1032. The Dangers of Deceiving a Viscount (Julia London)

Synopsis:
Lady Phoebe Fairchild is a talented seamstress who sews dresses for an exclusive London Bond Street shop, but knows that if her job is revealed, it will expose her family's financial woes to the ton and ruin their reputation—not to mention Phoebe's marriage prospects. Knowing this, her employer threatens to expose Phoebe if she refuses to travel to rural Bedfordshire to sew gowns at the home of William Darby, Viscount Summerfield. Phoebe reluctantly agrees, and posing as widowed dressmaker Madame Dupree, she travels to Summerfield's estate to create gowns for his wild, untamed sisters. Soon, Phoebe and Will are involved in an intense affair that's very likely doomed, as Will must wed a noblewoman—which Phoebe is, but Madame Dupree is not. Should she reveal her deceit, making her a worthy bride for Summerfield? Or should she keep up the charade, lest he despise her for her duplicity?

My rating: 2 stars

1028. Smiley's People (John Le Carre)

Cover of first edition

Synopsis:
Into a shadowy, violent and intricate world steeped in moral ambivalences steps George Smiley, sometime acting Chief of the Circus, as the Secret Service is known. His brief is to bury crime, not solve it, as he fights his own private battle from London to Paris and to Hamburg for his last duel with his Russian opposite number, codenamed Karla.

My rating: 4 stars

997. Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)

Synopsis:
Pippi is an irrepressible, irreverent, and irrefutably delightful girl who lives alone (with a monkey) in her wacky house, Villa Villekulla. When she's not dancing with the burglars who were just trying to rob her house, she's attempting to learn the "pluttification" tables at school; fighting Adolf, the strongest man in the world at the circus; or playing tag with police officers. Pippi's high-spirited, good-natured hijinks cause as much trouble as fun, but a more generous child you won't find anywhere.

My rating: 4 stars

981. Nauti Boy (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis:
Having served in the Marines for eight years in order to fend off the advances of the seductive Kelly Benton, Rowdy Mackay returns to his native Kentucky, where he meets a very changed Kelly, whose ability to trust men has been shattered by a stalker's attack.

My rating: 3 stars

972. Hidden Agendas (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis:
Tough-as-nails Navy SEAL Kell Kreiger is the best there is at searching, rescuing, and taking no prisoners ... yet even the rush of ever-more dangerous missions isn't enough to satisfy him. Haunted by a tortured past, Kell seeks distraction in a secret world of dark intimacies. But when Emily Stanton, the one ray of light in Kell's shadowy existence, is pursued by a ruthless drug lord, the rules of the game suddenly change -- and Kell will have to go deeper undercover than he ever imagined ....

My rating: 3 stars

969. Soul Deep (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Mother Nature has a way of making the most unlikely couples 'fit'. And what could be more unlikely than a sassy, independent President's daughter who doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut and a loner Coyote Breed with a hunger for a cute rosebud mouth that he's determined to still. The vote for Breed Law is coming down the pike. Kiowa's job is to watch Amanda, the President's daughter look, but not touch. Just make sure the Goof Troop, the Secret Service detail assigned to protect her, do their job until the law is passed. But when they don't and the bad guys move in to take her out, Kiowa reluctantly slips in to the rescue, snatching her away to safety. But she isn't going to come easy and it takes more than smooth talking to make her see his point of view. For a man who's had nothing, Amanda Marion is food for the hunger that has tortured him, the reality to every dream Kiowa never dared believe in. What he feels for her is more than heat, more than love. She breathes life into his hardened heart, melting the icy chill that has protected him all his life, and touches a part of him that he thought had died his soul. And now he'll kill anyone who tries to take her away from him. But the one person he can't fight is Amanda, and when she wants to leave...

My rating: 4 stars

932. The Honourable Schoolboy (John Le Carre)

Hong Kong at night

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
This is the second of le Carre's Smiley novels, featuring the character of George Smiley who was introduced in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". The story involves the betrayal of a Soviet spy and suspicions that the network has been infiltrated from the top downwards.

My rating: 5 stars

My review: Current authors of thrillers could learn a lesson or a hundred about writing from Le Carre. A case that is essentially a paper chase is told thrillingly.

