Review: Cinderella and the Lady - KT Grant

Cinderella and the Lady

The sudden death of Ellie’s father leaves her with an uncertain future. Her stepmother, Geraldine and step-sister Mina treat her like a servant. The seductive Countess Tremaine wants to save Ellie from her life of drudgery, but all for a price-her innocence. Ellie feels all hope is lost until she meets a Lady who makes all her wishes come true.

Lady Kristina, the Duke of Perrault’s daughter has returned home after five years abroad. She’s expected to marry, but her attraction to women stops her from carrying out her parents’ wishes. One night she meets a shy servant girl and becomes obsessed. She’ll do whatever she can to gain the trust of this mysterious woman and claim her for her own.

With the countess pressuring Ellie into accepting her unscrupulous offer, and her step mother growing more unstable, she turns to Kristina for support. But then her whole world comes crashing down when she learns the truth behind Kristina’s identity and the lies Geraldine has kept from her.

As Ellie falls victim to those dark forces set on ruining her, Kristina fights to save Ellie’s heart before she loses her forever.

My thoughts:

Look at me, I tried something new! *applauds* Well, in the end it was not "new", whether it's a man and a woman or two women, they are still all just people falling in love :) (still "new" for me ;) 

This was a f/f Cinderella story. Ellie, poor thing, honestly evil stepmums, you all need a kick in the bum. But at least she has two friends, a cat and a mouse. Yup, that is how sad her life is. In comes her prince Charming, make that Lady Kristina who has been staying in Finland for a while (which brings me to the reason why I had to read this book.) And the Cinderella theme is always there, just different twists and it works so well.

I should also mention that there is also a side storyline, an m/m one, just saying. I will not spill the beans, you will see.

The bad guy is not always the one you think either. And here we got one creepy one, again, read and find out. Kind of charming creepy that you just want to back way from at once.

Conclusion:

A nice change to a familiar story. Cinderella always finds her happy ending.

Genre: f/f, romance
Pages: 185 (ebook)
Published: July 24th 2012 by Ravenous Romance
Source: Gift as I helped with something in it :=D

Guest Review: The Prince's Groom - KT Grant

Genre: M/M romance, historical
Pages: 175
Published: November 2010
Review by Lis

Mr. Martin, the former first mate of an infamous pirate captain is mourning the loss of his young lover. He and Thomas de Fleurre, an exiled prince turned gentleman landowner, had a passionate affair on a tropical island paradise for a very short time. Thomas decides to end their relationship since Martin is a wanted man on the run for a twenty-year-old crime he didn’t commit.

Thomas longs for the frank speaking Martin, who not only ravaged his body, but his heart and soul. He has moved on, finding happiness in the arms of another man, but can’t stop thinking about those hot steamy nights where Martin made his every fantasy become a reality.

Martin’s past comes back to haunt him as he arrives on Thomas’s doorstep to finish what they started. And then Martin puts his life on the line to save Thomas from an unstable woman who is obsessed with claiming Thomas as her own.

With a dangerous highwayman also terrorizing the land who has close ties to Martin, Thomas becomes a target in a deadly game of cat and mouse. It’s up to Martin to save Thomas and hope they can sail away on their tide of passion, where he will end up being the Prince’s groom.

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Ahoy, ye merry mateys! Aye it this time again. Time for a swashbucklin' about pirates, wenches and gentlemen. I'm talking about K.T. Grant's book The Prince's Groom. After reading The Claiming of Suzy I was a wee bit hesitant, but shiver me timbers, this book surprised me.

When I started this book, which is about Martin and Thomas – or Thom as Martin also calls him – there was the feeling that something was missing. It started right in the middle of the wedding of Thomas' sister Daisy and the characters already knew each other. I was a wee bit disappointed, because I dislike those stories that just start right in the middle of something, assuming we know what in the seven seas is going on.

Turns out that The Prince's Groom is a sequel/continuation of the Daisy's story The Princess' Bride. So while I was a bit disappointed that I missed how Martin and Thom got together and the general first part of the story, I soon got with the program and got into the story. While I missed bits and pieces of Thom and Martin and their histories, it didn't stop me from liking this story.

Martin is a man of secrets and Thom is a stubborn git. While passion flies, communication between the men is missing and that doesn't bode well. Indeed Thom takes off for his own parts while Martin can't follow because he's a wanted man and because he let Thom go. Gah. Men. Always refusing to talk.

Fast forward a year and Thom is getting it on with his personal assistant, though his heart is – gna gna gna – not in it. Trouble brews in the form of the bad, scheming and spoiled wench Ramona. She set her beady eyes on Thom and lo and behold, what Ramona wants she gets. No matter the cost or consequences. Trouble also brews in the form a Night Stalker. Luckily, after some time on the high seas, Martin gets his wits about him and goes in search Thom.

