Tag: Charlie Richards

What I Read Last Week

Posted February 25, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 4 Comments

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!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted February 12, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Ack! I’m a day behind but with good reason. My youngest woke up yesterday with all the symptoms of a bladder infection and a horribly upset stomach. We ended up at the doctors and she did indeed have a raging UTI and was throwing up continually because of it. Oh the joys of motherhood. lol Why are we supposed to be all stoic when we’re dealing with vomit? I just don’t get it. lol

Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that. You want to hear about my reading week from last week so here goes:

I started off the week with a historical short called Love is Blind by Elizabeth Cole. This adorable story is about Olivia who is blind and while at a ball a cruel man decides to pull a prank on her. Luckily Adrian, also a rake, is there to save her as he dislikes rake #1 and wants to thwart his antics. Adrian sees in Olivia a different woman than he’s known before and sets out to court her. Her family, however, wants her to have nothing to do with him which makes the courting a little difficult but not impossible. SUCH a cute story. I really enjoyed reading this one as it made me smile and laugh and sigh and all that good stuff that I love in a romance. 4 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

Next up was Going Under by Lauren Dane. This is book 3 in the Bound by Magick series and shows up Gage who is the head security guy/hunter for Clan Owen. He is guarding Molly who is the PR person for Clan Owen and is a woman who is trying to bring all “Others” together to try and work out how they will deal with all being outed. It’s a story that was very interesting because of what the Others needed to deal with but the romance in this one fell short a bit, at least for me. It was good, but not as good as books 1 and 2, imho. 3.5 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

Saved by the Rancher by Jennifer Ryan is a contemporary romantic suspense story about Jenna who is on the run from her ex-husband. He’s an abuser of the worst sort and he constantly finds her and messes her up. Her friend and lawyer Ben finally sends her to his buddy, Jack, who owns a ranch near Denver. When Jenna arrives she’s incredibly sick from an infection caused by her ex’s latest rampage and she’s exhausted. Jack takes care of her and they fall in love. The story was really great in some parts and then a bit much (as in over the top) in others. Without those over the top moments I think the story could have really rocked. 3.5 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

The Dark Lady by Maire Claremont is a dark gothic historical that started off really good and then petered out for me. The story is about a man who returns from India to find one of his best friends in an asylum. He vows to get her out and he does but she’s riddled with guilt about the death of her son and he’s riddled with guilt about the death of her husband and frankly it was a bit too much guilt for me. After the initial 40 percent I found the story a bit dull and it didn’t really hold my attention all that well. I read the reviews on Goodreads and it looks like I’m in the minority on this one so I think you’ll need to read it for yourself to decide what you think. 2.5 out of 5

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks is book 2 in the Montgomerys and Armstrongs series. This book continues where book 1 left off and has Graeme’s brother Bowen heading to the McHugh keep to take over as Laird. He is taken with Genevieve who he finds out was Ian McHugh’s whore. Well there was a lot more to the story than that. They fall in love but when Bowen and the other Montgomery’s find out that Genevieve played a part in Eveline’s kidnapping from book 1 tensions are high and Bowen’s not sure Genevieve can be accepted. Another good Scottish historical from Maya Banks. I have really liked the historicals I’ve read of her so far and I have no doubt I will continue to like them. The story has its moments but overall I enjoyed the book immensely. 4 out of 5 (releases 3/19/13)

Swimming With Penguins by Charlie Richards is book 6 in Kontra’s Menagerie. In this story Yuma is swimming when he is shot. The man who shot him thought he was something else and takes Yuma home to be patched yup by the shooters son, Hunter. When Yuma turns back to a human he realizes that Hunter is his mate. Hunter is pretty messed up after his ex-boyfriend and his friends attacked Hunter with not only their fists but with bats. Needless to say Hunter and Yuma fall in love and Yuma’s friends help save Hunter from any more problems with his ex. It was a cute book and made me laugh. 3 out of 5 (FYI – when my oldest daughter saw the guy on the cover of this book I swear she practically swooned. She actually took a picture of him with her phone so she could have it to look at. lol)

Next up was Catlin’s Appaloosa by Charlie Richards which is book 2 in the series (yes, I’m jumping all over the place and not going in reading order). This story was about Catlin who is a police detective in charge of finding out about the John Doe that was brought into the hospital. Gallo (pronounced Guy-o) has lost his memory but he soons gets it back – especially after he turns in an Appaloosa in front of Catlin. Catlin takes him to his house and the pair fall in love. Catlin is happy that Gallo is a submissive but for me Gallo was a definite contradiction. He was submissive but turn into a horse when he thought his mate was in trouble. That’s great but it just, for me, didn’t fit with the rest of his characters action. 2 out of 5

Anything for You by Jessica Scott is a novella that’s kind of a continuation story of Shane and Jen from Because of You. This has Shane being an ass as he makes an appointment to get a vasectomy without telling Jen even though he knows she wants kids. You’ll have to find out more on Friday when I post my review. 🙂 And don’t miss her guest post tomorrow 2/13 where she’ll be giving away a copy of the book!

Last for the week was Medium Well by Meg Benjamin. This is the story of a real estate agent, Danny, who is asked to sell a carriage house in historic San Antonio. He discovers that the place is haunted and it’s pretty gruesome for him to actually even go into the place as he sees ghost blood everywhere. He gets help from his mother, who he finds out comes from a long line of mediums and his assistant Biddy who he falls in love with. It’s a cute book that started off slowly but got better as it went on. 3.25 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
crickets

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted February 5, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 6 Comments

Greetings!
Hope you’re having a happy Monday. Last week was pretty crazy with seeing my parents off to TN. They finally made it there….Saturday, I think. I haven’t heard from them since Friday so hopefully everything’s going well.

Not much to tell this week so I’ll get on to what I read: 

First up was The Better To See You by Kate SeRine. This is the second book in a series about characters from Make Believe who got shoved over to our world after a spell went terribly wrong. Now these fantasy/nursery rhyme characters are trying to live in our world and not let humans knows. This story is about Cinderella’s fairy godmother – the one whose spell went wrong – and she’s in some trouble her friend Red sends her off to be protected by, you guessed it, the big bad wolf. Seth and Lavender really hit it off but there’s so much going on in the Make Believe place called the Refuge and Lavender and Seth get caught in the middle. I have to say that this book was completely unexpected and a real pleasant surprise. I liked SeRine’s writing, her sense of humor and the way she integrated all the characters into the story. Yeah, it’s out there but I liked it. I’ll definitely be reading the next book in the series. 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

Next up was Steven by Kirsten Osbourne. This is the story of a woman who is down and out and is taking care of her niece after her sister died. She heads to the baby daddy’s house to get assistance and he ends up taking them in and making her the nanny. The story has a twist but it wasn’t completely unexpected. It was cute but pedestrian for my liking. 2 out of 5 (free Kindle book) 

My next read was The Importance of Being Wicked by Victoria Alexander. This is the continuing story of Lord Stillwell (we met him in Lord Stillwell’s Excellent Engagements) and Miranda Garret who is a widow who is running her husband’s architectural firm. Of course she was the architect even when her hubby was alive but it was easier to hide her involvement then. Now she’s thinking her house of cards might be falling and Lord Stillwell might be the one to bring them down. I’m posting my review of this tomorrow so you can read more of my thoughts then. 

OMG I can’t believe I forgot this one (sorry!) All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey was another great story in the Kowalski series.  This is Josh’s story and is about his desire to get the heck out of town and his loyalty to his family.  Josh and his best friend Katie turn friends to lovers and then more.  I’ll post my review this week. 🙂

Dojo Boys: The Italian Connection by Alex A. Akira is a yaoi type novel about a dancer/thief and the Italian man he has the hots for. I’ll post my review of this later this week. 

Next up was Hope for a Buffalo by Charlie Richards. This story has chameleon shifter Caleb seeing a picture of a buffalo that’s on exhibit at the zoo and thinking he might be a shifter. When they head to the zoo they find he is a shifter, but also Caleb’s mate. They have to try to save him but things don’t go as smoothly as they’d hoped. This was a cute story and also very sad. The buffalo shifter, Emmett, was shunned by his clan for being gay and then forced to live in his animal form for 8 YEARS. Dear Lord that hurt my heart. Anyway, it was a short but good story. 3 out of 5 

After that I continued the Kontra’s Menagie series with Dominating the Wolf by Charlie Richards. This story takes up right where the last book ended and has Kontra’s doctor, Eli, heading to Denver to try to save a shifter. He gets motion sickness and doesn’t realize that the man who’s helping him is his mate because he can’t smell while he’s got his head in the head. Sam thinks that Eli doesn’t want him and takes off. Eli does though, he just didn’t like the thought of Sam, a submissive, seeing Eli, a dom, being anything less than strong. That part bugged me and while I thought the guys were good together I didn’t really feel the connection between them – I only really felt Eli’s domination and it kind of took over the book for me. 2 out of 5 

The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie was my last read and though I usually love Gracie’s work this one just didn’t do it for me. It was good but mostly because of the female characters, not the romance. The story is about 2 sisters. Abby is a governess and when she finds out that her sister has been kidnapped and taken to a brothel she runs to help. When it comes down to it there are 3 girls including Abby that end up together trying to make ends meet. Abby meets Lady Beatrice Davenham in a very interesting way, the two become friends and the four girls end up living in Lady Bea’s house and taking care of her. Lady Bea’s nephew is the hero of the book and I just didn’t feel there was enough connection between Abby and Max throughout the book. I really loved the 4 girls and Lady Bea though and that made the book for me. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
When She Was Wicked by Anne Barton

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted January 21, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 3 Comments

Good Morning! 
How are you all on this fine Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? I’m happily off of work today and and I wish I could say it’s wonderful but my youngest got the flu so I’m having an….interesting day. 🙂 Hopefully this won’t be one of the really bad cases that has been going around cross fingers. We’ll be spending the day watching movies which will be great – ok laundry and house cleaning will be stuck in there too but I’m trying to ignore those aspects of the day. Lol 

I hope you all had a great week. Did anyone do anything super fun this past weekend? 

Did any of you try to get one of Anne Tenino’s cock sculptures? She’s notifying winners today so if any of you win you need to let me know – maybe take a picture with your new cock when you get it. 🙂 

Oh and stop on Wednesday when I’ll be hosting LA Witt and she’s got a great giveaway as well. 🙂
Ok – On to what I read last week: 

First up was Anne Tenino‘s Too Stupid To Live. I really liked this book for a lot of different reasons. I have to say that I didn’t read The Fix (yet) so I didn’t get to see what an ass Ian was before I opened TSTL (I’ve heard he was a jerk in The Fix). Anyway, you can read all of my thoughts on TSTL here in my review. 4.25 out of 5 
Next up was A Breath of Scandal by Elizabeth Essex. This was the story of a Antigone whose mother tries to engage her to a man twice her age. Antigone refuses but the mother says that they’ll just have an “agreement” for a few month and that Antigone doesn’t have to actually go through with the marriage. Antigone is not your typical heroine and when she meets Will Jellicoe he’s more than happy to show her how to misbehave. Unfortunately she really IS engage to another man so Will and Antigone can’t be together. This was a good yet sometimes frustrating book. I liked Will a lot but sometimes Antigone was just too over the top for my liking. The mother in this book was a complete hag and I disliked her intensely. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 
Star Crossed by Kele Moon is the second book in the Battered Hearts series. This is about a lawyer named Juliet who meets a cage fighter named Romeo and you got it, they fall in love. There are a ton of things that should keep them apart but Jules and Romeo won’t let anything stand in their way of being together. You can read my full review here. 4 out of 5 
My next read was Something New Under the Sun by LA Witt. This is the second book in the Falling Sky series and continues the story of Daniel and Liam and their fight against Daniel’s father. They work to get the prototypes for a mod that will kill vampires (of which Liam is one) so that they can stop Daniel’s father in his tracks. My review will post tomorrow so you can read more of my thoughts then. 4 out of 5 
Unforgivable by Joanna Chambers was next up. The story is about a woman who marries a man who she thinks wants to marry her. Unfortunately he HAS to marry her in order to get the lands back that his father gambled away. She has been sick and is thin and still has scarring. He is disgusted. He takes her to the country and leaves her there for five years before she decides she’s had enough. She now is a beautiful woman but can she forgive him for his desertion and can he forgive her for a lie she told as well? I really liked the writing in this book A LOT, I really did. Unfortunately I didn’t love the story all that much and the angst made me a bit nuts. I wanted the hubby to grovel so much more than he did and I was bit mad at the heroine that she accepted him so easily. This was read for The Book Binge so I’ll let you know when the review posts. 3.5 out of 5 
Mutegi’s Sweet One by Charlie Richards is book 1 in the Kontra’s Menagerie series. From what Tam told me it’s a spin off from a previous series. All the men in the bike club are gay and they are all various types of shifters. Mutegi is a warthog shifter (snort) and he meets his mate on the side of the road when Ben and his sister and niece’s car breaks down. The bike club help not only with the car but with the evil ex husband of the sister. Ben and Mutegi fall in love pretty fast and there wasn’t a whole lot of depth to the story but it was cute anyway. 2.5 out of 5 
Last for the week was Big Bad Bite by Jessie Lane. This story is about a shifter hybrid who’s half wolf and half demon – the only known hybrid of this sort that’s known to exist. She’s been secluded her whole life but now she’s on a SWAT team and meeting all sorts of various shifters and demons. Her and her new friends are trying to find out information about an Eastern European shifter pack and what they’re up to. In the meantime the Alpha of the nearest pack to her new home, Adam, wants Jenna for his mate but she’s not sure that’s what she wants. I liked the premise of this story but I didn’t care for the writing style. There was a lot of inner thought and introspection, lengthy descriptions and info dumps that really threw me out of the story and frankly bored me. If the authors tighten things up and get rid of excess it would have been a good book. 2 out of 5 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week: 


Happy Reading! 

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