Harlequin Presents Readers discussion

Heart of a Desert Warrior by Lucy Monroe (M&B Modern July 2012)
Stepping off his private jet in his designer suit, Sheikh Asad returns to his kingdom ready to secure his legacy. For beneath the starched white shirt beats the heart of a desert warrior!



Iris Carpenter barely recognizes the man standing before her. He's more magnificent than he was six years ago and even more dangerous. Especially when the searing heat of his eyes burns hotter than the fierce desert sun.



Iris can resist all she likes, but Asad knows it's just a matter of time before the flame-haired temptress is back in his bed—where she belongs!

Santina's Scandalous Princess by Kate Hewitt (Second book in The Santina Crown Series) (M&B Modern June 2012)
Santina's Princess Natalia has been spotted on the arm of billionaire Ben Jackson, famous for his ruthless work ethic, devastating good looks and disdain for the spotlight. But Ben has no chance of avoiding the cameras with notorious party girl Natalia in tow!



Most surprising of all, Natalia has been seen putting in a full day's work in Ben's office! Has the legendary socialite swapped couture and cocktails for photocopying?



One thing's for sure—if we could all have a brooding, dynamic boss like the devilishly attractive Ben, work would be a whole lot more exciting...

Defying Drakon by Carole Mortimer (First book in The Lyonedes Legacy Series) (M&B Modern May 2012)
Drakon Lyonedes has it all: power, wealth, sex appeal…and any woman he wants! Until the beautiful Gemini Bartholomew steps into his life, that is…



Confronting him over his plan to turn her family home into a hotel, Gemini intrigues Drakon. The problem? Long-term just isn't in this infamously arrogant tycoon's vocabulary—and Gemini is a virgin who surely wants more than one night of sizzling, scorching passion…?



She's determined to defy him, but whose willpower will prove the strongest?

Captive but Forbidden by Lynn Raye Harris (M&B Modern November 2011)
The news that wild socialite Veronica St. Germaine has cleaned up her act and stepped into her father's shoes as ruler of a Mediterranean principality creates a tabloid frenzy! But it's not just the paparazzi that are out for blood.…



Duty demands that bodyguard Rajesh Vala must protect Veronica—whatever the cost.… But Veronica has always rebelled against commands, and she isn't making Raj's job easy!



He calls it safeguarding. She calls it being held captive at his beach house. Both realize that the attraction between them is inconvenient.… Veronica is forbidden, not for bedding!

His Majesty's Mistake by Jane Porter (Second book in A Royal Scandal Series) (M&B Modern May 2012)
Spurned and publicly humiliated by the father of her child, Princess Emmeline d'Arcy has no ring, no wedding date and no legitimacy for her unborn baby.



And the last straw? Having to trade in her gilded lifestyle and pretend to be her twin sister, otherwise known as Sheikh Makin Al-Koury's personal assistant.



Accustomed to being waited on hand and foot, Emmeline finds herself having to jump to the click of her boss's skillful fingers—day and night! But once the sheikh uncovers her shameful past, will his touch be nothing but a scorching memory?

The Dark Side of Desire by Julia James (M&B Modern June 2012)
English rose Flavia Lassiter has never been comfortable in her father's glitzy world. Summoned to yet another of his ostentatiously lavish parties, she finds that her one order is to be "nice" to a wealthy investor. Her body may be on offer, but she shields her heart behind an icy shell.



Leon Maranz emanates a dark power that sends shivers through her body—threatening to shatter her frosty facade. To let the self-made billionaire bed her would be to do her unscrupulous father's bidding. But to turn Leon down would be to deny her body's deepest desires….

A Devilishly Dark Deal by Maggie Cox (M&B Modern February 2012)
Having made his fortune from nothing, billionaire Marco Aguilar has wiped the dirt of a poverty-stricken childhood from his expensive shoes. Now he can have anything he wants—and his next acquisition is beautiful charity worker Grace Faulkner. He'll finance her beloved orphanage if she agrees to become his mistress!



