Tag: PD Singer

What I Read Last Week

Posted December 20, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Well it’s been crazy at our house this past week. First my little one got a bad cold and fever (I was home with her when I wrote the last edition of What I Read Last Week), then we had a really early birthday party for my oldest (her birthday isn’t until the 30th), then she got sick, then my youngest had another belt test for her red belt on Saturday (which she passed with max points – go baby go!), then she came home, threw up and continued to do so for the next 15 hours. She’s feeling much better now but has been at work with me for most of the past two days so it’s been a bit hectic. Life is fun. lol Needless to say I’m behind on EVERYTHING, including this post! But eventually it all gets taken care of. As long as my family gets healthy soon I’ll be one happy camper.
Here’s my youngest breaking a board at her red belt test. A couple of practice kicks and then she got it in 2.

So how are all of you? What have you been up to? What are you reading lately? I’m afraid with life in a whirlwind I’ve not been blog hopping lately so I hope you’re all well.
What I read last week:

I started off the week with The Cowboy’s Christmas Miracle by RaeAnne Thayne. This was the book that I read for my monthly TBR challenge and it was pretty good. Minor angst between the h/h but other than that a sweet Christmas tale. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

All the Pleasures of the Season by Lecia Cornwall was my next read. A novella that was about a woman who tries to do what her family wants when it comes to marriage and her future but between the evil fiancé and the fact that she’s in love with someone else it just didn’t work. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Faery Wedding by Mina Carter was a short read about a woman who is being forced to marry a man she thinks is old and probably evil just to save her family. She goes out the night before and gets her groove on with a great guy who shows up later and surprises her in a big way. It was an ok story but definitely more of an erotic tale rather than love. 2 out of 5

A Knight in Cowboy Boots by Suzie Quint is a book that I read for The Book Binge. This was the story of a girl who basically kidnaps her nephew after the baby’s father kills her sister, the baby’s mother. She goes into hiding but ends up falling for a guy. He’s great but she knows she can’t stay in one place even if she’s in love. It was a pretty good story but there was a bit of hick-speak that made me a bit crazy as I was reading. Luckily they only spoke a bit in hick-speak and didn’t THINK that way. lol 3.75 out of 5

8 Seconds on the Mountain by PD Singer is a short related to Mountain series. This story had the boys, Kurt and Jake, invading the stocks at a rodeo. Kurt riles up the cowboys and makes a bet that he can stay on a bull for 8 seconds. It was cute, short read. 3 out of 5

Priority One by Stephani Hecht is book 4 in the EMS Heat series. I’ve not read the first 3 books but didn’t feel that it was necessary in order to read this one. The story was about newbie EMS Dylan who is mightily attracted to Kaleb the firefighter. The story covers the men getting together and Dylan, who is dealing with emotions left over from when he got kicked out of his parents’ house and his feelings of betrayal from a previous relationship. The romance in this is a bit non-existent as we’re told that the men are basically inseparable but we don’t get to witness any of that. It was a good story just a little short on romance for my liking. 3 out of 5

Beneath the Neon Moon by Theda Black was a free book given away by All Romance eBooks this past week. It was about Zach and Mal who wake up one day and they are chained together in a basement. They discover after a bit that Mal has been bitten by a werewolf and will soon turn one and Zach is to be his first meal. Close proximity, however, bring the two young men together and the last thing either wants is for one to die and the other to be ridden with guilt forever. The book is about Zach and Mal getting to know each other and becoming closer as well as trying to figure out how to change what seems like an inevitable outcome. Really good story, well done. 4 out of 5

I wanted to read When I Fall by Belinda McBride but it had been so long since I had read An Uncommon Whore that I decided to re-read it first. Griffin Hawke is looking for the king of his people and he ends up finding him in an unlikely place. Pasha aka King Helios has been a slave and a whore for years and he knows nothing different. When Griffin finally gets him off planet Helios has to deal the memory/control chip that’s in his head as well as his thoughts of being King and of course his growing feelings for Griffin. It’s a really good book and it was just as good the second time around. 4 out of 5

When I Fall by Belinda McBride starts a year after Helios and Griffin finally make it back to their planet. Helios has fallen into the roll of king easily enough and has made wonderful changes for his people. It seems though that Griffin (this book is from Griffin’s POV while book 1 was from Helios’s) is feeling a bit unneeded and left out. The story deals with many aspects of the men’s world and Griffin’s feelings of impending loss (of Helios). While that was great and I enjoyed the writing tremendously I felt the story lacked the strength of the first book when it came to the men’s relationship. Griffin doubted Helios’s love, Helios kept secrets from Griffin but nothing really got worked out as the conclusion of the book kind of glossed over the issues. Because of a near death experience it seemed that the problems weren’t to be dealt with in depth – Helios admits he did wrong and so did Griffin and then it was all ok. I still gave the book a good grade because as I said, I liked the writing but the lack of true resolution of the problems bothered me a bit, I must admit. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted November 29, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 9 Comments

I hope you all had a great weekend. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states I got a long 4 day weekend (that’s just never long enough! lol) that I thoroughly enjoyed. I got a lot of reading done, lots of game playing, movie watching and bowling were done as well.

On Thanksgiving we went to my hubby’s parent’s house with one of his brothers and his 5 children. I was also quite lucky in that my parents, brother, niece and sister-in-law also came along so it was one big happy family.

On Saturday I also got a great text from my 27 year old niece that her boyfriend asked her to marry him. All together now, “Awwwwww.”  She of course said yes and sent me a picture of the ring. sigh Ah, young love. lol

The giveaway by Brita Addams is still open until the 30th.  Just leave a comment on this post to enter to win. (see details about what books are up for grabs on the post)

So what did I read last week?

I started off with Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh. This is book 4 of the Royal House of Shadows series – all by different authors – and I have to say it was my favorite. I liked all the books but the series got better with each book, imho. I know they were Nocturnes but I think they all would have been better had they just been a bit longer. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Next was Her Christmas Pleasure by Karen Erickson. This was a historical novella that had the son of a servant who was practically raised with a nobleman’s family in love with his friends’ widow. It was my first historical read by this author but I liked it. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

My next book was a short called Reckless night by Lisa Marie Rice. This was story about a time in the life of a couple from a previous book. It was really good though and definitely made me want to go back and read the other stories. You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Next was A Beginner’s Guide to Rakes by Suzanne Enoch. First off let’s talk about the title – not a think to do with the story. Who comes up with these? Anyway, the story itself was about a woman who’s dead husband was an inveterate gambler and died and left her penniless. She’s decided to get it all back by starting a gentleman’s club in London. She gets money from the one man who she can blackmail into playing along but their past can’t be laid to rest that easily. I liked this book a lot. I thought that there wasn’t enough romance in it but I liked the other parts so well that I almost didn’t mind. Definitely a good start to the series. 4 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

Snow on the Mountain by PD Singer was next and this is the continuing story of Kurt and Jake from Fire on the Mountain. It’s now winter and Jake is working as a lift operator while Kurt is working at a prestigious ski school. Kurt however discovers that there’s more to the ski school than he knew while Jake is playing babysitter to the resort owners kids. This one has action, suspense, sex, misunderstandings and lots of snow. lol I really liked this one and will definitely keep reading this series. 4 out of 5

The Comforts of Home by Jodi Thomas is book 3 in the Harmony series. This book brought us back to Harmony to visit people we’ve met in previous books as well as introduce us to new and interesting characters. It was a really great story with a bit of unfulfilled love which I didn’t like at all. I want my HEA’s dammit! lol Still definitely worth the read. 4.5 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

Simple Gifts by LB Gregg is her newest book in the Cornwall series. This story introduced us to Jason who had a relationship with Robb years before. Now Robb is back from the service and not looking so good. Jason’s not quite sure how to act but before he can get his shit together enough to figure it out he gets hurt. Robb is there to care for him. The pair get to discuss their lives but what does this mean for the future? This was a short sweet novella that I really loved. There’s no sex in the book (which is a bummer since LB writes it so well) but the story was so good that I just didn’t mind. 4.5 out of 5

My next read was To Wed A Wild Lord by Sabrina Jeffries. This is book 4 in the Hellions of Halstead Hall series and I really liked this one as well. I guess I just really like the Sharpe family because their story is just really appealing to me. This was Gabe’s story and was about him, his guilt, his desire to assuage that guilt (and gain an inheritance) by marrying his best friend’s sister. His best friend died 7 years prior though and the guilt is because of the way he died. The sister doesn’t want to have anything to do with Gabe because she thinks he’s responsible for Roger’s death. When truths start to come out the pair come together. Just a good story. 4.25 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. This is a fantasy/paranormal story about the King of the Dark Court (Faerie), Irial, who manages to get his blood into Leslie while she’s getting a tattoo so that he can siphon feelings through her to feed his court. Only he’s not the horrible person that you would think and truly ends up falling in love with her. She is already in love with Niall, however, who was once part of the Dark Court and is now a guardian of the King of the Summer Court. She can’t be with him though because he’s the type of faerie that can make humans addicted to him. I think I make it sound more complicated than it is. Don’t get me wrong it’s not an easy read but there’s so much more going on than that. The love triangle between Leslie, Niall and Irial is really good but there ends up being some unfulfilled love in this book as well and I just wanted it to work out for everyone. 4 out of 5

Stopping Time by Melissa Marr is a novella that is a continuation of the love triangle between Leslie, Niall and Irial. It really shed some much needed light on the relationship between Niall and Irial that I didn’t get at all from Ink Exchange. I was a bit disappointed that the love between the two men wasn’t explored or explained more in IE. It also showed more between the men and Leslie which while still sad was very good. 4.25 out of 5

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
Heartbreak Creek by Kaki Warner

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted November 14, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Well it’s back to work for me after having 3 glorious days off. I was a complete slug this weekend and hardly left my house at all. You’d think I would have gotten so much stuff done – either reading or housework or….IDK, something! Yet, I didn’t. I got a couple of books read…the kids and I went to see the movie Jack and Jill which they were dying to see. I had no desire to see it yet I laughed throughout the film. We just hung out at home and played the game of Life. My youngest bought the board game with some birthday money this past July and I think we played about 20 games over the course of the 3 days. I know! That’s a lot but both girls were somewhat addicted, to say the least. I couldn’t resist them batting their beautiful eyelashes at me so I didn’t end up getting a whole lot done. Oh well…there’s always next weekend. 🙂

Then there was the Great Ravioli Massacre at our house. My oldest was making ravioli (from frozen) and doing it in the microwave (she’s too impatient to wait till the water boils and do it on the stove) and had a spot of trouble. She put less than the normal amount of ravioli’s in the bowl but then forgot to adjust the time setting and ended up burning those ravioli’s into lovely charcoal briquets. I smelled something burning (luckily I was at the kitchen table) and ran over before they actually caught fire. My entire house smells like burnt…something, and smoke. lol I think my daughter’s now afraid to use the microwave – poor thing. That was about as much excitement as we had all weekend. 🙂

On to what I read last week. It just didn’t feel like I read that much but looking at the titles it was more than I thought! According to my self-imposed challenge on Goodreads I’m 22 books behind. Oh well, it was a lofty goal to think I could read 400 books in one year! lol

I started the week with Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux. Wow. What a great book! I’ve had this for a long while – I think I got it free at one point from ARe – but had never cracked it open. I’m so glad I finally did! It was a really good mystery and suspense story as well as the start of a burgeoning romance between two FBI agents who couldn’t be more different. There was a lot of head hopping in the story which got a bit annoying, but other than that I loved the story. It’s interesting to see all the different ratings on goodreads as it’s gotten marks all over the board. Just shows you how some books appeal to some and not others. I will definitely be diving into book 2 in this series soon. 4.5 out of 5 (I wrote a review for this and posted it on The Book Binge. It will post on Thursday in case you’re interested)

Next up was Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins. I really love Higgins’ books! Her characters and humor just keep dragging me back in time and again and I’ve not been disappointed yet. This story was about a girl who has a crush on a boy in high school. Now he’s a widower and back in the town with his 15 year old daughter. The pair somehow get together and start a relationship but there are many things at play between Posey and Declan and not all of it good. You can read more in my review posted here. 4 out of 5

Next was Coming Home by Beverly Cialone. This is the story of a couple who were great friends and in love with each other when the girl was 16 and the guy 23 or 24. He leaves town and the girl because he feels that she needs to live her life and that it wasn’t right to pursue anything more. Now her parents have died and he goes back to “take care of her”. The relationship blossoms from there but there’s someone who doesn’t want them to be together. The was a requested review and I will be posting my thoughts on this soon. 2 out of 5

Next up was Vampire in Atlantis by Alyssa Day. I read this one for The Book Binge and my review will post tomorrow if you’re interested. The story was about Daniel the Vampire and a woman, Serai, who has been in stasis for 11,000 years. She gets out of her “prison” and heads off to find one of the stones that belongs in Poseidon’s trident. She meets up with Daniel who she was in love with all those many years ago. They each thought the other was dead so are beyond happy when they find each other again. This was a good book but I just didn’t find anything wonderful about it. It was a lovely romance between the reunited couple and of course the sex was smoking but other than that I just wasn’t wowed by it. 3 out of 5

OMG I can’t believe I forgot to post this in…yikes (I really wish that goodreads had a “date I finished the book” section to their goodreads app!)  I read Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl as well!  This was Eric Donovan’s story.  I really liked the novella that Dahl wrote about the couple in “The Guy Next Door” anthology but I got a bit disappointed in Eric as the series went on.  Yes, the book explained a ton of reasons why Eric acts as he does but he still frustrated the bejabbers out of me.  I will post my review on this book later this week.

Fire on the Mountain by PD Singer was my next read. This is the story of two men, Jake and Kurt, who are fire rangers in the Colorado mountains. They are a two man team and live in close quarters. Jake, who is gay (the story is told from his pov) has suddenly noticed Kurt in a sexual way and is trying hard to do his job and not show Kurt how attracted he is to him. That all becomes a moot point when they are stuck in the path of a raging fire and may die. The two men get together but then are separated and of course doubts abound as to each others feelings. It was a good book up until the time they were separated. Because it was told in 1st person the internal struggle with Jake got a bit old and then when they did get together it was pages and pages of reunion sex. Not a bad thing but I just wanted more. I’ve heard good things about book 2 so I will keep reading the series. 3 out of 5

Last for the week was Heartbreak Creek by Kaki Warner. I’m usually not a huge fan of historical westerns but this one looked particularly good so I gave it a try. I’m glad I did. Edwina is a true southern lady but with the war, her father dying and the plantation taking too much money she knows she has to do something. She signs the plantation over to the bank and becomes a mail order bride. She heads to Colorado with her half-sister, Prudence (who’s half black), to become the wife of a rancher. The book tells us the story of Edwina (Ed) and her husband Declan and how they manage to get along and eventually fall in love but there’s so much more to the story. We get to see the town of Heartbreak Creek and get to know more about it. Declan has an Indian after him who seeks vengeance and then there’s the little issue of whether they’re actually married or not. It’s a good story and I’m glad I picked it up. This was my first read by Warner but it won’t be my last. 4.25 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Angels of Darkness (anthology) by Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, Meljean Brook & Sharon Shinn
Telling Tales by Charlotte Stein

Happy Reading!

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