Tag: Scarlet Blackwell

What I Read Last Week

Posted May 15, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 6 Comments

Hello my friends!

Well I”m a bit behind in getting this post up this week. On Mother’s Day (hope you all had a wonderful day) my kitty decided to follow her ball under the couch. Yeah, she doesn’t exactly fit under the couch. She made some distressing sounds so I lifted the couch thinking she would run out. Silly me. She didn’t run out right away and I ended up spraining my back (yes, again) because I didn’t want to drop the couch and get splat kitty. Luckily my hubby came to save the day. 🙂 On top of heading to the doctor yesterday and getting many, many lovely drugs to help me my youngest ended up diagnosed with strep throat. Poor thing is just miserable. She stayed home with me yesterday and it’ll be the mom and daughter show again today as the doc didn’t want either one of us going out.

Remember I mentioned that my oldest was trying out for cheerleading? Well she didn’t make it. I felt so bad for her and she was pretty upset. Hopefully we can find another extra curricular activity for her next year.

Enough about pain and suffering let’s get to the good stuff…books!

I started off the week with Karma by Carly Phillips. This was third in the Serendipity series but the only one I read from that series. The story was about a cop who was very attracted to a woman whose brother was a constant in the city lockup. As much as he liked the woman he had a hard time getting around the way she enabled her alcoholic brother. Then they find out the hard way that the brother owes a loan shark money and she’s the “warning”. The couple also had another issue with her brother who killed a kid years earlier, that the cop witnessed and did nothing about – even when the brother got off scott free. This was a good book to start and I was really liking the characters and the story. Unfortunately it got a bit mired in angst and got a little tedious for me. It was still a good book but not great. 3.25 out of 5

Next was My Wicked Gladiators by Lauren Hawkeye. The story revolved around a woman, her husband and two gladiators that her husband “owned”. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

Lothaire by Kresley Cole is a book that I’ve been meaning to read, as I’ve read the rest of the series, but for some reason it kept escaping my notice. I finally picked it up and wow, what a really good book. Lothaire believes that his vampire bride is a goddess whose spirit/soul is stuck in a hick from Appalachia. He’s determined to find a ring from another goddess that will make his real bride into a vampire and get rid of the hick’s soul. This was such a good book. I wasn’t sure what to expect because Lothaire’s no boy scout but Cole really did an amazing job making me like him despite his evilness. 4 out of 5

My next read was Thank My Lucky Scars by Tia Fielding. This is a very sweet story about Matt who gets into a bike messenger accident and is homebound. He gets onto twitter and ends up talking to his favorite porn star, Brian who he is a huge fan of. The porn star actually comes to see Matt when he goes to London on business and the men end up falling in love. This was a very sweet novella that I really liked. Something about the story really clicked with me because of their situation and how it all worked out. Good stuff. 4 out of 5

Don’t Judge a Book by Scarlet Blackwell is about Rhys who is a complete book worm and lives an incredibly quiet life with his books. He works at the library and is in charge of the men who need community service for a offense that they’ve committed. He’s SO not thrilled especially when he meets Darren who is adorable but is a car thief. Rhys has no patience with Darren but the men end up finding that they can’t ignore their attraction. This was another great story that I really liked. The men were such opposites but I totally saw their continued HEA when I finished the story. 4 out of 5

My Lady Rival by Ashley March was the story of a man and a woman who are rival’s in business. They have a stormy past with stolen kisses but mostly with the woman, Willa, stealing the investors that Alex was going after. They are now after the same recipe for an amazing dye that was used on a dress for the queen and doing what needs to be done to get it so it will make their companies number 1. I really liked this book. I didn’t want to put it down because it just had a certain charm and humor to it that I thought blended really well with the romance and intrigue. 4 out of 5

Last for the week was A Hole in God’s Pocket by KZ Snow. This told the story of Jaron who is Amish and gay. He is conflicted as to whether he should go back to his family now that he’s been gone a while. He ends up living with Greg who was at one point in his life studying to be a Trappist monk. The story revolved around the two men coming to terms with their sexuality, their roles in life when it comes to their faith and their attraction to each other. This was a really good story that was so interesting – I just loved it. It’s a pretty quiet story but really good. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Midnight Rescue by Elle Kennedy

Happy Reading!

6 Comments

Tagged: Ashley March, Carly Phillips, K.Z. Snow, Kresley Cole, Lauren Hawkeye, Scarlet Blackwell, The Book Binge, Tia Fielding, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week

What I Read Last Week

Posted July 4, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 7 Comments

Happy 4th of July! (For those of you celebrating!) I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday. The girls and I headed over this morning to a local parade – over in the town where my parents live. Very small town but cute.

This week begins some early morning rising for me. You see my oldest starts summer school tomorrow for the month of July – from 7:00am until Noon. The school where it will take place is near my work – and a distance from my home – so my boss told me I could work 7:00am-3:30 pm for the month of July. While I know I’ll love getting out of work early (I usually work 8:30am-5:00pm) the getting up at the butt crack of dawn every day is going to kill me, I just know it. My reading will suffer. I know that I’ll have to go to bed earlier and not have as much time to read in the evenings after the chicklets go to bed. Maybe I can make up for it in the afternoons? I’ll have to see how that pans out.

Diet and Exercise – I’ve been bad about updating this – I don’t think I have for a couple of weeks – sorry. I’m at a stand still at the same weight from my last weigh in – so only a total of 2.4 pounds lost. I’m happy I haven’t gained – so that’s a plus. I think I have my hubby talked into moving our treadmill into the living room. Yes it will be completely unsightly but with it currently in the garage I just never use it. It’s hotter than hell out there right now (it’s been in the 100’s this past week) and moving it inside would be a much bigger motivator for me.

So what did I read this past week?

My first book for the week was Waking Up With the Duke by Lorraine Heath. A good book and I loved the hero! You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was Pushed to the Limit by Nico Rosso. This is book 2 in the Limit War series and it was good. I really liked the characters and the romance. You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Smashed Into Pieces by Scarlet Blackwell was a book that I read for The Book Binge. I didn’t care for this book for the most part. There were a few things about it I liked but only a few. The male hero seemed like a stalker and the other male hero just wanted to be left alone and kept telling man 1 that, but did he listen? No. I have been told by Chris that there are a couple of books that she liked by Blackwell so I’ll check those out in the future and not give up on the author. You can read my review here if you’re interested. 1.5 out of 5

Next was another Book Binge book called Loving the Beast by Naima Simone. This was a erotic version of a beauty and the beast tale. While I liked the story there just wasn’t enough of it. Too much sex for me and not enough story 2 out of 5 You can read my review here if you’re interested.

My next read, another one for The Book Binge, was called Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke. If you’ve been reading the Dragonfire series by Cooke you might be interested in this one. This is a YA book that is told in 1st person POV by Zoe Sorensson, daughter of Erik, leader of the Pyr (whose book is Kiss of Fate). This is the first book in a trilogy called the Dragon Diaries and in this book Zoe is frustrated by her lack of puberty as well as her lack of dragon powers. Supposedly she is the new Wyvern of the Pyr but so far she’s not seeing anything that shows she’s this amazing dragon. It was a good story and I can’t wait to read what happens next in Zoe’s life. 4 out of 5

My next read was Sno Ho by Ethan Day. This is a novella about man, Boone, who’s visiting Colorado supposedly to have a romantic time with his boyfriend. But his boyfriend breaks up with him over the phone and he goes and gets drunk. He picks up a guy, Wade, but has no idea what happened. Turns out that it just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to him. The two spend some time together but the getting to that point is fun and funny. I really liked both Wade and Boone and enjoyed the story a lot. 4 out of 5 (I did pick up Life in Fusion with is a novel that is the continuing story of Wade and Boone but put it down after about 100 pages. It just wasn’t capturing my attention so I’ll have to come back to it at a later time.)

My last book for the week was Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn. This is the first book in a 4 books series about the Smythe-Smith family. If you’ve read the Bridgerton series then you know that the Smythe-Smith’s are the family that put on the yearly musicale that is horrific. Honoria is one of the instrumentalists and though she loathes the fact that she has to do the musicale she loves her family so perseveres. Honoria and Marcus have known each other for 15 years and Marcus is Honoria’s brother’s best friend. They end up falling in love. This was a cute book. The romance could have been fleshed out more and yes, the characters could have been explored more fully but in the end I really liked the book. Quinn’s always sucks me in and with the emotion and the humor mixed into her stories I end up really loving her work. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Smashed Into Pieces by Scarlet Blackwell
Loving the Beast by Naima Simone

Happy Reading!

7 Comments

Tagged: Deborah Cooke, Ethan Day, Julia Quinn, Lorraine Heath, Naima Simone, Nico Rosso, Scarlet Blackwell, The Book Binge, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week

Guest Review: Smashed Into Pieces by Scarlet Blackwell

Posted July 2, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Tracy’s review of Smashed Into Pieces (Clear Water Creek Chronicles #2) by Scarlet Blackwell

Sheriff Brandon Schofield is smitten by the new arrival in Clear Water Creek, Finn Austen. But Finn is living in the house by the lake where a murder took place and his story is no less unhappy than the previous occupant’s. Finn is on the run from a violent past and he trusts no one.

Brandon is desperate to break down his defenses and win Finn’s love and trust but time is running out and perhaps he can only protect Finn for so long.

Brandon is the relatively new sheriff in town. When he discovers that there’s a new man in town and no one seems to know anything about him he goes about trying to get information. But from the get go I was curious as to his motivations. Yes, he needed to keep his town safe but there was the attraction that he felt toward this new man as well that had him butting into Finn’s business.

Brandon’s attempts at info are unsuccessful so he decides to go to the source. He pretty much badgers Finn until the man literally crumbles emotionally and tells him about how his previous boyfriend abused him. It’s horrifying and I felt so badly for Finn but instead of leaving Finn to deal with his personal demons Brandon is determined to keep him safe. He’s the Sheriff, I get that, but it was more than personal and Brandon was in love with Finn.

Finn was a broken man. He endured physical and emotional pain and anguish for 10 years until he finally got the nerve to leave. I understand that abuse victims get so beaten down that they don’t feel they’re worth anything to anyone so they stay with their abusers. I was so happy to see that Finn had finally broken away but the man just wanted to be left alone. But Brandon wouldn’t let him be. He kept at Finn and it made me a bit nuts. Brandon crowded Finn and took over at times like an alpha male and that was the last thing on earth that Finn needed. Sure Brandon felt bad about it afterwards but it didn’t stop him from doing it again and again. I can’t tell you how many times Finn told Brandon to just go away and leave him alone. Brandon started to seem more like a stalker to me than someone who was concerned about Finn’s well-being. And when Brandon declares his love? Oh holy crap, why? Not that Finn isn’t worthy but Brandon knew nothing about him as a person – nothing. How could he love someone he didn’t even know?? Though there was an HEA it truly felt like a one-sided relationship to me (and even that I highly questioned) and that just doesn’t speak of romance in my book.

I’m sure this story was written with the intention of showing us that everyone needs and deserves love and that there’s someone out there for everyone but I just couldn’t drum up that feeling. As much as we’d like to believe it, loved does not conquer all.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

The Series:

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Silver Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.