What I liked about this story is that Martin and Thom are not your typical characters. They're not stereotypes who have a role to play (while of course they each have their part in the story, it's not a typical role). They're round characters who are stubborn and want to keep themselves from hurt while also being in love with each other. I also liked that Thom got it on with his PA. It shows that he's not a saint and makes his mistakes. Just like Martin wants to keep his past and his first name to himself.

What I didn't like about this story was the lack of world-building. Having not read the previous book, I most likely missed a bit more, but I missed the background on the world around them, the setting, but also the secondary characters. Take for instance Ramona. She is the typical evil bitch of the story, yet you don't get a real insight into the motives – while, and that I liked, she got more page time than most baddies in a story.

I'm glad B. sent this story my way. The Prince's Groom is a sweet, sexy and hot story about two men learning that they can't live apart and that they can make it work together if they want too.

Thank you Lis!

review copy from the author

Review: The Claiming of Suzy - KT Grant

Genre: Contemporary romance, hot
Pages: 139
Published: September 2010
Review by Lis

Suzy Bean is a woman who lives in the moment and loves her overabundant curves. The man she secretly loves, JC Mosino, is the only one who can make her untamed sexual fantasies a reality. After having way too much fun during a party, JC drives her home where their passions ignite. Suzy believes this is night she and JC will go from being friends to lovers. Unfortunately things go awry and Suzy ends up throwing JC out.

Now Suzy's whole world has been turned upside down. She's given up smoking and is sexually frustrated when she meets a handsome, flirty stranger, who rubs her the wrong way. This chance meeting is one she'll never forget, for Mr. Hunk is her new boss, Xavier Marks.

JC's craving for Suzy is consuming his thoughts, and he wants nothing more than to work things out and become her lover. He has a plan, but has to move fast as Xavier works to seduce Suzy. JC will do whatever he can to claim his brassy, buxom beauty for his own.

Okay, let me start this review by saying that this book made go Grrrrrrrr. Books like this are the entire reason why I prefer m/m books sometimes (probably also the reason why I have more male friends than female friends ;-)). Though men can be idiots just as much as women, as this book definitely proves!

Alright, now that I have that of my chest, lets start the review. No, the above does not mean I hated the book or that it was bad. Let me explain.

The Claiming of Suzy is about Suzy who wants to do the nasty and she wants JC to do said nasty and boy is she a woman on a mission. Unfortunately for Suzy, JC is an idiot and just as they are about to get to the nasty the wrong words come out of his mouth. Proof that some men are just pretty until they open their mouths.

Fortunately for us, Suzy kicks JC to the curb. You go girl! But the story does not end there. While JC remains an idiot throughout the story, Suzy has got it bad for him. Not even the handsome and lovely (can I have him?) Xavier, her boss, can change her mind. Silly woman.

The heart knows what it wants and it wants Xavier.

The Claiming of Suzy is an interesting light read centered around a big big big and very common misunderstanding. The writing is good, but simple. The character are a bit on the flat side as there is no real depth to them. They are there to play out their parts and nothing more.
What I did like is that Suzy is not just you drop dead gorgeous runway model. She is fully figured with her curves. She is beautiful in her own right. Like any woman she has her vices and her insecurities and she is not afraid to show them.

This book did not work for me as I had a big “been there done that” feeling when I read. It held no surprises and I predicted how this would go as I read this book. However, this does not mean that the book is bad. While it has it bad points, it might just be the fun read you are looking for.

LIS

2 more  reviews

Yummy Men and Kickass Chicks "He’s a smoldering and sexy man I want to know more about. "(Xavier)

Not another romance Blog "A delicious read, perfect for some Friday night indulging!"

Guestpost: KT Grant + For the Love of Mollie giveaway CLOSED

Today I welcome KT Grant, the author of For the Love of Mollie to my blog. And stay tuned cos at the end I am giving away this e-book.

Welcome to Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell :)

One of the reasons I love reading romance is because of the too good to be true hero. I just can't get enough of that drop dead gorgeous, rich, tall, has a nice smile and a body that would make most woman swoon at his feet man. So I guess it makes sense I would try my hand at writing my own too good to be true hero. That's where Conner Bean from my latest release, For the Love of Mollie comes into play.

Coming up with a hero like Conner was somewhat hard. It's one thing to make him this god among men (and women), but I also wanted to give him enough dimension. This is a guy you'd want to sit down and talk to and perhaps welcome him as your new friend. Also an important part when writing a character like Conner, is to give him enough depth so he's not too ho-hum on the page. The first person that came into my mind when writing Conner is the actor Ryan Reynolds.

I adore Ryan and have since he was a teenage on the Nickelodeon show Fifteen back in 1990. I watched Ryan come into his own as an actor and as a very attractive man. The moment I came up with the idea of Conner and For the Love of Mollie, I wanted Conner to have those same attributes that I find so pleasing in Ryan.

In regards to my heroine Mollie McGree, the main star of For the Love of Mollie, I wanted to write her with a few self imposed faults. If Mollie was this near perfect heroine, then there would be no story. Mollie, like most women, including myself, have issues with their weight. I constantly think I need to lose another ten pounds. Mollie feels she needs to lose more so she can catch the eye of her friend, JC, who cares for her only as a friend because he loves someone else. JC is not attractive to Mollie sexually, not because she may have too many curves, but his feelings are elsewhere. Mollie's opinion about herself is the catalyst that moves along the story. In my mind, I think of Mollie as an attractive woman who needs to embrace who she is, curves and all. The one woman who is so very self-assured and has an amazing body is Kate Winslet. To me, Kate is one of the most ideal women I've ever watched in movies. I wrote Mollie with Kate in mind. Mollie even says at one point, while she's arguing with Conner, that people have said she looks like Kate Winslet. That's the moment where Mollie has her realization that she is beautiful and should be proud to look the way she does. Conner certainly thinks so.

Choosing Ryan for Conner, and Kate for Mollie is my thank you to them for helping my create characters that readers many enjoy and remember.

B: Thanks for coming by! And mmm Ryan, good choice

You can purchase For the Love of Mollie at ´Decadent Publishing

Bio: KT Grant is a self-proclaimed eccentric redhead who not only loves to read a wide variety of romances, but also loves writing it. Under her alter-ego, she is a well known book reviewer and blogger who doesn't shy away from voicing her opinion. A proud native of New Jersey, KT is multi-published and known for writing "out of the box" romances. KT has been quoted in such publications as the Romance Writers Associations’ Romance Writers Report and Night Owl Reviews. She has also been mentioned in the Guardian.UK, Publisher's Weekly's Beyond the Book and at Bookseller.com.

You can visit KT Grant at her website: http://ktgrant.com/
Her Personal blog at Babbling About Books, and More! http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/katiebabs
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/kate.garrabrant

GIVEAWAY

To win this e-copy of For the love of Mollie all you have to do is comment :)

Of course I always appreciate a little more, ask KT a question, comment on the post, the book, more is always fun.

1. Open to ALL, as long as you have an email so the book can be sent to you.
2. Ends August 30th

3. Please, if your email is not in your profile then do leave it here so I can contact you. You have 5 days to respond.

CLOSED

Review: For the love of Mollie - KT Grant

Yes, I read another e-book ;) The reason, well I wanted to see how the famous katiebabs wrote, I am a very curious woman. And this one was short, cos when it comes to e-books, short is good. For now.

Genre: Borderline erotic contemporary romance
Pages: 115
Published: August2010

Mollie McGree is on a mission to seduce her best friend, the sexy masseuse Juan-Carlos. But she wants to lose a few extra pounds first. She joins a gym run by self-made millionaire and personal trailer, Conner Bean. Conner thinks Mollie doesn't need to lose any weight, and is perfect the way she is. He plans to seduce the curvy Mollie by giving her his own special training sessions in passion and desire.

Soon Mollie is enjoying a no-holds-barred love affair with the vibrant and skilled Conner. But self-esteem issues on her part, as well as her unresolved feelings for Juan-Carlos, cause her to second guess Conner's motives. Conner will stop at nothing until he claims Mollie's heart for his own.

I like this one because of the story. Mollie is not some skinny little thing, but a real woman with curves and a few pounds too many. But Conner sees her and thinks she is gorgeous, cos like he says a few times. He is not into stick figures with fake boobs. He wants and needs real curves. He is in lust, but she is insecure cos of her weight, oh and not to mention that Conner is sex on a stick.

Mollie is sweet, sure she is insecure, but who could blame her, and then who wouldn't be confused when Mr Handsome is all over you. It's up to him to show her that she is one gorgeous woman. And I love him, aww, he loves her just like she is, now that made me melt, what a man. He is her total opposite, a gym owner, fit and sexy, and the first time he sees her she is in baggy old sweats but he doesn't care. And he does not give up either.

It was a short story but there was time for these two to meet, fall into bed, fall into bed some more, and deal with a bit of drama. Those happy endings are not always that easy and she has some issues to deal with, not to mention that she used to be in love with this other guy.

I liked that she wrote about a real woman who had low self esteem, and didn't think she was all that. It was truthful and the more fun when those wild sexy scenes came around. Some very passion filled scenes, that is not to be missed.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: Well I wish she had been more Mollie

Reason for reading: KT sent me this one.

Final thoughts: A hot little book.

Stay tuned cos KT will be coming over tomorrow and she will give away a e-copy of For the love of Mollie, so yay international.