Category Archives: Megan Hart

November 22, 2015 · 11:58 pm

Review: Hold Me Close by Megan Hart

hold me closeTitle: Hold Me Close by Megan Hart
Publisher: MIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Apart, they are broken, but together, they are whole 

Effie and Heath are famous. Not for anything they did, but for what happened to them as teenagers. Abducted and abused by the same man, they turned to each other for comfort until they were finally able to make their escape.

Now adults, their relationship is fraught with guilt and despair. Whether fighting or making love, their passion is strong enough to destroy them both—and Effie’s not about to let that happen. She knows it’s time for her to have a “normal” relationship, and Heath is nothing but a constant reminder of the dark past they share. Heath, on the other hand, knows Effie is the only woman he can ever love. She may want to forget what happened, but he’s convinced that they must face their past together in order to move forward. So while Effie continues to bring new men into her life, Heath becomes obsessed with proving he’s the one she needs.

Then a new crisis arises and Effie begins to lose every scrap of self-control she ever had. As she struggles against her desire to return to the one man who understands her, she discovers that sometimes the only safety you find is with the person who is the most dangerous for you.

Review:

With a unique but compelling storyline, complex and somewhat broken characters and dark, violent sexual encounters, Megan Hart’s latest release, Hold Me Close is a gritty and sometimes, heartbreaking, erotic romance.

Effie Linton and Heath Shaw have a long, complicated history together with a tragic past that both binds them together and pushes them apart. They were kidnapped as teenagers and held together in captivity by a sociopath who physically abused Heath and put both of them through physical and mental torture for three long years. During this time, they turned to each other for comfort and close to twenty years later, they are still drawn to one another. Heath would like to make their relationship permanent, but Effie longs for a vanilla relationship with someone who is not tied to her past.  However, is it possible for Effie to walk away from the one man who not only truly understands her but also shares her darker desires?

On the surface, Effie appears to have moved past the trauma from the kidnapping. She has a thriving career as an artist and she is a good mother to her pre-teen daughter, Polly. But the inspiration from her art comes directly from her past and she cannot make a clean break from Heath no matter how hard she tries. She is closed off from everyone except Polly and she still maintains an unhealthy relationship from someone in her past. Effie makes a real effort to forge a safer relationship with a man she meets through an on line dating service, but she is unable to fully commit to an exclusive relationship.

Heath remains on the periphery for much of the novel, but he is an incredibly likable and sympathetic character. He truly loves Effie and he remains loyal and steadfast to be both her and Polly. Despite an initial downward spiral after they were rescued from their kidnapper, Heath’s life is finally on track and currently, he is in a much healthier place than Effie. He truly believes they belong together and for a while, he allows Effie to return to him whenever she needs the sexual satisfaction he can provide. However, once he realizes she is serious about finding someone else to settle down with, Heath refuses to allow her to continue pulling him back into her life.

Effie’s journey through the darkness of her past takes time but is very much worth the wait. It is incredibly frustrating watching her refuse to recognize what she shares with Heath is real and not quite as dysfunctional as she believes. The constant push/pull between them is exasperating but there is no denying the emotional connection they share. Their sexual scenes are darkly sensual and laced with violence but Effie and Heath crave the kink that they experience together. The anticipation of what direction the story is going to go and which man Effie will ultimately choose makes it virtually impossible to put down this captivating novel.

A fascinating story about overcoming a traumatic and life alternating event, Hold Me Close is another well-written and riveting erotic romance by Megan Hart. Some of the flashbacks to what Effie and Heath endured during their kidnapping are difficult to read but overall, this portion of the storyline is not overly explicit. This backstory paints a vivid portrait of how these events shaped both Effie and Heath, and, ultimately, their extremely complicated relationship.

Tremendous character growth along with a surprisingly uplifting conclusion make Hold Me Close a thought-provoking and enjoyable read.

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Filed under Contemporary, Erotic, Harlequin, Megan Hart, Mira, Rated B, Review, Romance

February 18, 2015 · 11:57 pm

Review: Vanilla by Megan Hart

vanillaTitle: Vanilla by Megan Hart
Publisher: MIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance, D/s
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

It’s an acquired taste…he just has to acquire it

Elise knows what she wants in the bedroom, and she makes sure she gets it. Her thirst for domination has long been quenched by a stable of men only too happy to bow down before her.

