Ginn Hale is releasing a new book on March 8 – or should I say books? It’s an awesome serialized novel with 10 installments that sounds really, really good.
Head on over to DIK and enter the contest for a subscription (that’s all ten installments free). You only have today to enter so what are you waiting for? Go!
Greetings to all!
And…Happy Labor Day to those in the US! I hope you’re enjoying the holiday and hopefully you, like me, have the day off. Talk about a lazy day. Wow. I wish I could say I’m being uber productive today – besides laundry – but I really hate to lie to my friends. lol None of us want to leave the house because it’s been so stinking hot here. I want to know when I moved to the sun. I must have blocked that out somewhere along the way but that’s apparently where I live because it’s hot like the sun here! It’s been over 100 – F (that’s over 38 C) every day this past week. Right now weather.com says it’s 90 here but the thermometer that’s in my back yard – that’s in the shade – says it’s 100. That’s actually cool. lol
So what happened in Tracyland this week? Not a whole hell of a lot. We went to my youngest daughter’s back to school night and met her teacher. I loved her! She’s fun and funny but has her shit together. She seems like a great teacher and my daughter likes her a lot – super important! The teacher also loves math which makes her a perfect match for my youngest since she loves math as well. (I know, she’s sick, she gets that from my hubby shudders) lol
Anyway, on to what I read this past week:
First up was Coronets and Steel by Sherwood Smith. This is one I read for The Book Binge. It was the story of a graduate student who goes looking for her ancestry and winds up with a lot more than she bargained for. The book has a lot of history in it, and even though it’s not my thing I really enjoyed it. 4.25 out of 5
Next was another book for The Book Binge called Marriage in Moonlust by Kate Hill. This is about a woman who is given to the local vampire family as their monthly blood sacrifice but she ends up falling in love with one of the vampires instead. A little rushed on the love but not bad. 3.25 out of 5
Next was Savage Sanctuary by Jacqueline Barbary. This was a story of a shapeshifter that is on the run and the man who runs the sanctuary that he’s taken to. They fall in love and face trials and tribulations. 3 out of 5 You can read my review here.
Next was Sureblood by Susan Grant. This was a sci-fi book about warring clans in space and the leaders of those clans that fall in love. Pretty good book. I had some issues with it but on the whole I liked it. 3.75 out of 5 You can read my review here.
My Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week was The Name of the Game by Willa Okati. This was the story of a gay man, Clay, who is in love with his straight cop roommate, Seth. Seth is in the relationship from hell with Sophie the psycho and it’s decided that Seth will tell Sophie he’s gay to get out of it. It works to a point, but then Seth starts really having feelings and desires for Clay. This was a good book but it was a bit much on the dramatic for me. The men had Sophie to deal with but then they threw in speed dating for Clay as well as some other issues. And did the characters ever work? Uh, not that I could tell. I just found it really wasn’t my cup of tea. 3 out of 5
Next up was Meet Me In Manhattan by Judith Arnold. This here is an absolutely true romance. That’s right, the book was written about the true life romance of Ted and Erika. It’s also part of the True Vows series and I’ll be posting my review of the book on Wednesday as part of the book tour so check back.
Mistress of the Night by Charlotte Featherstone had been in my ereader waaaaay too long so I finally decided it was time to read it. I originally bought it based on the info about the tortured hero – I love those. And boy was Blaine tortured. You see he had epilepsy and back then it was not a illness that was A-ok. If you had the “falling sickness” then you were thought to be possessed by a demon and Blaine was afraid that his secret would get out and he would be committed to Bedlam. He vowed to never get married and never have a child. But he fell in love with Madeline and he couldn’t seem to keep himself away from her. I really liked the book a lot. Blaine could be a right bastard at times while pushing Madeline away and yeah, I hated him for it, but he was so afraid. The problem was, he was so afraid that she’d find his secret out and be repulsed by him that he ended up living in hell because he couldn’t be with her the way he wanted. Very good book but if you read it be prepared to hate Blaine at times along the way. 4 out of 5
And last but not least I re-read Lord of the White Hell book 1 by Ginn Hale. And you know, it was just as great the second time reading it as it was the first. I re-read in preparation for reading book 2 and I wanted to completely refresh my memory. Man I just love Javier and Kiram. Good people. I reviewed this back in June – you can read my review here if you’re interested. 5 out of 5
My Book Binge review that posted last week:
Seduced by a Highlander by Paula Quinn
Happy Reading
I started with Lord of the White Hell by Ginn Hale. This was an ARC of the book that releases on August 15th. It was an excellent read that I highly recommend. You can read my review here. 5 out of 5
Next was Hue, Tint and Shade by Jordan Castillo Price. This is the first story in the Petit Mort books and it was very good. I really enjoyed reading about Tommy the total introvert and Nathan the outgoing window washer get together. 4 out of 5
