Kaetrin's Musings

The Bro Magnet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

2012-01-25T06:00:00.003-09:30

Why I read it: I saw tweets about this really funny book from a guy's perspective from Jane at Dear Author and then I saw it on NetGalley so I snapped it up.

What it's about: (This is the blurb from Goodreads) Women have been known to lament, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." For Johnny Smith, the problem is, "Always a Best Man, never a groom." At age 33, housepainter Johnny has been Best Man eight times. The ultimate man's man, Johnny loves the Mets, the Jets, his weekly poker game, and the hula girl lamp that hangs over his basement pool table. Johnny has the instant affection of nearly every man he meets, but one thing he doesn't have is a woman to share his life with, and he wants that desperately. When Johnny meets District Attorney Helen Troy, he decides to renounce his bro-magnet ways in order to impress her. With the aid and advice of his friends and family, soon he's transforming his wardrobe, buying throw pillows, ditching the hula girl lamp, getting a cat and even changing his name to the more mature-sounding John. And through it all, he's pretending to have no interest in sports, which Helen claims to abhor. As things heat up with Helen, the questions arise: Will Johnny finally get the girl? And, if he's successful in that pursuit, who will he be now that he's no longer really himself? The Bro Magnet is a rollicking comedic novel about what one man is willing to give up for the sake of love.

What worked for me (and what didn't): This book is SO funny. I was cackling my way throught his book and I think I started laughing pretty close to page one. Johnny is hilarious. I actually found him to be a really nice, sweet, funny, considerate guy but most of the girls in the book didn't feel that way. When he meets Helen, he so wants to impress her, that he decides to ditch the sports references and other things which girls are always telling him are annoying. Helen is the District Attorney so he also has to cover up his fondness for finding loopholes in the law (he likes the puzzle solving aspect of it) on crime shows and when talking to his lawyer friend Steve.

"So let me get this straight,": she says. "It's not loopholes you have a thing for, it's ice holes?"

"Oh, yes," I say. "From when I was little and my dad used to take me ice fishing. Ever since he got MS and can't get around as well anymore, I liked to remember the times when we used to be together on the ice, sitting around the ice holes."

Well at least the part about his having MS is true.

"That's sweet," she says.

Hey, I'm on a roll here.

"Not only do I like ice holes," I say, "but I like sinkholes."

"Sinkholes?"

"I mean, I'd hate to get my truck stuck in one, but they're so interesting, the way they just appear all of a sudden. And peepholes, I like those too."

"Peepholes?"

"It is always good to see who's on the other side of the door so you know whether you want to let them in or not. Oh, and blowholes - you know, whales. They should be saved."

"So," she says slowly, reviewing my case item by item. "you like ice holes, sinkholes, peepholes and blowholes?"

I nod.

"But not loopholes?"

I nod gain.

Hole this, hole that - even when I'm determined not to just be myself, I'm such an asshole. I just can't help it.

Pretty soon, the girls have him watching General Hospital (the conversations about the Cassidines and the Spencers are hilarious!), redecorating his condo and even getting a cat (because, he's told, girls like cats). So, he and his equally clueless-about-women BFF Sam go cat hunting.

"Which one should we check out first?" I ask Sam, looking over the listings.

"First? What do you think, we're going to drive all over Danbury like we're house-hunting or something, interviewing various feline applicants?"

"I'll take that as a 'we're just going to one place and take whatever they have'?"

"Precisely. Here's one. 'Free, six adorable kittens in need of a good home'."

"But I dont need six. I only need one."

"What are you, stupid? We look at the six and pick out the one you like best. How hard can it be?"

"But is says 'good home', not 'homes'. Clearly whoever placed the ad is looking to have all the kittens adopted at once."

"Oh, for Christ sake Johnny just get in the truck and drive."

But, as funny as this book is (Did I tell you? It's REALLY funny), there are some really poignant moments too. Johnny is loyal. He goes to the local hardware store every day to buy supplies for his paint business, partly because he doesn't like being tied down by buying in bulk, but mostly because he wants to help out the local hardware store - he's not a fan of the big chains. He goes to Leo's coffee shop every day out of loyalty to Leo rather than go to a Starbucks or similar. He even goes to Leo's everyday later in the book just to cheer the old man up when he's not really even in the market for coffee.

He has an "opportunity" early in the book to get laid but she's so drunk he feels uncomfortable and leaves rather than take advantage of her. See? I told you he's a good guy.

In the end, Johnny decides that even though he loves Helen, he has to to come clean because if he can't be himself (or a slightly cleaned up version of himself - he finds he looks good in J Crew, but he really prefers to be called 'Johnny' rather than the more mature 'John'), then she's not the woman for him. Which is also sweet. I liked that he came to the conclusion that he deserved honesty in his relationship.

Helen has secrets of her own and I don't think it will come as a surprise to readers that they are more suited to each other than either knows.

Because the story is told in Johnny's first person POV, we don't get to know Helen all that much but it's such fun to be in Johnny's head that I didn't really mind that.

I would have liked to see another conversation between the couple at the end or maybe a scene showing their life as they decided to live it once all the secrets are revealed but it was otherwise an excellent read.

It's very much on the "sweet/subtle" side of the heat intensity so it is suitable for younger readers too.

What else? In the end, the message of the book is that there is someone out there for everyone, even self-confessed assholes. Sure, it doesn't have the best title or cover in the world. But, this is a great book. I highly recommend it.

Grade: B+

Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel

2012-01-21T16:49:00.000-09:30

"Am I too wicked, your grace?"

"My love, if I may be honest-"

"Please."

"You are not wicked enough."

Why I read it: I won an ARC from the author. I promised a review - no hardship really because I review every book I read. The book is out February 7.

What it's about: (from Goodreads) When Lily Wellstone heads to the Bitterward Estate to comfort her widowed friend Eugenia, she certainly does not have romance in mind. In fact, the playful but level-headed Lily is amused to no end when, en route, a Gypsy gifts her with a beautiful medallion, claiming it will ensnare the romantic desires of a stranger.

But fate has other plans in the form of Eugenia’s ruggedly handsome brother, the Duke of Mountjoy. One day at Bitterward and Lily can’t deny the sizzling attraction between her and the roguish duke. Nothing can come of it, of course. She’s not looking for entanglements and he’s practically engaged. But whether it’s her outgoing nature and the duke’s outlandish ways sparking off one another; or the mysterious gypsy medallion working “magic,”—hearts are stirring in the most unexpected and wicked ways. . .

What worked for me and what didn't: I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Lily and Mountjoy (oh, how I wish I knew his Christian name!) were very engaging. The scenes where they are together (and fortunately, there are many of them, including the first one) are the best in the book. Their attraction sizzles off the page and there is much sexy repartee and double entendre. (In fact, I thought the Duke's very name was a double entendre). Watching this couple fall in love was delightful really.

"What will you do with all your drawings?" Mountjoy stayed where he was.

...

She shrugged. "Assemble them into a book I should think. I'll call it A Study of England's Ancient Homes, Volume the First and publish under a man's name. Professor L. Carter Farnsworth. What do you think of that for a scholar's name?" ...

"That Professor Farnsworth cannot fail to find a publisher for such a work. There must be upward of a half a dozen people in the whole of His Majesty's Empire who would put such a book in pride of place in their library."

"Would you?" She cocked her head, "Acquire me for your library?"

"My dear Wellstone, I would love to have you in my library."

"Between the royal quarto sheets, your grace?"

He didn't answer right away, because he was trying not to laugh. "But of course."

Lily is not innocent and doesn't pretend to be. Right from the start, she gives as good as she gets in the repartee department. Lily is also the life of any party, the one who leads others into mischief (be careful or she may - accidentally, of course - set fire to your house) and who, seemingly effortlessly, manipulates everyone around her into good cheer. She is also kind and generous so her managing ways are generally welcomed. Lily is an unashamed fashionista - she likes things arranged and displayed pleasingly - herself, her food and others - Mountjoy, unfortunately could care less about clothes and Lily is, frankly, appalled at his lack of fashion sense and his carelessness of his appearance. Given what I've said about her "managing ways" you will not be surprised that Mountjoy is much better dressed by the end of the book!

Mountjoy came late to the title - he was found by an attorney investigating whether the line had died out. Raised as a gentleman farmer, Mountjoy likes to get his hands dirty and work alongside his men. He is very industrious and takes his responsibilities seriously but, partly because he wasn't raised that way and partly because of his nature, he doesn't spend much time (read, any) on the social niceties. (Lily helps to teach him the practical value of it however.)

Because of his upbringing, Mountjoy doesn't really have any "airs and graces" like the usual kind of duke we see in romance novels. He is entirely a gentlemen, he's not a clod or anything, but he's not stuffy. People think him dour and serious but he's not uptight or rigid.

Miss Lily Wellstone couldn't possibly be a virgin.

Neither was he.

Wasn't that a happy coincidence?

Indeed, yes.

How refreshing for a hero to be happy about his lady not being 'pure'? *happy sigh*

Lily's first love was a man named Greer. They were to be married and anticipated the wedding before he went off to war. He didn't come back. Lily is presented as someone who will not love again out of fear for her heart but really, she wasn't that careful with her heart once she met Mountjoy and I didn't find this a compelling conflict. Mountjoy was "practically engaged" to a local girl, Jane Kirk - which just meant that everyone expected he would marry her but he hadn't actually asked Jane or made her or her father any promises of any sort. So, again, not really a barrier. And that for me was the part of the book which didn't work so well. I didn't think there was any real reason for them to be apart. In terms of birth, status, wealth, inclination and everything else, they were exceptionally well suited. Lily's fear wasn't sufficiently explored to make it a meaningful conflict for me. There were no flashback scenes with Greer and Lily together and I found it difficult as a reader to connect with her past relationship or feelings for Greer, especially when Mountjoy was so very present in the story. On the one hand, I appreciated there was never any great info dump; on the other, perhaps a little more about Lily and Greer would have made me more sympathetic to this barrier to the Lily/Mountjoy match. As it was, I felt that Lily got over her aversion to marrying too easily considering the set up.

Lily's father was also presented as a barrier to Lily's happiness. He had disowned her publicly after her relationship with Greer and she had gone to live with an aunt who later died and left her scads of money. Lily's father later became bankrupt and having nowhere else to go, went to live with Lily. They do not have a happy relationship but we never see him on the page in person. He is only ever referred to and talked about. I felt disconnected from this part of the storyline because he was always so far away. I didn't understand why Lily would feel any loyalty to him such as to keep her and Mountjoy apart. And, in the end, Lily's father wasn't actually a barrier at all and there was basically no mention of him having anything to do with their HEA (or trying to stop it).

Rather late in the story, there was a conversation Lily had with Fenris (who I suspect is the hero of the next book in the series) where she expresses, at the least, ambivalence about having children. However, this isn't really explored with Mountjoy at all - given it was raised in the book, I was surprised it didn't feature between the main characters as an obstacle. I was left wondering whether Lily wanted children or not. Perhaps this will be addressed in the next book, as the heroine, I expect, is Ginny, Mountjoy's sister and Lily's BFF - so we might see Lily and Mountjoy in that story.

There was a, sort of, secondary romance in the book which I felt was fairly obvious - again, this led me back to the not much conflict thing, but I won't say more as I don't want to give away any spoilers.

The Gypsy medallion plays a role in the story, but I never felt it was the reason Lily and Mountjoy got together. The share some sexy dreams which lead to a bit of sexy dom/sub role play but the "paranormal" aspect to the story was very gentle.

As a story of two people falling in love, the book worked very well. It was sexy, funny and at the same time, gentle (ie, not angst ridden). It also has a hero who is tall, dark and brooding but also sexy, witty and comfortable in his skin and totally not an asshat. (so rare!).

What else? I enjoyed Lily and Mountjoy very much. I liked reading about them and their exploits and they certainly had a lot of wonderful chemistry. However, I was never fully sold on the reasons they were supposedly unable to be together beyond a brief secret affair and for me, that meant the book lacked that "how will they manage to get their HEA by the end of the story?" angst. It was nevertheless a very enjoyable reading experience.

She tugged on his lapels. "I wish you weren't so tall," she said. "I thought I liked that about you, but I don't. Not in the least."

"Is this better?" He lowered his head to hers.

At last.

At last his mouth brushed hers.

Also, I learned a new meaning for the word "fetch". Throwing the rope to my dog will never be the same again. :)

Grade: B/B-

Unraveled by Courtney Milan

2012-01-16T20:56:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: After enjoying Unclaimed and Unveiled (and Unlocked) so much, I bought this on release day. And, may I say, what an absolute bargain at $3.99. Also, while I'm at it, I'll mention that ebook file is excellent and self publishers (and a few traditional publishers too) could learn from this example.

What it's about: (Goodreads blurb) Smite Turner is renowned for his single-minded devotion to his duty as a magistrate. But behind his relentless focus lies not only a determination to do what is right, but the haunting secrets of his past—secrets that he is determined to hide, even if it means keeping everyone else at arm’s length. Until the day an irresistible woman shows up as a witness in his courtroom…

Miranda Darling isn’t in trouble…yet. But she’s close enough that when Turner threatens her with imprisonment if she puts one foot wrong, she knows she should run in the other direction. And yet no matter how forbidding the man seems on the outside, she can’t bring herself to leave. Instead, when he tries to push her away, she pushes right back—straight through his famous self-control, and into the heart of the passion that he has long hidden away…

What worked for me (or, let me count the ways I adore Smite): Smite is such an interesting character. Deeply wounded by his mother's madness, he nevertheless does not regard himself as "broken". He actively does not want to forget what happened to him as a child. He doesn't want to "get over it" and put it behind him. He does not want pity or understanding. He does not in fact, feel sorry for himself.

There was nothing easy about Turner. He'd fashioned himself into one hard edge. He was all blade and no handle. If she held him close, she'd risk being cut.

What he does want is to remember what happened to him and ensure, as best he is able, that it does not happen to someone else - his trauma has defined him (by his choice) - it has led him to the career he loves and it drives him to excellence. There is a price he pays however - nightmares, fear of enclosed spaces particularly involving water, etc. Smite chooses to keep his nightmares because for him, they are intrinsically connected to his passion to dispense justice to others. It is the price he feels he must pay.

His fellow Magistrates who, for the most part, are slackers who could care less about justice (particularly if it means they need to do some actual work themselves) don't understand him. Ash (his eldest brother) doesn't understand him. Ash is a "fixer". He likes to come along and solve everyone's problems. That's what makes him happy. But, Smite doesn't want to be "fixed" and there is this innate tension in their relationship as a consequence. (And, for fans of the series, we do see some resolution in their relationship in this book, as well as hear more from Mark too.)

How surprising then, for Smite to happen across Miranda Darling. Someone who has seen "broken" and knows he isn't it. Someone who doesn't judge him or try to change him. Someone who intrigues and attracts him.    Someone who will let him remain who he is. Miranda's "fixing" is more along the lines of smoothing Smite's path - kind of like a translator I guess. She loves Smite for who he is and accepts his idiosyncracies with grace. Sometimes a person will put up with something with the full intention of getting to it later, but I didn't feel this was part of Miranda's makeup at all. Rather, she would take what Smite is and make it work for her but the judicious manipulation of others - people, places or circumstances.    In Miranda, Smite found a safe place to fall without it in any way unmanning him.

Smite has a very dry (and therefore, to some of his peers, practically non-existent) sense of humour which I appreciated.

The dog looked up in entreaty. Liquid brown eyes begged: Take me with you I'll be good.

Oh , the lies that dogs told.

"Ghost," Smite commanded, "you will stay."

..."Ghost. Do listen. In the even that I need a squirrel brought to justice, I will go to you first. Until then..."

Smite also appears to be cold and passionless/without emotion, but he is in fact, anything but.

He only loosened his grip when he feared he might not be able to let go of her at all.

and this

He was drunk on the taste of her. He'd been knocked off balance, and he wouldn't be able to walk a straight line for years.

He has a "sentimentality quota" of 30 minutes per day (no, he really does), but it is because he does not wish to become maudlin that he has set a strict limit upon it. It is precisely because he feels so much that he has something which, on its face, is cold and unfeeling. He is also surprisingly affectionate:

"I do have one question," she said.

"I'm sure it's more than one.:

"When you call me Miranda Darling, are you calling me Miranda Darling as my name, or are you saying Miranda, comma, darling?"

His hand slid down her hair. "I don't believe I can answer that question without endangering the sentimentality quota beyond all hope of repair."

I haven't said much about Miranda. I suppose that's because, in general terms, I identify more with the hero in a romance anyway and in particular in this book. What I say about Miranda inextricably links to Smite. What I loved best about her was that she didn't try to fix or change him. Miranda is the Mark Darcy to Smite's Bridget Jones in that respect. :)

But one other thing I loved about Miranda is that she asked Smite about things. (And, Smite talks to her too.) There were two points in the book where it started to head in to "Big Misunderstanding" territory (which I personally hate with the passion of a thousand fiery suns) and just when I was about to groan in despair (which, with Big Mis is very early on for me), Smite and Miranda HAD A CONVERSATION. Hooray!!

Smite is also very, very sexy. And, quite a bit naughty.

"I want to have you very, very badly. But as this is your first time, I'll have you very well instead."

"If your point of reference is a glimpse you've caught of a business transaction conducted in an alley, I'd venture to say that you have no idea what I can do with a wall."

oh my *fans self* I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do with a wall...

I thought there was a rather satisfying amount of the smexxing in this book actually. :)

What didn't: I felt the Patron's motivations, at least in terms of why all these things were happening to Miranda, was thin. It seemed a bit convoluted to me - as if it were twisted to create the conflict rather than being organic. I also thought Jeremy was weak and in need of a spine transplant - but, he needed to be I guess in order to fit the plot and it is not in any way a criticism of the author's work that I thought Jeremy was lacking in balls - merely an observation of what I thought of him as a character.

What else? As much as I thought the reasoning behind the threats to Miranda was a bit odd, I did enjoy the contrasts of the Patron's form of justice and Smite's struggle/s with dispensing justice. I thought it made a nice juxtaposition and highlighted many of the problems that persist today with criminal matters - balancing the needs of society and the victim against the individual (and perhaps extenuating) circumstances of the perpetrator, etc.

I can't say that the things which bothered me about this book greatly impacted my enjoyment of it. Ultimately, what made the book successful for me was the romance. I have read a few reviews where the reviewer felt that Smite fell in love with Miranda too quickly; let down his guard too soon. But, I was happy to go along for the ride. I was surprised when Smite confessed to Miranda his childhood trauma - it did seem a bit "easy" for someone so very closed off. But, I think that because Miranda didn't judge him and didn't pity him (a very rare experience), he was more comfortable more quickly, so it made sense in my head.

In terms of ranking, my personal favourite is still Unveiled, closedly followed by Unraveled and then closely followed by Unclaimed with Unlocked falling into last-but-definitely-not-least territory. I really enjoyed this book. I expect I will re-read it in the future, but my heart still belongs to Ash.

Nevertheless, I will leave you with another quote, and hope that Ms. Milan has a generous definition of "fair use". :P

"I did want that kiss," she said earnestly. "It was a lovely kiss."

He tucked the ends of her laces in, before meeting her eyes. "Then here's another one."

*sigh*

Grade: A-

Hot Zone by Catherine Mann

2012-01-10T23:23:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: I picked this one up from NetGalley - I hadn't read this author before and I really like romantic suspense and military romance so I thought this might be a good fit for me. Also, nice cover.

I actually got a bit confused about which book to read because shortly after I saw Cover Me was on a super Kindle special so I bought it (it may have been free I don't remember but if I paid for it it was only about 99c or something). I started reading Cover Me because I thought THAT was the NetGalley ARC and I promised to read and review it around release time. I realised when I was about 1/3-1/2 way in that I had the wrong book (which was a bit of a relief because I was not into it I'm afraid) and put it down and picked this one up. You probably didn't need to know that...

What it's about: (the blurb from Goodreads) Master sergeant Hugh Franco lives only to save others, until he plucks beautiful attorney Amelia Bailey from the wreckage of an earthquake and finds himself embroiled in ways he never expected. On the run from kidnappers, Hugh must call on all his training to protect them. But Amelia's fiery touch threatens to crack his world—and his heart—wide open.

What worked for me (and what didn't): I'm sad to say that this book didn't work for me all that much. I did like the way the book started - it's kind of my favourite thing - heroine is in a dire situation and hero comes riding to the rescue - in this case, Amelia is trapped under rubble in an earthquake an PJ Hugh Franco comes to the rescue. I liked that intense first meeting and I liked the instant drama the opening created. Unfortunately after that, things went downhill for me.

First of all, I thought there was just too much going on. There was a secondary romantic storyline between Amelia's brother and sister-in-law and then another semi-storyline involving Liam McCabe (Hugh's boss) and rescue dog-handler, Rachel. It seems that Liam and Rachel will feature in the next book. There was quite a bit of page time devoted to these storylines and I felt there was not enough focus on the main story.

There was this thing that happened repeatedly in the book where the scene would end at a pivotal moment (no problem with that, builds tension, I get it, great). However, next time that couple/scene was mentioned NOTHING HAPPENED. For example, one pivotal moment was when Amelia and Hugh went missing and Liam and Rachel are using her dog to try and find them. The scene was built to and ends where the dog has the scent. So, I was all ramped up and ready to read about the rest of the search when, sandwiched quietly in between another bit of narrative a couple of pages later, we find that the dog lost the scent in the parking lot. So all of that build, for nothing. This was repeated over and over again in the book and it wasn't something I really enjoyed.

The other thing which was a bit much for me was that each character had this amazingly tragic backstory. **spoiler** (highlight to read) for example, Aidan and Amelia's father committed suicide AFTER he'd been caught raping under-age girls (one of whom was 14 yo Aidan's 14 yo girlfriend, just to make it even worse), he makes a plea bargain and agrees to serve 5 years jail (is that realistic?) and says to Aidan he would rather die than go to jail so Aidan GIVES HIM A GUN and THEN daddy shoots himself. ** end spoiler** I mean, wow. But ALL of the main characters have some SUPER TRAGIC history and backstory and it was just too much. At least, too much for me.

Another thing is that Aidan (not suprisingly given the above) has major hangups about parenthood but he GETS OVER IT in like 2 pages in this book. Um, no, I don't think so.

I felt the book became too unrealistic for me to go with. I am happy to suspend my disbelief to a certain degree in my romantic suspense but this one was way beyond my personal limit and once it was reached, well, kind of everything became unrealistic.

There were some things I liked - I liked the beginning, like I said. There were individual scenes and lines I enjoyed and I did think the scenes with baby Joshua were pretty good. Thankfully there were no sex scenes where bullets were flying - in fact, the sex scenes were quite good actually, now that I reflect on them (:D).

And, I did like this:-

"Not that I wouldn't welcome the chance to be with you again, but it's clear you need something else from me right now."

"What would that be?"

His fingers forked through her silken blonde - dirty - locks. "I'm going to wash your hair."

You may be surprised to know that he doesn't just wash her hair ;)

What else? Having tried to read 2 books from this author now I've come to the conclusion that her books and I just don't go together well. I've read a few other reviews of Hot Zone - some were okay and others were really positive. So, others have really enjoyed this one. It may be that I'm an outlier but I don't think I'll try another one from this author. As always, YMMV.

Grade: D+/C-

December Reads

2012-01-02T16:46:00.002-09:30

on Paper/eBook

Hot Head by Damon Suede - B- I liked but did not love this one. Sarah Franz at Dear Author gave it an B+ and her thoughts so often match mine when it comes to m/m romance that I was a bit surprised actually. I felt it took too long for Griffin and Dante to actually get together, there was a bit too much 'will they or won't they' - even though, given it was a romance novel, I knew they would, which made the experience frustrating for me. However, there was a lot to like, I just didn't like it as much as Sarah.

Simple Gifts by LB Gregg - B- This was a short sweet story about a lonely man who has had a crush on his best friend's older brother for ages. There is history and when he comes home from the war in Afghanistan for good at Christmas, they meet again. I've a feeling I would have enjoyed it even more if it had been longer and I'd had more detail about the history between the two. There is also origami.

Holiday Kisses (part 2) In my November reads post I reviewed the first 2 novellas. Here, as promised, is my review of the final 2 in the anthology.

It's Not Christmas Without You by Helen Kay Dimon - B- An enjoyable story about a couple of love each other but want different things. My reading was interrupted by holiday stuff so my experience and my grade may have been affected by this. The story was very sexy and I think that an established couple works really well in such a short format. I thought the solution to their problem was fairly obvious but I liked that in the end, the obvious problem wasn't really the only core issue - it was also Austin trusting that he was "good enough" for Carrie and that she would stick with him, which gave the story a bit more depth for me.

Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey - B+ This was the pick of the bunch for me. It was funny and sad and sexy and sweet all at once. Claire's husband Brendan died 2 years ago. Their best friend Justin has been Claire's rock. But he's been in love with her since the night he and Brendan met her (Brendan got in first) and it's becoming more difficult to hide it. Claire's libido is waking up and she starts to notice Justin in a new way. She already loves him; they hang out, do everything together, have platonic sleepovers regularly but now she sees him as the hot man he is. The conflict here is really Justin's guilt about cracking on to his best friend's widow. I had much less trouble with the concept than Justin did, probably because I didn't really get to know Brendan in the story. I did like that Brendan wasn't either villified or lionised in the story and I think my angst factor would have been increased by some of Brendan and Claire together at the start but I guess space is at a premium at this length. I would have liked just a titch more of Justin and Claire's HEA but it was a great end to the anthology. I liked how Brendan and Justin were different men and Claire never mistook one for the other but rather, appreciated the differences in both. I am really loving Ms. Stacey's contemporaries and this is no exception.

Men Under the Mistletoe Anthology - B+. See my review here.

Bad Boyfriend by KA Mitchell - B+ KA Mitchell is back in fine form in this one. I didn't like Bad Company as much as her previous releases (mainly because of the premise) but this was very very good. Quinn Maloney has been in a (closeted) relationship with Peter for 10 years. Then Peter (aka, the bastard) tells him he's leaving him for a woman who he's knocked up while he's been cheating (the bastard). Problem is, Peter's family have become Quinn's family and letting go of Peter would mean letting go of everyone. So he doesn't. It sounds doormat-y but the way it's written, it comes across as very understandable. I did wonder how Peter (the bastard) and Quinn had managed to stay together for 10 years though - I think that's maybe because he was in the Navy for a lot of it?

Anyway, fast forward about a year and Peter's son is being christened and Quinn doesn't want to attend alone. He meets Eli (Nate's friend from Bad Company) and he's perfect - his look screams gay and Quinn kind of wants to rub it in Peter (the bastard)'s face. But, Quinn finds in Eli a lot more than a hot date to a christening. I would have preferred a little more time for the relationship to grow - there was a touch of the insta-love about it which I found a bit jarring given Quinn's nature (and by that, I mean that given his history with Peter (the bastard) he doesn't seem prone to quick decisions). Also, some of the conversations seemed unfinished to me. I guess the author had extracted what she wanted to tell the reader but they were often interrupted rather than finished and mostly, those conversations were never revisited. I'm the kind of person who hates that in talk shows and conversations so it's something I notice. I would have liked to have known what became of Chrissy (Peter - the bastard-'s) wife - I felt a bit sorry for her actually. But then, maybe she shouldn't have married someone she barely knew just to be married to the baby daddy so you know, caveat emptor. And, after all, the book wasn't about her.

However, I loved Eli and Quinn and I loved them together and I wanted more more more. I love KA Mitchell's style and the way she writes super hot sex and I love the way she writes the romance - "never let me leave" *sigh*.

Finally, my Sony told me that the book was 175 pages long, but the last 15 pages were excerpts. You are warned.

Unraveled by Courtney Milan - A- full review to come.

on Audio

Can I just say I've had an AMAZING listening month - I only found time to listen to 4 books but they were all excellent and I know they will be ones I'll revisit in the future.

On The Edge by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman - B+. I actually enjoyed this one better the second time around. I can't say for certain that it was Renee Raudman's narration that made the difference for me - I think a large part was familiarity with the world of the Edge, the Weird and the Broken so that I could concentrate more on the story of the interactions between Declan and Rose, and William, George and Jack. Renee Raudman's narration was, as usual, very very good but from book to book, unless the character has an accent (eg, French or Southern USA), the main characters tend to sound the same. It's not a complaint as such but I've noticed it and given that I said the same thing about Angela Dawe, I felt it only fair to mention that it's pretty much the same with most narrators, even ones as good as Ms. Raudman.

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman - A- I think this series just gets better. This story follows William, the changeling from the previous book, as he goes on a mission for the Adrianglian secret service, The Mirror, into "The Mire" in the Edge. He is trying to hunt down a particularly nasty Louisania (the Weird Louisiana, not the Broken one) "Hand" operative, called Spider. In the course of his mission he meets the lovely Cerise Mar, whose parents have gone missing, taken by the Hand.

William is a very interesting character and I loved the way the author kept him consistently changeling in nature - he was a mature man, but he had a lack of social skills and didn't understand a lot about women and this remained throughout the book - slowly improving as he came to know Cerise, but never completely going away. It made for some amusing and "awww" moments for me. Also, William unashamedly likes action figures - he never had a childhood and he enjoys them now and that's just fine. I enjoyed William so much - he really carried the book for me.
Once again, Renee Raudman's narration was excellent.

Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman - A- Wow. Kalder Mar is Cerise's cousin and he's got a vendetta against the Hand. He's now an agent for the Mirror and he's set a task to recover a stolen item before the Hand can get their mitts on it. Audrey Callahan is an Edger, currently living in the Broken, who has the magical talent of opening locks. She was involved in the theft in question and Kalder tracks her down to help and hot on his heels are evil Hand bad guys, including one lovely lady who has a penchant for skinning people alive. Then, there's George and Jack, Rose's younger brothers, who are significant characters in the book.

Kalder is a rogue and a grifter and a ladies man but he meets his match in Audrey. In many ways, she's his female equivalent. There is excellent witty banter between the two with various attempts at one-upmanship by each, with mixed results which makes for some really fun listening.

Given that I'm a romance reader/listener first and foremost, you'd think it would have bothered me more that Audry and Kalder don't actually meet up until a couple of hours into the narration. But, the world is so interesting and catching up with Kalder and George and Jack and geting to know Audrey a bit too, kept me hooked until the sparks started to fly. From the time they first meet, they are basically together, which is a very good thing as they really do strike sparks. The romance is perhaps less obvious - there's only one sex scene really and for a lot of the book, Kalder and Audrey are flirting but not necessarily meaning it. So, it is subtle in that respect. However, because Audrey and Kalder are interacting all the time (once they meet) the heat and connection between them becomes obvious, so there is definitely joy for the romance reader - I think even boys who shudder to think of reading romance could happily pick this one up.

As to the narration, it was of course, wonderful. The only thing which threw me a little, was that Renee Raudman uses a particular voice for the parts in the evil Hands operatives' POV. Later in the book, Kalder uses a disguise to infiltrate a special gathering and he uses an upper crust Adrianglian accent - except this voice was the same as the bad guys voice - having got used to that voice equalling bad guys, it was a bit of a shock to hear it coming out of the hero's mouth.

Serpent's Kiss by Thea Harrison, narrated by Sophie Eastlake - A My review of this excellent book is up at AAR here. The short version? Loved. It. It's my **pick of the month**.

"I will always come for you, always hold on to you. I swear it. I will never let go of you, never fail you, I will hold steady, no matter what."

*sigh*

In the Air Tonight by Stephanie Tyler, narrated by Johanna Parker - C- (but B/B+ for narration) - watch out for my review in an upcoming Speaking of Audiobooks column at AAR.

And that makes 240 books (including audiobooks) read and reviewed in 2011. Hmm. I had thought I'd read more than that - well, there's always 2012! :D

Men Under the Mistletoe anthology

2011-12-23T20:20:00.000-09:30

My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March B- A hot sexy Regency. Alexander Norton had his heart broken on Christmas Eve four years earlier by Thomas Bennett who abruptly moved to New York. Thomas has come back at last, realising that he made a mistake in leaving and he tries to win Alex over/back.

I would have liked a little on how they were going to manage their HEA in the circumstances of their time, but otherwise, quite enjoyable if a little melodramatic (I suspect it was because they were young - only 19 when the novella commences).

Winter Knights by Harper Fox - A *the pick of the bunch for me* Harper Fox writes angst so very well and there is a definite bittersweet tone to this story which was just delicious.

Gavin Lowden is an historian researching Arthur and Lancelot, waiting for his lover, Piers, to join him for their first Christmas together. But first Piers has to come out to his parents. He bails and calls Gavin to say he's not coming and Gavin, lonely and sad, goes for a walk on the moor where he falls into a cave and is rescued by "Arty" and "Lance" who then proceed to teach him a couple of lessons about himself and about sex. Yes, there is some m/m/m action. :D Strangely, it didn't feel like Gavin was cheating on Piers at all so I was happy enough to go with it. Besides there was definitely an otherworldly aspect to the story which made it seem more acceptable.

Piers, worried that Gavin has gone missing, comes to Northumberland to find him and they then proceed to work out their HEA.

The story is a clever play on the characters of the Arthur myth and excellent use of the unreliable narrator - We see things from Gavin's POV but as Lance and Arty ask him questions about his relationship with Piers, we (as well as Gavin) see that Piers wasn't completely in the wrong here.

Just when I thought the paranormal aspects to the plot were going to unravel, Ms. Fox brought them all together so enough questions were answered that the story made internal sense and wasn't frustrating, but leaving just enough open to preserve the air of mystery which pervades the story.

Excellent.

Lone Star by Josh Lanyon - B Enjoyable story about a Texas Ranger and a star New York ballet dancer which was hotter than I've read from this author before (not that the two other stories I've read are necessarily enough for form an opinion about that I guess). Having walked in on his lover with another woman, Mitchell Evans flees to Texas - ostensibly to see to his late father's estate but really to get away from the domestic mess at home. He meets up with Web Eisley, his first love and they rekindle their romance. When Mitch had last seen Web, they'd had a big fight when Web didn't want to come out to his family. Mitch left town shortly after and nothing was really resolved between them. The romance aspect was sweet and sexy but the ending came a bit abruptly for me.

There was also a nice thread running through the story about Mitch's relationship with his father which was bittersweet and added depth to the story overall.

I still don't understand the significance of the reindeer sightings, other than that it was Christmas and I'm not sure I totally bought the ending - I would have liked a bit more exposition about how it was going to work, but I did enjoy it.

The Christmas Proposition by KA Mitchell - A- An excellent story featuring humour, scorching sex, a nativity play and a wedding which flagged a little at the end for me (hence the minus in the grade).

Mel Halner runs the family Christmas Tree farm in Epiphany, Pennsylvania. His small town was discovered by natural gas miners 3 years earlier and it was then he met Bryce Campion. Bryce is a millionaire and left town when Mel said he wouldn't go with him. Bryce comes back to town to be best man for the wedding of his best friend to Mel's best friend. This time, he's not going to let Mel say no quite so easily.

Mel and Bryce were oh so hot together and I enjoyed reading about them. I didn't quite get why Mel was so gun-shy and the ending had a touch of the "big mis" which isn't my favourite. Still, they sort things out fairly quickly (at least in terms of page time) so it wasn't a huge deal.

Favourite quotes:

"Since my life had gone totally to shit, it seemed like a good time to go stand in it."

and this:

"...and put his arms around my back, locking us together in that kiss. I wanted to climb inside him, find that place that let him be so damned self-assured and let it cover us both."

Yummy covers for all 4 don't you think?

Overall Grade: B+

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone who visits a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas) and a safe and happy 2012. I will be taking a short break. Watch out for posts in the new year!!

Liar Bird by Lisa Walker

2011-12-20T17:54:00.000-09:30

This review originally appeared in the December ARRA newsletter. I saw another review of it over at All About Romance and the reviewer there gave it an A- so YMMV.

Why I read it: I was offered a digital ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.

What it's about: Part chick-lit/women’s fiction, part farce, part mystery with a dash of sweet romance on the side, Liar Bird is the story of Cassandra Daley, shining star of the Sydney PR circuit. The story begins when one of Cassandra’s houses of spin falls in a heap, leaving her covered in scandal and persona non grata in her home city. She accepts a job as a PR rep in the small town of Beechville on the North Coast of New South Wales, where she meets a cast of quirky characters and one grouchy wildlife ranger, Mac. It seems that Mac, isn’t happy about Cassandra’s arrival and pretty soon, a series of unfortunate events which appear designed to force her back to Sydney occur – and all can be laid at Mac’s door. It’s difficult to explain the story more without giving away spoilers, but let’s just say it involves feral pigs, endangered species, lies, a media circus, a flood and wild chickens. It’s the classic fish-out-of-water story, complete with a green tree frog in the toilet!

What worked for me (and what didn't): Cassandra takes inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass:

“Like me, my mother believes there are guiding forces at play in our lives. Unlike me, she isn’t satisfied with allowing a children’s book to channel these forces for her.”

And there are wonderful and (in the context of this book) pithy quotes from the book interspersed with the text. Cassandra also subscribes to the philosophy of Rene Descartes and, after meeting said green tree frog in her toilet, has imaginary philosophical discussions with Rene Treefrog. Told in the first person, the story shines with Cassandra’s dry humour, from the discussions with her Blacktown family, her thoughts about the Sydney social sharks and her experiences in Beechville.

Where the book falls a little flat is in the romance department. Cassandra is immediately physically attracted to Mac but they have very little interaction – Mac is taciturn, hardly talks to her at all and he gives every appearance of wanting her out of town. The reader has nothing of Mac’s POV except through his dialogue, which is, mostly, very spare. It was difficult for me to completely buy the level of attraction Cassandra felt for him and that made it hard to buy into the events immediately before the flood and her fast turnaround to “Cassie”. After the flood, the story dragged a little – I felt this part could have been shorter and this would have improved the story – for me the mystery part of the story started to edge over into frustration territory.

What else? It’s very much an Australian story, with references to local landmarks, SBS and Home and Away and it was certainly an amusing read. If you like stories with a bit of everything together with a touch of romance, this one is probably for you.

Grade: C+

My Top 10 Suggestions for the next Turner series books Courtney Milan should NOT write

2011-12-19T16:14:00.000-09:30

I'm reading the deliciousness that is Courtney Milan's Unraveled at the moment and I devoured Unclaimed and Unveiled earlier this year, as well as the Turner novella Unlocked. Last night, while putting myself to sleep, instead of counting sheep, I came up with my top 10 list of the next books in the Turner series Courtney Milan should NOT write (I'm seriously hoping the Turner series isn't finished yet, so you never know, Ms. Milan may find these un-suggestions useful).

Anyway, it amused me, so I thought I would share. Of course, it was VERY late and I was VERY tired.

In no particular order:-

#1
Uncoordinated - she's clumsy and he's a fashion nightmare

#2
Unedited - she can't spell and he has Tourette's

#3
Unhinged - he's a carpenter and she's insane

#4
Unabridged - she can't shut up and he's well endowed

#5
Unzipped - she's a gossip and he's a flasher

#6
Unearthed - the paranormal Turner book, he's a vampire, she's a zombie

#7
Unassembled - the contemporary Turner book, she's flaky and he works for Ikea

#8
Unplanned - secret baby plot

#9
Unpuckered - I'll give you three guesses

#10
Unstrapped - the BDSM Turner book, she likes control and he likes it hard

Got any more suggestions for Turner books Courtney Milan should NOT write? Leave them in the comments!

Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis

2011-12-15T07:00:00.006-09:30

Why I read it: I've been a Jill Shalvis fan for many years. I first read a story of hers in an anthology and after I glommed on her Blaze's from my local UBS until I had some money to buy her later works. I got this one from NetGalley.

What it's about: This is Chloe's book. Maddie (Simply Irresistible), Tara (The Sweetest Thing) and Chloe are sisters who share the same mother but all have different fathers. They didn't grow up together and barely know each other. When their mother dies, they meet up at Lucky Harbor to find out they have inherited an inn. I'd recommend reading the series from the start (apart from anything else, they're all good) to understand the full story arc but the romance can certainly be read as a stand alone.

Chloe is a "wild child" who is a trouble magnet. Sheriff Sawyer Thompson had a wild youth but sticks firmly to the straight and narrow. There are buckets of chemistry between the two but both wonder if it could really go anywhere - they are too different and a fling could cause problems as Sawyer is best friends with Jax (Maddie's fiance) and Ford (Tara's SO).

What I thought (aka What worked for me and what didn't): This is a light, sexy, fun read with a hot Sheriff hero and a ballsy but vulnerable heroine. If I were to equate this book with food I would equate it to popcorn (if I liked popcorn) - I dive into it and then I can't stop reading. It's easy to read - while it's not without depth it doesn't tax the brain. Before you know it, I've devoured the whole book. Except, I don't feel sick or regretful afterward (which I may do if it was popcorn - if I liked popcorn). It would be like if popcorn was healthy or something and after devouring a whole bowl of it, I felt happy and satisfied. So, not really like popcorn at all.... :P

There is some depth to the story - one of the secondary characters (Lance) has Cystic Fibrosis. As Chloe's best friend, he has a fair share of page time and even a little bit of a secondary romance himself. Chloe has asthma which is quite serious. She can't run or do anything too strenuous - having sex means using the inhaler at the least and a trip to the emergency room at best. Emotional stress bring on asthma attacks too. I liked that the asthma didn't magically go away - Chloe and Sawyer had to deal with it. Sawyer does research and he takes things slooow *sigh* so Chloe doesn't get too worked up.

The conflict between the two was largely about how Chloe was too wild for Sawyer and Sawyer was too uptight for Chloe and if they got together it would be destined to end badly and therefore cause grief in the family given the relationships between the sisters and Sawyer's best friends. As conflicts go, it was fairly light but it was nevertheless believable. Both Chloe and Sawyer are reluctant to get involved but too attracted to stop. I liked that there wasn't anything huge stopping them from getting together but at the same time, it wasn't non existent either. I would have liked to have seen how Sawyer got from "she's no good for me" to "I love her and we're great together". I felt the shift was a bit abrupt and there was a lack of exposition there.

Chloe isn't as wild as everyone thinks. I think the book does a great job of showing that Chloe, due to her unusual upbringing, is suspicious of "I love you" and the "stickability" of people. Her experience is that people don't stick and her expectations are very low. At the same time, she wants to have a home and a family, she's just scared to trust it when it appears. I've read reviews around the place which have criticised the book for Chloe's acceptance being linked to conformity. Certainly, there did seem to be a bit of that on the part of her sisters - they were disapproving of her "flightiness" and wanted her to settle down. But (and this was the most important for me), that wasn't the case with Sawyer. He did not require or want Chloe to change at all. He loved her as is. And, he understood her. In the end, I felt that if Chloe settled, she mainly did so for her own reasons. As she began to trust in her relationship with her sisters and feel at home in Lucky Harbor, she felt comfortable putting down roots. It felt very organic to me. I don't think Chloe's going to stop rescuing dogs from abusive owners or hang-gliding or other dangerous activities, but she'll do it from a home base and won't take off at the drop of a hat.

There was substance cleverly hidden amongst the light and fun and it was a delight for me to read - like when I eat something which happens to be healthy but also unexpectedly tastes really good and which I happen to find I want at exactly that time.

Best of all for me in a Jill Shalvis book, is the humour. I think Jill Shalvis writes guys and their interactions very believably and she usually makes me laugh - like here:

Chloe was giving him a go-on gesture with her hand.
"All I have left is my pants,, " he said.
"Yes, please."
"It's cold, Chloe."
She tilted her head. "Are you worried about shrinkage?"
Well, he was now.

and

Sawyer reached up and manually turned off the TV because a new episode was starting and if The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song got stuck in his head, he was going to have to kill himself.

What else? It occurs to me that I have given the same grade to Head Over Heels as I did for The Black Hawk. When I thought about it it seemed somehow wrong. They are such different books even though they are both romance. But, if Head Over Heels is popcorn (except good for you), The Black Hawk is a rich dense dessert. They both absolutely have their place on the menu and, at the right time, the enjoyment of consuming both can be equally wonderful. I read Head Over Heels at exactly the right time I think.

Grade: B+

A (very) slightly cut down version (for space reasons) of this review appeared in the December ARRA newsletter.

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: I'm a fan. Adrian = Rowr.

What it's about: Fans of the series will know that this is Adrian and Justine's story. If you haven't read the other books, I'd recommend doing so as it will make this read a richer experience. So, get thee to a bookshop stat and come back once you've read the others.

It doesn't really tell you much, but here's the blurb from Goodreads - Attacked on a rainy London street, veteran spy Justine DeCabrillan knows only one man can help her: Hawker, who also happens to be the enemy. With London crawling with hidden assassins and someone out to frame Hawker for the assault, the two spies must work together to find who's out to destroy them...

What I thought (aka What worked for me and what didn't): I've been sitting on this review for a few weeks now, letting things percolate in my head. In my desire to savour the joy that is the lyricism of Joanna Bourne's prose and to soak up all the lovely goodness, I think I did this book a disservice. The further away from it I get, the more disconnected I feel. Yet, when I refresh myself with some quotes from the book, I'm immediately sucked back into the vortex (in a good way!). I think I took too long to read it. I think maybe I should have allowed myself to glom and then savoured on a re-read. Or, maybe, now that I have savoured, I need to re-read and glom to properly appreciate this book. I'm convinced it is all me in any event. The book is wonderful, Adrian is a glorious hero and Justine is pretty darn special too. It's just that for some reason when I finished, I felt disconnected; like I'd missed something somehow.

There are so many scenes in this book which, when I remind myself of them, I sigh over. The first love scene is just beautiful. Justine had been sold to a brothel as a child and she has a very understandable fear/disdain of physical intimacy. However, she loves Adrian and feels passion for him. Adrian is fully aware of Justine's past and his constant (but not in an annoying way) - "look at me, it's me, Adrian" (that's not a direct quote by the way) just showed how well he knew her. He knew what she needed to be able to have a happy sexual experience with him. I love the way Adrian knows her completely and loves her, not in spite of it and not quite because of it but rather, in everything and without any kind of judgement. Oh, he says it better really:

"I liked you as a pretty young girl." He let men and women brush past on either side of him and only looked at her. "I like the woman you became better than the girl you were. I like the story you've written on your face."
(my emphasis)

And yet, he's not so sensitive that he won't take his chances when he can get them:

"Wait a minute. I'm still back thinking about you opening the window and letting me in. What were you wearing?"

Adrian has a cutting sense of humour and he's not afraid to use it, even just in his own head.

Reams looked particularly self-satisfied this morning. Possibly he felt he'd done something clever. He was probably wrong.

I found the flashbacks, not disorienting, but in some way a little frustrating. I think it's that I wanted the WHOLE story - I would have been happy to read everything and not just the 'excerpts' of their lives that made it into the book - does that make sense.

What else? The cover is something of a disappointment to me. At the same time as I feel I'm being unnecessarily picky, I'm still going to say that the cover model doesn't look anything like Adrian and the step back had a really boring picture of the Eiffel Tower and no picture of Justine. Just as well I don't buy books because of their covers.

I think this whole series will be a re-read for me at some point (I've already read The Spymaster's Lady twice and listened to it on audio) and I suspect I will find more hidden gems and nuance in the books as I do so.

Pax has an important part to play in this book and his book is next. As much as I had been looking forward to Adrian's book, I'm kind of surprised that my level of anticipation for Pax's book is nearly as high.

I still think my favourite book of the series so far is The Forbidden Rose but the whole series is sitting on my keeper shelf.

Grade: B+

Winners!

2011-12-11T19:46:00.001-09:30

16 December 2011 ETA: Unfortunately Sammy2008 didn't get back to me and left me no way to contact her. So, as promised, I have drawn a new winner for the Sean Kennedy books. And, the winner is:

Marissa

I've emailed you Marissa, so please check your inbox!

Using the power of the draw straws programme available from Random.org, the winners of the the 20 Followers Giveaway Extravaganza are:

(drumroll please)

Kris

who won the book from the Book Depository to the value of $10AUD

I've emailed you Kris, so please check your inbox.

and

~~Sammy2008~~ (see ETA above - new winner selected))

who won both* books by Sean Kennedy (Tigers and Devils and I Fell in Love with a Zombie)

Unfortunately Sammy2008 didn't leave me an email address so I can't contact her. So, Sammy2008, if you're out there! get in touch with me at kaetrin67 AT gmail DOT com so I can arrange to get your prizes to you! (If I don't hear within 72 hours, I'll draw a new winner).

Thank you to everyone who visited, commented, entered the giveaway, tweeted or retweeted and helped me celebrate. And special thanks to Sean Kennedy for prize donation. *hugs*

(*as nobody specifically asked for I Fell in Love with a Zombie, I decided to award both books as one prize instead of having 3 separate winners).

November Reads

2011-12-10T07:00:00.002-09:30

on Paper/eBook

Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong - DNF Not a success. See why here.

Something Different by SA Reid - A-/B+ see my full review here.

No Holds Barred by Callie Croix - C A somewhat undeveloped sexy short about a couple sharing a threesome with his best buddy. There were some serious issues not really fleshed out, I wasn't 100% convinced of her consent at first and it ended on kind of a weird note for me. But it was certainly sexy.

Happily Never After by Jeaniene Frost - C+. Here's a review I wrote which appeared in the November ARRA newsletter.

This is a cute e-short featuring Bones’ good friend Chance. Greta, an old acquaintance of Bones, asks a favour of him. As he is unable to do it himself, he asks Chance to go in his stead. Greta’s grandson is missing and her granddaughter is being harassed by a mafioso type. Chance takes one look at Isabella and decides he really needs to get to know her better and he’s definitely not going to allow her to be forced into marriage with a mafia don wannabe.

The mafia aspects to the story were very tongue-in-cheek and amusing, if somewhat improbable. Chance and Isabella have an instant attraction and a very smexy scene. Ms. Frost writes strong heroines and Isabella, even without vampire strength and ability is not entirely powerless and is able to help take down the bad guys. Plus, she uses Vagisil as a weapon! :D

It’s a steamy short read and fans of the Night Huntress series will enjoy.

A Little Harmless Surprise - C+. A free short featuring characters from a previous story (which I haven't read). It was sexy and hot but as I hadn't read the earlier book, I didn't have the same connection that those who have read it would not doubt have. It did make me want to try a full length story though - I think I have one on my TBR somewhere.... *fossick, rustle*

ETA: Actually, I don't - must remedy that stat.

The Debutante's Dilemma - Elyse Mady - D *spoilers ahoy* Improbable story of a Regency Debutante who wants a marriage of passion. With two highly eligible suitors, she is unable to choose from, she decides to meet them to see if she has chemistry with either of them. It felt to me like the author had a Regency thesaurus or something and kept throwing likely words in so I wouldn't forget the time period. It didn't feel natural. Also, Suitor 1 is a Duke and Suitor 2 is an Earl. Both have responsibilities to their estates and to think that she could actually marry one and have some kind of permanent menage with both was just too much for me to bear. Also, she is a virgin debutante with virtually no experience or knowledge, but you wouldn't know that from her behaviour in the greenhouse. And, having twins 10 months after the marriage with one fair haired and one dark haired child - um, hur?? Am I supposed to believe that she's had a child of each in one pregnancy? Really? I only finished it because it was short.

I have however, heard good things about this author's contemporaries so I might give her another go in that subgenre - her style might work better for me there.

Convincing Arthur by Ava March - C+ Good sexy short about a man (Leopold) who has been in love with another (Arthur) for 10 years but has been waiting for Arthur to be available. Leopold has a bit of a reputation for gambling, drinking and whoring and Arthur is all about discretion. Can Leopold convince Arthur to take a chance on a relationship with him?

My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne - B see my full review here.

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne - B+ full review to come.

Head Over Heels (Lucky Harbor #3) by Jill Shalvis - B+ full review to come.

Holiday Kisses Anthology - 4 contemporary Christmas novellas. So far I have only read 2 of them. Warning. I seem to be an outlier on these two novellas. I liked, but did not love them.
I'll review the other 2 stories in December's round up. Maybe I'll be feeling more of the love by then :)

This Time Next Year by Alison Kent - C+ Brenna is driving up a snowy mountain to visit her Gran for Christmas. Afterward, she is jetting off to Malawi to volunteer in a clinic there for a year (she's a nurse). Brenna has an accident after narrowly missing a deer in the road and ends up in a deep snowdrift. Riding to the rescue, literally, comes Dillon, a doctor and former military man who carries scars from his tours in Afghanistan. This one had its moments for me but there were some things which struck me as a little odd - hello stranger danger - I mean, he could have been a serial killer - he wasn't of course, heroes never are, but she didn't know that. Also there were some leaps taken emotionally (from attraction to love) in 2 or 3 days which I couldn't quite get on board with. The last little bit was unusual as they only had access to each other via snail mail and in this day and age, I would have thought that skype or email would have been possible even from Malawi.
I did like that Brenna still went to Malawi, that she didn't just chuck her life in to be with him but I would have liked a previous connection or a slower fall into love to fully believe the HEA. Still, a year had passed and they had each had time to process and Dillon had had time to heal. Part of me was sad this was done off page as more Dillon is not a bad thing - I would have liked to have a deeper understanding of him. Part of me was very glad that his healing wasn't actually because of her. He did it for himself. Maybe she was the inspiration but the rest was all him. I felt that by the end they were each getting whole people as partners but I wondered if the story was just too big for the length of the novella?

A Rare Gift by Jaci Burton - C We first met Wyatt Kent in Jaci Burton's 2010 holiday novella All She Wants for Christmas, which was brother Ethan's story. Wyatt is cynical and solitary after a bitter divorce. Calliope Andrews is the sister of Wyatt's ex-wife. The Kent brothers have a construction company and Calliope runs a day care centre that needs an extension. That is what brings the couple together and the URST is obvious once their in the same room together.
The sticking point for me was the whole dating-my-sister's-ex-husband thing. There was very little, particularly early in the book, which addressed the squick factor of the former sister-in-law becoming the the new lover/wife. It's not my favourite type of story as I do see a squick factor here but I feel if it's going to be done, the elephant in the room needs to be addressed. Maybe it's only me who sees the elephant though because it seemed to be glossed over to me.
The other aspect which didn't ring true was that bitter, twisted Wyatt had ONE conversation with his ex-wife and all of a sudden the bitterness was gone. I'm not sure I really understood why he was so bitter in the first place, especially given that it seemed to be solved so easily. Leaving aside those 2 things, I did enjoy the rest of the book. Ms. Burton can surely write a smokin' sex scene! Apart from that though, there was connection and affection between Calliope and Wyatt and I liked them, separately and as a couple, but the "elephants" were too big for me to truly buy into the premise and that has affected my grading.

on Audio

Storm's Heart by Thea Harrison, narrated by Sophie Eastlake B+. See my full review here.

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole, narrated by Robert Petkoff - B- Lachlain MacReive has been imprisoned and tortured by the Vampire Horde for 150 years when he scents his mate. Emmaline Troy is a half vampire/half Valkyrie who feels she doesn't quite belong anywhere. The first scenes between Emma and Lachlain are a bit uncomfortable as there is a lack of consent to his initial sexual advances and Emma is clearly powerless against him. However, once the story gets going, Emma is able to exert her authority and things start to balance out. I find I'm becoming more sensitive to consent issues and that has affected my grade - otherwise it would have been a solid B. Mr. Petkoff does a good job with the narration and for the most part, has a really good female voice. I thought Emma's got a bit deeper (and therefore drag-y) toward the middle of the book, but the beginning and the end of the story, were very well done. Much of the book was told from Lachlain's POV and Mr. Petkoff had a very good Scottish accent and a nice deep voice which was pleasant on the ears. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series.

The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole, narrated by Simone Fomhar and Hagan Verrett - C Simone Fomhar narrates the female POV and Hagan Verrett the male POV in this one. I didn't love Ms. Fomhar's narration - her pacing was just a little too fast for me. I like Ms. Verrett's better, although there were times where his Myst voice veered into drag territory, he mostly stayed out of it. He had a much better accent for Nikolai. It's been a fair while since I read this story in print and I'd forgotten how rape-y it was. There is quite a bit of dubious consent going on which made me a little uncomfortable. Also, really ugly cover.

Survivor in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B+. This is one of those books which made me cry in print and the audio was no exception. Susan Ericksen is so good at conveying the emotion of Nixie, the little girl whose family is killed while they were sleeping. I've always thought that this author excels at making me care in a few short paragraphs about the victims in this series and there are plenty of examples of just that in this book. Also, because one of the children killed was a sleepover guest who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, as a parent, this story had me a bit chilly.

Gideon by Jacquelyn Frank, narrated by Xe Sands - C+ As much as it amazes me that Xe Sands can make her voice do that low growly baritone and not hack up a lung after, I found this book a bit....slow. There was a lot of time when nothing really happened and I think there is a contender for longest love scene ever in here. Because there was little action and I can't skim listen the way I can skim read, this was less enjoyable for me than I'd hoped. I did enjoy Xe's narration though.

Born in Fire by Nora Roberts, narrated by Fiacre Douglas - B-. watch out for a review over at AAR.

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Holter Graham - A- First of all, why why WHY is the novella Alpha and Omega not available on audio? :( I've read the novella so the story makes much more sense to me but without it I really wonder about how listeners can get the true Charles/Anna relationship. The novella is a complete story but it also serves as the (effectively) first few chapters of Cry Wolf, as the book starts off right after the novella. It's a crying shame I tell you!!
Now that I've got that off my chest, on to the actual review. I love this book. I've read it twice and now listened to it as well. Anna is an amazing character - abused and scared, she is nevertheless brave and strong and heroic. What I like about Patricia Briggs' female leads is that they always participate in the final takedown of the bad guys. Charles rescues Anna from a bad situation in Chicago (in Alpha and Omega) but Anna's skills and courage are needed to defeat the evil in Cry Wolf. I love that Anna is part of it rather than that things just happen to her.
This book starts when Bran and Charles return to Montana with Anna, after the events in Alpha and Omega. There is a rogue werewolf killing humans in the Cascade mountains and Charles and Anna head into the cold to find and deal with the threat, which, of course, is not all as it first seems to be.
I enjoyed Holter Graham's narration quite a bit. He doesn't try to do a female voice for Anna, he just softens his tone a little and this was quite effective. At first I thought his voice for Charles was a bit... wrong but after some thought, I changed my view. Charles is not a talker. He's not good with words and he thinks before he speaks (and during the speaking too). Mr. Graham had him talking in a deep slow voice which reflected that. Initially I mistook the slow for stupid. And Charles is NOT stupid. But, when I listened to the words in the description of Charles, Mr. Graham was right - Charles does speak slowly.
This series is more romantic than the Mercy Thompson series, mainly because it features Charles and Anna as a couple working together to solve various conflicts. Having said that, it is more on the "sweet" side of the heat level. Which just goes to prove that hot smex does not necessarily a great book make.

Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Holter Graham - B+ Hunting Ground takes place shortly after Cry Wolf ends and the relationship between Anna and Charles is still quite new. They are dealing with the fallout of the abuse suffered at the hands of her former pack in Chicago and Charles is getting used to having a wife - he's been a loner for most of his life. Charles and Anna head to Seattle as ambassadors for Bran to meet with the European delegation regarding their opposition to Bran's plan to reveal the existence of werewolves to the world. The European wolves can't stop it from happening - Bran is the Marrok and in the US, his word is law for werewolves, but he wants to calm their fears and help them out as much as possible. While in Seattle, a group of hired vampires attack and/or kill various cast members and it becomes clear that Anna is a target.
I liked this book but not quite as much as Cry Wolf. In this one, I kind of had to cross my eyes and hunch to make the plot make sense to me (in terms of who the 'bad guy' was) and, after getting used to. Also, after coming to the conclusion that Holter Graham's voice for Charles in Cry Wolf was spot on, he went and changed it for this book!! It is particularly noticeable listening to the books back to back. In this one, Charles had a normal guy's voice - deep and pleasant to the ear but different to the one previously used. I liked the first one better. Still, a very good listen and I highly recommend this series as well as the Mercy Thompson series - either on audio or on paper/ebook.

20 Followers Celebration Giveaway!!

2011-11-29T16:01:00.000-09:30

That's right, a zero didn't fall off. It's my 20 Follower Giveaway Extravaganza!!

My husband and I have had this running joke for the past few months: when my blog hits 20 followers on Google Friend Connect, I'd do my first giveaway. Lo and behold, a couple of weekends ago, I clicked over the magic number!! So many blogs have the "500 follower" or "1,000 follower" giveaway but really, the apocalypse is likely to be here before I hit that amount and life's too short not to celebrate the smaller things. Besides, it took nearly 2 years to get beyond 20 so it's not that small really is it? :D

Anyway, please join me for a chuckle at my own expense and enjoy my first giveaway!

The Prizes:

Winner's choice a book to the value of $10AUD (it's about the same as US these days) from The Book Depository.

ETA: Thanks to the most excellent Sean Kennedy, we now have prizes (plural). Also up for grabs is:

A pdf copy of Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy
A pdf copy of I Fell in Love with a Zombie by Sean Kennedy

To Enter:

Take a look around and tell me what is your favourite post/review and why. (oh, come now; you didn't think I wouldn't make you work at least a little for it did you? *evil grin*)
You don't have to be a follower to enter and you don't have to become a follower to enter. But, if you look around and you like it here, please feel free to follow my blog. Who knows? Maybe I'll do another giveaway if I hit 50! :D

The Rules:

One entry per person
Giveaway open til 10th December 2011
I will draw 3 winners using random.org and post the winners' names here shortly afterwards as well as contacting the winners via email.
Leave a way for me to contact you in the comments so that I can let you know if you've won.
You should probably tell me which prize you would prefer also.
If the winners do not get back to me within 72 hours of my contact, I will draw new winner/s.
Competition open to everyone as long as The Book Depository ships to your country and/or you can read pdf ebooks.
Void where prohibited. No puppies were harmed in connection with this giveaway.

My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne

2011-11-20T07:00:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: As my copy of The Black Hawk was winging its way to me, I realised I hadn't read My Lord and Spymaster. I have read The Spymaster's Lady (and listened to it on audio too) and The Forbidden Rose (all of which were excellent) so I don't quite know why this one had been languishing on my TBR.

I do find Joanna Bourne novels... dense - as in a rich chocolate dessert. I love them but they require some concentration on my part. Ms. Bourne has a lovely use of words, neither flowery nor simple, and she doesn't write the sort of books one can skim.

Anyway, in anticipation of The Black Hawk, I picked this one up.

What it's about: Jess Whitby, stolen from the crime lord Lazarus and returned to her father Josiah in the previous book, is trying to find Cinq - a spy who has been selling secrets to the French. Josiah Whitby has been arrested for the crime and Jess is desperate to prove his innocence. One of her suspects is Captian Sebastian Kennett, bastard son of the Earl of Ashton and the man who discovered most of the evidence which led to Josiah's arrest. We readers know of course that Bastian cannot be Cinq because he's the hero, but Jess doesn't know that. There is an instant attraction and connection between them but the situation with Cinq and Josiah means they are cautious about acting on it - if Josiah hangs then Bastian will be responsible in part for the death of Jess' father (not the best aphrodisiac) and what if Bastian is really Cinq?

What I thought (aka, what worked for me and what didn't): Bastian and Jess are, as I said above, instantly attracted to one another. They spend a large part of the book in close proximity (I dislike books where the hero/heroine are separated for much of it, movies too for that matter, never fear this does not happen here) but in terms of their deepening relationship, they are kept apart by a real and not at all trivial conflict. In spite of themselves they fall into love - come to think of it, this is one of the common themes I have found in Joanna Bourne's books. I love that there is no "big misunderstanding" or anything that could be simply resolved keeping them apart. And it wasn't just that Bastian, from Jess' POV, might be Cinq. The real conflict was that Josiah might hang and Bastian would be a large part of the cause of it. Because Josiah was a secondary character, I couldn't be sure as a reader that Josiah wouldn't actually turn out to be a traitor or even if he was innocent, nevertheless be convicted (and I'm not going to tell you here!). So, that meant that there was a real tension for me in reading - whereas, if it were only that Jess thought Bastian was Cinq, well that may have palled quickly. I love that Ms. Bourne writes smart characters. They are skillful and expert in their various fields and they remain that way all the way through the story.

I enjoyed the book very much, but looking back on it after a couple of days, I'm not sure that the identity of Cinq made total sense to me. Without giving away spoilers, it's hard to say exactly why, but on one level, it was kind of obvious but there was another, er, aspect, shall we say to Cinq and that was the bit that I didn't think quite gelled with the rest of the book and that particular character.

Military Intelligence's Colonel Reams reappears in this book but he left the scene kind of abruptly and after I finished I wondered where that plot thread ended up.

There was hardly any horizontal action between Jess and Bastian - a LOT of sexual tension and untimely interruptions but not much of the other. On the one hand, I can see that to have them getting busy much earlier would have been inconsistent given the fears of each main character, but because I am a reader and readers can be contrary and sometimes impossible to satisfy, I was nevertheless disappointed that we didn't see more of Jess and Bastian in an intimate setting.

I do love how Ms. Bourne writes and how it is clear in whose POV we are in the narrative simply by the syntax of the words. Bastian and Jess think differently and this is obvious from the text. It is perhaps more obvious in books where the heroine is French and the hero is British but it is still very present here. Here's a few examples of what I mean:-

From Jess's POV:

If half the rumors were true, he'd flattened men with those efficient sledgehammer fists in every port around the Mediterranean. The other thing they said about him was true, too. He was soft with women. He never thought of touching her when he was like this. In the years that lay between that boy in the cold mud of the Thames and the man he'd become, he'd changed into someone who couldn't lay angry hands on a woman. The chair was having a hard time, though.

and

He stomped across the room. His shoulders and the back of his neck kept right on being expressive.

From Bastian's:

With Jess you knew when she was willing, because you didn't get your teeth knocked out.

and

He could see in her eyes she was letting herself fall in love with him. She was about three-quarters deep so far and sinking fast. He wondered if she knew. Almost too late for her to stop. It had been too late for him for a long time.

What else? The other bonus in this novel is that we get to know Adrian a bit better and as he's the hero in The Black Hawk and has featured prominently in the other books too, it was an extra treat. Overall, maybe this wasn't my favourite Bourne novel, but it was still very, very good.

Joanna Bourne writes dense, historical romance with clever main characters and beguiling secondary ones. I find her books immersive and rich and for that reason, I like to devote myself to the reading of them rather than allowing any skimming. There are so many little glimpses of things which may or may not become significant later on and really, like the best chocolate desserts, you don't want to miss any of it.

Grade: B

Storm's Heart by Thea Harrison, narrated by Sophie Eastlake

2011-11-16T07:00:00.003-09:30

Why I listened to it: I loved Dragon Bound and wanted to hear the next in the series.

What it's about: Tiago Black, a Thunderbird shapeshifter Wyr is one of Dragos' Sentinels and his Warlord. Niniane Lorelle (who we knew as Thistle "Tricks" Periwinkle in the previous book) is the rightful heir to the Dark Fae throne. An attack on Niniane's life brings Tiago to Chicago to help Niniane and while there, he discovers a very inconvenient and sudden attraction to the little fairy. He accompanies her as she tries to discover who is behind the attempts on her life and as she travels to Adriyel for her coronation. Even if Niniane and Tiago can sort out their own relationship, will the Dark Fae accept a Wyr sharing the throne?

What I thought: I'd read a number of reviews that suggested the second book in the series wasn't as good as the first. I guess that meant my expectations were lower but I actually really enjoyed this one. I think the audio really works for me in this series as Sophie Eastlake is doing an excellent job of the narration. The story is quite different from Dragon Bound and I wonder if that is why other commenters were disappointed. As much as I liked Dragon Bound, I actually enjoyed the difference.

Tiago struck me as an alpha man (or, more accurately an alpha Wyr) so confident in himself that he was in no way threatened by Niniane's position as Dark Fae Queen. His interest, once it landed on Niniane, was 100% on her care, protection, safety and success. When a strong man is in love with a powerful woman, it can be difficult to accept him being in a "subordinate" relationship. But, Tiago didn't care AT ALL and it was obvious in the book. That meant that I had no difficulty in believing their HEA because I didn't see that there would be any jockeying for power between them. I liked Tiago's single-minded devotion to Niniane and the sexy way he called her "fairy" when he was aroused (whether by anger or something else!). Niniane was also a smart heroine too who realised the limitations of her size but was clever about how she could defend herself. The question regarding the Dark Fae accepting Tiago as consort to Niniane wasn't fully answered in this book, but I expected it will be in future offerings in the series. In any event, I was happy enough to accept that for now, no final answer was necessary.

Once again, Sophie Eastlake nails the narration. She is fast becoming one of my favourites. She doesn't have a deep hero voice, but it is easy to tell who is talking and she got Tiago's attitude absolutely right. Overall, I did enjoy Dragon Bound better but only a little bit.

Grade: B+

Something Different by SA Reid

2011-11-11T06:00:00.002-09:30

Why I read it: I read the Sarah's review over at Dear Author and picked it up from Amazon for the bargain price of 99c.

What it's about: (from Goodreads) Tired of his life's endless grind, family man Michael Maguire allows himself one night of deviation. Desperate for something different, he seeks a prostitute in notorious Brixton Park. But Michael, searching for a girl out of PRETTY WOMAN, instead finds blue-eyed, beautiful James Campbell. Tempted and stirred in ways he never imagined, Michael embarks on a sexual adventure with a rent boy from London's infamous Bethnal Green. And what begins as a purely sexual exchange gradually transforms into something else, as James finds himself in desperate circumstances and Michael is moved to help. Drawn increasingly to James, Michael finds himself facing up to the iniquities in his daily life. And finally he must deal with a horror that threatens to explode Michael's safe, conventional existence.

What worked for me: Infidelity isn't usually something I seek out in a main character. Generally speaking, it's not terribly attractive. Perhaps because it is told mainly from Michael's third person POV, it was actually quite easy for me to go with it in this story. His desperation for physical connection and for "something different" to break him out of the rut his life has become is something that is painted very well in only a few words.

Michael couldn't remember the last time he'd had sex with Frannie and there were so many rules he was no longer tempted to try. Weeknights were out, she was too tired from housework and spin class and book club and keeping up with her favorite programs on telly. Sundays were a no-go; she tended to go out with the girlfriends after church and preferred a nice long evening with the telly when she returned. That left Saturday, and then Michael had to be freshly showered, the kids had to be either asleep or out of the house and Frannie had to be in the mood. The likelihood of all these factors coming together was about as favourable as a total eclipse...

...But now he was thirty-four and more frustrated than ever. Frannie wouldn't even let him hold her and masturbate, she found the very idea juvenile and borderline deviant.

Just from those short passages, I can feel Michael's frustration and despair and I can also see he's tried. He's tried to compromise and bend to Frannie's sex rules but it's just not working for him. I didn't feel that the book ever called upon me to endorse his actions in going outside the marriage - I don't recall that Michael himself made excuses for the behaviour or tried to justify it. And, by the end of the story, the truth had come out and he didn't make any effort to blame others for his actions or tell anything other than the truth. As much as Michael is initially dishonest (with his wife) he is nevertheless very honest with himself and that was one of the things which made him attractive to read about.

Michael finds a connection with James which is initially all about the physical and becomes something more over time. He's able to be himself. And, it is apparent that Frannie was trying to get him to be someone else. I had quite a deal of sympathy for Michael as I always think that home should be a safe place to fall, and not a place you have to pretend.

This bit might be spoilery so I've tried to be clever with the font colour so readers can decide whether they want to know. (Apologies if my 'tech skills' fail here). Michael has a painful history of sexual abuse by his stepmother which reveals itself in some shocking violence. I say shocking because I did kind of recoil when I read it. At the same time, I totally understood it and felt the fat cow totally deserved it and worse (and don't even get me started on his dad!). Violence against women is not my thing, but this was an unusual situation and I couldn't feel much sympathy for her in the circumstances. But, it was violent and it was against a female so it kind of made me mentally "jump". It was sudden and yet it was totally within Michael's character, both for himself and as a father protecting his son.

Sarah at DA thought the story was somewhat "fable" like and there is that kind of feel to the story. It does seem a little unreal that a heretofore straight man can take up with a rent boy (or former rent boy as he later is) and there be little to no fall out from it. Still, it wasn't all sparkly roses and butterflies and I appreciated that not everyone was happy with Michael and James together. I think, because it is mainly from Michael's POV, that what is in the story is what is important to Michael and general bigotry really isn't. Of course, I could be totally making that up, but that's how it felt to me.

James doesn't just fall into a relationship with Michael and think he's a meal ticket. While Michael could have quite easily been taken advantage of (at least for a while - Michael is too smart for this to have gone on long), James didn't go there. James chooses to be with Michael and I liked that the author addressed this in the story. James had a choice and he chooses Michael.

This book sucked me in right from the start. I loved the style and the voice; I liked Michael and James and I also liked the word synchrony at the beginning and end of the story. I especially enjoyed Ms. Reid's ability to paint complicated and sometimes poignant word pictures with only a few phrases.

What didn't: I was a titch worried about the Michael's relationship with James being paternalistic and to a certain extent, that wasn't sufficiently addressed in the book for my absolute comfort. The financial disparity was addressed and it made sense but the issue of equality could have used a little more exposition. When I was reading the book, it didn't bother me overmuch but after I finished and gave it more thought, I wondered what James felt he was giving Michael in the relationship sufficient for him to feel equal. Perhaps it is just that there wasn't a lot of James' POV. The epilogue takes place four years after the main story, so it is clear that something is keeping them together but I did wonder a bit if James would feel the burden of being "kept". Michael comes across as a lot older than 34 for much of the book. I think it's supposed to be that way - he's old and tired and in a rut so he reads like a 45+ having a mid life crisis. But as the story progresses, he regains some youth - he loosens up in his dress and language and his fears about what others may think of him. So, by the end of the book, while there was clearly a huge gap in age and experiences (on both sides), it wasn't quite as broad as at the start.

