Clarabelle's Rose by Judy Kashi

A brutal tale. Very brutal...about how bigotry and racism destroys lives and families...about what it's like to be raised in it, to face it, to fight it.

The main players:

Clarabelle is at first a snotty white trash chick. The more you read about her background though, the more you can see why. She's raised to be one. She's beaten on a daily basis for anything and everything, foul words and language is just ingrained into her, racism and hatred... Her father is a klansman. Her only escape--she thinks--is her boyfriend. He's a prick who is just using her till he joins the Army. (I didn't care for him appearing later in the book. Though, it ties in with the people can change theme.)

Sara is an African American woman whose husband was lynched by Clarabelle's father. She struggles with grief and making a new life for her and her daughters in a world that hates her due to her skin color. She rises above but later in the story, when the truth about her Clarabelle is revealed, she hates too.

Rose is Clarabelle's daughter and the result of a rape. She's half black/half white. Sometimes she hates white people, sometimes she want to paint herself so she can be like them and life will be easy...

There's a kind Jewish family, a man grappling with his faith, a lawyer who breaks the law for justic... Readers literally see it from all sides. No end to the heartbreak. Even the ending contained brutality. But the story shows that people change and you CAN rise above your beginnings and you DON'T have to hate like you may have been taught.

I'd recommend it, but there was quite a few editorial issues such as missing commas, misspelled words, and odd sentences that made me do a double take. With another solid round of editing, it would be great. It was a brutal but extremely engaging story that sucked me in.

Four bikes. I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review.

For the Love of Liberty by Christine DePetrillo

Sometimes, especially after struggling to read through a 350 page book of boring natter natter and filler, I just need a short story/novelette. I had one of those moments and chose this one.
The setting is pre Revolutionary war. Grace's father and brother get to go be soldiers/Patriots. She wants to join them but is confined by womanhood. Life isn't fair! She wants freedom from the British and from petticoats.

Isaac is an escaped slave. He wants freedom too, and the British promise him that. Thus, he dons a uniform and his first assignment is to spy on Grace's household.

Really enjoyed the teasing and jokes between them, as well as the thoughts they each had about freedom and how they were both striving for the same thing. BUT the ending left me unsatisfied. You have a British solider/freed slave and a white girl/daughter of Patriots...I don't really see a happily ever after here and the book left me hanging. I also didn't buy into her father's quick forgiveness when catching his virginal daughter with her top off in the barn.

Overall though, it was a good read and just what I needed at the time. It had a great message within it about how we all want the same thing: freedom and love. Four stars. I bought this on Amazon.

Cover Art for Maiden!

Here it is! Cover art for Maiden Behind the Mask coming from Ruby Lioness Press July 13th. It's a historical romance...a lady Zorro of sorts. It was about time someone wrote one. LOL

Blurb:

When Catalina Rodriguez is attacked by a would-be rapist and rescued by the dashing Ricardo Garcia, she not only becomes more aware of the handsome man, but also vows that she'll never be a damsel in distress again. Using the timeless method of blackmail, she convinces her uncle to teach her to fight and becomes a masked crusader in the night, saving other damsels from robbers and rough handling.

However, scandalous rumors and dwindling funds force Ricardo and Catalina to marry. Not immune to each other's charms, their marriage starts fiery, but when one of Catalina's nightly escapades results in dire consequences, she is forced to spurn her husband's amorous advances…or reveal a secret that could turn him away from her forever.

Ricardo’s not a man to be cuckolded or left in the dark. Is his wife having an affair with El Capitan, the masked savior? If so…they will both pay.

The Vagina Buffet by S.J. Tierney

Can a book be hilarious, educational, and insightful all at once? Yes, it can.
First, the funny bits. The book is part memoir of running a Brazilian waxing salon/part education/part warning of what not to do with your lady bits/part advisory about paps and such, and part pep talk: there is no normal vagina. There is nothing wrong with YOUR vagina. You can't expect your vagina to look like everyone else's.

First the memoir bits:

There was the lady that struggled not to fart while getting her stuff waxed. This resulted in the squeezing together of her buttocks and oh my...two cheeks waxed together.

"It's a garden that gets watered several times a day, it occasionally gets pollinated and pruned, and every now and then it produces offspring."

There's talk of periods. Those mortifying moments...we've all had them now.

"I'm in the third row of an unfamiliar church, my boyfriend's mum at home preparing breakfast, with no female support, surrounded by men, and my backside resembles a Japanese flag!"

There's man waxing. Funny quotes from other women. A touching story about a woman battling cervical cancer who after fighting and fighting, just wanted to feel sexy again.

There's illustrations, jokes, vagina art, pregnancy stuff, experiments. This is the most enjoyable and funny read I've read in some time. I guarantee, man or woman, you will be rolling on the floor laughing, but I also learned from it.

Go nab this one. To say  much more would ruin the book for readers. But meanwhile, remember that your vagina is self cleaning and don't fart after a wax...cause "the hair is there to muff the fluffs."

Five bikes. Highly recommended. I was given this by that author in exchange for an honest review.

