Books Received

     These are books that I won from another blog.

Reclusive collector Cutter Merlin is seldom seen in Key West - lately, not at all. Officer Liam Beckett visits Merlin's curious house and discovers the gentleman in his study. In his death grip: a volume of occult lore and a reliquary. His eyes are wide with fright, his mouth a horrified rictus where spiders now dwell.


Kelsey Donovan returns to the old house to catalog her estranged grandfather's collection of artifacts and antiquities, vowing to see his treasures divested properly. But she cannot ignore the sense that she's being watched, the reports of malevolent black figures, the pervasive smell of death.


Is the Merlin house haunted, even cursed? Liam knows well that some ghost stories are true and he swears to protect Kelsey. But there are forces at work for whom one more life is a pittance to pay for their deepest desire...

 Me - Will have to find the first two books in this series so I can read this! I can't wait! I really enjoy Heather Graham's Suspense books. I've read Graham for quite a long time even under her alias Shannon Drake.

THE HELLIONS OF HALSTEAD HALL



When a charming rogue proposes she marry him to meet her grandmother's ultimatum, the Sharpe clan's strong-willed sister makes a tempting counter-offer that preserves her inheritance and ignites his imagination.

Lady Minerva Sharpe has the perfect plan to thwart her grandmother's demands: become engaged to a rogue! Surely Gran would rather release her inheritance than see her wed a scoundrel. And who better to play the part of Minerva's would-be husband than wild barrister Giles Masters, the very inspiration for the handsome spy in the popular Gothic novels she writes? The memory of his passionate kiss on her nineteenth birthday has lingered in Minerva's imagination, though she has no intention of really falling for such a rakehell, much less marrying him. Little does she know, he really is a covert government operative. When they team up to investigate the mystery behind her parents' deaths, their fake betrothal leads to red-hot desire. Then Minerva discovers Giles's secret double life, and he must use all the cunning tricks of his trade to find his way back into her heart.

Me - Another author whom I have enjoyed for a good long time.  I really need to get the previous two books in this series too.

 

He's a bastard and a gambler and society's favourite reprobate. But to Lady Kiri Lawford he's a hero - braver than the smugglers whom he rescues her from, more honorable than any lord she's ever met, and far more attractive than any man has a right to be. How can she not fall in love? But Damian Mackenzie has secrets that leave no room in his life for courting high-born young ladies - especially not the sister of one of his oldest friends. Yet when Kiri's quick thinking reveals a deadly threat to England's crown, Damian learns that she is nowhere near as prim and respectable as he first assumed...and the lady is far more alluring than any man can resist.

  Me - This will be my second book from this author.  I have read one book Distant Magic which I really liked. It had historical and paranormal intertwined.


 

An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness...and now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.



Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she's only imagined in her worst nightmares.


At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master vampire who thought he'd seen it all. Then Kira appears - this fearless, beautiful....human who braved death to rescue him. Though her burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life. Yet sending her away is unthinkable.


But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose either the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.

Me - I have two or three books of this author in my TBR pile. Ironically not the first one of this series. Drat, will definitely have to hunt for that one so I can read it.

 

 
madness \mad-nes\ n (14c): the quality or state of being mad: a: rage b: insanity c: extreme folly d: ecstasy, enthusiasm.


And, added in the margins of the dictionary owned by James Tremont, the 9th Duke of Parkerton, one additional definition:

e: the state of finding oneself mistaken for a solicitor by a duke-hunting beauty who needs to be enthusiastically taught the true meaning of love.


Rage, insanity, extreme folly, and ecstasy will most likely be involved.

    Me - Knew to me author.
 
 
 

 
The vicious burns scarring the victims' flesh reveal the agony of their last moments. Each woman was branded with a star, then stabbed through the heart. With every death, a vengeful killer finds a brief, blissful moment of calm. But soon it's time for the bloodshed to start again. Ten years ago, Eva Rayburn and her sorority sisters were celebrating the end of the school year. That party turned into a nightmare Eva can't forget. Now she's trying to start over in her Virginia hometown, but a new nightmare has begun. Every victim is linked to her. And Detective Deacon Garrison isn't sure whether this mysterious woman needs investigating - or protecting. Only Eva's death will bring peace. Only her tortured screams will silence the rage that has been building for ten long years. Because what started that night at the sorority can never be stopped - not until the last victim has been marked for death.


Me - Another knew to me author. I can't wait really to dive into this one.