Lightning reviews

9/25/2010 12:21:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)

All of these were free from All Romance ebooks and Ravenous Romance, good and not so good in the ones that I have read so far. But here is what I thought.

Ripping the Bodice by Inara Lavey (ebook) (A-)
Got sex and romance on the brain? So does Cassandra Devon. She also has hard-boiled private eyes, dashing pirates, jet-setting super spies and other sexy rogues entertaining her in her surprisingly explicit subconscious. All these erotic daydreams make it hard to stay focused on Cassandra's current dilemma: namely, rebuffing the advances of Connor, a wild Irish rascal who wants to play the starring role in her fantasies. Cassandra is only interested in getting together with Raphael, the tall, dark and handsome man of her dreams. May the best romance hero win!

Walter Mitty meets Erica Jong in this wickedly funny and sexy hot comedy-romance.

This was such a fun book. It was kind of shades of Walter Mitty. Cassandra loves her bodice ripper romances and has read them for so long they have become her model for her ideal man. She also has an active imagination in that she constantly loses herself in scenes out of her books and her head. The characters were a lot of fun and the storyline especially with all the mock scenes from old time romances was hilarious. The romance was full of banter and great chemistry. Definitely recommend this one.

Wonderland anthology by Adam Carpenter, Curtis Comer and Jeff Wilcox (ebook) (DNF)
Welcome to Wonderland, a quiet, picturesque village located on the Pacific Coast, just south of San Francisco. Prodigal son Rich North and his partner, Marc Anderson, have just relocated to Wonderland after leaving behind their lives-and a secret scandal-back in New York City. They buy a house on exclusive Eldon Court, where five Victorian homes stand. Three other gay couples lives in the other houses, while Number Two Eldon Court remains mysteriously empty. There they meet Edgar and Jack, the longest-tenured residents of Eldon Court; Aaron and Juan, a couple with their own relationship issues; and Sawyer and Dane, a young, gorgeous couple with too much money and time of their hands.
Something is afoot on Eldon Court. A peeping Tom, a possible murder attempt, a case of arson. The clues lead back to Bayside Hotel and the mysterious new owner, Danvers Converse. He is a man with perverse appetites and unstoppable ambition. He will resort to blackmail-or worse-to gain possession of Eldon Court. But why, and at what cost? The only thing the neighbors have is their solidarity. But with a spy in their midst, Eldon Court is being threatened from all sides, and Rich and Marc realize that, as they newcomers to the block, they must stop what's happening. Until newer neighbors move into Number Two-and all hell breaks loose on Eldon Court.

Received free from All Romance ebooks. I started this one and it is written by different authors. That was ok, some of it was the same happenings from different perspectives but not too much of that. It is about the relationships between all of these gay men who live on this cul-de-sac. But there is this mystery also happening during the story, which sort of interested me but about 3/4 of the way through I was getting a little bored. So I turned to the end to see if it was worth finishing and it ended with a cliffhanger and the mystery was not resolved. Plus there was some infidelity between the couples which is a hotspot with me. So I did not finish it.

Saving Sophie by Elle Amery (A-)
Sophie Huntsman’s crush on gorgeous Jake Muscat began when she was a frizzy-haired and flat- chested little twerp. She’s all woman now, and determined to fulfill her fantasy, even if it means following Jake’s rules. Jake’s always been a lone wolf, the type of guy who will never commit, but Sophie will take anything he’ll give her, even if it’s just one night of amazing sex.

Jake’s never opened up to a woman like this before, and Sophie’s discovered that Battery Operated Boyfriends can’t bring her to the heights Jake can. However, when Jake’s the only one who can save Sophie’s career, they agree to leave that night of sex behind. But lust ignites again, and this time it leaves Sophie reeling and Jake convinced his obsession will bring nothing but pain. When Jake walks away this time, Sophie needs to be saved from both a failing career and a breaking heart.

This time, can Jake save both Sophie and himself, and find the lasting passion they both desire?

Two of my favorite romance themes, brother's best friend and friends to lovers. Enjoyed this a lot, had a hard time stopping to go to bed. Solid storyline, great chemistry and nice characters. Good stuff.

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The Darkest Hour

9/13/2010 04:07:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)


Wow I started off the month with two awesome reads. This one and Water Bound by Christine Feehan. I hope the month continues to be this good bookwise.


The Darkest Hour (KGI Book 1) by Maya Banks

It’s been one year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly last saw his wife Rachel alive. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his failures as a husband, Ethan shuts himself off from everything and everyone.His brothers have tried to bring Ethan into the KGI fold, tried to break through the barriers he's built around himself, but Ethan refuses to respond… until he receives anonymous information claiming Rachel is alive.To save her, Ethan will have to dodge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise. And even if he succeeds, he’ll have to force Rachel to recover memories she can’t and doesn’t want to relive—the minute by minute terror of her darkest hour—for their love, and their lives, may depend on it.