What else? Some commenters around the place have mentioned that all the female characters in the book were all out and out villains or stupid. I tend to be a bit dense when it comes to noticing things like that but I have a slightly different take on that. James is dyslexic and his teacher is a female and is portrayed as demanding (in a good way) and supportive and encouraging. She doesn't have a huge part in the book, but then, neither does the "villain" (for want of a better term). As for Frannie, she is seen in a more sympathetic light in the epilogue and it gave me the perspective that sometimes people can seem mean and unkind because they are unhappy themselves and, given different circumstances, are not that way at all. Michael comes to the realisation that he wasn't good for Frannie either and that she was never going to be happy with him. I felt the characterisations made sense. If Frannie had've been very sympathetic, I would have questioned why Michael was looking elsewhere and the story wouldn't have worked for me.

This is a self published book and while it wasn't totally typo free, it was certainly no worse than many traditionally published books I've read. I hope to read much more m/m from this author whatever publishing arrangements she makes.

I've a feeling that I have failed to express how much I enjoyed this book. I'm sorry for that, because it was a great read and one I'm sure I will revisit (which is a rarity for me).

Grade: A-/B+

Unveiled by Courtney Milan

2011-11-08T07:00:00.002-09:30

Why I read it: Having enjoyed Unclaimed so much, I went out and bought Unveiled to see what happened in the first book of the series.

What it's about: (blurb from Goodreads) Ash Turner has waited a lifetime to seek revenge on the man who ruined his family—and now the time for justice has arrived. At Parford Manor, he intends to take his place as the rightful heir to the dukedom and settle an old score with the current duke once and for all. But instead he finds himself drawn to a tempting beauty who has the power to undo all his dreams of vengeance….

Lady Margaret knows she should despise the man who's stolen her fortune and her father's legacy—the man she's been ordered to spy on in the guise of a nurse. Yet the more she learns about the new duke, the less she can resist his smoldering appeal. Soon Margaret and Ash find themselves torn between old loyalties—and the tantalizing promise of passion….

What worked for me: My notes say "unexpected", "different", "surprising", "romantic", "unusual", "excellent". And mostly, this was about Ash. Just when were were about to head into predictable romance territory, Ash would turn it on it's head. I loved that about this book. Ash is not your usual would-be Duke and he doesn't react the way one expects. I don't want to give away spoilers so I can't go into too much detail, but pretty much, when almost every other romance hero would go tack right, Ash jibs left. I very much liked how he saw something important and special in Margaret and that he fell in love with her thinking she was a "commoner" and worked for her living. I very much liked his reactions to just about everything in the story. I liked that he wanted her to shine.

Miss Lowell, you magnificent creature. I want you to paint your own canvas. I want you to unveil yourself.

I was sad for Ash about the distance he felt with his brothers and I liked that Margaret championed his cause. He was someone who was everyone else's champion it seemed, but not many people seemed to realise he occasionally needed some of that treatment himself.
Margaret herself doesn't always act predictably either and I also liked her very much too. I remember reading along and thinking "oh no! don't do that!" and then, she didn't and I sighed with relief. I'm not usually a fan of plots based on lies or misunderstandings but Ms. Milan can pull it off because she her characters are smart and unpredictable.
As much as the blurb sets the book up as being about revenge, I didn't really feel that was Ash's main motivation at all. There was a little bit of that sure, but mostly he wanted to secure his brothers' futures and he absolutely believed (and he was right) that he'd be a better Duke than the heretofore heir. Ash has mountains of self belief, but the thing is, he's mostly right. It's not actually arrogance if you're correct! :) I think Ms. Milan can do something really rare - make a genuinely good man an interesting hero without him being boring, or doormat material. It is so uncommon and it sucks me right in.
I also appreciated that the old Duke was a miserable old sod and (*mildly spoilery*) he stayed that way. There was no miraculous recantation of previous wrongs. He was just a pig. I liked how Margaret dealt with him; how she chose her own behaviour towards him for her own reasons and not because of any reaction to his cruelty.

What didn't: The ending was just slightly predictable which was a tiny bit disappointing after having been so refreshingly different a story up til then. However, it's not as if I could come up with a better ending and how else could it satisfy? I am clearly being too picky here! :)

What else? I'm actually glad I read this one second. As much as I enjoyed Unclaimed, I enjoyed this one even better and I don't think anything was lost in reading the books out of order. I'm going to have to pick up Ms. Milan's earlier books now too and I'm even more looking forward to Smite's book now.

Grade: A-

Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong

2011-11-04T07:00:00.002-09:30

*spoilers ahoy*

Why I read it: I picked this one up because I thought the storyline sounded interesting and I like trying new authors. I thought I would like it. I didn't.

I got about 1/3 the way through it before I gave up. I didn't enjoy the writing and I didn't think the characters were well drawn. I didn't like the world building. I thought it was a good idea but it didn't deliver.

What it's about: The basic set up is that new Angel Serena is given the assignment of protecting a bad boy Hollywood actor, Nick Ramirez. She trails him to Devil's Paradise, a club run by Archdemon Julian Ascher.

What worked for me: I thought the premise was interesting and the cover is pretty but I did not enjoy the execution. Maybe it got better after I stopped reading though.

What didn't: We're told that Julian is the baddest of the bad demons; he enjoys corrupting human souls and has no remorse for any of his actions. Next thing, Serena's pricking his "conscience". ("It pricked at his conscience for a moment - kissing an angel was surely some kind of sin") Hur?

Serena on the other hand, is seriously lacking in the kick-ass department. Much to my surprise, she was immediately attracted to the Archdemon at their first meeting. I would have much preferred a slow build of attraction given the diversity of their characters but, because he's hot, she's horny. I found it a bit hard to believe.

Also, her angel supervisor, Arielle, has totally set her up and has given her no support for her secret task, so I felt she was unlikeable too.

But, what really got to me was on p65. Julian materialises in Serena's house while she is sleeping. They barely know each other but she's piqued his interest.

"Awake, she'd never have let him touch her like this. But now, as she slept, he took liberties that would have made her shriek with fury during waking hours. He got into bed with her, sliding under the covers with a carefully practiced stealth..."

then he feels her up til she wakes and he dematerialises.
This is NOT hero material for me. Dude, that's sexual assualt = NOT SEXY. It is apparent from the bit I quoted, that he knew she DID NOT WANT but did it anyway. No thank you.

I did read on a little from there but I found nothing in Julian's character that I was interested in reading about further. He did not come across to me as a sexy misunderstood demon or as someone who could be redeemed. He then decides to force Serena to choose between her soul or her brother's and blackmails her into staying with him. At that point I stopped reading.

What else? Maybe Ms. Chong is able to pull of the redemption of Julian but I couldn't bring myself to care. To me, he'd already crossed into irretrievable territory and I had to put the book down.

I can see from other reviews on Goodreads that I am a bit of an outlier though, but this book was definitely not for me. YMMV.

Grade: DNF

October Reads

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-09:30

on Paper/eBook

Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl - B/B+ - see full review here.

Liar Bird by Lisa Walker - C This is an Australian book which is being released in January 2012 (HarperCollins Australia auto approved me on NetGalley - I am loved!). I've reviewed it for ARRA and it will be in the December newsletter for members. I'll post the review here after the newsletter comes out. It's kind of chick-lit with romantic elements, in that the romance is not the main/sole focus of the story. As I'm not much of a chick-lit reader, I suspect this affected my grade.

Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins - B-/B - see full review here.

Unclaimed by Courtney Milan - B+ - see full review here.

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh - B I had listened to the first 2 books in this series on audio (narrated by Justine Eyre) but when I started Archangel's Consort, I realise I had forgotten quite a bit of the story and so I decided to read the print books which I had on my (massive and intimidating) TBR. I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit, even though I knew what was coming. For those who don't know, Elena is a Guild Hunter and because of her natural gifts, can scent out vampires. Raphael, Archangel of New York hires Elena for a special and top secret hunt. And they fall in love. Pretty much. It's all in the journey of course. I wondered idly when I was reading how I'd managed to understand so much on first listen when there was a lot that was hinted (in terms of Elena's childhood trauma) and not specified. Her story is spread out over the three (so far at least) books which feature her and Raphael. It's actually quite well done. I certainly don't remember being unable to follow the story when I first listened to it.

Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh - B As is obvious by the cover, Elena has been Made into an angel by Raphael's ambrosia kiss. This book is mainly set in the Refuge, a place exclusively for angels. Lijuan is up to no good and someone is killing people in the Refuge. Raphael and Elena's relationship is really quite new - something I appreciated much better reading these books back to back and so it made sense there was still some settling to do in their relationship. I didn't love how it ended - I prefer all bad guys to be destroyed/jailed etc as appropriate and I don't think that happened here.

Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh- B-/C+ I remember reading reviews shortly after the release of this book that indicated displeasure at the continued toing and froing between Raphael and Elena. As I said above, reading them back to back, it made more sense to me because they haven't actually been together that long and Raphael is an immortal being who's been around for over a thousand years. His values and mores are not Elenas and there's a lot of adjustment necessary. Where this book fell flat to me was in the conflict with the bad guys. It seems Caliane (Raphael's mother) is awakening and Lijuan is still causing problems. (*spoiler alert*) That both of them are alive and well at the end of the book was a source of frustration to me. I kind of felt that the author was stringing me a long a bit. I want the bad guys identified and dealt permanently rather than coming back again and again to cause trouble (even though I concede it is not entirely clear whether Caliane is actually a 'bad guy') - it feels like they just get away with things and that makes the story a lot less satisfying to me.

Archangel's Blade by Nalini Singh - A- My full review will be appearing at the ARRA blog. I'll post a link when it's up. For now, I'll just say that this book is my favourite of the series so far (and - hooray! - the bad guys in this book are actually dealt with in a final manner).

Show Me by Jaci Burton - C Sexy short about a woman who secretly likes to watch and be watched and the man who makes her fantasy reality. There is not much character development and I can't say I connected that well with either of the main characters, but it was certainly hot.

Ready and Willing by Cara McKenna - B+ see my review here.

Fatal Heat by Lisa Marie Rice - C This is a short story wihch is typical Lisa Marie Rice - alpha hero who takes one look at the heroine and that's it, he's toast. Hot sex and then heroine gets in trouble and is rescued by hero. Then they live happily ever after, the end. It had a very promising start but it got ridiculous for me when the hero took the DOG on the rescue mission. Also, sadly, there was only one sex scene. I feel robbed. :P

Unveiled by Courtney Milan - A Full review to come.

A Lily Among Thorns by Rose Lerner - C I don't know why this book wasn't more successful for me. It had an unusual hero and heroine (a tailor and former courtesan/innkeeper); it was well enough written and had some amusing moments ("does the Regent used French holes?"), but for some reason, I found this story completely put-downable. Looking at my Goodreads, I can see that it took me 7 days to read this. Normally a book this length would take me about 2 days. What this tells me is that I found other things to do rather than pick this book up. While I was actually reading, I enjoyed it well enough, but I was in no rush to keep reading. For the life of me, I can't articulate why. For some reason I didn't connect sufficiently with the characters and/or the story and so this one ended up being kind of "meh" for me. I suspect I'm an outlier though, so don't take my word for it! :) I feel bad that I can't explain why this one didn't grab me.

on Audio

Portrait in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B+. This book has some of my favourite scenes - Roarke melting down, Eve worried he doesn't love her anymore, make up smex. The crime part took a bit of a backseat to me and I felt it didn't hold up as well on a re-read/listen as other crime plots, but the Eve/Roarke aspects make this one a winner for me.

Chaos in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B-. The most recent novella in the series, it follows on from New York to Dallas and contains spoilers for that book, so I recommend reading/listening in order. Novellas are enjoyable to listen to but they are mainly about the crime and not the relationship between Eve and Roarke and Eve and her friends. For that reason, I usually rate the novels higher. I've done a review of this one for AAR and will post a link here when it's up.

Imitation in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B. I just realised that the cover is a bit of a spoiler for the book. O-o. Another enjoyable instalment in the series. Peabody makes detective!

Big Jack by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B-. This is the story which makes up the second half of Remember When. There are continuity errors in this from the previous book which threw me a bit (Somerset was still on leave in this book, but he'd returned by the end of Imitation in Death). Much more noticeable when there's a back to back listen/read.

Divided in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B- (*spoiler alert*) This is the book where Eve finds out Homeland Security knew about what was happening to her as a child and for most of the book thereafter, Roarke and Eve are at odds because Roarke wants to take them out and Eve wants him to leave them alone because she can't stomach him committing murder. I must say, as much as I enjoyed the story, when I read it the first time and when I listen to it now, I still felt there was a disconnect about Eve's attitude. Roarke had already committed murder on a number of occasions (and he was fairly elaborate too) (re Somerset's daughter Marlena's death) so while I could understand on one level that Eve didn't want Roarke to commit murder FOR HER because she couldn't live with it if he was a murderer, she being a cop and all, it highlighted to me that she was living with him and he HAD committed murder, her being a cop and all. I still can't quite reconcile it, like a piece of information that's just off to the left or something, so I just shrug and go with it. Otherwise, the usual enjoyable listen.

Visions in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B This one was more successful for me. It struck me that for once, Roarke didn't have a lot to do with the investigation, only popping in for bits and pieces and a little at the end, which considering his heavy involvement in the previous book was a refreshing change. Some fun stuff with Peabody and McNab, Louise and Charles, Mavis and Leonardo (the part where Mavis asked Eve and Roarke to be the back up birth coaches was hilarious) and some drama for someone close toward the end. I think I must have been pretty worried when I first read the book. I even had (a tiny bit of) sympathy for the villain here. Very good.

Ready & Willing by Cara McKenna

2011-10-26T23:46:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: Cara McKenna writes very non-traditional romance - in fact, I gather it is only a gamble as to whether you'll get a (hopeful or actual) HFN. For that reason, I've been fairly careful about which books of her's I read because I'm really in it for the HFN/HEA. I've only read Willing Victim of hers before which ended on a hopeful note (her alter ego Meg Maguire writes romance with the requisite HEA). Plus, I picked this up for 60% off at Fictionwise recently, so really there was no risk!

What it's about: Wow, what an interesting short story. It's told in first person from Abby's POV. She's a single lady who has decided to have a child and isn't interested in a sperm bank. She wants to conceive the "natural" way but without a relationship messing with things. So, she advertises in the Boston Globe and interviews potential candidates who (after medical tests including sperm motility) agree to have sex with her (for a fee) and then sign away any parental rights if she falls pregnant.

What worked for me: She chooses 2 men - Noah and Rob - she doesn't necessarily want to know the identity of the father. It doesn't sound all that sexy does it? But, it is. I really liked the way Ms. McKenna juxtaposed the encounters with Rob and with Noah to illustrate the different emotional relationships (for want of a better phrase) each "couple" had. With only a few words, she somehow painted very clear pictures of all three characters. I liked Noah quite a bit and appreciated that while he was accommodating and he was not wimpy. Even Rob wasn't entirely one dimensional.

What didn't: There was one particular sex scene which I found a little improbable on a number of levels but it was pretty darn hot.

What else: As a whole, I found the story strangely romantic (considering the plot) with a hopeful and appropriate (if somewhat simplistic) ending. Sexy and unusual and well worth my time. If you're after something short, different and hot, look no further.

Grade: B+

Bandicoot Cove series by Jess Dee, Vivian Arend & Lexxie Couper

2011-10-25T15:00:00.000-09:30

My review of this series is over at the ARRA blog here if you'd like to go and see.

The covers are pretty but the series isn't one I expect to revisit.

Unclaimed by Courtney Milan

2011-10-18T07:00:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: I received an ARC from NetGalley and I've heard wonderful things about this author. I had read the novella in this series and enjoyed it too.

What it's about: (from Goodreads). Her only hope for survival…

Handsome, wealthy and respected, Sir Mark Turner is the most sought-after bachelor in all of London—and he's known far and wide for his irreproachable character. But behind his virtuous reputation lies a passionate nature he keeps carefully in check...until he meets the beautiful Jessica Farleigh, the woman he's waited for all his life.
Is to ruin the man she loves…
But Jessica is a courtesan, not the genteel lady Sir Mark believes. Desperate to be free of a life she despises, she seizes her chance when Mark's enemies make her an offer she can't refuse: seduce Mark and tarnish his good name, and a princely sum will be hers. Yet as she comes to know the man she's sworn to destroy, Jessica will be forced to choose between the future she needs…and the love she knows is impossible.

What worked for me: This book really was a delight to read. It had beautiful, lyrical prose and some really apt and lovely analogies (for example, regarding lust and peddlars). Sir Mark Turner is a genuinely good man. He is not weak or priggish or boring, which could perhaps be suggested by the fact that he wrote "A Gentleman's Guide to Practical Chastity". He frankly acknowledges his faults and is terribly pained by the adulation of the masses which do not. He is a man who is tempted but chooses not to act on it - Jessica is his greatest temptation yet but he does not fall. He is in control of himself. Self control may not sound all that sexy but on Mark Turner, it is. For Jessica, who has beena plaything for men for years, it is a novel experience indeed to be courted and listened to and treated as an equally important person.

Stories which are all about lies and misunderstandings can frustrate me but enough information was revealed from time to time that I didn't feel that way here. Also, Mark is not by any means, an idiot, so he sees through the obvious. What I liked most about him is that he wanted to see the woman behind the mask - it was that which seduced him. Not her looks or her body - sure, she was a beautiful woman, but there were other beautiful women who didn't call to him the way she did. That right there is so romantic - the idea that a man can truly see us and love us above anyone.

As much as I liked Mark, I liked Jessica also. She took responsibility for her own actions and didn't blame others for her predicament. I liked that she argued with Mark about this and the point she made was very valid. She either owns her mistakes and owns her life or she is just a pawn to be used or treasured depending on the whim of a man. I also liked that Mark took steps that she would not feel unequal to him in future and he encouraged her to shine and to 'do better' (but not in a moral way, rather to be the best she could be).

What didn't: I thought the ending was a little abrupt and underdone, but then again the book was already over 400 pages, so maybe I'm just being greedy. Generally, I do like more of the happy together than less though.

Of necessity, the sex scenes (which were very well done - the man pays attention!) were pretty much at the end of the book. So, it did feel, just a little bit, like I was served up 2 or 3 large desserts all at once with only a small gap in between. But really, is that a complaint? After all, I love dessert!

What else: After I finished this, I immediately went and bought Unveiled (so I guess that tells you something) and I can hardly wait for Smite's book.

Grade: B+

Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl

2011-10-14T07:00:00.001-09:30

Why I read it: I got an ARC from NetGalley but I'm a fan of Ms. Dahl's books anyway, especially her contemporaries.

What it's about: (from Goodreads). It was meant to be a one-night stand. One night of passion. Scorching hot. Then Beth Cantrell and Eric Donovan were supposed to go their separate ways. That’s the only reason he lied about his name, telling her he was really his wild younger brother. Hiding his own identity as the conservative Donovan. The “good” one.
But passion has its own logic, and Eric finds he cannot forget the sable-haired beauty with whom he shared one night of passion. When Beth discovers that Eric has lied, however, she knows he cannot be trusted. Her mind tells her to forget the blue-eyed charmer. If only every fiber of her being did not burn to call him back.

What worked for me: Eric was a total stud muffin! Who knew he had it in him? Well, I did, because I read the novella first. I really do think you need to read the novella first so that you can completely enjoy the book as the novella is about the one night stand.

Seeing things from Eric's point of view does give one a new perspective on the sibling interaction and despite the fact that Eric was an asshat in Bad Boys Do, I felt a lot of sympathy for him in this book I'm pretty sure that Ms. Dahl wanted Eric to come off as an ass in the earlier books just so she could redeem him here - it was a risk but she totally did it.

Beth's backstory was heartbreaking and awful - I was so glad when she got her HEA with Eric - they're so good together.

What didn't: I got a little frustrated with the fights with Jamie and with Beth near the end. They were got out of control very quickly and I suspect my frustration was more to do with out how realistic (and somewhat irrational) they were - I don't like them in real life either!

I wasn't sure what Beth was going to do careerwise. It didn't feel telegraphed (perhaps this is what the author was going for) and in the end I was a bit surprised. Eric's choice was more obvious and it fit but I would have liked a little more about Beth's process.

I thought the ending was just a little rushed. Overall, I would have liked just a little more of them happy together with no lies or misunderstandings, but then, I'm greedy that way.

What else:I didn't grade the novella as I felt that and this needed to be counted together.

Grade: B/B+ I think Jamie's book was slightly more enjoyable but this one ran a very close second.

Until There was You by Kristan Higgins

2011-10-09T19:35:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: I got an ARC from NetGalley and, with the exception of her last book, My One and Only, I'm a fan of Kristan Higgins.

What it's about: (from Goodreads) Posey Osterhagen can't complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she's surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriend—sort of. Still, something's missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-looking…something like Liam Murphy.

When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he's back, sending Posey's traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas….

What worked for me: This is the first book Kristan Higgins has written in the third person and for the first time ever, we get a fair portion of the book in hero's POV. I can't tell you how much I have wanted this in her books. I loved it. I can't stress this enough. Loved. It. She writes such good heroes it has always been my complaint that there wasn't enough of them. (Except for the last book where I didn't care for the hero much).

What didn't: As much as I loved the foray into third person and the hero's POV, there were things that didn't work so well for me in this book. In the middle of the romance, I was told not shown and I hadn't had enough to completely believe that love had developed. It was the literary equivalent of the musical montage in the middle of a romcom. I needed a bit more showing.

The story about Liam's in laws was resolved too quickly and easily and the bit about Liam's OCD never reallly went anywhere.

I'm not sure that I bought that (Posey's brother) Henry and (his partner) Jon were happy and would remain that way because Henry seemed so distant and Jon was so... not - I wondered if they would make it. How (Posey's cousin) Gretchen got over her 'problem' - assuming she actually did - was never canvassed. Considering the business arrangement at the end, I'd have thought it needed to be mentioned.

What else: As usual there were some really funny bits which made me laugh (and occasionally, snort), especially with Liam being the big bad dad with daughter Nicole's would-be boyfriend Tanner. Did I mentioned I loved having Liam's POV? I did? Well, it's worth repeating.

I also liked that Emma, the wife who died was neither deified nor demonized. Hooray.

As for Posey, there were times she was just a bit too desperate and even though it was probably totally authentic, it still made me cringe. Also, she was way more forgiving of Gretchen than I would have been.

Overall, Posey was almost too nice. She didn't really grow or change through the story and she was just about everyone's favorite person, except for Gretchen and even then, they 'kissed and made up' by the end. It was just a little too saccharine.

I would also have liked some of how Liam got to his big declaration at the end - I felt that was missing. His experience with his first wife was that she withdrew from him and that he felt he was never good enough. What made him think that wouldn't happen with Posey? I mean, I don't think Posey would pull away, but what made Liam so sure? That part was missing for me. It sounds like I'm really picking but I'm only doing it because I was so invested in the characters. It's because I liked Liam so much that I want to know more.

In the end, I enjoyed this book. Much more than the previous one but not quite as much as the one before that. I wanted to like it even more - I want to encourage Ms. Higgins to write the hero's POV because, boy howdy that was the best part of the book. Please please please Ms. Higgins, continue to write and continue to show us more of the hero.

Grade: B- (but I really wanted it to be a B).

Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl

2011-10-06T23:38:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: I got an ARC from NetGalley and I really enjoy Dahl's contemporaries in particular.

What it's about: Jamie Donovan is the "family screw-up" and he can't seem to break free from that label. Each time he tries, he's knocked down but he's determined to give it one more go. He has plans to turn Donovan Brothers Brewery into a brewpub - serving good food to complement the various beers instead of just the current pretzels and nuts on offer. He's taking classes at the university to help him put the proposal together before he takes it to siblings and co-owners, Eric and Tessa. Olivia Bishop is Jamie's instructor (but as she's 35 and he's 29 and the class is an ungraded community class, it's not the least bit icky) and there's instant chemistry between the two. Olivia has been divorced for a year from one of the professors at the uni and feels dull and boring and she thinks Jamie can help her learn to have fun. Turns out that Olivia actually is fun - it was her crappy ex-husband who had sucked all the fun out of her. Jamie does help her though, by taking out for some adventures but also by liking her just as she is. We also find out more about the Kendalls and in particular, what really happened the night Jamie took Monica Kendall home. Let me just say - what a cow!

What worked for me: I really loved Jamie and I liked Olivia quite a bit too, but, for me, this was Jamie's story all the way. I found it quite compelling and I was a little bit heartbroken for Jamie in a few bits. Like most people are, Jamie is more than just one thing and he's far more than just a "screw-up". I really enjoyed him standing up for himself, the smart changes he made to his life and the way he was with Olivia. I devoured this one in a day and stayed up late to finish it.

Also, there's hot tub sex.

What didn't: I got tired of the fighting between Jamie and Eric. I gather that by the end of the series, the siblings will largely have made their peace with each other, but I would have liked to have seen more of that in this one. Really, Eric was a prize asshole in this book. Because of that, I didn't totally buy his turn around at the end - it was just a little quick for my belief-meter.

Also, I did think that Olivia's continued belief that her relationship with Jamie was just a no strings "arrangement" was held a bit long; clearly Jamie was really into her.

What else: I'm actually thinking that the prequel novella helped me quite a bit - if not for it, I would have been totally turned off Eric on account of his asshat behaviour in this book. However, as I got to know him just a little in the novella, I have enough sympathy for him to want him to get his HEA in Real Men Will (which I'm currently reading). Although, I am hoping that he stops with the asshattedness. Also, without reading the novella, I wouldn't have got the Eric jokes, so that's a plus.

Overall: A very good, sexy (oh boy howdy was it sexy!) story with depth and a good man in a kilt. What's not to love?

Grade: B+

September Reads

2011-10-01T20:25:00.001-09:30

on Paper/eBook

Since the Surrender by Julie Anne Long - A - see my full review here. It's my **pick of the month**

I Kissed An Earl by Julie Anne Long - B-/C+ I liked this one in spite of it's flaws. It's got swash and buckle and a lot of humour but the plot and the characters weren't as well put together as in earlier books. So far, I've generally enjoyed the "Eversea" books more than the "Redmond" books in this series. I liked Flint quite a bit the heroine, Violet, was occasionally very nearly TSTL (and I note via Goodreads that many others thought she was actually TSTL). I liked the melancholy and the doomed lovers and, as mentioned before, the swashbuckling high seas adventure of it but I thought the ending involving Lyon was left dangling. It's my least favourite of the series so far. Also, what of Fatima? Since the Surrender is so much better.

Treachery in Death by JD Robb - A - watch for a full review at ARRA. Suffice to say that this is an excellent instalment in the series. Loved it.

Lucien's Gamble by Sylvia Day - DNF - This was a Kindle freebie. I got halfway through before the eye-rolling got too much for me. I've loved some things this author has written, but this one didn't work for me.

Untraceable by Laura Griffin - C. I've been reading wonderful things about this series and I wanted to give it a try. Even though each book can be read stand alone, I'm the type who likes to read in order when I can so I went and bought the whole series. It was okay but there were some timeline issues which confused me - one of the characters has a baby and so, logically, she would have either been heavily pregnant at the beginning of the book or just having given birth - in either case - ew! I found it hard to follow the timeline - there weren't enough clues to tell me how much time had passed. The heroine, Alex, seemed a lot less competent in actuality than we were told she was. Even though this is the first Tracers book, Alex and Nathan had met in a previous book so I felt like I was missing something. I didn't hate it and will try the other books but this one didn't set me on fire.

St. Nachos by ZA Maxfield - B This is the first in Maxfield's St. Nacho's series - I think there are 4 now. I was tooling around on her website the other day reading excepts and got hooked and bought the first 2. Cooper is a drifter and musician who lands in St. Ignacio (called St. Nacho's by the locals) and finds himself stopping at Nacho's Bar, where he meets Shawn, a hot and deaf, busboy. When I think about it, there was plenty that wasn't in this book which I would have liked to be, like details about Shawn's life and Cooper's scars but I liked the mood and I liked Shawn's openhearted love and acceptance of Cooper so I graded on how I felt when I finished the book. There was almost no conflict in the first half of the book, then the second half took kind of a right turn from where I was expecting it to go. There were a lot of things about Cooper and Shawn which were left unexplored and I certainly had a lot less sympathy for Jordan than the characters had (which might be a problem because he's the hero in book 2, Physical Therapy); also, I kept expecting the preacher to turn out to be extra creepy. but I liked it and I believed in the HEA in spite of the book's flaws.

The Sweetest Thing (Lucky Harbor #2) by Jill Shalvis - B Sweet, funny and sexy, this is the second instalment of the Lucky Harbor trilogy and features the eldest of the sisters, Tara, and Ford (who is smokin' by the way). It lacked any real conflict to block the HEA for the characters but I liked Ford so much it was no hardship to read! I thought the whole contact with adoptive parents thing was glossed over but the parts with the competition between Logan and Ford were fun and I enjoyed the Facebook poll with Twitter updates!

Instant Temptation (Wilder #3) by Jill Shalvis - B-This is TJ Wilder and Harley's story - for those of us who had read the earlier books, it was pretty obvious these two were going to get together - their URST was off the charts. It was a mostly fun sexy story and it was good to see Harley and TJ finally get together but again there wasn't a huge amount of conflict. There was a mild suspense subplot which didn't go anywhere which I thought was not needed. It was an enjoyable read, but nothing earth shattering.

The Kowalksi Series (Exclusively Yours, Undeniably Yours and Yours to Keep) by Shannon Stacey - reviewed here Overall, I'd give this series a B/B-

The Guy Next Door (anthology)

Ready Set Jett by Lori Foster - I read this a while ago and it obviously made a big impression on me - I noted "C - meh".

Just One Taste by Victoria Dahl (Donovan Brothers Brewery 0.5) - Ungraded I decided to read Dahl's Donovan family series next because I'm in the mood for contemporary and I thought I'd start at the beginning - now that I have all 3 of the novels, I felt happy reading this story which doesn't actually have a HEA - it's more a prequel to the series. While it is the first chronologically in the series, the story between Beth and Eric hasn't been fully told. I think I would have found this very dissatisfying if I had not had the other 3 books to read immediately after. However, as I was warned and prepared, there was no harm done. I plan to grade this story within the grade for Eric's book, Real Men Will. It's ungraded here because I it's not complete and I can't give a grade til I finish the story! I will say, that I liked what I read so far however.

I haven't read the Susan Donovan story (Gail's Gone Wild) yet.

Good Girls Don't (Donovan Brothers Brewery #1) by Victoria Dahl- B- Hot (hot!) sex scenes and a good story but I'm not sure I entirely connected with the heroine, Tessa Donovan. I quite liked Detective Luke Asher, the hero though!. Tessa was only 14 when her parents were killed in a car accident and 24 year old Eric stepped in to care for her and Jamie (then 16). Afraid of those she loves leaving, she goes to extraordinary lengths to try and relieve the constant friction between the two brothers, including increasingly difficult to manage lies. Tessa had her reason for all the lying but as the story went on, it got old very quickly and it was very unattractive. I will say that the lie (to Jamie) about her being a virgin was pretty funny though. For much of the book, it seems that there is the story of the siblings and their Brewery and there's the story of her relationship with Luke and I wondered at one point why there was so very much focus on the former. However, toward the end of the book, Ms. Dahl brings the threads together and it made sense. I enjoyed the book, but I did find it hard to really connect with Tessa's character.
Also, in case you're wondering, the Brewery was named by Tessa's father - for himself and his brother - so it's not sexist or anything.

Bad Boys Do (Donovans Brothers Brewery #2) by Victoria Dahl - B+ - I plan to post a full review next week. It doesn't suffer from "middle book syndrome"!!

on Audio

Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue by Stephanie Laurens, narrated by Matthew Brenher - D+ there will be an edited version of my rant in an upcoming AAR Speaking of Audiobooks column and then I will post the full review on Goodreads and, possibly on the blog too (depending on my motivation at the time! :D)

Die for Me by Karen Rose, narrated by Tavia Gilbert - B+ This is another one I reviewed for AAR - much more successful however! The review is contained in this column.

Scream for Me by Karen Rose, narrated by Tavia Gilbert - B. After the enjoyment of Die for Me, I had a mini glom on Karen Rose and picked up this one. I had read it before (as was the case with DfM) but enjoyed it very much on audio. Tavia Gilbert is a very good narrator (she did Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series also). The story isn't quite as strong, IMO as in DfM but it was nevertheless an enjoyable experience.

Kill for Me by Karen Rose, narrated by Tavia Gilbert - C- I've had the paperback on my TBR but hadn't got around to reading it and after the enjoyment of the previous 2 in this trilogy, I was keen to listen to this one and see how it ended. Unfortunately, this was not so much of a success for me. The hero in this book is Luke Papadopoulos. He's from Georgia, with a Greek heritage. It was hard enough to picture a dark Greek looking man with a Georgian accent but then Ms. Gilbert topped it off with one that was pretty high pitched. I just couldn't get it to mesh with what I knew of this character. Also, Susannah Vartanian - she's grown up in Georgia and then moved to New York when she was about 18 or 19 I think. She has a midwest accent, with no trace of the drawl. Alex Fallon on the other hand (the heroine in the previous book) had left Georgia when she was 16 and moved to Iowa and still had a strong Southern accent so again, that jarred for me a little (although to a lesser degree). I could have got around all of that but then there was the story. The evil villains were so evil they bordered on caricatures and just about all of them conveniently kept seekrit journals (a handy plot device but badly overused here). Near the end, it was like those monster movies where the zombie won't die - you know, where everyone's breathing a sigh of relief and then the zombie gets up and attacks again? Well, this book was kind of like that, except it happened more than once. There was a bit of eye rolling. Finally, Susannah is a victim of sexual abuse; she was raped by a gang of unknown men when she was 16 and then again (but by one man this time) when she was 23. Still, after only a few days of knowing Luke, she's having a fairly healthy sexual relationship with him. The book itself only covers about 2 weeks and it is the longest of the trilogy. In terms of "page time" it was nearly 3/4 of the way through when they started getting busy but it was only a few days in "real time". I didn't buy it. Also, given that Luke spends a lot of his days looking (unwillingly) at kiddie porn (in order to catch the bad guys - he's in internet crime), it seemed a bit incongruous to me that he had "dark" sexual tastes. Apparently Susannah does too, but their activities in the book were actually quite vanilla, so there were things which didn't add up for me. I got the impression that the trilogy hadn't been completely planned at the beginning (I have no idea whether this is the case or not) and there were some continuity issues which were pretty obvious when listening back to back but which I probably would have missed if I had just read the books as they were released.

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison, narrated by Sophie Eastlake - A. This is another I've reviewed for AAR. My favourite audio for the month. Great story and great narration. I'm looking forward to listening to the next books in this series.
ETA - The column is up - you can find the review here

How to Flirt With A Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi - B-. I like Amanda Ronconi's narration but I don't think this story is as strong as the Jane Jameson books. There's also a little problem with the timeline - it's clear that there were aren't "out" in this book as they are in the JJ books, but all of the books sound like they are set "now". However, there is a reference in this one to "Specialty Books" from JJ - to make it fit together, this story has to be set some years before the Jane Jameson books, before the were and vampires made their existence public. The reference to Specialty Books could have been totally deleted and the story would have lost nothing and then I wouldn't have been confused.
The story actually started off a bit "women's fiction-y" for my tastes but I enjoyed it a lot better once Mo's romance with Cooper heated up. Speaking of heat, I thought this one was a little more spicy than the JJ books, which I quite liked actually. I'll be happy to listen to another werewolf book but Jane's books are the best so far.

New York To Dallas, by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B. This is the first full length In Death story I have listened to on audio first - usually I read the paper version - but I decided to step out of my usual routine here. I found it to be another enjoyable installment in the series but it wasn't the best that I've read or listened to. Isaac McQueen has escaped from prison. Known as "the Collector" at the time of his arrest (by Rookie Officer Eve Dallas), he was responsible for the abduction, rape and torture of some 26 girls and the murder of an unknown number of women. Isaac wants revenge on Eve and when he escapes he draws her to Dallas where he has nefarious plans. Eve and Roarke go together to consult with the Dallas police and try and save his recent abductee. While there, Eve has to further confront her past and makes a stunning discovery. Roarke, for the first time, feels helpless and at a loss (these were my favourite bits - oh, the angst!). I have come to realise that I enjoy the parts of the series where Roarke is emotionally tortured however, so I wonder what that says about me!! Of necessity, this book lacked much of the usual secondary characters like Peabody, McNab, Mavis etc. and I did miss them a bit. A very good book, but I'd rate Treachery in Death higher for story. As always, very well narrated by the superb Susan Ericksen.

The Kowalksis by Shannon Stacey

2011-09-25T22:06:00.000-09:30

Undeniably Yours (Kowalskis #2) by Shannon Stacey - B- I know, I know. It's the second book, why, you may ask, did I list it first? Well, it's because I read it first - I got confused which one was first and I went with the date it landed on my reader - which is actually quite different to publication date, as I got this from NetGalley (I bought it later also because I forgot I had it - but I don't regret it which may tell you something). Anywho, it didn't really matter that I started in the middle. The books are all stand alone and even though they feature some recurring characters, I don't think I missed anything by reading book 2 first. Anywho, this is Kevin's book. Burned by a cheating spouse, he's nevertheless ready to settle down. He meets Beth, who gets the idea he's a player, but in spite of that, they have a one night stand anyway - too much chemistry. Kevin would happily have explored a relationship but Beth rabbits. Then, she finds out that she's pregnant - condoms aren't 100% effective and they hit the jackpot. Refreshingly, she goes and tells Kevin straight away and they then set about working out what relationship they will have as the pregnancy progresses. The conflict in this one is believable enough - does Kevin want to be with Beth because she's pregnant with his child or because she's Beth? I liked this one quite a but but I found myself getting a little frustrated with Beth being a bit slow on the uptake and so the ending dragged a little for me. I really think I could have used one more love scene too. The secondary romance between Paulie and her ex felt a little underdone to me. Also, I kept seeing the King of Queens guy everytime I read Kevin, which kept me from relating to his actual level of hotness!! :)

Exclusively Yours (Kowalksis #1) by Shannon Stacey - B. I think this is the pick of the bunch for me. They are all very good but this one just edges out the other 2 IMO. I enjoyed that the author clearly knew of what she spoke when it came to four wheeling and camping trips and the "tick checks" the adults required away from sensitive children's eyes and ears. I liked the secondary story with Evan and Terry and the third (thirdary?) story (which was only a little bit but just enough) with Mike and Lisa. I really like that some of the Kowalskis were already paired up and that the book showed all sorts of relationships in various states of being. Joe and Keri were not yoru average h/h as they were both "pushing 40" so that was a refreshing change too. Overall, this was a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

Yours to Keep (Kowalskis #3) by Shannon Stacey - B/B-. This was a funny, sexy, if slightly improbable story - (fake fiance for a month to save grandma's feelings) charting the romance between Sean, a Kowalski cousin (there are like 4 other single Kowalskis out there now people, so we may have more books in this series!!) and Emma Shaw, a good friend of Lisa Kowalski. I would have liked a little more about how Evan and Terry were going - there was just a mention that they were continuing with the marriage counselling but that is a small niggle really. I enjoyed the sweet secondary romance between Emma's grandmother and an older gentleman from the neighbourhood. So long as you can get past the set up which really, is a bit out there, it's a fun enjoyable book, filled with cute post-it notes from Sean.

In summary: If you like funny, sexy contemporary romance, you'll probably like this series. I certainly did!

Since the Surrender by Julie Anne Long

2011-09-14T19:45:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: I'm trying to space out my glom, but after reading the first book in the Pennyroyal Green series (The Perils of Pleasure), it was really only a matter of time til I got to this one (which is book 3).

What it's about: (from Goodreads). A MAN OF ACTION ... Fearless. Loyal. Brilliant. Ruthless. Bold words are always used to describe English war hero Captain Chase Eversea, but another word unfortunately plays a role in every Eversea's destiny: trouble. And trouble for Chase arrives in the form of a mysterious message summoning him to a London rendezvous ... where he encounters the memory of his most wicked indiscretion in the flesh: Rosalind March --- the only woman he could never forget.

A WOMAN OF PASSION ... Five years ago, the reckless, charming beauty craved the formidable Captain's attention. But now Rosalind is a coolly self-possessed woman, and desire is the last thing on her mind: her sister has mysteriously disappeared and she needs Chase's help to find her. But as their search through London's darkest corners re-ignites long-smoldering passion and memories of old battles, Chase and Rosalind are challenged to surrender: to the depths of a wicked desire, and to the possibility of love.

What worked for me: In short, just about everything. It was funny and romantic and sexy but it also had depth. With lovely writing and great characters, this book was one of those books you kind of just sigh into - with a combination of relief, anticipation and pleasure. I really enjoy Long's humour and I had quite a few laugh out loud moments when reading this book. I am so wishing that they are released as audiobooks (with an excellent narrator of course!) because I think they would translate so well into that medium. I've made a suggestion to Tantor, so fingers crossed others will join me and there'll be enough interest to make it so.
Chase and Rosalind have somewhat of a history but neither of them were really really bad - just awfully tempted. This makes it much easier to like each of them and to barrack for their HEA - it would have been much more difficult for me had they crossed that line.
What probably made the book for me was Chase - he (not unlike my husband actually) has a phobia of puppets and those moments were so funny ("Dear God. Did everyone like puppets? What was wrong with the world?")- it was needed because the subject matter - missing sister caught up in nefarious goings had the potential to make this a pretty heavy read (there are more girls than just Rosalind's sister missing).
I was going to write that the dialogue was pretty special in this one but that's not quite right. The parts that struck me the most were Chase's internal dialogue, like this:

When his brother had urged You ought to marry, Chase! somehow he had never considered the possiblity that he'd be soundly rejected once he'd decided that, yes, indeed, he ought to. Colin made it sound as though it was something that anyone could do. "You ought to go to Brighton". That sort of thing.

or this

He suspected he was doomed to see her metaphorically in everything from now on. Apples. The backs of women in crowds. The shapes of clouds. Bad paintings. The color green.

Probably not marionettes.

While my favourite parts were those that amused, there was depth and poignancy to the story too. Chase had been lost since Waterloo. He's got almost constant pain from the leg injury he sustained in the battle and he doesn't know what to do with his life anymore. He can't be a soldier anymore because of his injury but he doesn't know where he belongs. While it's not explicitly stated, it seems he suffered from some kind of PTSD/depression following the awful (albeit victorious) events of Waterloo. Mixed in with that is his very deep guilt for being attracted by the wife of his superior officer.

There really is something for everyone in this book. There's humour (including the puerile - there's a group of men who give themselves nicknames like O. McCaucus-Bigg - say it out loud and you'll get it), there's action, there's some smokin' hot scenes where Chase describes certain acts to Rosalind (he's not even doing them - not yet anyway - but oh my!) and there is a well deserved happy ending. And there's puppets.

What didn't: To be honest, I can't recall anything specific that I didn't like about the book. It was a couple of weeks ago that I read it but I didn't note anything down at the time. I'm sure there was some little thing but, overall, I thought this was pretty wonderful.

What else? It's a rare and wonderful thing when an author can make a love scene both sexy and funny. And, because I can't resist another quote:-

She did momentarily graceless battle with the furlongs of his linen shirt, and it began to feel like a cruel magician's trick, the one where scarves were pulled for an eternity ot of a false-bottomed had, and he choked out a laugh."

Grade: A

Amor en Retrogrado by AM Riley

2011-09-08T07:00:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: It was recommended by various other m/m readers and I wanted to give this author a try.

What it's about: (here's the blurb from Goodreads) In the year since JD Ryan, Robert Lemos's life partner, packed his bags and moved out, Robert has been in a painful daze, anesthetizing himself with work. Then one rainy night, he gets a call that his ex has been beaten and shot in a parking lot outside a gay dance club. JD is in critical condition and the man who was with him is dead. Robert rushes to JD's bedside to find him recovering from the gunshot wound but suffering from retrograde amnesia. As JD slowly regains his memories, he recalls everything except the circumstances of the murder, and the reasons why he left Robert. He remembers their love, and seems determined to reconcile. It's the miracle Robert's been hoping for.Interference comes from all sides. Detective Bill Turner, who seems to have too personal an interest in JD, pegs Robert as the primary suspect in the shooting. Robert's best friend, police Captain Gabe Lara, seems to feel that Robert is better off without JD. Even JD's returning memory seems to conspire against Robert. And as the detectives track down the killer, Robert helplessly waits for JD to recall the truth of their relationship and leave him yet again. But if they survive the investigation, they just might find love in retrograde.

What worked for me: It's probably best if I start with what didn't work and then backtrack.

What didn't: On Goodreads, next to the title is (Bill Turner #1). I guess, seeing that, I thought that the book was about Bill Turner. But, it isn't, not really. He's a character in it but the male leads are JD and Robert. The book starts with Bill being called to a crime scene where JD has been injured. There is a minor romance (kind of) in the book about Bill - he's in an on again/off again and extremely closeted relationship with someone called Christopher - but it's more filling in the story and not the point of it. I wondered why Bill was made so significant. Maybe it's me, but this threw me a bit - I spent the first part of the book trying to fit Bill into a relationship with one of the other main characters and I couldn't and then it turned out I didn't have to.

There were some editing problems within the story (eg Bill is alternatively called Bill Turner or Bill Tanner) and some strange formatting which was a bit offputting also. But mostly, I just had trouble working out exactly where Bill fit into the story. The suspense element of the story wasn't entirely clear to me either. Perhaps I was supposed to be wondering whether one of the secondary characters was a good guy or a bad guy but in the end, I didn't quite follow exactly what he ended up being.

What else?: That said, the relationship between JD and Robert, told as it was, in a series of flashbacks, was emotional and compelling in its intensity. There was an air of melancholy throughout their narrative which was like crack to me. Those were the parts of the book I enjoyed best. The writing is beautiful here and the flawed desperation of these characters is engrossing. The flashbacks were told from Robert's POV and it was for him I had the most sympathy - right up until the end, where JD makes a stunning revelation which completely changed my picture of Robert and I then lost most (if not all) of my sympathy for him. As a reader, I felt a bit betrayed by this, I must admit.

What then, am I left with? There were things about the book which bothered me but there were other parts of the book which were just to beautiful and... compelling to me. I loved some of it, was annoyed and occasionally confused by other bits and in the end, I felt let down because I had thought Robert was... not quite so flawed. I guess because I cared that much about it, that the essential love story was a success but the extraneous bits were mostly just distracting. I will definitely read this author again because the good parts were oh so good, but in the end, after vacilating quite a bit on the grade, I'm going with:-

Grade: C+

August Reads

2011-09-01T06:00:00.002-09:30

on Paper/eBook

Hell by Jet Mykles - B. I enjoyed it but came to notice that the Heaven Sent series is told in deep 3rd person POV and mostly from just one of the main characters. This means that the other "hero" is harder to know. This is Brent and Hell's story but it was mostly about Brent. Hell was pretty much a cipher but I thought there was probably a lot more to know about him - I just didn't get a chance. I didn't trust the HEA as much either because by the end, Brent still hadn't really talked to Hell about why he'd been struggling so much which didn't bode well for the future IMO.

Feisty Little Firecracker by Jet Mykles. Sexy interlude between Brent and Hell - not really a story so not graded, but fun anyway.

Faith by Jet Mykles - B+. I really like how the band members are distinct characters and stay that way through this series. Johnnie is charismatic, Luc is pushy, Brent is shy and stands back and Darien is garrulous but uses it to hide his vulnerability. Because Darien is the joker of the group, this book as more humour to it. Darien certainly has a way with words and some of the sex scenes had me laughing out loud as he was "telling it like it is". I would have liked more of Chris though and I suppose there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief given that Darien was pretty into girls before this book - but then, the whole series is a bit like that! I don't actually think that sexuality can be exchanged liked an outfit but as a story, as politically incorrect as it might be, it's still fun to read.

Sly Spectral Trick by Jet Mykles - B+ I graded this one because it had a (little bit of a) story too. The best of the 4 available shorts IMO.

Genesis by Jet Mykles - B. This is really 4 short stories (one for each of the previous couples) combined into one book, all set over New Year's Eve. I liked it.

Revelations by Jet Mykles -C-.I didn't buy it I'm afraid. I didn't like how high handed and sly Archer was and I didn't believe the grovel at the end. I didn't like how he moved in and was unemployed at the end (sponge alert!) and I wasn't sure how the triad was going to work in the long term. I think this is the weakest of the series by far. However, the sex was hot and it was nice to see the band again.

The Mischief of the Mistletoe (or: Away in a Manger: A Very Turnip Wedding Night) by Lauren Willig - B. Cute short scene set at the end of The Mischief of the Mistletoe as a result of plea for readers for a love scene for Turnip. I've never read any of Willig's work before but this story was pretty cute. The cover was designed by a member of the Bitchery (Smart Bitches Trashy Books) after a competition and Willig agreed to write the scene once there was a cover. It was amusing and it probably would have been a lot funnier if I understood the references to puddings.

**pick of the month**
Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton - A. see full review here.
**pick of the month**

Turn it Up by Inez Kelley - B+. Good, sexy friends to lovers story which lost me just a bit near the end - I'm not a fan of the 'big mis' and I thought it belied the friendship and great communication they had demonstrated up til then. Also, *mildly spoilerish* where infertility is an issue, I don't like miracle cures. It's one of those areas where the romance fantasy just feels insulting IMO.

Bound by Deception by Ava March - B. Sexy historical m/m short about two good friends. One finds out the other goes to a male prostitute each month and then decides to take the prostitute's place for a chance to be intimate with the man he secretly loves.

Bound to Him by Ava March - B. The continuing story of Vincent and Oliver. How awful it must have been to have to hide being gay and to be unable to publicly admit to one's feelings for the love of your life? I know it's better now (mostly it's not illegal at least) but how much better?

Deliberately Unbound (Bound #2.5) by Ava March. A sexy interlude between Vincent and Oliver available free from the author's website.

Bound Foreever by Ava March - B. The boys work on their communication and plan to be together forever (within the bounds of society's dictates that is).

Deliberately Bound (Bound #3.5) by Ava March. More sexytimes for Oliver and Vincent where things get, er, changed up a bit, shall we say? Also, I am now sick of the word "placket".

Amor en Retrogrado by AM Riley - C+/B-. Watch for a full review to come. I'm having trouble settling on a grade because... oh, you'll just have to come back to find out!

Life Lessons by Kaje Harper - B. Enjoyable gay RS about a deeply closeted cop and a teacher who finds a body at his school. Layered and emotional and just a bit different. I didn't like how Mack kept calling Tony "kid" or thinking of him as a boy all the time - Tony is 24 so definitely not a kid. Thanks to Chris for recommending this series!

And To All A Goodnight (Life Lessons #1.5) by Kaje Harper - B-. Short and tame Christmas novella available free from Smashwords set about 3 months or so after the end of book 1. Shows the way the relationship is evolving and that Tony is becoming increasingly stifled living in Mac's closet (ha! stifled, geddit! :D). It's a bridge to book 2 rather than a story of it's own I think.

Breaking Cover (Life Lessons 2) by Kaje Harper - A. Better than book 1, this book tells the continuing story of Mac and Tony. Really good, sexy, emotional, real and tender. I think this writer has developed her skill since publishing her first book (as much as I liked it, this one was just that much better I thought). I'm also very glad that Mac stopped calling Tony "kid"! I liked how not everything was all sparkly butterflies - Mac's fears about being a cop and coming out were based in reality but he got to a point where the cost of not doing so were too great. Really, this is a very good book. I do think the series should be read in order however. I love Mac and Tony and hope to read about them some more in the future. If I hadn't already read Between Sinners and Saints this month, this one probably would have been my pick of the month. Also, now I'd like to go to Minnehaha Park.

Timing by Mary Calmes - B/B-. Stefan's best friend Charlotte is getting married - he's the Man of Honour at the wedding. Unfortunately, it also means that he's likely to bump into Charlotte's brother Rand - they've had a hate/hate relationship right from the start.
I found this a little hard to grade. Parts of it were very good and funny and sexy but some were just odd. For example, what was up with Nick? The suspense subplot was a bit WTF and unncessary and the beginning with Rand and Stef was a bit strange. Still, I enjoyed the story overall and most of the characters and the part at the end about Phil and the petting zoo!

Lies and Consequences by Kaje Harper B-/C+. The author offers this self published story free from Smashwords. I'm not sure whether she wrote it before Life Lessons or not. There's a bit too much going on in this story and some of it was pretty improbable - Romantic suspense high on the melodrama. Still I liked the style and the voice and the characters and the editing was pretty darn good for a self published freebie. I've read way worse stories I've paid good money for, so this was really a nice surprise. It's 240 pages long, so it's quite substantial.

AJ's Angel by LA Witt - C+. Luke and Sebastian split up 4 years earlier after Sebastian finally kicked him to the curb for being a serial cheater. Now Luke turns up in Sebastian's tattoo parlour asking him to ink him with a picture of a name and the initial's "AJ".
Infidelity is a difficult subject to do well I think. I needed a bit more to believe in Luke's transformation and the scan information in the epilogue wasn't enough to satisfy. It was really the cheating thing I didn't like - otherwise I liked the writing style and the characters (well, apart from Luke's history of being a cheating cheater that is) well enough.

Bandicoot Cove series - Vivian Arend, Lexxie Couper and Jess Dee - a review of this series will be forthcoming at ARRA. Once it's gone up, I'll post it on the blog and to Goodreads. Overall, I'd grade the series around the C mark. (Also can I just say, they're all in a row in the "design" section of Blogger. grrr.)

on Audio

Demon by Kristina Douglas, narrated by Karen White and Paul Costanzo - D+/C- **an edited version of this review appears at All About Romance in the Speaking of Audiobooks column 22 August 2011 and will also be on the SOA Group's minishelves**

Demon is book 2 in Kristina Douglas’ Fallen series, the follow up to Raziel. *spoilers for Raziel*. At the end of the first book, Azazel’s beloved Sarah has been killed and in his grief, he leaves Sheol. Demon picks up 5 years later when Azazel locates ”the Lillith” (aka Rachel, who has no memory of Lillith) a demon who, according to folklore kills babies and seduces men when she’s not having sex with beasts. He’s been watching her for 2 years and he plans on killing her. There is a prophecy which says that Azazel will marry the Lillith and rule Hell and bear a new generation of Fallen.
Azazel, stuck in his grief for Sarah’s loss, wants to make sure the prophecy fails. He sets Rachel up for the Nephilim to kill but balks at the last minute. 2 more years go by and Azazel finds out that the Lillith may know the whereabouts of Lucifer, the one Fallen who may be able to defeat Uriel, their very bad boss. So, he goes and finds Rachel again and is intent on discovering her forgotten secrets.
I didn’t like it. Sorry. The narration was fine. My problem were with the story. I found myself, throughout the listen saying “why?”. Why did Rachel’s hair change colour? Why did Azazel come back for her after he’d left her to the Nephilim? Why did Rachel still want him after his awful betrayal with the Truthtakers? Also, I asked, “what?”. What is Rachel? Throughout the book she was a demon, no longer a demon, a human, a human with the demon inside her, a human who used to have a demon. I still don’t know. I didn’t get the connection between Azazel and Rachel - the why of their relationship. They hated each other - Rachel certainly had a number of very good reasons to hate Azazel. Then suddenly they love each other. And, “All right, I’m sorry” was nowhere near enough of a grovel for what Azazel needed to atone for. I’m not sure what would have been actually.
I never had a handle on the why and the what and the how and so I struggled to finish this one. Most of the book was from Rachel’s perspective and Karen White’s narration was very good but it wasn’t enough to elevate the problems I had with the story. Paul Costanzo was okay – a little better than in Raziel I think – although Azazel was described as “cold” for most of the book, so a certain lack of emotionality was to be expected.

To Die For by Linda Howard, narrated by Franette Liebow - B+. This is a really funny book and once I got over the weird accent that the narrator used for Blair, it was a really funny and rewarding audiobook. But the accent took a bit of getting over. I think that by the end of the book the narrator had toned it down a bit and deepened Blair's voice slightly which was an improvement. However, she got the humour spot on and she absolutely nailed the hero, J. Wyatt Bloodsworth. I'd recommend persevering if the accent puts you off - it's worth it.

Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard, narrated by Joyce Bean - B. This is the second Blair and Wyatt book. It's good but much of the humour has already been done in the first book, so it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. That said, it is still a hoot. I had an alarming tendency to mix up Blair and Mac (from KMM's Fever series) as Joyce Bean narrated the this one and the first 3 in the other series and they both have Southern accents. In the end, I have to say that I thought Liebow did Wyatt better but the accents didn't grate at all with this narrator. I suspect I would have enjoyed this one even better had I waited a little between it and To Die For - a little Blair goes a long way! :)

Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard, narrated by Laura Hicks - B-.Just a bit dated now but nevertheless enjoyable. This despite the narrator using a voice for the heroine that sounded a lot like Lois from Family Guy. The audio made Jaine's anger management problems more obvious.

Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong, narrated by Charles Leggett - B+. Watch for my forthcoming review over at AAR.

No Man's Mistress by Mary Balogh, narrated by Rosalyn Landor - B. Watch for my forthcoming review over at AAR.

Nice Girls Don't Live Forever by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi - B. This narrator is so good! She makes a funny book even funnier. There was more romance in this one, thank God and I think I benefited from having a small break between the second and third book in the series. I'm not sure I totally bought the reason Gabriel had been so reluctant to tell Jane what was going on and I didn't really like how his shortfall seemed to be blamed on Jane in the end ("you weren't ready to hear it") but nevertheless a very enjoyable listen.

Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton

2011-08-21T18:47:00.001-09:30

Why I read it: I adored Ms. Sexton's Coda series. She's become an autobuy for me.

What it's about: (from Goodreads) Levi Binder is a Miami bartender who cares about only two things: sex and surfing. Ostracized by his Mormon family for his homosexuality, Levi is determined to live his life his own way, but everything changes when he meets massage therapist Jaime Marshall. Jaime is used to being alone. Haunted by the horrors of his past, his only friend is his faithful dog, Dolly. He has no idea how to handle somebody as gorgeous and vibrant as Levi. Complete opposites on the surface, Levi and Jaime both long for something that they can only find together. Through love and the therapeutic power of touch, they’ll find a way to heal each other, and they’ll learn to live as sinners in a family of saints.

What worked for me: I actually hadn't read the blurb before I started reading the book. The fact that it was contemporary and written by Marie Sexton was enough for me. This is a beautiful book. That's the word that comes to mind when I think about the overall experience. Levi Binder (rhymes with cinder) is, in his own way, almost as broken at Jaime - at its heart, it is, I think, a story about redemption through love.   Levi works as a bartender at The Zone, a gay bar where he hooks up, sometimes multiple times in a night, with a parade of nameless, faceless men. He doesn't do relationships and he's not close to anyone.    He is estranged from his devoutly Mormon family because he's gay and his promiscuous lifestyle emphasises the rift between he and his family.
Jaime on the other hand is much more quietly alone - a survivor of sexual abuse as a child, he keeps apart from people, finding it very difficult to be touched and to trust. (It might seem strange that such a person is a massage therapist, but it is really quite well explained in the book - he has control as the therapist - he's the one doing the touching, and the touching isn't sexual in nature - he doesn't really see a person, rather, a collection of muscles, ligaments and tendons which need treatment. So, he's touching others without really feeling, without being touched at all.)
When they first meet, Levi hits on Jaime quite aggressively and Jaime is terrified. This gets through to Levi in a way that nothing ever has before and he makes a heartfelt apology and they start a friendship - with no ulterior motives, which is a first for Levi, as much as it is for Jaime, albeit for different reasons.
Interwoven in their burgeoning relationship is the relationship between Levi and his family. Of necessity, the book goes fairly heavily into the Mormon religion and there is a strong religious overtone to the book - it's not preachy or anything, but God and faith and church doctrine play a major part in the story. I felt it was a brave move by the author - religion is often a sticky subject and, perhaps, Mormonism is perhaps slightly more problematic because of the perception that they are a bit, er, out there in their beliefs and practices. Levi addresses it himself in the book actually - he makes a comment about how as soon as people hear he was a raised a Mormon, they ask him about polygamy and the TV show "Big Love". When Levi came out to his parents, they tried to get him to "pray the gay away" and when that didn't work, their solution was for Levi to be celibate his whole life. Not surprisingly, Levi rebels against this idea. Extremely hurt by the abandonment of his family and the conditions on what he thought was supposed to be unconditional, he adopts a lifestyle designed to grate on his family's last nerve.
As Levi and Jaime become closer, Levi starts to put Jaime's needs first. He sees Jaime's need for family and connection and introduces Jaime to his family for his (Jaime's) benefit - as they are (at this point) only friends, there is no problem from his family with him doing this. Levi's family is large and there are various points of view regarding Levi's "gayness" - from, the church doctrine is wrong and being gay is okay, to it's okay to be gay but not promiscuous, and I'm so sick of hearing about it, can we not talk about it anymore? and to no way, gay is wrong wrong wrong. In the course of painful family "confabs" we see all the different points of view. I thought Ms. Sexton quite cleverly put these viewpoints across - they were entirely consistent with the characters as drawn and didn't come across as some kind of social commentary. But it also showed very clearly the tension that really exists for believers (of any religion really) where the religion dictates that homosexuality is wrong but also preaches love and family. When my son was young, I couldn't get him to eat (much at all but in particular red meat) and he became iron deficient. The paediatrician told me to make sure I fed him red meat or he'd be ill. He also told me not to "make food a war". I got mad. I said, "well, what do you want - do you want him to eat red meat or not have a war - because I can't do both!". He conceded I had a point and for a while there was war and such interesting dishes as shaved steak in yoghurt... but I digress. My point is, sometimes things seem mutually exclusive and extremely difficult to reconcile. It's not as easy as just saying that what someone believes is wrong. There's more to it than that - even if, ultimately, it happens to be true (that they are wrong I mean).    I very much liked how Levi's desire to be connected to his family kept him coming back even though he felt he was on a hiding to nothing. The reverse was also true of course.   Enter Jaime. It becomes apparent to some members of Levi's family (before Levi fully realises it himself) that Levi is in love with Jaime. And for some of his family that makes all the difference - as difficult as they found his "gayness" to deal with, his promiscuity made it impossible for them to give him support. As he gets closer to Jaimie and changes his lifestyle in order to be a better man and what Jaime needs, he draws to a place where his family can begin to compromise and accept him for who he is and who he loves.    I felt Levi's frustration when he was the centre of the family confab - when he was asked over and over again to do something that could not be done - stop being gay (or, at the very least, give up gay sex). Part of me wondered why he kept coming back, but the other part of me understood - families - let's face it, they get away with what no-one else will.

But, the real beauty of the book was Jaime and Levi. Jaime was such a wounded soul and seeing him come out of his shell and blossom in Levi's care was so lovely.   Watching Levi become the man who does this - who wanted too, who could, was lovely too. Levi realises that Jaime may never be able to be a sexual partner for him but loves him anyway. He is patient and kind and manages not to be a martyr in the process. Because Levi and Jaime had spent time becoming good friends, Jaime is able to trust Levi and he learns many things about himself and his fears and how strong he is. What Jaime went through as a child is not something that could be fixed by a "mighty wang of lovin'" and it was nice that we were shown that it was not all wine and roses in the bedroom once Jaime and Levi started to get physical. They had to learn and talk and adjust and sometimes it all went wrong but they kept being patient and kind to one another and worked through it. There would always be some triggers for Jaime but that he would not longer be crippled by what had happened to him as a young boy.

All of the above makes it sound like the book is heavy going but while angsty, it does have it's lighter moments too, like this one where Jaime is reflecting that he was glad Levi had offered to teach him to surf:-

He'd wished many times he knew how... ...He also wasn't sure where to go to avoid running into some type of surfer gang. He'd seen Point Break and while he suspected it was nothing but Hollywood bullshit, he didn't exactly want to find out the hard way he was wrong.

And Jaime, while broken and scarred was no pushover. He was very clear about his boundaries and he could (and did) stand up for himself. He needed Levi yes but he wasn't pathetic. And in different ways, Levi needed Jaime just as much. As protective of Jaime as Levi was, I didn't feel the relationship was uneven - what Jaime brought to Levi was just as precious. And they were both guys and they did guy things and had guy conversations - they were whole characters and so much more than their own traumas.

What didn't: I understood why the book ended where it ended, but personally, I would have liked to have had the whole scene.

What else? All in all, I think I have done a poor job of explaining why reading this book was such a wonderful experience and the beauty of Levi and Jaime together. You really just need to read it and I think you'll get what I've been trying to say.

Grade: A

July Reads

2011-08-02T06:00:00.002-09:30

On Paper/eBook

The Chronicles of the Warlands series by Elizabeth Vaughan - A- - see my review of the series so far here

Do Over by Mari Carr -B-. This is a very romantic short about a husband's 25th anniversary gift/weekend to his wife. The cover images didn't feel right to me - she's much too young, but he at least has some gray in his hair! At only 72 pages, I was easily able to read it in one sitting. The thing which didn't quite gel with me was that it was also a sexy story and I didn't feel the romance (and it was very romantic!) "fit" with the hot sexxoring. I enjoyed both individual aspects of the story but I didn't think they meshed all that well. It was nice to read a story about a slightly older couple who are happily married but wanting to reconnect and get the sizzle back after their children have left home.

Sweet Possession by Maya Banks -B. I'd put off reading this one after I read a couple of disappointed reviews. Much to my surprise then, I really enjoyed the romance aspect of this book. Just to change it up, there are only 2 people in the bed this time - Lyric and Connor - but that didn't mean it wasn't smokin'. The "suspense" subplot was really non existent and just an excuse for the characters to get together. Because I'm in it for the romance, I wasn't too bothered by this but there really isn't anything suspenseful about this story. Connor has always been the non-kinky straight arrow of the group so I liked that he remained true to his well established character and I enjoyed the interplay between both the girls and the guys. I think it does have, possibly, one of the "guyest" declarations I've ever read:

"If you're asking me to explain how or why people fall in love, you're barking up the wrong tree. I watched all my friends fall hard for the women in their lives. I secretly thought they were all morons. They completely lost their shit. I never understood it. Until now. Now, I can see exactly what they were thinking and feeling. Because I've completely lost my shit over you."

Ah, Connor - a man with a style all his own! :D
I like the cover, but I think she must be standing on a box because in the book, the top of Lyric's head reaches to just under Connor's chin. Just sayin'.

Magic Mourns by Ilona Andrews, from Must Love Hellhounds Anthology - B+. This is the story of how Andrea and Raphael finally got together and explains a little more about Teddy Jo and apples of immortality. A fun story for fans of the series. The sharpie scene was funny and Raphael's reaction was just perfectly him. I do love Raphael!

** Pick of the Month **
The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long - A. What a delightful book! I'd been a bit put off by the title but I've heard so many good things about this author, I finally decided to give her a try. When I was able to pick this book up on a $2.99 e-special, I thought the risk was low. I'm so glad I did. The story was very good and not the usual - the hero is a "Mr" and the heroine actually worked for a living (shock, horror). I very much enjoyed the wit and charm of the story and the characters and the style of the writing. Here's a taste.

She looked as though she'd been ravished. He doubted she would welcome the observation.

"You look as though you've been ravished," he said, as he was in a mood to make unwelcome observations.

I enjoyed how many of the standard romance tropes were turned on their heads - a very capable older, experienced woman (I didn't see an actual age mentioned but she would have had to have been around 30 I believe which is quite old for a heroine in 1820) who saves the hero (he saves her too of course, as heroes are wont to do) for example. It's also a "road trip" story and the characters are together for almost the whole book, so there's plenty of interaction and dialogue and being shown the how and why these characters fall in love. It's very, very good. I feel a glom coming on! :D It's my ** Pick of the Month ** for July.

Her 5 Favorite Words by Gina Gordon - B-. Cute sexy short (very short) about "love in an elevator". I enjoyed the humour of the ending. Only 12 pages, so it's good if you only have a few minutes.

Coming Clean by Inez Kelley - B+ Very good sexy short story about married couple Vivi and Grant and their best friend Cade. Vivi has a fantasy of being with Grant and Cade together and Grant has a secret (or not so secret) longing for Cade too (although he struggles with a "bi" or "gay" label - the only male he's interested in is Cade. Cade is openly bisexual and has long had a thing for both of his friends. Even though the book is only 92 pages, there is plenty of character in there for my money and I really enjoyed the negotiation between the 3 of how things were going to work. I liked the dialogue and the various connections shown between the three - it felt equal as opposed to the men only being linked via the woman for example and many of their believable fears were dealt with during the course of the story. I must say that where I read a menage story m/f/m I like them much better when there is m/m interaction too and this one delivered - oh boy howdy did it! *fans self* It was hot and romantic and sexy and all this in only 92 pages! I was enjoying the threesome so much I would have liked to read more about them. I wonder where they'd be a year on? I think there are other books in the Dirty Laundry series I'm going to have to check out.

Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long - B+. Another enjoyable story from Ms. Long. From what I've read and reviews of the other books in the series, I think I can rely on her to deliver a good story. This one didn't work quite as well for me as The Perils of Pleasure, but it was still very good. Miles was an interesting alpha-in-beta-clothes type character IMO (and quite yummy) and Cynthia was sympathetically drawn - she could have come across as merely a gold-digger - and on the surface that's exactly what she was, but she had honour and she had very good reasons for her behaviour. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and that left me just a little bit flat at the end. Still, it was a very good book.

Heaven Can't Wait by Pamela Clare (I-Team 1.5) - C+. An amusing little e-only story about Lissy and Will which takes place after book 1 of the series. The characters don't appear much in subsequent books though. The story follows the 2 weeks prior to Lissy & Will's wedding where, on a bet, born from fears planted by Lissy's not-very-nice mother, they abstain from sex. Enjoyable enough but not earth-shaking or anything.

Grace Under Fire by Jackie Barbosa - D+/C-. Lady Grace is chosen by best friends Lord Colin Fitzgerald and Atticus Stillwell to be their woman - she will marry Colin and bear his heirs (regardless of the actual father) but the two men will share her affections. Improbable and not very romantic story - it was more erotica than romance IMO, even though there was a HEA. The beginning was very much like a transaction rather than a romance - I don't know why they chose Grace and I didn't believe it was more than lust (combined with the need for Colin to produce an heir) actually. It lacked any real character development even if it was only 53 pages. There was no relationshp between Grace and the two men shown to me and I didn't think it was remotely realistic. Their amorous activities were very adventurous for innocent virgin Grace but she seemed to take it in stride - somewhat remarkable given the level of, er, penetration and the lack of preparation. It made me a bit uncomfortable actually (and not just physically!).

Now A Bride by Mary Balogh - C. Not so much a story as a collection of deleted scenes and a series epilogue. The latter did not really add anything meaningful to the story. and I'm not sure the deleted scenes did either - I think Balogh's editor was right in the first book as it turned out (although it is interesting to see the impact of good editing on a story). However, it was nice enough to revisit the characters. I am definitely looking forward to the new book however - how will Balogh make the pieces fit? I trust her to do it though.

Paradise Found by Hunter Raines - C. Okay story about a gay couple who are looking to spark something in their relationship. They meet another guy at a resort in Anguilla. Interesting idea but it fell flat in the execution for me. Also, I thought that Phillip's father was overly villainous and icky - it just wasn't necessary. I couldn't quite understand how Cameron and Mark were able to be together without actually talking for months on end either. It had promise but in the end it was just okay for me.

Again by Mary Calmes - B+. Noah and Dante have been together for a number of years but apart for 6 months at the start of the book. Dante has been undercover for the CIA for that time and Noah hasn't been able to contact him to tell him that his sister agreed to carry a child (her egg, Dante's sperm) for them and they were having a baby. When he meets Dante at the airport, he is kissing his (female) CIA partner and tells Noah that he's in love and can't be with him anymore. (It's not quite what you think but close.) The set up is improbable (there was a little bit of eye-rolling going on). BUT, the rest of the story, the characters, the dialogue, the little girl, the sex, was EXCELLENT that, I forgave it. Recommended. Just go with it - it's worth it.

Heaven (Heaven Sent #1) by Jet Mykles - B+. Fellow m/m romance readers I've met online all seem to recommend Jet Mykles. Well, I finally took the plunge and now I know why. In fact, after reading this one, I immediately went and bought the rest of the series, including the little shorts sold only at Loose ID. This first book is about Johnnie Heaven, bisexual lead singer of Heaven Sent and his romance with (formerly entirely) straight Tyler Purcell, manager/owner of the hotel Heaven Sent is playing in for the nightclub opening. I love gay-for-you stories. I expect they are unrealistic (but, as a heterosexual woman I really have no idea) but I love love love them. The story is very emotive and sexy (oh boy is it!) and character driven and packs a punch even in only 96 pages (there may have been tears, not telling). I would have liked to have seen how Tyler came out to his family and friends though - it was a big deal for him but we are only shown the couple in an epilogue where it's already happened and all is well.

