The Cinderella Princess by Melissa McClone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Cinderella Princess was another great read that I received through Netgalley. It is the story of a prince, Luc, who is the youngest of his family but is tasked with protecting the honor of his family and suffers a great deal emotionally when it seems that the only person in his family that cares for him is his mother, despite having many brothers and sisters and a father, the king. Emily is an ad exec tasked with swooping in and saving the reality show that is tasked with finding Prince Luc a wife. So far the show has been boring and none of the titled or royal ladies he has had a first date are interested.

Emily arrives in Italy and there is instant chemistry between them despite her task of finding Luc a wife. Along the way she does her job and they get to be pretty good friends. They get to know each other personally and Emily is an excellent task master and has her hands full with saving the show and finding Prince Luc a wife. In the meantime she learns more about herself and Luc. The Cinderella Princess is a great story about sacrifice and finding your true self even when faced with hard decisions. The Cinderella Princess is the first in a new series, Royal Holiday, and I am looking forward to the entire series!

His Billion Dollar Dilemma by Alexia Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

His Billion Dollar Dilemma,received from NetGalley, was a good read with interesting characters. It centered on Helen, an extremely smart engineer who was roommates with her brother, also a genius, who is trying to save her company. Her boss is selling his company along with the patents she developed. He does not much care what happens to the 30 or so employees at the firm but Helen cares. She does what she has to so that she can save their jobs and in the course of trying to convince the corporate raider who is buying the firm to slice and dice it to sell off the parts for millions of dollars stumbles upon a very good-looking British millionaire that she refers to as a pirate. She gets to know him and sees more in him than how he even knows he is capable of feeling. Simon has had a steady diet of people that either were indifferent to him or betrayed him so Helen has her work cut out for her to convince him to care about the jobs of 30 people.

His Billion Dollar Dilemma tells a great story with some very quirky characters that have the reader laughing out loud at times. Helen's brother, David, is extremely colorful and does some things that make you want to cheer and also make you want to kick him in the leg a few times. But, his love for his sister and his protection of her allows you to not kick him too hard. Helen has a great set of friends and I got the feeling like I missed a few books in a series with the story of Liam and Mar

Tempted by Her Italian Surgeon by Louisa George
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tempted by Her Italian Surgeon is a nice, clean read. There is a tiny bit of raciness but this story is more about the relationship developing between Matteo and Ivy. Ivy and Matteo meet when a racy picture of him hits the Internet and the name of the hospital he works as a top surgeon is visible in the shot. They start out as combatants and work their way towards more. Matteo spends most of his time completing renal surgeries on children and he is good at it. Ivy spends her time being a newly minted top attorney for the hospital. As these things go they are at cross-purposes which anyone else in information security like myself will tell you we try to secure things in a way that is the least disruptive to the end-users but sometimes it just does not work out that way. But, enforcement of these things usually takes up everyone's time and energy and no one knows this more than Matteo and he goes into this kicking and screaming and comes out of it with a new friend and possibly more.

There was one things that surprised me with this story. I have been reading these Harlequins quite a bit lately and started to see a formula for some of them. I thought this one would fall into the story line where both want to stay as far away from a relationship and love as possible and as the story progressed we would learn why. The end would have them both face their fears and eventually they would fall in love and move to Italy and I would get to do a bit of armchair travel in my favorite country outside of the U.S. We would see Matteo work through things with his family and we would meet everyone and see why he is the way he is and there would be a happily ever after. This story is not that kind of story and it is worth the read to see how the author takes things differently. If you are looking for a clean, modern romance this is the book.

The Shiro Project by David S. Khara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh Shiro Project how much I loved you. For me, The Shiro Project was the continuation of a story that just gets better and better. I received an early release copy from Netgalley but was remiss in my duties to post my review at release because I was a bit burned out on serious material and had to read things outside of my normal favorite genres of Urban Fantasy and Thrillers. Unfortunately, this took more than a few weeks and it would have been unfair to read and review books when I was not in the mood for that type of book. I finished The Shiro Project last night and it held my attention just as The Bleiberg Project did. It was the continuation of Agent Morg's story but what was great was we were given more of Elena's history as well. There was a huge twist there and I keep hoping that there is a change with that because she is seriously kick-butt and now that we see more of her humanity it is great getting to know her. I was surprised at Elena's depth of hatred for her father and think that it was an over reaction but, she was a young girl and they do tend to have extreme feelings.

The Shiro Project, of course, did not disappoint when it came to action. David Khara writes great action sequences. He is also very adept at helping the reader get a great vision of how Morg is built and how he moves. It is amazing to read and picture his movements in hand-to-hand combat. David Khara does a wonderful job with imagery in describing these scenes. The portion of the story that gives the book its title was interesting. I wish there was more time spent there. There could have been a lot more time spent on that portion. The project was well described but meeting the person currently responsible for the terrorist activities in the story and the culmination of that part of the book could have been fleshed out more. It seemed to end a bit abruptly. It was interesting but felt a bit short.

But, the best part of this story for me, the part that had me go back and re-read it and bookmark the page was the description of how Eli and Etyan met and their relationship to each other. I was totally surprised, especially given my previous interpretation of the ages of both of them. Just great. This was the clincher for me and that scene made the book for me. Etyan is literally larger than life and he draws you in and makes the reader want to know what happens to him next. On to The Morgenstern Project!