But sexual satisfaction isn’t the same as love, and she’s been burned in the past by giving her heart too freely.

Niall is handsome, smart, successful and sweet—sweet as vanilla. When they meet, their romantic connection is electric, even though he’s way on the opposite end of the kink spectrum. Despite how she fights it, Elise falls for him—but how can a relationship work when both lovers want to be on top?

The Review:

Vanilla is a highly erotic novel and Megan Hart expertly weaves a very sweet romance into the storyline as well. There is also an amazing amount of depth and emotional healing for the main protagonist.  It is another multi-layered, complex novel by one of my favorite authors that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.

Elise is sexually confident and she unapologetically embraces her sexuality. While she does not like inflicting pain or humiliation on her partners, she does like to dominate submissive men. She is beautiful and smart with a lucrative, successful career but she has not been in a serious relationship since a bad break up four years earlier. Although she has been in a long term relationship with a man she met through a BDSM dating site, their interactions are purely sexual and neither is emotionally invested. Elise is obsessing over the man who broke her heart and although he offers her no encouragement, she still continues to send him messages when she is feeling emotionally vulnerable. When she meets Niall, she is surprised by her attraction to someone who is clearly uncomfortable with her desires.

Elise is a likable, no nonsense type of woman and she does let anyone push her around. This self assurance makes it all the more puzzling when she continues to pursue the man who crushed her heart. It is incredibly frustrating watching her pour her heart out to him time and again only to have him continue to reject her. While her current arrangement with her lover satisfies her sexual needs, she is beginning to miss a more intimate connection and when he inexplicably ends their relationship, Elise is stunned by the sense of loss she experiences.

When Elise meets Niall at an art exhibit where she is one of the featured models, he knows upfront about her “kinks”. He is also honest that he does not understand her desires and while there is an instant connection between them, he backs off pretty quickly. When their paths unexpected cross at her nephew’s bar mitzvah, the two pick up their relationship where they left off. For the first time in her life, Elise is in a relationship with someone who takes a slow approach to dating and although they indulge in some very steamy make out sessions, they do not immediately jump into having sex. Elise is happy with Niall, but she struggles with letting him into her heart while he finds it difficult to relinquish control in the bedroom.

Although a little slow-paced in the beginning, Vanilla is a very captivating read. Elise is a complex and intriguing character and while much of his back story is never revealed, Niall is a nice man who genuinely likes and appreciates her. The storyline is unpredictable and as always, Megan Hart puts her characters through an emotional but healing journey before they can find their happily ever after.

All in all, Vanilla is another extremely satisfying novel that is the perfect combination of blazing hot sex and a surprisingly tender romance.

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Filed under Contemporary, Erotic, Harlequin, Megan Hart, Mira, Rated B, Review, Romance, Vanilla

November 23, 2014 · 11:58 pm

Review: Lovely Wild by Megan Hart

lovely wildTitle: Lovely Wild by Megan Hart
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Summary:

From New York Times bestselling author Megan Hart comes a haunting and insightful novel about a woman trying to find her place in the world…

Brought up in the savage captivity of her unstable grandmother’s rural Pennsylvania home, Mari Calder once yearned for rescue. Now she struggles every day to function as an adult in the confines of normal society. Left with only a foggy recollection of her childhood, she’s consumed with being a dutiful wife to her husband, Ryan, and mother to their two children.

But an unexpected twist of events returns her to that long-forgotten house in the woods. Soon, Mari is greeted with reminders of a past life, the clarified memories only inviting a new level of strangeness into her fragile world. To protect her family, she must find the beautiful, powerful strength hidden in her inner chaos. Because someone is bent on exploiting Mari’s trauma, and as normal and wild begin to blend, a string of devastating truths force Mari to question all she thought she knew.

The Review:

Lovely Wild is an absolutely riveting and occasionally heart wrenching novel about a woman fully coming to terms with her long forgotten past. Once again, Megan Hart has crafted another unique and creative story about some of life’s darker moments that beautifully demonstrates how remarkably resilient a person can be despite a traumatic and neglectful childhood.

Mari Calder is a devoted wife and stay at home mother who has a seemingly perfect life. She has an excellent relationship with her two children and a happy marriage. Mari is serene, placid and unflinchingly honest but she also has a few idiosyncrasies that stem from her very unorthodox early childhood. Her memories from that time in her life are quite hazy and Mari does not waste time trying to recapture those long ago moments. She instead focuses on the life she has now but unfortunately, current events will soon bring Mari face to face with the secrets of her past.

While Mari is an extremely likable and sympathetic heroine, her husband Ryan is not exactly hero material. A horrible lapse in judgment has jeopardized his career and his marriage, and his reaction to these problems is self-serving, selfish and exploitative. It soon becomes clear that Mari’s past has left her blind to his faults, but as she becomes more self-aware, she also begins to recognize his less than desirable traits as well. Of course, Ryan is not all bad, but will Mari be able to overlook, and ultimately forgive, his betrayals?

The couple’s children, fifteen year old Kendra and eight year old Ethan, are absolutely delightful. Ethan is blissfully self-involved with an endearing innocence that allows him to see what others sometimes overlook. Kendra is a typical teen in many ways, but she is also surprisingly mature. She is old enough to recognize that Mari is different than her friends’ mothers and although some of her mom’s behavior is a little bizarre, Kendra is very protective of her.

Lovely Wild is written in third person from alternating points of view. Mari’s perspective is the most poignant and while watching her come face to face with her childhood is heartbreaking, she is strengthened by what she learns. Ryan’s viewpoint shows him in a less than flattering light and it is very difficult to see him justify his reprehensible decisions. Kendra’s view of the unfolding events is refreshing and realistic and she plays a vital role in the story’s conclusion.

Lovely Wild is a mesmerizing psychological drama that is incredibly captivating and infinitely fascinating. Megan Hart has again created an incredible cast of characters that is flawed but likable and for the most part, redeemable. The storyline is thought-provoking and insightful with unexpected twists and turns. This extremely well-written novel slowly builds to a dramatic ending that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

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Filed under Contemporary, Fiction, Harlequin, Lovely Wild, Megan Hart, Mira, Rated B+, Review

April 28, 2014 · 11:58 pm

Review: Flying by Megan Hart

flyingTitle: Flying by Megan Hart
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Ever hear of wanderlust?

Every other weekend, Stella buys a ticket on the next flight out of town and leaves her life behind. Home is a place with too many memories, and departure is the sweetest possible distraction.

As soon as she arrives at her destination, Stella visits the airport bar. She orders a drink and waits for the right guy to come along. A bored businessman, a backpacker, a baggage handler just off shift. If he’s into a hot, no-strings hookup, he’s perfect. Each time is a thrilling escape from reality that gives the term layover a whole new meaning.

When Stella meets the enigmatic Matthew in Chicago one weekend, she hits some serious turbulence. Something about him tells her she’s not the only one running from the past. The connection between them is explosive, and for the first time, one taste is not enough for Stella. But returning to find a gorgeous man waiting for her is the easy part—facing the reason she’s there is a whole other matter….

The Review:

Flying by Megan Hart is a complex romance that is incredibly erotic but it is also full of deep emotions. This multi-layered story is very compelling and although it takes most of the novel to uncover the characters’ secrets, it is well worth the wait.

Twice a month, Stella dons a different persona and flies off to a new city where she indulges in very hot and exciting no-string flings with random men she picks up at airport bars. Back home, she is a single mom who lives a relatively normal life with her teenage son Tristan. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Stella uses her encounters to escape her painful past but a chance meeting when she is traveling for business leads to a surprisingly normal relationship with Matthew. Stella quickly becomes emotionally invested in the blossoming romance, but their long distance relationship is troubled almost from the beginning.

Stella is an extremely complicated character and she is initially very hard to read. She keeps a very tight rein on her emotions but that does not mean she does not feel things strongly. She and her ex-husband have a somewhat contentious relationship and she is also frequently at odds with Tristan. Stella’s twice monthly trips offer her an escape from her conflicted home life and on these adventures, she unapologetically embraces her sexuality. It soon becomes apparent that she is trying to flee more than the strife at home which leaves the reader wondering what is really the impetus for Stella’s need to lose herself in anonymous sex.

The turning point for Stella is meeting Matthew. She does not hide who she is and in fact, she finds it very easy to open up to him. Unfortunately Matthew is not as forthcoming and he remains shrouded in mystery almost until the novel’s end. While this is not the main source of friction between them, it does add to their increasingly troubled relationship which soon feels the strain of Matthew’s inability to resist his ex-wife demands and his increasingly disrespectful treatment of Stella.

As is often the case with Megan Hart’s novels, Stella’s romance with Matthew is secondary to her coming to terms with a tragic event from her past. Once she makes peace with this tragedy, she is finally able to repair her fractured relationships with her son and her ex-husband. The ending of Flying is realistic and while not a traditional happily ever after, it is emotionally satisfying for both the reader and Stella.

Another outstanding novel that I highly recommend to readers who do not mind an honest portrayal of life’s messier moments.

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Filed under Contemporary, Erotic, Flying, Harlequin, Megan Hart, Mira, Rated B+, Review, Romance

August 22, 2013 · 3:59 am

Review: Tear You Apart by Megan Hart

Title: Tear You Apart by Megan Hart
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Mira
Genre: Contemporary, Erotica
Length: 299 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Their passion will consume everything—and everyone— in its path….

I’m on a train.

I don’t know which stop I got on at; I only know the train is going fast and the world outside becomes a blur. I should get off, but I don’t. The universe is playing a cosmic joke on me. Here I had my life—a good life with everything a woman could want—and suddenly, there is something more I didn’t know I could have. A chance for me to be satisfied and content and maybe even on occasion deliriously, amazingly, exuberantly fulfilled.

So this is where I am, on a train that’s out of control, and I am not just a passenger. I’m the one shoveling the furnace full of coal to keep it going fast and faster.

If I could make myself believe it all happened by chance and I couldn’t help it, that I’ve been swept away, that it’s not my fault, that it’s fate…would that be easier? The truth is, I didn’t know I was looking for this until I found Will, but I must’ve been, all this time. And now it is not random, it is not fate, it is not being swept away.

This is my choice. And I don’t know how to stop.

Or even if I want to.

The Review:

If you have ever read a novel written by Megan Hart then you know her books are raw, gritty and about as real as life gets. Her latest release, Tear You Apart, is no exception. This unflinchingly honest portrayal of a long term marriage withering under the weight of complacency and neglect is intense, emotional and quite heartbreaking.

Elisabeth Amblin is wife and a mother whose life is about to undergo an unexpected and dramatic change. Her children are grown and about to graduate from college and while her marriage is not perfect, she is content. All of that changes when she meets Will, an artist at the gallery where she works. Minor irritants and her husband’s neglectful treatment become major issues as Elisabeth’s disillusionment and dissatisfaction with her marriage culminate in a fateful decision that will take her to new heights but also plunge her into deep despair.

Tear You Apart takes a hard and sometimes harsh look at long term marriages. Elisabeth’s marriage has been strained for a long time but she has grown so used to her husband’s treatment of her that she continues to drift along. For much of the novel, Elisabeth is ambivalent and indecisive over the future of her marriage. She wants to do what is right for her family, but doing so would be wrong for her. No matter what choice Elisabeth finally makes, someone is going to get hurt.

If you are looking for a romance with a traditional happily ever after, you are probably not going to find it in Tear You Apart. What you will find is a love story with realistic characters that are flawed and sometimes make morally questionable decisions. You will find a passion that burns so hot it is impossible not to give in to it. You will probably not agree with Elisabeth’s choices, but ultimately, she ends up right where she needs to be.

Another gut-wrenching, emotion-filled, thought-provoking and highly erotic novel from Megan Hart that I highly recommend.

1 Comment

Filed under Contemporary, Erotica, Harlequin, HarlequinMira, Megan Hart, Rated B+, Review, Tear You Apart

June 18, 2013 · 3:57 am

Review: The Favor by Megan Hart

Title: The Favor by Megan Hart
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Harlequin Mira
Genre: Contemporary, Mainstream, Fiction
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: A

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

With characteristic compassion and searing honesty, MEGAN HART weaves a shattering small-town story about what can turn brother against brother, and the kinds of secrets that cannot remain untold.

