Sasha Cain, Return to Celio

 Title:  Return to Celio 

Author:  Sasha Cain

Rating:  Four And A Half Siren Stones

Genre:   Fantasy

Sub-Genre:  Science Fiction

Keywords:  Faery Rosebud, Adventure, Spicy

Page Count:  211       

ISBN E-Book:  978-1-61217-326-9

Price:  $4.99

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press

Buy-Link:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4926

Reviewer:  Nikki

Blurb/Summary:

Maggie Malone falls through a mysterious door during a Hollywood studio tour and lands in a strange world full of man-eating monsters. All she wants, beyond survival, is to return home. The sexy Neanderthal keeping her alive questions her life choices and marches her halfway across creation, but claims he can get her home.

Darrios Derosa is a loner, out to rid his world of the murderous beasts in Celio's Outer Rim. They took his best friend—he won't allow them to take anyone else. The last thing Darrios needs is an alluring woman under his protection—especially one in denial. She wants to be taken home, but doesn't realize what she's asking.

Darrios promises to take Maggie to Inland, where she'll be safe, and from there to Avascon, where she can get home. But first they have to fight the monsters and the fire...the one blazing up between them.

Review:

Return to Celio is an adventurous tale full of magic, time travel, and some sizzling sexual tension between two people from a different world and different time.  Maggie begins a venture she'd never imagine or dream of, but it's all too real.

Darrios is a hero to swoon for.  He's there to take Maggie and protect her, but who is going to protect her from him and the longing he has inside for her?  You'll have to read to find out.

The premise and well-done world building in this story intrigued me.  It's a mix of everything.  Action, science fiction/fantasy, love, and suspense.  This book will appeal to eclectic reader.

T. Sue VerSteeg, Secrets of the Sapphires

 Title:  Secrets of the Sapphires 

Author:  T. Sue VerSteeg

Rating:  Four Siren Stones

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Keywords:  Black Rose, CIA, Vampires, Shape-Shifters

Page Count:  268       

ISBN E-Book:  978-1-61217-180-7

Price:  $5.25

ISBN for Print:  978-1-61217-179-1 

Price:  $12.99

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press

Buy-Link:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_136&products_id=4878

Reviewer:  Nikki

Blurb/Summary:

Nia Brooks entered the CIA to get to the bottom of her parents' deaths. Joining the Paranormal Division, she learns to fend for herself after dealing with prejudice, not to mention the vampires and shifters. Paired with an egotistical agent, the bloodsuckers and hairy boys don't seem so bad. 

Garrett Van Deren has his own agenda behind joining the CIA. When his dead partner's body disappears without a trace, Garrett knows the vampire underground is responsible and the Paranormal Division offers him answers. He slams head first into a roadblock when he meets his new partner. A hundred pounds soaking wet, he'll be babysitting instead of tracking down the killer. 

Tossed back in time by a mysterious white sapphire, two headstrong agents must learn to trust one another while they search for a way back to the Twenty-First Century and the people responsible for the rift in time.

Review:

In a world so different from ours, shape-shifters are known and roam around.  There's a special division in the CIA devoted to all things paranormal.  Nia Brooks is a part of that, fueled by deaths of family members.  Garrett is driven by a similar reason.

Secrets of the Sapphire is a paranormal, time travel, suspense, and adventurous story.  I was blown away at how the story lines blended so well and kept me reading.  I'd love to read more stories like this.  I found myself very intrigued by the characters and the plot.  And wow, what twists and turns that there were I never saw coming. 

Sylvie Kaye, Honky Tonk Man

Title:  Honky Tonk Man 

Author:  Sylvie Kaye 

Rating:  Four Siren Stones

Genre:  Western Contemporary Romance

Keywords:  Yellow Miniature Rose, Spicy

Page Count:  123       

ISBN E-Book:  978-1-61217-110-4

Price:  $2.50

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press

Buy-Link:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=175_141&products_id=4807

Reviewer:  Nikki

Blurb/Summary:

[Honky Tonk Hearts] 

Jace Monroe has rules about rich women…Sunny Brooks hates rules…

Pool shooting, guitar playing, honky tonk singer Jace has a knack for hooking up with the wrong kind of women—rich ones who don't take him or his music seriously. So when Jace meets a down-to-earth, honey-haired waitress at the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk, he thinks his luck has changed. 

The last place Sunny wants to be is on her daddy's thriving ranch, but her ailing mother needs her. When she fills in as a waitress at the Lonesome Steer to help out a friend, she meets a cowboy who makes her heart sing—but only because he thinks she’s someone else.

When Jace discovers the truth about her, the sweet music they make together might be silenced forever—unless Sunny can show her honky tonk man that some rules are meant to be broken.

Review:

Who needs rules when you're free to roam as you please, singing, playing games in bars, and enjoying yourself?  Until he meets Sunny, Jace has been doing just that.  He's a singer on the down and out side with a past that he'd rather not think about.  Sunny is strung around by her rich family, when all she wants is a life of her own.  Upon their meeting, things are about to change, and get a little on the hot side.

I'm enjoying the stories in the Honky Tonk Hearts series.  Sylvie Kaye's enjoyable edition kept me reading, and when I got to the last page, I wasn't ready to leave the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk.  This is a great story, I love books by Ms. Kaye and this latest one is another for the keeper's shelf. 

Patrice Wilton, A Catered Affair

 Title:  A Catered Affair

Author:  Patrice Wilton

Rating:  Four And A Half Siren Stones

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Keywords:  Last Rose Of Summer, Sensual, Widower 

Page Count:  266       

ISBN E-Book:  d5432

Price:  $5.25

ISBN for Print:  978-1-61217-031-2

Price:  $12.99

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press

Buy-Link:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=175_140&products_id=4808

Reviewer:  Nikki

Blurb/Summary:

A family tragedy has career-minded Jenna Cassali housebound with two teenagers, a baby, and a dog from hell, with a hot doctor in pursuit. The longer she stays the more she realizes what’s missing in her own life, but she likes to play it safe, and safe means returning to New York and her job, not launching a catering business, or falling in love.
 
Grant, a pediatrician and widower, believes his son died because of his negligence. The hospital becomes his life, but when he meets Jenna, his broken heart begins to heal. 

Can he close the door on his past, and allow himself to love again? Will Jenna find the courage to change her destiny, open her life, and her heart?

Review:

Talk about chaos!  Having to take a break from your job and living in a house with some rowdy teenagers, a child....and a chance at love? Jenna is about to embark on a journey she'd never imagined she'd have.  Life has a few curve balls aimed right toward her.

The hero is a bit on the tortured side.  He's a doctor, and he is ashamed because he couldn't even save his own son.  Put Grant and Jenna together, and comes a new look on life.  There's some healing to be done, but together, these two learn they can accomplish anything.

A Catered Affair is an emotionally charged story that hooks the reader and keeps them going.  It's a touching story that sticks with you when you're not reading it.