Tanya HolmesCritiques

Just finished and I'm so wound up, I'm on a high. I admit I was not expecting to love this book so much. It kept me interested the entire time.

Denieve goes undercover to investigate Dr. Death after being encouraged to do so by her friend's ghost (the friend died while working for the doctor). D isn't the average sleuth. She is like a paranormal mood detector. She can since feelings, emotions, lies and sometimes interactions. There isn't a cut and dry method to her talent. She may see, hear, smell etc the clues. She gets into more than she bargains for with this case.

Braeden is a very mysterious and troubled man. He is drop dead gorgeous, but he has several oddities that stand out just as much. He has goals, plans and experiments of his own that he is managing. Denieve may be the tool to break or fix everything.

The Darkest Frost Vol 1 has a twisted storyline. The sexual pull is off the charts, the romance aspects are addictive, and the paranormal details get better and better. I can't wait for the next installment.

4.5 stars






***Copy given in exchange for an honest review***





toni





FangirlMoments and My Two Cents









FULL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND AT http://fangirlmomentsandmytwocents.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-darkest-frost-by-tan...

Just finished and I'm so wound up, I'm on a high. I admit I was not expecting to love this book so much. It kept me interested the entire time.

Denieve goes undercover to investigate Dr. Death after being encouraged to do so by her friend's ghost (the friend died while working for the doctor). D isn't the average sleuth. She is like a paranormal mood detector. She can since feelings, emotions, lies and sometimes interactions. There isn't a cut and dry method to her talent. She may see, hear, smell etc the clues. She gets into more than she bargains for with this case.

Braeden is a very mysterious and troubled man. He is drop dead gorgeous, but he has several oddities that stand out just as much. He has goals, plans and experiments of his own that he is managing. Denieve may be the tool to break or fix everything.

The Darkest Frost Vol 1 has a twisted storyline. The sexual pull is off the charts, the romance aspects are addictive, and the paranormal details get better and better. I can't wait for the next installment.

4.5 stars






***Copy given in exchange for an honest review***





toni





FangirlMoments and My Two Cents









FULL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND AT http://fangirlmomentsandmytwocents.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-darkest-frost-by-tan...

FGMAMTC Blog Review
Wow, this story is so different from the PNR's that I've read. It's a detective mystery combined with a romantic fantasy.

Denieve has a type of psychic gift, which she uses to go undercover to figure out criminal activity. She knows there's something big going on behind the scenes after meeting the Frost brothers. Even with murders and deceptions surrounding Braeden and Xavier, she still cannot deny the attraction she feels. To top it all, she's falling for both of them. And an even bigger worry is that she has started to suffer from an unknown illness since living under Dr. Death's roof.

Volume 2 picks up right where volume 1 left off and opens up to a much bigger world than I imagined. The things that are happening with the Frost brothers and Denieve have a much broader impact than expected. More in depth explanations of everyone's past is given also.

"He's the darkest Frost. Not me. He's the one who needed a heart. So I gave him one."

I know my review is kind of vague, but I didn't want to give away spoilers. The most fun for me while reading was trying to figure out which brother I love more, which characters are good or bad and which of my predictions were correct. For me this series was unexpected, entertaining and fulfilling. PNR lovers should definitely check it out.


***Copy given in exchange for an honest review***

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Google  / Pinterest / Goodreads / Tumblr / tsū

Tanya Holmes is a gifted writer. She has a way with words that made me sigh at times.

Trace Dawson has had a hard life. Poor and abused as a child, thrown in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. An awful family, life just doesn’t get much harder. Yet, with Shannon, he was soft, loving, giving and supportive.

Shannon’s life wasn’t much better, even though she never wanted for anything. That is anything monetary. She wanted the love of a mother who was incapable of loving anyone. She wanted the love of the boy who she thought was lost.

This is the story of each of them meeting again, facing the demons of their past and wanting to forge a future together despite the odds.

This review and more can be found on my blog: The Muses Circle

The fascinating thing about being an avid reader is just when you think you've read every kind of story imaginable, one will totally creep up and catch you by surprise. I went into reading Within Temptation thinking it was going to be an erotic contemporary romance mixed in with a little "whodunit"/suspense. What it actually turned out to be is a well crafted mystery, and the romance/love story was the icing on the cake. While this may sound like a turn off to those readers looking for a hot romance, don't let my words discourage you. Within Temptation is one of those novels that has it all; I just wasn't expecting the mystery aspect of the story to be what captivated me more than the actual romance.

Shannon Bradford and Trace Dawson have history...a connection thought dead and buried when she accused him of murdering her mother that puts him in prison for 12 years. But on the very day of his release, the two come face to face, and while he is bitter and she is wondering if she made the right call all those many years ago, it is quite obvious the flame between them is still there. The author does a great job building sexual chemistry between Trace and Shannon. Rather than tons of sex scenes, Holmes uses some really hot "close encounters", a few self stimulation sessions (wink wink) that packed plenty of heat. I was really surprised that the couple didn't actually hit the sack until about the last 90 pages of the book (kindle/e-book pages) and I was absolutely okay with it. I think it is a fine art when an author can maintain sexual tension throughout the majority of a story before a major sex scene happens.




"You don't know the first thing about humility."

"Really."

"Yes, 'really'. You're too full of yourself."

A slow, wicked grin eased across his lips. "Maybe so. But I'd bet the farm you wouldn't mind being full of me too."


Trace was a very interesting hero. Intense, bitter, angry, sexually frustrated. Combine all of those things with a rough childhood and 12 years in the joint, and you have yourself a deeply layered character. Known as the "Butcher Boy" by the whole town, I really felt for him as he tried to adjust back into society.


Many romantic mysteries are very predictable but I must give Tanya Holmes credit--I was clueless until the very end.  Every time I thought I had it figured out, someone else would start to look like a prime suspect. The story is so well written that it is extremely difficult for me to believe this is not only a debut novel, but that Holmes is considered an indie author. The caliber of her writing is right up there with veteran romance authors and it's quite shocking that this novel hasn't been picked up by a major publishing company. I suspect that this won't last long considering the crazy buzz Within Temptation is getting.


I can't move on until I mention another interesting aspect of the novel which is the many themes that I came across while reading the story-- child abuse, mental illness, fear of aging, suppressed memory, hypnosis. With any other writer this could have been a hot mess. I've read plenty of books where authors try to cram pack so many topics that it becomes hard to focus on what the true purpose of the story is. Holmes weaves these themes in seamlessly like a pro.


While I am a huge fan of Within Temptation, there were a few things that bothered me. Overall, I liked Shannon and as her story unfolds, my sympathy grew--I am being vague so I can stay away from spoilers. However, her wishy washy attitude towards Trace annoyed me after awhile. Once she realizes that she may have made a mistake in accusing him of her mother's murder, it's like she expects him to just forgive her and jump at the chance to work with her to help clear his name. Trace spent TWELVE years in the prison! I think he has a right to be a mad, bitter, pissed off, even if it wasn't technically her fault.


Another thing that didn't seem realistic is the timeline. Trace went to prison when he was 18-- yet he was a stripper, became an expert on dance, taught dance lessons in prison, knows how to work on cars, knows how to renovate a whole house, has several associates degrees (that he worked on while he was in the joint) -- how the hell did he learn all these things by 18 (aside from the associate degrees)? Especially while in high school and with an abusive childhood? Maybe if the author gave us some more background information on how he learned these skills, it would have been more believable.


Lastly, again, Trace spent 12 years in prison but comes out and suffers no kind of PST. After watching shows like RECTIFY--about a man who serves 19 years on death row for the murder of his high school girlfriend and later is released upon new DNA evidence--I became more aware of how traumatic it can be for inmates as they struggle to acclimate back into society after serving years in prison. Yes, the author does a good job of showing how the town reacts to Trace's release, calling him "Butcher Boy" and ostracizing him and the people that support him. However, it would have been more realistic if he had some kind of symptoms of PST, perhaps nightmares or panic attacks.


Within Temptation is a smartly written mystery romance with plenty of nail biting suspense that keeps you riveted until the very end. I think this quote I found sums up the romance aspect of the novel: "The sexual tension is high, and the burn is slow. Sex is character-driven, rather than plot-driven."  While there were a few minor issues dealing mostly with Trace and the believability of his many, many skills, the story is quite remarkable, especially when you have to keep reminding yourself that it was written by a debut author.

Mia @ The Muses Circle