Hello All!
I had a really good week last week – I hope you all did too. I got my old/new glasses…YAY! My kids came home from their extra portion of the vacation… DOUBLE YAY! It was just a nice week all around.
It was a nice reading week too so I’ll get to that now! 🙂
First up was Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs. This is book 5 in the Mercy Thompson series and it was another great one. This story mostly centered around the Fae and one Faery Queen trying to take control of everything, but it also had wonderful moments of Adam and Mercy and the struggles they have with their relationship. Adam’s pack and the issues with Mercy being one of the pack and with Samuel and his desire to end his life. It was just a great read. 4.5 out of 5
Next up was a very short (23 pages) erotic m/m story by Gavin Atlas called La Playita. This was the story of a college student on vacation in Costa Rica. He meets up with a couple of local men who want to play out his sexual fantasies with him. It was one on 3 and it was pretty darned hot. The issue I had? No condoms, no lube while having sex on the beach. Ouch and OMG! lol 3.5 out of 5
Next up was Corralled by Lorelei James. This is book #1 in her new Blacktop Cowboys series. It was another great cowboy story. I read this one for The Book Binge so keep your eyes peeled for my review. 🙂 4 out of 5
Twice Tempted by a Rogue by Tessa Dare was my next read. Book 2 in the Stud Club series. I really liked Rhys St. Maur – the poor man is so emotionally broken but such a winner in my book. I very much liked the heroine, Meredith, too – a fighter who would do what she needed to do to take care of her family and her town. Rhys came back to his hometown after 14 years and he doesn’t get a great reception. He decides to stay – probably for all the wrong reasons and tries to talk Meredith into marrying him. As much as she’s dreamed about that very thing her whole life she can’t do it as it’s not the best thing for the town. I really love Tessa’s writing – she has this great way of putting things that speaks to me. But in this instance as much as I liked the story the characters relationship didn’t click with me – I just couldn’t feel their connection. 3.5 out of 5
My next read was Seeking Kokopelli by Shelley Munro. This was the story of musician Adam and his crewman/roadie Nate. Nate’s wife died a year before but he’s now having lusty thoughts about Adam. Nate is hesitant to start a relationship with Adam but eventually gives in. On top of this is the fact that Adam used to be “THE” Kokopelli, bestowing blessings on his village’s crops and the women for fertility. But his father had kicked him out and ripped his powers away for being gay. His brother now has the power but he’s losing it and it’s returning to Adam. But Adam’s brother can’t deal with that and tries to kill him. It was a good story but after a bit Nate’s objections, etc. just started getting old. I have to say I didn’t care for the whole brother out to kill hero thing either. 3 out of 5
My Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read as well as my FTSP read for the week was Fire Me Up by Katie MacAlister. This is book 2 in her Guardian series. In the first book I found Aisling, the main character, to be a bumbler but it was still pretty cute. This one I found her to be less of a bumbler which was good. She is accused of murder, yet again, but allowed to try and clear herself. On top of that she’s having issues with Drake who is her Wyvern mate. He wants her and all of her attention and unfortunately doesn’t go about it a way that Aisling can handle. I have to say that I did feel for Aisling as she felt betrayed by Drake but lust can cloud your mind. lol I’ll be reading more from this series this week. 3.5 out of 5
My next read was InDescent by KZ Snow. This is actually the fourth book in the Jackson Spey-Adin Swift story arc but only the second one that I’ve read. The story is about a man who holds a grudge against Jackson. He’s gotten a powerful prism that he plans to trap Jackson in, but in truth Jackson has been chosen so that he may repair the rift between worlds (That was so readers digest version it’s ridiculous). There is so much going on in this book I can’t possibly tell all but it was just an excellent read. The writing, the relationship arc, the magic descriptions – I just loved everything about this book. 5 out of 5
I of course couldn’t finish reading InDescent and not immediately pick up To Be Where You Are which is the next book in KZ Snow’s series. This book was about one of Jackson’s friends whose partner is missing. Noah wants Jackson’s help but Jackson doesn’t want to get involved. In the meantime Adin is waiting for Celia to go talk to Jackson as Adin and Jackson’s relationship has grown and they just want to be together all the time rather than the once every couple of months they have now. Adin feel obligated to Celia and feels that she must “let him go” rather than just break things off. The problem is that Jackson’s friend Noah has the magic to take over someone’s will and in order to get Jackson to help him find his partner Noah takes over Celia’s will and makes her a girlfriend who’s more than a bit on the reluctant side in letting Adin go. Jackson must face down a voodoo sorcerer in order to get the partner back. Another great read! 4 out of 5
After that I decided that I really needed to catch up on my yaoi manga reading since I did eventually have to send these books off to the whoever the next person was who was waiting for them. I took a couple of hours and hit the books. I didn’t catch up completely because I got a lot at one time but I made a dent in them! Woohoo.
First up was You Will Fall in Love and You Will Drown in Love (which is the next volume in the series) by Hinako Takanaga. In You Will Fall in Love we meet Haru who is a long term sub at a school. He runs into Tsukasa who attends the school and has been in love with Haru for years. But Haru was an archer who thought he was in love with Tsukasa’s older brother. Tsukasa moves in to make him believe that he’s in love with Tsukasa, not his brother. It was a pretty darned cute story although very high school. I liked the graphics. 3.75 out of 5
You Will Drown in Love is the story of Tsukasa’s brother, Reiichiro, that takes place at the same time as the first book. Reiichiro starts as manager of one of his father’s fabric stores. He’s a horribly blunt person and has no clue how to work with customers. His asst. manager, Jinnai, is a bit disgruntled with the fact that he has to call a younger man and less experienced sales person his boss. But they become friends and eventually fall in love. Again, good graphics and though I didn’t like Reiichiro all that well I really liked Jinnai quite a bit. 3.5 out of 5
Next was Madness (volumes 1 & 2) by Kairi Shimotsuki. This story takes place in the year 3000 and tells the story of a band of killers that are being hunted. The main guy had fallen in love while in captivity with a priest and when he breaks out decides to take the priest with him. Good graphics yet a bit to indistinct for my tastes. I liked the story line though. 3.75 for volume 1 and 3.5 out of 5 for volume 2. 
Next was Age Called Blue by Est Em. This was an odd story of two guys who are trying to get a band together but one of them is a thief and steals the others guitars for money. He takes off for days and then shows ups drunk. He ends up in prison for stealing a car and hitting someone. It also has a couple of other stories in it. They’re all kind of bizarre and I wasn’t too big of a fan of the graphics.3 out of 5
Next was Hate To Love You by Makoto Tateno. This told the story of two men whose families had been rivals for generations but fell in love. It was a strange tale of a definite love/hate relationship. 3 out of 5
Last was Tea For Two by Yaya Sakuragi. The story of a boy whose sister decides to put him into the Tea Ceremony Club because he’s such a klutz and she wants him to have a little refinement. Tokumaru and Hasune find that they have more in common then they originally thought. I liked the graphics on this one and it was a cute story. 3.5 out of 5
And last for the week was Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl. This was an interesting story. Chloe and her friend Jenn head off to a secluded island in Virginia to get away from life. You see Chloe’s fiancĂ© crashed a plane and faked his own death. When he reappeared he blamed Chloe for being a Bridezilla. She’s then plagued by paparazzi and takes off for some peace and quiet. They meet brothers Max and Elliot at the resort and Chloe and Max hit it off but Max has issues and once he finds out that Chloe isn’t the “normal” girl he hopes for, turmoil ensues. I’ll be reviewing this one soon but it was a different type of love story – one I liked. 4.25 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Happy Reading!