The Romance Reviews

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Review for Betting on Love / Anna Marie May

Review by Lena Grey over at queermagazineonline. Link HERE.

Betting on Love (Betting on Love, #1) by Anna Marie May


While reading 'Betting on Love' by Anna Marie May, a phrase from a song entitled 'One of These Days’, by recording artist Taylor Dayne kept running through my mind: “One of these days our love will lead you back”. Len Marshall is separated by fate from those who love him. Even though he is thousands of miles from home and suffers from amnesia, Len slowly but surely finds his way back. Buried deep within his subconscious are memories, feelings of belonging and home, which guide him back to those who love him. Becoming reacquainted with his family and Zac, his best friend and now lover, is both challenging and fulfilling as he tries to find his way.

It 's difficult to like Zac at first because he seems arrogant, shallow, and irresponsible. He has no idea what he wants to do in his life and, seemingly, has no motivation to find out. Accepting a bet to seduce someone didn't endear him to me either; it speaks badly of his character. In his defense though, it felt like he was waiting for something to happen, but didn't know what. As often happens in matters of the heart, when his seduction backfires and he falls in love with Len, his intended victim, Zac is forced to take a good hard look at himself and decide what kind of a person he wants to be. After this epiphany, he becomes the loving, supportive person that he truly is.

Len is awesome. He's a survivor, someone who knows his limitations and makes the best of them. Even though he has no childhood memories, he can work around that lack when necessary. There's something inherently sad about him which pulled at my heart strings. I admired his tenacity and his courage. What I like most about Len is that, in spite of his bad experiences, he's still able to love Zac with his whole heart.

One of my favorite features of any story is character growth and this story is overflowing with it. Almost everyone in the story, at one point or the other, reaches a higher level of perception for themselves and others around them. I especially loved Zac and Len's relationship, how they are so deeply and endlessly in love. It's absolutely heartwarming. 'Betting on Love' is a great love story with something for everyone—angst, adversity, deceit, danger, passion, devotion, and a very happy ending. I highly recommend it to anyone with a romantic soul like mine who believes that true love is eternal and invincible.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Chris Quinton

If you aren't already reading the books by Chris Quinton, then you should!

Blog is HERE!

Thursday 1 December 2011

HUGE Silver Publishing Competition! Win iPad2, Nook Color, the new Kindle Fire or Vouchers!

Announcement from Silver: Christmas comes early this year!!!


More information on the Silver Publishing Forum - HERE

During the month of December, SP will be holding an author web hunt. From December 1-17th, participating SP authors will display a Web Hunt graphic somewhere hidden on their site containing a web hunt unique word. Participants in the web hunt are required to search the various SP author sites to locate the total hidden words and submit their entry. All words must be included in order to validate the contest entry.

Winners will be announced on the SP Website on December 19th.




Grand Prize: iPad 2
$500 Gift Voucher (Readers choice of ANY retail or ebook store)
SP Promotional Items: 2 T-Shirts, 4 Mugs, Mousepad, 2 Sweatshirts, 1 Totebag and 1 Notepad

2nd Place: B&N Nook Color

$150 Gift Voucher (Readers choice of ANY retail or ebook store)
SP Promotional Items: 2 T-Shirts, 4 Mugs, Mousepad, 2 Sweatshirts, 1 Totebag and 1 Notepad




3rd Place: NEW Kindle Fire
$50 Gift Voucher (Readers choice of ANY retail or ebook store)
SP Promotional Items: 2 T-Shirts, 4 Mugs, Mousepad, 2 Sweatshirts, 1 Totebag and 1 Notepad

Mystery Raffle - Surprise Gift!

We will hide a few words in our SP Forum. Participants who find these bonus mystery words will be eligible to participate in a Surprise Gift raffle.

There is a total of 27 words hidden on our author website, including our Forum.

The participating authors and their websites are:

Freddy Mackay :: Amber Kell :: Trillium :: SJD Peterson :: AJ Llewellyn :: Olivia Brynn :: Marie Sexton :: Jessica Subject :: Naomi Bellina :: RJ Scott :: Ashlynn Monroe :: Elyzabeth Valey :: Mathilde Watson :: Anna Marie May :: Casey Holloway :: Pia Veleno :: Heather Thurmeier :: Silvia Violet :: Jeanne Oiler :: Carol Lynne :: Toni Griffin :: SA Garcia :: Edward Kendrick :: Jen Thorne :: Diane Adams