What I’ve Been Reading This Week & Lots of Other Stuff

Posted April 6, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 19 Comments

Hello my fellow Book Sluts! Thanks to all of you who broke free from your chains and freely admitted to being one of us. I felt my heart swell with pride at the wonderful admissions. sigh That’s good stuff right there. Now, according to the poll on the blog Ad #2 won the contest. But when I tally from the comments it would have been #3 but apparently not everyone voted and since I have no idea who voted and who didn’t I’m going to have to go with the poll and take #2 for the win, Bob.

On to other things…CELTICPIXE was the winner of the Highland Warrior Book Giveaway a couple of weeks ago but I’ve not heard from her. When I click on her account it goes to Bebo which I don’t have so unless you contact me sweetie I’ll have to pick someone else. Sorry. You can email me at redneyrae AT ca DOT rr DOT com to send me your snail mail address.

Let’s see we took the girls to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D last night. What a cute movie. I laughed and laughed. Very funny. The kids loved it and the 3D was really good. Didn’t take over the movie at all – very subtle, which I liked.

I got new glasses this week. It’s amazing what a difference such a slight change in my prescription made. I only need to wear them for driving and distance stuff like movies or tv but it’s so nice to not be blurry at all…which is about where I was with the old ones. AND I got new frames! Here’s the old (left) and the new (right). My oldest daughter had to get glasses for reading too and she picked out the cutest frames but I’ve not been able to pin her down for a photo but as soon as I do I’ll post it.

My oldests State project was due this past Monday. She got an A+ on her display board but she forgot part of her speech (I’m not sure how since she had flash cards) so it was too short and she ended up with a C on that part of it. So she got a B on the whole project which is stil A-OK with me. The display board had to have specific items on it and there had to be 10 interesting facts about the state on the tower part of it. Here’s a picture of her board…she had Kentucky. Yes, we know that Bluegrass music doesn’t have a saxaphone but she needed filler! lol

I need to apologize to those of you whose blogs I’ve not been to in a while. I don’t think I’ve done a full blog crawl in 2 weeks – it’s horrible. However I work at a church and since Holy Week is upon us I’ve been hella busy..and will continue to be until Thursday. Thank heavens I have Friday off. I’ll need lots of R & R by that time. So again, if I haven’t been to your blog in a bit don’t take it personally…I’ll get there soon, I swear!

Ok – finally on to what I’ve read this week:


I started off the week with a bang. I read Crash Into Me by Jill Sorenson. I didn’t really get the romance part of it. I just wasn’t feeling it between the h/h…but the end was wonderful and of course the rest of the book was fab. I did have the villain picked out almost immediately but it certainly didn’t stop my enjoyment of the book. So in the end: Really good book. I loved it and will definitely be reading more of her work in the future.


Enticing Elliot was the next edition in the m/m Moon Pack series by Amber Kell that I started last week. Do you ever start series and wonder why you’re still reading it after a certain amount of books? That’s how I feel with this one. There incredibly short stories but they’re not fabulous, they’re entertaining though. That doesn’t seem to stop me from reading them. IDK…they are going in alphabetical order so maybe by the time I hit H I’ll be done. lol

My TBR challenge book for the week was Show and Tell by Jasmine Haynes. I picked this one up last Sept. when I went to RAW and it’s been on my shelf ever since. I recently read a review on The Book Binge that Casee did and decided to finally pick it up. It’s the story of Trinity who caught her hubby of 6 months in the shower with another woman. She couldn’t stand to be at home so she goes to a hotel for the night. She decides to pleasure herself and the guy next door is getting horny listening to her. He decides to knock on her door and ask to watch. She lets him and it begins a phone sex/sexual affair between the two of them. This was not a bad book but I kept having to talk myself into picking it up again. I wasn’t a fan of how the relationship was run or how it began. Yes there are other things happening in the book – Trinity’s personal growth, the problems she has at work (her 1st job at age 30) and Scott’s decisions about his job that he makes but it just still felt lacking to me. This had a ton of hot sex in it but it was just an ok book for me in the end.


I read The Secret Wedding by Jo Beverley for The Book Binge so I’ll let you know when the review is up.


