Another Happy Monday to you!

I wish I could say that my life is incredibly exciting and relate all that happened recently to you but yeah, my life isn’t that exciting. It seems like we’ve been homebodies lately and haven’t really done much. I love my home so I love being there so that’s a good thing.

We did see a few movies that were good – Warm Bodies, The Impossible and the Franco Zefirelli version of Romeo and Juliet. My oldest just finished reading Romeo and Juliet in her 9th grade English class (do ALL 9th grade English classes read that? I know mine did) and the teacher had only shown bits and pieces of the movie to the kids. My oldest wanted to see the whole thing and was a blubbering mess by the end. That used to be my favorite movie when I was in high school and watched it about a thousand times (I had a huge crush on Leonard Whiting) so it made me smile to see her enjoy it so much.

We finally got the date for my youngest’s black belt test and it’s March 30th. She’s very excited and has been working hard on her form and techniques. She also has to learn some Korean and learn the Korean national anthem which I think is pretty cool but not all that easy. lol

Ok, on to what I read this week:

I started off the week with Wicked Lies by Karina Cooper. This is an in-between story in the Dark Mission series. I haven’t read any of the other books but this one intrigued me. The story is about tech guy Jonas who helps save Danny after he’s captured and beaten. He manages to get him out of the holding facility and while he’s escaping they talk. The pair become attracted to each other and when they meet they have a hard time keeping their hands off of each other. The story is set in a world that I wasn’t familiar with and frankly while I really liked the story between the two men I think it might have been even better had I read the rest of the series. I’ll post my review for this one next week. 3.5 out of 5   

Next up was Alien Overnight by Robin L. Rotham. My friend gave me a bag of books that she didn’t want any longer. When I pulled this one out I kind of rolled my eyes at the cover but the back blurb made me laugh so I read it. The story is about alien’s who are on earth to try and gather women to take back to their planet to bear their children as their species is dying out. One alien realizes that one of the women is a half human/half Garathan and wants to make her his mate. The story is about Monica’s transformation into this being and her dealings with her two mates, Kellen and Shauss. The story wasn’t as ridiculous as I first believed it would be which was nice and parts of it were enjoyable. I DIDN’T enjoy the forced seductions but of course the heroine ended up LOVING them. Ug. lol 2.5 out of 5  

A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn Macnamara was my next read. This story was about 2 sisters, their parents (especially their mother) who want them married to titles and the many different men. There’s the man that 1 sister is in love with but he wants to marry the other. There’s the 2nd sisters best friend who wants her, an Earl that gets married to sister 1 through compromise and then there’s the villain in all of that. If you want the full story you can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5 

From Here to Eternity by Paige Cuccaro is a story that kind of has a fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal/futuristic feel to it. I’m obviously not sure how to label it but it was good. Rachel wakes up to find her obituary in the newspaper and a man who calls her his wife but she can’t remember. The story involves automatons and deals with the question of what exactly makes us…us. It was a good one I just wish it had been longer. 3.75 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge) 

Fool’s Gold by Cassandra Dean is a western historical about a couple who have secretly lusted after each other but have a contentious relationship. They get stuck in a blizzard together and truly discover who the other person is – in and out of bed. The story was cute but very short. 3 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge) 

Wild Invitation by Nalini Singh is an anthology that has 4 stories and includes 2 stories that were previously printed in anthologies and 2 brand new stories. The 2 stories that I had previously read were wonderful, as they were the first time I read them (Beat of Temptation with Nate & Tamsyn and Stroke of Enticement with Annie and Zach) and I loved revisiting them. The two new stories, Declaration of Courtship & Texture of Intimacy, were really good as well and definitely worth reading. 4.5 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge) 

Seeing is Believing by Erin McCarthy is the 3rd book in the Ohio’s Most Haunted Town series. It’s been 6 years since the last full novel but it was great to be back in Cuttersville. This story is about Piper who in the previous book was only 8 years old. Now she’s grown and is teaching kindergarten. She’s still seeing ghosts and trying to ignore that fact. When her childhood fantasy comes back to Cuttersville in the form of Brady Stritmeyer Piper goes for the gold. They start an affair but soon things get series and neither is sure what to do. I really liked this book. I loved Piper and Brady together and loved seeing the characters from previous books. 4.25 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge) 

Last for the week was Spider Sense by Charlie Richards. This was a really good story about Haben who is a tarantula shifter who finds his mate while helping out a friend. Lou is the parent of his dead partners son and the son has shifted into a lion. Haben is asked by a friend to go and help them all understand what’s going on but finds that Lou is his mate. Lou is freaked when he sees Haben in spider form and almost blows it. Then when Lou’s son gets kidnapped they need to find and save him. It was the best story I’ve read in this story so far and hopefully the next few in the series will be just as good. 4 out of 5 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week: 
A Rainbow for Christmas by Mary Montague Sikes 
The Devil’s Triangle by Toni de Palma 
Immortal Ever After by Lynsay Sands

Happy Reading!