Review of All Or Nothing by Catherine Mann

I always read Harlequin without expecting anything much. A light romance, a cuppa coffee. silent house - all the rare perks of being a housewife:)

But I must say I was taken my surprise by the psychological aspects touched in this book. Both the protagonists are affected by their fathers duplicity. Strangely they both bring that into their marriage. Got me thinking here? How affected are we with the way our parents behave?

We always give importance to the parent child relationship. But most of us carry this to our adulthood. We all enter with a baggage in a marriage. Some of us overcome it and some don't. Hopefully as parents, we don't make the same mistakes.( Can't avoid the new ones).

Anyway, coming back to the story I must say Catherine Mann has brought out the James Bond affect to the fullest. I heard the signature music in my head while reading this book. The settings, the gadgets, the fast pace of the books kept me glued to this book. ( I accomplished a bag of huge laundry.... grrrr).

So what was wrong with the characters( I should use their names.....Conrad and Jayne.)? They were separated despite being so totally in love with each other. The reason being lack of honesty from Conrad's side. He was an undercover agent and he could not tell her that.

How they overcome it? That is for you guys to find out :) ( On a second thought will a Mills and Boon have it any other way......).

A bit more detailed review is in my blog http://rubinaramesh.blogspot.com/

Would love to hear comments from my fellow writers and readers.


Conflict of Interest by Barbara Dunlop

Cara Cranshaw was a White House PR. Her job had become the sole obstruction in her love life. She had fallen in love with reporter Max Gray and was dating him before the elections.

But now after the elections, they decided to stay away from each other due to work ethics.Then she found out that she was pregnant! She also knew how Max felt about fatherhood, so she decided not to tell him at all.

While they were trying to keep their emotions at bay, a scandal broke out which was connected to The President. He had a love child! Moreover, the love child was one of Cara's best friend. Both Cara and Max wanted to find out the truth but sadly they were in the opposite sides of the fence.

Max wanted to know the truth in terms of news, scandal and as an investigative reporter, but Cara wanted to stop any scandalous truth from harming the popularity of The President. Things were not going anywhere between them until Gillian ( Cara's sis) decided to intervene.

She created such situations which made Max realize that losing Cara was way beyond pain. He did not know if it was love but he sure felt a primitive possessiveness regarding her.But one day while following her, he finds out the truth regarding her pregnancy.

How in the midst of the Presidency scandal do they find love for each other and does Max overcome his fear of fatherhood kept me turning the pages of this novella.

Throughout the story, the conflict has been maintained but above the conflict is the passion that exists between the MC's.

To be honest, when I started with this novel I kinda did not like it. The story started with Cara being pregnant and both trying to keep away from each other. Maybe that is the reason they were hardly in the same page. Their interaction with the other characters in the novel was more strong and the two seemed to fit here and there in the story.

I even sympathized with Max more since he seemed to find even flimsy excuses to meet her but always leaving when asked to, understanding her need to put her career first. He is a character you could relate to. Tough yet humane.

But after a few pages, the story focused more on Cara's emotions. Her fear regarding their relationship was well founded. Max did not want to become a father. The story also gained momentum after the avalanche in which they were both caught and I found it hard to keep down the book from this point.

There are other characters also who add different layers to the story. Specially Jake and Gillian ( Cara's sister). I found Gillian very endearing and her support in Cara's life is what kept the MC's from reaching their goal.

The other aspect was the political aspect, in which The President had fathered a love child. The scandal has been delicately woven in the story without turning it into a political battle.

My only regret would be that I would never know what happened after the DNA results came out and were the hackers of the White House computer system caught?

I almost gave a sigh of regret after I closed on the last page.

Check out the full review @http://rubinaramesh.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-cinderella-bride-barbara-wallace.html ( )