Tag: Kate Perry

What I Read Last Week

Posted December 6, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 12 Comments

So a pretty interesting week here in Tracyland. Well, really more of an interesting weekend.
First there’s my oldest. You remember last week I told you that she had her first boyfriend? Yeah? Well, he broke up with her the next day. I know! Little shit. lol Nah, he was nice about it but said that he thought they should just be friends. Ok, I understand that because they have been really good friends, but really? He hardly even saw her on Monday after asking her out on Sunday night and he already wanted to break up? Well, she of course, cried and cried like the world was coming to an end *sigh* poor thing. But…the story continues…this past Saturday she went to a birthday party for 2 of her friends and lo and behold the boy (yes, the same boy!) asked her out again! She accepted and was thrilled! Now during the party my daughter was acting rash (I know, how odd for a 12 year old) and she tripped, fell and hit her head. She was unconscious for about a minute (she’s absolutely fine now) but the “boyfriend” called, identified himself by name and as my daughter’s boyfriend and told me what had happened. I went to pick her up and the boy introduced himself, shook my hand – he was just very nice. On Sunday, he broke up with her. What. The. Fuck? My poor daughter was even more distraught this time and I just hugged her and told her that it was going to be ok. I’m not sure she believed me. She wasn’t forthcoming as to his reasons this time but I told her that if he asks again – at any time – she is to treat him like drugs and JUST SAY NO! My poor baby. It’s hard being 12.
On a happy note, I got an early Christmas present – a new phone! It’s a very cool LG Optimus and it has a fun touch screen (which I’m still getting used to with my big Fred Flinstone fingers) and lots of apps and it’s a complete time suck! I love it. And since Kris finally badgered talked me into joining twitter (and no, I have no effin clue what the hell I’m doing) and my phone is the only way I’ve been able to get on it – it’s great! My youngest also adores the phone since I downloaded the paper toss app – she played on that darned thing for nearly 2 hours last night. I kept saying – don’t you have anything better to do and she’d just giggle and say NO!
Now on to what I read this past week:

First up was Tempted by Fate by Kate Perry. This is book 3 in the Guardians of Destiny series. I really liked the hero in this book, Rick, who was just great. I’d read about him in the last book and he’d grabbed my attention then so it was good read about him and still like him! lol I read this one for The Book Binge and you can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Next was Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis. This is book one in her Lucky Harbor series and I really liked it. The story follows Maddie, a woman who has been beat down by life and literally beaten by her former fiancé but heads north to Washington from LA when she inherits a “resort” from her mother. There she meets her two estranged sisters as well as local carpenter, Jax. Jax wants Maddie from minute one but Maddie holds herself back and has to learn to trust. The book is about the romance with Jax as well as Maddie developing relationships with her sisters. I really liked this one a lot. I thought it was on it’s way to a 5 star read but it started getting a little too angsty for my liking. Still, a very good read. 4.25 out of 5

My next read was Passions of a Wicked Earl by Lorraine Heath. This was about a wicked earl and his passions. Just kidding. Well, not really, it kind of was but it was more about a husband and wife finally falling in love after A) a big mis and B) three years of separation. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Next was another read for The Book Binge called Awakened by a Kiss by Lila Dipasqua. This book has 3 fairy tale adaptations that I really enjoyed. The stories were based on Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots and were set in 17th century France. There were all good stories. I’ll let you know when my review posts. 4 out of 5

Winter Wishes by Vivan Arend, Vivi Andrews and Moira Rogers was my next read. This book had 3 very different Christmas paranormal stories in it and all were pretty good. You can read my review here. I rated the stories all individually in my review here but overall I think I’d say it’s a 4 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week was Mistletoe and Mayhem by Christine Ridgway, Katherine Hall Page, Judi McCoy & Joanne Pence. Yes, another anthology – I seemed to read a lot of them this week. This one was lent to me a year ago at Christmas and I never got to it so I figured it’s about time. There were four stories all Christmas related that each had a bit of a mystery in them. They were all cute but none of them knocked my socks off, unfortunately. 3.25 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that have posted since last week:
Happy Reading!


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Guest Review: Tempted by Fate by Kate Perry

Posted December 3, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Tracy’s review of Tempted by Fate (Guardians of Destiny #3) by Kate Perry

Willow Tarata is a Guardian who trusts no one. She hunts those who prey on the vulnerable. And she’s driven by a vengeful goal-find the man who murdered her mother. Yet suddenly Willow’s quarry now has her on the run . . . straight into the sights of San Francisco’s most dangerous detective.

Three bizarre murders have Inspector Rick Ramirez baffled-and determined to uncover the truth. But to catch the real killer, he needs the help of his prime suspect, Willow Tarata, even though this fierce and sexy blonde is challenging his professional cool. And now, unless they believe in each other and trust their deepest instincts, a relentless evil will end both Willow’s and Rick’s life-and claim this Guardian’s extraordinary powers forever . . .

Willow has been running most of her life. She’s running from the man who killed her mother but she’s also running to him in a way because she wants to bring him down for what he’d done to her mother. When she discovers that the man is in San Francisco she heads there to try to finally deal with him once and for all.

When she becomes the suspect in three murders she’s gets into a tough spot. She’s met Inspector Rick Ramirez and though he seems to draw her to him she knows she can have nothing to do with him because of who she is. Rick is a man who has always seen things as black and white with no grey in his life. When he meets Willow he starts to realize that there may be more grey than he’s willing to live with.

Tempted by Fate was a good book. It had a nice blending of romance, suspense and kick-ass fighting as well as the paranormal aspect of Willow’s powers that really appealed to me. Rick was a great guy. He really was quite honorable and I could see that when he found out about Willow’s past he was rather torn as to what to do about it, if anything. Willow and Rick made a great couple for me probably because they were so very different from each other but still found the love that would last.

I also really loved Rick’s grandmother, Lita as well as Willow’s friend, Morgan. These were wonderful and bright secondary characters that added a nice aspect to the story.

We’ve been pulled into the story about the Guardians over the last three books and now we’re learning even more about them. It looks from this book that there will be a whole lot more to them in future books and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Forever. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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What I Read Last Week

Posted March 1, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 17 Comments

So this was a good week. My hubby is slowly getting back to normal. He’s still slower than normal along with weak but he did go back to work today. I think (and hope) that he’s just gonna do half days for the next few days until he can get back up to speed. One thing that’s making him so weak is his weight loss. You have to understand my hubby. When he’s completely up to speed he eats a bowl of cereal every night right before bed. If he doesn’t he loses weight (bastard!). When he was in the hospital he lost 6 pounds in the 4.5 days he was there. Since then he’s lost another 6 and he’s been trying to eat normally – although up until a few days ago he just couldn’t stomach that much. So this morning he told me that he weighed 148. I just stared at him for a minute and then said: You weigh 148 and I weigh 143.
Him: That’s just scary.
Me: What? That you weigh 148 or that I weigh 143?
Him: Both
Me: speechless
Then my youngest walked up and gave me a hug and said: It doesn’t matter how much mama weighs, I love her anyway.
Me: awww sticking my tongue out at hubby (bastard)
LOL Anyway – my daughter saved my Monday morning – thank heavens! 🙂

Other home stuff: my oldest dropped her itouch in a pool when she was at her friend’s house. It’s toast, we think. We have a warranty but it only covers broken itouch’s, not water damaged itouch’s. sigh My husband has it imbedded in rice to try to soak up any moisture but since she turned it on right after it happened we’re pretty sure it fried the electronics. What’s a mom to do? She was trying to save her chore money to try and buy an inexpensive laptop – now she’s going to be saving it for a new itouch.

I’ve decided to make March “Finish the Series” month. I’ve been thinking the past few days that I’ve started quite a few series and haven’t finished them. Some of the series have ended and still others are still going but I haven’t caught up yet. That’s my goal for this month is to get caught up on the series that I’ve begun. This will take a bit of research on my part to try and figure out what I need to read but hopefully it won’t be too daunting and I’ll be able to get it done in a month’s time. Now there are books that I’ve started that were part of a series that I don’t plan on ever reading but thankfully there aren’t many of those.

So my first read for the week: I started Naked Dragon by Annette Blair for review at The Book Binge but it just wasn’t my thing. Both the hero and heroine were annoying me (this seems to be happening a lot) and I just couldn’t read more. After about 100 pages I put it down. DNF

Next up was Bound, Branded and Brazen by Jaci Burton. I read this one for review at The Book Binge as well and really enjoyed it a lot. The story of 3 sisters coming together on their family ranch – reuniting with each other and finding love in the process. I’ll let you know when my review posts. 4 out of 5

My next read was Chosen by Desire by Kate Perry. Book 2 in the Guardians of Destiny series follows Carrie Woods as she steals sacred scrolls for a monastery in order to get information for her dissertation. The man who is sent to get the scrolls back is Max Prescott, a Guardian of Destiny. They have a lustful yet volatile relationship that just works. Max seemed a little out of it to me at times, like he was a time traveler from the past or and didn’t have a clue about the modern world. But then I thought about it and realized the man had spent most of his adult life in a monastery so that would make anyone a little out of it. lol Despite that I liked the book and will be reading the next one when it’s released. 3.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was A Perfect Hero by Samantha James. This is book 3 in a trilogy about the Sterling siblings. I didn’t read the first 2 books in the series but really didn’t feel like I needed to. Julianna was jilted at the altar when she was 22 years old. She’s now 27 and on her way to Bath. Her coach is stopped by a highwayman and when the coachman tries to get away crashes the coach and dies. Julianna is hurt and the highwayman takes her to his cottage. The two form a bond and fall in love while Julianna is there. But Julianna leaves eventually and is crushed until she meets Viscount Granville at a ball – and he’s none other than the highwayman. This was a really sweet romance. I loved when the h/h were in the cottage and spending time together. The first part of the book was a little repetitive but I forged through and it ended up be more than worth it. 4 out of 5

After that I read Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels for one of M/M Challenge reads. A great book I highly recommend. My review here. 4.5 out of 5


Love in Exile by Samantha Kane was next. I read this one for review at The Book Binge. I liked the story about Gregory/Palu who is part English and part Polynesian. I’ll let you know when the review posts. 3.75 out of 5

Last up was The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop. Technically I guess this would be considered a Tracy’s TBR Challenge read as well since it’s been on my shelf since the day it released. Why it sat there I don’t have a clue because as usual with Bishop’s writing it was a really good book. The story of Dena Nehele that has been decimated by evil witches and fighting landens. Things have calmed and the last man with the Grayhaven name goes to Daemon Sadi to request a queen for their land. They are given Cassidy who is a lovely person but not all that great to look at. Teran Grayhaven is not thrilled with Daemon and Jaenelle’s choice. He wanted someone with a dark jewel and a beautiful face to “wow” the Blood in Dena Nehele. The book basically follows Cassidy as she goes to Dena Nehele and attempts to be a good queen. This was just a wonderful book. I really liked Cassidy a lot and hated Teran because he was such a bastard. I was a little thrown off by the end of the book as I didn’t feel things were wrapped up well – but since I started Shalador’s Lady right after (and am currently reading it) I realized that the story is still in progress. 4.5 out of 5

FYI my reading list for February is now up at my reading list blog – aptly named Tracy’s Reading List.  I know, it’s genius.

Also – any of my reviews for The Book Binge that have posted you can find here.

Happy Reading!


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