Michele Bardsley Never Again

I've always had a soft spot for Michele Bardsley's books. I jumped at the chance to review her new NEVERMORE series with the first book NEVER AGAIN. I mean how was she going to get Lucinda "Lucy" Rackmore together with her ex-brother-in-law Gray Calhoun after her sister tried to kill him. However, I had faith in her writing skills after reading and devouring her BROKEN HEART series. I was not disappointed and am just sad because now I have TWO series that I'm having to wait for. :(

This is my complete review courtesy of Romance Junkies.

http://romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/paranormal/Wizards_of_Nevermore_Never_Again.shtml

Title:  Wizards of Nevermore: Never Again

Category:  Paranormal

Reviewer:  Ann

Reviewer Email:  ann@romancejunkies.com

Author: Michele Bardsley

Publisher:  Signet Eclipse

Release Date:  March 1, 2011

ISBN Number:  9780451232755

Author Homepage:  http://www.michelebardsley.com/

Blue Ribbon Rating:  4

Format:  PRINT  

Lucinda “Lucy” Rackmore is desperate.  Why else would she throw herself at the last man who would ever want her: her ex-brother-in-law, the man her sister tried to kill?

Lucinda “Lucy” Rackmore is in trouble.  Running away from a vengeful ex-lover, her only recourse is to seek protection from the last person who would ever help her, Gray Calhoun, her sister’s ex-husband, the Guardian and Protector of Nevermore.  Gray is stunned by Lucy’s proposition and throws her out without a second thought.  However, when he finds her suffering from a curse after trying to save a stranger, his heart starts to melt a little and he proposes a marriage of convenience in order to protect Lucy from harm.  As these two learn to live together, bodies start turning up dead and Lucy’s ex is coming for her.  Can Gray save her or will lightning strike twice with another sister to finish the job?

NEVER AGAIN is a story that brings the ordinary and magical together in the small town of Nevermore.  Lucy is a battered soul but she has plenty of grit.  She pulls herself by the bootstraps and continues to barrel on no matter what people think about her.  Her tears of frustration hide a backbone of steel that would break a lesser man.  Gray comes off as selfish but I think he is hurt from Lucy’s sister’s betrayal.  He is afraid of opening up because that means he can get hurt again.  With Lucy it’s different which spooks the heck out of him.  The secondary characters are a mixture of mundane and magical will be expanded upon as the series progresses.  Although many readers may want to draw comparisons to Ms. Bardsley’s BROKEN HEARTS series, I would say it’s completely different.  WIZARDS OF NEVERMORE is layered with darker undertones.  I expect great things and can’t wait for the next book.

Nirvana Grille - Laguna Beach

Thank goodness Restaurant Week is FINALLY OVER!! I don't think my arteries could take it anymore. :)

An, Vini, Jeannette and I decided to go to the Nirvana Grille in Laguna Beach over the one in Mission Viejo. Originally we wanted to go early at 5 pm and do the community tables since all of the reservations were booked and these tables were "supposedly" open to the public. However, they was a private party that booked the tables. That should have been a warning sign but they called and told us they could squeeze us in but the reservation block was only for a 1:15 hr block. Uhmm. Really? who can eat a 3 course in that much time on a Saturday night? Well if they can get food service out then okay we went ahead and booked it but we should have seen the bad karma to come. :(

We made it in plenty of time and had to wait a little for our table. The restaurant was quite busy and was actually promoting a play nearby. When we ordered the waiter was quite pushy about getting our order from the menu that we didn't really have time to ponder our choices figuring we would get our 1 hr 15 min limit. We got our bread and butter (not as good as the other 2 reviewed restaurants). AK tried to order Ginger Beer and the waiter said they didn't have it. (she later got it at WF) I mean really couldn't they have restocked? I tried to order the strawberry lemonade. I got regular lemonade and didn't once get offered a refill. it was very bad service. Each drink they asked for winded up being a canned product.: Promegranate Green Tea Soda turned out to be a Hansen Green Tea and White Green Tea was a Ikko White Green Tea.