Pretty Red Ribbon (Heaven Sent #1.5 by Jet Mykles -The little shorts available from Loose ID are really just (very good and smokin') sex scenes. Told over 15 pages or so, there's not really a story or anything added to what we already know and is therefore a little hard to grade (so I'm not.). Still, I'm not complaining. *grin*

Purgatory (Heaven Sent #2) by Jet Mykles - B- This second book is about Luc Sloane (bass player for Heaven Sent) and Reese Schuyler. Reese and his twin sister Reegan are part of the original Heaven Sent fanbase and were friends with the band when they first started. After Reese comes on to Luc in a moment of "weakness" Luc pushes him away in disgust (he's not gay). The story picks up some 6 years later (after Luc has discovered that men are fun too) and Reese has "de-gayed" his life. He's teaching in a very respectable, conservative (stuck-up) school and leads a very straight life (in all senses of the word). Luc wants a chance to finish what Reese started 6 years earlier. This book is another enjoyable episode of the series but I didn't like Luc's methods of forcing change on Reese - the whole "I know what's best for you" and "you'll thank me for this later" (even if it happens, by serendipity to turn out to be true) generally doesn't work very well for me. That aside, the rest was very good.

Sexy Spring Surprise (Heaven Sent #2.5) by Jet Mykles -See my comments on Pretty Red Ribbon. And, may I just say? Rowr.

On Audio

Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh, narrated by Angela Dawe - B+. I must be getting used to Dawe's narration of this series because I found it much easier to forget about my narration niggles with this one. Caressed by Ice was one of my favourites on paper so I was very happy to revisit the story on audio. Very enjoyable.

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman - B+. See my review of the book here. As expected, Raudman did add something special to the story with her narration, although there were a couple of instances where Kate's voice was used for Curran's words and vice versa which was a bit distracting. I especially enjoyed the scenes with the Pack justice for the wolves and with Kate and Curran and the dvd! They were so good on paper but much more on audio. I did a more detailed audio review for AAR which you can find here.

Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman, from the Hexed anthology - B. This one is Jim and Dali's story and as much as I enjoyed it, I had hoped for just a little more in the romance department of this story - the bedroom door was securely shut sadly. As much as I liked Jim's declaration, it came right at the end of the story and there wasn't really any of them happy together which I missed. Also, I think Renee Raudman uses a different (more Asian sounding) voice for Dali (and a different Jim voice too) in the Kate Daniels books but it seemed to me that she was using pretty much her Kate Daniels voice for Dali here and her Curran voice for Jim. Maybe the Dali voice is hard to sustain because this story is told from Dali's first person POV. Coming right off listening to Magic Slays however, the voices were a bit too similar to Kate and Curran and it did throw me a little. It was those things which stopped the listen being an A for me. However, the story itself was very good - I like Dali and it was nice to see her save the day and Jim being the one in trouble for a change!

Black Ice by Anne Stuart, narrated by Jennifer Van Dyke - C. I didn't like the narration. I'm finding it hard to articulate exactly why. Ms. Van Dyke did good accents for the various characters and her Bastien voice was nice and deep. But, it felt, to me, like she was annoyed or something most of the way through the book. There was a rushed quality to the narration - the sentences were very close together, with hardly a pause and there was some quality about her tone which grated to my ears and kept me from fully enjoying the story. I'd heard a lot about this iconic book - the first sex scene has apparently caused much discussion about whether or not there was consent (I didn't have a problem with it - there was no force and she didn't say "no" whatever was going on in her head, if she had've said no and he ignored it, well that would be different, but she didn't, so, no problem for me, but I can see where others might disagree.). I've seen discussion about the ingenue heroine being TSTL - I thought she was quite consistently drawn really - for who she was, she made not entirely unreasonable decisions so that didn't bother me either. But, I didn't really see Bastien and Chloe fall in love. I saw attraction but nothing that would lead me to believe they could be happy in the long haul. I missed the "interlude" where they are happy together and learning each other and making plans - for me, it wasn't present in the book and that made me question the HEA. I think I may well have enjoyed this one much better on paper. The narrator really bugged me I'm afraid.

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi - A. This audiobook was a nice surprise for me - the writing was witty and snappy and really funny - I had many LOL moments during the listen and the narrator, Amanda Ronconi, was excellent. Recommended for those who like light and funny PNR.

Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi - B. I couldn't resist continuing on with the series after the success of the first book in the series. The wit and fun continue in this book but it wasn't quite as successful from a story point of view. Something is wrong with Gabriel and he's keeping secrets and acting suspicious. I had 2 problems with this - first, I would never in a million years let someone get away with that kind of behaviour for so long and say nothing so it felt a bit thin to me that Jane (who is otherwise very outspoken) wouldn't. It felt like it needed to happen to further the plot but not because it was true to the character. The other problem is that the issue was not resolved during this book. I suspect it is the main story of book 3 but it was a major part of the story in this book and for it to not be resolved AT ALL was disappointing. Still, the narration was again excellent and there were many laughs during the book. I think I will pause a little before listening to book 3 so it doesn't suffer from "glom fever".

Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank, narrated by Xe Sands -B. This book is the first one in Frank's Nightwalker series. I read the series a few years ago but had forgotten many of the details. The story itself is a fairly standard paranormal fated-mates romance, although some effort was made by Frank to have Jacob agonise about what he thought of as Bella's lack of free will. In a neat trick, Bella had decided she belonged with Jacob before knowing of their destiny - so she didn't have a problem. However, if you think about this too long, your brain starts to leak out your ear so I don't recommend it. It's a chicken/egg thing. I quite liked Jacob but I don't remember Bella's character annoying me when I read the book - I'm putting this down to changing tastes over time because the narration was excellent. I don't know how Xe (I've "chatted" with her at Goodreads, so I feel I can call her "Xe" :D) does it - but she's got this absolute deep gravelly thing going on for the male voices which are vastly different to the female voices and she can (seemingly effortlessly) shift between one and another in a conversation. She made a wonderful effort differentiating the accents and tones of each of the Nightwalkers which I particularly appreciated given the recent debate over Angela Dawe's narration of Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series (in short, she has one "hero" voice and it makes it very hard to differentiate the men - even more difficult in a series). I had no such problem with Xe's narration. I enjoyed the book in print a few years ago but I think if I read it now, I would probably give it a C. The narration was so good, it was neverless elevated to a B listen. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this narrator.

The Chronicles of the Warlands by Elizabeth Vaughan

2011-07-16T16:19:00.000-09:30

Warprize - A- This is a fantasy romance about Lara of Xy, a royal daughter and Keir, Warlord of the Plains. Lara is given as "warprize" to Keir as part of a peace deal between he and Xymund, King of Xy (Lara's half-brother). Xymund tells Lara she must be Keir's slave in order to ensure peace between the two peoples. Lara, despite being a princess, is also a sworn Healer and it is in her nature therefore to seek peace - not without some trepidation, she nevertheless goes to Keir, prepared to sacrifice herself for her people.
At heart, it is the story about the clash of two cultures and how they, through Lara and Keir find some common ground and a way forward together. The People of the Plains (called "Firelanders" by the Xy) are horse people and live a nomadic existence - (I imagined a Genghis/Attila type arrangement here, with a bit of Native American thrown in also). The Xy are city-dwellers - similar to medieval England but a bit more advanced. Unknown to Lara, Keir has a dream of uniting the two cultures for mutual benefit. Lara's understanding of the term "warprize" is incorrect - because the story is told from Lara's 1st person perspective, this "big misunderstanding" didn't bother me - in fact I was grateful for it. If Lara's understanding of the situation had been correct, it would have been very difficult for me to like Keir. However, his treatment of Lara is always honourable and I was very happy there was no "forced seduction" in this book. The story itself takes place over only a matter of days but this didn't really occur to me until after I'd finished reading the book - despite the short time frame, I did buy the feelings Keir and Lara had for each other and their HFN (I say HFN, because I knew there were other books featuring this couple and logic therefore tells me that there would be some future conflict to be resolved). The only thing that really bothered me was that there were occasionally words used which I felt didn't fit my image of the setting of the book - for example, when Lara says "I feel fantastic", it felt, to me, like those words didn't belong in the time period of the story - so there were a couple of occasions where I was thrown out of the story by the apparent anachronism. Of course, this is a made up world so Ms. Vaughan can use whatever words she chooses - they cannot be historically inaccurate. Still, there were a few times when I felt it jarred. It was something that I noticed (albeit with decreasing frequency) over the whole series.

Warsworn- B+. I'd call this book part 1 and Warlord part 2. I think I would have been really annoyed if I hadn't had the next book to go on with immediately. At the end of Warprize, Keir is returning with his warprize to the Heart of the Plains. By the end of Warsworn, they haven't even go their yet. So, where I expected to be, as set up by book 1, was not where I was, until the end of book 3. Keir and Lara continue to develop their relationship with each other and learn about one another's cultures. On the journey to the Heart, they come across a Xy village which has been ravaged by disease - such is unknown to the people of the Plains - it is an unseen foe and death from disease is not the honourable death of battle. Nevertheless, the Plains warriors soon find themselves in a battle against a deadly disease and not everyone will survive. I found the events of this book emotionally compelling, especially as I'd become quite attached to some of the secondary characters I'd met in the first book.

Warlord - B+/A-. Keir and Lara finally make it to the Heart of the Plains in this book, and must face opposition from the Council of the Elders and the Warrior-Priests to Lara's installation as Warprize. We find out more about Marcus, Keir's token-bearer and his bonded mate - I'm so looking forward to the (let's hope HEA for these two!). As much as I enjoyed it, I did feel there were a couple of conversations missing in the book - where, for example, was the conversation about babies with Keir? Where was the conversation about what happened to his other children? Still, I like Keir and Lara very much and was engrossed the whole time.

Warcry - A-/B+ This is the newest release - and instead of being a 1st person story told from Lara's perspective as the others had been, this one is in 3rd person, and is mainly the story of Heath and Atira. There is plenty of Keir and Lara for fans of the couple, but the perspective broadens in this one. Because I read the series back to back, it took a little getting used to but I came to appreciate the different perspectives - there was even a little from Keir's point of view! Lara and Keir have returned to Xy for the birth of their first child and there, they face continuing opposition to the alliance between the two peoples. I suppose there's not much different here in terms of story arc from the first book, but I was so happy with the characters and seeing Xy from Atira's point of view, I didn't feel a lack.

I'm so hoping there will be more to this series! I have questions - What will happen to Liam and Marcus? What was the light from the Heart? How is Simus? Will Keir become Warking? So, as much as I have enjoyed this series, I am left wanting - there must be one or maybe two books left for the story arc to be told, don't you think?

(ETA: I emailed Elizabeth Vaughan and she tells me there are 2 more books planned - one for Simus and one for Joden - one hopes that Liam and Marcus' story will be included in there somewhere too! Unfortunately, I don't think they've been written yet, so we have a bit of wait.)

Chronicles of the Warlands Series (to date) grade - A-

June Reads

2011-07-07T06:00:00.005-09:30

On Paper/eBook

Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh - B/B+ see full review here.

Whispers of Sin by Nalini Singh (from Burning Up anthology) - C+. Set in 2072, some years before Slave to Sensation (book 1 in the Psy-Changeling series), this is Ria and Emmett's story. It's funny to see Dorian so young! I thought it had an excellent start but it kind of fizzled a little for me by the end - I wonder if it's because the story, due to it's length, couldn't be fleshed out enough to satisfy - I wanted more Emmett!

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews - B+ I'd only listened to the audio version but decided to read the book in the lead up to the release of Magic Slays. Very, very good. I love this series. Curran. Rowr.

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews B+/A- see full review here.

When Tony Met Adam by Suzanne Brockmann C+/B- Well, the good news is that the bedroom door was open this time! :) I really enjoyed the beginning of the story but I felt it ended very abruptly and didn't give me the closure I wanted and the belief in the HEA. I know, from reading Hot Pursuit, that they were together some time later as Tony and Adam hooked up in New York (off page) during that book. For a story which was celebrating the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell, I thought it was odd that the celebration part was *mild spoiler* one paragraph stating that the characters were getting married after the policy was revoked. I liked it but ended up wanting more to really satisfy.

We're Both Straight, Right? by Jamie Fessenden - B+ I picked this up after reading Chris's review on Goodreads. Thank you for the rec Chris! :D What a funny little story! I'm sure it's all sorts of politically incorrect and there were niggles about some aspects of the story but overall, it was a sexy and LOL short about 2 straight college roommates - one hears that they can earn big $ doing gay porn and then, of course, they have to practice. In the end, I enjoyed it so much, that I was prepared to ignore my slight niggles and just go along for the ride. Really fun.

Breaking Point by Pamela Clare - B+ The risk with a much anticipated book is that it will not live up to expectations. This is even more so if one has gorged on glowing reviews all over the interwebs before actually getting to the reading part. Perhaps that is why I still rate Naked Edge as the best in the I-Team series and Gabe as my favourite hero. Or not. I enjoyed the bromance between Julian and Marc. I enjoyed the time Natalie and Zach spent in the desert (well, apart from the tarantulas - so not ever going to the Sonoran desert and also, could not watch a movie version) - I think I was expecting that part of the book to be much longer. Once they got back to "civilisation" I thought the book was a little weaker. I also wondered at Natalie's career decision at the end of the book. Not the decision itself - but more that there hadn't seemed to be any set up for it and it just kind of plopped in there at the end. However, that may sound like I didn't enjoy the book - not true. I did. Quite a bit in fact. But, Gabe's still my favourite :)

Unlocked by Courtney Milan - B+ Self publishing authors take note - this is a very good example of how to do it right. I picked this one up after all the hype over at Dear Author and Smart Bitches. I'm happy to report that the hype was largely deserved. While I wouldn't gush quite as much, there was a lot to like in this novella. I very much liked the prose and the way Milan captured the genuine guilt and remorse of the hero.

But this notion that all the hurt he'd caused could simply disappear because he wanted it to - that had been the last childish dream he'd held on to. He let go of it now. What you did when you were young could kill you. It just might take years to do it.

And, I liked the way Evan had to work (and work hard) for his redemption. It wasn't one kiss and all is forgiven. I have Unveiled on my TBR. I may have to push it up the list now (of course, I say that about so many books that it doesn't really change anything but...)

Trinity by Lauren Dane - C- Maybe if I'd read any of the previous Cascadia Wolves books I would have enjoyed this one more. I didn't really understand the mythology - I don't think this is a good book to start the series. We commence with Renee (a witch) and her mate Galen (a jaguar shifter) all happy together. Then they meet Jack (a wolf shifter) who recognises Renee as his mate. It turns out that both Galen and Jack have been with males before and all three end up in a menage - so there's m/f and a little m/m too. The sex is hot and there is some nice prose in the writing in parts but overall I felt the story was disjointed and uneven. Galen courted Renee for a number of months and they didn't just fall into bed together. Contrast this with Jack - they're all getting it on very quickly. Too quickly for me to really believe I'm afraid. I would have liked the m/m aspect explored more as it seemed uneven to me. The men were both in the relationship for Renee and the only way both could be mated to her was to have a tri-mate relationship. The m/m sex was just icing I think. By the end of the book the guys are saying they love each other too but it is a pale thing compared to what they feel for Renee. The suspense subplot which runs through the book is UNRESOLVED. (Argh!) I wish I had've known that going in. Apparently it will be completed in the next book but I don't think I'm likely to read it unfortunately.

Bad Company by KA Mitchell - C+ An enjoyable enough story but not, I think, as strong as previous books by this amazing author. I think part of my problem was the set up of the story - childhood friends who'd had a major falling out and had lost tough. Rich friend turns up on other friend's doorstep and says, I'm trying to piss daddy off - can I move in and pretend to be your boyfriend - because daddy is a massive homophobic prick. Unfortunately, the set up made it hard for me to like the characters at first and just when I was starting to like them, the story was ending. The sex was hot and there were some amusing parts of the book about the gay lifestyle and gay sex (rich friend is not afraid to ask questions!). I heard the author is working on a book called Bad Boyfriend. I wonder if it will feature the same characters?

On Audio

Reunion in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B+ Continuing on my JD Robb audio glom, this is another solid offering in the series.

Purity in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B+ Ditto! (Also, some nice stuff with McNab and Peabody and Mavis is "knocked up".)

Raziel by Kristina Douglas (aka Anne Stuart), narrated by Karen White and Paul Costanzo - Story B- , Narration B stars - Karen White B+ , Paul Costanzo C-. This is the first book in a new PNR series so there's a fair bit of world building to do which means that the romance doesn't take up as much page time as in say, a straight contemporary or an historical. I found the romance between Raziel and Ally didn't really get going until about 2/3 the way through the book and, I felt just when I was really getting in to it, the story ended. I still have some questions which hopefully will be answered in the next book - eg what happens to the angel's wings? The concept is interesting and I'm interested in continuing the series but it took some time for me to connect with the romance aspect of this one.

Raziel has a dual narration - Karen White reads the female POV and Paul Costanzo reads male POV - the story is told in alternating first person, mostly from Ally and Raziel's POV. This was my first experience with both narrators. Karen White reads with great expression and I thought she conveyed the... not abrasiveness... but something a bit nicer... of Ally very well. Her male voices are more by way of tone rather than a deepening of pitch but it was easy to tell the difference between Ally and Raziel. Differences between the other Fallen were harder to pick and I relied dialogue tags (and sometimes there weren't any so I had to guess) in those circumstances. Overall, I was quite happy with Karen White's narration and I probably would have enjoyed the book better if she had done all of it. Because, I didn't think all that much of Paul Costanza's frankly. This was a first person book, when Raziel is talking about strong emotions, I expect to hear that emotion in the voice, but Mr. Costanzo's narration was very removed and mostly, for me, emotionless. Funnily enough, the emotion he did manage to convey came mainly when he was doing Ally's voice, which was a bit "draggy" but not too bad (it's really hard for men to do a good female voice I think). It was almost impossible to tell the difference between Raziel and the other Fallen's voices and given that Mr. Costanzo got most of the scenes where they were interacting, it did make things difficult. I'm hoping that Mr. Costanzo's narration will either grow on me or will get more "connected" to the characters in the next book.

Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh, narrated by Angela Dawe B+ The narration was okay (maybe a C+/B-) but the story is just so good I really enjoyed this one anyway. With an okay narrator an excellent story is still very good. With an excellent narrator and excellent story is AMAZING - see below.

** pick of the month **

Maybe this Time by Jennifer Crusie, narrated by Angela Dawe - A.

Same narrator, totally different result for me. Dawe's narration style suits the contemporary (well, 1992) setting and the snap and zing of Crusie's dialogue and general writing style. Sure, Dawe has pretty much only 1 male/hero voice but wow, this was a big win for me.

I like second chance at love stories and this one was one of the best of its type I've read in a long while. Andi and North have been divorced for 10 years, having been married for only 1 year (and after a 12 hour courtship). Andi visits North to return 10 years worth of alimony checks and to tell him she's getting engaged (to Will). North's cousin (?) died a while back and left him the guardian of 2 minor children who live in an actual castle in Southern Ohio with a weird housekeeper - their Aunt (on the other side of the family) died a few months prior and a series of nannies have quit/been driven off - could Andi go and help out for a month, help get the children ready to move to Columbus and get them ready to start school? He'll pay her $10,000. So, that's the basic set up.

The children are well realised - Alice is high maintenance and highly strung. Carter is very quiet and closed off. Mrs. Crumb, the housekeeper is creepy and the castle is haunted. Yup. By the final stages of the book, we have a medium, a skeptic, a reporter, Andi's hippie/flaky mother, North's uptight mother, North's brother Southie, the children and Crumb all at the castle trying to get rid of the various ghosts. So, it's partly a farce. But it's also a love story as North and Andi reconnect and actually deal with what went wrong 10 years before so that it won't happen again. And there's the love story between Andi and the children. I really liked Andi and I really liked North. I thought Crusie did a great job of showing the differences between the two characters, their attraction and how and why things went awry and then giving them a believable second chance. And Alice won my heart. That's why this one is my **pick of the month**.

Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James, narrated by Karen White, C-. Funny thing about narrators. I loved Angela Dawe's narration of Maybe This Time but thought is was okay but not great in the Psy/Changeling series (so far). I love Susan Ericksen's narration of the In Death series but found it hard to translate that same enjoyment to Anne Stuart's Ruthless which she also narrated. Similarly, I really liked Ms. White's narration in Raziel (see above). It didn't work for me so well here. I read the book a while back and thought it was a solid B read. It's a snappy contemporary with smart, quick dialogue and sizzle between the main characters. I could totally see it as a romantic comedy at the movies. I felt the pacing of the narration was slow and Jason and Taylor came across as snide, superior and sarcastic - the whole way through the book - it made it hard for me to like them. When I read the book, Jason starts off as a bit of an asshat but he redeemd himself by the end of the book. Taylor is quick with the comebacks and doesn't take any shit but I didn't think she was superior and snobby. But that's how I felt about her when I listened.

So, that's my take. I am however, an outlier. I know of many others who have listened to and enjoyed this one way more than me - some even saying that they liked the audio better than the book.

Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh

2011-07-01T09:00:00.001-09:30

Why I read it: I was fortunate enough to score a review copy on behalf of ARRA (the Australian Romance Readers Association) which only meant that I read it a bit early as I'm a fan of the series and I would have been reading it anyway.

What's about: It's Hawke's book people! :) Seriously though, this is Book 10 in Singh's wonderful Psy-Changeling series. While it is mainly Hawke and Sienna's book, there is also a nice secondary romance between Lara, the SnowDancer healer and Psy/SnowDancer Walker Lauren. And, it's all set against the background of a coming battle with Pure Psy directed against DarkRiver, SnowDancer and Nikita Duncan and Anthony Kyriakus (members of the Psy Council who understand Silence has failed).

What worked for me: I had wondered if the age difference between Hawke & Sienna would bother me but really, it didn't. Sienna, while only aged chronologically 19, had to grow up very quickly - she was taken from her family by Ming LeBon when she was only 5 and, given the nature of her powers (she's a Cardinal X-Psy), was forced to learn iron control at a very young age. Hawke is 35 (or maybe 34) so there is a significant age difference - it is one of the factors which Hawke uses to try and keep Sienna at a distance. Of the barriers in their way, this was the one that was the most believable to me. The other Pack members and DarkRiver leopards all accept the Hawke and Sienna pairing long before Hawke does and the book does a great job of showing the intense chemistry between the two so, it's just obvious that they belong together.

What didn't:Which brings me to the other main barrier to their HEA - Hawke's childhood love for Rissa, who died at age 5. Hawke knew that Rissa would be his mate and when she died, he believed he could never share the mating bond with any other - because wolves mate for life and there is only one. I always had a bit of a problem with this - Hawke wasn't actually mated to Rissa, so where's the problem? Also, in other books, the mating dance seems to occur without any conscious initiation from either party, so how could Hawke be so sure it would not start with Sienna? It felt a bit like Singh had painted herself into a plot corner and the getting out of it, was for me, not as successful as I had hoped.
This was a lengthy book for the Psy-Changeling series, coming in at just over 400 pages and a lot happened in it - the secondary romance was given a reasonable amount of page time (I think I could have happily read a whole book of Lara and Walker actually) and there was the whole battle thing which the previous book (Play of Passion) in particular had led up to. Toward the end, I think Singh ran out of room. Finding the Pure Psy weapons cache, for example, and what could have been a quite interesting part about an assassination attempt on a couple of Psy Council members were dealt with in one or two sentences only and in the context of the book and the series as a whole, these things would usually have been given more page time.

What else: The chemistry between Sienna and Hawke was palpable and the love scenes were sizzling. Hawke starts off trying (and failing miserably) to stay away from Sienna and there was a frustrating push/pull until they decided to embark on a relationship. The next part of the book was the most enjoyable for me because I was fascinated by the how of their relationship - I knew, had known for a very long time, that they would be together and so I didn't want to spend a lot of time getting there - in many respects, I had spent the previous 9 books getting there (!). How Sienna was going to handle the Alpha Wolf was the part I was most looking forward to and the scenes where they "play" (and no, I'm not being euphemistic here) were, for me, some of the best in the book. Any, may I say - Walker Lauren - who'd have thought he was a sex god?!
How Singh resolved the Cardinal X factor was, I thought, very cleverly done even though to some extent I'm still trying to put it all together (science-y type things not being entirely my thing). Singh has created such a fascinating world in this series and it's one I really enjoy visiting. I'm still trying to work out who the Ghost is and what part Kaleb Krychek will play - will he get his own book do you think? and I can hardly wait until Ming LeBon gets his full comeuppance.

