Tag: Rhianne Aile

What I Read Last Week

Posted June 28, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 12 Comments

Happy Monday!  I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince you or myself – but my coffee is helping, a lot! lol
A quiet week on the old home front.  The weekend brought lots of house cleaning and shopping for clothes for my oldest.  That child is growing by leaps and bounds and her clothes can’t keep up!  I’ve been trying to just buy her clothes little by little because she’s growing out of them so fast but this time I think I got her enough to make it through summer.  Fingers crossed. lol
Other than that not much going on so I’ll get down to what I read last week:
First up was Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh.  This one doesn’t come out until July 6 so I was extremely happy to be able to read it early for The Book Binge.  It was another great book in the Psy/Changeling series.  This book is the story of cop Max Shannon (Talin’s human friend) and Sophia Russo – a Justice Psy and I really, really  liked it!  I’ll let you know when my review posts. 🙂  4.5 out of 5
The One That Got Away by Rhianne Aile and Madeleine Urban was the book that was chosen for my June Pick-It For Me Challenge on the m/m group on Goodreads.  I read reviews on this one but just hadn’t gotten around to buying it so I’m glad I was “forced” to do it.  🙂  This was the story of David who broke his shoulder and his best friend Trace who moves in to take care of him.  David is gay, Trace is not.  David hadn’t had any sexual thoughts about Trace until they’re basically living together and then the lascivious thoughts begin.  Trace isn’t necessarily opposed to David but he’s not jumping in with both feet.  This was a great book in that the slow, sensual seduction and the build up of what was to come was so engaging.  I loved that David didn’t push Trace and that they deeply considered their friendship before doing anything.  A very good read. 4 out of 5
Next up was Open Season by Linda Howard.  This was my DIK Reading Challenge book for June and it was a good one.  You can read my review here. 4 out of 5
After that I read Obsessed by KZ Snow.  This is book 3 in the Jackson Spey – Adin Swift story arc and I decided to start with this one because it’s really where the m/m story begins.  The first two books, I think (please correct me if I’m wrong), cover Adin’s relationship with Celia.  This was an odd choice of a book for me because I have issues with infidelity and Adin being in a relationship with Celia but then beginning a relationship with Jackson should have hit all of my hot buttons…but it didn’t.  I think it was because of two reasons A) the two men had truly been in love with each other for about 10 years and B) Celia gave her unmitigated approval of the relationship.  I very much enjoyed seeing the two men expressing their feelings for each other and can’t wait to see what happens next in their relationship.  4 out of 5
I tried to read a Silhouette Nocture called Alpha Wolf by Linda O. Johnston for my Tracy’s TBR Challenge read.  The premise of the book – a vet finding a wounded animal and then his owner comes to get him – the owner, unbeknownst to the vet is a shapeshifter was a good one and one that caught my attentionUnfortunately, I tried to read the whole thing but I just couldn’t get into it.  The vet was annoying me with the – this man scares me, but he’s hot so it’s all ok thing. Ug.  Couldn’t get past the first 100 pages. DNF
Next was Gemini: The Wicked Things by Pepper Espinoza (Boys of the Zodiac series).  I probably wouldn’t have found this one on my own but read a Tuesday Teaser that Tam did and the talking horse caught my eye! lol  The story follows Travis who has moved in with his mother to help her out because she’s dealing with dementia.  He meets a huge black dog that ends up being the ghost/soul of a long dead legend who can shapeshift.  John, the dog and legend, makes him see that he’s not exactly who he thinks he is and that his mother’s dementia is being caused by an evil witch.  Only Travis can save them.  Although I’m not a huge fan of witch stories I liked this one.  There was just enough of a mix of oddity, family and love that I liked it.   3.5 out of 5
The last book for the week was One Dance With A Duke by Tessa Dare.  This is book one in her new Stud Club trilogy and it was a good one.  Amelia is 26 and pretty much a wallflower.  She’s taken care of her family for years and they mean everything to her.  When she finds out that the man that the ton has dubbed The Duke of Midnight has taken her poor brother, Jack, for four hundred pounds when they have not a penny to spare, she’s more than pissed.  When the Duke shows up for his midnight dance she butts in and dances with him to give him a piece of her mind and try to make him forgive the debt.  This begins a relationship that is both loving and heartbreaking. I very much enjoyed seeing Amelia and Spencer verbally sparring.  They did it so well.  Now I can’t say I agreed with how Amelia handled things at the end of the book (and no, I’m not telling you what happened, that would spoil it) but overall I really liked the book and am going to buy book 2 in the trilogy which came out on the 22nd. 4.5 out of 5
Oh and if you haven’t seen it already, the trailer that Tessa made for this trilogy is fabulous!  You can watch it by clicking on the link to her site.
My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Happy Reading!


