniably beautiful, but haunted to its very core.  For Trinity there has been no escape from the specter of the girl in the blue dress.  Her laughter still rides on the mist of the town’s eerie lake. And tragedy always follows in its wake.

Constant vigilance against malevolent forces have worn Trinity down driving her back to the last place on earth she ever expected to step foot again.  Hillhaven—her childhood home.  Only to encounter Samuel Creed.  The last man she ever expected to confront.  A long-ago kiss of life kindled an obsession at once sensual and macabre.  Trinity is tortured by the memory of her warm lips against his cold ones as she saved him. Or was he forever damned, after all?  Trinity finds Creed is as tempting as ever, a man she can neither forget nor entirely trust.

Thank You Barbara and good luck with the books.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

Black Rose by Jenna Ryan

Black Rose by Jenna Ryan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A really great read full of hot humid settings and spooky characters. Mia is witness to a murder and needs to be under protection. Ryder turns up to take her deep into the Louisiana Bayou, but danger follows and Ryder has his own reasons for taking on the case.

With the murderer in pursuit of the couple they drive deep in to the bayou in an attempt to escape. There is voodoo, and tea leaf readings mixed with tradition, legend and a good dose of hot passion. I loved the swamp witch and Mad Mama’s antiques, and of course the mysterious doll sent a good shiver down my back.

Really, really liked this book, well done. This is a HarlequinE book.

Find a copy on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Guest Author Jane Godman

Today our guest is Jane Godman author of yesterday’s book Legacy of Darkness. Here is a link to the post if you missed it. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4X6

Let’s find out more about Jane.

1) Where is your home town?

I live in Birkenhead, which is on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. It’s on the opposite side of the River Mersey to Liverpool and the iconic ‘ferry ‘cross the Mersey’ originates here.

2) How long have you been writing? How long have you been writing for Harlequin?

I’ve written for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I lived in South Africa, and my best friend and I discovered the novels of Kathleen E Woodiwiss when we were thirteen. We used to spend our evenings writing books in the style of ‘The Wolf and the Dove’. I had a big birthday (let’s just say it had a zero at the end) two years ago and my friend gave me an amazing present. She had kept one of the books I wrote when I was fourteen! It’s a medieval romance, written in felt tip pen. I’m very proud of it and it gave me the push I needed to start submitting my work to publishers. My first book, The Rebel’s Promise, was published by Front Porch Romance in February 2013.

My first Harlequin book, Legacy of Darkness, was published in the January 2014 Shivers digital box set. My second (the sequel to Legacy of Darkness) is called Echoes in the Darkness and will be published in the next Shivers box set on 1^st April 2014.

3) How does any author become a Harlequin / Mills and Boon writer?

I think there can be a misconception that there is a ‘magic formula’ to being a Harlequin/Mills and Boon author. When I wrote ‘Legacy of Darkness’ I had no idea that Harlequin were looking for Gothic romances as part of their Shivers line. I wrote the sort of book I wanted to read, in a genre I love. The book was nearly finished when I read an interview in which Malle Vallik, Harlequin’s Director of Editorial Digital Initiatives, said ‘send us your gothics’. So I did. And, just a week later, I got ‘the call’ to say the team at HarlequinE loved my book.

If I had tried to write the book to a perceived formula, I don’t think I would be a Harlequin author today. The old adage ‘write like a reader’ still holds true. If you write the stories you believe in, your passion will shine through and an editor, whether they are a Harlequin editor or in another company, will see that. It will jump off the page.

The other thing I would say to anyone trying to get published is ‘dare to be different’. There are a lot of books out there. There is a key element in Legacy (I won’t say what it is as it would spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t read it) that I thought might put an editor off. Instead, because it pushed the boundaries, it was actually one of the things that the Harlequin team loved. So my advice is ‘never play safe’!

4) Your book is written as a “Gothic” romance, can you briefly explain what Gothic means?

Gothic romances are mysteries, usually tinged with horror and the supernatural. Gothics are often set against dark backgrounds such as medieval ruins, mysterious houses or haunted castles. Traditional gothics had a spirited young heroine, peculiar supporting characters, precocious children and darkly handsome men with mysterious pasts. Authors included Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and Daphne du Maurier.

Harlequin Shivers, the ‘new’ Gothics, have elements of the unexplained, but they are not paranormal romances. Generally, the heroine and heroine are human beings who may have paranormal experiences. Shivers have high levels of sensuality, but their strong gothic story line makes them much more than an erotic romance. They can be historical or contemporary.

So what can readers expect from a Jane Godman Shivers?

1.         A dark, gloomy and atmospheric setting.

2.         A feisty heroine who pushes the boundaries of her time.

3.         A hero you fall in love with…

4.         …And a villain you fall in love with (for very different reasons)

5.         Dark secrets, the past comes back to haunt the present.

6.         Erotic tension that builds alongside the story. The shivers in these stories don’t come just from the supernatural elements!

5) I briefly touched on the attractiveness of Uther in my review, can you describe him in more details to tantalise the readers?

Oh, Uther! My favourite character from ‘Legacy of Darkness’, perhaps

my favourite character ever, has to be Uther Jago. He is described on the back cover of ‘Legacy of Darkness’ as ‘Uther: a commanding, seductive presence whose leonine power radiates from his every word and gesture’.

Uther is everything a gothic character should be. Handsome, sexy, smouldering…He has dark secrets and innocent Lucy is utterly enthralled by him from the moment they meet. But can she trust him?

I think this excerpt gives the reader a little teaser of Uther’s character:

‘Unexpectedly, he grasped my hand and held it against the cold stone. “These walls have memories of their own. Feel them, Lucy,” his voice rippled through my mind. “Lords and ladies in their jewelled velvets…sunshine warming pennants and spears…shouts of the joust…the maiden meeting her forbidden love …”

I obediently closed my eyes and heard the rustle of skirts, the soft clandestine whispers of long-dead lovers, and the strains of a lute signalling reckless dance and wild romance. Uther’s low sound—somewhere between a growl and a purr—roused me from my trance. My eyelids fluttered.

“Your face—” his voice was a whispered caress, warm breath stroking my ear “—has the look a woman usually wears only once. When she first succumbs to orgasm.”

I stepped back in shock, the ready tinge of roses staining my face. He turned and walked away as if the searing words had never been spoken. I wondered if they had. Or had this new, brazen creature—the one I had just discovered within me—merely wished them spoken?’

6) What was the actual family relationship between Lucy and the others?

Lucy and Tynan call each other ‘cousin’ and Demelza asks Lucy to call her ‘aunt’, but their actual relationships are more distant. Lucy’s mother was a second cousin to Uther and Demelza, so Lucy describes her own relationship to the Jago family as ‘tenuous at best’. Which, for Lucy’s sake is probably just as well! As one reviewer recently commented: ‘If ever there was family with skeletons in their closets it’s the Jago’s, who I might add can rival the Addams family in their creepiness and kookiness.’

7) The plot had my mind spinning off in all sorts of directions when I read it, did it change much for you when you were writing it?

Yes! Without giving too much of the plot away to someone who hasn’t read it, Uther Jago was one of those characters who just would not conform to the plans I originally had for him. He dictated the pace of the story and I very much went along with it. My original plan for a classic gothic set in a Cornish castle still held true, but some of the plot twists and turns came out of the machinations of Uther Jago. And he definitely took charge when it came to some of the eroticism in the story, as well!

8) You had some fun using old Cornish words, which were your favourite?

I like to bring some authenticity to a story by having the characters use words and phrases that relate to their home and culture. When I researched the story, however, I was surprised to find that, even in 1837, just as Queen Victoria is ascending the throne, the Cornish language was dying out.

I wanted Tynan to use a Cornish endearment as a nickname for Lucy, something that was unique to them. The one that I liked the best was hweg which means ‘dearest’ or ‘darling’. But then I came across kegis hweg, which is celery. So for most of the book Lucy, who is very slender, thinks that Tynan is comparing her to a stick of celery rather than calling her ‘darling’.

9) I enjoyed reading about the trip to Tintagel, what is so special about Merlin’s cave?

Tintagel castle is the legendary birthplace of King Arthur and is believed by some to be the site of Camelot. Merlin’s Cave is situated on the sands below the ruined castle and was made famous by Tennyson who described waves carrying the infant Arthur to the shore. It is said that the wizard Merlin emerged from the cave and carried him to safety.

The cave is very atmospheric, and you can imagine Merlin approaching, with his staff held up to light up the darkness of the cave. It does feel like a place of magic and mystery, and those Arthurian legends come to life along that rugged stretch of Cornish coast.

10) What are you writing at the moment? Will it be another Harlequin romance?

I’m so pleased with the way the Shivers line is developing. HarlequinE has some amazing authors writing gothics and I am thrilled to be in such talented company. My next Shivers, Echoes in the Darkness (the sequel to Legacy in the Darkness), is part of the second Shivers box set which is released on 1^st April 2014. It is set about thirty years after the end of Legacy of Darkness and features the next generation of dastardly Jagos.

The blurb for Echoes in the Darkness reads: Not betrothed, but beguiled.

In artistic circles she is the Divine Dita, Paris’ most sought-after nude model. But now she’s not so much posing as playing a role: fiancée to the next Earl of Athal. The charade is a favor to Dita’s friend, Eddie Jago, a dissolute painter…and the aforementioned heir. As deceptions go, it is innocent compared with what will come.

On the grim Cornish coast, from the ashes of a ruined castle rises the Jagos’ sumptuous new manor house. The fresh-hewn stone, however, cannot absorb the blood of centuries or quiet the echoes of past crimes. Dita struggles to decipher the family: the infirm Earl and his inscrutable wife; resentful Eddie; sheltered sister Eleanor. And Cad: the handsome second son whose reputation is spotless in business—scandalous everywhere else.

