Tag: Stephani Hecht

What I Read Last Week

Posted February 14, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Welcome to another week! Are you ready? I think I ask myself that every week and frankly the answer isn’t always a resounding YES. lol. I’ve been waking up at 5am for the past week with absolutely no idea why. It’s not like I plan it and I certainly try to go back to sleep but alas my brain starts up and won’t let me rest. Hopefully my bodies alarm clock will reset itself to normal soon and I can get a good nights sleep.
Life was pretty low-key this past week which was a welcome change from the previous week. Nothing much happened which in my book falls under the chapter entitled “WooFreakingHoo”. lol
How was your week? Anything exciting happen?
I got a lot of reading done which was nice. I got some books read that I’ve been meaning to get to and I love it when that happens. I think I get so caught up in what’s coming out that I don’t sit back and look at all the wonderful books I have sitting on my shelves or in my ereader. I need to make more of an effort to read those books I’ve had for a while.
On to what I read this week – and sorry – no author links today as I’m rushing! lol
First up was a novella by Amelia Fayer called Lust in the Library. This was 2 related erotic short stories set in one novella. The first is about a girl that has got a thing for a man that comes into the library where she works but she’s too shy to take the bull by the horns and talk to him above and beyond the call of duty. The second story was about a girl who has what she thinks is a cheating boyfriend and the story covers part of their relationship and the patch work it needs to get back together. Both stories were cute. I’ll post my review later this week. 3 out of 5
Next was Wrangled and Tangled by Lorelei James that I read for The Book Binge. This is book 3 in the Blacktop Cowboys series and it was a good one. This was 2 romances in one book. While I liked both stories I thought the story of Abe and Janie wasn’t quite as in depth as it needed to be. The story of Renner and Tierney I liked better. Both were pretty scorchin. 🙂 4 out of 5
After that I read Love Means…Family by Andrew Grey. This was the story about Arie who goes to visit his best friend Robbie to try to escape the grief over his sisters’ death. There he meets officer hunky aka Duane and the pair fall for each other. You can read more here in my review. 3.25 out of 5
The Last Night by Nico Rosso is a fantasy/post apocalyptic story that was really good. I’ll be posting my review of it later this week so keep your eyes open.
Shane’s Last Stand by Suzanne Brockmann is a prequel to the upcoming Born to Darkness novel that releases March 20th. This is the story of Shane and his last mission as a Navy SEAL but the story is set in the not too distant future. I’m not sure what year but they do mention some document from 2024 so it’s at least that far. Not too much seems different when it comes to military stuff though and Shane is leading a team on a search and destroy mission. But one of Shane’s team realizes that the woman that their technology tells them is the killer is actually someone else who is in hiding. Shane makes a decision that will change his life forever but a decision that keeps his conscience clear. It was a good story but there just wasn’t much to it. I think it will be a good set up for the novel but beyond that no real conclusion. 3.5 out of 5
Next was one of my Tracy’s TBR challenge reads and that was Carnal Intentions by Stephanie Hecht. This was the story of Mitchell and his mate Dean. They had met and fell in love and had been having a long distance affair via Skype for a long while. Now they are working together again to try and find Mitchell’s lost brother Joel and Mitchell doesn’t want to let Dean go again. Things aren’t always easy though and there’s a lot to work through. I really liked this fourth story in the Lost Shifters series. Books 2 and 3 had been so similar to book 1 that I was afraid that they had all fallen into a pattern but this one proved me wrong. It was a great story and good continuation of the story arc. 4 out of 5
Next was A Wicked Caress by Stephani Hecht. Continuing the series…we have Joel who now goes by Noah coming into the family fold and being treated with kid gloves. He is somewhat fragile but Seth who knows that Noah is his mate doesn’t want him to not be able to defend himself if the Ravens come for him. Especially since there’s one in particular that wants Noah for his own. This was a good story as well. I was a bit disappointed that some of the conversations and falling in love portions were off page but I was more than satisfied with the story I was given. 4 out of 5
I kept up with the Lost Shifter series by then reading Ruthless Pursuit. This was about Vapor who is sent to get Mitchell’s last missing brother, Andy, or Andrew as he now goes by. Andrew has been brainwashed by the man who raised him and always believed that his brother Mitchell had sold him to his guardian. While running from Vapor and giving him a good chase the pair fall for each other in their own rough way. It wasn’t romantic but it was hot and I liked how each character stayed true to his personality and didn’t get too sappy when dealing with the other once they realized their feelings. It was a good story and I’m looking forward to reading more in this series. 4 out of 5
Taken by the Cowboy by Julianne MacLean was a free book from ARe not that long ago and since it was a time travel novel I snapped it up. Jessica somehow time travels to the old west and lands in 1881. The first night she’s in Dodge she is accused of killing a man. He was a wanted criminal though so she’s actually offered a reward – even though she didn’t do it. She’s anxious to get home but then starts falling for the local sheriff who in turn is falling for her. She has to decide – does she want to stay in the wild west or try to get home and lose her love forever. This was a darned good story and I really like almost all of it. There were some slow parts in the middle but they didn’t detract from the overall story. The ending had me thinking as I’m just not sure how I feel about it. I can’t tell you details because it would spoil everything completely but it definitely wasn’t your usual HEA. Despite the end I would definitely recommend this one if you’re a time travel romance lover like me. 4 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week
*crickets chirping*
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted December 20, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Well it’s been crazy at our house this past week. First my little one got a bad cold and fever (I was home with her when I wrote the last edition of What I Read Last Week), then we had a really early birthday party for my oldest (her birthday isn’t until the 30th), then she got sick, then my youngest had another belt test for her red belt on Saturday (which she passed with max points – go baby go!), then she came home, threw up and continued to do so for the next 15 hours. She’s feeling much better now but has been at work with me for most of the past two days so it’s been a bit hectic. Life is fun. lol Needless to say I’m behind on EVERYTHING, including this post! But eventually it all gets taken care of. As long as my family gets healthy soon I’ll be one happy camper.
Here’s my youngest breaking a board at her red belt test. A couple of practice kicks and then she got it in 2.

