Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

Twelve Days of Christmas (2010) (Avon)
Trisha Ashley
Grade: C
Genre: chick lit
Sex scenes: super mild
Source: own
Lancashire: (1) Sweet Nothings, (2) A Winter's Tale, (3) Wedding Tiers, (4) Chocolate Wishes, (5) Twelve Days of Christmas

TBR RBC 2015: Free Square 

Brought up by her Strange Baptist grandmother, Holly didn’t celebrate Christmas in its modern, commercial sense until she married her husband, Alan. When he died in a tragic accident not long before the festive holidays, Holly reverted to her old ways. Now, she’s a chef in the summer months, catering for week-long house parties, and a house sitter in the winter, choosing to spend her holidays in solitude caring for other peoples’ houses instead of forcing a smile with her family-in-law. This Christmas, Holly is faced with just that depressing prospect until a last-minute house-sitting job falls in her lap. But what starts as a straightforward task in looking after a house and its resident dog, horse and goat, turns into a fully-fledged family-orientated house party with its requisite unwanted guests alongside the bosom of the family as Holly takes on the responsibility for catering to a family she barely knows, but quickly comes to love as her own …

One Touch of Scandal by Liz Carlyle

One Touch of Scandal (2010) (Avon)
Liz Carlyle
Grade: B-
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own
Fraternitas Aureae Crucis: (1) One Touch of Scandal

Romance RBC 2014: A book with a number in the title 

After her father died and Grace Gauthier came to England to make a new life for herself, all she wanted was security. Forced to take up a position as a governess, Grace’s life seems to be taking a turn for the better until she finds her employer dead in his own home. Suddenly, Grace is the prime suspect and she has no one else to turn to but the mysterious and dangerous Lord Ruthveyn. He’s a secretive man, burdened by gifts that reveal terrible omens about the people around him. He’s determined to exonerate Grace and track down the real killer at the risk of revealing his secrets to the world …

Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine

Total Eclipse (2010) (ROC)
Rachel Caine
Grade: A-
Genre: urban fantasy
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own
Weather Wardens: (1) Ill Wind, (2) Heat Stroke, (3) Chill Factor, (4) Windfall, (5) Firestorm, (6) Thin Air, (7) Gale Force, (8) Cape Storm, (9) Total Eclipse

Romance RBC 2014: A book with magic 

Joanne Baldwin used to be one of the Wardens’ most powerful assets – able to control the Weather, Fire and Earth – but her powers have come at a cost. In a world where a select group of gifted individuals have the ability to manipulate the earth’s elements in order to control natural disasters and save millions of innocent and otherwise ignorant lives, Mother Nature is striking back. The human race has damaged the world beyond repair and Mother Nature is beyond angry. Harnessing the Djinn’s power for her own, forest fires are destroying huge swathes of land, oceans are putting countries under water and in the midst of everything, the human race is becoming desperate …

The Guild by Felicia Day and Jim Rugg

The Guild (2010) (Dark Horse)
Felicia Day and Jim Rugg
Grade: A-
Genre: graphic novel
Source: library

Cyd Sherman is a violinist in an orchestra (she sits right at the back) with a boyfriend in a band who spends more time trying to make his band ‘unique’ than with her. As if her life wasn’t depressing enough, her gay father has guilt-tripped her into therapy and her therapist thinks that she’s anti-social. The day that she buys her first computer game changes her life irreparably.

Online, Cyd is a whole different person – literally. Under the name of Codex, Cyd can battle dragons, rescue princesses and win gold to buy herself a snazzy new outfit or weapons. With her new friends, Zaboo, Vork, Bladezz, Clara and Tink, they form a Guild called the Knights of Good. As Priestess, Codex can do anything and before long, she becomes immersed in this fantasy world.

Seven Day Loan by Tiffany Reisz

Seven Day Loan (2010) (short story)

Tiffany Reisz

Grade: A-

Genre: erotica/contemporary

Sex scenes: scorching

Source: NetGalley
The Original Sinners (The Red Years): (prequel) Seven Day Loan (1) The Siren, (2) The Angel, (3) The Prince, (4) The Mistress

Ms Reisz gives a new meaning to the term ‘short story’. I’d wanted to read Seven Day Loan before The Siren after it was recommended Heroes and Heartbreakers, but it was only available in e-book form and shock-horror in this digital age, I don’t have an e-reader. Thus, imagine my elation when I saw that it was available on NetGalley and then I received confirmation the next day saying that it was ready for download. As mentioned in my review, The Siren is a substantial work: nearly four-hundred pages long. In my head, I equate the term short story with novella; I generally don’t like either because I feel that the authors cannot do the story and characters justice in such a limited arena. Ms Reisz managed to prove me wrong in just twenty-five pages. Yes, that’s right: Seven Day Loan is a mere twenty-five pages long. This is the sort of length that I’d expect my five-year-old cousin to be reading – though clearly of a genre more suited to his age group.

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

My Name is Memory (2010) (Hodder & Stoughton)

Ann Brashares

Grade: A-

Genre: YA romance

Sex scenes: fade out

Source: library

Re-incarnation can be boiled down pretty simply to the idea that when you die, you get born again in a new body. Daniel is pretty familiar with the concept: he's only done it dozens of times, again and again for the single purpose of finding the girl he loves - Sophia.

Daniel isn't your average re-incarnate. Unlike 99.9%* of the population, he has the unique ability to remember every single one of his past lives. Not only that, but he can recognise souls: people who were part of his past lives, which is how he manages to find Sophia every time. The names 'Daniel' and 'Sophia' are their names from their very first lives when they met and though they've changed time and time again, Daniel hangs onto the comfort of their familiarity. He's been filthily rich and dirt poor across several continents; some lives were substantially shorter than others but not in a single one of them has he managed to get Sophia (on the times he's managed to find her) to remember her past lives with him so they can have their happy ending.

Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton

Blood Harvest (2010)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: B+
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Source: library

Alice and Gareth Fletcher have lived in the little village of Heptonclough with their three young children for a few months, but the community still hasn't really accepted them. If anything, Heptonclough are trying to get them to leave. The Fletchers are not at all fazed by the fact that their new house is next to a church and surrounded by a graveyard, which I guess is ominous in itself. When the new vicar Harry Laycock arrives in town to reopen the church for worship, they bond over their common outsider status and become fast friends.

Tom is ten years old and at that age where he's determined not to run complaining to his parents when he's bullied and pranked at school. But it isn't just the bullies that have him constantly on edge. He doesn't feel safe playing in his own garden and being the eldest child, he feels that it is his responsibility to ensure that five-year-old Joe and two-year-old Milly are safe. Tom knows that someone is watching them, but can't get any solid proof to take to his parents. To make matters worse, Joe and Milly are perfectly comfortable in 'Ebba's' company and seem to be conspiring against Tom when he tries to convince his parents and Harry that someone has been watching them.