There was one other very special thing in this book - Sascha and Lucas had their baby! Awww! If you want to know gender/name etc - Read the Book!! :)

Grade: - B/B+

*please note a slightly cut down (due to a word limit) version of this review was posted on the ARRA (Australian Romance Readers Association) blog on 22/06/2011 here

A fan letter to: Pamela Clare

2011-06-23T03:00:00.002-09:30

Dear Ms. Clare,

When I signed up for the fan letter Blog Crawl I didn't know who I was going to write to - I read a lot and have many "favourite" authors (what can I say? I like to share my love around :D). I have had something of a Romantic Suspense slump in the last year or so - I had a few bad experiences with plots that were just too unbelievable and/or boring and/or characters I didn't care about. I found my way back to it with JD Robb and Suzanne Brockmann - both authors whose work I adore and who could easily have had their very own fan letter from me. But, they are, I believe, really super famous authors and I figure they get fan letters all the time. So I thought I'd favour someone slightly less famous but no less deserving.

After coming of a Robb/Brockmann high, I had to choose my next-to-read book - this is always difficult - the better the book I've just finished, the harder it is for the next book I read to live up to it. Anyway, the hospital handpass went to you. And (to continue with the AFL metaphors), not only did you not drop the ball, you kicked it right in between the two big white sticks and out of the park. So, that's why I decided to write to you.

Also, when I stumbled across your blog recently and contacted you to volunteer to put your Breaking Point gif on my little blog, you not only responded really quickly (which was both unexpected and kind of gratifying) but also were really friendly so that made me want to like your books even more. But, no matter how much I want to like something, it all comes down to the books.

I (now) have all 5 of your I-Team novels - but due to my slump and at the time in question, I'd only read the first two. As I'd been drooling over Jed Hill on the cover of your May 2011 release, Breaking Point, I was inspired to open Naked Edge (during the course of which, I then realised that I hadn't read the third book so then I went back and read Unlawful Contact). Then, because Breaking Point hadn't come out yet, I did a re-read of the first two, Extreme Exposure and Hard Evidence next, just because I could.

I want to thank you in particular for the wonderful heroes in your books. Heroes who:-

like kissing for the sake of it and not just as a means to an end
think going down on a woman for a long time is selfish but do it anyway
kill spiders for their lady without complaining* (except apparently the big hairy ones in the Sonoran desert but I don't exactly know why this is)
are super protective and all muscled and manly and uber-hot
encourage their lady to use their own skills and talents and don't stand in their way/wrap them in cotton wool (even though sometimes they might secretly - or even not so secretly - want to).
are willing and actually prepared to die for the lady they love if that's what it takes
have actual friends, both male and female

I want to thank you for the heroines who:-

know better to complain when their man is being *ahem* selfish.
understand that all spiders must die (even just pictures of them)
are smart and talented and brave and not TSTL
use those talents and smarts to help solve the crime/catch the bad guys and don't just sit around getting rescued all the time
have actual friends, both male and female

I want to thank you for your stories in which:-

there are mostly believable (it is fiction after all) suspense plots**
the hero and heroine do not have sex when they're being shot at
I am educated (in a good way) about such things as Native American culture (Naked Edge) and the US prison system (Unlawful Contact), the high murder rate in Ciudad Juarez (Breaking Point) in particular and (good) journalism in general
even a US Senator can be (and is) sexy (Extreme Exposure)
use words like "penis", "testicles" and "vagina" and make them sound sexy. Really. (Note: I never said I could make those words sound sexy!)

Finally, may I thank you for writing a book where the hero was inspired by Jed Hill and for having an editor who loves you enough to put Jed Hill on the cover of said book. Thank you thank you thank you.

So, thank you. I really like your books and I'm looking forward to reading more books from you in the future. Thank you so much for your efforts in creating these tales which entertain me so much.

best wishes

Kaetrin

*Marc was about to lose some serious points because there was some teasing when a freaking Black Widow ran out and terrorised Sophie. However, he redeemed himself by using the giant boot for some much needed squishing and then flushing it without further comment and then giving comfort (important after such a harrowing experience) and making sure there weren't any others hanging about without being asked. I was a bit worried for a minute that he was going to do something juvenile like pick the thing up and put it really close to her face or something (grounds for instant dissolution of relationship) but thankfully, Marc is a better man than my brother. Also, I am never going to the Sonoran desert.

**I say "mostly" because I thought Marc got out of prison just a tad too easily - frankly I'd rather believe that it wasn't 100% realistic as there is a prison not too far from where I live and I happen to know that most of the inmates are neither innocent nor gorgeous.

Yesterday's letter was by Closet Reader and tomorrow the Blog Crawl heads over to Obsidian Bookshelf. For a full list of who, when and where, go here.

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

2011-06-13T21:20:00.000-09:30

Why I read it: What can I say? I'm a fan! :)

What it's about: This is book 5 in the Kate Daniels series - if you haven't read the previous books, don't start here - it's worth the investment of your $$ and time to read all of the books, starting with Magic Burns. While each book has a distinct story they really aren't stand-alone novels. Anyway, Kate's moved into the Keep with the Beast Lord. She's also quit the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid and started Cutting Edge Investigations. There's a vampire on the loose, the Red Guard have lost someone, Julie's been kicked out of boarding school and Kate's got babysitting duty for a young bouda who's got too many hormones and not enough sense.

What worked for me: I've been waiting for this book with baited breath ever since I finished Magic Bleeds and desperately hoping that, now that Kate and Curran are together, they would stay that way and I'd get to enjoy seeing them working out their lives as a team. I'm happy to report that I got my wish. There's plenty of romance. That's not to say all is a bed of roses; there are challenges and, as both are dominant personalities used to pleasing themselves when it comes to their actions, there's a lot of compromising to do. Plus, there's the Pack to deal with. That means there's enough natural conflict without having to manufacture nonsense Big Misunderstandings or other nonsense (as can be found far less superior books) to try and break them up. It made sense, it was natural to the story and very satisfying. Sigh.

Everyday I had to keep myself from making up bullshit reasons to call the Keep so I could hear his voice. My only saving grace was that Curran wasn't handling the whole mating thing any better. Yesterday he'd called me at the office claiming that he couldn't find his socks. We talked for two hours.

Watching Kate continue to come to grips with the ties of relationships and love is a bonus too. She's been raised to be alone and rely only on herself, to be prepared to walk away and sacrifice anyone left behind but, despite her fears that she is a monster, she is in fact a fierce defender of her own and her own is growing. *grin* Kate has also to deal with some painful revelations about her mother which makes her question Curran's motivations - I don't think I'm giving away a spoiler in saying that Curran passes with flying colours.

Plus there's the excellent snark and humour that fans of this series have come to expect:-

...[they] had records so stellar, they had to lock their resumes in a drawer at night, so the golden light streaming from the pages wouldn't keep them awake.

Also, there is much kicking of ass - even Julie gets her licks in. Kate was so proud!!

What didn't: I thought the book was a little slow to start but once it got going, I was very unhappy about having to put it down and in the end, I stayed up way to late to finish. I also thought it finished abruptly and I have questions about the magic Kate used right at the end (maybe they'll be answered in the next book?). Sadly Raphael was missing in action in this one and we didn't get any more of Andrea and Raphael - their hot tub scene in Magic Bleeds was a hoot. :) However, let me emphasise, there is Curran - lots of Curran!!

What else: This is the first Kate Daniels book I've read first - the others I listened to on audio. The magnificent Renee Raudman narrates and after my enjoyment of reading this book, I just know the audio will be even better.

We're heading toward a confrontation between Kate and Roland in the final book (I think I read somewhere there are planned to be 7 but I could be making that up) What will happen to Andrea and Aunt B? Will she get back together with Raphael? How's Kate going to manage Julie? What's the deal with Hugh? Book 6 promises to be a ripper as well. I can hardly wait!

Grade: B+/A-

Author Fan Letter Blog Crawl - 2011

2011-05-31T15:47:00.000-09:30

This year I'm participating in the Author Fan Letter Blog Crawl. Details of the event can be found here but I've posted a list of links for each day's fan letter. Watch out for mine on the 23rd of June!

Thanks to Kassa for arranging and Rikki for designing the event button.

June 1st http://www.krisngoodbooks.blogspot.com

June 2nd http://www.leontine1976.blogspot.com

June 3rd http://yummymenandkickasschicks.com/

June 4th http://ethanjstone.com/welcome

June 5th http://ataleofmanyreviews.blogspot.com

June 6th Swept Away Again

June 7th http://thebookreadinggals.com

June 8th http://www.bookaddictpatti.com

June 9th http://www.Katidom.com

June 10th http://thebookreadinggals.com

June 11th http://jenre-wellread.blogspot.com

June 12th http://alphareader.blogspot.com/

June 13th My Friend Amy

June 14th Tam’s Reads

June 15th http://www.fictionvixen.com

June 16th http://happinessisshy.blogspot.com/

June 17th http://www.seankennedybooks.com

June 18th Smexy Books

June 19th http://www.erotichorizon.com/

June 20th http://www.rarelydustybooks.com/

June 21st http://www.trelainastarblazer.blogspot.com

June 22nd http://www.closetreader.com

June 23rd http://www.kaetrinsmusings.blogspot.com

June 24th http://obsidianbookshelf.blogspot.com/

June 25th http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/

June 26th http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/

June 27th http://lily-ilovebooks.blogspot.com

June 28th http://LiteraryEscapism.com

June 29th http://bridgetlocke.blogspot.com

June 30th http://orannia.livejournal.com/

July 1st http://www.alphaheroes.blogspot.com/

July 2nd http://wrenboudreau.blogspot.com/

July 3rd http://www.alliwantandmore.blogspot.com

July 4th http://LiteraryEscapism.com

July 5th A Buckeye Girl Reads

July 6th http://MarieSexton.net

July 7th http://kassa011.wordpress.com

May Reads

2011-05-31T15:39:00.000-09:30

On Paper/Ebook

Desire Unchained (Demonica #2) by Larissa Ione - B/B-. The world building was much easier to follow this time and I felt there was a more complete resolution to the story. I liked Shade quite a bit. I have the other Demonica books on my TBR.

The Reluctant Nude by Meg Maguire B-. An enjoyable story about a sexy French sculptor and a biologist who's roped into posing nude for him. I really liked Max but I'm not sure I really understood Fallon. The cover picture is wrong wrong wrong - Fallon is described as having curly shoulder length auburn/red hair.

Cut & Run by Madelaine Urban & Abigail Roux - C- I found this a frustrating disjointed story. The dialogue was confusing and the actual time Zane and Ty spent together was way too short. Just when I was starting to get into it, the story would take a sharp right turn. I don't generally like stories where the h/h spend long periods apart and I didn't really understand the why of it here. I liked the characters, but the story got in my way. I understand that things pick up considerably in books 2 and 3 so I will probably still give them a try as I did like the characters quite a bit.

Games Girls Play by Deanna Lee B+. see my full review here

Money, Honey by Susan Sey, B-. This is a story about an FBI agent and an ex-theif working together to bring down a counterfeiter. At first I thought it was going to be a light hearted humorous book and there were aspects of it, but then the story would swing into series territory. I felt it would have been better to be one or the other, but as it tried to be both at times, overall the book suffered for it. I think this is the author's debut. There was certainly enough enjoyment here for me to pick up her next one, Money Shot, which is out just about now I think and features the Secret Service agent with the unattractive nickname of Goose (Maria di Guzman) who is a secondary character in this book.

How It Should Be by Madeleine Urban & Rhianne Aile - C. Cute short (24 pages) story about 2 lovers who want to show their best friend what a good sexual m/m(/m) experience can be after a disappointing first time with a stranger. Some of the dialogue was a bit unbelievable - I don't think guys actually talk that way (but then, what would I know?).

Be My Valentine by Madeleine Urban & Rhianne Aile - B. This was actually a very sweet and sexy story about a manager and one of his reports and how they finally admit (and act on!) the crush each has on the other. Only 19 pages but I really liked it.

Caught Running by Madelaine Urban & Rhianne Aile - B. Story about 2 teachers who had been at the same high school together many years before. One is the coach of the baseball team (Jake) and science teacher (Brandon) gets roped into helping with the team. It had a slow start - there wasn't even a kiss until well over the halfway mark of this 195 page book. So, on the one hand, it was slow but on the other, there was actually a good believability factor to the build up of the relationship - I'm so contrary!! There were a few plot points that didn't go anywhere - I'm not sure what the point of Misty chasing Jake about was as it just fizzled out and there wasn't an explanation of the email job offer at the end - what was going to happen about it? I would have liked more information about how they would handle the long term - the story hinted at potential problems if their relationship became public knowledge - but I liked the characters and their connection to believe in the HEA regardless. Also, the sex, once it appeared in the story, was hot hot hot.

Sweet as Sin by Inez Kelley - DNF - I only got 35 pages in but in that time there was a lot of telling not showing and I didn't see any chemistry between the characters - they actually seemed kind of mean and I didn't know why, beyond the physical attraction, they were interested in each other. I think it was meant to be snappy sizzling banter but to me it came off as just sniping and aggressive. Maybe I will go back to it one of these days and will feel more kindly disposed to finishing but right now, I'm just not interested. This book has received other great reviews (that's why I picked it up) so I am an outlier as far as my response is concerned. And, hey, maybe it gets better. I'm not ruling out another try at some point.

**pick of the month**

Paris A to Z by Marie Sexton - A-. I love these Coda boys. I'm only sad that this is (apparently) the last book of the series. Paris closes of the Angelo & Zach story but there is a fair bit of Matt & Jared too as they sort through the various exes they have to deal with. My only real complaint (and really, that's too strong a word) was that there wasn't enough of Cole & Jon. They are my favourite couple of the series. I can only hope that Ms. Sexton will write us a few little shorts about their lives in the future. Also, I think I have found a pic of Jared - he's actually an Australian Masterchef contestant who's also a professional lifeguard but he's quite like my mental picture of Jared. I tweeted the author and she said she thought he was "ver Jared-esque". There's footage on the Masterchef website of young Haydon in full lifeguard mode but I couldn't work out how to take a screen shot to post here. :) **pick of the month**


Haydon from Masterchef Australia We were recently treated to vision of him in Speedos and he is actually one of the (very) few who can make them look good! :)

Stroke to His Cox by JL Merrow - C+. Cute (very) short story about a rower and the cox. Probably would have been more enjoyable if I understood the rowing references.

Snowbound by Larissa Ione - DNF This isn't actually as bad as the grade sounds. The book is an early work of Ione's and it happens to feature my least favourite (I have discovered) romance trope - the big misunderstanding. As I'm getting older, I'm finding I have less and less patience for this - it isn't how I work personally - I'm more the terrier type as far as NOT letting things go is concerned and I get so frustrated by not TALKING about something and just jumping to conclusions. I was enjoying the story well enough but I could just see the Big Mis coming and I couldn't stick around for the torture of it. It was heading for a C/C- before I decided to move on to something else. It did seem less polished than the Demonica books I have read and I put that down to being an early book - On the plus side, the hero was fine.

Three to Tango - (book 1) dirty/bad/wrong by Lauren Dane C- Poorly edited and therefore somewhat confusing story about a girl coming back to her hometown and catching up with 2 old lovers (who are now lovers themselves) m/m/f. With better editing this would have been much more engaging. One example; one of the guys enters the story by coming up and kissing the other man very passionately, but later in the story, we find out that he's not comfortable with being lovers with the other man and they've only had sex 3 times over 10 years and that was when he was drunk. It didn't fit the initial picture. (There are 3 other stories in the anthology but I havent' gotten to them yet).

Baby I'm Yours by Stephanie Bond - C. Okay short about a man proposing to his high school sweetheart while on leave from the army, when a tornado is on its way to town. The beginning was prmising but there was too much going on and not enough pages to tell the story - not enough of Shelby and Emory together to me to really care about their relationship.

Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh - C+/B-. It actually took me 2 goes to get started with this book. I was quite thrown by the early references (seemingly without much explanation) of Dev's affinity to metal/machines. I'm not sure I really understood it even by the end, but there was more information about it about 3/4 through the book. I kept thinking I'd missed something. Anyway, once I re-started the book and put aside my confusion, I started to enjoy the book a lot more. The first bit was a C+, the latter a B/B-. I thought I'd enjoy Katya's story and I did, but just not as much as I thought I would. The almost/not quite of the physical relationship had me a bit frustrated (in the non sexual sense :) ) and I thought the ending was just a bit too convenient/deus ex machina. However, there was a lot to enjoy, it just wasn't my favourite of the series.

Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh - B I think I remember seeing/hearing about the place shortly after its release that this one wasn't as popular with readers as other books. However, I really enjoyed it. It's the story of human cop Max Shannon (the Irish name with the Asian eyes, so I had to keep mentally re-jigging my image of him) and Sophia Russo, a Justice Psy. J-Psy's haven't really featured a lot in the series, so learning about them was interesting to me and there was some interesting stuff in the wider story arc too. That's not why I read the series of course - I'm in it always and forever for the romance. What I enjoyed about this book was that the conflict was external. Max & Sophie have an instant connection but the appear to be star-crossed lovers - she's fracturing because of her "J-ness" and her personal history. She cannot leave the PsyNet. Max is a human who doesn't trust the Psy. But, he never doubts her. I actually like this type of story from time to time - and I did like the way Singh uses the J designation to so totally isolate Sophie - this means that she hasn't touched another person in years - so, when she touches Max, and then touches him skin to skin - it is a special experience. I was actually thinking when I was reading that Singh has created a very clever world where the virgin heroine is actually believable and does not cause eye-rolling. On p129 however, was the thing that drew me in the most -

No one had ever before chosen her. No one.

It touched a chord and I was totally caught up in their relationship. I like Max very much and I enjoyed Sophie too - she was, for all her vulnerability, a very strong heroine. I would have liked more of River, background and more detail at the ending (that felt a bit rushed) - maybe we'll see him in future books?

Play of Passion by Nalini Singh - B. This is Indigo and Drew's story. Changing it up once again, Singh tells the story of two SnowDancer wolves - Indy is 4 years older than Drew and her wolf is the more dominant. Sorting the dominance and pack hierarchy out is the relational conflict in the story. Drew is a charmer and very yummy - I enjoyed reading about him very much. I could also relate to Indy's vulnerability - how will her man cope when she has to give him orders on the job? Will he think because they are lovers, he is now "in charge"? I appreciated how the conflicts were resolved - the characters stayed true to themselves but sorted it out. There was also a little more of Hawke & Sienna too, just to whet my whistle.

Next up: Kiss of Snow!!! I've seen excellent reviews but haven't read any so as to avoid spoilers. Hawke is 35 or so and Sienna is only 19. Can Singh pull it off? I'm "desperately hopeful".

Fingers crossed.

Full review to come.

On Audio

River Marked by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Lorelie King - B+. This is the 6th book in the Mercy Thompson series - the one where Adam and Mercy get married. I actually liked this one better on audio than in print. There is something about the way a phrase sounds which can add so much to the meaning one takes away. I've noticed it in various audiobooks - the narrator brings something to the story that I just didn't get on my own. When I read the book in print, I was left with the impression that Adam was in wolf form (and therefore, kind of absent) a lot longer than he actually was. On audio, he seemed to be more present in the story. I can't really explain why other than that was my impression. As I'm a mad keen Adam fan, it definitely added to my enjoyment and Ms. King's deep growly voice for Adam is very good. :D

The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne, narrated by Kirsten Potter - B In the end, I got used to the American narration in a totally non-American story. This is a great book and I thought Ms. Potter's narration improved as the story went on, as did her French accent for Annique. It did throw me at first that the non dialogue parts were done in an American accent - the characters are English or French and the writing is clear as which language is native to the POV - so in my head when I read the book, those narrative portions which were told from Annique's point of view had a French accent to go with the French syntax. And similar with the British side of things. So, to throw in an American accent was a bit of a curveball for me. However, by the end, I'd mostly gotten over it.

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh, narrated by Angela Dawe - B+ It's been ages since I read StoS and frankly, I'd forgotten how much I loved it. Angela Dawe does a great job of the narration and it was a very entertaining listen. I do think that Dawe has only one "male" voice so while I'm looking forward to listening to others in the series, I don't think I'll be doing back to back listens (not that all the books are out yet anyway) because otherwise I think I'll notice too much that all the male characters/heroes sound the same. Vaughn, the next hero is quite different to Lucas, so it will be interesting to see what Dawe does with him.

Soulless by Gail Carriger, narrated by Emily Gray - B+ This was my first steampunk book and I was a bit surprised by the paranormal aspects at first - silly me, I though that steampunk was just about extra inventions. Emily Gray is a very very good narrator and I enjoyed Lord Maccon's growly Scottish accent quite a bit and I appreciated how she infused her narration with the humour which is evident in the story. I'm not sure whether I'll actually listen to the next two as the focus isn't (I understand) on the romance but on Alexia solving crimes/mysteries. I'd rather read romance so I will probably choose others from my mountainous TBL before coming back to this series. However, this book is very much a romance and greatly enjoyable.

Judgement in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B+ - Another excellent book in this wonderful series. The drunk scene between Eve and Mavis is priceless and oh so much funnier on audio!

Betrayal in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B. Good story, strong narration, great characters. I did wonder slightly at Eve's sympathy for the "villain" in this book - his crimes were pretty nasty I thought - I don't think I would have been so generous.

Seduction in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen - B. I know the narration isn't as good on this one because it was Ericksen's first go round at the series. Roarke's voice is pretty much the same but Eve's has become more defined. Feeney, Whitney, Mira, Trina, Mavis and Charles are basically the same but there are quite distinct changes made in subsequent narrations to Peabody, McNab and Louise. Especially with Peabody & Dallas, there isn't much between them in this audiobook to make it easy to tell who's speaking. That's not the case with most of the series. Still, this is one of the excellent books in the series and I think the story is good enough to make up for the lack in the narration. Having said that, the only lack is really the way Ericksen does the voices - the emotion and the rest are, as usual excellent. I am glad she's defined Peabody's voice etc - when I first started listening to the series, I thought Peabody's voice was a bit on the strange side but I have gotten used to it and, having listened to this one, really appreciate that Ericksen makes the voice very different and therefore easily recognisable. I love this series. I can listen to book after book and not get sick of it.

Interlude in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen -C+-. I'm trying to listen to the series in order so I'm putting the novella-audios in where they belong in the sequence. I've actually listened to this one before, but I decided to re-listen so I don't miss anything in the wider story arc. It's only 3 hours, so not a big commitment! An enjoyable story but perhaps not the strongest one in the series.

Games Girls Play by Deanna Lee

2011-05-21T16:54:00.001-09:30

Why I read it: I picked this one up after seeing a tweeted recommendation from Jane and Dear Author. Thx Jane!

What its about: This is a very sexy series of 3 erotic romance novellas about 3 women who run PR company and represent sports stars. The stories are linked by one fairly unsatisfying suspense plot which really didn't go anywhere. Fortunately, I'm in it for the romance anyway so I was able to put that aside pretty easily. I'm not sure the blurb made it entirely clear I was going to get 3 short stories rather than 1 full length novella but it was a good read nevertheless.

What worked and what didn't: The writing is strong and I liked the characters quite a bit. I sometimes had trouble working out who was talking and there were a few abrupt changes of topic in the same paragraph or scene without any warning - at first I thought this might be a function of the fact that I had to adjust the font size as the native was too small. But, when I put it back to the original size to check, the same problems existed. I thought it finished abruptly and I would have liked to have known how the menage in the last story was going to work out longer term. However, it was a very engaging book and I raced through all three. I really appreciated the way Tara and Joshua (of the first novella) discussed their likes and dislikes and the "rules" of their relationship in a straighforward manner. For instance, after a business meeting during which Tara calls him on his behaviour:-

"We can play games in the bedroom, Joshua. I'm pretty sure I'll let you do anything you'd like to me when it comes to sex. I wasn't lying when I said I was a sexual submissive. I enjoy pain and I like being dominated but that does not mean I'll tolerate your disrespect of me."

"I respect you."

"You snapped at me like I was a child in front of two employees and your manager. Even when you first contracted me and you were fighting me left and right on the image plan you never spoke to me that way. If I can't trust you to treat me with courtesy and respect in public, in front of others, how on earth am I to trust you in more intimate matters?"

..."You're right of course. I came in here angry... That isn't, however, an excuse for speaking to you so rudely. It won't happen again."

I also liked that once it was discussed, it was done. No re-hashing and no repeats.

What else: The stories weren't long enough to go off into tangents about how they would set up rules or the dichotomy of the bedroom and the boardroom - those things weren't ignored (good) but they weren't issues either - that wasn't the point of the story. I liked that they were there, dealt with quickly and sensibly and the story moved on.

I will definitely be looking out for more from this author. I liked her writing voice and the characters she created here very much.

Grade: B+