Hey all!

Not much happening this week. I was sick in bed for 4 days. I managed to get up during short intervals but otherwise it was bed, sweet bed. Yeah, I watched a couple of movies here and there but mostly, I just read. Trying to put a dent in that amazingly huge TBR pile dontchaknow. 🙂

I have to say that I took my TBR challenge to new limits this week. I think I was feeling guilty for not reading any last week so I read 4 this week! Yay me!

So what I read:

I started off with Bad Boys Online by Erin McCarthy (one of my TBR Challenge books), a book I’ve had in my pile for a while. I think I got this one from the very first So Cal Blogger get together which was last November. While the 3 short stories that revolved around computers were cute I found myself skimming ahead and then having to go back. I so rarely do this that it was freaking me out a little. lol This was an erotic read and when you start skimming the sex scenes, there’s a problem. Not that it was hot, but there was so much of it! lol The last story in the book, User Friendly, was by far my favorite. 3 out of 5

My Re-Read Challenge book for the month of June is Simon Says by Lori Foster. I’ll post my review on Tuesday.

Next was In Bed With A Stranger by Mary Wine. I started reading some of Mary Wine’s books when I was getting ready to go to Lora Leigh’s RAW and I enjoyed her books (and her, she’s a really nice lady!) so when I saw this was coming out I scooped it up. I have to say that the first approx. 100 pages I had to fight not to put the book down because I was bored. However, it got much better after that. It’s a Scottish Historical about the bastard born daughter of an Earl getting sent to marry a Scottish Laird because her legitimate bratty half sister doesn’t want to bear children. The evil Countess thinks that she can send Anne in place of Mary, have the Laird get her pregnant, and then after the baby is born send Mary back to the Laird and he’ll be none the wiser. Pretty funny when you think of it. I very much enjoyed the not-as-dumb-as they-thought-he-was Laird, Brodick, he was pretty cool. 3.5 out of 5

Next up was another TBR challenge book, No Words Alone by Autumn Dawn. Katiebabs sent this to me a million years ago and I’ve just now gotten around to reading it. I wanted something different and this sci-fi novel definitely provided it. Two starships collide and both land on a planet where you pretty much can’t be outside after dark. It’s uninhabited except for nasty creatures. The only female in the group is treated horribly by her crew but very nicely by the alien race (who strangely enough happen to look just like humans!) and she ends up becoming a war prize for the captain of the alien starship. They end up marrying and the story goes on to show them falling in love, etc. I’m not really a sci-fi romance lover but this was pretty good. 3.5 out of 5

Next was Josh Lanyon’s Collected Novellas Volume 1. I’ll be posting my thoughts on this one on Thursday.

For my 3rd TBR Challenge book I read Heaven Sent 2: Purgatory by Jet Mykles. I really liked this story. Reese has been in love with Luc for forever. He kissed him one day 6 years prior but Luc pushed him away saying he wasn’t gay. Now Luc and the band are back in town and since Luc has explored his sexuality and found he does like men he wants to hook up with Reese. But Reese now has a teaching job at a straight-laced school and says he’s not gay any longer. Luc sets out to prove him wrong. I thought that Luc and Reese were great together. Did Luc annoy me at some points? Sure. Reese did too. But despite those time the story was a quick, fun, sexy read. Hopefully it won’t be months before I read the next book in the series. 4.25 out of 5

Continuing my reading in the Drakon series I read Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe. As you can guess I’m really enjoying the series. This book was no different. This book centered around Maricara who we met in book 2 and Christoff and Rue’s oldest son, Kimber. Talk about a volatile pairing. Wow. The writing in this book is just as good as the previous two books. Worth the read if you started the series. 4.5 out of 5

Charming the Highlander by Janet Chapman was a book that borrowed from Holly when I went to see her. I did a review of it which will post over at The Book Binge. I’ll let you know when that goes up.

And my last TBR Challenge read, and my last book of the week, was The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn. I was looking on my shelves for a historical that I knew was going to be a great story and I picke a good one. This book, as much as it broke my heart for most of it, was wonderful. I think I’m giving it such a high score not only for the story but for the writing as well. I know Julia Quinn is a fabulous author but when I was reading this book today I was blown over by the sheer emotion I was experiencing. I was feeling for Miranda so many times in so many different ways I was literally holding my chest because it hurt. 4.5 out of 5

Happy Reading!