Monday 25 November 2013

Hiding from Hollywood cover reveal!

Happy Monday everyone! It's a happy Monday indeed here at Darkins HQ as I can now officially reveal the cover for Hiding from Hollywood! Are you ready? Here it comes ...


A big thank you to the team at Crimson for the fabulous artwork. The book will be hitting the virtual shelves in January, so save a spot on your Kindle (other eReaders are available). In the meantime, join me in gazing lovingly at the cover. Ah, Monday. Now my favourite day of the week.

Ellie
x

Friday 22 November 2013

More reviews!

If you're looking for something to read this weekend, in those short few hours when you're not watching something Doctor Who related (you will be watching, yes?), here's my review of two more of Mills & Boon's Modern Tempted line.

Whose Bed Is It Anyway?

Natalie Anderson



“You’re wearing my T-shirt.” Returning home after a daring rescue mission, all James Wolfe can think of is sleep. So he’s furious to find a beautiful stranger curled up in his king-size bed! Normally no woman ever gets between his sheets without prior invitation – who does she think she is? Disgraced celebrity Caitlin Moore has been offered a place to stay and she won’t give it up – not with the paparazzi outside, baying for her blood! Reluctantly she agrees to share the apartment with James – but, with enough electricity to short-circuit the whole of Manhattan, keeping to their own sides of the bed might prove impossible…
This book had a lot about it to love. A hot guy, a cute set up, forced proximity (probably my absolute favourite trope), great writing. But somehow it never quite clicked for me. Like the gorgeous guy you know who’s funny and nice and gets on with your mates. But you just don’t fancy him.

But in the same way that guy will totally be someone else’s HEA, I’m sure plenty of you out there will disagree with me on this one.


Last Groom Standing

Kimberly Lang

Marnie Price’s guide to surviving the bridesmaid blues… 1. Get a new man 2. Find a new job 3. When in doubt, drink wine! Having watched her three closest friends all find love, Southern belle Marnie Price feels as if she’s the only single girl left. Luckily she’s found a solution – one sizzling night with Dylan Brookes. This man wears a wedding tux better than anyone, but all Marnie wants to do is get beneath it! Dylan is all about making the sensible choice, and a fling with his ex’s friend Marnie is about as far from sensible as he can get! Marnie might prove to him that taking risks is worth it, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to give up his bachelor status quite yet, does it…? 

This is the last of the stories in the Wedding Quartet continuity – and the hero is Dylan. Remember Dylan? The guy Reese ditched at the altar way back in The Unexpected Wedding Guest? Remember I that I thought he was a great character and wanted to know more about him? Actually, I’m not sure that I actually said that out loud, here on the blog, but I definitely thought it.

Kimberley Lang has set herself quite a challenge here, because she’s taken on two characters who aren’t out to wow us with their emotional outbursts. Marnie is – quite frankly – a bit of a cold fish. But through humour (and not a little alcohol) we start to warm to the pair. Until we’re in hysterics, waiting to see if their night together is going to be exposed with a hysterically ridiculous (in a good way) three-way phone call.

In the end the fact that Marnie and Dylan are on the chilly side to begin with only makes it hotter when they let their passionate sides loose.

And then, of course, there’s an appearance from Cassie Barclay …

All in all a very nice read.

Disclosure: I was sent free review copies of these titles by Mills & Boon

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Modern Tempted Review #3

Hello folks! The past few months have been an exciting whirl of revisions, cover art suggestions, author photos, marketing ideas, the list goes on. But now that I have a second to breathe I wanted to share my thoughts on some more releases from the new Mills & Boon Modern Tempted line. So, without further ado ...


Backstage with Her Ex

Louisa George

Her ex…the VIP! Hiding out in the gents’ toilets backstage is not the way Sasha imagined bumping into her significant ex. Especially when that ex is notoriously damaged, famously wild rock god Nate Munro! She has a massive favour to ask him, but one glimpse of his sinfully dark eyes and all she can think about is that he’s seen her naked! Nate’s used to women doing anything to get his attention, but he never pictured bubbly schoolteacher Sasha as the groupie type – she’s far too sweet! But when the paparazzi get a hint of their reunion, it’s scandal all the way. Now the question on everyone’s lips is this: In this showdown between the girl next door and rock-and-roll royalty, who’s going to come out on top?

This story had lots going for it from the start. First up, it's a reunion story, and I love a reunion. – falling in love is a rush, but making that into a real, solid relationship is the real test and – if you can do it – the real reward. So we were off to a good start :) Add in a couple of fantastically drawn characters and I was hooked. Nate’s a full-on bad boy, no half measures, with women coming out of his ears (ahem). Sasha, on the other hand, is uptight, nervous, terrified of letting go -- cue lots of emotional conflict!

I loved the hot chemistry between the two, seeing the softer side of Nate, and wondering right to the end how they’d manage to transform their passionate affair into a real relationship.

Top marks all round, and an author I'll definitely look for again.


Maid of Dishonour

Heidi Rice

When she’s very, very bad… Gina Carrington knows exactly how to have fun! But when she slept with her friend’s brother, the off-limits Carter, she quickly discovered she’d overstepped the mark. …life is so much more fun! Years later Gina sees Carter again, and can’t help but wonder what the harm would be in one more night… He’s available, gorgeous, and behind that laid-back Southern charm there’s a wild side even she can’t tame! But Gina has secrets which she can’t hide for ever – will their chemistry be strong enough to keep Carter by her side when they come to light?
As I predicted in my last set of reviews, Gina's story is one to look out for. She’s feisty (even for a M&B heroine, and that bar’s set pretty high) with a bad girl history to put to rest. Let me nail my colours to the mast here – I don’t like cheaters. It’s just not okay with me, and I knew from Gina’s appearance earlier in the Wedding Quartet that that was how her and Carter’s story starts. So I knew Heidi Rice would have a tough job winning me over. 

Reader, she did it. It wasn’t easy, and if it wasn’t for the fabulously vulnerable side she managed to bring out in Gina, it couldn’t have worked. Not that Gina was the one in the wrong with the cheating of course. But even Carter – who was someone else's erring fiancĂ© when they met – ends up with your heart. It's not just the time since their 'mistake' that made me forgive them, but everything they'd done in the intervening years to try to atone.

So all that, and with a southern American setting – with all the stifling heat and humidity that implies – makes for a steamy read. 

And of course I couldn't not mention the guest appearance from my new favourite romance character ever – Cassie Barclay. All round, a superb read.