It’s Back to School time! Can you believe it’s already time for my kids to go back to school? I can’t. Where the heck did the summer go? I have no idea! The kids, however, were rip roaring and ready to go. They don’t like the homework but they wanted to see all their friends and my youngest LOVES going to school – she’s so academic. I love that but wonder where she got that…definitely not from me. lol Here’s my youngest on the first day of school starting 4th grade – ZOMG 4th grade!

She’s so cute!

My oldest started the day after and since we had an ant problem when we woke up that day (no, there was nothing they could get at but there were a damn lot of them nonetheless!) so we had to rush to get her to school and I didn’t take a picture. I know, I suck. I will get one this week though – she’s grown so much and she’s adorable so I have to share. 🙂

I’m loving my Kindle. Thanks to all who helped with the info from last week, it was extremely helpful. My print books are suffering though. The Kindle’s so fast that I haven’t been reading that many print books and they’re staring forlornly at me whenever I walk into the office at home and I hear them sniffle and whisper *read us, read us, don’t you love us anymore?*. It’s very sad.

Speaking of Kindle’s…a bunch of us in my family all chipped in for my mom’s b-day and bought her a Kindle! I think she likes it – not sure she’s had all that much time to play with it but hopefully she’s loving hers as much as I’m loving mine. 🙂

This weekend we had what we called a Back to School Bash here at the church and we had a HUGE double slip and slide. The kids absolutely loved it and had such a fun time. Here’s a picture of the slide and then one of my two girls racing each other. Looks like fun! (No I didn’t get in)

On to what I read this past week:

I started off with Second Chance at the Sugar Shack by Candis Terry. I really, really liked this story about a woman coming back to her home town for her mother’s funeral and then staying on to help her father at the family bakery. She left town 10 years earlier without saying a word to anyone and there are many hard feelings between her and her old beau as well as the argument that her and her mother never resolved. This was a great contemporary (with a little bit of ghost thrown in) and I definitely recommend it. You can read my review here. 4.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Slow Bloom by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox. This m/m novel is the story of Ricky Talbot who is a 18 almost 19 year old boy who is taking care of his neighbor’s lawn for the summer. His neighbor, Jack Corson, and Ricky have a sexual experience one day and they think that’s all it will be until Ricky contacts Jack to help him out when he gets beat up at a bar one night. The two start what ends up being a two year relationship that is sometimes long distance as Ricky returns to college. I was a little perplexed at the age difference in this story at first since Jack is 48 and Ricky is 18 (and since Jack is described as much older it was odd – I swear I thought they were going to say he was 60! lol) Anyway, as the story moves on I had no issue with the age difference. Ricky is extremely intelligent and mature and it helps the relationship work. It’s tender and loving and I really enjoyed the book. 4.25 out of 5

My next read was a short erotic m/m called What’s A Boy to Do by Diane Adams. This is a very cute story about Tyler who has a boyfriend, Jake, but yet is in love with his roommate, Z. Z can’t decide whether he’s gay or not or actually wants to be with Tyler but it doesn’t stop him from sleeping with Tyler whenever he’s between girlfriends. I tried not to let that part bother me as the story was so short. One day Z starts coming on to Tyler when Jake is there and soon all both Z and Jake are having their way with Tyler. It was a short but great sex scene. I would love to read more about all three of these men in a longer format. 4 out of 5

Next up was Scandal of the Year by Olivia Drake. James has been told that the people who he thinks are his cousins are imposters. If they are then he would stand to inherit. He decides to pose as a footman to gain info on the family but instead ends up acting like a prince from a foreign country for the daughter of his cousins so that she can marry a duke. The pair end up falling in love but what happens when James reveals who he is and the reasons he’s there? This was cute but I had some issues with it. Mainly that James playing part upon part was a bit much. I never did see James and Blythe as all that in love and I didn’t care for the end all that much. 3 out of 5 

My next read was A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane. I’ll be posting my review this week so keep your eyes open for that.

Short story, Stormchild by Vivian Arend, was also cute. A travelling doctor and the woman he meets and has a passionate night with find that they’re more than compatible. I liked the story but it didn’t really have an end. I can only assume that the story continues in the next book. 3 out of 5

Last on the list was Midnight by Ellen Connor. This is book 2 in the Dark Age series and it was good. I didn’t care for it as much as I did book 1 but it was still very good. This has Chris Welsh from book 1 travelling (approx. 4 years after book 1 ended) when he runs into a settlement called Valle de Bravo which is run by Rosa Cortez. He doesn’t plan on staying but he ends up being the resident doctor. Chris and Rosa tap dance around each other but eventually succumb to their attraction. The problem comes when outsiders come to take over the town and Chris turns out to be someone he never would have dreamed of. And is it just me or does the guy on the cover of this book look like Ryan Seacrest? lol 3.75 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week: