Tag: Victor J. Banis

What I Read Last Week

Posted October 16, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 4 Comments

Happy Monday!

Well, I wish I could say that it’s a happier Monday than it is. I’m in mourning as my Kindle died a horrible death last night. Actually it was more a matter of it dying in its sleep. It was fine yesterday afternoon when I stuck it on my bedside stand but then last night when I went to get it the screen was dark with horizontal and vertical lines on it and apparently that’s a death knell. It lived a good life but now I’m without an ereader as I lent my EZreader to a friend of mine. Oy. Imagine, I had to actually pick up a print book today! Luckily it was the one I planned on reading next anyway so it all worked out. I’m in the process of getting another Kindle – hopefully I won’t have to be in withdrawal too long.

Other than that it was a pretty quiet week. There was one day that I was so tired that I left work early, went home, crawled into bed at about 5pm and didn’t wake up until 6:30 the next morning. Wow.

On to what I read this past week:

First up was Deadly Silence by Victor J. Banis. This is book 5 in the Deadly Mystery series and it was another great book. Now, I wanted to beat Stanley a bit in this book as he was annoying me a bit but other than that it was definitely worth the read. Stanley and Tom are hired by a woman to find out who is trying to kill her father and the suspects are many. 4 out of 5

A Deadly Kind of Love is book 6 in the Deadly Mystery series by Victor J. Banis and as far as I know the last one written. In this story Tom and Stanley head out to Palm Springs, CA to help their friend Chris when he finds a dead body in his bed at the hotel he’s staying at. This one was a bit more on the tense side for me but good. I wanted more from Tom and Stanley’s relationship after what happened in the previous book but we didn’t get too much insight into that, unfortunately. 4 out of 5

Next I picked up Untamed by Sara Humphreys. This is a paranormal /shapeshifter story about a woman who is half shifter/half human and the full blooded shifter that is her mate. I got about halfway through the story and was not into the book at all. I was a little bored and didn’t care for the heroine so unfortunately this ended up being a DNF.

Hot and Haunted by Lauren Hawkeye, Megan Hart and Saranna DeWylde was a three story anthology with some far out stories. There was one with a girl trying to seduce a man whose car is stuck in a ditch, one with a US Marshal who’s hunting a serial killer and one with a girl, her two men and a zombie apocalypse. You can read my review on this book here. 3.5 out of 5

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas is book 2 in the Fitzhugh trilogy series. This is the story of Millie and Fitz. Fitz is just 19, has just come into his title as an Earl and finds that he’s forced to marry as the title is destitute. Millie is just 16 and had been engaged to the previous Earl before he died. Millie falls for Fitz immediately but Fitz is in love with a woman with no money and their love is not to be. Millie and Fitz make a pact that they won’t have marital relations for 8 years and Fitz can live as if they are friends and not married. The book takes us through current times with Fitz seeing his lost love again and also through periods of time from their past 8 years. The book was well written and utterly heart-wrenching as I read about the couple’s years together. I wanted to kick Fitz in the balls and tell him to open his damned eyes but it all worked out. A painful (literally my chest ached!) and angst ridden book but very good, imho. 4 out of 5

Hunter’s Season by Thea Harrison is a novella in the Elder Races series and I think it’s my favorite novella so far. We get these wonderful stories in between full length novels and this one just worked for me so well. The story is about a commoner and palace guard in the Other lands who guards the Dark Fae queen. She ends up falling for and then protecting the Dark Fae Chancellor and they fall in love. I loved the setting, the solitude the couple had and, I guess, the normality of it all. Yes, the Chancellor was powerful but other than being in the Other lands no magic was used – just 2 people falling in love. Good stuff. 4 out of 5

Stygian’s Honor is book 27 (yes, you read that right) in the Breed series by Lora Leigh. The story is different as the Breeds look for 2 girls that have not been heard of for many years. They’re protecting 2 girls that the Genetics Council wants and the Breeds want to know why their after them. Stygian falls for Liza but the whole romance and mating heat and the woman wanting her independence thing was just too similar to other books to be exciting. It was a good book but nothing spectacular, imho. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Last for the week was a re-read. My Fair Captain by JL Langley is still one of my favorite m/m books. It was one of the first ones I read and I love it still. The latest book in this series just came out and I bought it almost immediately. I think thought…ya know, it’s been so long since I’ve read the other books I should probably do a re-read. (Easier freakin said than done with the Kindle gone – waaaah. Ahem) The story of Nate and Aiden is so great. I usually don’t like historical m/m but the fact that Regelence accepts the gay men changes everything for me. If you haven’t read this series yet I highly recommend it. Of course we had to wait 4 years in between books 2 & 3 but hey, anticipation is good for us, right? lol 5 out of 5

And I thought I had this lovely picture that I once got from Lisabea aka LB Gregg of what Nate looks like – or at least what he looks like in our heads, but I can’t locate it.  Too many computers to check.  I’ll post it if I find it. 🙂

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
When the Duchess Said Yes by Isabella Bradford

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted July 17, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 4 Comments

Hey there!
No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, I’m still here – lucky you. Just a stressful weekend, unfortunately. Things are better now, though. 🙂
How are you all? Doing well, I hope. Read any good books lately?
Giveaway Update:
A new winner was chosen for the Daisy Harris Player and the Prude giveaway since we never heard from Gigi. Chris is the new winner! Congrats!
Also – new DFRAT giveaway winners for Mary Hughes and Lynda Bailey since I never heard from the original winners.
So the new winner of Mary Hughes’s The Bite of Silence is Donna Fisk and the new winner of Fulfilled by Lynda Bailey is Yvette. Congrats!
On to what I read last week:
First up was Drawn Together by ZA Maxfield. This is the story of Rory who is so completely taken with a graphic artist that he basically quits his job in New Orleans to drive to California to meet her. He has dreams that they will immediately hit it off, fall in love and live happily ever after. When he gets to CA though he discovers that his woman Yamane is actually a man. They become friends and eventually lovers while their running for their lives from Yamane’s crazy stalker. Good story. I did have some issues with it but for the most part I really liked it. 4 out of 5
Next up was Player and the Prude by Daisy Harris about two men who are really quite opposite falling in love. You can read my review here. Good book! 4.25/4.5 out of 5
The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane is the story of a woman who is trying to save her child’s life by having a private investigation team search for her supposedly dead boyfriend. You can read my full review here. 3.25 out of 5
Next was Deadly Dreams by Victor J. Banis. This is book 3 in the Deadly series and gives us Tom and Stanley trying to work out their relationship now that they’ve moved in together. They are also haunted by Stanley’s brother that they had no idea even existed. This was a really good story. I was pissed at Tom, then I wasn’t. I was pissed at Stanley, then I wasn’t. Any book that can bring that kind of emotion out of me is definitely a keeper. lol 4 out of 5
The Omegas by Annie Nicholas is the story of a nerdy pack of werewolves who hire a vampire to train them to fight. The “leader” of the Omegas has been challenged by a local pack who wants to absorb them and they want to fight it. The vampire ends up falling in love with the Omega’s next door neighbor but she’s a bit freaked by the whole paranormal aspect of it all. This was actually a pretty good story that kept me entertained. The vampire was pretty funny and I liked the injection of humor. 3.75 out of 5
The Alpha by Annie Nicholas is book 2 in the Vanguards series and has the “leader” from the previous book, Eric, falling in love with twin sister of his best friend. He’s getting flack from his pack because the female wolves of the pack want him and don’t want an intruder hittin on “their” man. It was a pretty good story. I had some issues with timeline confusion and then the sex in front of the entire pack was a bit much for me but other than that I liked it. 3.5 out of 5
Along Came a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle I read for Book Binge. This story had a penniless orphan living with her aunt and uncle and working as a slave. She finds out that she’s inherited a boatload of money but she has to marry a certain person before she turns 25 which is in a month. She heads to London to meet the lucky groom but before she gets there she meets Christopher Preston – a Duke and a rake – and falls in love with him. The problem is that while Preston and Tabitha are in love she HAS to marry this other guy – who she doesn’t like. It was a very good story and I really liked the ins and outs of figuring it all out. Watching Preston fall in love was wonderful as well. 4 out of 5
Last for the week was Deadly Slumber by Victor J. Banis. This story had Tom and Stanley looking into some mischief that has been going on in a local, well-known mortuary. Stanley ends up staying at the mortuary to try to look in to things more closely and of course chaos reigns, as it does when Stanley gets involved. It was a really good mystery (although I had it all figured out really early on so I just waited for them to get their too. lol) and I liked the guys as well. They always have their issues but work it out in the end. I kind of wish they’d stop having issue that have to be worked out but maybe in the next book. lol 4 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted April 23, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 7 Comments

Greetings Earthlings
It wasn’t too busy of a week this week. Now that Easter’s over the office has calmed considerable so it’s kind of business as usual. I like the super busy times but I also like when my days are just “normal”. That doesn’t happen very often as I never know who’s going to walk through the office door but when it happens it’s great. 🙂
The fam and I managed to get to a (very small) carnival yesterday that they had in town for a few days. The girls had fun riding the rides and I managed to win them a couple of toys to take home. Yep, I’m mean with a water pistol. lol
I just had to share this picture of our kitten Echo. She was just so cute hanging out below the window as we have a mother bird nesting under out back patio cover. I was zooming in and she turned around right when the flash went off and this was the result. LOL Too funny.
Have you ever seen the movie The Iron Giant? Great movie but this picture reminded me of the giant when he turns his eyes “on”.
Anyway, on to what I read this week:
I started off the week with Deadly Nightshade by Victor J. Banis. This was my TBR Challenge read for the month and it was really good. Gay cop gets partnered with a straight cop to investigate a series of murders and it looks like a drag queen’s the murderer. Stanley and Tom investigate the murders and kind of end up investigating each other. You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5
I liked Deadly Nightshade so much that I immediately started on Deadly Wrong by Victor J. Banis right after. This had Stanley headed from San Francisco to Bear Mountain in Southern California to do a childhood friend a favor. Stanley’s supposed to see if he can figure out any info about a supposed manslaughter case. Unfortunately Stanley apparently asking the wrong questions and gets himself into trouble. Tom finds out about Stanley heading south and isn’t thrilled at all – to say the least. This was another great story. I love how Banis seamlessly weaves the relationship portion of the book with the mystery so that it’s all just one great story rather than 2 portions of the same book. I can’t wait to read book 3! 4 out of 5
My next read was North of Heartbreak by Julie Rowe. This story took me to Alaska where Willa has been living and running a clinic. She meets the new pilot Liam who takes her to other villages and to the hospital when needed to deliver a patient. Liam is attracted to Willa right off but she’s leery of men as she was horrible abused by her previous husband. You can read my full review here. 3.5 out of 5
Next was Power Play: Resistance by Rachel Haimowitz and Cat Grant. This story was about a multi-billionaire who wants a man he’s met to play his submissive for 6 months in exchange for 3 million dollars. You can read my full review here. 3.75 out of 5
Priceless by Cat Grant was next up. This story was about a professor who gets sent a rentboy for his birthday by one of his friends – only the professor has no idea that the guys a rentboy and starts having feelings for him. I’ll be reviewing this one this week so keep your eyes open.
Natural Evil by Thea Harrison is a novella in the Elder Races series. This story was about human Claudia Hunter who is driving through Nevada and sees a large dog by the side of the road. She decides to stop and help the animal but starts to think that he may not be a regular dog. He isn’t, he’s a Wyr shifter by the name of Luis who definitely would have died if left on the side of the road. The story follows Luis’s recovery – the reason for his almost demise as well as Claudia and Luis getting together. I really liked the story even though it was to terribly deep. I didn’t care for the fact that it cut off without a HEA but it did give us a Happy For Now ending. 4 out of 5 (Is it just me or does the guy on the cover look like Antonio Banderas?)
A Gentleman Says “I Do” by Amelia Grey was a book I read for The Book Binge. This is the story of Iverson Brentwood who is pissed off because a man wrote a parody about him and his twin brother that basically made his deceased mother look like a loose woman. He goes to the man’s house to knock some teeth and instead of the man finds the man’s daughter Catalina. Iverson and Catalina are instantly attracted to each other and have some great conversations.. But Catalina is keeping secrets from Iverson and isn’t quite sure he’d like her too much if she told him what they were. This was a cute story. It started out slow and got a bit too dramatic at the end but I very much enjoyed the middle. The intelligent yet witty banter between the h/h was pretty darned good. 3.5 out of 5
Under the Vampire Moon by Lynsay Sands – another book read for The Book Binge – is book #16 in the Argeneau series. This was about Christian Notte, Marguerite’s son, who heads to the Caribbean on his mother’s request. There he meets his life mate, Carolyn, but she is not going to get close to Christian because she’s 42 and she believes Christian to be around 25 (he’s actually about 500). Christian’s cousin comes up with a plan where she tells Carolyn that Christian is gay and needs a Beard – that way Carolyn can hang with Christian and get to know him without feeling guilty. I like this series – it’s just fluff and humor and just hits that spot for me every time. 3.75 out of 5
Last for the week was a short called Realize by Kerry Freeman. This was about a senior in college who “takes care” of his roommate who is 3 years younger. He has feelings for his roommate though he’s never acted on them. This story has to two getting together. It was a good story but too short! lol I would have loved this to be longer but oh well. 🙂 3 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Happy Reading!

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TBR Challenge Review: Deadly Nightshade by Victor J. Banis

Posted April 18, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 6 Comments

This month’s TBR Challenge was to read a book that was in your TBR by an author you hadn’t read before. I wanted to review an m/m book this month and there were only about 5 m/m authors in my cache that I hadn’t read before. What does that say about me? That when I get a book by a new author I read it right away or that I just don’t try new authors all that often? I have no idea! Lol This book was one I got for free from a site about 2 years ago (and no, can’t remember the site) and it’s been languishing on the old stick drive ever since. Of course now that I’ve read it I’m kicking myself for not reading it sooner. I guess I should look on the bright sided – there are plenty of books in this series so I’ll get lots of Stanley and Tom! Yay!

Straight cop, gay cop, and a woman who “isn’t real.” Tom and Stanley are on the trail of a drag queen serial killer, and along the way, they find themselves engaged in a more intimate pursuit, trying to resolve another mystery: their unexpected attraction to one another.

Stanley Korski has been a cop for a week when he’s assigned to be a lead detective on a homicide. He knows he’ll rock the case but his new partner, Tom Danzel, isn’t so sure. You see Stanley is gay and Tom isn’t too thrilled to be partnered with a big ole queen. Stanley of course, being the great guy he is stands up to Tom and they manage to rub along just fine.

The victim has been killed by what the witnesses are calling a drag queen. Tom and Stanley decide to check out the drag clubs to see if they can find their suspect. Tom isn’t entirely comfortable with the men who dress up like women but he finds after a while that it’s not as horrible as he thinks.

When Tom gets a roofie and almost becomes a victim himself Stanley takes him to his house to take care of him. One thing leads to another and soon Stanley’s more than happily blowing Tom’s mind – if you get my meaning. Tom’s not sure what to make of it all in the morning but that doesn’t stop the two from doing it again, and again, and again. But it’s all for Tom’s pleasure – which makes Stanley happy. Of course Stanley’s not necessarily thinking with his big head – more like the little one.

The detective team find that they work well together and Tom’s phobia’s start to wane along the way. They figure out who the culprit is but what will happen between the two of them when the case gets closed?

Let me start by saying – oh how I loved Stanley. Seriously, that guy was all kinds of fun and funny. He made me laugh one minute and then had my heart breaking for him the next as he was just in a quandry. Tom was a great character as well. He was just so macho but he obviously had an open mind – he just didn’t want anyone but Stanley to know about it.

The mystery in the story was well done. The different avenues that the author took to figure it all out made such sense in my mind and I loved that I didn’t have to go over it multiple times in my head to figure out what the hell they were talking about. Lol It was not simply solved but definitely logically.

I loved that this book had the relationship with Stanley and Tom as the real focal point of the book even though they were solving the mystery at the same time. The two parts worked so well together and the author did a great job of weaving them together. Yes, my romantic heart wanted the ultimate HEA but I knew from almost the first chapter that that wouldn’t happen. Tom was just too confused. sigh

I will definitely be reading more in this series as I can’t wait to see what happens next in the Tom and Stanley saga. Great book – I definitely recommend it.


Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Victor J. Banis

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