Happy Monday! I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince you or myself – but my coffee is helping, a lot! lol
A quiet week on the old home front. The weekend brought lots of house cleaning and shopping for clothes for my oldest. That child is growing by leaps and bounds and her clothes can’t keep up! I’ve been trying to just buy her clothes little by little because she’s growing out of them so fast but this time I think I got her enough to make it through summer. Fingers crossed. lol
Other than that not much going on so I’ll get down to what I read last week:
First up was Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh. This one doesn’t come out until July 6 so I was extremely happy to be able to read it early for The Book Binge. It was another great book in the Psy/Changeling series. This book is the story of cop Max Shannon (Talin’s human friend) and Sophia Russo – a Justice Psy and I really, really liked it! I’ll let you know when my review posts. 🙂 4.5 out of 5
The One That Got Away by Rhianne Aile and Madeleine Urban was the book that was chosen for my June Pick-It For Me Challenge on the m/m group on Goodreads. I read reviews on this one but just hadn’t gotten around to buying it so I’m glad I was “forced” to do it. 🙂 This was the story of David who broke his shoulder and his best friend Trace who moves in to take care of him. David is gay, Trace is not. David hadn’t had any sexual thoughts about Trace until they’re basically living together and then the lascivious thoughts begin. Trace isn’t necessarily opposed to David but he’s not jumping in with both feet. This was a great book in that the slow, sensual seduction and the build up of what was to come was so engaging. I loved that David didn’t push Trace and that they deeply considered their friendship before doing anything. A very good read. 4 out of 5
Next up was Open Season by Linda Howard. This was my DIK Reading Challenge book for June and it was a good one. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5
After that I read Obsessed by KZ Snow. This is book 3 in the Jackson Spey – Adin Swift story arc and I decided to start with this one because it’s really where the m/m story begins. The first two books, I think (please correct me if I’m wrong), cover Adin’s relationship with Celia. This was an odd choice of a book for me because I have issues with infidelity and Adin being in a relationship with Celia but then beginning a relationship with Jackson should have hit all of my hot buttons…but it didn’t. I think it was because of two reasons A) the two men had truly been in love with each other for about 10 years and B) Celia gave her unmitigated approval of the relationship. I very much enjoyed seeing the two men expressing their feelings for each other and can’t wait to see what happens next in their relationship. 4 out of 5
I tried to read a Silhouette Nocture called Alpha Wolf by Linda O. Johnston for my Tracy’s TBR Challenge read. The premise of the book – a vet finding a wounded animal and then his owner comes to get him – the owner, unbeknownst to the vet is a shapeshifter was a good one and one that caught my attention. Unfortunately, I tried to read the whole thing but I just couldn’t get into it. The vet was annoying me with the – this man scares me, but he’s hot so it’s all ok thing. Ug. Couldn’t get past the first 100 pages. DNF
Next was Gemini: The Wicked Things by Pepper Espinoza (Boys of the Zodiac series). I probably wouldn’t have found this one on my own but read a Tuesday Teaser that Tam did and the talking horse caught my eye! lol The story follows Travis who has moved in with his mother to help her out because she’s dealing with dementia. He meets a huge black dog that ends up being the ghost/soul of a long dead legend who can shapeshift. John, the dog and legend, makes him see that he’s not exactly who he thinks he is and that his mother’s dementia is being caused by an evil witch. Only Travis can save them. Although I’m not a huge fan of witch stories I liked this one. There was just enough of a mix of oddity, family and love that I liked it. 3.5 out of 5
The last book for the week was One Dance With A Duke by Tessa Dare. This is book one in her new Stud Club trilogy and it was a good one. Amelia is 26 and pretty much a wallflower. She’s taken care of her family for years and they mean everything to her. When she finds out that the man that the ton has dubbed The Duke of Midnight has taken her poor brother, Jack, for four hundred pounds when they have not a penny to spare, she’s more than pissed. When the Duke shows up for his midnight dance she butts in and dances with him to give him a piece of her mind and try to make him forgive the debt. This begins a relationship that is both loving and heartbreaking. I very much enjoyed seeing Amelia and Spencer verbally sparring. They did it so well. Now I can’t say I agreed with how Amelia handled things at the end of the book (and no, I’m not telling you what happened, that would spoil it) but overall I really liked the book and am going to buy book 2 in the trilogy which came out on the 22nd. 4.5 out of 5
Oh and if you haven’t seen it already, the trailer that Tessa made for this trilogy is fabulous! You can watch it by clicking on the link to her site.
My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Happy Reading!
You addressed my exact concern about the whole Jackson-Adin-Celia thing – I'll try not to be afeared of reading the book because of that. 🙂
I really loved Bonds of Justice and One dance With a Duke as well. And her video is soooo cute!! 🙂
I am looking forward to Bonds of Justice, so will keep an eye out for your review 🙂
And oh I like the sound of The One That Got Away!
Chris – Yep, I was concerned as well so I know how you're feeling! Hopefully it will continue to be A-ok in the next couple of books! lol
Mandi – That video was so good. She's very creative.
Orannia – I love Singh's books. Hey – do they come out earlier for you since she's right there in NZ? Probably not but it would be great for you!
I think you'd really like The One That Got Away – very sweet – but very sexy.
A great set of books this week, Tracy. I'm glad you liked Obsessed, I found the whole Adin-Jackson-Celia thing quite fascinating and liked how it developed in the next two books. The next book – InDescent – is my favourite KZ Snow book so I hope you read that soon.
Looks like you had a great reading week! You already know that I loved The One That Got Away. I'm adding the Tessa Dare one to my TBB!
You read all that in a week? It would take me a month.
Jenre – I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in the Spey/Swift story line so I don't think it will be too long.:)
Janna – TOTGA was just so sweet – how could I not like it. 🙂
Alice Audrey – Yep, I read it all in a week. It's amazing what I can get read when I don't watch tv. lol
All the ones I've read I agree with you. I found the Gemini one a bit confusing sometimes because of the whole witchy world but it was still an entertaining read. And with Obsessed the Celia thing didn't bother me for the reasons you mentioned.
I love Open Season! Read it a while ago but it was a fave of mine 🙂 Of course, all LH books are faves.
Hi, Tracy! Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but if Google doesn't alert me, I often remain clueless about posts that mention my books. (That's especially true when I'm writing like crazy.)
Thank you for reading Obsessed!
The only significant Jackson/Adin story previous to this one is Plagued from Ellora's Cave. It's the first book in which these two characters appear together. It's also the one in which Adin's vampiric history is detailed.
Celia? Simple. She's a smart, sensitive woman who knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em. 😉
Tam- Yes, that whole Gemini world was confusing. I think this is book 3 in the series. Have you read the others?
Katie – I'm thinking from everyone's comments that I should read a few more LH books! lol
KZ – Thanks for stopping by. I really did like Obsessed. Yes, Celia is a smart woman so I was happy she was able to let Adin do what he needed to do. I think I didn't read the Plagued because I was afraid I would get too attached to Celia and then be mad at Adin for "cheating" on her – even though it wasn't cheating per say. Does that make sense?