So how are all of you? What have you been up to? What are you reading lately? I’m afraid with life in a whirlwind I’ve not been blog hopping lately so I hope you’re all well.
What I read last week:

I started off the week with The Cowboy’s Christmas Miracle by RaeAnne Thayne. This was the book that I read for my monthly TBR challenge and it was pretty good. Minor angst between the h/h but other than that a sweet Christmas tale. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

All the Pleasures of the Season by Lecia Cornwall was my next read. A novella that was about a woman who tries to do what her family wants when it comes to marriage and her future but between the evil fiancé and the fact that she’s in love with someone else it just didn’t work. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Faery Wedding by Mina Carter was a short read about a woman who is being forced to marry a man she thinks is old and probably evil just to save her family. She goes out the night before and gets her groove on with a great guy who shows up later and surprises her in a big way. It was an ok story but definitely more of an erotic tale rather than love. 2 out of 5

A Knight in Cowboy Boots by Suzie Quint is a book that I read for The Book Binge. This was the story of a girl who basically kidnaps her nephew after the baby’s father kills her sister, the baby’s mother. She goes into hiding but ends up falling for a guy. He’s great but she knows she can’t stay in one place even if she’s in love. It was a pretty good story but there was a bit of hick-speak that made me a bit crazy as I was reading. Luckily they only spoke a bit in hick-speak and didn’t THINK that way. lol 3.75 out of 5

8 Seconds on the Mountain by PD Singer is a short related to Mountain series. This story had the boys, Kurt and Jake, invading the stocks at a rodeo. Kurt riles up the cowboys and makes a bet that he can stay on a bull for 8 seconds. It was cute, short read. 3 out of 5

Priority One by Stephani Hecht is book 4 in the EMS Heat series. I’ve not read the first 3 books but didn’t feel that it was necessary in order to read this one. The story was about newbie EMS Dylan who is mightily attracted to Kaleb the firefighter. The story covers the men getting together and Dylan, who is dealing with emotions left over from when he got kicked out of his parents’ house and his feelings of betrayal from a previous relationship. The romance in this is a bit non-existent as we’re told that the men are basically inseparable but we don’t get to witness any of that. It was a good story just a little short on romance for my liking. 3 out of 5

Beneath the Neon Moon by Theda Black was a free book given away by All Romance eBooks this past week. It was about Zach and Mal who wake up one day and they are chained together in a basement. They discover after a bit that Mal has been bitten by a werewolf and will soon turn one and Zach is to be his first meal. Close proximity, however, bring the two young men together and the last thing either wants is for one to die and the other to be ridden with guilt forever. The book is about Zach and Mal getting to know each other and becoming closer as well as trying to figure out how to change what seems like an inevitable outcome. Really good story, well done. 4 out of 5

I wanted to read When I Fall by Belinda McBride but it had been so long since I had read An Uncommon Whore that I decided to re-read it first. Griffin Hawke is looking for the king of his people and he ends up finding him in an unlikely place. Pasha aka King Helios has been a slave and a whore for years and he knows nothing different. When Griffin finally gets him off planet Helios has to deal the memory/control chip that’s in his head as well as his thoughts of being King and of course his growing feelings for Griffin. It’s a really good book and it was just as good the second time around. 4 out of 5

When I Fall by Belinda McBride starts a year after Helios and Griffin finally make it back to their planet. Helios has fallen into the roll of king easily enough and has made wonderful changes for his people. It seems though that Griffin (this book is from Griffin’s POV while book 1 was from Helios’s) is feeling a bit unneeded and left out. The story deals with many aspects of the men’s world and Griffin’s feelings of impending loss (of Helios). While that was great and I enjoyed the writing tremendously I felt the story lacked the strength of the first book when it came to the men’s relationship. Griffin doubted Helios’s love, Helios kept secrets from Griffin but nothing really got worked out as the conclusion of the book kind of glossed over the issues. Because of a near death experience it seemed that the problems weren’t to be dealt with in depth – Helios admits he did wrong and so did Griffin and then it was all ok. I still gave the book a good grade because as I said, I liked the writing but the lack of true resolution of the problems bothered me a bit, I must admit. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted September 12, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 10 Comments

It was a relatively quiet week last week for me.  I had a migraine for daaaaays but unfortunately life doesn’t change all that much for me even with the headache from hell. lol
I’m really excited that GayRomLit is only a month away!  Yay!  I can’t wait to head to New Orleans and see all those lovely bloggers and authors.  It will be great to see Tam, Chris and Kris again and I’ll get to meet Janna, Leontine and Kassa as well as others, I’m sure.  The event itself sounds to be freakin awesome and I’m really excited.  I was looking at the author list a while back and figured out that of the 67 authors they had on their list of attending authors (I’m sure there are more that aren’t on the list) I’ve only read 20 – yikes.  I have books by 4 others that I haven’t read yet but that’s not all that much, now is it?  I should probably make an effort to read more of those authors…we’ll see how that goes. lol

And let’s see…oh, I looked at my Goodreads challenge today.  I signed up for the reading challenge at the beginning of the year and I put how many books I wanted to read for 2011.  I put 400.  I know, was I on dope at that time or what?  I apparently just pulled a number out of my ass and typed it in.   So I looked this morning after not paying it any attention for the past month and as much as I read I realized that I’m 4 books behind!  Yes, behind.  Seriously, what was I thinking? 400? I know no one but me is paying one iota of attention but still – I feel bad for falling down on the job.  Did any of you sign up for it?  If so how are you doing on the challenge?

Ok – what did I read last week?

I stared off the week with Just A Little White Lie by Lynnette Hallberg.  This was a cute contemporary about a woman who finds her fiance at the church on the day of her wedding making out with his ex-fiance.  Nice. Not.  She takes off but breaks down on the side of the road and is saved by a guy who then thinks to use her for his own purposes – namely he wants her to be his fake fiance.  It was a cute book that I had a few issues with – but good. You can read my review here. 3.5 out 5

Next was Breathe Again by Bonnie R. Paulson.  This was a really good book that had Maggie who was trying to deal with her husband’s suicide meeting 2 brothers that help her deal with it all.  They have their own issues as well so the three of them end up helping each other.  You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5

Next was Romancing the Countess by Ashley March. The story followed Leah who is married to Ian – but Ian dies in a carriage accident along with his best friends wife.  Well, well – what were they up to I wonder?  If you’re thinking that they were having an affair you’d be right.  Leah’s not all that crushed over her husband’s death as she knew about the affair.  Then there’s Ian’s best friend, Sebastian, who’s devastated by the loss of his wife and all he knew about her.  Many things happen and Leah and Sebastian fall in love – but they don’t tell the other.  Can they be together or will ghosts of the past haunt them? A really good story that was on the darker side – not a lot of humor.  4 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

It Happened One Bite by Lydia Dare was my Tracy’s TBR Challenge read.  This is the start of a new trilogy about vampyre’s in regency England but it has a continuation of characters from the authors previous werewolf stories. This book was Blaire’s book and has her in the Highlands awakening a vampyre who was put under a spell by the previous coven 20 years prior.  This is a good historical paranormal and that had great humor. 3.75 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

After that was a short called The Wild Side by Janey Chapel.  This was about Ryan who’s normal guys are either jocks or jarheads.  He heads off to work at The Wild Side for Valentines day and finds himself enamored with Nick who is the opposite of his “type” – but that turns out to be a good thing.  Good story.  4 out of 5

In the Heat of the Bite by Lydia Dare was next.  Another story in the regency vampyre trilogy.  This was Rhiannon and Matthew’s story.  I really liked Matthew but Rhiannon was kind of blah for me.  Rhiannon had Matthew pretending to be courting her so that she could have more respectability and of course they fall in love.  The story was a bit different from the previous book and while still good had too many similarities to the previous book for my liking.  3.5  out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

In the Crease by Stephani Hecht was a complete impulse buy on my part. We have those from time to time, don’t we?  Don’t deny it! lol  The story was about Cole who heads to his hometown to try to talk his sister out of marrying her fiance who was, with his brother, his archnemesis.  Of course he’s trying to do this 24 hours before the wedding so it’s not all that easy.  What ends up happening is that he gets together with the brother, Andy, and the pair find they’re quite compatible.  A very cute story.  A little bit of insta-love but hey, it was only 45 pages!  3.5 out of 5

Another impulse buy – Confessions of a Rentboy by TR Verten.  I read a review for this book on Jenre’s blog, Well Read, a while back and it really appealed to me.  The story is told by Andy and has him telling us about his time as a rentboy in London. He tells us of how he got into the business, some of his clients and experiences as well as his time after the man he falls in love with marries someone else.  It’s a very good book that had me smiling as well as tearing up a time or two while reading. Well written and definitely worth the read. 4 out of 5

And last on the list for the week was Demon Marked by Meljean Brook.  Another fantastic book by one of my favorite authors.  I seriously love this series and will cry huge crocodile tears when it comes to an end.  Can’t it go on forever? Please?  No?  Dammit.  In this book we have a halfling demon who has no memory meeting up with a man who was raised by a demon who had taken over the role of his mother.  He has serious issues and doubts everything a demon says as he thinks it’s a plot.  Not the start of a great romance, I’d say.  But Ash and Nicholas are so good together it’s amazing.  Then there’s the continuing story of Taylor and Michael and them working on getting him out of the frozen field in Hell and wow.  The story is so good and has so many twists and turns I couldn’t stop turning pages.  Just an excellent read as far as I’m concerned! 5 out of 5

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted May 30, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 8 Comments

It’s sad when on a holiday I have to send my hubby and kids to the movies just so I can have a computer to work on. lol  Seriously – we have 2 computers and a laptop and between my oldest and her friend chats and youtube, my hubby’s war games and my youngest playing games on barbie.com and disneychannel.com I couldn’t get on at all today.  Oh well, at least they were having fun, right?   Of course now I not only have a computer but a completely quiet house – woohoo! lol

It was a pretty peaceful week.  I only worked 4 days as I took Thursday off to attend my youngest’s family picnic that her school has each year.  It was a lot of fun for the kids and I got to chat with friends that I don’t often get to see.  After the picnic my oldest talked me into dying the underside of her hair black.  Not fun to do, but it looks pretty cool.  My youngest now says that I’m going to dye the underside of her hair purple when school ends.  I just keep laughing at her but she keeps insisting.  Funny girl.

Diet and exercise.  I know those words should mean something but this past week they didn’t to me…at all.  I only exercised once and it was pretty half-assed if do say so myself.  Then food wise – ug.  From Wednesday to Sunday I ate like I was condemned and it was my last meal….for every meal.  If it was in my pantry and not super-glued to the shelf I was eating it.  I actually gained 1.2 pounds this week so now I’ll have to lose that weight again and keep on going.  I started being good again today so I’ll keep on keeping on.

It was a good reading week overall – here’s how it went:

I started off with Primal Passions by Stephani Hecht.  I had read about the Lost Shifter series on Chris’s blog but hadn’t gotten any of the books.  I was lucky enough to meet Stephani at RT and she talked me into it (not too difficult as I loves me some shifters).  20 years prior the Ravens had attacked the cat shifter families and killed everyone – or so the surviving family members thought.  They later found out that the Hawks (who were supposed to be helping the Ravens but really weren’t) had taken tons of children, erased their memories and then placed them in human foster care.  Now the alpha cat is looking for 4 of his missing siblings along with many, many other shifters.  The first book in the series tells us the story of Logan who is looking for one of the alpha’s siblings, Jacyn. Jacyn has no clue as to what he is and when he’s attacked by the Ravens he doesn’t have any idea why.  Logan is out to save him and take him to his family but in the meantime they fall in love.  This was a good start to the series and I very much enjoyed it.  4 out of 5

Next was the second book in the series by Stephanie Hecht called A Feral Christmas.  Brent, one of the alpha’s brothers (one who wasn’t lost) goes after the alpha of the Hawk’s in order to find out if they can get the information about where the lost shifters are.  But the alpha, Daniel, has been on the run from the Raven’s and doesn’t have the information the cats seek.  But he knows where to get it.  As Daniel and Brent run from the Ravens to the HQ of the cats the two fall in love.  I liked this story as well but it was very similar to book 1 with one of the characters going to retrieve another and on the road trip back to HQ they fall in love.  3.5 out of 5

The third book in the series by Stephani Hecht was Savage Awakenings.  This was Rat’s story (whose real name is Carson) who gets a distress call from lost shifter Keegan and goes to help.  Keegan is great for Rat’s self-confidence and Rat/Carson finds the one man he can be with forever.  Again, very similar to the first two stories in theme (Chris assures me this changes in subsequent books) with the finding/road trip/fall in love, but still good.  3.5 out of 5

Next I tried to read The Homecoming by JoAnn Ross.  I read about half of the book and just couldn’t read any longer.  The story was about a SEAL who has gone back to his hometown in Oregon and wants to get together with the woman he always had a crush on in high school but she was one of his friends’ girlfriend and later, wife. The story wasn’t really keeping my attention in the fact that some of the conversations just seemed so irrelevant to the story and I just wanted things to move on.  It definitely felt more like a women’s fiction novel than a romance.  I think I’m in the minority with disliking this one but it just didn’t work for me. DNF

Lady of Seduction by Laurel McKee is book 3 in the Daughters of Erin series. I read book two and really enjoyed the writing, the romance and the setting of the book.  In this book Caroline goes looking for Grant Dunsmore on a pretty desolate island in Ireland.  Grant had kidnapped Caroline four years prior but she never thought of him as truly bad and after her husband died she couldn’t get him out of her thoughts.  But as much as she wants Grant and he wants her there are more sinister plans that Grant has – are they truly bad…or not?
This was a good story and I liked the romance although there were times where it wasn’t completely keeping my attention as the story dragged in a few places. 3.5 out of 5

Kiss a Falling Star by Barbara Elsborg is the story of Ally who leaves London after a series of accidents – one being pushed in front of the train – and she thinks to hide at her brothers country estate from whoever is trying to kill her (and no one believes her).  There she meets Caspar who is an ex-con who once worked for the Foreign Office.  Caspar is pretty much shunned from the community but Ally sees something under all the belligerence that Caspar spews and becomes his champion – as well as his lover.  I loved seeing Ally stand up for Caspar and see all the good in him – despite what all the villagers were telling her about him.  She didn’t judge him based on talk but was willing to get to know him and make her own decisions and that’s always nice to see in a heroine. lol  There was a lot going on in the book but it worked pretty well overall and the romance and sex scenes were great. Elsborg always has great humor in her books and some of the lines that Ally had – as well as some of Caspar’s – had me laughing out loud. 4 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews.  I’ve had this one for forever and tried to start reading it a year or so ago and I just couldn’t get into it.  I love the Edge series by Andrews though so I thought I’d give it another shot. With Kate being a kick-ass heroine but not being completely stoic and invulnerable the story ended up really working for me.  I know from reading reviews about subsequent books that Kate and Curran start a relationship so the romantic in me is looking forward to reading the next books. 4 out of 5

Last for the week was Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey which is the 3rd book in the Kowalski series and it was a good one!  This is about Sean Kowalski who has just returned from Afghanistan and has been discharged from the army.  His first day back he meets a woman who says that he is her “fake” fiance and she would like him to pose as such while her grandmother is town – for a month.  This includes living with her and acting the part.  Needless to say he send the hot yet batshit crazy woman on her way.  But Sean ends up taking the role as well as changing his life forever.  I’ll be posting my review of this one later this week – keep your eye out.

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh

Happy Reading!

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