Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas

Worth Any Price (2003) (Piatkus)
Lisa Kleypas
Grade: A
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: your fingers will be burning as you turn the pages!
Source: own 
Bow Street Runners: (1) Someone to Watch Over Me, (2) Lady Sophia's Lover

Bow Street Runner Nick Gentry is a rarer breed than the reformed rake: he’s a reformed criminal. Several years ago, he was London’s criminal mastermind, catching and bringing the country’s most wanted to justice faster than the famous Bow Street Runners; now he’s one of them. Forced by circumstances to turn his back on his people and become part of the system, Nick has quickly made a name for himself in being able to solve the most precarious of problems. His latest case goes by the name of Miss Charlotte Howard.

Lady Sophia's Lover by Lisa Kleypas

Lady Sophia's Lover (2002) (Piatkus)
Lisa Kleypas
Grade: A-
Genre: historical romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: own 
Bow Street Runners: (1) Someone to Watch Over Me, (2) Lady Sophia's Lover

Sophia Sydney will get her revenge on Sir Ross Cannon. Orphaned at a young age with no money or estate left when their father, the Viscount died, Sophia and her brother John were left to fend for themselves. Sophia eventually landed herself a respectable job as housekeeper for a distant cousin, but John ran off the rails and ended up being sent off on a prison hulk ship, dying of cholera and buried in a mass grave. The man who sent him to his unjust fate? Sir Ross Cannon, Chief Magistrate of the Bow Street Runners, paragon and monk of Bow Street.

Public Secrets by Nora Roberts

Public Secrets (1990) (Bantam USA)
Nora Roberts
Grade: A
Genre: romantic suspense
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own

At three years old, Emma met her father for the first time from her favourite hiding place under the kitchen sink, and fell in love. Taken away from the mother that didn’t love her, to live with her father, Brian McAvoy and his wife, Bev, Emma finally has the chance to flourish. Her father is lead-singer of Devastation, soon to become one of the biggest bands of all time, and quickly, his bandmates Johnno, Stevie and P.M. become her family too. When her father and Bev give her a baby brother, four-year-old Emma’s life is complete.

Like This, For Ever by Sharon Bolton

I read and started this review at the end of March, straight after I read If Snow Hadn't Fallen. Yes, it's taken me this long to finish it - whoops. Here you go. Beware of hyperbole.

Like This, For Ever (2013) (Lost in the U.S.) (Bantam Press)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: gothic thriller horror
Sex scenes: n/a, but seriously the most frustrating sexual tension I've ever read
Source: NetGalley
Lacey Flint series: (1) Now You See Me, (1.5) If Snow Hadn't Fallen, (2) Dead Scared, (3) Like This, For Ever

S. J. Bolton scares the living shit out of me.

And yes, that’s exaggerating just a little, but it’s 3:24am, I’ve been reading for something like 5 hours, couldn’t wait to start reviewing and considering how much of my EU essay I’ve neglected, I’m in the exaggerating mood.

In just eight weeks, five young boys between 10 and 11 years old have gone missing around London, and the killer is picking up the pace. The victims are disappearing faster and bodies are turning up quicker; the latest discovery of the bodies of twin brothers Jason and Joshua is just one more reason for parents across the capital to give their sons curfews. It won’t be long before the Met starts getting the blame.

At Last by Jill Shalvis

At Last (2012)
Jill Shalvis
Grade: A-
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: mild
Source: NetGalley 
Lucky Harbour series: (4) Lucky in Love, (5) At Last, (6) Forever and a Day 

The last thing that Amy Michaels wants is a relationship, yet her Chocoholics Anonymous group are determined to get her there. Now that Mallory has her HEA with Ty and Grace is still trying to get a job, never-mind a relationship, they’ve decided that Amy is next.

Amy has one mission in Lucky Harbour: to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps and find her hope, peace and heart. With her grandmother’s journals committed to memory and her sketchbook in hand, Amy puts her dislike of the outdoors to one side and ventures into the dense countryside that surrounds the town … only to promptly find herself lost. And knowing her luck, who comes to her rescue? Only Matt Bowers, uber hot forest ranger and for the sake of her fickle hormones, a guy she wants to stay well away from.

The Demands by Mark Billingham

The Demands / Good as Dead (2011)
Mark Billingham
Grade: C+
Genre: crime
Source: NetGalley / library 
Tom Thorne: ... (10) The Demands

Detective Sergeant Helen Weeks visits her local newsagent just as she does every morning after dropping off her son, Alfie, with the childminder. Her chewing gum, chocolate and newspaper are pretty standard staples for her morning commute into work and she always has time for a few minutes of polite conversation with the newsagent, Mr Aktar, while he counts her change. What she doesn’t expect this particular morning is to have a gun pointed at head and be taken hostage.

The Witness by Nora Roberts

The Witness (2012)

Nora Roberts

Grade: B+

Genre: romantic suspense

Sex scenes: mild

Source: library

I generally try to read NR's new releases when they come out, but I haven't read the last three or four newest romantic suspenses. Not sure why, but I've tended to steer towards the contemporaries and In Death books in preference to the romantic suspenses. When I saw The Witness at the library, I knew that if I didn’t grab it then and there, the waiting list would be a mile long by the time I decided I wanted to read it.

Abigail Lowery didn't always go by that name. She's had numerous aliases since the day of her seventeenth birthday and has been on the run ever since. Abigail was born Elizabeth Fitch and at sixteen years old, she finally decided she was long overdue her teenage rebellion. Dr Susan Fitch is not your regular, loving parent and not used to being disobeyed. Elizabeth was conceived by donor after extensive research into the health, intellect, family history etc of possible donors and Elizabeth's own life has been similarly monitored and controlled. Her mother dictates what she eats, what she wears and her future career path as well as everything else in between. Elizabeth is exceptionally bright with an eidetic memory (more commonly known as photographic, though this description is inaccurate) and has already completed pre-med at Harvard and will be starting her med programme come September.

Dead Scared by Sharon Bolton

Dead Scared (2012) (Bantam Press)
Sharon Bolton
Grade: B+
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Source: own
Lacey Flint: (1) Now You See Me, (1.5) If Snow Hadn't Fallen, (2) Dead Scared

Straight-up compelling.

I read this in something like four hours straight, until past 2AM, despite the fact that I knew I had to be up at 6.30 that day to be on campus for 8. Each time I looked at my phone, I'd tell myself 'at 11' which would then become 'at 12' and you get the picture. I might not have liked it as much as Now You See Me, but I think Dead Scared has the edge when it comes to the unputtable-down factor.

Cambridge University has, in DI Joesbury's own words, "[developed] a very unhealthy record when it comes to young people taking their own lives." Twenty students have committed suicide in the last five years and Head of Student Counselling, Evi Oliver doesn't believe that it's a coincidence that the mostly female suicidees all chose inventive, violent methods to end their lives. She contacts her old university friend Dana Tulloch who then refers it on until it lands in Joesbury's hands. He needs Lacey to pose as a vulnerable student to see if she discovers any underground network that is working to glorify and encourage suicidal behaviour.

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton

Now You See Me (2011) (Bantam Press)
S. J. Bolton
Grade: A
Genre: gothic thriller crime
Sex scenes: n/a but again, even better sexual tension than Awakening
Source: Transworld/RHCB building / NetGalley
Lacey Flint: (1) Now You See Me

Jack the Ripper has become somewhat of a mythical figure since the days he stalked the streets of Whitechapel, disemboweling women in populated areas with not a single scream to give him away. As the theories have developed, the already murky truth got murkier as the stories distorted; Now You See Me lays out many of these theories and Ms Bolton follows the path of the one she feels is most credible, leaving the reader to question whether this take on history is indeed what really happened, and if not, which other theory might be right.

Most scholars agree that Jack was only responsible for five of the murders that took place; the others were the result of copycats. In Now You See Me, the killer is imitating the murders usually attributed to Jack, and the police - much like as they had been in the nineteenth century - are helpless to stop him.

Convincing Alex by Nora Roberts

Convincing Alex (1994)
Nora Roberts
Grade: A
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: regular NR
Source: own
Stanislaski series: (1) Taming Natasha, (3) Falling for Rachel, 

Book four, and I'm still loving this series. Yes, I have given this a marginal grade up from the rest, but that's because I think Bess is my favourite heroine, not because this is necessarily my favourite book of the series. I still need to read books five and six before I can make a proper, informed choice, but if they're as good as the first four books, I'm going to have to read them all again before I can even think of choosing.

Bess McNee is very serious about her work. If this means caking on make-up an inch think and squeezing into hot-pink spandex to work the streets in the name of research, then by God she'll do it. When Detective Alexi Stanislaski (equally serious about his work - no guesses here about what he does) mistakenly arrests Bess for soliciting him, Bess can't help but think that her night has only got better. Not only has she got her time masquerading as a prostitute to help her with her newest storyline on the show 'Sacred Sins' for which she is one of the writers, but if she ever needs to write an arrest/jail scene, then her research is all done!