This is Ms Banks first MM release. I love her writing style and have many of her other books already so she is an autoread for me. This book sucked me in and would not let me go. I LOVED the storyline. Because this is Ms Banks who writes some erotic books I was expecting lots of love scenes even though I knew this was not an erotic release. But no, the ones that were there were hot but they were minimal. This was not a bad thing just unexpected. I loved watching these two try to build their relationship back and learn each other all over again.

The book starts out with Ethan facing the one year anniversary of his wife's death. He receives a package in the mail that day with photos and information that his wife is not dead but being held prisoner in the jungles of Columbia. Lucky for him, he is in a military family with three of his brothers running a company that does work like that, usually for the government when they cannot technically be there. They are suitably upset and plan a op to get her back. They find her and she is not in good shape, her captors have hooked her on drugs to help control her and because of her trauma she has no memory of her life before her imprisonment. That is just the first quarter of the book. The rest is her fight to get clean and get her memories back and deal with the trauma that she has endured. it is also Ethan's fight to find the balance he needs to help her get healthy again, body and soul. But he also has a secret that he is terrified that Rachel will remember.
A secondary storyline is Ethan's parents have taken in a teenager they caught trying to steal food from their house. Rusty's mom has abandoned her and her mom's boyfriend does not want her either. So watching how the family interacts with her and her reaction to it is very interesting. She accepts Mom's invitation to stay but then when Rachel returns she feels her new place in the family is threatened.
Awesome story!!!!!!! I was so engrossed in this book, I could not put it down.

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August Reads and life update

9/03/2010 11:00:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)

Well I totally missed the fact that it turned September. Reading wise I did very well but it will definitely taper off this month now that school is back in session. I got a job, sort of. I am teaching but I am only covering a maternity leave, but it buys me some time to find a job. The ten day count is now up so schools will hopefully be looking to hire more teachers to keep class counts down. So please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers. But in the mean time I am having a blast teaching middle school. I am learning all sorts of new things that I never had to do as an elementary music teacher, testing and such. So it is neat, but also exhausting. I come home and as soon as the kids go to bed I am ready for bed too, my poor hubby is tired of me being tired. I am so wiped from getting back into the teaching groove and having so much to learn and do in a 7.5 hour day (that gets extended to grade papers, get grades inputted, make sure all the office paperwork gets turned in, call parents, detentions, tutoring, etc.).
Anyway, in other news, my church is having its grand opening the end of this month so that is exciting. We have been working on getting it going for about a year. The church that is planting us has been dreaming about this for about three years, but we just got hooked up with them about a year ago.
I hope that everyone is doing great and that everyone has an awesome Labor Day. We are running all over this weekend, which is great to see friend and family but also busy. but it is a fun busy :)
Here are my reads and grades for the month, great reading month, lots of good books.

Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors Book 4) by Pamela Palmer (B)
Red Hot Fury by Kasey MacKenzie (reviewed for Book Binge)
Her Vampire Husband (Wicked Games Book 3) by Michele Hauf (B)
Body Master (Body Book 1) by CJ Barry (review for Book Binge)
Regina in the Sun (Book 1) by RG Alexander (B)
Heart Journey (Celta Book 9) by Robin D. Owens (A)
The Unblessed King (Book 1) by Michelle M Pillow (B)
A Little Bit Wicked by Victoria Alexander (B)
Once Bitten (Kita Book 1) by Kalayna Price (B)
Take Me by Bella Andre (A)
And the Lady Makes Three anthology (ebook) (re-read)
Veil of Night by Linda Howard (B)
Edge of Desire (Primal Instincts Book 3) by Rhyannon Byrd (B-)
Infamous by Suzanne Brockmann (DNF)
Seducing Jane Porter (Jane Porter Book 1) by Dominique Adair (B)
Wicked Pleasure by Lora Leigh (A-)
Honoring the Goddess by Madison Blake (ebook) (B)
Master of Fire (Mageverse book 6, but actually the 10th story) by Angela Knight (B+)
Possess Me anthology by RG Alexander (A-)
Heart Throb by Suzanne Brockmann (re-read)
Love's Fortress (Brothers in Arms Book 7) by Samantha Kane (review for Book Binge) (A)

23 books this month.

Favorites: Love's Fortress by Samantha Kane, and Dark Embers by Tessa Adams

Least favorite: Infamous by Suzanne Brockmann. Now I am a total Suzanne Brockmann fangirl but I had a hard time getting into this one. The ghost aspect is throwing me off. I will definitely try it again because it is probably just I am not in the mood for it. I have yet to read abook of hers that I did not love and I do not want it to start now. That is why I re-read HeartThrob to get my Brockmann groove back on.

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