The Pick-Up Wife by W. Lynn Chantale

I think I may declare this woman the master of sensuality. Her sex scenes are vivid without being offensive. I could actually feel the coldness of the counter contrasting against the warmth of my.... never mind. You get the picture.

Summary: Symmone has been a single mom for 9 years, divorcee for almost ten. She works two jobs, sleeps on a sofa; she does what she has to. She is an intensely independent woman. She makes it clear she doesn't need a man, especially her ex husband, Leo, when he shows up out of the blue wanting to get with her again.

Weary and with good reason--he did leave her once before--Symmone is hesitant to open her legs and her heart to this man. Well, the legs open first (that's where the hot sex comes in), the heart comes next...and Symmone is in for more heartbreak cause Leo didn't exactly come back for the right reasons.

When she finds out the truth, she can end things now or forgive and salvage what is left. But he's going to have to prove himself. And FYI, I was actually in suspense over this.

Very sweet, very sensual, very vivid. The author puts the reader IN the scene, no telling here, all showing. The sex was great. The characters were likable. Even Leo, though I had a hard time liking him at first, broke my defenses in the end.

Only quibble: I got confused in a few spots. I didn't really see how getting rid of a wife can advance a man's architect career  though in this day and age, who knows. LOL. Also had one moment of confusion when the heroine just seemed to realize she hadn't told the man about his kids. I could totally see why she hadn't and actually agreed with her for keeping the kids to herself, all things considered. That didn't bother me. Her conversation with her cousin just didn't fit with an earlier part of the tale and threw me off a bit. But that's me being nit picky.

And the kids were cute. Can't believe I'm saying that, but I really liked them. :)

Four bikes. I received this from the author, no strings attached, no review required. I honestly enjoyed this story, characters, and sensuality. I'll be watching for more by this author.

The Promise of Silk by Lilith Duvalier

Yes, I read some erotica, but it's rare. However, I've fessed up to enjoying the Anne Rice Sleeping Beauty trilogy...and liking it. And now, Ann Rice has some competition. Her name is Lilith Duvalier.

Erotica must be done well for me to enjoy it and despite all the books of sex, sex, sex, menage, sex flooding the market, the selection is poor. The sex is either mechanical and lacking emotion or worst of all, the women are also the ones being dominated by assholes. Or sometimes, I just plain don't buy into the relationship. (Or I get the feeling they wrote sex just for the same of getting more out there.)

This was a pleasant change. Steampunk, balloons, silk, a very strong, independent woman, a man willing to submit and beating his inner demons of shame in the process. Even briefly, some m/m. It never left a bad taste in my mouth. At all. It was just that well done.

Jane plays with Alaric in ways I've never thought of. Major thumbs up for creativity. The character's internal thoughts, feelings, inhibitions...made the situation very well and believable. The conflict was unique and not the same old, same old. Jane needs a man in her life and she wants to mold him to her liking, dominate him to a point, and Alaric is willing to be dommed. In this book, the WOMAN IS IN CHARGE THE ENTIRE TIME.

I hesitate to say more cause this is a short read and I risk revealing too much. Five bikes. I bought this on Amazon.

To Turn Full Circle by Linda Mitchelmore

What caught my eye about this book and what I especially loved is that it was compared to the style of Catherine Cookson. It is.

We've got an exceptionally cheeky heroine. LOVED her. She's brass, speaks her mind, has funny thoughts, but her life is a shambles. Everyone she meets is a dickwad. Her father is dead, her mother, brother, this arsehole wants to rape her, her neighbor robs her, the town spreads rumors about her, she's homeless, hungry...good gawd, it's like...wow. How much can one person take?

But she's got Seth. Despite the fact he's a Jago and comes from house full of the meanest people that ever lived, there is something between him and Emma. But he doesn't have the balls to act on it. He's a wuss...at least in the beginning.

Then there's Matthew. I liked Matthew! He rescues Emma in more way than one.

And there's Mr. Smythe. Sometimes you'll like him, sometimes you'll hate him.

And there's a smuggling thing, corruption, barroom brawls, affairs, misunderstandings...there's no lack of drama or entertainment.

But above all, I loved Emma. Cheeky girl. Funny. Fancies starting her own business, and it's 1909.

--"You...you...foul-mouthed, bitter old woman," Emma yelled. She didn't care who heard her. "And you're a liar with it." She snatched at the catch of her carpet bag and thrust her hand in, searching out the bar of soap Matthew Caunter had just given her. "Here, take this. Wash your filthy mouth out."

--She didn't want to know what making love did to her body in case she liked it and she couldn't enough of it and ended up dead in a back alley like Sophie Ellison had done.

This was a really enjoyable read with a heroine I really liked, and the style was very Catherine Cookson (another big bonus.) Quibbles: I found some of the cruelty of some of the characters a bit over the top. I wouldn't call it a romance either as it was hard to feel it. The love was there, but it really didn't seem like they were going to get together. I also didn't quite care for the man who is the hero in the end. I'd have liked to have taken a different turn. My personal opinion.

Four bikes. I got this from the publisher.