Only, Grace's sweet, selfless nature and the fire she ignites with her touch shake his iron defences to the core. Tortured Marco has been driven by demons for so long—can he be saved by this innocent angel?

The Italian Next Door... by Anna Cleary(M&B Modern September 2011)
Pia Renfern's holiday planning is easy—relaxation and recuperation are the only things on her to-do list! And she can't imagine they'll be too difficult in the beautiful, exclusive Italian village of Positano.…



But before she's even out of the airport Pia's heart is racing, her skin tingling and her mind filled with wild, uninhibited images of a holiday fling! The culprit? Valentino Silvestri—glorious Italian demigod and Pia's new next-door neighbor… With him on her doorstep each day, how is a girl ever meant to wind down?

The Good, the Bad and the Wild by Heidi Rice (M&B Riva March 2012)
Nick Delisantro is famous—for his scripts, for his looks and above all for his ruthless bad-boy charm. Eva, on the other hand, has spent her life being an overlooked wallflower! Now she has to meet with Mr. Tall, Dark and Brooding or her only chance of promotion is over.…



Nick can't stop staring at the mysterious, blushing girl who's dressed like a vixen but frozen under his gaze like a rabbit in headlights…. He can't wait to see what's behind that innocent front! But Nick's about to get far more than he'd bargained for—not only does Eva have the key to his secret past, but there's nothing more dangerously addictive than a good girl going wild.…


A World She Doesn't Belong To by Natasha Tate (M&B Modern Modern June 2012)
Laura Talbot can't believe she's even considering Kyros Spyridis's outrageous proposal—although he is her late twin sister's husband. Yet for reasons she daren't admit, the shy, innocent Laura is tempted by Kyros's dangerous proposition.…

Kyros needs Laura to act as his wife and keep the lies about his disastrous marriage going—just for one more week.

Having lived all her life in her sister's shadow, will the "good" twin finally be able to step into her own light—even if it leads straight to Kyros's bed?

I read the Carole Mortimer,was okay...the Lucy Monroe was okay too,not my fav by her...have the Julia James to read.

I read Jane Porter's..His Majesty's Mistake and really liked it. **** stars.

Interestingly enough, I don't read very much of Jane Porters work...I usually feel cheated when I finish her books. Almost as if something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on it. She invests so much more time and energy in the first half and rushes through the second half.

Does anyone else have that problem with her books?
But I did enjoy this book. I want to go back and read Hannah's story.

Vashti, I am huge LM fan, but her last few books have been just okay for me....I did purchase this one...so I hope I like it.

Leona,this LM was not my fav by her,when you read this,we can discuss it.As to Jane Porter,she is hit miss with me as I really do not care for her writing style.Getting back to LM books,just did not get the connection with the characters together.

Leona wrote: "Interestingly enough, I don't read very much of Jane Porters work...I usually feel cheated when I finish her books. Almost as if something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on it. She invests so much more time and energy in the first half and rushes through the second half.

Does anyone else have that problem with her books?"

I've read only two of her books, and enjoyed both of them (4 stars each). But, based on what I remember of the two I read, I really liked the character development but felt that was something lacking in the relationship development. So, I end up really liking the characters but have to stretch my belief that the relationship is strong at the end of the book.

Leona wrote: "I read Jane Porter's..His Majesty's Mistake and really liked it. **** stars.

Interestingly enough, I don't read very much of Jane Porters work...I usually feel cheated when I finish her books. ..."

I don't read a lot of Jane Porter books because I find her plots and storylines kind of way too funky for my comfort zone. The few books I have read sucked me in not so much because the book or the plot was that great, but because I find her writing style really engaging. I find that if the writing is really good and engaging, I will read the book regardless of whether I actually like the story or not. On the other hand, when the writing is terrible, well, then just the whole thing is just terrible.

Kate that's it!!! the characters and story lines work, but the relationship between H/h doesn't really develop.

Lululemon, you are correct..her writing is very well done and does stand out. I just finished a book, by another author where the writing style was horrible and it became painful. With Jane Porter, you get sucked in quickly and she is easy to read...

I haven't gotten drawn into too many of Jane Porter's books. I know there was one I read that I couldn't stand the heroine. I know I have tons in the pile though. Might have to give them a try.

I don't know what this says about me, but I'd rather read a book that I like the writing style than a book where I like the storyline. I think that's why I prefer a lot of the newer authors -- their writing style is much more to my taste.

I agree. The writing style wins over the storyline, which is why I tend to stick with certain authors I enjoy.

Same here for me,it is not so much the plot of the book as to the style of writing,so I bascially tend to stick with authors that I know and trust.As to some of the newer authors,I like to wait for reviews or read a sample of the book before I buy them.I have been burned too much in the past with certain authors to buy first ,then regret the purchase.So style wins over plot for me.

I finished Monroe's book and it was a 2/5 for me. I just didn't feel convinced that the H was all that committed to the h. (view spoiler)[It felt like he only regretted ditching h for the OW because OW turned out to have zero redeeming qualities. I would have preferred it if H had missed the h because of her unique personality/character, not because he accidentally married a “cheating abandoner of children”. The H also seemed to be way too hung up on everybody else's virginity status. (hide spoiler)]

I've started reading Jane Porter's book. She can be a bit of a hit or miss for me too because of the rushed endings, but I do like the originality of her stories and her writing style.

Emma wrote: "I finished Monroe's book and it was a 2/5 for me. I just didn't feel convinced that the H was all that committed to the h. [spoilers removed]"

That first bit has got to be my no. 1 pet peeve in a romance, Emma. For my harleys, I want me a totally besotted hero. This one goes to the skip pile.

Totally agree, Lululemon. In HP-Land, I'd rather have the obsessive, I'm-too-jealous-to-let-you-have-male-friends alpha H over the affable and level-headed beta H. In real life, of course, it's quite the opposite!

Emma wrote: "Totally agree, Lululemon. In HP-Land, I'd rather have the obsessive, I'm-too-jealous-to-let-you-have-male-friends alpha H over the affable and level-headed beta H. In real life, of course, it's qui..."

LOL. In real life, it's creepy and scary. In a romance novel, it's totally romantic and swoonworthy!

Me three!

Me four!!!!! The lucy monroe book disappointed me.I felt that if the wife would have come back,the heroine would have been adios chica.Did not feel the love from him,this reminded me of another one of her books she had out a couple of months ago where he had been in a relationship withthe OW for five years and he only broke up with the OW because he had an arranged marriage scheduled with the heroine.

That sounds very unromantic, Vashti.

I like the hero to be passionately in love with the heroine, even if he doesn't know it yet.

Same here Danielle,for me the herione has to be the Hero's end all,be all.

I love the way you put it, Vashti!

Thanks Ma'am.....it may not always be that way in the real world,but in my romance world,that is the way it has to be,lol.

Same here. I want my romance books to be romantic.

I finished the Julia James book and liked the h. She was a loyal granddaughter and the dog of a father was the pits. Flavian was manipulated by her father because of her love and care for the grandmother,
I give it 4 stars. I also finished Carol Mortimer's book. It is not one of her better ones. I found it slow going at times but liked the way Gemini handled the stepmom from hell. I give it 3 stars. Will read Lucy Monroe next.

So, I just came across something strange as I was putting together my list of July releases I'm going to read.

Usually there are 6 HPs and 4 HPEs released each month, but this month Harlequin.com lists only 3 HPEs. I always track which HP/HPEs are coming out soon on a spreadsheet (with info from the upcoming releases page on Harlequin.com) and at some point they had A World She Doesn't Belong To by Natasha Tate listed as an HPE release in July. The book is completely missing from their website, and while you can buy the mass market paperback from amazon.com (which has the publish date listed as 7/3), they don't have it in Kindle form. Then I checked millsandboon.co.uk (M&B released it in June), and they also only have print versions and no ebook version.

That is very weird!

I really liked her previous books, so I guess I'll end up getting the paperbook from Amazon. It'll be the first non-ebook I've read in two years!

I'll have to make a note to get that one off Amazon as well. I get the books in the mail every month, but not two of the HPEs. I have to buy those.

Oh I checked. I did get that one in the mail. Yes!

That makes it even strangers if it was part of the subscription but not even mentioned on their website. It seems shady!

You should email them and complain about it.

keep us posted. I had stopped reading the HPE's and did not realize the Natalie Tate had one coming out :-( will have to buy it in paper back if something doesn't change.
I did see one comment out there that it was not going to be released in ebook because of 'author and copyright laws' whatever that means...

That's strange. I've been very picky about the Harleys I'll actually read but I was looking forward to reading that one. The weird thing is that the book is not even listed at all- whether ebook or paperback- on the harlequin.com "Upcoming Books" page. Her website, natashatate.com is not working either. Her last blog entry was January 29.

Things that make you go, hmmmm . . . .

Vashti wrote: "Did not feel the love from him,this reminded me of another one of her books she had out a couple of months ago where he had been in a relationship with the OW for five years and he only broke up with the OW because he had an arranged marriage scheduled with the heroine. "

I remember that one! Such a great set-up, but the conclusion wasn't satisfying because the h had to explain to the H why he loved her. You couldn't help but wonder if he would have continued to pine for the OW if she hadn't suddenly been revealed as an Officially Bad Person towards the end of the book.

I should clarify my previous comment to note that the H in Desert Warrior was totally alpha in that he was ridiculously possessive (view spoiler)[(he somewhat insanely gives her first boyfriend a good talking-to at their wedding about taking her virginity) (hide spoiler)], but it didn't feel like it was based on actual love for the h as a person.

It may not sound like it right now, but I'm actually a huge LM fan. She usually gets her stories very right and that's probably why I'm inordinately disappointed when things don't work out the way I expect them to.

I finished Her Majesty's Mistake and thought it was just okay. I had a hard time relating to the h because she seemed extremely self-centred. I didn't read the book previous to this one, so maybe I'm missing something, but I couldn't understand how h could be so cavalier about leaving her sister in the lurch overseas and possibly losing her her job to boot. I'd hoped for h to see the error of her ways by the end of the story, but that never came to pass. At least, not in a way that felt sincere.

I liked the H, but didn't understand why he fell in love with h. There were references to her being funny and smart, but there was little evidence of either. She came off as a flighty and overly dramatic 14-year-old rather than a well-travelled 25-year-old socialite. (view spoiler)[I also didn't understand how she couldn't know that her scummy boyfriend was married and already had five children. Anyone with an Internet connection should be able to find out info like that. (hide spoiler)]

I've read a couple of other books where the h is a Paris Hiltonesque socialite and I have a hard time liking these characters. It's true that being uber-wealthy and/or a royal can be socially isolating, but really, it's no excuse for “[n]o vocation, no practical skills, and a numbing lack of real-world experience” (per JP's H).

Going to read Carol Mortimer's book next.

FYI -- I added A World She Doesn't Belong To as well as the M&B UK release dates in the top post.

Vashti wrote: "Thanks Ma'am.....it may not always be that way in the real world,but in my romance world,that is the way it has to be,lol."

Vashti, what is the name of the Lucy Monroe book you are speaking about, do you remember?
Thanks

Virginia,Heart If A Desert Warrior is one if the books and the ither one was the book before that one,cannot remember that one of the bat,but it is another Sheikh one..

Thanks, I will look through my stash. Hope I still have them.

Kate wrote: "So, I just came across something strange as I was putting together my list of July releases I'm going to read.

Usually there are 6 HPs and 4 HPEs released each month, but this month Harlequin.com ..."

I saw the Natasha Tate at the B&N bookstore when I went for my latte...

I'm just now getting to the July releases (I'm just getting further behind each month!). I finished The Good, the Bad and the Wild this morning and absolutely loved it!

Does anyone know if the Natasha Tate book will eventually be released in ebook format?

Janice wrote: "Does anyone know if the Natasha Tate book will eventually be released in ebook format?"

I think it's unlikely that it will be -- or at least not anytime soon.