I won The White Knight by Josh Lanyon this week on DIK so I read The Dark Horse first since TWK is a prequel/sequel to TDH. I really liked this book. There was a lot going on with the characters. Sean’s been stalked for the past year and Dan was put on detail to be his bodyguard. The stalker is supposedly now dead but he’s still “seeing” the villain and getting postcards from him. Is he going crazy? When the story begins Sean and Dan have only been together for 1 week and I found it terribly interesting to see the play between the 2 men and how they reacted to each other in such a stressful situation. I’ve just loved Josh’s writing in the past and this one proved no different. I can’t wait to read TWK.


Darkness Unknown by Alexis Morgan was my next read. I’ve read all the books in this series so far and I’m enjoying them. I’m thinking that it might have been my last book in the series though. As much as I like her writing there’s just not a lot changing and going on to pique my interest further. It was a very cute romance and it did have a new challenge involved but I don’t think it was enough for me. IDK I’ll have to see what the next one has to offer.

And last but not least a category that Barbara sent me -just cuz…isn’t she sweet? Thanks again Barbara! It was called Bound to Please by Hope Tarr and it was really cute. A young girl and boy meet at a fair one day when she’s 14 and he’s 12. He falls immediately for her and she’s pretty taken with him. They do a blood pledge that neither will marry another. Now it’s 10 years later and the girl, Brianna, is now Laird of her clan and the boy, Ewan, has been captured for crimes that his twin brother supposedly commited. But Briana just wants a baby by Ewan to end the blood feud..at least that’s what she’s telling herself. But when these two come together they realized that those innocent feeling they had 10 years earlier haven’t faded at all and were only growing stronger. I very much enjoyed the story (I had no idea that there were Blaze historicals – have I been living in a bubble? I thought they were all contemporaries) and will definitely be checking out some other books by this author.

That’s it for me for the week. If you feel like having a little fun hop over to Kris’s blog and help her write a short story. She’s given several elements to be included in a story. You pick the ones you like best and the ones with the most votes will then go to m/m author Sean Kennedy who will have two weeks to write a short story for her blog. Fun stuff Maynard.

Have a great week and Happy Reading!


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19 responses to “What I’ve Been Reading This Week & Lots of Other Stuff

  1. I love the new eye wear, Tracy! I wear glasses when I drive too. And your daughter’s project turned out great. Even in a picture it looks really neat! I see things like that displayed for different topics in one of the halls I walk down when I take Devin in lunch :). I enjoy looking at what the kids have made. Last week there was a totem pole and other things. Neat stuff :).

    I read Bound to Please, sent Barbara my copy. That’s neat that it’s making its way around the country!

    I still have Darkness Unkown to read. I also have enjoyed this series too. But I read the first in her new one last year, and it was not very good for me, so I guess I’ve been leery about starting this one even though I really like the previous books.

  2. Love your glasses – they really compliment your face and make your features stand out. They look great on you.

    Okay, I got maybe one book, maybe two, read this week. How do you do it???

  3. Wow, what an action packed week! I love your new glasses. They look really good. And what is that book slut thing? It’s hilarious.

    Crash Into Me is on deck for my TBR – I can’t wait. And glad to see you liked that new Josh Lanyon. OMG, I’m getting so behind with him! Sigh.

  4. Amy – Thanks! There really comfortable. I think the only thing that I’m not used to is the thicker sides – makes it near impossible to see anything out of the corner of my eye.
    Ahhhh – halls in schools. I remember those. Schools out here have mostly all outside halls so there’s no where to display stuff.
    How funny that Bound to Please was yours! lol It was cute. Maybe I’ll have to ship it off to someone else and have it make a US trek. 🙂
    I didn’t read her new series book. It really didn’t appeal in the blurb. This was a good one in the romance dept. but after having Barak come over and then the whole thing with Lusahn this one was almost too normal. It needed more action imho. I think you’d like it though.

