Tag: Chris Owen

What I Read Last Week

Posted June 20, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 11 Comments

Bore da (pronounced Bore-ray dar aka Good Morning in Welsh)
How the heck are ya? Doing well I hope!
This week was an interesting/smell & disgusting one at work as a baby skunk got into one of the buildings at work and stunk up the place. OMG those things smell vile. I mean, I’ve passed areas while in my car that were smelly because of a skunk but I’ve never smelled one up close and personally. Yuk. I stayed in my office but my boss got sprayed and then walked into the office – gross! Needless to say we had to call in professionals and we still have residual smell.
Father’s day was nice as we had my parents, brother and his family, my niece and her boyfriend over for lunch. We also had my sister Ann who lives in Alabama come over since she is on a business trip in San Diego. She totally surprised my parents on Sunday morning at church and my girls were equally surprised. It was just a fun day.
I had a good reading week as well which was nice!
I started off with Make Mine a Bad Boy by Katie Lane. This was a pretty cute book but I had some issues with it. You can read my review here on The Book Binge if you’re interested. 3.25 out of 5
Next up was 911 by Chris Owen that I read for my TBR Challenge for the month. It was a good m/m/m book that I enjoyed. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5
This Perfect Kiss by Melody Thomas was an impulse request through Netgalley and I’m so glad that I got it. It was a great story (it releases on 6/28) about a girl of “almost” 18 who is infatuated with a man in the Royal Navy. Cut to 9 years later – both have been married and their spouses have died and they have both lived through many things. They fall back in love but the book is about so much more than that. I’ll be posting my review this week.
My next read was Warcry by Elizabeth Vaughan. This is book 4 in the Chronicles of the Warlands and it was a good one. Be warned – this is not a stand alone novel so if you’re interested you need to start from book 1. This is the continuing story of the blending of the Plains people and the Xyians and has a lot of Lara and Keir in the story…but the story is told more from Heath and Atira’s viewpoints. You can read my review here on The Book Binge is you’d like. 4.5 out of 5
Infinity Pools by LA Witt is book 2 in the Changing Plans series and it was great. The story continues almost immediately from where book 1 ends and tells us about Elliot and Derek and their adventures together. I loved seeing the two men come together although I would have loved to have been in Derek’s head to see what he was thinking. Despite that it was a great book and I’m becoming a huge Witt fan. 4.5 out of 5
Visible Friend by KZ Snow was my next read and it was also great. The story centers around Chris who has been a drug addict for 9 years. He’s now out of recovery and trying to deal with life, staying away from drugs and those old friends who still do drugs and wanting to be with a man. He thinks he starts something with a man from a support group but that’s not what he thought. He also is dealing with a man who he thought was his invisible friend when he was young but now the boy is all grown up and appearing in front of him. This was a really great book and had all the wonderful writing that KZ puts into all of her stories. It was very emotional and I felt for Chris so much with his struggles. 4 out of 5
Last for the week was Undercover by Lauren Dane. This is my first read by Dane even though I have this entire series and the Cascadia wolves series – strange, I know. Anyway the story focuses on Sera who works for the Federation military. She is assigned to work with a covert ops team that includes the man that she was in love with 10 years prior but he ended up marrying someone else. The book has the two men, Brandt and Ash, working with Sera as well as sleeping with her and they all fall in love. I liked the story and the sex was hot but I found my attention waning at times during the story. I will definitely be reading the next book in this series though to see what happens next. 3.25 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that have posted since last Monday
Happy Reading!

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TBR Challenge Review: 911 by Chris Owen

Posted June 15, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 9 Comments

Drew is a fireman who loves the rush of his job, and is looking for a roommate to share costs. Scott is a doctor looking for somewhere to live that doesn’t leave him rooming with his now ex-lover. The match seems more than perfect when Scott moves in with Drew. It’s more than just costs that they share. They find it hard to resist getting to know each other in the most intimate way, and soon things are heating up enough to make even Drew wonder if they can handle the fire.