Janelle Decker has happy childhood memories of her grandma’s house, and even lived there through high school. Now she’s back with her twelve-year-old son to look after her ailing Nan, and hardly anything seems to have changed, not even the Tierney boys next door.

Gabriel Tierney, local bad boy. The twins, Michael and Andrew. After everything that happened between the four of them, Janelle is shocked that Gabe still lives in St. Mary’s. And he isn’t trying very hard to convince Janelle he’s changed from the moody teenage boy she once knew. If anything, he seems bent on making sure she has no intentions of rekindling their past.

To this day, though there might’ve been a lot of speculation about her relationship with Gabe, nobody else knows she was there in the woods that day…the day a devastating accident tore the Tierney brothers apart and drove Janelle away. But there are things that even Janelle doesn’t know, and as she and Gabe revisit their interrupted romance, she begins to uncover the truth denied to her when she ran away all those years ago.

The Review:

The Favor by Megan Hart is a complex and multi-layered novel about two families whose lives are forever intertwined by their past. It is a captivating read that is full of strong emotions and has an incredibly well developed cast of characters. The compelling plot is sometimes so heartbreaking it will take your breath away.

Janelle Decker spent many blissful summers and her tumultuous senior year with her grandmother, Nan. Her happy memories are marred by the events that led to her rapid and permanent departure twenty years prior. But when Nan’s health takes a turn for the worse, Janelle and her son, Bennett, leave their old life behind to move in with her. Janelle is soon frazzled by her nursing duties and Bennett’s difficult transition to his new school. Adding to her already complicated life are the unresolved issues with the Tierney’s, Nan’s next door neighbors, and the unexpected return of her long absent father.

The characters in The Favor are multifaceted, emotionally damaged people dealing with realistic and painful problems. Nan is facing life threatening health issues that are taking her independence and her dignity. Janelle is a single mom, struggling to give Bennett a happy childhood that will set him on the right path as an adult. The Tierney family (brothers Gabe, Andy and Mike and father Ralph) are dealing with the dysfunction that began in childhood and continues to reverberate into adulthood.

Janelle’s day to day life with her caretaking and parenting duties is emotionally and physically exhausting. Janelle’s struggles with the change in her relationship with Nan are accurately depicted and will resonate with anyone who has had to take care of their parents or an elderly relative. This role reversal is difficult and heartrending but it is wonderfully balanced by the close and loving bond shared by Nan and Janelle.

Janelle is a good parent and her relationship with Bennett is fairly typical in today’s culture. She is trying and mostly succeeding in giving Bennett room to grow and make mistakes while keeping a very close eye on him and his activities. Bennett can be a surly and uncommunicative pre-teen, but he is also a sweet and loving boy whose intuitiveness is sometimes surprising.

The most complicated relationship in the novel is the one between Janelle and the Tierney brothers. Gabe and Andy still live next door with their father, and the dysfunction of their youth still continues. A tragic accident haunts all of the brothers while Andy lives with the devastating effects of that long ago event. Gabe is duty bound to care for Andy and their father and while he is sometimes harsh, he also has a gentler side that he keeps carefully hidden.

Underlying all of the events in the present are the secrets of the past. Flashbacks to pivotal moments from Janelle and Gabe’s relationship provide insight into both characters and vague hints of coming events. Excellent foreshadowing gives readers a good idea of what might have occurred but Ms. Hart has a few unexpected plot twists up her sleeve. And the favor that sets in motion the unstoppable and tragic chain of events that changes everyone’s lives? It is kept tightly under wraps for much of the novel but it is well worth wait as it ties all of the various threads of the plot together in a very dramatic and spellbinding ending.

As is common with Megan Hart’s novels, she puts her characters and her readers through an emotional wringer. She deftly handles a very sensitive subject without going into a lot of detail but once all of the facts are known there is little doubt about what occurred. The ending of The Favor is not a happily ever after but it is a happy for now that gives many of characters the promise of a better future.

The Favor is another exceptional novel by one of my favorite authors that I highly recommend.

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Filed under Contemporary, Fiction, Harlequin, HarlequinMira, Mainstream, Megan Hart, Rated A, Review, The Favor