Hey there peeps! I hope you’re having a wonderful Monday. Mine started out strangely with some weird calls at work but it’s looking up now.

It was a quiet weekend – we just went backpack shopping for the girls to get ready for school. Yes, they start on Thursday! It just doesn’t seem like it’s been 2 months since they got out of school but apparently time flies when you’re having fun. lol! They’re both very excited – my youngest to see her friends and my oldest to start Jr. High. Oy, I still can’t imagine she’s old enough to start Jr. High but the facts are staring me in the face so I guess I gotta go with it. lol

It was a good reading week. I look at my list of weekly reads on Goodreads and sometimes I’m honestly shocked that I’ve read so much. It just doesn’t feel like I have, especially this week as I spent most of the weekend watching movies with my girls and playing the wii. J

So what did I read this week?

First up was Serengeti Heat by Vivi Andrews. I’ve had this novella for a while and finally decided to delve in. It was about a girl in a lion shapeshifter pride who is the smallest lioness in the bunch. Ava gets the worst of everything because the pride always fights for what they want and since she’s so small she doesn’t win. She decides she’s going to go out and get some human booty one night at a bar but is stopped by the new alpha, Landon, who puts the big kibosh on her anticipated night of sex. But he’s not immune to the little lioness and decides small or not she will be his new queen. He just has to convince her of that. I liked the story for the most part – Ava was just too insecure for me – only when she was in bed did she let loose. I guess that was good for Landon! lol 3.5 out of 5

Next was the second book in the Serengeti Shifters series called Serengeti Storm by Vivi Andrews. Another novella within the lion pride but this one was about Shana who had left the pride when Ava became queen. Now she’s back and she’s out to get Landon. But Caleb, Ava’s brother, has always been in love with the woman and he’s decides she’s finally going to be his. I liked Andrews’ writing in this story as well but Shana was a brash, harsh, bitchy woman and I just couldn’t like her too much. I thought it was great that Caleb loved her despite her faults, and there were many, but I just didn’t get the attraction. 3 out of 5

The Darkest Lie by Gena Showalter was a darned good book. This is book 6 in the Lords of the Underworld series and was Gideon’s story. He’s the keeper of lies and he was introduced in the previous book to Scarlet who is the keeper of nightmares – oh, and she says that she’s his wife! He has no recollection of ever marrying her, but there are definite signs that he knows her – like his tattoos that match hers. It was just a darned good story – along with info on Amun, Strider, Paris and we got to see a bit of Torin in this book as well. 4.25 out of 5

My next read was for The Book Binge. Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn tells the story of Rob who gets attached to and decides to protects a nun named Davina. Only she’s not a nun yet, and she’s being protected by the king for reasons that she can’t tell Rob. They fall in love but there are major roadblocks to bypass before they can have their HEA. This is the first book in the Children of the Mist series but kind of a continuation of the MacGregor family. We read about Rob’s parents in Laird of the Mist. 4 out of 5

Next was The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller. This is a new YA book that will come out on August 31. It’s the story of Haven who has visions of her past life and finally decides to investigate. I’ll be posting my review of this book on reincarnation on Friday.

Next was Claimed! by Vicki Lewis Thompson. This was a cowboy/bartender romance. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was The Key by Lynsay Sands. I just love her historical romances and this was no different. This one told the story of an English woman who married a Scottish Laird’s son. She starts making changes in the household and he’s just not happy with them. The one he’s most unhappy about is that she puts on a chastity belt and refuses to have wifely relations with him until he bathes. But he’s not going to change his routine for her, who does she think she is?! He bathes twice a year and the next time is at the end of July and it’s only June…so no! OMG, just a fun, funny historical. 4.25 out of 5

My next read was a novella that I think every person should read whether they read m/m romance or not. It was Fugly by KZ Snow and it was so wonderful I can’t tell you how much I loved it. The story involved characters Adin Swift and Jackson Spey but they were in it just a bit. It told the story of 4 gay friends – 3 of whom are always on the hunt for the most beautiful men to sleep with. They’re condescending to those they don’t feel are pretty enough or up to par and never ever look beneath the surface – in their prey or in themselves. Jackson decides to show them that there’s more to people than their looks and puts a spell on them so that they have facial lesions – only not everyone can see them. They themselves can and the people they are attracted to can see them and now the 3 men are the ones getting spurned for not being the perfect specimens of manhood. Watching the three men come to terms with who and what they really are inside and finally seeing other people for who they are and not what they look like was incredible. I laughed, I cried. Just. So. Good! A very definite 5 out of 5 from me.

Razor Burn by Scott & Scott was my August pick-it-for-me challenge book. Ben picks up Blayne in a coffee shop. Though Blayne is adamant that he isn’t gay he agrees to have lunch with Ben. Ben takes him back to his apartment and the two men have a bit of afternoon delight – after which Blayne tells Ben that he’s married. Ben’s friend Emily decides to have some fun and sends unemployed Ben’s resume to Blayne’s work – where Blayne’s father, the owner of the company, hires Ben to be the Creative Head on his ad campaign for the new razor they’re coming out with. The story revolves around Blayne and Ben’s relationship but also the relationship between Blayne and his father and a bit about Blayne and his wife. It involves amnesia, power struggles and so much more. There were some issues I had with the book but overall a pretty darned good read. 4 out of 5

And last on the list for the week was Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey. A story about a woman who works for a magazine that wants to the scoop and scandal from a reclusive best-selling author. When Keri’s editor finds out that Keri is Joe’s ex-girlfriend she sends her to get the interview. She’s to get the interview or lose her job. I’ll be reviewing this on Wednesday.

My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:

Happy Reading!