This blog was started because I am addicted to reading, and I could sometimes talk for hours about a book if it was good. I was told that I sometimes talk to much about my books and that there were lots of people out there who love to hear about books.Good or bad and that I should start a blog so people could follow what I read. So here I am. Its all me the truth and nothing but. So I hope you enjoy and please remember to follow me so you can get all the up-to-date reads and reviews.
Sent to a Mongolian prison against his will, former enemy agent Riordan St. James is suddenly back in civilization. With his hands crushed, and littered with scars, he trusts no one. When he accepts D.I.R.E.’s prosthetic hands to operate a future, super power enhancement, Riordan knows their offer comes with a price - he just isn’t sure he wants to pay.
After an affair with a client turns deadly, psychologist and senator’s daughter Natalie Meeks, doesn’t trust her own judgment. When she’s hired to help Riordan adjust to civilization again, she finds herself in familiar, forbidden territory – battling a fiery attraction to her client.
One heated encounter with the elegant Dr. Meeks convinces Riordan to abide by D.I.R.E.’s bargain. However, when new evidence about his disappearance uncovers shocking secrets, he questions not only his decision, but the people around him – including his sexy-as-hell doctor.
While their lives become more entangled, yet pulled apart, a madman turns up the heat on his plans for Natalie. And the only person she can trust is the one man that doesn’t trust her…
By day, Joni Hahn keeps her secret decoder ring hidden while she works as a mild-mannered HR manager and accounting generalist. She believes the world can never have too many superheroes, and anxiously waits for the call when one will need help saving the world… or getting into his costume.
Joni was born with a hopelessly tender heart and believes there is nothing more exhilarating than falling in love (Other than the rear shot of Chris Evans in The Avengers - that was pretty darn exhilarating).
A native Texan, she thinks cowboys are the epitome of masculinity, and that country music is the other soul music.
Gorgeous, narcissistic Lance Packhard—a sex therapist specializing in helping anorgasmic women—is writing a revolutionary book entitled Sexual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate.
When a ruthless mother offers him an enormous sum to impregnate her daughter, Millicent Deafly, a debt-ridden Lance hesitantly agrees.
Millicent, however, isn’t into sex. She’s carefree, joyfully voluptuous, and dedicated to her palate. Lance will only get her attention if he dabs soy sauce on his pulse points.
To get close to her, a determined Lance takes a job at Millicent’s dinner club, Guilty Pleasures, as an assistant to her irascible and eccentric chef, Serge Moreno.
But for Lance, nothing goes according to plan. He’s not only failing to seduce Millie, he’s falling madly in love with her.
Lance’s life becomes next to impossible when his best friend, George, gets married and wants to hold the reception at Guilty Pleasures. Will the truth be uncovered?
About the Author:
Manuela Cardiga was born in Mozambique and raised in South Africa where she studied fashion design. She moved to Europe where she worked as a fashion designer, then moved to the crazy world of advertising as a graphic designer and copywriter. Manuela is a designer by profession, a cook by vocation, and a writer by compulsion. She currently resides in Lisbon, Portugal where she writes contemporary and historical fiction, designs book covers, illustrates children’s books, and mothers a gorgeous daughter while juggling a day job. She also dabbles enthusiastically in exotic, experimental cuisine, much to the discomfort of family and friends.
At last, we have that absolute rarity: a titillating novel which is multi-layered, intelligently written and very, very funny... All the characters are strongly drawn. There is Millicent Deafly, a single woman of quiet strength, who has channelled her creativity and skills into producing feasts of almost carnal delight. There is Serge Moreno, a physically stunted man who has survived every misfortune (sexual and social) that can be imagined and by embracing these has turned them into empathy and wisdom. There is Millicent’s unappreciative mother, narrow- minded and set in her ways, and many grateful clients who are defined by their guilty pleasures...Guilty Pleasures is a novel that works on all levels and is hugely entertaining – a breath of fresh air in a field where novelty is becoming increasingly rare -J. McKenzie
Debut author, Manuela Cardiga, arouses all senses in her stunning novel of epicurean and sexual pleasures...Guilty Pleasures is hilarious, entertaining and erotic. Cardiga has an uncanny understanding of our deep rooted emotions and relationship with all thing pleasureful, but guilt inducing. Her main protagonists are wonderfully flawed, yet at heart, both as courageous and romantic as long forgotten princesses and knights in shining armour. Beautifully written, in at times Victorian-like prose, Guilty Pleasures is a must read and will surely satisfy most readers' hedonistic side. -Elana Sabharwal ~ Author of "Delhi Deception"
5.0 out of 5 stars
I defy anyone to read this book and not wish it was scratch and sniff! The food in it is to die for, and the relationship between Lance/Will and Millie is equally fantastic, full of lust and UST. Guilty Pleasures has a great deal of humour alongside the romance and food porn. Some of the chapter openers - snippets from Lance's book (which I REALLY want Manuela to write next!) - had me laughing out loud for days. And can we pause a minute to appreciate the cover... *sigh* I highly recommend this wonderful debut novel.
