What’s up? What have you all been up to? Anything fun? Tell all!
Sorry this is so late today folks, I’m just busy, busy, busy!
So this is a short work week for me as tomorrow evening I’m leaving for San Francisco to go to Yaoi-Con and to meet up with Chris, Kris, Tam & Jenre and have a jolly good time. I can’t believe I’m actually going to meet all of these fabulous ladies from all over the globe. (Chris is from Minnesota, Kris from Australia, Tam from Canada and Jenre from England) It’s amazing that we could all work our schedules to get together and it’s going to be fabulous!
My reading this week was a tad frenetic – didn’t exactly stick to my normal routine of reading different sub-genre’s (contemp, then paranormal, then historical…in no particular order). I needed to get several books read so that the reviews could post on time so that kind of directed my reading. I’m happy to say that I got it all done – yay! And now I’ll have no worries about the blog while I’m gone. Hopefully my hubby will give up his laptop for the trip cuz I need to be connected!
Not a lot of excitement here other than getting ready for my trip so on to what I read last week:
First up was book 4 in the Farm series by Andrew Grey called Love Means…Freedom. This was a book about Stone who was kicked out of his father’s house when he came out to him. He was working his way south to warmer weather but got kicked out of his ride during a blizzard. He happens upon Eli and Geoff’s farm and is taken in. He meets Preston, who is in a wheelchair after being hit by a drunk driver and is doing the riding therapy at the farm. The two hit it off but as it usually does, life creates obstacles. This was a good installment in the series. It was almost a little too sweet for me between Preston and Stone. Preston’s father was an ass and I kept thinking that it would be revealed that he was the one that was hurting Preston’s work options but that never came to light. Who knows. 🙂 Cute though. 3.5 out of 5
Saving Lady Ilsa by Crystal Kauffman was a book that I read for The Book Binge. A historical about a second son who’s father wants him to marry but he’s in a committed relationship with another man. He’s willing to marry but not have the marriage be in name only. On a whim he takes home a tailor’s assistant, Ilsa, who is being abused by the tailor and decides to make her his bride. But he and his partner, Frederick, might want to keep her around and have the marriage be more than just in name. A cute book but it was a little hard for me to think of two gay men suddenly wanting a woman. 3.5 out of 5
Next was Duchess of Sin by Laurel McKee. This is book 2 in the Daughters of Erin series. I didn’t read book 1 but didn’t feel that I was missing anything. The story revolved around an Irish Duke who is anti-Union in 1799 and a woman who is looking for some meaning in life. The two fall in love and it’s quite romantic. The book mostly takes place in Dublin. I read this one for The Book Binge – it releases on November 30th. 4 out of 5
Next was a book that I received from the author for review – Forsaken by Shadow by Kait Nolan. The first book about the Mirus, who are paranormal beings. This story was about Cade who woke up and had no memory at all. Ten years later the woman he loves shows up needing his help to save her father. She would have looked for him sooner but she was told he was dead. We get to meet shadow walker, dragon shifters, fey, vampires. It was quite a good book and not that long so if you’re looking for a quick paranormal read this might be for you. You can a short review here. 4 out of 5
Craving Beauty by Nalini Singh was my DIK reading challenge book for the month. I’ll post my review on Friday.
My Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week was Allergies by TA Chase. A shifter story about two men who meet at work – Lou’s a wolf shifter but Ray seems to be allergic to him when he’s in his human form. The story covered them getting together and the issues around Lou “coming out” as a shifter and those issues. There was another part of the book that had some shifter hunters coming into the territory but that wasn’t dealt with by the end of the book which was a bit surprising, and a little annoying. I can only assume it will be in the next book? IDK. I’ll have to read it and see. 3.25 out of 5
Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey was my next read. This was another book that set with the Kowalski family. Kevin has a one night stand but he’s really likes the woman, Beth, and wants to see if more can come from it. Well it did since she got pregnant – but she wants to just stay friends – friends that are having a baby together. I’ll post my review for this on Wednesday. It releases from Carina Press on Nov. 1. 4 out of 5
Picture Postcards by JM Snyder was a very short book but one I really liked. It was about a man, Donny, who was in love with his best friend, Greg, but his friend marries a woman and moves away. They fall out of contact but suddenly Donny is getting random postcards from Greg about his feelings and how he misses Donny, etc. Only 15 pages but it packed a punch. 4 out of 5
After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros was next and this was a book I read about when Luisa Prieto was on DIK recently. It’s a historical about a woman who thinks that the man who is courting her sister might be a vampire. Whether he’s a vampire or not she finds herself falling in love with him and he with her. Good book. The end resolution was a bit rushed but overall I really liked the story, thanks Luisa! 4 out of 5
Next up was Icing on the Cake by Alison Kent. I read this one for the True Vows tour and will be posting my review on Nov. 3rd. Let me just say though that the romance was great and I very much liked Kent’s writing.
Dance with a Vampire by Fabian Black was next. Only 7 pages long. The story was told in first person but it was told as if retelling a story to the person it happened to. (example: if I was telling the story of how I met my husband to my husband). It was short but sweet. I liked it. 4 out of 5 (free on ARe)
Last on the list was the novella You Get What You Want by Janey Chapel. This was a great book. An ex con, Jay, meets Patrick, a cop, when Patrick gets a drink at the bar that Jay works at. They are incredibly attracted to each other and have a great time in the bar’s office after closing. But Patrick can’t stop thinking about Jay and has 12 hours to kill before he has to head home (to another city), so seeks out Jay’s company. The time they spent together was very touching and sexy and I really loved the emotion that was infused into the story. 5 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted since last Monday
Happy Reading!