Kane has to convince his best friend Nadine of two things. First, it’s time for her to stop mourning her deceased fiancé. Second – and most importantly – Kane has fallen in love with her.

Nadine knows if she can move past Justin’s death, the tentative feelings she’s denying Kane will blossom. Only she can’t seem to move on. Desperate, she turns to a psychic for help so she can say the final goodbyes she’d been denied years before.

For one night, Kane, Nadine and Justin will face the grief threatening to break down a friendship and turn to a love that will make them whole again.

Title: LETTING GO
Author: Dee Carney
Series: standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing
Year of release: 2009, February 12
Format: eBook
Source: Received an e-copy from author on a dare because I said on Twitter I don’t like romances with ghosts in them.

First line:
He ignored the silence at their table.

Memorable Scenes:
- first chapter > starts off with a nice voyeurism scene
- the love scene > heartbreaking, beautiful and hot at the same time


QuickScore-Verdict:
Dee Carney sent me this book after I was saying on twitter that I don't like romance novels with characters that are ghosts and that even mentions of ghosts in a back cover blurb will stop me from buying or reading a book.

I really liked the opening chapter. It set the stage and immediately gave me a great first look into the main characters and their personalities. I still don't like ghosts in my romance but I have to give it to Dee Carney that she wrote a wonderful story and her approach to the whole ghost plotline seemed quite original. I say seemed because obviously I haven't read enough romances with ghosts in them to be able to make a comparison.

LETTING GO is an emotional coworkers & friends-to-lovers romance that didn’t blow me away but it still worked for me despite the ghost. This says a lot about Dee Carney and her writing skills.

Favorite Quotes:
Nadine forked through fluffy grains of arroz con pollo. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”
“I’ll catch you up even though the blood is leaving my head to race toother parts of my anatomy unknown to you.”
“Kane!” She could let that last bit slide, but having to hear about a growing erection teased her neglected libido. At the same time, it flummoxed her. The anatomy they discussed belonged to Kane, of all people. His grin widened. “I’m just sayin’, if what I say doesn’t make any sense,you know why.”

Claire Jones never dreamed the fantasies she’d been having about the young guy next door would ever become reality but after a push from her best friend and one encounter involving dirty laundry she’s getting more reality than one woman should be allowed. But with reality comes emotion and Claire finds herself falling deeper and deeper under Ryan’s spell.

Ryan Doherty wants in Claire’s pants but he soon discovers hot sex isn’t all he’s after. She makes him happy in a way nothing and no one else ever has and if he has to use their amazing chemistry to stay in her life he will. Because having more of Claire isn’t an option. It’s the only choice.

Can Ryan and Claire bridge the age gap to find the love of a life time or will what others think destroy the best thing either of them has ever found?

Title: ALL OF YOU
Author: Rhian Cahill
Series: Only You, book 1
Genre: Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing
Year of release: 2011, September 26
Format: eBook
Source: Bought via Noble Romance eBookstore

First line:
Claire Jones stared at her best friend of almost forty years and wondered when Jane had lost her mind.

Memorable Scenes:
- Ryan's self-pleasuring in the bathroom after running into Claire at the parking lot > urgent and hot!
- Claire and Ryan's first night > I needed something to cool me down...
- the scene in Ryan's courtyard after their first dinner together > I swear, like Cari Quin, RC is trying to kill me from spontaneous combustion with scenes like these

Claire Jones is a confident 41 year-old professional business woman who is has this little bit of insecurity luring within her that gives her an air of vulnerability. She’s also an over-thinker who analyzes stuff to death sometimes.

Ryan Doherty is a 29 year-old self-assured builder who owns a construction company with his brother. Ryan is giving, open, and dynamic. He is also very talkative in the bedroom and sexy as heck. Another candidate for my 2011 favorite heroes-list

The romance between Ryan and Claire starts out as an explosive but purely physical attraction and lust and this was noticeable in the first part of the book through the abundance of sex scenes. Ryan and Claire couldn’t keep their hands of each other so that made for a lot of steamy scenes. However gradually the instant lust turned into a more emotional bond and as a reader I followed the gradual transformation of lust to love.

The make-out and sex scenes Rhian Cahill writes are indescribably excellent. They're raw, explicit and in this book they have this urgency to them that gave them that little extra zing I encounter only in a few of my favorite erotic romance authors' writing. And Ryan's dirty talk was the icing on the cake and the cherry on top all rolled into one! But beware, if you don't like body parts bluntly called by their names, this book might not be for you as Rhian Cahill does not embellish, rephrase or use euphemisms. She doesn't mince matters and I love her for it.

ALL FOR YOU is very character and romance-driven. There is no side-plot or other stuff going on other than the development of the relationship between Claire and Ryan. This was also apparent in the few secondary characters the story had. There was Jane, Claire’s best friend and Brett, Ryan’s brother. I really loved the bond and banter between Claire and her best friend Jane and between Ryan and his older brother Brett. Because through those interactions you get to know them much better and it offered a nice neutralizing balance to the scorching urgent heat crackling between Claire and Ryan, adding depth to their characterization.

Oh and a nasty receptionist at the company where Claire works. Can’t remember her name and don’t want to bother looking it up because as I said, she was nasty…but also crucial to the conflict between Ryan and Claire so she deserves a mention, even if it’s a nameless one.

I loved how Rhian Cahill handled Claire's doubts and insecurities about the age difference and having a relationship with Ryan. She made didn't take the easy way out for them and created a believable conflict that was solved in an equally believable way. Other than the first few moments it wasn’t something that Claire kept on about during the story even if it formed the root for the conflict.

It's been a while since I read a Rhian Cahill book and reading ALL OF YOU made me realize how much I missed her awesome writing. She has the uncanny ability to pull me completely into her books with writing that's utterly captivating and explicitly hot with a capital H.

If you like carnal, red-hot erotic romance within the cougar trope with likable a likeable and easy to relate to heroine and a hero who will make you melt into a puddle of heat with his dirty talk, look no further because ALL OF YOU has all that and then some!

Favorite Quotes:
The air left her lungs and her words caught in her throat. The glistening flesh of a god-like, bare male chest numbed her mind and turned her body into a quivering vessel of need.

No. She'd kept contact with Ryan to a minimum. Usually because she found it hard to string a sentence together with the way he had her body exploding to life whenever he got close. Oh, who was she kidding? Just thinking about him sent her nerve endings into a frenzied bunch of sex-craving knots.

The woman had him tied in knots. She hardly gave him the time of day, but all she had to do was breathe in his direction and his dick was raring to go, his body pounding with a need that consumed his every thought. It had taken weeks for him to build up the nerve to say hello to her. But after he'd spoken those first words, Ryan started to go out of his way to run into her.

A yearning, raw and fevered, roared through Claire like a flash fire, consuming her—overwhelming her. The moans and whimpers she made were foreign to her ears, and she could only describe them as animalistic.

He was covered in sweat, and his limbs shook like a new baby foul's. Cramps stabbed his thighs, but he wasn't ready to stand yet. Any sudden movement could set off the bomb currently ticking between his legs.

"Better than good. Better than any fantasy I've ever dreamed up. The man knows what he's doing, and isn't afraid to do it." (Claire to Jane about Ryan)

"No worries, Ryan. I know how crabby you get when you aren't getting any."
Brett grinned and ducked as Ryan threw a punch at him. "Still not quick enough to get me, little brother."
[…] "Nah, just didn't want to put the old man in the hospital." Ryan grinned, the old, well-used banter between them settling his agitated nerves.
[…]"You young whippersnapper, you."
Ryan pulled free of Brett's grip and gave him a shove before stooping to pick up his headgear. "Knock it off. You're just jealous I can still pull women while they're all passing you by in favor of us younger more strapping blokes." Ryan puffed his chest out and flexed his arms.

Claire shuddered at his words. The quake vibrated through her until she thought she might collapse in a puddle of want at his feet.
"Oh, Claire I do believe we've found something that really gets you off." He leaned over her, his clothed chest resting along her back. "Want me to tell you what I'm gonna do to you?" He nipped her ear.
"Ryan." His name spilled from her lips on a plea.
He licked the shell of her ear, his breath hot on her skin. "I'm going to play with you, Claire. I'm going to use my fingers, my tongue, teeth, and I'm going to drive you wild until you scream for me."

As she rode the waves of pleasure, Claire couldn't stop the tears leaking from her eyes. It was far too late to end this easily. With one explosive climax, Ryan had shattered her soul and stolen what was left of her heart.

One night in Bangkok is all it takes to turn Beth Martin's future plans upside down. After being betrayed by her fiancé the last thing she needs is another man screwing up her life.

But Tom is different. He makes her feel sensations long forgotten, makes her want in ways best left unspoken. Can she live out her wildest fantasies in one decadent night? And when it's over, can she walk away, or will what she doesn't want prove to be what she needs?

Title: ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK
Author: Rhian Cahill
Series: Passport to Passion Collection
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing
Year of release: 2009, May? ---I know I talked with the author on Twitter about the release date but can't remember and didn't write it down anywhere for some obscure reason, or I did and can't find it anymore *headdesk*---
Format: eBook, 28 pages
Source: Gracefully offered to me by author when I wasn’t able to buy it from publisher

First line:
Sweat oozed from every pore, pooled and then dripped between Beth's breasts, the slide of moisture a warm caress, like a lover's tongue.

Memorable Scenes:
- Dinner scene > foreplay from start to finish, HOT!

Quick & Dirty-review:

Hero:
His name is Tom and that’s all I can tell you without spoiling the story.

Heroine:
Beth Martin. A capable and professional woman who has a passionate side to her that’s waiting to be sparked by the right man. She’s decided she won't be dictated by others any longer and wants to take life head-on and on her terms. That’s exactly what she does on her last night in Bangkok.

Plot:
A one night stand in Bangkok leads to a HEA with a nice twist at the end

Writing:
Rhian Cahill's writing is simply mesmerizing. The way she describes sexual chemistry and arousal is amazing. It's so vivid and sensual I can actually feel the zing and sparks coming of the pages. She's one of the very few authors whose descriptions I love to read as they are anything but page fillers and they almost form a character of their own in the books I've read by her.

Likes:
- writing, sex scenes and premise

Dislikes:
- minor one: missed Tom's POV though at the end I understood why the story was told almost exclusively from Beth's POV.

Verdict:
Rhian Cahill did it again. She seduced me with another incredibly hot and well-written novella that just sizzled of the pages. I can't wait to read her next erotic contemporary book! Bear in mind that I am being this enthusiastic about a 28-page story…Me! The reader who always complains about novellas being too short but in this case it was so deliciously written I can’t even fathom complaining about length.

Quotes:
Lost in the thrill of what he was doing to her hand—and in a domino effect,
her entire body—Beth feared she would agree to anything he suggested as
long as he didn’t stop.
“Have dinner with me.” He spoke against her skin and his breath puffed over the moisture left by his tongue. It cooled and heated at the same time as sparks of fire shot through her hand and up her arm leaving a trail of tingling starbursts in their wake.

“Dinner?” She moved out of the way to let the server pass and Tom closed the distance between them, crowding her against the wall.
“Yes, dinner,” he whispered into her ear.
“But I thought—”
“What? That I would strip you naked and take you against this wall the minute you walked in?” His warm, moist breath sent shockwaves of lust down her neck. He bit her earlobe lightly. “Make no mistake, Beth, I will have you. But I’m a civilized man. I invited you to dinner and I will feed you dinner.”

A whimper of anguish slipped past her lips before she could stop it. Want and desire laced every note, conveying her arousal, her need, her desperation to have him touch her.

Carly Simmons has lusted after her boss for six months. Throwing caution to the wind while on a business trip in Singapore, she suggests a fling. When Saxon takes her up on her offer, Carly gets far more than the conservative businessman she’s expecting.
Saxon Grant is definitely up for a weekend of red-hot sex, but once he gets his hands on Carly he knows a couple of days will never be enough. Months of wanting her explode into a weekend of tangled sheets and twisted emotions.

And after one wild weekend, these two hearts will never be the same.

Title: SINGAPORE FLING
Author: Rhian Cahill
Series: Passport to Passion Collection
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing
Year of release: 2009, August 31
Format: eBook, 44 pages
Source: I won this book at the Down Under Divas Blog

First line:
“See anything you like?”

Memorable Scenes:
- All the sex scenes: against hotel room door, floor, bed, bathtub and bed but especially the one in the elevator…
- Bathtub sponge bath scene > I was in lust with Saxon before this scene, but after it, I was in love

Sometimes you find treasures of books where you least expect it. When I was told I won choice of a book by any of the contributing authors of the Down Under Divas Blog because I was the first commenter, I had a choice to make. Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t make choices easily. Just ask my hubby to tell you what a pain I am in restaurants…on second thought…don’t…

Back to the subject, I had an author and then a book to choose. As I already had all the books I wanted from Jess Dee and Lexxie Couper this left me with Rhian Cahill and Sami Lee to choose from. I checked their backlists and found books I’d love to read. My pick ultimately was Rhian Cahill’s SINGAPORE FLING and the only reason for that was that it was from a publisher that didn’t accept Paypal payments so credit card-less me couldn’t buy it from them and the Sami Lee book was from a publisher I should get bulk-discount from, as many ebooks as I buy with them monthly LOL *cough*Samhain*cough*

When I received the book, I transferred it to my iPhone and there it sat for a while, until I needed a quick new –to-me-author e-read and thought of the won book. I started the first page and within moments I’d already marked more quotes than I have ever done for entire full-length books (talking 300+ pages here!) and this is a 44-page novella. I started gushing and gushing on Twitter and couldn’t stop reading.

There’s a quote in the book that sums up exactly how I feel about this book:
There were no more words. Just love and lust, and everything in between.
YES!

Now if you are still with me I will start an actual review, I can imagine some people have fled because there hasn’t been any actual reviewing yet, but I had to get this off my chest in order to be able to be coherent…

The hero of SINGAPORE FLING shot straight to the top of my favorite heroes list. And that was not because Saxon Grant was intelligent, confident and had a strong work ethic. No! It was solely because he was the BEST dirty talking hero I read in 2010. He had me from the moment he opened his mouth: Commanding, growling and utterly sexy!

Carly Simmons, the heroine was great too. She’s a straight shooter who speaks her mind and she witty and smart. Yet, however great Carly was, it was overshadowed by my lust for Saxon. He absolutely stole the show for me. But I’m also realistic enough to realize that without Carly, Saxon wouldn’t have been the great hero he was. And now I’ll stop about Saxon. I dislike it when reviewers make the review all about gushing over the hero so I must practice what I preach.

I originally intended to write a Quick and Dirty review for SINGAPORE FLING and in the QnD-reviews I have a few points that I write something about while reading. One of them is “plot” When writing this review I checked my review notes for this book and this is what I said about the plot: “Plot? Who needs a plot!” So that settles reviewing the plot part of the book. Let’s move on.

