Happy Monday!
How are all of you lovelies? I’m here at work taking a quick break to get this post done. I wish I was at home in my pj’s but I can’t have everything, can I? *sigh*
It was a good week this past week. Thank you all for your many birthday wishes. It was a good day and I was remembered by so many (thank you Facebook. lol). I had a good day at work and then hubby and the kids and I went out for a nice dinner. I got some great gifts – gc’s to Amazon, of course the laptop I got from my parents weeks ago, a new Keurig (which is the absolute bomb) and a wonderfully large gc from my hubby for a local day spa. I can’t wait to use that one!
This week will be an interesting one. My oldest is starting high school next year (yikes) and wants to try out for the cheerleading squad. I don’t know about your local high school’s but the ones around here take that shit seriously! The girls have to attend a 4 hour clinic (over 2 days) to learn the assigned tryout material. They then are scored accordingly. If the girls make it they have practice 3 times a week with 1 game during football season and 2 days of practice and 2 game days during basketball season. They also cheer for the baseball and volleyball teams. I’m glad she’s trying out but to say I’m a little concerned with all that practice is an understatement. Not that they don’t need it but with how long it takes her to do her schoolwork…it might be an issue. Well she’ll try out on Friday and they’ll post the new squad by midnight that night so by this time next week we’ll know one way or the other. I’ll keep you posted.
Ok – on to what I read this past week:
First up was Where It Hurts the Most by Anne Brooke. This is the first release in the Riptide Publishing Rentboy Collection and it was a good one. Take a male escort and a man who has shut himself off from everything due to an accident and put them together…what do you get? A really good book. 🙂 You can read my review here. 4 out of 5
Be sure to join me tomorrow when Anne visits the blog.
Next up was Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas. It took me a while to actually get the book (cuz apparently I’m too distracted) but when I did I really loved it. This is the story of a woman who is dumped by her live-in boyfriend who then shacks up with her sister. Lucy then gets horribly injured and through a series of events gets to convalesce at Sam Nolan’s house. Sam is a commitment-phobe because of his alcoholic parents but he definitely sees something in Lucy that makes him look at her like he’s never looked at another woman. This was so good. I wasn’t too surprised with the magical elements in the book as there was magic involved in book 1 of the series. Kleypas sucked me in from the first word and I couldn’t put the book down. Good stuff. 4.5 out of 5
My next read was a book I got for review called The Virgin’s Revenge by Dee Tenorio. I was a little off on my release dates and this one doesn’t actually come out until July 3. It was a good read about an overprotected woman trying to break out on her own. Her older brother want her to marry the man of HIS choice, which is actually hers too but since Cole’s her good friend she’s never acted on it, and this brings a whole host of problems. Take the fact that she finds out about it all and then wants revenge on both of them for trying to control her. It was a good read and made me want to read more in the series (this is book 4). 3.75 out of 5
Beguiling the Beauty by Sherry Thomas was next. This was SUCH a good book. I really loved so much about it – the writing, the story, the characters. I did have a few niggles with it but despite that have much love for the book overall. I noticed on Goodreads that this one has gotten REALLY mixed reviews. I guess it’s one of those you have to read and decide for yourself. You can read my review here. 4.5 out of 5
False Start by Janey Chapel is the story is about two men who share a clandestine relationship in college for about 8 months before the one who’s so far in the closet he can’t find the door freaks out and things are done. Now ten years later Tucker is back in town and ready to face all kinds of music, especially the one dealing with Whit and how he left him behind. Such a good story. I really liked this one a lot and wished it was longer! 4 out of 5
Hot Hands by Erica Pike is the first short in the College Fun and Gays series. I read The Walls Have Ears so I thought I’d try out the 2 before it. This one was about a guy who keeps getting felt up by….someone. He has no idea who. He finally gets cornered and they share hot moments but Caspar is blindfolded and he still has no idea what the identity of the man he’s dubbed Hot Hands is. The story was really good but got into an area that needed, imho, so much more after the big reveal. It was still really good though. 🙂 3.75 out of 5
Second in the College Fun and Gays series by Erica Pike is Grade-A-Sex Deal. This is about one of the university teachers who makes a deal with one of his students to exchange sex for an A in the class. The college teacher, Daniel, is trying to deal with his emotional attachment to his student, Troy, as well as his kids’ attitudes towards him since he divorced their mother 2 years earlier. Again, I think this would have been great if it had been longer and had more detail but in the end it was still a fun read. 3 out of 5
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs was up next. This is book 3 in the Alpha and Omega series and has Anna and Charles helping the FBI with a serial killer investigation (because 3 of the victims were werewolves). It was a great mystery but also dealt with the issues that Anna and Charles had been having since the werewolves had gone public and Charles had to step us his duties as his father’s hit man (so to speak). This was such a good book with an incredible ending that I loved. Though I figured out who-dun-it about halfway through the book it was still great to see all the ins and outs of the story. 4.25 out of 5
Reading Fair Game made me want to go back and read about when Anna and Charles first met so I picked up my copy of the On the Prowl anthology and re-read the Alpha and Omega novella by Patricia Briggs. This is such a great novella! With Anna and Charles meeting for the first time and seeing Charles kind of brought to his knees it just worked for me. Definitely one that will be read over and over. 4 out of 5
Next was Spirit by PA Friday. I read Jenre’s review of this one over at Brief Encounter Reviews and she liked it. It’s the story of Grant who starts at an advertising firm with a homophobic boss. Grant is a man who has made a life for himself out of nothing and is willing to work hard. Grant meets Tristan who is the boss’s son and assumes Tristan does nothing and gets accolades but that’s not the case. Grant and Tristan hate each other, for different reasons, but that doesn’t stop the pair from being attracted to each other and eventually acting on that attraction. The story follows the men in their path from hate to…not and what that means for both of them. 4 out of 5
Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase was my TBR challenge read for the week. This is the story of 3 sisters who will do anything to get their dress shop off the ground. The oldest who is the designer heads to Paris to cajole a duke into making his intended use their dressmaking services when he finally gets married (which is supposed to be soon). But things go a tad awry in the plan when Marcelline and Clevedon meet and their attraction makes fire look like it’s not all that hot. It was a great story and I loved Chase’s writing. She dragged me into the book and I ended up staying up late to finish it cuz I couldn’t put it down. In fact the more I think of it today the more I like the book. I can’t wait to read about the next sister. 4.5 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!
I had the same worries about my youngest when he wanted to play HS volleyball. The best thing about it is that they have to maintain grades in order to participate (a CIF requirement). So if she really, really wants it, she'll find the time to do her schoolwork. Also, a lot of athletic programs (and cheer) use 6th period as a study hall and then practice starts when the end of 6th bell rings. Jeff never had homework once he got home cause he made great use of that. Steve? Yeah, not so much.
Hopefully, if she makes the squad, (and after you choke at the cost), she'll be able to make good use of her time and maintain her grades.
Lori – That's so true about the GPA's having to meet standards to continue playing/cheering. I wish it was higher than 2.0 though, that seems so low!
If my oldest got her homework done in 1 period I would fall over. It takes her FOREVER! Of course, maybe with cheerleading as incentive she may do it quicker.
Oh the cost. Wow. Shocking. Though that whole law suit thing with the ACLU now says that they can't "charge" to be in the programs. They say how much it costs for each person and then say if you can't pay it they'll work it out. Interesting. I'm trying not to think about the money until I find out if she makes it or not. lol
Well, good luck to your oldest. It sounds like sooooo much work. But maybe it will help her be more disciplined? You can dream, right?!
I'm definitely going to read that Anne Brooke book. And I really enjoyed the Janey Chapel – it's just too long between her books.
I really liked Rainshadow Road too even though it is a little different from her other stuff. 🙂
Chris – I think it's a ton of work too but I'm proud of her for trying. The Anne Brooke was definitely good and yes, I love Janey Chapel. 🙂
Mandi – Definitely different from her other stuff. While the characters have some issues it's nothing like her other contemporary series.