What I Read Last Week

Nothing to report this week. Just a pretty quiet week and I LOVE that. I do have to register my oldest daughter for HIGH SCHOOL this week. That’s kind of freaking me out, I must admit. When did that happen? How could she have gotten older and I stayed the same age? How? How? How? lol

I read a lot this past week so let’s get to it:

First up was Taming An Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch. This was the story of Camille Pryce – an Ear’s daughter – who ran out on her own wedding a year ago and was then disowned and shunned by her family and friends. She actually became a maid in her aunts home until she found out about the Tantalus Club and the fact that it was hiring women. She got the job and is now hostess in one of their dining rooms. The man she was to marry is still technically engaged to her but he has been banned from the Club and since Camille never leaves it makes it difficult to talk to her. Lord Fenton employs his scandalous cousin, Keating Blackwood, to get into the club and makes a deal to pay him 10,000 pounds when he gets Camille to the altar to marry Fenton. But Camille and Keating fall in love and where does that leave them and Fenton. I really liked this book. I’m becoming a fan of Enoch’s and really like what she does with a romance. 4.25 out of 5

Wolf Tracks by Vivian Arend is the story of Pam who comes to the Granite Lake pack to be the maid of honor at her best friends’ wedding. Pam has no idea that she is among wolf shifters. TJ – the best man – discovers that Pam, who is VERY human, is his mate. After the wedding Pam goes on a hiking excursion and TJ basically kidnaps her. She discovers his wolf secret and TJ spends the week they are together trying to make Pam believe that they are meant to be together. This was another great addition to the Granite Lake Wolves series. I loved TJ and his tenaciousness and I loved that Pam didn’t just accept TJ without some damned good proof. A fun read. 4 out of 5

Sierra Falls by Veronica Wolff is a book that I read for The Book Binge. This is the first in a series about the citizen’s of Sierra Falls, California. In this story we have the daughter to the tavern/lodge owner and the new sheriff in town. Sorrow is trying to help her parents when a whole lot of things are going wrong at the tavern, along with dealing with her current boyfriend, and Billy thinks that the “accidents” at the tavern aren’t accidents at all. Along with that Billy is trying to get over the death of his wife and move on. While this was a good book there was really just too much going on for me. There were many side stories branching off from Sorrow and Billy’s relationship as well as other relationships between Sorrow and her family and some townspeople. Cute, but not wonderful. 3.25 out of 5

Pretty Monsters by Andrea Speed was next. This is a free short and the first story in the Josh of the Damned series. It’s about Josh who works the night shift at the Quik Mart and there’s a hell portal right out back. Josh’s customers range from vampires to zombies and there’s never a dull moment. In this story he meets the hottie, Colin the vampire, and becomes quite friendly with him. This was a fun story and a good introduction to Josh and his world. 3 out of 5

Peek-A-Boo by Andrea Speed is the second free short story in the Josh of the Damned series. This one involved a Yeti who is visiting Josh and slapping dead animals on his counter. Colin comes in and lets him know that the Yeti might have more on his mind with Josh than he originally thought. Again, fun story and funny! I definitely was laughing out loud more than once during this one. Don’t let the monsterish covers freak you out. These are definitely comedic reads. 3.5 out of 5

The Wolf Who Loved Me by Lydia Dare is book 5 in the Westfield Wolves series. This story was about Weston Hadly, a nothing and nobody in the ton, who is caught by Lady Madeline, a Duke’s daughter who has a huge dowry, changing into his wolf form. He manages to corral her and then they’re off to Gretna Green to get married as a mate won’t tell the shifter’s secret. They are soon chased by Madeline’s father but during the trip Madeline manages to fall in love with Weston. I read this one for the Book Binge – you can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

Josh of the Damned Triple Feature by Andrea Speed was next. This contains 3 short stories that are just great. This one contains a huge man eating mustache, a hentai monster and then Josh has to visit Colin’s boss who is the monster that all monsters are afraid of. Wow. It was really good and I can’t wait to read what happens next. You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5

Next up was Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie. This is the conclusion to the Devil Riders series. I didn’t read all the books in the series but I really didn’t need to as this one is good all on it’s own. The story is about Luke who was in Spain during the war and came across a young girl being beaten and raped. He saves her and in order to save her from having to marry her nasty cousin Luke marries the 13 year old – with the thought that the marriage can later be annulled. He drops her off to her aunt in a convent and goes about his life. Eight years later he finds out that the marriage can’t be annulled. He heads to Spain to collect his bride but she is nothing that he expected – she’s better. Bella takes him on a merry ride through Spain and they actually get to know each other. Bella falls completely in love and Luke does as well – while ridding himself of the nightmares that have plagued him since the war. This was a good story. I really liked both Luke and Bella and the whole premise of the story. I thought Spain was a great location for the book. Some parts didn’t work for me as well as others but overall I liked it. 3.5 out of 5

Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy was my next read. This is the story of an assassin, Abby, whose cover has been blown. Her boss asks a mercenary group to go in and get her. Her choice to drop her cover was to try to get closer to the young girls that were being kidnapped and held for auction. When she’s rescued she convinces the mercs to go in and save the girls. The story focuses on the mercs getting ready for the mission but also the budding relationship between Abby and one of the mercs, Kane. The story premise was good but a lot of the book didn’t work all that well for me for different reasons. I read this one for The Book Binge so I’ll let you know when my review posts. 3 out of 5

Next was another book for The Book Binge (yes, I’m trying to catch myself up!) called All For You by Lynn Kurland. This was the story of Peaches Alexander who wants the whole fairy tale relationship thing. Nothing else is going right in her life so when she’s invited to a ball at a Duke’s house she’s sure that he’s interested. Also at the ball is Stephen de Piaget who is thoroughly in love with Peaches but gets tongue tied and blows it every time he’s near her. Peaches doesn’t care for Stephen at all but when she walks through a time gate and ends up in medieval England Stephen’s the one that can save her. This was a very sweet and good story. Stephen is lovely and he’s so good to Peaches. (I honestly had a problem with her name though – I know it was her hippi parents but yuck. lol) I liked the story, the romance, the time travel and almost everything else. It just worked. 3.75 out of 5

Wanting by Piper Vaughn is a short free read and one I read about at Tam’s…then realized that I already own it and must have had it for a while – oops. lol Anyway, the story is about 18 year old Jonah who’s got it bad for his older brother’s best friend, Laurie. Jonah asks Laurie to take his virginity. He does and the pair end up in a relationship. It I really liked all the characters in this one. I would have loved this as a full sized book but it really worked as a short and was great. 4 out of 5 Written for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s “Hot Summer Days” anthology.

Last for the week was Joy & Pain by Celia Kyle. This was another free short that had an ex ballet dancer working at a strip joint. Tevin has a certain “kink” that hasn’t been fulfilled in a while. His boss introduces him to one of his friends, Zeke, who is more than willing to fill the kink for Tevin. This was good but pretty short. I really couldn’t connect with the characters as it was told from Tevin’s pov but it was definitely on the spicy side. 3 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week: