Hide-ho peeps! How’s tricks? Did you all have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve? I certainly hope so.

This was another short week at work for me and I loved it! Besides that the kids were gone for a couple of days and all I did was read – hey…the house was clean already!

So last night the girls and I made snickerdoodles and after they went to bed I started thinking about Lisabea and Samantha Kane’s post about what they wanted for Christmas. And one of those things was this tantric chair. I told Sam I’d do snickerdoodle cut outs for her tantric chair. So last night I made the attempt. Uh, yeah…that didn’t really work out for me. So I just made her the whole damn chair! Here it is for you Sam in all it’s glory! lol
So on to what I read this week. I read a ton of books!

The first book I attempted to read ended up being a DNF for me. I read a few pages at the store and was intrigued. Unfortunately that intrigue didn’t last long for me. The book was The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover by Victoria Janssen. This is a Harlequin Spice – which I’ve always had luck with. I just got about 1/3 of the way through the book and realized I didn’t really care what was happening to the characters – except for the stable boy and he wasn’t really enough to get me to keep reading.

The next book was Retreat From Love by Samantha Kane. Book 5 in the Brothers in Arms series did not disappoint. I was completely captivated by the characters and the story line. I absolutely loved getting to know Freddy and Brett better after seeing bits and pieces of them in the other books. And let me tell you – Anne is one lucky woman! Great book.

After that I read A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr. Catching myself up in the series was a must after reading Whispering Rock last week. I really enjoyed this book. I’ve heard that some folks were disappointed in it somewhat because it didn’t cover as much ground with the town folk of VR but I really liked it.

Next I read 3 of the second epilogues from the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn: The Viscount Who Loved me – which was fantastic. Love the mallet of death. Then Romancing Mr. Bridgerton and When He Was Wicked. All pretty darn good.

On New Year’s Eve I decided to get a few of the shorts and novellas that I have in ebook read:
Unraveled by Jaci Burton (novella) – really good
Kamikaze – A Last Call Story by Moira Rogers (short) – pretty good – not fab.
Last Call: Hurricane by Moira Rogers (short) – pretty good
Pulling Away by Shawn Lane (short) (sorry, couldn’t find a website for the author). m/m pretty good – but too short – I wanted to get more in depth with the story.

I read about Snowed in by Rhianne Aile and Madeleine Urban on Jenb’s blog. This was an incredibly hot m/m/m story. As she said – would it happen in real life? Probably not. Does she care? Fuck no. Well, me neither. It was really good!

So my friend Amy over at Romance Book Wyrm was having a discussion about m/m vs. f/f and she decided to go searching for some f/f. Well she found Kirsten Saell and a few of her books. On her recommendation I read Crossing Swords and it was really good. I have to say that there wasn’t a ton of f/f action but it was there. Really good read.

The same Amy sent me the Aspect of Crow Trilogy by Jeri Smith-Ready for Christmas. Thank you again, Amy! I have to say that even though I enjoy fantasy when I’m reading it I’m just not drawn to it like I am other romance books. Well let me just say how happy I am that she sent them! Eyes of Crow, the first book in the trilogy, is fantastic! I absolutely loved the story of Rhia, her world and her life. I can’t wait to delve into the next phase!

Wild Horses by Selah March was next up. An m/m novella about a college student who is with his 3 “preppie” friends vacationing at a horse ranch in Montana. Blake meets Kris who is the new ranch hand and sparks fly. I enjoyed the book but felt that there was something missing in the emotional aspect of their relationship.

Next up was Wicked Burn by Beth Kery. A really great sensual yet emotional read – watch for my review sometime soon.

And last, but certainly not least was Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl. This was a great read. It was a total impulse buy for me and it was totally worth my time.

Damn! I’m pooped now and I haven’t even added the covers yet! lol If you want more info from me just let me know…I think my brain is fried right now.

Anyway it’s back to work tomorrow after 4 days off! I hope you all have a great week.
Happy Reading!