Tag: Aleksandr Voinov

What I Read Last Week

Posted January 7, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a safe and fun New Year’s Eve. We stayed home with the kids and ended up making cookies at 10:00pm! It kept me awake that’s for sure. lol I wish you a healthy and happy 2013!

This past week was nice. I had Monday and Tuesday off and only had to work 3 days last week which is always nice. It was a relatively quiet week as the kids were gone on Wed. & Thurs. as they spent it with my parents. I think I’d forgotten how quiet the house could be with just hubby and I (and the cat) in it. 🙂

Anyway, on to what I read this past week which was, except for one glitch, a really good reading week:

I started off the week with Live and Let Love by Gina Robinson. This story is about a spy who works for a division of the CIA. Jack was in an explosion two years prior and pronounced dead. He lived however and got plastic surgery and a new name. He was married though and one of his enemies is “courting” his wif, Willow, to try to draw him out because he apparently doesn’t believe that Jack is dead. Jack heads to Willow’s town to thwart the bad guy but he doesn’t plan on getting close to Willow as he can’t stand the pain of getting close and then having to leave again. This was a good story that was funny and serious in parts. I had a bit of an issue with Jack being able to leave his wife for two years but the author did a good job of making that seem insignificant. You can read my full review here at Book Binge. 3.5 out of 5

Next up was Quid Pro Quo by LA Witt and Aleksandr Voinov. This is story about 2 rent boys who work at a place called Market Gardens. Jared has had a crush on Tristan for months but doesn’t think that Tristan even knows who he is. When a client wants to watch Tristan and Jared together Jared gets to finally put his hands on Tristan the way he’s been dying to. Good story – hot and sexy. You can read my full review here. 4 out of 5 

Blessed Isle by Alex Beecroft is the historical story of a captain of a ship and one of his lieutenants. It’s kind of a Murphy’s Law book of sorts as at one point there was nothing that wasn’t going wrong. It was a wonderful yet completely unexpected story that I loved reading. You can read my full review of it here. 4.5 out of 5  

My next read was Secrets of a Wedding Night by Valerie Bowman. The story is about a Countess who writes pamphlet about the secrets of a wedding night in order to try and stop the man she loves from getting married. It stops it but he’s pissed and swears that he will get revenge…by seducing her. There were huge trust issues from when they originally fell in love 5 years prior, there are honesty issues and frankly I found the heroine to be completely manipulative. In the end it was just an ok read. 2 out of 5 

Precinct 13 by Tate Hallaway was an unexpected surprise. The story is about a woman who has been thought crazy – even put in lockdown because of her hallucinations. Turns out everything she though she saw was real and that she’s a witch. She doesn’t figure this out until she becomes a county coroner and on her first autopsy the body gets up and walks out. It’s crazy as she and the members of Precinct 13 try to find out where the corpse is and what the heck is going on. The story is a bit confusing at the beginning as it felt like there was a previous book – but there’s not. It got better as it went and I found myself laughing out loud more than once. Overall a good read. 3.75 out of 5 

Inseparable by Chris Scully is the story of Adam who is hit by a car and logically ends up in the hospital. When he awakens he finds he can’t remember a thing – including his best friend, Joe. Though Joe acts more like a boyfriend Joe tells Adam that while Joe is gay, Adam is not. As Adam learns more about himself though he finds that things aren’t exactly as Joe said they were. This was a fun story. I loved the slow awakening of Adam in several different ways. It was a great Christmas read. 4 out of 5 

Fourth and Long by Chris Scully is about Eric who is heads to his high school reunion with trepidation. Eric thinks about all the various things that happened during his senior year and specifically Prom Night but we don’t get the whole story at once – it slowly unfolds. That happens when Eric is sent back in time to his senior year and he realizes he has the opportunity to change things. A very good read that I really enjoyed! 4 out of 5 

Last was Seduction of a Highland Lass by Maya Banks. This is the story of Alaric McCabe who is hurt and ends up at the cottage of Keeley McDonald. She heals him to a point but then they are found by Alaric’s brothers and Keeley is taken back to McCabe lands to continue healing him. She is also to oversee the birth of the Laird’s baby. Keeley was thrown from her clan over something that she didn’t do and so being in the McCabe clan gives her a sense of family that she hasn’t had for years. She and Alaric also fall deeply in love but he is promised in marriage to the daughter of the McDonald clan and cannot break that promise. It’s a heart wrenching story that was oh so good. I just love Banks’ historicals so much! I can’t wait to read the next in the series to find out what happens with brother number 3, Caelen. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week: 
Live and Let Love by Gina Robinson 
Chance of a Lifetime by Jodi Thomas

Happy Reading!

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Review: Quid Pro Quo by LA Witt & Aleksandr Voinov

Posted January 6, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

For the past six months, Jared’s been selling sex at Market Garden, a London club that caters to the better-off. But business is slow in the run-up to Christmas, when businessmen and bankers are too busy bickering over bonuses to rent themselves a little high-class action.

Though Jared’s wallet finds the downtime unnerving, the rest of him rather enjoys the opportunity it gives him to admire Tristan, an old hand in the club whose reputation usually sees him well-booked. Jared has been crushing on Tristan for months—he’s no more immune to Tristan’s cockiness and confidence than the johns, and those are just Tristan’s inner qualities.

Just as Jared’s about to chat Tristan up, a businessman asks for something a little different: he wants to book them both. They agree—and Jared finds himself going from crush to mind-bending lust as he’s made the pawn in a sexual power game. Tristan shows him how a pro handles a john while delivering the top-shelf sex for which the Market Garden is so rightly renowned.

Jared is stunned when Tristan, a man he’s had a “crush” on for months, asks him to sit with him. It’s a slow night at Market Garden where both men are rent boys. They talk but are happily interrupted when a man joins them asking what they have to offer…together. As money is talked and eventually laid out Alex and Jared start putting on a show for the client.

Jared is in freaking heaven! He loves the fact that he gets to make money while doing what he’s been wanting to do and that’s be with Tristan. The trio heads to the hotel where the client is staying and little by little the men put on a show – but it’s not all a show for Jared and he’s hoping it’s not ALL a show for Tristan.

This is a short but incredibly hot book. We don’t have to read far before we first see Tristan and Jared kissing and then taking it so much further. The pair of them are scorching together and the way the authors wrote the story with Jared being so excited, Tristan sounding excited and the client looking excited it was a bomb waiting to go off. I loved Jared and Tristan together and certainly hope that we’ll get to hear about them further in the future.

This definitely isn’t a romance but an erotic journey that leads us…and them…to the end result – an orgasm for all. This may be a short story but it’s definitely worth the read.

Rating: 4 out of 5

LA Witt 
Aleksandr Voinov

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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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Review: Country Mouse by Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov

Posted April 26, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

Owen may be a bit of a country mouse, but he’s loving his vacation in London. After a long day playing tourist, he’s on the hunt for some cheap beer and a good burger. Instead he finds a man hunting him, an arrogant prick with only one thing on the brain: the kind of meat that doesn’t come on a bun.

Eighty-hour weeks at a trading desk don’t leave Malcolm Kavanagh much time for meaningful relationships. Besides, in his world, everything’s a competition—even sex. When his newest one-night-sub fails to show, Malcolm sets his sights on the pretty young Yank on the bar stool beside him.

Owen’s all for an adventure with a native, but he’s not the pushover Malcolm thinks he is, and Malcolm’s not as shallow as he tries to be. They both soon learn that nothing’s too intimate to share with a stranger, and the strangest things happen when two people share the most important pieces of their hearts.
Owen has been in London for 17 hours and the friend he’s traveling with has already dumped him for a hook up. He’s not too torn up about it and decides to go get a beer. He randomly walks into a bar, that when he gets in there is quite seedy, and isn’t sure he’s going to stay. His eye travels to a man in a very fine suit who seems completely out of place. The man, Malcolm, heads over to Owen and they start to make conversation. Malcolm is acting like a controlling ass but Owen is intrigued enough that they agree to hook up. They head back to Malcolm’s place and the fun begins.
Malcolm is a dom who is an anomaly. He likes playing the dom, and he has had to in his world, but he likes being taken care of as well. Malcolm is not one to come out with this confession but as the night with Owen moves on there’s no way to hide the information.
Malcolm and Owen decide to spend the weekend together with the plan that Owen will head off with his traveling buddy (an ex-girlfriend…yes, he’s bi) to Paris on Monday morning. Malcolm takes Owen to all the touristy places around London and they have a great time together. They eat, talk, have great sex and get to know quite a bit about each other…which brings a different flavor to the “relationship”. When it comes time for Owen to head out to Paris any future contact between the two men is left hanging – or is it?
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I read the blurb. I was thinking, two men that are far apart in their lives yet find common ground in sex. I was thinking – story about quick fun hook up and we’re done. Well I should have know that if Amy Lane was involved it would be so much more than that – and it was. (This is my first read of Voinov’s.)
The story was a revelation for us as well as for Malcolm when he gets to see himself on a different level. The person he thought he had to be – and he did have to be to a certain extent due to his job – and the person that he was deep down inside that was rarely, if ever, seen. Owen, just by being himself, unwittingly brought that other side out in Malcolm and I loved seeing the layers peel away from the man.Owen was an interesting soul. He was submissive to a point but wasn’t the “manageable” young college boy that Malcolm first thought he was. Owen had a great sense of strength about him but a softness as well and it really made him such a well rounded character.
In the end it was a wonderful and sweet story that I very much enjoyed. I say sweet because it definitely was but it’s also very hot and sexy as well and shouldn’t be missed.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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