The City of Blood by Frédérique Molay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot get enough of this series. I received an Advanced copy via NetGalley (I love them!). Whereas the first two novels left me wanting to feel more like I was really in Paris, this one gave me more of that feel. The author has definitely grown with each book. Although the book describes places I did not see while there I did not miss a beat as I could see it this time. The description of the park and its history was vivid. I could see the banquet table and the different parts of the park. I could see the things that were described in the history of the park. I could envision the actual banquet with people at the table and how things were laid out and how things occurred at the archaeological dig. As the investigation into the remains found I was on edge trying to guest who put it there. Was it someone at the banquet or someone new? How long had the remains been there given how long the banquet leftovers had been buried?

I love Nico Sirsky and it is a great experience getting to learn about his family's background and how they related to others from the Ukraine and their religious history. Although I wish we were privy to Nico's family's visit to the Ukraine after so many years of his mother being away, I loved getting more of a glimpse into his mother's life. She said something at lunch that I wondered if it was due to her history and if there will be more about that in a future story or if it was due to what was occurring in The City of Blood. Nico's elite team sounds great and I love reading about each of them doing their part of the investigations. I would like the books to be longer and give more character development and make the books longer. This is a great series set in a beautiful city and I cannot wait to see where it goes next!

Guest Blog with Frédérique Molay

The Making of a Hero

Frédérique Molay is an award-winner author of a series of police procedurals set in Paris and a master of suspense and detail. Her novels transport readers to the French capital, taking them behind the scenes with the city’s elite detectives. The 7th Woman is an international bestseller available in English from Le French Book. The second Paris Homicide mystery, Crossing the Line, came out in September 2014, and the third, The City of Blood, hits the bookstores on January 20, 2014. Here she shares some of the inspiration behind her central character, Chief of Police Nico Sirsky. I adored my paternal grandmother. She never spoke much about her Ukrainian background, but when she did, her stories were either filled with suffering—her own and that of a whole population—or marvelous and incredible. Her family lived in Odessa during the Russian Empire, and one of my ancestors was a captain in the czar’s imperial guard. One mission involved standing in for the czar as a look-alike. The family fled in 1902, immigrating to France. One of my grandmother’s uncles began working as a Russian dancer in a Parisian nightclub, before driving a taxi, then working as a furrier, and finally moving to the United States to make a fortune in industrial dry cleaning in Hollywood. What a story! There is a bit of my grandmother in Anya, Nico’s mother. I miss her, which is probably why I created Anya. They have the same deep blue eyes and picturesque Slavic personality. By choosing a hero with Ukrainian origins, I am in a way able to connect with my own family background. In The City of Blood, for example, readers discover the Russian Paris, which was an emotionally charged experience for me as a writer. Add to that my uncertain attraction to superheroes, whom I’m always hoping to meet one day in the streets. Chief Nico Sirsky is one of them, in his own way. He is a resolutely positive hero, even as he faces the ups and downs of everyday modern life and human cruelty. Link to City of Blood's website

Discern by Andrea Pearson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I took my time with this one because I knew as soon as I started it that I would like the protagonist and love the story. I received a copy of Discern through Ebooks For Review program in exchange for an honest review. Discern is the first book in a new series about Nicole Williams who is a fourth child in her family which makes her what is called an Arete or magical. I found that premise very interesting as the family dynamics and relationships were displayed for multiple students in Nicole's school in Seattle, Katon University. It has to be a strain on parents that want to fit in knowing that having a fourth child would allow them to produce a magical child, as well as a strain on the children that come before that fourth child knowing that they missed out on something special due to not being the fourth child. Sibling relationships are difficult enough but this seems like it would create a sibling rivalry that would be hard to manage, especially for the one child that is different. Also, what if the parents are not fourth children? Nicole was a product of just a family. I picked up on her having brothers and so far we only meet her mother so I am looking forward to meeting her entire family. After we meet Nicole's mother we are left with a huge desire to know the history of her family.

Katon University is a specialized university designed for Arete students. It teaches not only traditional subjects like math, science, but also subjects that relate to magic like magical objects. Each Arete's gifts typically are related to one of the elements, earth, air, fire or water, but there are so many things in between that makes this story exciting. Nicole starts at Katon with her best friend Lizzie, who is also her roommate at an apartment that leaves a lot to be desired. There are some interesting neighbors and their apartment can be truly weird and horrifying but it just adds to action in this story. Nicole applies to go on an expedition in the desert to try and help determine why people are disappearing when they visit that part of the desert. It is suspected that it is magic related so her professor is one of two professors hosting the expedition and boy is that trip action-packed. Nicole learns a lot about herself, her classmates that also are on the expedition, and other Aretes that are part of the expedition.

Discern is a strong, exciting, action-packed start to the Katon University series. The world building was really well done. The character development gives the readers some really great characters to love, dislike and also some that leave us on the fence waiting to see who they become as the series unfolds. I am really looking forward to see where it goes next and I really look forward to hopefully a book dedicated to Nicole's life before Katon University.