My appetizer (left) was the Chilean Mussels with Thyme Fries. It was stringed fries and almost looked exactly like Jeannette's (right) Portuguese Clams except hers had bread instead of fries. My sauce was creamy without the wine with shallots.

For my entree I ordered the Blackened Jumbo Prawns. After all of the protein from the previous restaurants, I figured seafood would be okay. The wait time between the appetizer and the entree did seem a bit long and we did remark that we wouldn't make the 1:15 mark that they gave us. I wasn't facing the manager so I didn't notice much of what was happening. When the entree arrived, the polenta did taste creamy. The girls said the starches were overwhelmingly rich and the protein was salty and I had to agreed. The carbs had a lot of butter and cream, not that I mind but it was a bit heavy. The salt was heavy handed for our taste buds and even in combination, it just didn't work well. Maybe the cooks were overwhelmed with the orders, I don't know but it was just too much.

Jumbo Blackened Prawns Jumbo Sea Scallop Butternut Squash & Portobello Mushroom

For dessert I got the Darken Molten Cake and it came fresh and hot out of the oven. The cream melted and formed a pool in the middle of the bundt. Vini and AK got the ice cream trio of Vanilla Bean, Goat Cheese Maple and Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet and Jeanette had the Grand Marnier Seasonal Fruit (Pineapple) Served over the Goat Cheese Maple Ice Cream.

So while we were finishing up our meal, the waiter brings us the check and we start to figure out the check. We are in the middle of everything and have to wait for change when the manager goes: we need your table. WTF? We go, we need change. Hello, if you MANAGED OR LOOKED AT YOUR STAFF better you would realize that you have a full house and that they are working to try and get change. Instead this guy is giving us the evil eye like we are holding his " precious table" hostage like the ring in LOTR. I mean really guy, if he was a true manager, he would be helping his staff with the register instead of working the podium like a dictator. I think his comment was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was excited to go to LB to try new foods but I guess $ can't buy class. That's sad because the people do seem nice but they were really overworked for Restaurant Week. It would have been nice to try it in a not so busy setting but I doubt I'll come again.

Ruth's Chris Steak House

Lauren and I decided to go to Ruth's Chris for Restaurant Week after looking at the menu. Having never been to it before I was like 'What the heck' even though I was still having nightmares of my death harrowing adventures from the Island Hotel. After much consternation, we made our reservation for 7:30 pm and our adventure began.

We actually arrived at Ruth's Chris at the same time. However, the one in Anaheim has NO PARKING. We had to valet ($4 not including tip) but sadly they don't validate unlike The Island Hotel. We actually arrived at 7:10 and thought we would actually be seated early but instead we had to wait almost 1/2 an hr to be seated. WTH!! What irritated us the most was that people who arrived later got to go in before us. I wonder if their reservation was earlier and they just arrived late?

By the time we got in, we had a very nice hostess by the name of Ailee who really helped us through the menu and guided us. She explained all the options and helped us choose what we wanted. The bread came out so warm that the steam was still rising from the bread and the butter was so soft but not melted. It was a close 2nd to the Palm Terrace Sourdough Ciabatta.

The Ruth's Jumbo Chopped Salad was probably the largest salad I've ever had for a fixed menu. It was even larger than an appetizer salad. It wasn't too creamy although I could have probably done away with the olives. I did ask them not to put the raw onions but the crispy onions on top were a nice touch.

I ordered the 6 oz. Filet and the Shrimp (3 of them) and along with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes. It was supposed to come out Medium Rare but since it is cooked at "1000" and put on a 500 degree plate, it cooked longer than I prefered. Lauren got the Sauteed Mushrooms thinking they would be the sliced.

We jokingly called them the Mounds of Hell or the Fungus among us. You be the judge:



Sauteed Mushrooms



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we had the dessert of Chocolate cake with Haagan Daz Vanilla Ice Cream and Rasberry Coulis Glaze. Essentially it tasted like a stale Chocolate cupcake or a Ding Dong. :)

Would I go again? Probably but not during Restaurant Week. The menu we chose is available regularly and is comparable to what was available during RW. The parking is terrible and the wait was long considering we had reservations. However, I did like our hostess so I would try it again.