Tag: Shana Abe

What I Read Last Week

Posted May 2, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 6 Comments

Greetings and Salutations!
How are you this fine day? Me? I’m doing pretty well. The week was crazy at work and home, but overall pretty good. My girls and I watched Royal Wedding highlights on BBC yesterday and my youngest has decided that she wants to marry a prince too. I just told her she’s got as good of a chance as any! lol

Reminder: The giveaway is still open to win a copy of It Happened on Maple Street by Tara Taylor Quinn.  Contest open until Friday, May 6th at 7:00pm pacific. Comment here to enter.

Weight loss/fitness update: If you remember from last week the program I’m using is 6 days a week for 6 weeks. I only managed to do 3 days this past week because of sore muscles but I have to say I was damned proud of myself for not giving up when I found it hard to even walk! lol I stuck to my healthy eating plan and food diary and weighed myself this morning – I lost 1.8 pounds! Woohoo. Not much but a good start.
I’ve become a lurker. I haven’t been able to blog hop all that much and was feeling more and more out of touch with the book world – not a good feeling. I never have used my google reader because I hate feeling guilty when I get on there and see 400 posts that I’ve missed. Well, I ended up downloading the google reader app on my android phone and now I can read all of the posts! I still have to log in to your site to comment but I can “like” a post from my phone. I feel much more informed now but am commenting very little. Unfortunately it’s too damned time consuming to comment from my phone. Yes, Tracy=lazy.
I read a lot this past week. I read a bunch of shorts in between books because I’m trying to catch up and get some of these out of my tbr! I think I need to take a month off of work, hole up and read. Can you imagine how I could plow through my tbr? lol Ahhhh, nice dreams.
What I read this past week:

I started off the week with a read for The Book Binge called The Perfect Family by Kathryn Shay. This is the story of a 16/17 year old boy who comes out and the effect it has on his friendships, his relationship with his brother and father, the upheaval it causes in his parents’ marriage – basically his entire life. A really good read. You can read my review here. Also, Lori wrote an incredible review and you can read it here. 4 out of 5

On of my Tracy’s TBR Challenge reads for the week was a short called The Pleasure Cruise by Raven Starr. This was the story of a woman who goes on a cruise to relax and ends up meeting a great guy. He ended up being a great guy but when he is first described I thought yuk. He sounded smarmy and seriously, I thought it was a joke and the heroine was going to be saved from the smarmy guy by the hero. Yeah, the hero was the smarmy guy. lol Only in the end he wasn’t bad – he apparently just dressed badly, imho. This was an erotic read so there was sex from the get go. Not a bad story, but for me, just ok. 2 out of 5

Another Tracy’s TBR Challenge read was The Sixth Cursed Halloween by Mechele Armstrong. This was the continuing story of Deidre who was cursed and moves from tree to bush to plant until the tree/plant/bush is cut down or dies then she moves to the next one. She has been cursed for hundreds of years and has been in a bonsai tree owned by Brad for the past 15 years. On Halloween one year Deidre realizes that she and Brad can actually communicate telepathically – but only that one day a year. Brad is determined to break Deidre’s curse but many years pass with no luck. During this time Deidre realizes that not all men are like the one who cursed her and Brad starts falling in love with someone he might never see in person. It was a cute story and much better than the previous books where I didn’t care for Deidre at all. 3.5 out of 5

Next up was Awaken the Highland Warrior by Anita Clenney. The story was about a demon fighting warrior clan that’s been around forever. One of their warriors, Faelan, gets put into a time vault for 150 years and is set free by Bree who thinks she’s treasure hunting. Faelan isn’t sure whether to trust Bree and vise versa. I thought it was a great book and I’m looking forward to the next in the series. You can read my review at The Book Binge, here 4.25 out of 5

Rougaroux Social Club: Bayou Dreams by Lynn Lorenz was my next read. This is the story of Sheriff Scott Dupree who is a werewolf. He finds his mate but has a seriously hard time coming to terms with who the mate is: a man. That man, Ted, is not thrilled with having all of these feelings toward a straight man as he’s been hurt in the past by falling in love with his ex-partner. Scott’s not sure if he wants to claim his mate and what the ramifications in his life and pack will be. It was an interesting story that had quite a few bits in it that I could have done without. At the beginning there’s a detective following Ted, who is an ex-cop, because he’s “watching” Ted to see if he’s a bad guy, but then nothing ever is mentioned of it again. Why? IDK. While not a bad book I found parts of it quite comical and funny when I don’t think they were intended to be. 🙂 3 out of 5

Kitsune Wedding by Tracy Rowan was my next read. This about a warrior who has left his master and feels he has nothing to live for. A Kitsune talks him into going to a new master as well as becoming his husband but the warrior has no idea that the fox is a man when in human form. They continue their marriage but years later the warrior sees his husband with another man. While he thought that he was a good husband the warrior wouldn’t admit his feelings for his husband. When he sees him with another man, however, he is devastated. I won’t tell you more about if they work it out but I liked the story. I was unsure of the story because of the possibility of infidelity but I thought it was very cute and a nice short fantasy read. 3 out of 5

My next read was Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart by Sarah MacLean. A great book. I really loved both the hero and the heroine in this one even though I wanted to slap the hero a time or two. The story is about an Italian woman trying to fit in with the London Ton (and not doing a very good job at it) and the stuffy Duke she wants to thaw. You can read my review here. 4.5 out of 5

The Time Weaver by Shana Abe was the continuing story of the Drakon. The stories are about dragon shapeshifters living in historical times. Honor is taken from her home when she is just 14 and raised by a fellow drakon in order to save her life. Because Honor grows into her powers and is a time weaver she receives notes from herself telling her things she should do or not do. It was a good book but jumping back and forth through time, knowing how Honor was in the previous book, having chapters that gave stuff away all made the book an…uncomfortable read if that makes sense. I was on edge while reading it and I found myself putting the book down several times to try and calm myself down and relax. I hate being on edge while reading! lol 3.5/3.75 out of 5

Secrets by Brenda Joyce was my next read. This was an amnesia story that while good was a book that I had quite a few issues with. I haven’t read the previous books in the Bragg Saga but it didn’t matter in this one – I really didn’t need to read those other books. Regina Shelton is on a train in California in 1899 when it is robbed by bandits. Rather than give them her jewelry…or her body, she jumps from the train. When she is found she has amnesia, is thought to be Elizabeth Sinclair and is taken to the home of her now dead fiancé. She ends up falling for brother #2, Slade, who is dark and brooding and though he starts to have feelings for Elizabeth won’t act on them because of honor and the fact that his brother loved her and now can’t be with her. They do end up marrying just to save his rancho because she is an heiress, but he ends up taking off the day after the wedding with no intention of returning. I had issues with both the hero and the heroine but really the story just kind of fell short for me. I just wasn’t as emotionally involved as I thought I should be and I ended the book with the thought “well that should have been better.” Not a good thought to have after 416 pages! This is another one I read for The Book Binge. 3 out of 5

And last for the week was book 10 in the Rough Riders series by Lorelei James. This was Jessie and Brandt’s story and it was a good one. Jessie was married to Luke who was a philanderer and cheated on Jessie constantly. It’s been 2 years since Luke died and Brandt, Luke’s brother, comes to Jessie for assistance with Luke’s son who was born to one of the women that Luke had an affair with. Taking care of Landon is the last thing on earth that Jessie wants to do but she agrees anyway. Brandt moves in with Jessie so that they can help each other with the boy and they decide to take their relationship to the bedroom. This is more than fine with Brandt as he’s thought himself in love with Jessie since the day he met her. I really liked this book. I enjoy reading James’ books because she always has such a great dynamic going with not only the h/h but also the whole MacKay family (which in this family’s case was quite contentious). Good stuff. 4 out of 5 
FYI – Lorelei announced that Samhaim is giving away the first book in her Rough Riders series for free the entire month of May on Kindle & Nook.  If you haven’t started this series here’s your chance to do so – for free!

My Book Binge reviews that posted this last week:
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted January 18, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 10 Comments

Happy Monday!

How you doin’? Did you all have a nice week last week? It was more than a little stressfull in Tracyland this past week but we’re hanging in there and things will improve – of that I’m completely optimistic!
Thank you all for giving a nice warm welcome to my mom, Judith. She currently has an interesting post about sexuality in romance lit up on her blog. Go Mom.
So on to what I read:
First up was Liberation by KZ Snow. This was a cute novella about an older woman and younger man finding passion together. They meet, have exhibitionist sex, fall in love, you know, the usual. 🙂 I liked it. 3.75 out of 5

Next was Skin Game by Ava Gray that I read for The Book Binge. I’ll let you know when my review posts. Oh and my review posted for See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson in case you’re interested.

After that it was Full Moon Mating (Wolf Creek Pack book 1) by Stormy Glenn. A Sheriff , Joe, responds to a call for a grocery store robbery. He enters to find a mute man, Nate, doing CPR on the grocery store owner – but was it Nate who shot him in the first place? Joe wants to know, but he’s more interested in Nate – who he thinks is his mate. Turns out Nate isn’t a mute but he is an emotional empath and is running from the man who’s been controlling his life for the past 19 years. Joes’ a shapeshifter and is determined to keep Nate safe. This was a cute book. There were some serious editing issues though – like it read as if the men had been together for about a month but then Joe was taking Nate out for their 2 month anniversary but then Nate was so excited because Joe was taking him out for their 3 week anniversary. Huh? Then the whole issue with the changes in Joe during the Full Moon and what he was gonna do with Nate…but if it had been 2 months why hadn’t they had the mating yet? Cute but with some serious errors and few plot holes. 3 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read for the week was Intimate Enemies by Shana Abe. I really loved Abe’s Drakon series so when I saw this on the shelf at the drugstore I grabbed it. Of course it sat there for months, but whatever. This is a book that was originally published in 2000 but then reprinted in 2009. The book follows Lauren MacRae on the Isle of Shot who has taken over the Laird’s position in her clan after her father is killed in battle and her cousin, who is the next Laird, is recovering from wounds and unconscious. She’s fighting Vikings who are trying to take over the Island but also the English Morgan’s who the MacRae’s have been in battle with for forever over who’s island it really is. Lauren finds herself, however, attracted to the Earl du Morgan and they decide to try a truce between the two sides in order to fight the Vikings as one. It’s a tale about forbidden love and loyalty to family. Although the story is beautifully written in its romantic aspect there were times when I was just overwhelmed by inner thoughts and descriptions and just a tad bored and found myself skimming to get to some dialogue, action, battle, whatever, in order to get the story going again. I know this is just me and others who might read it might or might not feel the same but there ya go. I kept going back and forth over what to rate it so it got a 3.5/3.75 out of 5

Next was Just A Taste of Me (Wolf Creek Pack book 2) by Stormy Glenn (hey! I had it, might as well read it!). This was better with the editing so that was good. The book started with Reese trolling a bar for a one night stand. He see’s Keeley (yes, that’s a man) walk into the bar and then go into the bathroom. He’s immediately attracted to Keeley, but concerned when he see’s another man follow Keeley to the restroom. The man attempting to attack Keeley in the restroom is a bloodsucker (vamp) and Reese saves Keeley by blood bonding with him. He know’s that Keeley’s his mate but he’s never been with a man before. He took it well, I think, and also takes the fact that Keeley is a flamboyant man well too. His pack, however has different plans for Reese and all hell breaks loose. This is WC Pack book 2 but the WC Pack only shows up near the end in order to help Reese and his pack, as Keeley is a good friend of Nate’s (from book 1). It was a cute story but it seemed to drag a bit here and there and I found myself skimming. I hate skimming. Usually I’m an every word reader and skimming annoys me – but when you’re bored whatcha gonna do? 2.5 out of 5
Next was The Darkest Whisper (Lords of the Underworld book 4) by Gena Showalter. Sabin, the keeper of Doubt and his men infiltrate a lab in Egypt where they find women of all paranormal races being held, raped and used as incubators. The children they bear are taken from them and used against the Lord’s in the Hunters’ fight. Gwen is one of these women, but she’s never been touched by the humans as they are terrified of her. She’s a Harpy and when agitated goes completely out of control. Sabin gets uber attached to Gwen and she him but they need to fight the Hunters. While they’re falling in love Sabin teaches Gwen to get in touch with her Harpy side and try to control it better. But there’s a huge issue between them, trust, and almost breaks them apart for good. There’s so much more going on in the story than this but that’s the main love story. It was a good addition to the series and I really enjoyed reading it. 3.75 out of 5

Next was a yaoi novel by Narise Konohara called Don’t Worry Mama. A 25 year old man, Yuichi, who works for a pharmaceutical company goes on a day trip to a deserted island with his boss, Imakura, who’s 30 and, as described by Yuichi, a disgustingly fat and pig-like man with 4 chins that remind him of stacked rice cakes. Yuichi and Imakura accidentally get left on the deserted island for about 6 weeks. While Imakura and Yuichi hated each other at first they start a relationship while on the island that they both want to continue when the get rescued only likfe, and Mama intervene. Oh the problems I had with this book. Yuichi is a self-stated impatient and verbally abusive person but he always tries to keep that under wraps and tries to find the good in people – or so it says in the book. Yuichi’s personality was such a dichotomy it was utterly confusing. He was such a bastard to Imakura but then found himself being attracted to and falling in love with him and tricking him into sex. Imakura, who I hated at first, turned himself around from being a complete mama’s boy but I felt sorry for him having to deal with Yuichi. Besides that Imakura seemed to be a completely different person after he got back to civilization – completely. At times I was horrified at what was happening on the island and others I was laughing my ass off because it was so ridiculous. I’m not even gonna get into the Imakura’s penis issues (phimotic and the size of a thumb – oy!). Let’s just say that’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back! 2 out of 5

Next was Dirty by Megan Hart. I guess you could call this another Tracy’s TBR Challenge read as I’ve had it for so long. I finally sat down with it and it was very good. Elle, who has been with a lot of men sexually, meets Dan who intrigues her in a way that she’s never experienced before. They start a sexual relationship but Elle has huge issues and immediately tells Dan not to get attached because the relationship is going nowhere. But Elle can’t seem to stay away from Dan and he seems to soothe her in a way that no one else does. As much as I liked this story I found myself getting a tad frustrated at just the little bits of Elle’s past that we’re given. On my ereader I was on page 187 and going “Ok, I NEED MORE!” lol Elle’s past is just tragic but the story is so well written, as are all Hart’s stories, that I just couldn’t put it down. 4.25 out of 5

Last was Ringside the first book in the Three Sister’s series by Stephanie Williams and LaVerne Thompson. Atlanta is having some problems getting her life on track. She’s read some self-help books by author Hannah Grimes and she feels such a connection to the author that she goes in search of her. Only Hannah Grimes is a pen name for ex-boxer Hank Gaines. Atlanta meets Hank and they both feel a connection. Hank knows he needs to tell Atlanta that he is Hannah but he keeps getting side-tracked. When she finds out she’s none too happy and things blow up. I liked the idea of this novella but it just ended up not being for me. It was too sappy, they fell too hard, too fast, it was too comfortable – IDK, it just didn’t have a feeling of reality to me. Also this was supposedly an interracial romance but I couldn’t find any mention in the book of this. A tad strange…did I miss it? IDK. 2.5 out of 5

Happy Reading!

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What I Was Reading Last Week

Posted July 6, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 15 Comments

I’m behind. Yes, again. I know, it sucks, but what can you do? Actually I tried to spend as little time as possible on the computer this weekend. Since I work at a computer practically all day every day I tend to have issues with my right arm – especially when I’m on the mouse for extended periods. The last time it kicked into high gear I had problems even moving my right arm and had a long stint in Physical Therapy. Let’s just say as nice as they are, I don’t want to go back! lol So I’ve been trying to stay off the computer during weekends and last night I just couldn’t get myself to type this out. I’m sure you were wondering how you could possibly start your week without the info but I hope you managed somehow. 🙂

Not much excitement this past week at the homestead. My youngest getting her yellow belt was cool. She loved it when I read all of your comments to her. Her birthday is on Wednesday and she’s been looking forward to getting her ears pierced which I said she could do when she was 7, just like my oldest. Well, I took her yesterday to get them done and she totally changed her mind. She wanted it so badly I was completely shocked. It wasn’t even when she saw the needle! I have no idea what happened but she just said, you know, maybe when I’m 8 or 9. Well ok then. 🙂 My oldest kept trying to talk her into it and finally my oldest told her that the only way she was doing it was if my oldest paid her $500.00!!! lmao. That got my oldest to pipe down pretty darned fast!

Oh and I posted my reads for June on my sidebar if you’re interested.

Ok – so on to what I read last week:


First up was Sea Fever by Virginia Kantra. This was a book that Katiebabs sent me a while back and I finally picked it up. After discussin the book with her she asked that I do a review for her blog so I’ll do that and when it posts I’ll let you all know. 🙂


Next up was Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas. I really, really liked this book. It had such a great sense of family and the romance in it was so subtle it made it that much better. I also loved the heroine in this one so much. Allie was just a girl I would love to call friend. I would definitely recommend this one. 4.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for this month was Carnal Gift by Pamela Clare. A while back I read the first book in this trilogy and really liked it. This was good, but not as good imo. I liked Jamie and Brighid (pronounced Breed) together but they were both so stubborn at times I wanted to conk them over the head with a blunt object. lol I think what didn’t do it for me in this book was the fact that there was a lot of the h or h getting sick, or stabbed, or kidnapped and it was all a little too much. 3.75 out of 5

My next read was Touched by Light by Catherine Spangler. This is the 3rd book in the series and I can say I’m probably done reading them. I read this for The Book Binge so I’ll be sure and let you know when the review posts.
This cover? The hero of the book is a suit wearing, tie donning, brand name dresser who has short hair that is always meticulously combed. The guy on the cover has a mullet. I know that the covers don’t always match up but come on! A mullet??? lmao! (nice abs though)

The Treasure Keeper (book 4 in the Drakon series) by Shana Abe was my next choice. I had to finish the series! While I enjoyed this book very much and of course still love Abe’s writing I just couldn’t believe in the heroine’s love at the end of the book. This book was about Rhys and his longtime love Zoe. I think Zoe had had feelings for Rhys when she was younger and as she got older cared about him but when it came to the end of the book I just didn’t believe it. Now Rhys, I loved. He was an arrogant ass but he did it in such a way that I couldn’t help but be drawn to him. I really am looking forward to the next book and I don’t even think it’s been decided when that will be since this one just came out in April. Oh well, patience is a virtue, or so they tell me. I’m really on the shelf about a rating on this one. It’s a 4.25 to 4.5 out of 5


Next was a novella called Playing With Fyre by Mina Carter. I read it for The Book Binge and will let you know when the review posts.

Dragon’s Kiss by Ally Blue was an m/m short story that I read next. This was my first read of Ally’s and I thought it was pretty good. It was very short and had a touching story but because of the length there wasn’t much time to get to know the characters. Bear and Lynx are out on patrol when they come across Dragon who is nekkid and jacking off. Bear is drawn to this man and as they make their way back to their pack Bear and Dragon talk and find that they have similar thought of life and how things should be run in the pack when it pertains to earth as it was approx. 15 generations prior. I think it must be part of a series (which I’ll check out today) and if so I’d be interested in reading more of the series because I liked Ally’s writing. 3 out of 5

My last read for the week was Tied Up, Tied Down by Lorelei James. This is book 4 in the Rough Riders series and definitely one of my favorites of the series so far. This one was with Kade and Skylar. Kade had been dating Skylar but she thought that he was actually his twin, Kane. Unfortunately when she found out about the duplicity in book 3 she broke things off. Kade was heartbroken and moved away for a year with basically no means of communication. The poor guy had his heart broken. When book 4 opens we find that Skylar is pregnant from the one encounter she had with Kade. She does try to contact him but when she finds he’s gone for a year really doesn’t try any harder to get a message to him. When Kade returns he finds out about the baby and is 100% in for taking care of little Eliza. Kade wants not only to be a great dad to the baby but he wants Skylar back. I really loved Kade. He was just truly a kind, good-hearted person. Skylar had issues from past problems with men and humankind in general but she came around. It was a good read. 4 out of 5

Happy Reading!

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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted June 29, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 13 Comments

Hey all!

Not much happening this week. I was sick in bed for 4 days. I managed to get up during short intervals but otherwise it was bed, sweet bed. Yeah, I watched a couple of movies here and there but mostly, I just read. Trying to put a dent in that amazingly huge TBR pile dontchaknow. 🙂

I have to say that I took my TBR challenge to new limits this week. I think I was feeling guilty for not reading any last week so I read 4 this week! Yay me!

So what I read:

I started off with Bad Boys Online by Erin McCarthy (one of my TBR Challenge books), a book I’ve had in my pile for a while. I think I got this one from the very first So Cal Blogger get together which was last November. While the 3 short stories that revolved around computers were cute I found myself skimming ahead and then having to go back. I so rarely do this that it was freaking me out a little. lol This was an erotic read and when you start skimming the sex scenes, there’s a problem. Not that it was hot, but there was so much of it! lol The last story in the book, User Friendly, was by far my favorite. 3 out of 5

My Re-Read Challenge book for the month of June is Simon Says by Lori Foster. I’ll post my review on Tuesday.

Next was In Bed With A Stranger by Mary Wine. I started reading some of Mary Wine’s books when I was getting ready to go to Lora Leigh’s RAW and I enjoyed her books (and her, she’s a really nice lady!) so when I saw this was coming out I scooped it up. I have to say that the first approx. 100 pages I had to fight not to put the book down because I was bored. However, it got much better after that. It’s a Scottish Historical about the bastard born daughter of an Earl getting sent to marry a Scottish Laird because her legitimate bratty half sister doesn’t want to bear children. The evil Countess thinks that she can send Anne in place of Mary, have the Laird get her pregnant, and then after the baby is born send Mary back to the Laird and he’ll be none the wiser. Pretty funny when you think of it. I very much enjoyed the not-as-dumb-as they-thought-he-was Laird, Brodick, he was pretty cool. 3.5 out of 5


Next up was another TBR challenge book, No Words Alone by Autumn Dawn. Katiebabs sent this to me a million years ago and I’ve just now gotten around to reading it. I wanted something different and this sci-fi novel definitely provided it. Two starships collide and both land on a planet where you pretty much can’t be outside after dark. It’s uninhabited except for nasty creatures. The only female in the group is treated horribly by her crew but very nicely by the alien race (who strangely enough happen to look just like humans!) and she ends up becoming a war prize for the captain of the alien starship. They end up marrying and the story goes on to show them falling in love, etc. I’m not really a sci-fi romance lover but this was pretty good. 3.5 out of 5

Next was Josh Lanyon’s Collected Novellas Volume 1. I’ll be posting my thoughts on this one on Thursday.

For my 3rd TBR Challenge book I read Heaven Sent 2: Purgatory by Jet Mykles. I really liked this story. Reese has been in love with Luc for forever. He kissed him one day 6 years prior but Luc pushed him away saying he wasn’t gay. Now Luc and the band are back in town and since Luc has explored his sexuality and found he does like men he wants to hook up with Reese. But Reese now has a teaching job at a straight-laced school and says he’s not gay any longer. Luc sets out to prove him wrong. I thought that Luc and Reese were great together. Did Luc annoy me at some points? Sure. Reese did too. But despite those time the story was a quick, fun, sexy read. Hopefully it won’t be months before I read the next book in the series. 4.25 out of 5

Continuing my reading in the Drakon series I read Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe. As you can guess I’m really enjoying the series. This book was no different. This book centered around Maricara who we met in book 2 and Christoff and Rue’s oldest son, Kimber. Talk about a volatile pairing. Wow. The writing in this book is just as good as the previous two books. Worth the read if you started the series. 4.5 out of 5

Charming the Highlander by Janet Chapman was a book that borrowed from Holly when I went to see her. I did a review of it which will post over at The Book Binge. I’ll let you know when that goes up.

And my last TBR Challenge read, and my last book of the week, was The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn. I was looking on my shelves for a historical that I knew was going to be a great story and I picke a good one. This book, as much as it broke my heart for most of it, was wonderful. I think I’m giving it such a high score not only for the story but for the writing as well. I know Julia Quinn is a fabulous author but when I was reading this book today I was blown over by the sheer emotion I was experiencing. I was feeling for Miranda so many times in so many different ways I was literally holding my chest because it hurt. 4.5 out of 5

Happy Reading!

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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted June 22, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 19 Comments

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Did your husbands/fathers have a wonderful Father’s Day? Both my hubby and my dad had a great day. Just nice and relaxing.

So we finally figured out what was happening with my email – the hard drive on my computer is complete shite! I’m not sure how it was fucking up my email but it was. Not great for a 6 month old computer, geez. Anyway – they overnighted us a new hard drive and my hubby will be putting it in this week sometime. I spent a huge portion of the weekend transferring all of the books I had on my hard drive as well as books I had on CD’s to my new 32 GB flash drive. It was a painstaking endeavor but it’s wonderful to have it all in one spot instead of trying to figure out if the book I’m looking for is on CD and if so which CD is it on, or is it on my computer, yada, yada. I’ve got all of my ebooks now cataloged via author so I can just look up the author’s name and see if I have a particular book. Heaven, I’m tellin ya, sheer heaven. I also discovered that I have shitloads of ebooks I haven’t read. I mean I had an vague idea that I hadn’t read many of them but really, there’s just a boatload in there that I haven’t gotten to. I need to add them to my TBR challenge reads instead of just the print books.

Speaking of my own self-imposed TBR challenge…I didn’t read a TBR challenge book this week. I know, I suck. But I DID read 2 the week before when I plowed through the last 2 Wallflower books so I’m counting that. Hey, it’s my challenge, I can do that. Stop arguing with me, yes I can! 🙂

So on to what I read this week – some really great stuff in here:

My first read was an absolutely brilliant book that I just devoured. Actually it took me several days to read it because I was just busy but it was one of those books that you think about even when you’re not reading it. It was The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe (there’s an accent mark over the e in her name but I can’t do that on blogger!) and it was fabulous. The writing just sucked me in and I was a goner. As much as I love the story/romance itself I think that 75% of the enjoyment of this book was Abe’s writing. Loved it. And it’s a historical paranormal/fantasy book which combines some of my favorite elements. This was a DIK book on Christine’s list and I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it. Ciara recently reviewed it last week and it reminded me that I had it on my list.
The story revolves around Rue and Christoff who are both Drakon – dragon shapeshifters. Drakon do not leave the compound that they live on as they cannot be trusted out in the world and the Drakon do not want their secret out. Rue fakes her own death to leave the compound, Darkfrith, and many years later Christoff, the Alpha, comes after her. Romance ensues. Good stuff. 5 out of 5

Next up was my first “official” Yaoi novel called Caged Slave by Yuiko Takamura. Kris is holding The Great Yaoi Swap so I took advantage and this was sent to me. While I understand all the facets of Yaoi this just didn’t do it for me. While I liked the story there were so many things in it that made me laugh – and I’m pretty sure that’s not what the author was going for. The noises the beta (I know there are Yaoi terms but I’m going with beta & alpha) made during sex, the way the alpha was constantly cutting off the beta’s talking totally reminded me of The Unfeasibly Tall Greek Billionaire’s Blackmailed Martyr-Complex Secretary Mistress Bride – which of course made me laugh. And the beta, had he been a woman, would have been characterized by me as TSTL. As I said though, I liked the story so it gets a 3 out of 5.

Next up was an m/m short called Marry Me or Die by DJ Manly. It was an impulse buy and sometimes I wonder why I do that. Not all of them turn out the way I want them to. lol Anyway, this was a historical (not sure where the gun on the cover comes in) where the laws have changed and single people are not allowed. You must be married because if you’re not, you threaten the sanctity of marriage due to the fact that you can seduce those who are married into illicit behavior. If you don’t get married you are sent to work camps or sentenced to death. The new ruler’s son, Crash, decides that he wants Silus, who wants absolutely nothing to do with marriage. Crash forces Silus into marrying him but can their relationship continue when the laws change back and being single is now legal? The book had a cute premise but the dialogue seemed stilted and I couldn’t get the emotion that I think the book was going for between the two men. Nice sex scenes though. 🙂 3 out of 5

My next read was One Reckless Summer by Toni Blake. Very good book. I really liked the way Toni writes and I love her books. This was a come back to your hometown and hook up with the bad boy from across the tracks (in this case, lake) that you always had your eye on story. Mick Brody is definitely from the wrong side of the lake but that doesn’t stop Jenna from continuing to see him. I loved Mick. Bad Boy was his middle name but he was trying to make a good life for himself and that got me right there. I’m kind of a sucker for the underdog. Stacy from Stacy’s Place on Earth did a review for Romance Novel TV that you can read here. 4 out of 5

Next was one of the most amazing books. Butterfly Tattoo by Deidre Knight is simply an incredible read. The story of Mike who is bisexual but has been in a committed gay relationship for the past 12 years when his partner dies in a car crash. It’s been a year and he is struggling to make it through the days himself and still trying to take care of his 8 year old daughter who has survivor’s guilt since she was in the car with her father. Mike meets Rebecca at the studio where they both work. Rebecca is dealing with her life after being attacked and almost killed by a stalker. The relationship between Rebecca and Mike is touching and moving, stormy and rocky, and just beautiful. I definitely couldn’t keep my eyes dry while reading this one. You can read a review by Dear Author here. 5 out of 5

I loved The Smoke Thief so much I decided to dive into The Dream Thief by Shana Abe which is book 2 in the Drakon series. This book takes Rue and Christoff’s daughter, Amalia or Lia, and secondary character Zane from book 1, and mixes them together. While I didn’t feel as emotionally connected to this couple as much as I did Rue and Christoff the writing was still amazing. In case you’re wondering, yes, I have book 3 that will be read this week. 🙂 You can read Christine’s review of The Dream Thief here. 4.5 out of 5

My next read was another book that I was sent from Tell Harlequin called The Family He Wanted by Karen Sandler. This book was not really my cuppa. It’s a friends to lovers story but it also involves the heroine being pregnant by another man. The hero of the book, while being a wonderful man, has so many friggin family issues from his past it just got kind of old. 3 out of 5


Last on the list was Immortal Outlaw by Lisa Hendrix – book 2 in the Immortal Brotherhood series. I read this one for The Book Binge so as always I will let you know when the review posts.
btw – I just love this cover. I love a man’s back and with that blond hair flying and the animal in the backgroud? Niiiiiice.

Happy Reading!

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