A Sure Thing by Marie Harte

When I first picked up A Sure Thing by Marie Harte I’ll admit I judged a book by its cover.  I saw a slash of pink and thought, ‘well, this will be a nice, pleasant read’.  Wow, I was wrong.  There was nothing nice about this book.  It was hard, fast, and hot.

There’s a smart, female psychologist trying to find ‘The One’.  A handsome ex-marine try to help his sister.  And a crazy ex-FWB trying to meddle where she doesn’t belong.

A Sure Thing’s plot revolves entirely around the relationship between Landon and Ava.  There’s no mystery, no criminal aspect, and only the slightest secondary plot regarding family.  Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a sexy read though, so that’s not really a point against the book. 

The characters are developed. Ava and Landon have stories and backgrounds that I want to know more about.  Even the secondary characters are fascinating and I am reasonably sure we will be seeing their stories in the near future. There were a few brief moments where I found myself thinking things were getting a little overdramatic in terms of character interactions, but all in all, I enjoyed the way the characters connected with one another. I love head strong women and domineering men, and Ms. Harte switches their personalities up just enough that you don’t feel like you’re reading a cookie cutter version of a romance novel.

A Sure Thing is… a sure thing, as silly as that sounds.  You won’t be disappointed with the sexy way Landon Donnigan handles smart, haughty Ms. Rosenthal.  It’s a naughty read that will have you turning the pages desperate for more.

                                                     

Breath of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit.

That was my mind three pages into Breath of Fire by Amanda Bouchet. 

This book.  Oh my gosh.  After how exciting the last book was I thought that maybe Mrs. Bouchet would have taken it slow with the second book.  That was not the case.  Mrs. Bouchet doesn’t do slow builds, apparently.  This book took off like Usain Bolt from the starting line. 

While reading a new book I tend to jot down a few things I want to mention in my review.  At page thirty, my hands were trembling so bad that I could barely hold the pen still.  I didn’t bother trying to take another note for the rest of the book.

I don’t usually read romance novels that have sequels.  Most of my favorite authors do standalone books, or collections, but not necessarily sequels.  I tend to like the “chase” when it comes to relationships, so I was a little worried that, now that Cat and Griffin are together, I would lose interest in their personal relationship.

Not the case. There was still more to learn about Cat and Griffin’s relationship and their personal struggles.  When romance novels end you tend to believe that it was smooth sailing from there on out, but Breath of Fire shows that even when you’re madly in love there’s work to be done to keep your relationship growing.

My favorite part of A Promise of Fire was having such a strong, powerful female character like Cat.  Most romance novels I read have strong female characters, but Cat was a step above and beyond the normal characters I experience.  In Breath of Fire we are introduced to a new side of Cat, the side of Cat that has doubts, and fears, and anxieties.  Getting to watch Cat deal with these fears and learn to trust others completely was a wild ride. 

And the plot.  Wow.  It is absolutely baffling to me how some people have these amazing ideas flowing through their head and they’re able to get these thoughts down, coherently, on paper.  I’ve read books based on Greek Gods/myths before but Amanda Bouchet’s series takes the cake as far as creativity and originality.  There’s nothing like it.

All in all, this book is as phenomenal, if not more phenomenal than, A Promise of Fire.  I was turning those pages desperate to find out what happens next but scared that I was going to get to the end too fast.  My emotions were dragged through the ringer on this one, but I loved every second of it.  In fact, I’m already rereading it.