Happy Monday!
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