So what happens when along comes EMT Eric with his blond good looks and boyish smile? He seems like the perfect match for Drew and Scott, but just Eric moving in is not all they have to deal with. Between family strife and physical injuries, the three of them have to face problems that could tear them apart, and ruin more than just their life together, including their careers and their health. Will this twosome be able to become a threesome or does it spell disaster for all?
Drew is a firefighter and at the hospital when he meets Scott who is doing his residency. Scott ends up driving Drew home and coming in for a quick drink. One conversation leads to another and soon Scott is rooming in Drew’s house with him. The attraction between the two men is great but nothing happens with them for a few months until one day Drew can’t take the sexual tension any longer and pretty much gives Scott a written invitation. Once the two get together it’s a done deal. They are perfect for each other and the relationship grows and becomes stronger.
A year or so later they meet Eric, an EMT who attends the regular poker games that are sometimes held at Drew and Scott’s house. When Eric mentions that he is looking for a place to live Drew and Scott invite him to live with them. But Eric is in love with both men and since they’re together he eventually can’t take the emotional highs and lows he feels from being in the house and sometimes hearing the men at night. He decides to move and that’s when Drew and Scott, after talking about it seriously, make their move on Eric and invite him into their relationship.
The three men face tears and disbelief from their families but they are determined to make their threesome work – and they do a great job at it. The trio is loving and devoted to one another and through conflict and injuries they stay strong and true to each other.
This was a pretty low key book in my opinion. Drew and Scott’s relationship kind of slid into home, so to speak, quite easily and once they were together that was it – no worries. Scott and Drew seemed to want the same thing when it came to Eric and even though there was some tension in the house because of Eric’s feelings, that was a pretty easy row to hoe as well. There was an incident when Drew got injured and had some “complications” from that (that I won’t go into because I don’t want to tell the whole book) and that as well was dealt with lovingly which I enjoyed reading about.
The book on a whole was a very nice tale of the relationship between three men who truly love each other and were willing to make things work no matter what.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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What I Read Last Week

Posted February 22, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 15 Comments

Happy Monday!

It’s been a crazy week at my house. Hubby is still recuperating and I’m still taking care of him. My youngest then got sick on Saturday with a high fever, vomiting and a bad cold. Oy. I think I need a caretaker for the caretaker. lol Other than that life is good. I got a lot of reading done this week…especially this weekend taking care of my youngest. She just wanted me to hold her while she stared at the wall so I read. Poor thing.

At one point this week I was trying to think of the name of a book. I had to go back through my blog to find it since I could remember the premise but not the character names. I found the book but discovered that I really have been slacking on the book descriptions and just telling how I felt about the book. I will endeavor to do better with this. If I start slacking off you can give me a cyber slap. 🙂

Book Giveaway winner!  I used my high tech name generator (aka put names in a basket and have my friend Shannon draw one out) and the winner of Catch Me If You Can by LB Gregg is:

 Joder

Congrats Joder!  I have the email address that you left on my blog when you entered.  I will send you Catch Me to you on March 2nd! 

Now – on to what I read:

First up for the week was The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries. This is book one in the Hellions of Halstead Hall series about 5 siblings who were more or less raised by their grandmother. Said grandmother, who is a wealthy woman due to her husband’s brewery has said that all of the siblings must marry within a year or they will receive no money. Since none of them are flush by any means and depend on her they are not happy about this turn of events. The Marquess of Stoneville – the oldest son – decides to thwart his grandmother by bringing home the most unacceptable bride he can find…one straight from a brothel. Except he runs into Maria Butterfield and due to crazy circumstances pretty much bribes her into being his pretend bride. They of course fall in love cuz this is a romance, after all. I really liked this book a lot. I thought Maria and Oliver played off each other very nicely and it just gave me the warm fuzzies. lol 4.25 out of 5

The next book was Trouble in Mudbug by Jana Deleon. This was a recommendation from the lady at New and Recycled Romance but I just couldn’t get into it. I may go back and finish it sometime but IDK. I got about 100 pages into the story – a botanist in Louisiana who was being investigated, but we don’t know why – and she inherits an entire preserve from her dead m-i-l who in life hated her – Oh, and said m-i-l is now haunting her and she’s the only one who can see her ghost – and I just couldn’t read any further. When the heroine of the story kept saying that she was doing things that she would never in a million years do…like breaking and entering…I just couldn’t keep reading. DNF

The Bliss Factor by Penny McCall was next and again I had to put the book down for lack of interest. Again, got about 125 pages in and had to put it down. A woman is asked by her hippie-like parents to “watch” a friend of theirs. Only the man was hit on the head and since he was working the renaissance fair he thinks that’s his time period and doesn’t understand this strange new world. Not my thing, unfortunately. DNF

 

Next up was Bareback by Chris Owen. I read this one for my m/m challenge. I really liked it. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Remember I said that I had a lot of books to read for The Book Binge? Well, I tried to get through a bunch of the ebooks this week. All but two were novellas so it made for fast reading. It looks like I read a lot but really when you think about it the 3 novellas and 1 short equal 1 full length novel. 🙂 

1) The first was Hidden Desires by Elizabeth Lapthorne. A woman goes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and not only picks up a magical mask but meets the man of her dreams. 3.25 out of 5 Review here
2) The next was Mardi Gras by Lacey Alexander. The story of a woman who is crazy about her boss that she’s known since she was about 12. She puts on a costume during Mardi Gras so she can finally do him like she wants because she knows she can never have his heart. Things don’t always work out as planned though. 4 out of 5. Review here
3) Pet Me by Amarinda Jones. Drusilla goes to a pet store to find a replacement fish for the one she’s accidentally killed. She meets Cormack who’s fighting her for the fish and they find instant lust and eventually love. A very funny novella that I enjoyed. 4.25 out of 5. I’ll let you know when my review posts.
4) Heart of Gold by Riley Ashford. This is the story of a woman who buys an abandoned, supposedly haunted plantation in the south. She meets ghosts, learns its history and meets a very alive descendant that turns her heart and her body upside down. 3.75 out of 5. I’ll let you know when my review posts.
5) Master of Fire by Angela Knight. This is book 11 in the Mageverse series. I’ve been waiting impatiently for another addition to this series for about 2 years. It was a good one. Arthur and Gwen’s son Logan is being targeted by an assassin so they send a witch to guard him with strict instructions not to tell Logan what she is and definitely not sleep with him (doing so 3 times will turn him to a vamp). Yeah, things don’t always go as planned – with the relationship or the assassin. 4 out of 5. I’ll let you know when my review posts.

