What a fantastic week!!! Started it off really well by going to San Francisco (adventures & pictures posted below) continued it by going to a dear friends’ daughters wedding which was a blast! Ended it with spending the day with my wonderful children. We headed to Borders and B & N where we went a little crazy…so glad I can pass the book addiction on to my kids!
I bought
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
Kiss of Fury by Deborah Cooke
Just One Bite by Kimberly Raye
First Blood Anthology
Dangerous Secrets by Lisa Marie Rice
(between my 2 girls…5 other books – yikes)
I actually forgot to buy Cry Wolf that I’ve been looking forward to reading – tragic! Oh darn, now I’ll have to go back.
We then had lunch at Johnny Rockets where were served by a very cute man whom my kids insisted looked like Elvis. When my oldest told him that he said, “I actually get that a lot!” Too funny!
Then we went to Ben and Jerry’s, got ice cream and saw an afternoon show of Mamma Mia which was great. I saw the stage show a long time ago and have the soundtrack which my kids listen to all the time so it was fun for them to see the movie.
So I didn’t think I had read that much since there was so much going on…but I was wrong. I mean, I did have Wednesday off work while trying to recover from SF, with no kids, so I read!
First I read Nightkeepers by Jessica Andersen. I had some mixed feelings (I felt that about a lot of books this week!) about this book. It was good, but I never had a problem putting it down. The “love” was one of those that was pre-destined so there wasn’t really a romance at all. I am glad that the author actually put that in the book herself so it wasn’t like she was trying to pass it off as something it wasn’t, which I appreciated. I am curious to see what happens 
next so I’ll be reading the next one when it comes out.
Next I read Into the Flame by Christina Dodd. This was the fourth and final book in the Darkness Chosen series. It was ok but let’s just say that I’m glad the series is over. I like her contemporaries much better than her paranormals.
Truth or Dare by Lori Foster was an impulse buy last week. This was 3 related shorts about a dare between 3 female friends relating to a porn shop. Interesting concept…don’t think it really worked out. I liked the men a lot and I have to say that when they got involved with the women they were already mostly in love with them…but the women fell really fast and that just was soooo no believable to me. Cute, but, eh.
Secret
s of Surrender by Madeline Hunter has been on my shelf for a while so I finally decided to read it. I liked this book, but there were soooo many secrets it was ridiculous. I know that’s the title of the book but I expected a couple…maybe a trio…there were many more and it was a little much. Good though.
Colleen Gleason will be a guest author on the DIK blog this week and I’ve never read her work before so I wanted to read at least one book before she got there. So I got The Rest Falls Away and read it. I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. I liked it, yet, I didn’t. I liked the whole idea
of it but I found Max incredibly annoying (but a DIK girl actually picked him for one of her heroes so I’m thinking he gets better in the series?), the trio of Victoria’s mom and her friends…annoying, Sebastian…I wanted to punch. Phillip, oh Phillip. I loved Phillip and Victoria both. They were great. The end? That had me throwing the book after I finished it and growling for about an hour afterward! Lol My oldest daughter finally said, “Mom? Stop. Go start another book and it will get that one out of your head!” Kids, very smart. I can’t decide if I’ll read the rest of the series! Mixed. Feelings.
I only read Meljean Brook’s novella out of the First Blood Anthology, Thicker Than Blood. Meljean? I love you! lol I truly love every story this woman puts out! She got so much said and done in 107 pages it was amazing. Loved the story. Great! Loved it.
Happy Reading!
So what have you been reading this week?
Just an FYI…the story gets much, much better the further into the story you get. 🙂 I just reviewed the other 2 books in The Gardella Vampire Series…just so you know.
My brain is mush. *sigh*
Ok – just read your review for RTN. I will keep reading! 🙂
I miss Dodd’s historicals. hmph. You know me…contemps are just not my cuppa. I read Kresley Cole’s book (i can’t recall the names…they are too long), the one with Cade. Yum. Loved it. Now I’m halfway through Sam’s Creed by Sarah McCarty.
Sula amen, amen I miss her historicals too. I read this series with hope. Liked the first Loved the second scared shitless to read the third not sure with all the bad reviews if I will like it.
Oh, good! I’m glad you liked it — and I can’t believe I didn’t see you in SF! Sigh.
What??! You liked Philip that much? Really? I thought his character was rather flat and Victoria could do so much better. Sebastian is hot. Although a bit of a trouble maker… I think he’s a better compliment to Victoria than Philip! lol
Not that I wanted anything bad to happen to Philip or anything… Sebastian and Max are just more exciting. Okay, I’ll stop now. 🙂
Sula and Sarai…I’ve only read 2 of Dodd’s historicals and honestly can’t remember what either of them were about! Sad!
Meljean – Hi!! That’s for hopping over. I’m sad I missed you in SF too – it would have been great. My friend Rosie did get a book signed by you for me (she was the one who rushed down after the Berkley signing). Thank you so much for being kind and taking the time out of your busy schedule to sign it! 🙂
Christine – yes I loved Phillip! Sebastian’s a poo and I don’t trust him at all! lol Ok – maybe he’s not that bad. I’ll withhold judgement until I read another book…don’t want to bury myself with foolish comments! 🙂
It was me. I chose Max. I loves him. He’s all cranky and pissed off. But I’ve read lots of reviews that say he’s whiny. I don’t think of him that way, but I think it’s because since the moment he hit the scene I’ve been wanting him with Victoria.
Sorry to hear you didn’t love the book. I love them. I think Colleen has such a smooth writing style and such an inventive way of researching and making historical events tie to the events in her stories.
Ah well, the beauty of romance is there’s something out there for everyone.
Hi MK – I knew I remembered someone picking him! lol I don’t think he’s whiney…to me it was just annoying, but yet knowing the whole Lilith aspect it’s a little easier to understand. I don’t know what happens in future books but I can’t see V and Max together – I could be completely off the mark but they just seem more like family to me. IDK.
I didn’t NOT like the book! lol I just had mixed feeling about the end. I think I’d still give it a solid B.
Tracy – Wait til you get a load of Max in the garden. S’alls I’m sayin’.
But no, Book 4 is out today and I swear to God there are still women all over the place (KB and me to give an example) who disagree about who Vicki should end up with.
The good news is, since I’ve read Book 4, I can tell you, she decides at the end of Book 4.
Hey Tracy, my sister and I went to see Mamma Mia this past Friday. I actually got the soundtrack a couple of weeks before seeing the movie. I’ve just about worn it out. Now, did the Mama in you tear up when Donna was singing “Slipping Through My Fingers”? Oh good lord, I got the quiver lip when she put the band-aid on Sophie’s leg and then kissed it.
Hey Jen – I totally and completely went gooey, sappy and teary when she sang that song. I’ve heard it a million times…first from ABBA (yes, I’m that old! lol) and then from the soundtrack and it never hit me like that before – even when I saw the stage show. It was a fun movie!
I want FIRST BLOOOOOD. What didn’t you like about Night Keepers? The romance was a secondary plot line, to be sure, but I still enjoyed the action and mythological world building. Was Into the Flame worse than Into the Shadow? I really liked the first two books in the series, but Into the Shadow had some Issues.
I’ve been reading Night Keepers and Tumbling Through Time by Gwen Cready (which is very cute and funny).
Sorry I didn’t get back to you Ciara! Nightkeepers wasn’t bad, I just didn’t love it. The hero was a little annoying at times with the whole – I don’t want to be king thing, but I did understand his feelings. Like I said, I’m sure I’ll read the next one! 🙂