Month: April 2012

What I Read Last Week

Posted April 30, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 8 Comments

Hola!
How are you this fine Monday? It’s beautiful out today in my part of the land – I wish my desk was outside and not in a stuffy office. I just keep looking out the window with longing. lol
Not much happened this week. I did realize that I completely forgot my blog anniversary! Yep, on April 16th it was the 4th anniversary of Tracy’s Place. Damned hard to believe that it’s been that long. It really only seems like a year or so – weird. 🙂
This past weekend we went to the Santa Barbara Fair. The weather was great and we had a wonderful time. The kids rode a ton of rides, we watched pig races, got to see adorable baby goats and my oldest daughter got hypnotized. It was hilarious. I did get a dvd of my oldest so that she could see what she did while she was under. Too funny. I asked the hypnotist if he could make it so that every time I snapped my fingers she would listen to me but he just laughed. lol
So on to what I read this week:
I started off the week with The Witness by Nora Roberts. This is a wonderful romance and a bit of a mystery/suspense story all wrapped into one. I really, really liked it. You can read my review here. 4.5 out of 5
Next up was a YA book called Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm. This is the story of a girl who goes to spend the summer at a living history museum. It was another really good book. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5
My next read was Country Mouse by Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov. This was the story of an American guy who is visiting London. He meets a guy in a bar on his first day there and they end up spending the weekend together. You can read more about this great story and my review here. 4.5 out of 5
Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal by Grace Burrowes was a book I read for The Book Binge. This story was about a woman who is a by-blow but was “adopted” by her father (a duke) and raised with many siblings. She is 30 years old and living in her own household. She loses her purse and hires a man to find it. She’s got secrets though and the man knows that there’s more to things than just a lost reticule. This was a bit of a frustrating story as we didn’t get to know Maggie’s secret until right before the hero did. The romance was great though and I really liked the book. 4 out of 5
Next was The Walls Have Ears by Erica Pike. This is the 3rd in the College Fun and Gays series. Harley is a guy who has been having a relationship with the guy next door – but through the wall. They masturbate to each others voices until the guy on the other side of the wall, Devon, asks Harley’s roommate out instead of him. Harley ends up crying on Devon’s roommate’s shoulder but Tasha wants more from Harley than just being friends. It was a short story but so cute. My heart ached for Harley’s situation and that was written so well but Harley made me a bit crazy with his child-like emotional outbursts. I loved Tasha and admired him for his infinite patience with Harley. I look forward to reading the rest of the series! 4 out of 5
Devil’s Punch by Ann Aguirre was my next read. This is book 4 in the Corinne Solomon series. I’ll be posting my review of this later this week so stay tuned.
Sunrise by Kody Boye is a zombie apocalypse novel that I read. I’ll post my review of this on Wednesday so keep your eyes peeled.
Last on the list was What We Deserve by Kerry Freeman. This is the story of 2 best friends. One falls in love with the other but then the older boy, Jamie, heads off to the army without telling his best friend…the night after they sleep together for the first time. Sean is devastated but moves on with his life. Twelve years later Jamie is back but Sean is in a committed relationship and none to thrilled about Jamie coming back and wanting to talk and pick up where they left off – after 12 years of non communication. Eventually Sean does talk and after that Sean, Jamie and Tyler, Sean’s boyfriend, all fall in love to make a household of three. The story is about the falling in love but also dealing with the men’s families and their reactions. It was a good story even if I did have a couple of issues. There were things left unresolved with one of the men’s parents which bothered me and I never did feel that Sean and Jamie talked enough about Jamie’s jackassedness and ultimate silence when he had left all those years ago. 3.5 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!


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Birthday Giveaway: Day 6

Posted April 30, 2012 by Holly in Giveaways, Miscellaneous | 55 Comments

This is the last day of our giveaway. You have until 11:59pm tonight to enter all our giveaways for the week!

Today we’ve got:

  • A signed copy of Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl
  • Waking up with the Duke by Lorraine Heath
  • Time Out by Jill Shalvis
  • An audiobook of Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis
  • A bag of swag to carry your books in

Leave a comment on this post, letting us know what prize pack from this week you most want to win. Contest ends April 30, 2012 at 11:59pm. Please note: You must include a valid email address with your comment to be eligible.

We’re gearing up to do a big Spring Fling giveaway throughout the month of May, so make sure to check back! And tomorrow Lauren Dane is guest blogging (and we’re giving away 2 autographed books!).


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Birthday Giveaway: Day 5

Posted April 29, 2012 by Holly in Giveaways, Miscellaneous | 39 Comments

Only one day left after today. Just a reminder, today’s giveaway and tomorrow’s are short. You only have until 11:59pm tomorrow to enter all of this week’s giveaways.

Today we’re giving away:

  • A signed copy of Gunning for Trouble by HelenKay Dimon
  • A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare
  • A bag of swag to carry your books in

Leave a comment on this post, letting us know what you’d like to see from us in the coming year. Be honest! We value your feedback.

Contest ends April 30, 2012 at 11:59pm. Please note: You must include a valid email address with your comment to be eligible.

Be sure to check back tomorrow and the rest of the week, as we’ll be doing more giveaways. We’re also gearing up to do a big Spring Fling giveaway throughout the month of May!


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Guest Review: The Perfect Imposter by Wendy Soliman

Posted April 29, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 2 Comments

Judith’s review of The Perfect Imposter by Wendy Soliman

Struggling to escape her past and make ends meet as a modiste, Katrina Sinclair hopes the daring new wardrobe she’s designed for her childhood friend Julia—now a marchioness—will attract the business she desperately needs. But Julia’s help comes at a price: Katrina must take her place at a house party. They look enough alike for the ruse to work…until Julia’s handsome former fiancĂ© arrives.

Leo Kincade has been tasked with catching a traitor who steals from house parties to fund Napoleon’s armies. Three women are suspected—including Julia. But when Leo intercepts her at the party, he finds an impostor who stirs an attraction stronger than anything he felt for Julia.

The mysterious woman shares Leo’s interest, even if she won’t trust him with her true identity. He should expose her at once, but he’s too tempted to play along and see where her deception—and their passion—will lead…


They had grown up together:  Julia was the earl’s daughter, and Katrina daughter of the earl’s steward.  Yet the earl had insisted that Katrina be educated with his daughter and that they be allowed to play together and share their growing up experiences as pals.  Often their surprising similarity in looks had been at the root of the fun they had fooling their governess–they looked so alike that people often thought they were twins.  Now they are grown and their lives are truly moving in different directions.  Julia is married and unhappily, it appears.  Katrina is struggling to become a designer and maker of fine garments for the women of the ton–a modiste as they were then called.  And Julia, her life-long best friend, has asked a favor of Katrina that will probably be the greatest strain on their friendship they will ever face.
This novel is not your usual poor-girl-meets-rich-aristocrat kind of historical romance.  Rather, it is a story about thievery, possibly misplaced trust, mysterious personal agendas, and the lengths to which one friend will go to be a friend.  There are twists and turns, surprising actions on the part of several of the characters, a very confused and increasingly angry and upset heroine, and a hero who is having a difficult time processing what is really going on, even though he knows that Katrina isn’t Julia, but he along with everyone else, can’t figure out what lies at the root of all this subterfuge.
I am a great fan of historical romance and thought the underlying premise of this book to be fascinating to begin with.  But when I got into the story I was dragged along because nothing was playing out the way Katrina expected, and Julia’s maid who was supposed to be a guide and a help to Katrina, just doesn’t seem to be “on the same page.”  This is perhaps one of the first clues that all is not as it initially appears.  I think I was most taken with the character of Katrina–a woman who was not unhappy with having to make her own way in the world, but one whose inner strength of character, her faithfulness to her friend, her willingness to engage in this duplicity just for the sake of her friendship with Julia, made her a person of honor and who stands out as one stellar human being.   And I really liked Leo–a man who had been “burned” in the arena of romantic love, whose cynicism about people in general and women in particular was fairly significant and yet it didn’t blind him to the differences he saw in Katrina.  His attraction to her confused him, but he still knew the “real thing” when he saw it.  Best of all, I think this author made this story “work” on so many levels and I responded to its action and to the characters involved quite profoundly.  It was a massively entertaining story.
I have read several of Ms Soliman’s writings and found all of them to be quite good.  This work is, by far, one of her best I have encountered.  It’s just one terrific read!!  I hope you will seek it out and if you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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Birthday Giveaway Day 4

Posted April 28, 2012 by Holly in Giveaways, Miscellaneous | 54 Comments

We are nearing the end of our birthday celebration. Only a couple days left.

Today we have for you:

A signed copy of The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries
A signed copy of Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells
A signed copy of Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt
A bag of swag to carry your new books in

For a chance to win, leave a comment on this post telling us what you want for your birthday/anniversary this year (or, if the date has passed, what your favorite gift was).

Contest ends April 30, 2012 @ 11:59pm. Please note: You must include a valid email address with your comment to be eligible.

Be sure to check back tomorrow and the rest of the week, as we’ll be doing more giveaways. We’re also gearing up to do a big Spring Fling giveaway throughout the month of May!


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