Then another of my FTSP books Pack Territory by Crissy Smith. This was Adam and Tasha’s story. Adam is helping Tasha find her sister who has run away and they start to fall in love. Along with that Adam has to deal with the fact that his father is in a m/m relationship. I liked this one but not as much as the other 2 in the series. 3.5 out of 5
My next read was The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne. OMG I loved this book. As much as I liked her other 2 books in this series I thought this one was just that much better. Marguerite and William were just fabulous together. This is a prequel to the other 2 books so if you haven’t read the series yet you could start with this one and still be ok. 🙂 I read this one for The Book Binge so will let you know when the review posts. 5 out of 5
Pool Hall Green by Sara Bell was my next read. This is the story of Drew and his struggle with his family. His parents kicked him out of the house when they found out he was gay but yet call him to get his reckless brother out of trouble whenever they can’t handle it. It was a very good story about Drew coming to terms with his family and falling in love along the way. I will definitely be reading more from Bell in the future. 4 out of 5
Skin Tight by Ava Gray was a really good book. This is book 2 in the Skin series and it follows 2 characters we met in book 1 – Kyra’s friend Mia and casino thug Foster. Only Foster is now Thomas Strong and he and Mia are working at the same facility. It seems that Kyra and Strong weren’t born with the powers that they have – they were basically science experiments. Mia and Strong work together – against Strong’s better judgment and become close while in the process. I really liked this story. Strong (you’ll find out his real name in the book but I don’t want to give it away) is so closed off it was nice to see him loosening up and starting to trust someone – which he hadn’t done in a very long time. 4 out of 5
*The Devil’s Secret by Hinako Takanaga was the story of an incubus demon and a priest. There were some other shorts in there as well. Interesting stories – pretty good graphics. 3.5 out of 5
Last of the week was Black Wade by Franz and Andaerle. I’ve been wanting to read/view this graphic novel since Sarah put it on her DIK reading list. It has wonderful color graphics and a short but good story. Definitely worth the read/view. 4 out of 5
My Book Binge review that posted this past week:
(Another FYI – I received this book for review by the publisher)
First was Hunter’s Need by Shiloh Walker – book 11 in the Hunters series. This was a book that I read for The Book Binge for review but it was also a book for my Finish the Series Project. I think I still have 4 stories to go with the Hunters. This was Analise and Duke’s story. She’s a psychic with minimal psychic ability and he’s a hunter/shapeshifter. They have a nasty past with each other but they have a connection that neither can deny. This was good, but not great for me. I like Walker’s writing but I didn’t care for the heroine in this one and it really put a damper on things for me. I’ll let you know when my review posts on TBB.
Next up was Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale. I loved this book. Say, loved it so much I want to have babies with it. Ok, maybe not that but still – it was fantastic. It’s now available in ebook as well so if you haven’t read it – do it! You can read my review here 5 out of 5 (this was also part of my m/m challenge)
Next up I read HardMan by Amarinda Jones for The Book Binge. This was the story of a girl at a fuck-me shoe convention and the convention manager. They meet, grumble at each other and then have wild sex in a storage closet. They start a sexual relationship but soon see it’s more. Again this was a cute book but I did have some difficulty with the heroine. I like Jones’s sense of humor but the heroine and her snarkiness got to be just a bit much after a while. 3.25 out of 5
My next read was my Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week and one of my FTSP – One the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn. I’ve finished the Bridgerton’s!!! Took me long enough, geez! lol This one was good but probably my least favorite of the 8 books. Gregory falls in love with Lucy and wants to marry her but she’s promised in marriage to someone else…and her uncle is blackmailing her into holding her to the promise. Don’t get me wrong it was still a pretty good book but it was a little fantastical and a little sappier than I like. Wow, that sounds like I didn’t like it…but I did – just not as much as the others! 3.75 out of 5
Next was Totally Captivated volumes 5 and 6 by Hajinn Yoo (yaoi manga). I really love this series. The story of Ewon who is more or less conned into working for a loan shark, Mookyul, but throughout the series Mookyul falls for Ewon and there’s much angst and much sweetness. It’s beautifully drawn and it’s definitely a keeper. 4.5 out of 5 for both books.
Next was another yaoi manga called Yokai’s Hunger by Naona Bohra. This was a paranormal manga that involved Norito and Koma – who had been pledged/promised to Norito in a past life. They get together again but then have to deal with demons and Koma’s brothers – almost the same thing. It was pretty good. The graphics were ok but made me laugh. Norito’s nose was always shaded so it looked kind of animalistic to me and he seemed to have, most of the time, one of his eyes shut. It was just funny and I couldn’t quite understand why the author did that. 3.5 out of 5
That was it for me last week! I did have one review post this week on The Book Binge: