Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome, Book 2) by Colleen McCullough (Paperbackswap)
Volume two of McCullough’s triumphant Roman series. The First in Rome (1990) initiated the chronicle of the edgy partnership of new-man-in-Rome Gaius Marius and aristocrat Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the German wars. Here, the calamitous last hurrah of one and the violent pinnacle acts of the other twist through years of Italian wars, expeditions into Asia Minor, domestic trials and brief happinesses, terrible cruelties, and politics, always politics, in which sectors, families, and the famous fight for power–by diplomacy, manipulation, alliances, or the simple art of murder. By now (roughly 80’s and 90’s B.C.) Marius is in his 60s and escaping a “dull” Rome to scout Asia Minor and sniff out the purposes of the barbarian king Mithridates of Pontus. The king will be faced down, and, some years later, Sulla, in a spectacular expedition over the Euphrates, will face him down again. Meanwhile, in the Senate there is a movement to enfranchise the sophisticated neighboring Italians, a movement snapped off by an assassination and a polarizing of ruling powers–and, inevitably, there’s war. It is the overwhelming victory over one of the Italian tribes that brings Sulla his highest honor (the Grass Crown). Surely he is now equal to the great general Marius, now crippled by a stroke and attended by the boy Gaius Julius Caesar Junior, his wife’s nephew. (Yep. The very same.) Marius intends to fulfill an old prophecy- -that he will be elected Consul for a seventh time. The inevitable conflict between Marius and Sulla explodes during an ongoing battle to dilute the power of the Senate elite. There will be a march on an unarmed Rome, screaming grabs for ascendance from an unhinged, dying Marius, and a raving Sulla, plus bloody deaths…and deaths…and deaths. Again, magnificent portraits of real beings. And, again, gamey politics, bright talk, great scenery, and gore.

Slave (Cat Star Chronicles, Book 1) by Cheryl Brooks (Paperbackswap)
Cat is an enslaved warrior from a race with a feline gene that gives him awesome beauty, fearsome strength, and sensuality and sexual prowess unmatched by any other males in the universe. Even filthy, chained, and beaten, he gives off an aura of power and virility and his feline gene gives him a special aura. Jacinth is an intergalactic trader on a rescue mission and she needs a man she can trust with her life. She has spent years pursuing her kidnapped sister from planet to planet. Now her quest leads her to a place where all the women are slaves. “Jack” needs a slave of her own-one who can masquerade as her master. Enmeshed in a tangle of deception, lust, and love, they must elude a race of violent killers and together forge a bond stronger than any chains.

The Vampire Diaries- The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith (Paperbackswap)
Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired. Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, he’s determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all—whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize that his brother is not his only enemy. Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle? Collected here in one edition are the third and fourth volumes of The Vampire Diaries, a riveting conclusion to the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

Our Hart by Lloyd Lofthouse (From author)

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