My first read of the week was a short by Missy Welsh called WHAT. This is a free read and pretty darned cute. It was about a guy who works in a tattoo studio and has a crush on his straight boss but there are some paranormal things going on. It’s a VERY short story and I would have loved to have known more but for the quickie it was it was pretty good. 3.5 out of 5
Next was another free story by Missy Welsh called You and a Billion Blue Tiles. I loved this one. It was about 2 kids – 1 who has lusted after the other for a darned long time. They have one night of lovin but it doesn’t end there. This was another short (not as short as the previous one) and it just had that something that clicked with me. I ended the book with a huge smile on my face and that’s always a good thing. 4.5 out of 5
The Taming of the Rake by Kasey Michaels was my next read. This was a really good story about a woman who goes to her brother’s archnemesis when said brother is going to marry her off to a religious fanatic. She knows that the man, who is a bastard son hates her brother because of a past incident with her sister and she hopes that he can be talked into marrying her to save her. The story is about their trip to Gretna Green, his family and their romance. I loved the personalities of the characters and their humor. This is the first in the series about the bastard brothers, The Blackthorn’s, and I will definitely be reading the next 2 books. 4.25
My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Physical Therapy by Z.A. Maxfield. It’s a shame that I even let this one sit for longer than 3 months but I did. I really liked this story a lot. You can read my review of it here. 4.25 out of 5
Red by Kait Nolan was my next read and it was a good one too! This was a YA paranormal that had to do with werewolves/wolf shapeshifters. If you like YA and paranormal I definitely recommend this book. You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5
Next up was Bride for a Night by Rosemary Rogers. This was the story of a woman who is the daughter of a wealthy man but he earned his money through trade and he is the son of a butcher – not a great lineage as far as the ton’s concerned. But Talia Dobson gets engaged anyway (her father bought her a fiancé) but he jilts her at the altar. The father then blackmail’s the man’s brother into marrying her instead – and he’s an Earl! The Earl, Andrew, sends Talia off to his country estate where she is then kidnapped by the French for overhearing traitorous information. Andrew heads to the rescue and during the course of the book the pair fall in love. It was a good story but it dragged a little in the middle – which is when they were trying to escape from the French so it really shouldn’t have. Overall pretty good. 3.5 out of 5
Sand and Water by Shae Connor was after that. One man, John was a widower but had been with men before. He had a daughter but it had been 5 years since his wife died. He meets Bryan who is in town helping his sister and her husband renovate their B & B. They have a connection and talk about a relationship but Bryan has residual issues with moving forward because of his previous relationship and what happened with that (and I’m not going to give you that spoiler!). I liked the concept in this book and though I liked the story I did have some issues with it. One was that I loved the characters but felt that the author didn’t get into both characters as much as she should have. It was told in 3rd person but we only got to see things from John’s point of view – rather than both men – and Bryan was the one who, in my opinion, had more serious issues. 3 out of 5
Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe is book 2 in the Royal House of Shadows series. This was Breena’s book. When her parents are attacked she’s sent off and ends up in Ursa which is the land of the Beserkers. She meets Osborn who is actually a man that she’s been dreaming about. He wants nothing to do with her – well not exactly true but he fights his feelings – and she wants his help. I’ll be posting my review on Friday so I’ll tell you more then.
Last for the week was Must Love Lycans by Michele Bardsley. This is book 8 in the Broken Heart Vampire series and takes place 8 years after the last book. Damien is in a clinic run by Kelsey and she thinks that he believes himself to be a werewolf – but he really is and he wants her as his mate. He bites her to claim her but instead of just claiming her it starts to turn her into a Lycan, which has never happened before. They must try to find a way to stop Kelsey from dying as she may not survive the change. It was a darker book than the previous ones I’ve read from this series. It still had humor but not quite as much as I think Damien was just a darker character. Read for The Book Binge. 3.75 out of 5