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Tuesday Teaser – The One That Got Away

Posted June 22, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 18 Comments


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Today’s Teaser come from The One That Got Away by Rhianne Aile and Madeleine Urban page 53:
Trace pushed himself away from the counter and walked over to David, setting one hand on the table and one on the back of David’s chair. 
“I’m taking you out and wining and dining you tomorrow night.”


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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted January 5, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 12 Comments

Hide-ho peeps! How’s tricks? Did you all have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve? I certainly hope so.

This was another short week at work for me and I loved it! Besides that the kids were gone for a couple of days and all I did was read – hey…the house was clean already!

So last night the girls and I made snickerdoodles and after they went to bed I started thinking about Lisabea and Samantha Kane’s post about what they wanted for Christmas. And one of those things was this tantric chair. I told Sam I’d do snickerdoodle cut outs for her tantric chair. So last night I made the attempt. Uh, yeah…that didn’t really work out for me. So I just made her the whole damn chair! Here it is for you Sam in all it’s glory! lol
So on to what I read this week. I read a ton of books!

The first book I attempted to read ended up being a DNF for me. I read a few pages at the store and was intrigued. Unfortunately that intrigue didn’t last long for me. The book was The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover by Victoria Janssen. This is a Harlequin Spice – which I’ve always had luck with. I just got about 1/3 of the way through the book and realized I didn’t really care what was happening to the characters – except for the stable boy and he wasn’t really enough to get me to keep reading.


The next book was Retreat From Love by Samantha Kane. Book 5 in the Brothers in Arms series did not disappoint. I was completely captivated by the characters and the story line. I absolutely loved getting to know Freddy and Brett better after seeing bits and pieces of them in the other books. And let me tell you – Anne is one lucky woman! Great book.

After that I read A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr. Catching myself up in the series was a must after reading Whispering Rock last week. I really enjoyed this book. I’ve heard that some folks were disappointed in it somewhat because it didn’t cover as much ground with the town folk of VR but I really liked it.

Next I read 3 of the second epilogues from the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn: The Viscount Who Loved me – which was fantastic. Love the mallet of death. Then Romancing Mr. Bridgerton and When He Was Wicked. All pretty darn good.

On New Year’s Eve I decided to get a few of the shorts and novellas that I have in ebook read:
Unraveled by Jaci Burton (novella) – really good
Kamikaze – A Last Call Story by Moira Rogers (short) – pretty good – not fab.
Last Call: Hurricane by Moira Rogers (short) – pretty good
Pulling Away by Shawn Lane (short) (sorry, couldn’t find a website for the author). m/m pretty good – but too short – I wanted to get more in depth with the story.


I read about Snowed in by Rhianne Aile and Madeleine Urban on Jenb’s blog. This was an incredibly hot m/m/m story. As she said – would it happen in real life? Probably not. Does she care? Fuck no. Well, me neither. It was really good!


So my friend Amy over at Romance Book Wyrm was having a discussion about m/m vs. f/f and she decided to go searching for some f/f. Well she found Kirsten Saell and a few of her books. On her recommendation I read Crossing Swords and it was really good. I have to say that there wasn’t a ton of f/f action but it was there. Really good read.


The same Amy sent me the Aspect of Crow Trilogy by Jeri Smith-Ready for Christmas. Thank you again, Amy! I have to say that even though I enjoy fantasy when I’m reading it I’m just not drawn to it like I am other romance books. Well let me just say how happy I am that she sent them! Eyes of Crow, the first book in the trilogy, is fantastic! I absolutely loved the story of Rhia, her world and her life. I can’t wait to delve into the next phase!

Wild Horses by Selah March was next up. An m/m novella about a college student who is with his 3 “preppie” friends vacationing at a horse ranch in Montana. Blake meets Kris who is the new ranch hand and sparks fly. I enjoyed the book but felt that there was something missing in the emotional aspect of their relationship.


Next up was Wicked Burn by Beth Kery. A really great sensual yet emotional read – watch for my review sometime soon.

And last, but certainly not least was Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl. This was a great read. It was a total impulse buy for me and it was totally worth my time.

Damn! I’m pooped now and I haven’t even added the covers yet! lol If you want more info from me just let me know…I think my brain is fried right now.

Anyway it’s back to work tomorrow after 4 days off! I hope you all have a great week.
Happy Reading!


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