Stephanie Julian

This started off good - Annabelle Elder is an antiques dealer. She collects erotic art, but her life is the complete opposite of steamy. When she attends a New Year's Eve party at Haven Hotel with her best friend she decides to be a little more open-minded, especially when she meets handsome, rich, charming Jared Golden and discovers the pleasure palace he has set up in the hotel. Only those who've received invitations may go and nobody will spill what goes on behind closed doors. I liked show more the fancy hotel and waiting to see what will happen between Annabelle and Jared, who seemed to be interesting as individuals, but things became soo boring between them. It was the same thing over and over and over with one completely weird scene in the middle that had me wondering things like 'why??' and 'what the fuck???' So much heat in their eyes, their blood, their touch, their everything! To be honest I skimmed the hell out of this book after I managed to get to the halfway mark. I caught the part where Annabelle was jealous of the piece of property Jared wanted to buy because that's the way he looks at her.. really????? Ugh. show less

I read the first book in this series, What a Goddess Wants and engulfed it in one sitting. The world Stephanie has created is just so incredibly addicting! I could not wait to get my hands on the second book, How to Worship a Goddess and was so excited when the publisher gave me a chance to read the e-galley.

In How to Worship a Goddess, we pick up right where What a Goddess Wants left off, we have just switched Goddesses. I was initially worried that this book was going to follow the same show more pattern as the first book and I would lose interest, but that was not the case at all. Stephanie has given us the same underlying problem with a different, but still completely addicting, plot line and a couple of twists and turns that I did not see coming!

The Goddess we meet in the book is Lucy. She is the Goddess of the moon and also runs a local bar on the outskirts of town. The bar does not show up on any maps though because all the customers are of the supernatural variety. She is also addicted to hockey and loves going to watch the games played in her town. That is where she meets Brandon who plays hockey for the local team. He has played hockey most of his life to try and rein in the aggression issues he has had dealt with since childhood. Whenever he plays he looks for Lucy up in the stands and even though he has never talked to her, he is compelled to get to know her better. So he decides to track her down and the instant they meet the chemistry is hot. I thought at one point he might just take her right on the bar stool in front of the whole bar, the lust was just oozing off these two. Stephanie sure knows how to write steamy scenes and Lucy and Brandon are burning white hot right from the start. I was definitely blushing at a couple of scenes and loving every second of it.

I was also intrigued by the secondary characters in this book, particularly Lucy’s son Ty. It is hinted at that Ty and another character Catene have destinies that intertwine and I would really love to see that story line pursued. The two of them are currently playing a game of cat and mouse, Ty being the mouse and Catene being the cat. I am eager to see what happens when Catene finally catches him. Stephanie writes such interesting characters both main and secondary that it is easy to get attached to them and want to see them all get their own happily ever after.

I am a lover of Greek mythology, but I had not heard much about the Etruscan’s at all before reading Stephanie’s books. Now I am soaking up all the information she gives us and even doing more research online just to learn more about these fascinating myths. It is always refreshing to read about a topic not really explored in other books. This helps keep me captivated and dying to see where it will all leads. While looking up information on Stephanie for this review, I noticed that she has another series that centers around Etruscan mythology that I know I will be looking into now!

Overall How to Worship a Goddess is another hot read for Stephanie Julian! The mythology is alluring, the romance is smoldering, and the overall plot is fascinating. I cannot say enough good things about this series; I am just in love with it and highly recommend it. show less

Will McDonald comes to the Redtails where he runs into (literally) Jess Gardiner, the Redtails marketing director who is also the daughter of an NHL scout and a good scout herself (she recommended McDonald.) Both are attracted but she thinks a bad idea to act on the attraction. Will has no problem with acting on the attraction, but he'll follow her lead. When she gets the chance to move to the NHL to work in marketing, will she take the chance, or will she stay in Reading where she might get show more the chance to scout or stay with Will?

I enjoyed this story a lot. I liked Will and Jess. I also liked the rest of the team. I liked the flirting between Will and Jess. I loved when she finally gives in to the attraction. I got mad when they could not be adults over her moving to the NHL. I wanted it to work out. Will had faith in her but she needed faith in herself not to give in to the stereotypes. I look forward to more in this series. show less

After suffering a horrible attack several months earlier, Tamra McMillon takes up residence in a small cabin in the woods of Pennsylvania and befriends two wolves who keep coming around the property. Little does she know these wolves are more than what they seem.
Kyle Rossini and his teenage daughter Cat are worried for their new neighbor, and the chemistry between him and Tamra is off the charts. It’s definitely insta-lust and insta-love. He knows right away what’s between them is show more special and that she’ll be a perfect mate for him, but their lives take a turn neither expected when someone tries to hunt Tam down.
Though I enjoyed the story for the most part, the insta-love didn’t feel real to me. I did like, however, that Tamra wanted to have a sexual relationship with Kyle. Even though she was previously raped, she wasn’t fearful of sex. So kudos to her!
Though the characters are interesting, and I liked the author’s writing style, this book needs an edit. There were stray typos (a few random periods and quotation marks that didn’t belong) and there was head-hopping between characters without proper scene breaks (but most of these flowed well, and I didn’t become too confused as to whose POV I was reading in). Also, the author forgot the heroine’s last name in one instance (she wrote McDonnell) and misspelled a minor character’s name.
There were a lot of secondary characters. Though this book is number one in the Lucani Lovers series, it’s connected to another series. Since I haven’t read any of those other books, some of these characters were confusing.
There are unanswered questions. The main two are: ‘Who tried to kidnap Tamra?’ and ‘Who shot Cole?’ The reader never learns who the bad guy is, and the conflict isn’t resolved. I hope everything is answered in the next book in the series, but I wish I could’ve read it here.
3 Stars

Disclaimer – I downloaded this book from Amazon and volunteered to review it. I am not compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion. show less