Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

How the heck are ya?  Did you all have a great week and a fantastic weekend?  Happy Easter to everyone (delayed, I know).

I had an interesting week last week…it was Holy Week and I work at a church (don’t fall off your chair), nuff said.  It was insane but I did get Friday off and it was nice to have a 3 day weekend.

Yesterday (Easter day) was fun.  While it was beautiful here on Saturday we woke up Sunday to a mostly cloudy sky.   That didn’t stop my girls from having a fun time at the egg hunt after church.  Here are my girls who are such hams it’s ridiculous!  My sister who lives in Kansas City, MO bought these dresses for them – too cute.

And here is the family.  I think we were all eating Jolly Rancher’s so we look like a family of chipmunks, and the hair is in my oldests face,but hey, I needed to get my yearly Easter picture! lol  We did take another one but my hubby had a big ole frown on his face so this is it! 🙂

Non-sequitur:

If a prince gets married the woman becomes a princess.

If a baron gets married the woman is a baroness.

If a viscount gets married the woman is a viscountess.

If a marquess gets married his wife is a marchioness (not exact, but close).

A duke gets married and his wife becomes a duchess.

Why does an earl get married and his wife become a countess?  Why not an earless?  Or an earlcess?  Or an earlchioness?

These and other questions.

I posted my reading list for March so if you’re interested you can find it here.

My Finish the Series Project (FTSP) continues into April.  I think I finished 3 series in the month of March.  Much more needs to be done! lol

I started off the week with a big ole bang and read Kresley Cole‘s Pleasure of a Dark Prince.  It started off well but kind of slow for me for some reason.  However about 1/2 way through the book it got so that I didn’t want to put the book down.  I thought it was really very good.  Garreth and Lucia have been on my mind since the whole incident in the very first Immortals After Dark full length novel, A Hunger Like No Other.  Garreth is a Lycan while Lucia is a Valkyrie.  Garreth wants Lucia because he discovers that she’s his mate, among other reasons.  Lucia, as much as she wants Garreth, can’t have him because of her vow of chastity to the goddess who gave her her archer powers.  The two trying to figure things out was very well done as is Cole’s usual and I can’t wait to see what happens next. 4.5 out of 5

Next was Private Dicks by Katie Allen.  A really great m/m book.  You can read my review here.

My next read was Secrets of a Scandalous Bride by Sophia Nash.  This is book 4 in the Widow’s Club series but the heroine is just playing a widow and is hiding from a past and a man that is evoooooool.  She seeks help in an unlikely place, with the ruthless and rakish Rowland Manning.  As surly as Rowland is, he helps Elizabeth and they fall in love.  I liked this one a lot.  As much as I didn’t like Rowland in the last book I very much enjoyed his character in this one.  There was just something about him that pulled me to him and I loved his stubborness and pig headedness – not something I normally enjoy. lol  (I read this for The Book Binge and will let you know when my “formal” review posts).

Next I attempted to read Her Hungers by Mary Winter.  I didn’t get far unfortunately.  This, from what I read, is the story of a woman who grew up human but then was turned to a vampire and then to a werewolf.  She has a vampire lover who loves her and her vamp side but is pretty much repulsed by her werewolf side.  Then in steps a werewolf alpha from her past who wants to claim her but he appears to be repulsed by her vamp side.  Both men want to protect her and there was tons of posturing and possessiveness going on.  On top of that the woman couldn’t decide which man she wanted to be with.  All in all the story just didn’t work for me so I stopped reading after about 35 pages. DNF

Next was my Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week and also a FTSP read – Shoulda Been a Cowboy.  This is book 7 in Lorelei James‘s Rough Rider series.  This was Cam McKay’s book and is about his relationship with Ukrainian immigrant, Domini.  I liked the story and the issues it covered.  Cam trying to deal with no longer being a soldier and being back in his hometown.  He’s trying to come to terms with being a whole man since he’s only got one leg and has pretty much cut himself off from his family.  Then there’s Domini who is quietly dealing with her life and the fact that she doesn’t feel like a whole woman since she was forced to have a hysterectomy when she was 16 in the Ukraine and can’t have children. It was a good story and very emotional for me.  4 out of 5

It has been a while since I had read book 6 of the Rough Riders series and was trying to keep all of the McKay men and West boys straight in my head.  After going through that with Cam’s book I figured I better just get completely caught up with the series so dove right into All Jacked Up by Lorelei James – which is Keely’s story.  Keely and Jack hate each other but Jack talks Keely into creating a fake engagement so that he can get a job with some very conservative people in Utah.  Keely agrees but ends up in love with Jack after much strife.  Good story as well. 4 out of 5

Next was A Lady of Persuasion by Tessa Dare.  This was the story of Toby and Isabel.  Toby is determined to get revenge on Gray for stealing Sophia from him.  But he meets Isabel and she dazzles him.  He wants her as his own no matter what he has to do to get her. Isabel wants a man who will have influence in Parliament and Toby’s not it.  She agrees to marry him anyway, however because he could become the man she wants. Never a good idea to marry someone on the hopes that they’ll become the person you want them to be!  While Toby’s falling for Isabel, Isabel is fighting her feelings for Toby because she fears she will lose her focus on life. While I understood Isabel ‘s motives in the end I just didn’t care for her all that much.  Toby I really liked – even though he lied to Isabel.  This still had Dare’s lovely writing in it though and I couldn’t help but admire some of her phrasing and lovely sentences. 3.5 out of 5

Last up was Ecstacy Unveiled by Larissa Ione.  A great book!  I picked it up yesterday and just couldn’t put it down until I was done.  I loved Lore and Idess.  I really liked having many scenes with ALL of the brothers involved.  Lore’s protection of his sister, Sin, was very touching.  Just a very good read. 4.5 out of 5

Some of my Book Binge reviews posted this week as well: