Heidi Rice: Romantic Times Book Reviews

Showing posts with label Romantic Times Book Reviews. Show all posts

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Public Affair gets Four Stars from RT

Am currently doing the snoopy dance after reading my four star review in the March edition of Romantic Times for Public Affair, Secretly Expecting! Here's the review which had my head swelling to impossible proportions:

PUBLIC AFFAIR, SECRETLY EXPECTING (4) by Heidi Rice: Juno Delamare is determined to get her friend's estranged brother, Hollywood actor Mac Brody, to his wedding, even if she has to meet the plane he's on at Heathrow to hand him the invitation. She hadn't planned on kissing him at the same time. Mac had no plans to go to the wedding, but he can't get Juno off his mind. What they agree will be a short-and-steamy fling turns serious when Juno finds out she's pregnant. Rice has a knack for setting up story openings that immediately catch your attention. Here she starts with the fun and flirty, gradually leading into a heartfelt, emotional tale.

And to add to the kudos my Modern Heat buddy Kelly Hunter went one better with her March release Exposed: Magnate's Misbehaving Mistress and got a Top Pick. So congrats to Kelly too!

And anyone who has the sneaking suspicion that I am using my excitement to avoid my current WIP would be entirely incorrect. Of course.

BTW, I have just signed up again for Brenda Novak's Auction which they are putting together as we speak and goes online in May. I'll be offering a critique of a first chapter and synopsis aimed at Harlequin Presents or Presents Extra, plus two signed books... So will keep you posted on that one.

Thursday, 30 July 2009

The lady from RT, she say 'Yes!'

Whoo-hooo, just found out I got a whopping 4 stars for Hot-Shot Tycoon in the September edition of Romantic Times Book Reviews. So nice to break out of my three-star doldrums at last.

The reviewer Sandra Garcia-Myers (she of the fabulous taste!) called Daisy and Connor's story 'emotional and heartfelt' and pointed to the 'amusing opening'. Cool to know I made her smile with Daisy's satin knickers...

Also while surfing the usual blogs (as you do when you ought to be writing) I discovered this vote of confidence from the fab Waiting For the Call blog which said Hot-Shot 'could just be my new measure for the ideal Modern Heat Story.'

I'll be posting more snippets from the RT review on my website soon, but until then I'm going to go bask in the golden glow of my own fabulousness.... Smug? Full of myself? Just a tad.

Now if I could only wrestle Leo and Issy's story into shape I'd be over the moon.

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Out in Germany....

Woohoo!

Just heard from my fellow Modern Heat author Nicola Marsh that I have my first book out in Germany. How exciting. The title 'Nur eine rasante Affare?' translates as (I think) 'Only a Quick Affair?' but is actually my first book Bedded by a Bad Boy (which I only know from the character names - as my German's about as good as my Dutch!).

Also, got my June copy of Romantic Times Book Reviews today and spotted a Top Pick for Trish Wylie and a four-star review for Natalie Anderson. Well, done ladies, you wrote two cracking books.

My Book Recs!

Dirty Secret by Mira Lyn Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I know absolutely NADA about ice hockey, I'm a Brit after all. But when I saw my old writing mate Mira Lyn Kelly had written a series of HAWT hockey romances I hit the insta-buy button because I know what a fabulous writer she is – and I had a week-long holiday in Spain with lots of lounging-around-a-pool time to fill. I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. Because this book hit all my sweet spots hot hero, smart savvy heroine, snappy dialogue and deep deep emotion wise.... (Although I still know nada about hockey I feel I can now talk quite knowledgeably about how hot ice hockey players are at least!)

Dirty Secret is the first of the Slayers Hockey team stories (although Greg and Julia feature in Dirty Player, in another series, which I will sooo be checking out after I finish this series). Anyway Dirty Secret features team captain Greg Baxter's arch rival Vaughn Vasser and Greg's little sister Natalie, who is absolutely OFF LIMITS to the rest of the team. But most of all to Vaughn, who recently threw a punch at the cap, is not much liked by the Chicago press, the Slayers fans or nearly all of his teammates either, and has his sights set on a trade back to Oregon ASAP...

But what Vaughn does not know is that the "Allie" he had an uber hot one-night stand with eight months ago in Vancouver, and who ran out on him without leaving a number and who he cannot forget is none other than the guy he hates little sis. Natalie is so busted when Vaughn turns up at her door, after discovering who she is... And that she knew who he was all along, and that's why she was using an assumed name. To say he's pissed is putting it mildly, but the truth is he is also hurt. WTF was she thinking, leaving him in the lurch like that after pretty much the best night of his life? Ofc, it's only a matter of time before pissed gives way to provocative, because these two really cannot keep their hands off each other, or any other crucial parts of their anatomy tbf. But while the secret sex scenes are the perfect blend of explosively intense and toe-curlingly spicy, the real secret in this book is that the hard-nosed (and hard everything else) Vaughn, is actually a really sweet guy. But only Natalie ever gets to see that side of him...

Not all that surprisingly, given their explosive chemistry, it doesn't take long before their under-the-radar romance is impossible to keep under the radar (or anything else for that matter).

Once Greg finds out that his rival is secretly dating his kid sister, all hell breaks loose, leaving Vaughn's career in the crosshairs and Natalie having to deal with her big brother's ego explosion. So how is Vaughn not gonna blow up his career and get over the girl he can't have but still wants all the damn time? How is Natalie gonna get her big bro to back the hell off and give her space to figure out that Vaughn is the guy for her? Which is a big ask for her, because she spent her whole life living in the shadow of Greg's career. And she does not want to risk living in the shadow of another man's career - however right he seems....

I'll leave the answers to those crucial questions for you to find out, but I was rooting for them both throughout the fallout, even when they made mistakes. I loved the underlying theme,too, that love is never easy, that chemistry can be dangerous as well as delicious but that ultimately it's the compromises you make and the secrets you are brave enough to share about who you really are, and what you really want that give you the greatest rewards.

What a terrific start to this series, I'm already three books in and I am TOTALLY ADDICTED which is good because I'm now back in a cold and rainy London, and some Slayers Hockey heat is the perfect antedote. So thank you Mira Lyn for giving me my summer back, I appreciate it.

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