Drawn by friendship, ensnared by lust, Dita uncovers a sordid tangle of murder, desire and madness. It will lay her bare as no portraitist has done before.

I’m currently adding the finishing touches to the third, and final, book in the Jago series, which is entitled Darkness Unchained.

I also have two ‘stand alone’ Shivers titles due for release over the coming months. Both are set in the 1930s. One is located in a Welsh valley and the other story takes place on an isolated Italian island. I’m really excited about them both because they feature stronger elements of horror alongside the romance in the stories. The contrast really does increase the shivery element. I love writing gothics and, as long as readers want them and Harlequin will have me, I’ll keep writing Shivers!

Legacy of Darkness is currently available as part of The Shivers Line Box set from HarlequinE, released in January and available until the end of March. From April it will be available as an individual book.

Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Purchase Links

http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Godman/e/B00BVK5GWK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=50400

http://www.janegodmanauthor.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jane-Godman-Author/
Twitter @JaneGodman
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6923685.Jane_Godman

Thank you Jane, and Good luck with all the writing.

Legacy of Darkness by Jane Godman

Legacy of Darkness by Jane Godman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Legacy of Darkness is a Gothic romance from the Harlequin range. It is full of dark secrets, dramatic scenes and has a stunning setting on the rugged Cornish coast. A young Queen Victoria has just taken the throne of England. Uther Jago and his sister Demelza live with their nephew Earl Tynan. They oversee the running of Castle Athal or Tenebris as it is known in the family until Tynan comes of age.

Lucy Alleyne has recently lost her father and has returned to England from India where her father worked for The East India Company. Having used all her money to bring her father’s ashes home, Lucy has found a job as a ladies companion. She is quite shocked and surprised when Demelza rescues her and claims kinship, whisking her away to Cornwall to the family home.

Tenebris holds dark secrets and has been home to centuries of family members who lived with their own dark pasts. Now it hides one last member of the family who lives his own horror. But who should Lucy be most afraid of? Strong, sexy, sensual Uther whose eyes make her want to melt into them. Or Tynan who must be kept at a distance for her safety? And what are the haunting screams and noises which make Lucy lock her bedroom door each night?

This book delivers forbidden fruits from the Gothic period with twists and turns, set in a delightful and favourite part of England.

Legacy of Darkness is currently available as part of The Shivers Line Box set from HarlequinE, released in January and available until the end of March.

Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

From April Legacy of Darkness will be available to purchase as a single title, and the box set will be disbanded.

The Sequel Echoes of Darkness will feature in the second Shivers box set available from April 2014.

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Jane will be our guest author on the blog tomorrow, come back and read more about her and her writing.

Good Deeds Week 16th – 22nd March

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

March 16th – I’m reading books from the Shivers box set from HarlequinE books. Also finished another book The Wrath Inside by RR Gall and sent off the review to the author.

March 17th – A good morning helping out at school today.

March 18th – I have a friend coming over for coffee later, I’ve baked a tea bread for us to eat while she’s here. Good deeds received; my friend brought some delicious cookies as a gift for us.

March 19th – Phew! Had a hectic day, but finished by providing tea for friends. Received an ARC of Reborn by Cherie Reich which is due out on May 23rd, I am planning a book review and author interview for late May. Good Deeds received; had some great help tweaking details on some of my social network sites.

March 20th – Went out for a walk to hand deliver some overdue Thank you notes. Picked up litter along the way. Couldn’t decide between the next two books that are on my TBR list so began reading both. The Rubicon Effect by Roy Dimond on my Kindle and the paperback of Derek’s Revenge by Mac Black. After an evening spent doing paid employment in the form of bookkeeping I needed time to reflect and smooth my mind, so I picked up my copy of The Power is Within You by Louise Hay.

March 21st – A busy morning, it’s the A to Z April Challenge Theme Reveal day and I’ve been visiting other bloggers who have signed up for the Theme Reveal and leaving comments. Missed my post? Here is a link http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-502 Walked in to town and saw the advertising poster outside Costa Coffee for Fleet. Author John P Ford who is holding a book signing session on Saturday, for his book The Royal Descendant. It looked good, will drop him an email saying I saw it, have been invited along to the event on Saturday.

Went to one of my favourite shops for book bargains The Works and rummaged through boxes of books all for £1. Bought 2 books by Rachel Cain, Fade Out from her The Morganville Vampire series which I enjoyed a few years ago and another book by her, Chill factor. Stopped off at Help the Aged as I passed by and checked out their books, deciding on Heretic by Bernard Cornwell. My arms nearly dropped off with the books and all the other shopping that I’d done by the time I got home, so now I’m off to put my feet up and get on with some reading.

March 22nd – Went to Costa in Fleet this morning to support author John P Ford with his book signing event, sent out an early morning Tweet to @Love Fleet about the signing and they kindly re-tweeted. John had business cards made up and was offering books at a discounted price to readers who bought a copy today. I’m hoping to feature John’s book in the May issue of Fleet Life and the June issue of The Elvetham Heath Directory.