Andrea ~ Goodreads
Excerpt from Guilty Pleasures
“Can you believe this, Will? Here we place fake dew on berries, for people who sell fake dreams and pay real money so they can eat real food without anyone knowing. Amazing. They go out and eat macro/micro/molecular or whatever is in fashion for the week, when their bodies crave something fat and rich . . . we are like a dirty secret. They come and eat with their han...ds and they lick their fingers. Here is the world.”
Lance laughed and shook his head.
Serge waved the spray mister about. “People are ashamed to eat good food in decent portions in public, but you get a two-bit whore teaching bored housewives how to give great head on morning TV.” He sighed and shook his head. “And let me tell you, she didn’t know what she was talking about. Best practitioner of fellatio in the world was the Empress of China.”
Lance’s jaw dropped. “Empress of . . . are you serious?”
“What an artist . . . the man could make a stone come. He was a eunuch, a real pure from birth, reared in the Forbidden City. He trained us—the new arrivals—decided on our speciality, and our look. He was an old, old man when I knew him, but he still had all his own teeth, and was limber and graceful as a gazelle. A very wise man. He told me I had to decide, as a freak, if I’d rather be a clown or a demon. He said we oddities—and he spoke from experience—attracted the cowardly and the cruel. Easy targets for the unimaginative, you see.”
Lance nodded soberly. “A wise man, your friend.” Serge smiled grimly. “Yes, he was. So I was the demon, and Yusuf was the angel. What a spectacle we were, Will. Food for the gods’ lust, or the devils’. Yusuf was a hermaphrodite, see. Beautiful, Will. Never have I seen a more beautiful face. He had breasts and a body to make Aphrodite weep with envy, and a man’s prick he had, but the Empress always presented him fully clothed in a long white virginal shift, his hair loose like an angel’s, and then he’d wet the shift down. It would cling, see, the breasts of Venus, the prick of Mars. Some bastards would pay to see us freaks together.” “My God, Serge, how did you stay sane?”
“Willie, things are simple. You do what you do to survive. We all pander to the powerful’s desires, don’t we? Only today, it’s even worse. Since survival is practically guaranteed, these people obsess over the basic things that signify survival—food and fucking. My father said that when the few value our art the most, is when the many are the most hungry. He was right.”
When Graham Logan, a Scottish earl
turned vampire by a dark wizard’s curse, draws the Queen of Swords, he knows
he’s about to meet the love of his life. For the third time. But surrendering
his heart will mean risking her life…or making her what he is. Neither of which
his morals will permit him to do. Graham, who believes he lost his soul to the
curse, rages at God: Why give her back only to take her again?
Cat Fingal, the third incarnation
of Graham’s twin flame, won’t let him escape so easily. As soon as they meet,
she feels she knows him and begins having past-life flashbacks. A white witch,
she casts a spell to summon him, wanting answers and to fill the void she’s
felt all her life.
Graham has other problems, too.
Like the seductress who wants him for herself and the dark wizard who cursed
him and killed his beloved the first two times.
Will he find a way to save her this
time around? Or will she save him?
Excerpt and related meme:
12th May.
Visited Caitriona tonight for the first time since becoming a monster. She
slept, unaware of my presence, & for a time, I was content simply to
observe. As the hours passed, I began to wonder what might happen if she awoke
to find me in her room. Would she think me a wraith? Would she think it a
dream? Desiring to know, & to get closer, I sat down on the corner of the
bed, alert for any stirrings. Seeing none, I crawled up the bed until I reached
her side. Still she did not stir. Ever so carefully, I set my head upon the
pillow next to hers. She slept on. Drinking in her scent, I felt contentment
for the first time since fate & Fitzgerald
tore us apart. I closed my eyes & must have drifted off, because next I
knew, her arm fell across my chest. Startled awake, I found her blinking at me
in disbelief.
