|Adult Review| About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

Title: About Last Night
Author: Ruthie Knox
Published June 11th 2012 by Random House Publishing Group
Genre: contemporary romance
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ 
Goodreads summary:

Sure, opposites attract, but in this sexy, smart, eBook original romance from Ruthie Knox, they positively combust! When a buttoned-up banker falls for a bad girl, “about last night” is just the beginning.

Cath Talarico knows a mistake when she makes it, and God knows she’s made her share. So many, in fact, that this Chicago girl knows London is her last, best shot at starting over. But bad habits are hard to break, and soon Cath finds herself back where she has vowed never to go . . . in the bed of a man who is all kinds of wrong: too rich, too classy, too uptight for a free-spirited troublemaker like her.
 
Nev Chamberlain feels trapped and miserable in his family’s banking empire. But beneath his pinstripes is an artist and bohemian struggling to break free and lose control. Mary Catherine—even her name turns him on—with her tattoos, her secrets, and her gamine, sex-starved body, unleashes all kinds of fantasies.
 
When blue blood mixes with bad blood, can a couple that is definitely wrong for each other ever be perfectly right? And with a little luck and a lot of love, can they make last night last a lifetime?

Racquel's thoughts:
I fell in love with About Last Night after I read an excerpt at Val's blog and since the book wasn't released, I settled for reading Ruthie Knox's debut, Ride With Me, which was absolutely great so when I got the chance to get a review copy of About Last Night I was so excastic and it did NOT disappoint! Ruthie Knox is just an all around fantastic addition to the contemporary romance genre.

To begin with, About Last Night's cast of characters are not recycled, the writing is definitely Ruthie Knox but I love how her new hero and heroine are brand new people. Some author's plot and characters are polished, recycled version of their old main characters but not with Ruthie Knox! City AKA Nev and Cath are brand new, delightful voices from Rutie Knox and I love their story as much as I love Tom's & Alexis from Ride With Me!

The book takes takes place in London and I loved that! I used to visit every summer break but I haven't been to London in over 7 years so it was nice revisiting the city through the book and I think Ruthie captured it's essence very well. Also, just reading a book sit outside of the U.S. is nice, who doesn't like to experience a new culture?!

Our hero and heroines are also delightful!! Cath is not your average clean cut, angel heroine. Her family is a well-known Chicago mafia family (my kind of girl!) and she's all about the tattoos! I loved Cath's personality, it made me her more enjoyable. She has a past and it's bad one and she done a lot of things she regrets but I absolutely know she was a good person and that's all that matters. I also liked the fact that Cath's past wasn't dumped at us. Well actually, it WAS dumped at us (thanks Nev) but it didn't happen from page one. You know Cath went through a lot of bad things but those things are not revealed until much later in the book. This made me read and devour the book faster, I was just waiting to know what happened and it was a nice tactic.

At the opposite end of the spectrum we have who Cath calls City. Who in reality is Nev Chamberlain, banker by day, artist by night and possibly the sweetest man I read about.

"The towel on the tub was for her. A clean towel and a toothbrush, and he hadn't even gotten in her pants. What a guy."

Now, who doesn't already love Nev? (especially after drooling over the cover. YUM!) Cath and City think think they're the worst match in history but really they couldn't be more well paired. Nev understood Cath more than anybody ever could and he slowly but surely drew her out of I'm-done-with-love mentality and seeing Cath opened up to Nev was a absolutely wonderful. It just made the sexy romance so sweet. The book was all Cath and Nev and even then I couldn't get enough of them. You could really see them falling in love and opening up to each other and it couldn't have been better. So of course adored this romance story beyond words and  it's one of my favorites of the year. Ruthie Knox is an author I have my eye on!!

Rating: 4.5 hearts~ yet another hit from Ruthie Knox! A definite must read for romance fans.

First:

The Pigeon Man was uasually here by now.

Favorite:

An orgasm- just for her- ad a compliment. She would bottle him and sill him and make a fortune.

Teaser:

They has routines now, after three weeks of this whatevership of theirs.

Some great interviews from Ruthie that I HIGHLY suggest you check out!
Spilling Secrets With Ruthie Knox
Interview @ Seduced By A Book

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|Review| Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin #1 (companion series)
Expected publication: April 3rd 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Historical, YA romance, fantasy
Source: Review copy from Netgalley, thanks!
Rating: ♥♥♥♥ and a 1/2

Goodread's summary:

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Racquel's thoughts:
Confession time, contemporary might be my favorite genre to read and I value you it dearly but I happen to be very, very, very fascinated by historical novels. I went though a phase a few years back where I went crazy and bought about 6 historical YA books to read and while their stories weren't particular the best, I simply loved them for the world and time they are set in. But now I can say that I have read a wonderful historical YA novel and loved it not only for the time period but also for the fantastic story! 

Grave Mercy definitely earns it's spot in my favorite books shelf. I read it in one sitting, intrigued from the first graphic chapter. Like always, I was fascinated with the world and time period of Grave Mercy, assassins trained by nuns? who wouldn't be interested?! Ismae is a heroine I fell in love with immediately, she is a strong girl despite going though many ugly things and her backbone grows further when she is admitted to the covenant of the St. of Death.

What made Grave Mercy a favorite read to me is the romance. Which happens to be much more than that. Ismae never trusted or liked men and after she moves to the covenant where she is surrounded by females she completely lost hope in the male species so when the love interest (who I will not mention the name of so I you can read and figure of for yourself!) comes along, big yet tender, he is a novelty Ismae never dreamed of being real. Let me tell you, I read every line, every scene between Ismae and her love interest twice. I cannot begin to tell you the heat I was feeling during their exchanges! My heart was skipping so much beats, I was afraid of a heart failure throughout this book. Ismae might be trained in so many ways and skilled at death but due to her dislike of men, she posses an innocence in love that makes the romance a million times sweeter.  

Now don't think this book is solely romance- and don't forget it's a great one at that- but there is more depth to it than that. Through this romance, Ismae learns who trust, to question what she thought and was taught is unquestionable and it helped her to grow and develop as a person, her own person and not a weapon. 

I was warned by a few people that this book slows down towards the middle but I experienced no such thing. I was called for dinner, did I go? Nope. I had to take a shower before it got really late but oh, what is the problem with taking another past-midnight shower when I can keep devouring the book? The suspense of who the villain pushed me to read non-stop and I couldn't wait to get more of Ismae and her love interest who has come to be one of my all time favorite fictional hero's! His interaction with Ismea is so heartwarming, so real and funny at the same time, it's hard not to fall in love with him!  

The only thing holding me back from a full 5 heart no matter how crazy I am about this book is how since there are a lot of things to cover in the second half of the book, the pacing moved on too fast and I missed Ismea and the hero's alone time but besides that, this book is spectacular in my eyes and I already cannot wait to read it again! With witty banter that put a goofy smile on my face, a hero worth killing for, a heroine that is just as strong as the loveable hero, a set of rounded characters and a plot that kept me on my toes, it is extremely, extremely, extremely hard not to adore Grave Mercy. 

Rating: 4.5 hearts~ a real treat to romance lovers, fans of kick ass heroines and heroes and historical novels!

 (taken from advance reader's copy, subjected to change)

First line:

I bear deep red stain that runs from my left shoulder down to my right hip, a trail left by the herbwitch's poison that my mother used to try to expel me from her womb.

Favorite:  

"I am too tired to spar tonight, my lord." 

Teaser: 

"What, pray tell, am I to do with her?"

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