It was a much quieter week this week – thank heavens! lol I did have to register my oldest for High School which was a bit painful for me – emotionally, not physically – but I made it through. Both girls start school on Thursday and they’re both excited.
Not much else happened – of which I was completely thrilled with so I’ll get on to what I read this past week:
My first read was for Book Binge and it was a historical called When You Wish Upon A Duke by Isabella Bradford. The story was about an Earl’s daughter who had been living in the quiet countryside with her sisters and mother after the death of her father years earlier. The oldest daughter is shocked when a man of business shows up and lets her know that she’s been engaged for most of her life and to a Duke no less. While Charlotte isn’t sure what she should expect she’s thrilled when she meets the duke and he is all that is kind and handsome. The duke is thrilled with Charlotte as well but he has some past issues that keep the pair from moving to a deeper relationship. I really liked this book a lot. I liked the characters and the fact that they weren’t hateful to each other but attracted and kind to one another. The duke issues weren’t as bad as I thought they would be, when revealed, but I could see why he would have them. Overall it was a good story. 4.25 out of 5
Next up was One Real Thing by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox. In this story we have two friends – one taking care of the other when he’s hit rock bottom and coming to realize that he loves his friend in more ways than one. The other friend who is thrilled to be helped but tormented by the feelings he’s always had for his good friend. They help each other in many different ways throughout the book and it’s very good. I really liked both the men in this story and liked the story itself. I did think that the story ran on a bit long after the I Love You’s were said – just pages of the reaffirmation of their love, really, and it got a bit old. I also didn’t really care for the odd and semi-sudden appearance of submission by one of the men. It was touched upon earlier in the book but not enough for me to think that level of submission would appear. Maybe it was just me. shrugs Still a really good story and definitely worth reading. 4 out of 5
The Reluctant Amazon by Sandy James was next. This is the first book in a new series by Sandy and it was darned good. Rebecca is a Kindergarten teacher and was planning on getting married until her fiancé left her at the altar and she then finds out she’s an Amazon. What? lol It’s much more in depth than that and I’ll go into it more when I post my review later in the month. 4.25 out of 5
A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare was next and it was Oh. So. Good. I love her Spindle Cove series and she didn’t disappoint with this book. The story revolves around the local music teacher, Kate Taylor, and Corporal Thorne of the local militia. Kate’s an orphan but then is possibly a Marquess’s daughter. She hates Thorne, but then she loves him. Oh it was so good. I’ll post my review next week of this wonderful book. 5 out of 5
Pyromancer by Amanda Young was my Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week. This is the story of Christian who has some weird powers having to do with fire. He can sometimes control it but he can supposedly hurt someone when he gets too emotional . He’s not been with a man for a long time and decides to call and escort service. He gets hooked up with Tanner and after that one night can’t stop thinking about Tanner. He ends up helping Tanner after he gets beaten up and the two end up in bed together. They have communication issues about what their relationship is and it causes great angst. I liked this book and the whole premise behind it all. The problems I had with the story were that A) We’re told that Christian can hurt someone with his powers when he gets too worked up but we never actually see that. He gets plenty worked up with Tanner during sex but the powers never appear to be a problem. B) We have to wait until the end of the book to find out that Christian has no clue why he has the powers – he just does. It would have been lovely to have known that ahead of time. I didn’t feel that that info should have been held back. Besides those niggles I really liked the story and read it quite quickly. 3.5 out of 5
Last for the week was the Real Men Do It Better anthology by Carrie Alexander, Susan Donovan, Lora Leigh and Lori Wilde. I read this one for my monthly TBR Challenge and will post my review on Wednesday.
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Wild Texas Rose by Jodi Thomas
Happy Reading!