I lay there,
still as death, waiting for her to react. Her hand moved up my chest to my
face. She dragged her fingers across my jaw, pressed them against my lips,
touched the end of my nose, my eyebrows, my forehead. As she combed back my
hair, she whispered: “This must be a dream. But you feel so real, so alive. I
don’t ken how such a thing is possible; nor do I care. I only pray I shall
never awaken.”
I kept still. I
could hear her heartbeat, smell her blood, but her blood was not what I craved.
She set her head on my chest & started to sob.
“Am I dreaming?”
she asked, soft & low.
“Aye.”
She raised
herself up, came over me & pressed her mouth against mine.
“Can we make
love in my dream?”
“Aye.”
When it was
over, I collapsed beside her, feeling so elated, so profoundly moved, I very
nearly wept.
She set her head
against my chest. “Will you promise me something?”
Anyone could have those four things, but only one could have VIP. Becoming Madam was never a choice for me, it was a mandated order from the most powerful woman I knew- my mother. I was born to fill her shoes, never to make mistakes, or to show weakness.
You are the product of your environment. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; you learn from what you see, not from what you're told. Nature vs. Nurture. I learned from it all; what I saw, what I didn't see, what I was told, and from reading between the lines.
I was raised with the belief that the world spun ONLY because of me. I held power as far back as I can remember, saw things no one ever talks about, and witnessed illegal acts of sex, drugs, and money by the time I was eighteen.
You saw a glimpse of me in VIP, now see it from the beginning. Enter my world where anything goes; no judgments, no remorse, no guilt. You play by my rules, or you don’t play at all. There are no limits to what I can do, or to what I can show you…I will ensure my legacy my any means necessary.
My name is Lilith Veronica Stone, and I am The Madam.
Warning: Book contains adult situations.
Dark content/sex/drugs/language. Mature readers only.
32 year old Sebastian
Vanwell, was a very successful yacht broker, who always loved the design
and architecture of a luxurious boat. His only addiction was being on
the water. He loved it, he thrived on it, and he needed it in his life.
After a very stable, loving childhood with only a few bumps, Sebastian
married the love of his life. The one person that he knew would always
be there. Julia was his rock, and he loved her more than life itself.
Sebastian kept his addiction to the water under control, wanting to keep
his time with his wife and son his number one obsession, that was until
he saw her. This new addiction haunted him, the one compulsion that he
couldn't control no matter how hard he tried.
Ysabelle Telle hit
him hard, knocking the wind from his lungs. Coming from worlds apart,
beautiful, dark complexion Ysabelle Telle didn't have the rich,
protected background that Sebastian Vanwell had. Ysabelle lived a life
of hell, in poverty, growing up with a drug addict mother that never
cared, and horrific living conditions. Ysabelle lived for one person and
one person only; herself. She was pure perfection, her beauty along
with a flawless body had men lined up, driveling over her ensuring her
success as a VIP.
There are too many words that describe the
effects when two diverse worlds like theirs collide. They both have too
much to lose to get caught in the forceful pull, which could destroy
them both.
M. Robinson loves to read. She
favors anything that has angst, romance, triangles, cheating, love, and
of course sex! She has been reading since the Babysitters Club and R.L.
Stein.
She was born in New Jersey but was raised in Tampa Fl. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D in psychology, with two years left.
She is married to an amazing man who she loves to pieces. They have two German Shepherd mixes and a Tabby cat.
Forever in LoveSeries: Hearts on the Line, #5Publication Date: May 12, 2014Genre: Contemporary Romance
Catherine Fairchild fakes being perfect by keeping everyone at arm's length. But her billionaire CEO husband's bigamy shatters the illusory life she's built, and vengeful in-laws want to send her to jail for embezzling from the failing family business. Desperate, she accepts an offer from a powerful friend: help him reconcile with his illegitimate son in return for protection. How hard can it be to dazzle a small town guy?
Small town bar owner Blaine Davis has zero interest in claiming his fifty million dollar trust fund or joining the family of a father he barely knows. He can never forgive his womanizing father for seducing his mother or forget the cruelty his father's high-society wife inflicted on them. Catherine comes from the same rich and entitled background, but he starts to fall for her anyway. Can their fragile bond survive when the true reason for her presence in his idyllic little town is revealed and Blaine's old wounds are re-opened?
Blaine was frowning as he came down the stairs from his third-floor apartment to the first floor where his bar and restaurant was located. He would’ve been down sooner, but Salazar’s damn lawyer had called again.