906. Loving Lies (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Love will find a way. Slade was Jessie's life, the first love that filled her heart and soul and bound her woman's spirit. Years of waiting culminating in an incredible weekend of sexual abandon-teaching her everything she needed to know to be his woman and branded her as Slade's woman for life. Jessie was certain Slade had to love her. Until he whispered the lie, the ultimate betrayal, and walked away only to wed another woman. Now five years later Slade returns, his soul has withered without Jessie's presence, and now he'll have her, one way or the other. The love for her, the fierce overriding hunger and need consumes his heart and binds his soul. No matter the obstacles, Slade will get her back. Whatever it takes. Whatever he has to do.

My rating: 4 stars

869. Shameless Embraces (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Embraced
Marey has run from herself and from Sax for over three years. Lost years, hiding in the home her parents left her, living on the fantasy, too wary to reach out and make real the dreams of the life and man that torment her. Sax Brogan is the embodiment of sinful and sexy - tall, dark, handsome and every inch of him the fantasy of Marey's dreams come to hot, throbbing life. And he's more than ready to claim his woman. Now the time has come for Marey to stop running and embrace not just the fantasy he represents, but also the reality. That is, if her ex-husband will let her live long enough to enjoy it ....

Shameless
She's a temptation he can't afford. Ian Sinclair, the man with no heart, the ultimate Trojan, the untouchable, the unreachable, may just have met his match. As wild as the untamed winds, as innocent as love itself, Courtney's vivacious spirit shines as brilliantly as the brightest star. And he wants nothing more in life than to see the sweet innocence that is so much a part of her survive. That can never happen if he allows her to be drawn into the wicked, sexual excesses of his life. He's a hunger she can't deny. Courtney Mattlaw has understood her destiny her whole life. Her lifetime of happiness hangs on this moment in time, and forcing a man who feels he is unable to love, to trust his heart. Haunted. Filled with loneliness. Incomplete. Ian is the very breath of her soul. She knows the battle to steal his heart could ultimately destroy them both, but it's a risk she must take. When these two come together, sparks fly and the lust simmering between them ignites in a conflagration that will burn them to their souls and leave them ... shameless.

My rating: 4 stars

830. That Hideous Strength (C. S. Lewis)

Synopsis from Amazon:
The final book in C.S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, That Hideous Strength concludes the adventures of the matchless Dr. Ransom. Finding himself in a world of superior alien beings and scientific experiments run amok, Dr. Ransom struggles with questions of ethics and morality, applying age-old wisdom to a brave new universe dominated by science. His quest for truth is a journey filled with intrigue and suspense.

My rating: 3 stars

823. Number the Stars (Lois Lowry)

Synopsis from Amazon Canada:
Set in Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943, this 1990 Newbery winner tells of a 10-year-old girl who undertakes a dangerous mission to save her best friend.

My rating: 3 stars

813. Rent-a-Stud (Lynn LaFleur)

Synopsis from Barnes & Noble:
It isn't Jade Talmage's idea to accept her daughter's offer to hire an escort for the hospital gala. But the absence of her brother Paul-her usual companion-leaves her with no choice.

Enter Zachary Cooper, one-third owner of Coopers' Companions, a professional escort company. Despite his good looks and sex appeal that make her hormones scream, Jade has no intention of being the next in a long line of the rent-a-stud's conquests.

A weekend of mind-blowing sex has Jade's heart crumbling. Zach is exactly the type of man she wants in her life. Yet she's sure a relationship with a man ten years her junior would lead to nothing but heartache.Zach doesn't care that Jade is older than he. He wants a lifetime with the woman he's fallen for so desperately. All he has to do is convince Jade that he's much more than a rent-a-stud…he's the man who loves her.

My rating: 3 stars

801. Nauti Nights (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon Canada:
James "Dawg" Mackay has lusted after sweet Crista for years. Just as many as she's spent running from him-and from a dangerous attraction. But for Crista, running isn't an option anymore because Dawg's got a plan to get her and keep her. It's kind of low-down -- but completely hot.

My rating: 4 stars

796. A Season For Scandal (Stephanie Laurens)

Synopsis from author:
Tangled Reins -- Miss Dorothea Darent had no intention of ever getting married, until a dashing stranger with hazel eyes kissed her under a tree. Haunted by their kiss, the Marquis of Hazelmere, a notorious rake, was determined to win Dorothea's heart, even while she was busy dazzling other bucks of the ton. Dorothea had a choice: stick with her plans to remain an independent spinster, or surrender to love.

Fair Juno -- When the Earl of Merton suddenly found himself playing knight to a damsel in distress, he knew that his days of rakish bachelordom were numbered. But although the lady seemed grateful for his assistance, she fled the scene without revealing her name. Now it was up to him to search for the threads that would lead him back to her, he had to find her and woo her -- though past scandals and present dangers threatened his pursuit of the mysterious lady he knew was to be his destiny.

My rating: 2 stars

782. Forbidden Pleasure (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
People have heard fleeting rumours about The Club. Located just outside Washington, D.C., only its members know where men go when they want to indulge the desire to share their women with a carefully selected male partner. John "Mac" McCoy resigned his membership from The Club when he married Keiley Hardin. Tempting and innocent, sweet and sexy, she would never accept Mac's desire to share her with another man. However, Mac's fantasies of sharing his wife haunt his dreams. Then Jethro Riggs, Mac's best friend, arrives at their home in Wyoming. Of all the men, it was Riggs whom Mac most shared his women with. They shared the same views on pleasing women, and a hunger to push the same boundaries. Slowly Mac and Riggs introduce Keiley to a pleasure she has never known.

My rating: 4 stars

758. Out of the Silent Planet (C. S. Lewis)

Synopsis from Amazon:
It is an account of the voyage of Ransom, a linguist, to the planet Malacandra (Mars), where he learns that Thulcandra (Earth) is called the silent planet because there has been no communication from it in years. The spiritual being in charge of the latter, having been corrupted, has essentially cut Thulcandra off from the other planets. Ransom is ultimately sent back to Thulcandra with the two earthlings who had kidnapped him and brought him to Malacandra.

My rating: 4 stars

732. Perelandra (C. S. Lewis)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
In the second novel in C.S. Lewis' classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom is called to the paradise planet of Perelandra, or Venus, which turns out to be a beautiful Eden-like world. He is horrified to find that his old enemy, Dr Weston, has also arrived and is putting him in grave peril once more. As the mad Weston's body is taken over by the forces of evil, Ransom engages in a desperate struggle to save the innocence of Perelandra ....

My rating: 3 stars

731. Heather's Gift (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Heather's job was to guard Sam's body. As part of the team assigned to the protection of the August family, she had taken her job seriously. Until a mad man learned she was Sam August's weakness. Until the past rose with deadly intent and surprising secrets. Will Sam be able to deny his passion for this woman, or will the dark nightmares, and sensuous desires that rage through them both be the cause of his destruction, and the destruction of the woman he loves.

My rating: 4 stars

724. Shutter Island (Dennis Lehane)

Synopsis from Amazon:
It's 1954, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule arrive at a small island in Massachusetts' Outer Harbor. It is home to Ashcliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane, and one of the patients has escaped. Although the two men are new partners, they have already developed a wry, jocular relationship while also swapping personal, painful details. Daniels' lost his much-loved wife two years prior in a fire, while Aule requested a transfer out of Seattle after being harassed over his personal relationship with a Japanese American woman. After interviewing the hospital's medical personnel, both men have the feeling they are being stonewalled, especially by the director, who seems to alternate between a cold authoritarianism and a sudden and sweeping compassion. When the island is hit by gale-force winds and Aule disappears, Daniels must go it alone, beset by the fear that he has been fed psychotropic drugs and the belief that the hospital is performing radical brain surgery as part of a secret-ops program.

My rating: 3 stars

My review: Another book which isn't great but worth reading for the incredible ending.

715. The Man Within (Lora Leigh)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
He had protected her as a child, filled all her teenaged fantasies, and as a woman, he stole her heart. Only to break it. Now, fifteen months later, the news has released. The man she loves is one of the genetically altered Feline Breeds who have shocked the world with their presence. He's also her mate. The mark on her neck attests to that. The fire that rages in her heart and in her body further proves it. But he hadn't wanted her then; does he really want her now? Deceit and treachery, born in the past, now haunt the present as Taber and Roni fight to make sense of a sudden bonding. The mating of heart, body and soul as the man and the beast within merge; both battling the forces raging against the union and dominance over the woman he claimed.

My rating: 4 stars