    Stacy – thank you for your compliment on the glasses. I like them but you never know what others think. 🙂
    I’m not sure how I read so many books – honestly. I work full time and spend tons of time with the kids. Just lucky I guess. 🙂

    CJ – glasses…thank you!
    Book Sluts…see previous post – I’m sure you’re one of us!
    Didn’t you already read Crash Into Me? I could swear you did.
    Josh – I need to read more of his stuff too!

  5. I *LOVE* the new frames! They’re very Tina Fey (in the best possible way) and are totally complimentary.

    Looks like you had a really good reading week. I’ve been awful at reading lately. I read the new Larissa Ione and reviewed it for RNTV, and I’m still working on Then Comes Seduction by Mary Balogh. And I’m beta reading a book for a friend of mine. Oh! And shocker, I re-read Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas (for the 6th time).

    I’m hoping to get back on the reading bandwagon this week! You’ve inspired me.

  6. The Blaze historicals are fairly new. In fact, Hope Tarr’s was the first, and the second one (The Concubine by Jade Lee) just came out a couple of months ago.

  7. A US trek…that sounds like a cool idea! You ought to write the names in the book who have read it already, then ship it on it’s way to someone else :).

  8. Seriously, it won’t even stop to amaze me the amount of books you read per week!!

    You look great with the glasses and your daughter did a great job with her project! too bad she forgot part of her speech. Nervousness…

  9. It’s amazing how similar my portrait of you was to the real deal. LOL. Love the new glasses… and thanks for the pimpage. The consensus appears to be that I’m evil and Sean is a saint for putting up with me. Can’t see it myself. *cackling*

  10. Kati – Thanks….I hadn’t thought about the Tina Fey thing but you may be right! lol
    Smooth Talking Stranger will be my next read. Wow 6 times? Holy cow! lol

    Jill – thanks for stopping in. Yes, I did like CIM a lot – gave it 4 out of 5 stars!

    Wendy – oh good, I’m not completely losing it. How funny that Tarr’s book was the first!

    Amy – what a great idea…I’ll have to do that later this week!

    Nath – Yes, I think it was nervousness that caused her to forget to even look at her cards. *sigh* oh well, such is life. Thanks for the comps!

    Kris – it truly is an amazing likeness isn’t it? I mean, wow…just wow. I’ve only to add pigtails and it’s spot on.
    Yes, you are crazy – I haven’t met Sean so can’t say if he’s a saint or not but he may be a little crazy for saying yes! lol

  11. Cool specs!

    I’ve been wanting to get to Crash Into Me for a while, now. Glad to hear you liked it!

    I, too, am behind on the Lanyon backlist reading. I’m really excited about his novella collection coming out this month.

    Ooh, that Hope Tarr sounds like a good one. Must check the eHqn site.

    Sounds like you had a great reading week! 🙂

  12. Renee – Thanks!
    Crash Into Me was good – I think you’ll like it!
    Hey – you can be the next leg of the Hope Tarr tour! I’ll send you the book next! lol

  13. Crikeys Trace…do you sleep? I don’t know how you do it week after week. I’m amazed.

    Kudos to your oldest on her project. I was always so relieved when we got those done. I still am, but from afar now. Of course when they are in college they think even asking how they are doing is an insult. Whatev. I pay I get to see the grades. No?

  14. I haven’t read any of these except Crash Into Me and I loved the h/h’s romance! (I picked out the villain early too, lol)

    And now I’ll be adding Bound to Please to my tbb pile 😉

  15. Rosie – haha! Of course I sleep silly! lol Seriously….I have about a 1/2 hour after I drop the kids off at school before I have to be at work. I park and read. I read at lunch in my office cuz no one’s around…then after the kids go to bed, the hubby and I have talked and talked and the chores are done I read – usually sitting on the bed next to my hubby while he watches tv. I go to bed about 11pm every night. Not all that much time reading on the whole. 🙂

    Katie – IDK I’m not sure what it was about the h/h relationship in Crash Into Me that didn’t do it for me. As I said I did love the ending between the two of them though – fab.
    Hey – you can be next on the list for the Bound to Please shipment right after Renee! lol

  16. KB- Smokin hot, huh? Wow I’ll have to show that one to my hubby! lol

    Naida – good to see you. Thanks for the comps! 🙂

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