Tag: ML Rhodes

What I Read Last Week

Posted June 14, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 18 Comments

Well it was a crazy week in Tracyland last week.  My boss had carpal tunnel surgery last Thursday and trying to get everything in order just in case she wasn’t A-ok by today was a little nutty – especially since I was going to be gone Friday.  We managed to get it all together which was a relief.
Then on Friday my oldest daughter graduated from 6th grade.  Holy cow.  Didn’t she just start kindergarten?  I mean, really? lol  I know as the years are going by it doesn’t seem like time is flying but seriously, it just doesn’t seem possible that she’s old enough!  Anyway, she looked beautiful and was definitely all smiles.  It was a good day.  Here’s a picture of her and her teacher who is just an incredible human being and a fabulous educator.
That same day brought major sadness with it when I was carrying a boatload of crap in from the car – as mom’s do – and my daughter bumped into me.  The only thing to fall and hit the concrete?  My Ezreader.  It looked fine until I tried to wake it up from sleep mode and then it looked like this:
FYI – that’s not how it’s supposed to look!  I called customer service at Astak and they said they thought the internal screen was broken and that I should email them a picture so they’d get a better idea if it could be repaired.  Since that was Friday I haven’t heard from them  – I wait impatiently for their reply!  I’m devastated.  Seriously.  I loved that thing and hope to heavens it can be repaired! **I just heard from Astak and they can repair the screen for $95.00!!!!  Doing the happy dance!**
Luckily I had my old ebookwise handy (that still has that big ole annoying splotch right in the middle of the screen) so I charged that puppy up (I mean, I was in the middle of a book I had to read NOW! lol) and tried to load my books on it.  That wasn’t working at all.  The librarian that converts the books to load to the reader would accept the books but when I would open the function on my ereader it showed that there was nothing in the librarian.  Now, I used by ebookwise regularly before I got my new ereader so I’m pretty handy with getting kinks worked out but this was just not happening.  I tried everything I knew and still nothing was happening.  So, I used the old tried and true uber-technical plan: fuck with the settings until it works.  And it worked!  I’ve not only loaded ebooks on to my reader but I’m pretty sure I also have hacked into some US military compound and am started WWIII. (can you tell my kids have been watching War Games? lol)
So despite the highs and lows of this past week it was a good one – and a good reading week as well:

Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas was my first read of the week and it was a good one.  This is book 4 in the Hathaway family series and I very much enjoyed Catherine and Leo’s banter and their relationship just hit that right spot in me.  I have to admit that at first I was confused as to why Cat had such issues with men.  It did seem quite out of proportion to what had happened – but it was explained satisfactorily near the end of the book so that put my mind at ease.  4.5 out of 5

Next up was Lion’s Heat by Lora Leigh.  This was book 21 in her Breed series.  I know. 21.  Seems like a crazy number but they’re still going strong.  This was Jonas’s story and another good one.  The heroine was bugging me quite a bit at first but she seemed to calm down after a bit and I was able to enjoy the story so much more. lol  I read this one for The Book Binge so will tell you when the review posts. 4.25 out of 5

Can’t Hurry Love by M. Jules Aedin was a book that I won over at Jenre’s blog and I’m so happy I read it.  It was an adorable novella about a promiscuous guy, Vincent, who works in the Easter Bunny dept in the Corporation of Mythical Beings.  He gets put on probation when he’s caught in the supply closet with a satyr and assigned to help out Charlie in the Cupid dept.  Only Charlie’s pretty much on strike for cupid activities and Vincent’s not quite sure what to do with him.  I really liked the story a lot.  Although there’s not a whole lot of romance between Charlie and Vincent I loved how it ended.  Worth the read.  4.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was a Harlequin Intrigue called Bodyguard/Husband by Mallory Kane.  This was the story of a woman who has the bad luck of having the men in her life either die or disappear. Unfortunately her uncle, the local police chief, believes that it’s someone who’s obsessed with her that is causing the deaths and disappearances and brings in the FBI to investigate.  In order to be close together they get married – for real.  They find the man, as well as love.  It was a cute story. 3.5 out of 5

For the rest of the week I went on an m/m binge.

I started Once Upon A Veterinarian by Drew Zachary but got about 75 pages into the 137 and just couldn’t read any more. It wasn’t a horrible story but I kept getting annoyed at the interruptions and the vets partner was extra annoying. Needless to say I didn’t end up finishing the book. DNF

Then I read Never Let Go by ML Rhodes.  The story of two men who had known each other for years but had each been hiding the fact that they’re gay as well as their feelings for each other. They have one wonderful night together but then one gets called away for work. He tells the other not to give up on him that he’ll contact him as soon as he can. Three years later he shows up on his doorstep. They have issues to work out to say the least. This was a good story but I wanted more. I felt that the homecoming and reunion went pretty smoothly considering the hurt feelings and betrayal. Yes, there were huge extenuating circumstances (which I won’t tell you about and ruin it for you) but I still felt that it went a tad to easily. Still a good book. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was Never Look Back by Josh Lanyon. This story follows Peter Killian who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of who he is or what’s happened to him. Unfortunately the cop sitting next to him is pretty sure he’s the prime suspect in a robbery. This was a great story. Of course I love Lanyon’s books because he has such a wonderful way of having the story unfold. I loved watching the layers get peeled away in this one. 4 out of 5

I’ve had Diving in Deep by KA Mitchell for a while – since I found out that it was related to Collision Course which I read last year. Well I finally read it and I really liked this one as well. This was Cameron and Noah’s story. Cameron has been Noah’s ideal man since Noah was 15 years old. They had one wonderful night together when Noah was 19 but then they didn’t see each other. Cameron is on the road for work a lot and though he’s into Noah he still doesn’t see him as anything but his best friend’s little brother. It was a really good story that I recommend. 4 out of 5

Of course when I finished Diving in Deep I immediately wanted to re-read Collision Course, so I did. I liked it even more the second time. I see by Goodreads that I originally read it in March of 2009 and gave it 3.75 out of 5. This time I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. It was just that good.

(And, big surprise, after reading Collision Course I had to immediately start on No Souvenirs the 3rd book in the series and I’m reading it now. I’m about halfway through and loving it as well.)
So that’s it for my reading week. I hope you had a great one as well!
Happy Reading!
My Book Binge reviews that posted this last week:

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What I Read Last Week

Posted May 3, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 24 Comments

Hi-dee-ho Neighbors!
How are all my cyber friends today?  Behaving yourselves?  I certainly hope not! lol
Ok – update on what exciting things happened in my life this past week….***crickets chirping***…all right, moving on.
LOL  Actually nothing much happened at all this past week and that’s A-ok with me!   The hub’s good, the kids are good.  I can’t complain!
You can still get in the running for the Diana Palmer book giveaway that will run until this Saturday at 11:59pm.  Just leave a comment to enter.
Also – I posted the list of books that I read in April on my other blog.  You can go here to see it.
So – what did I read this past week?
I started off with a Quickie read for The Book Binge called Too Good To Be True by Penelope Friday.  This was a cute book with some British humor in it.  The heroine’s self-esteem was really low when I first started the book and I was slightly turned off but then I liked her so much that I enjoyed the story. About a woman whose husband left her and she meets a great looking guy in a bar – but he’s going to trial soon because he might be a criminal.  What’s a girl to do?  I’ll let you know when my review posts.

Next up was To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt.  I’m considering this both a Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week as well as an FTSP read.  I actually tried to read the first book in this series several times but couldn’t get into it for some reason.  I did read book 2 and really liked it so I’m just continuing with the series.  This is the story of Helen who has been the mistress of a Duke for many years.  She’s finally left him after being only looked at as a possession for much of that time.  She enlists the help of her friend (from the previous book) and goes with her 2 children to Alistair Munroe’s castle in Scotland to be his housekeeper.  Alistair is none too happy to see her.  He doesn’t want a damned housekeeper!  Alistair is scarred from an Indian attack and lives a quiet sequestered life.  When Helen arrives his life is turned upside down – but in a good way.  I really liked the book a lot and it was a sweet beauty and the beast story – which I love. 4.25 out of 5
Next was Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts.  This is book 3 in the Bride Quartet series.  It started off slow for me but got better.  I read this one for The Book Binge as well and will let you know when my review posts.  This was Laurel and Del’s story.

I read a lot of The Book Binge this week because I’m trying to catch myself up and…well, I have a hard time saying no! lol  Anyway, another short read for them was Sacrifice in Stone by Patricia Mason.  This was about a statue and the woman who was trying to bring it to life.  Cute.

Lover Mine by JR Ward was my next read.  This was a darned good book.  It’s so nice to have some romance back in the BDB books.  This was John Matthew and Xhex’s (pronounced Hex from what I understand) story but we also got views into Blay and Qhuinn’s relationship, more from Tohr, some info on Payne (thank heavens!) and of course the evil Lash.  There were 2 corresponding stories that were in the book as well.  One was from Darius which I really enjoyed cuz I’ve liked him from book 1 (will it ever be revealed that JM is Darius? hhmmmmm IDK) and also another story about a tv show called the Paranormal Investigators.  The PI story was a bit odd and it wasn’t revealed until the end how it connected but it did, finally, connect.  I’m not sure I cared about the connection too much or if it’s going to be used in further books but I could have done without it and been quite happy. 🙂  Anyway a good book worth reading.  4.25 out of 5
I decided that it was time to catch up on some of the m/m shorter stories and novellas that I have had on my ereader for some time.  The first was Out of My Mind by ML Rhodes.  What a great story.  Rafferty Jones and Nick Tucker have been partners in the PD for 4 years now.  They’ve been best friends practically from day 1 and have spent great amounts of time together.  Rafferty is now divorced and he’s damn happy about it, but now he’s having erotic thoughts about his partner and he’s freaking out.  He’s never had “those” kind of thoughts about a man before and he doesn’t quite know how to handle it.  After a storm where Nick almost drowns Rafferty and Nick have a great night together (oh, Nick’s gay but didn’t reveal it to Rafferty for his own reasons) things go a bit haywire and Rafferty’s confused.  I really liked this book a lot.  Rafferty in his self examination unwittingly hurts Nick and it just killed me. I seriously was feeling the guys pain and my heart hurt for him.  The only thing I think I would have liked was to see more from Rafferty during his self-examination.  We got his POV at the beginning of the book but later only Nick’s.  It was still great but that would have given it a different depth as well.  4.5 out of 5
After that I read 3 free short stories that I got from the GLBT Bookshelf (thank you Tam & Chris for the link)  The first was Halloween Pickup by PA Brown about a guy who quickly picks up a guy who’s in costume as a cop.  They take off and enter a dungeon – but are things really as they seem?  Cute. (8 pages)
Then Lee Rowan’s Gift Exchange (7 pages) about 2 men on a submarine who exchange some great gifts with each other at Christmas. Very sweet.
Next was Josh Lanyon‘s The French Have a Word For It (30 pages) about a artist who is living in Paris trying to make it on his own when his old body guard finds him and they share a wonderful night together.  But things are not always what they seem.  This was very good and worth the read.

After that it was Tabula Rasa by Tory Temple.  This a contemporary western that was recommended to me by Hilcia.  The story of Rafferty (I know 2 Rafferty characters in one week!) who is trying to save his father’s horse ranch that was left to him after his dad died.  He can make enough money on the rodeo circuit as a roper but his partner has a broken ankle.  He gets Cash to be his heeler and they do fine in the circuit – but as lovers, not so good.  Oh, the sex is good but they have issues in their non-relationship.  Then Cash has a freak accident and has a temporary memory loss and can’t remember if they were together.  Well, when Raff doesn’t come through with the whole truth things don’t turn out the way he plans.  A great story that I really enjoyed reading.  Cash is an ass at first but when he loses his memory his has somewhat of a personality change. Another book where I could feel the guys pain.  Was I overly sensitive this week because my heart hurt a lot this past week for many of the characters.  Good stuff. 4 out of 5
Last but not least was yet another read for The Book Binge (I told you I was behind!) called Drilled by Regina Carlysle.  I hate the title of this book – seriously.  However since the girl is dating a guy who owns a petroleum company and is drilling crude oil on her land, I guess it’s fitting.  Doesn’t mean I have to like it! lol  Anyway, this is part of the Tempt the Cougar series and tells the story of 41 year old Lori Donovan who has moved back to the small town that she grew up in.  She meets 31 year old Jackson and things steam up.  I’ll let you know when my review posts.

Some of my Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Icing on the Cake by Shayla Kersten (One of my m/m challenge reviews)
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted December 14, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 13 Comments

Happy Monday!

How are you all today? I’m only fair – I started off the day with a phone call from my oldest teacher….not a great way to start the week if I do say so myself. Ug…she’s a handful and a half and I’m about at my wits end. That’s all I’m saying. 🙂

I got a new tattoo on Saturday night. I’ve been waiting a month since the initial consultation so was very excited to finally be getting it. It only took 3 hours and it is seriously cool if I do say so myself. 🙂 As soon as it heals I will take pictures and post them.

My reading slump is kind of still in effect. Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions you gave last week. I did manage to read a short story and a whole book after that! lol I tried re-reading a couple of books but couldn’t get into them. I did re-watch movies though…X-Men, Serendipity, Definitely, Maybe and I took the kids to see The Princess and the Frog yesterday. I also watched a few episodes of Full Throttle with my husband on Saturday. I thought he was gonna go into shock that I was watching tv. Funny guy. Hopefully I can get back into things (reading) soon.
So what did I read last week?

Well I started the week off with The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens. After 3 days and 200 pages I put it down for good. I wasn’t caring for the flowery writing at all. The heroine was annoying the heck outta me as well which didn’t help matters. The story follows 4 British Officers who are all carrying information on the true identity of the Black Cobra – a horrid person who is raping, pillaging and murdering people in India, back to England so that the BC aka a British citizen can be caught. One man has the original and the other 3 have copies…but the Black Cobra doesn’t know who has what so he needs to stop them all. Besides not being in to the story at all, I just couldn’t see how the other 3 books would be different. I could be very, very wrong – as I’ve been before – but the men are traveling to get their information to the correct person and while in the course of their travels meet their mates…would I be reading 4 books with the same stories but different names? IDK. Anyway – this just wasn’t for me. Rating: DNF

Next I read 2 yaoi manga’s that were sent in the swap. The first was Our Kingdom by Naduki Koujima. I didn’t really care for this one because I just couldn’t get into the 15 year old cousins falling in love, but maybe that’s me. Rating 2 out of 5 Then I read Crimson Wind by Duo Brand. I liked the graphics in this one a lot. It started off with one man being in a relationship with a warrior but then the man was reading a journal about the warriors past relationship and that was more the focus of the book. I was slightly confused but now understand that this is like book 2 in the series. I might look into reading the first book to see if I can catch up. Rating 3 out of 5

I read about Wanting by ML Rhodes on Lily’s blog and found it interesting. This was a good read. Short, but good. Jeremy had sex with his best friend and house mate, Ben. Ben’s gay…Jeremy has always thought of himself as straight. But why does he keep thinking about Ben then? This was a great story about self discovery, friendship and family – not the family you’re born with, but family as you create it. Rating: 4 out of 5

And last on the list (I know, isn’t the list small and sad?): Vision in White by Nora Roberts. I read Montana Sky for my re-read challenge at the beginning of the year – before that I hadn’t read a NR book in years (maybe 12?). This was a good choice to re-introduce myself to her as an author. I really enjoyed this book. The friendship between the 4 women who ran the wedding consultation/planning business was wonderful. They were there for each other – just as friends should be. The hero to the story just cracked me up to no end. He was so unsure of himself at first – shy. One scene I loved was when the h/h were having coffee and Carter was admitting, because he felt he had to, the fact that he had had a crush on Mac, the heroine, way back in high school:…Are you always so forthright over coffee dates?”

“I don’t know. You’re the only one I ever had a crush on.”“Oh boy.”“And that was stupid.” Flustered again, he raked his fingers through his hair. “Now I’ve scared you. That sounded scary and obsessive, like I have an altar somewhere with your pictures over it where I light candles and chant your name. Jesus, that’s even scarier. Run now. I won’t hold it against you.”

I love that! And then later when he’s talking to his 3 legged cat and only getting stared at by said cat (of course):

“Well, she’s not as reasonable as you. I’ll tell you something else while we’re on the subject. I’m good for her. I’m exactly what she needs. I understand her. All right, no, I don’t. I take that back. But I know her, which is a different thing altogether. And I know I can make her happy once she gets over being too pigheaded to admit it.”

Just great stuff. If you haven’t read it and like a good contemporary I’d say go for it. Rating: 4.25 out of 5Oh and my review for Lord of the Highlands by Veronica Wolff has posted here.Anyway, I’m hoping to pop out of this slump this week – I’ll keep you posted!

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