Next was the book for my DIK Reading Challenge. I chose Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts for this month’s read. The story of Emma and Jack and their friendship turning into much, much more. You can read my review on Wednesday. 4.25 out of 5

Lift Me Up by Rayne Auster was the following read. This novella is the story of Avery who has a heart wrenching experience in the elevator of his apartment building. He is so distraught he can’t quite make it into his apartment. His new neighbor, Dylan, accidentally trips over him and it’s a match made in heaven. Well, almost. It was a cute story. The telling in first person was a little odd at times but it was good. 3.25 out of 5

And last but not least was my Tracy’s TBR Challenge read (actually 3 of the books I read this week I’ve had for more than 3 months, but who’s counting?) was It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn. I had read the first 6 Bridgerton books fairly quickly but I think I’d gotten a little burned out on them. This is book 7 and follows Hyacinth who is helping Gareth St. Clair interpret his paternal grandmother’s diary. This leads them to spending more time together but also to start looking for some diamonds that are supposedly hidden in the St. Clair home. It’s a very cute love story that I very much enjoyed reading. Hyacinth had kind of bugged me in previous books but she really didn’t in this one which I was really surprised about. I liked her spunk in this book where in previous books her mouth just annoyed me. 4.25 out of 5

Happy Reading!

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M/M Challenge Review: Bareback by Chris Owen

Posted February 19, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 17 Comments

Jake Taggart’s life was almost perfect He’d worked hard to overcome his past, and he loved his job as foreman on a ranch in Arkansas. The only thorn in his side was a dark eyed cowboy named Tornado whose stubborn attitude brought frustration and confusion to Jake’s mostly happy existence. A late spring rainstorm brings out hidden passions and unleashes a chain of events neither of them expected–and eventually brings about events that threaten to destroy them and what they worked to create. Strong wills and forceful personalities make for intense encounters…but is it enough to keep love alive?

Foreman Jake Taggart is quite annoyed with ranch hand Tornado. He feels that Tornado is just too combustible and annoys the crap outta Jake at least twice a week. That doesn’t stop Jake from lusting after Tor, though. One rainy night they take their aggressions out on each other as well as their lust. This begins a relationship that they both thoroughly enjoy.

They work the ranch together and eventually move into the same room in the bunkhouse together. They have their arguments but they always come back to each other. They also like to play with other men together, but again, always end up with just the two of them. This continues for 4 years – living and loving. Until Jake discovers Tor loving someone else and all hell breaks loose.

This was a very intense read. I really liked the set up of this book as it didn’t follow the men on a daily basis but really went by the seasons. It managed to cover almost 5 years of Tor and Jake’s lives without covering the menial every day details but letting us get to know Tor and Jake pretty well.

The first part of the book covered Jake and Tor’s coming together as a couple and their transition into exclusivity. They were very much committed to each other and though there was a ton of sex that’s how they expressed themselves. The first part also covered Jake’s past and him coming to terms with it as well as Jake’s family finding him after they thought he was dead and the building of those relationships. I loved his family support even if they weren’t all overjoyed with the fact that he was gay.

The second part of the book was incredibly intense. Jake finds Tor with another man and more or less goes into shock and depression. He can’t eat, can’t sleep and of course kicks Tor out of his room and their relationship. The betrayal of Tor just got me right in the heart. Jake was just so devastated. I think Tor was in his own way as well but since he’s the one who cheated I just didn’t have as much sympathy for him. After many months and an incident with the two men Tor leaves the ranch. But Jake realizes, with a little help from his friends, that maybe he needs to look at himself a little more closely and how he and Tor handled issues in the past.

I have to say I really liked this book. As much as I liked the book at first I was getting tired of the fact that there was so much sex. But that led straight into the fact that the lack of sex was one of the indicators that there was something wrong in the men’s relationship. The second half of the book was incredibly emotional and I have to say made me cry more than once. Jake was just so torn up about the break up but was trying to go about his life as best he could. One of the major kudos I have for this book was the resolution near the end of the book. The conclusions that Jake came to about fixing his and Tor’s relationship were spot on for real life: Communication. I personally believe that this is one of the most important factors in any relationship. You can love somebody to death but if you don’t communicate the relationship is sadly lacking.

Overall a very good book that I would recommend. Remember – an intense book with some very sad moments – but with some incredibly happy moments as well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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