Fifty million, Mr. Davis. Can you ignore that?Like any amount of money could make up for the way Ceinlys Pryce had humiliated his mother. She wanted to be a bitch to him, fine. But not to his mother. And Salazar hadn’t done a thing about it. A man who couldn’t bother to stand up for the mother of his child didn’t deserve to be a father.
If he hadn’t had a business to run, Blaine might have shot the shit with the lawyer just to run up her billable hours. She sounded expensive. He hoped she charged at least a hundred bucks a call.
It was still early, so only a few seats were occupied. But later, the place would be packed. A playoff game was on tonight, and the bar had four giant flat-screen TVs—one for each wall. His best friend and bar manager Rick Shelton lifted his chin at the sight of him, and Blaine nodded in return. Gel spiked Rick’s sandy hair, and gold studs in his ears sparkled as he moved around behind the bar. A black turtleneck and a pair of old jeans completed his work ensemble.
“Studs?” Blaine said. “Didn’t you say they were lame?”
Rick cocked an eye at one of the waitresses. “Janey thinks they’re hot.”
Blaine made a whip-snapping sound, and Rick flipped him the bird. He chuckled, then frowned at the sight of Irene at the counter, nursing a beer. “Hey, Irene, what’re you doing here? Didn’t you have to get the Blue House ready for somebody?”
“I’m done,” she said in that gravelly voice of hers. She still puffed cigarettes, just not as much as she used to. Not even losing a chain-smoking husband to lung cancer had made her quit.
“What? You get fired?”
“Nothin’ like that. The new tenant said I could go early. She’s a real looker, yes she is. If I was just little bit younger…” A wistful sigh escaped her thin lips. “I remember how I looked when I was that age. Woulda given her a run for her money.”
Blaine smiled. Irene said that about every woman. “Did you offer to make her one of your killer steak burritos?” She made them for anybody who stayed at the Blue House as a “welcome to town” dinner.
“Offered, but she said no. Wanted eat out and meet the folks around here.”
Huh. That was interesting. Rick came over and set a plate with a cheeseburger and fries on the counter in front of Irene. “Maybe she’d like to try our specialty.”
“I dunno.” Irene finished her beer and signaled for another. “Honestly, she don’t look like the bacon-cheeseburger type. A little too skinny.” She started nibbling on the butter and garlic fries. “A woman’s gotta keep some meat on her.”
“Amen,” Rick said and went away with her empty glass.
“Poor girl is all bones. At least her car’s nice.” Irene’s gaze grew speculative. “So what you up to, Blaine? Word is you’re getting an awful lot of fancy letters from people in California.”
Aw jeez. Not even mail was secret in Cooter’s Bluff. “It’s junk mail,” Blaine said. “Somehow they got my name.”
“What do they want you to buy?”
It’s not exactly like that—they want to buy me. He shrugged. “Nothin’ I’m interested in.”
Irene shook her head. “That danged junk mail. Such a waste of paper.”
“Hopefully a waste of their money, too.”
The door to his bar opened, and a woman walked in. Blaine glanced in that direction and did an honest-to-god double-take. Conversation around the place petered out as people started to notice her.
Curly hair fell over her shoulders like a dark waterfall, framing whiskey-colored eyes and lips that he found it hard to look away from. A black leather coat was belted at the waist, revealing an hourglass body that belonged on a pinup poster girl. She was so flawless in appearance, the symmetry of her features so perfect, that she almost didn’t look real. It was like god had taken the most beautiful woman in the world and then made her a little better.
It had to be Irene’s new tenant. Blaine knew every good-looking woman within fifty miles, and he had never seen this one before. He had the most absurd desire to touch her, even as his brain warned him it would be a terrible idea. A woman this beautiful was always bad news. An exterior that nice usually hid something nasty underneath.
Janey walked up to her. “Would you like a table, ma’am?”
An instant of frown crossed the stranger’s face. “A seat at the counter’s fine. Thank you.”
“That’s her,” Irene said, swallowing a bite of her burger. “Catherine.”
Blaine rolled the name on his tongue. It was as regal as the woman.
“Hey, Catherine,” Irene called out, waving.
Catherine’s eyes zeroed in on her, then moved to Blaine. The impact of her gaze hit him like a boxer’s punch.
She made her way across the bar, seemingly oblivious to the stares she was getting, and took the stool next to Irene. “I thought you’d go home.”
“Would have, normally, but I figured I’d treat myself. This here is Blaine. He owns the place.”
Catherine tilted her head and gave him a soft smile that revealed teeth as perfect as the rest of her. “Catherine. A pleasure.”
Her voice reminded Blaine of finely aged bourbon. “The pleasure’s mine. Welcome.”
“I’d like to see a menu if you don’t mind,” she said.
He handed her one. “Where are you from? California?” Something about her accent made him think of the golden state.
She regarded him over the menu for a moment. “No. I was born in Savannah.”
Other books in the series:
Bilingual former management consultant Nadia Lee has lived in four different countries and enjoyed many adventures and excellent food around the globe. In the last eight years, she has kissed stingrays, been bitten by a shark, ridden an elephant and petted tigers.
She shares an apartment overlooking a river and palm trees in Japan with her husband and son. When she's not writing the sexy contemporary romance series Hearts on the Line featuring hot, protective and possessive billionaire alpha heroes, she can be found digging through old Asian historical texts or planning another trip.
Beyond Desire Collection
A limited edition boxed set of alpha males, badboys, & billionaire romance novels from NY Times & USA Today Bestselling authors!
Publication Date: May 5, 2014
THE BILLIONAIRE'S OBSESSION ~ SIMON by J. S. Scott
Reclusive billionaire Simon Hudson would rather be behind a computer creating computer games ...until he meets Kara Foster. But when she ends up in a situation that could very well be her destruction, Simon steps up to help her, not realizing that in saving Kara, he might very well be salvaging his own soul.
ONE MORE DAY by M. Malone
When Ridley Wells finds herself on the wrong side of a mafia don, she runs to the only person she trusts. But her twin sister is out of town and she has no where to go. So when resident bad boy Jackson Alexander mistakes her for her sister, she does something she knows she shouldn't. She lies.
FOR YOU by Mimi Strong
Aubrey's fled her shabby past for a reason, and won't let anyone close enough to discover her secrets. Sawyer talks his way into one date, and then another. Aubrey finds herself smiling, and falling in love. But when the truth comes out about Aubrey's past, will Sawyer stand by her side?
ONE SWEET SUMMER by Cali MacKay
Riley never got over her first love, Thorsen, so when he shows up at the quirky inn she manages 12 years later, she falls for him all over again. She soon finds out the inn is being sold to Holt Enterprises, who'll strip it of everything that makes it unique. When faced with the real reason Thorsen's returned and his unbearable betrayal, will she be able to save the inn and her chance at true love?
DEFINING DESTINY by Deanna Chase
Singer-songwriter Lucy Moore has already met her soul mate. But when he betrays her she returns home with some decisions to make. After a horrific accident, Seth Keenan's own destiny is shattered. Now he's abandoned his career in favor of his tattoo gun and has vowed to never to get close to anyone again...until he meets Lucy.
A MOMENT by Marie Hall
Lili would much rather be doing homework on Valentine's then hanging out in a Burlesque bar, until she meets the brooding Ryan. What she doesn't know is that Ryan has decided tonight he'll end it all, but fate has other plans for him. Lili is determined to save not only his body, but his soul too.
IN KELLY'S CORNER by Roxie Rivera
Former Marine Kelly Connolly will do anything to keep Bee Langston safe, but winning the underground cage fighting tournament to save his family's legacy comes at a high price--one that might just cost his sweet Bee her life.
REUNITED IN LOVE by Nadia Lee
Billionaire Ethan Lloyd gets the second chance he wants when he runs into Kerri Wilson. She's the only woman who ever touched him, but she vanished after their one night of passion. He offers her a job and a home, but with her past catching up to her, Kerri may have to bolt again--
THE TEMPORARY PROMISE by Bonnie Dee
Struggling actress Tara has grown used to the idea that her career might not progress beyond an occasional commercial--until her best friend's brother, Luis encourages her to make a big move. Soon Tara is taking more than career risks as she plunges headlong into a steamy relationship with the guy she crushed on as a teenager.
ESCAPE IN YOU by Rachel Schurig
Jet Taylor is the quintessential bad boy. The type of guy most girls do their best to avoid. But Zoe Janes is no saint herself and the more time they spend together, the harder it is for Zoe to stick to her "fun only" mantra.
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By day, Joni Hahn keeps her secret decoder ring hidden while she works as a mild-mannered HR manager and accounting generalist. She believes the world can never have too many superheroes, and anxiously waits for the call when one will need help saving the world… or getting into his costume. 