The only reason I'm not giving this novella the perfect read stamp is because the high it started and ended on, lost a bit of it's strength in the middle part and I wanted that promised desk smexing scene and yet again didn't get it. SINGAPORE FLING was the second book in a row I’d read where desk smexing was hinted at but author didn’t come through on it and if there’s one reason why I adore the co-workers/boss-employee trope it’s for the desk play. So I’m going to be a spoiled brat and deduct half a point for not giving me my desk smex ;)

Now let’s talk about the writing, because a drool-worthy hero is good and all, but that alone still does not make a gush-worthy book. My first encounter with Rhian Cahill’s work left me mesmerized. To me her writing is imaginative, vivid moving, intense and hot. The writing style is magical, gripping and takes you into the mind and vision of her characters. I had the impression I could feel their compelling lust. The way she writes she could make describing watching paint dry exciting and lust-inspiring, so I will most definitely be reading much more of her work and may even venture into her paranormal stuff, even though contemporary romance is higher on my favorites list.

Rhian Cahill set the pages on fire from the very start and never let up. I loved this hot and sweet little novella. There's hot, there's smokin’ hot and then there's SINGAPORE FLING, a character-driven, hot number that takes you beyond smokin’ hot with scorching lust and urgent desire, delivered by an awesomely talented writer.

As with a book I reviewed recently I’m not able to cut the quotes down to 2 or 3 and don’t have the time for a Quotes-Post at the moment so I’m leaving all the quotes I initially marked for my fellow romance-readers’ enjoyment. And I dare you not to go out and get this book the moment you finish reading them (if you haven’t got the book already, that is).

Quotes:
He was a tall drink of mouthwatering delight she'd had her eye on for a while now.

She had to stop thinking about jumping Saxon Grant. The man would never go for her if she came off as a trashy nympho.

Carly was going to love teaching the man all about down and dirty. But first she had to play it cool, be subtle.

He had a bedroom voice, a little rough, a little naughty.

"Good. I'd hate to think this was a bad habit you have." He watched her closely before adding, "I'd have to punish you if it was."
Her eyes widened and her tummy lurched. "Punish?"
"Oh yeah. I'd turn you over my knee and spank that sexy ass of yours."

Oh, she might think she fooled everyone with those conservative business suits of hers, and most people were fooled, but he hadn't been duped. She was made for sex. Hot, sweaty sex.

Slamming his mouth to hers, he sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and bit into the tender flesh. Her gasp of surprise allowed him access to the dark warmth his tongue sought to claim. All the months of holding back, waiting to take her, exploded into the kiss. He dominated, ravished and took without apology. Every corner, every recess became his.

The sounds tripping past her lips drove him further into the carnal hunger to
take, possess. Purrs, whimpers, murmurs, the hitch of breath when he found a
sensitive spot, all dragged him into the inferno of raging lust that consumed them both. He couldn’t wait. He had to have her now. How he tore himself away from her he’d never know, but he did. He yanked his wallet from his back pocket, fumbled for the condom he kept inside.
“Strip,” he ordered.
He tossed his wallet over his shoulder and ripped the foil packet open with his teeth while undoing his jeans.

She’d trusted him with her pleasure and given him more than he’d ever asked for by doing so. He’d taken her like an animal, demanded she give him everything and without pause she had. Never before had a woman been so generous. So trusting. She was a treasure to be looked after, to be cherished and he wanted to be the man who took care of her. And wasn’t he off to a good start? He’d torn the clothes from her body and rutted on her like a wild beast. Saxon closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat. Damn. He'd be lucky if she didn't quit her job and run for her life when she finally came around.

She couldn't even drum up the energy to worry about how wanton she'd behaved, or how he'd been nothing like she expected. The man had rocked more than her world. He'd shifted the whole damn universe on her. And right now she didn't care. She'd be happy for him to do it all over again.

She almost purred at his light touch, the tingle of desire sparking to life as his fingers grazed the side of her breast.

If she could think straight she'd end it now. Cut the cord before it attached too firmly, before it entwined so fully with her soul she'd never get untangled.

When this weekend was over he'd either get everything he never knew he wanted or he'd be left with a bleeding heart and broken soul.