This was an all around quiet week at home once Halloween
passed.  I did attend my friends funeral
on Saturday which was really difficult but that was ok too.  We have a memorial garden here at the church
I work at and he was buried there and that was nice. I told his sister I can now go bug him whenever I want. 🙂 Here’s my favorite picture of the garden –
its very serene.

So on to what I read:

I started off the week with Never Seduce a Scot by MayaBanks.  As you’ll see if you read my full
review I saw this on Nath’s blog and just HAD to read it.  It was really good and I’m so glad I
did.  Warring clans, a deaf mute heroine,
hot highlanders – what’s not to love? 
You can read my full review here. 
4.25 out of 5

Next up was My Regelence Rake by JL Langley.  This is the newest in the Sci-Regency series
and while I didn’t find it quite as good as books 1 & 2 I still really
liked it.  This is Colton’s story and has him pining after the
Captain of the Guard at the palace, Sebastian. 
Sebastian is also a Lord in his own right and though Colton has made no secret of the fact that he
wants Sebastian, Seb has pretty much brushed him off.  When Colton
finally decides to move on as he feels he’ll never get the man, Seb finally
notices him.  Now this was a good story
but there were a few things that bothered me. 
The main one was the fact that Colton
and Seb had to get married to avoid scandal. 
While this always adds a bit of angst, this is the 3rd book
in this series that’s had that happen. 
Really?  Three boys married from
the Royal family and all of them had to get married to avoid scandal?  I’d like to see just a plain ole romance with
some other angst involved.  Not that this
one didn’t have “other” angst.  We also
got a bit of Raleigh/Steven page time and I enjoyed that immensely.  3.75 out of 5

Some Like it Wicked by Carole Mortimer was my next
read.  This is the story of a Pandora who
is a widow and is being cut by the ton after she gets out of mourning because
her husband supposedly died in a duel with her lover.  She is saved from being attacked at a ball by
a man the ton calls Devil and has a horrid reputation himself but yet never
gets cut.  He saves Pandora and then won’t
go away and eventually ends up asking Pandora to marry him for his own
reasons.  This was a cute book and was
pretty entertaining.  You can read my
full review here. 3 out of 5

Next was a re-read called Kiss and Kin by Kinsey W.Holley.  I wanted to read book 2 in the
series but couldn’t really remember book 1 so I dragged it out again.  I remembered what happened almost immediately
after I started reading but re-read the whole thing anyway.  The story is about a wolf shifter, Taran, who
is in love with his brother’s cousin by marriage, Lark, but she’s a woman who
was basically raised by his parents so it’s a bit weird for him, and her.  Lark’s in love with Taran but has no idea
that she’s his mate.  He’s a cop and
investigating the disappearance of some women in town and when Lark is almost
abducted he has to protect her and one thing leads to another, etc.  I gave this book a 3.75 after the first read
and a 3.5 after the second.  The ending
wasn’t quite as satisfying this time around. 
Yes, the “bad” guy was caught but he wasn’t the only bad guy out there
so the fact that everything seemed A-ok was a bit annoying.  3.5 out of 5

Next in the series was Yours, Mine and Howls by Kinsey W.Holley.  This story is pretty unrelated
to the people in book 1.  The characters
are vaguely connected but it can definitely be read on its own.  The story is about a 30 year old woman who is
bringing the son she raised from the age of 5 to his uncle’s house to meet him
for the first time.  Ally and Cade, the
Uncle, don’t get along but yet their mates. 
Ally actually died and was brought back to life by a deity of
sorts.  The story is about Ally and Cade’s
romance as well as several other things. 
While a good book I thought there was way too much packed in to just one
story.  Too many bad guys for sure, and
when they started getting into the history of Cade’s family it was nuts.  Good, but a lot to take in.  3.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s
TBR Challenge read and last for the week was The Rebuilding Year by KajeHarper. This is the story of 2 basically straight men, John and Ryan who become
friends, then roommates, then lovers. 
The story centers around their romance and the way they deal with their
feelings toward someone of the same sex, as well as issues that come up with John’s
ex-wife, her husband and his kids.  There’s
also something funky going on at the college that Ryan attends and John works
at that causes angst as well.  I really
liked the story a lot.  I thought that the
issue of the problems on campus pulled me away from the romance a bit too much
but it all tied in nicely in the end.  I
really liked how Harper set this up so that Ryan was 30 but just starting med
school and John 37 and starting over without his former family.  It added a depth that wouldn’t necessarily
have been there had the men been younger and not “lived” yet.  I liked the writing and will be reading more
from Harper in the future. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted since last week:

A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde

Stygian’s Honor by Lora Leigh

Midnight in Your Arms by Morgan Kelly

Her Highness and the Highlander by Tracy Anne Warren

Happy Reading!