The Reading Spot

Sorry this post is so late, we were on vacation the last week in June and trying to be as unplugged as we could then when we returned found out that our internet was down.  So did not get it back on until recently.  Well June was mainly about finishing school, getting ready for summer and vacation so I did not do that much reading.  And since I was also following the Digital First reading challenge, the majority of the books I read were ebook and posted on my goodreads page.  Plus digital reading is much better for traveling (and makes for much lighter baggage :)

Captivated by Lauren Dane
Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh
Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
All were great books!!

Re-reads
Hot Fantasy anthology
Fantasy Anthology

Undercover by Lauren Dane (re-read)

Kiss of a Demon King (Immortals after Dark Book 6) by Kresley Cole
Bed of Roses (Bride Quartet Book 2) by Nora Roberts (A)
Hunting Ground (Alpha and Omega Book 2) by Patricia Briggs (A)
Thief of Light (Pentacle Book 2) by Denise Rossetti (C) guest review at Book Binge
Witchcraft by Jayne Ann Krentz (DNF)
Shifting Plains (Sons of Destiny spinoff) by Jean Johnson (A) guest review at Book Binge
Lady Emeline's Remedy by Cynthia Moore (C+)
Their One and Only by Trista Ann Michaels (re-read)
The Firefighter anthology (re-read)
Truly, Madly (Lucy Valentine Book 1) by Heather Webber (A-)

Well, I was going to put this out on time but the travelling internet gods were not with me. Hubby and I went to Alabama for a week leaving the kids with my mother (i love her). And the friend's house that we were staying at had very spotty internet so I was not able to be online except in short spurts. But I got to read alot :) I finished a book a day while I was away. I will tell you about those in the next post.

This post is about my re-reads. I picked a Johanna Lindsay trilogy that has been on my shelf for a few years. I originally read them out of order (2nd, 3rd, 1st then went back and read the 2nd one again because then it made more sense). These are very spread out in publication dates and the writing style shows it.
The worldbuilding confused me some. I thought from the way the first book was written that Tedra lived on a futuristic Earth just renamed, but in the third book he had to travel for 2 months to reach "Earth". I guess it makes sense and i just read it wrong, could be and would not be the first time.

Warrior's Woman
In the year 2139, fearless Tedra De Arr sets out to rescue her beleaguered planet Kystran from the savage rule of the evil Crad Ce Moerr. Experienced in combat but not in love, the beautiful, untouched Amazon flies with Martha, her wise-cracking, free-thinking computer, to a world where warriors reigns supreme--and into the arms of the one man she can never hope to vanquish: the bronzed barbarian Challen Ly-San-Ter. A magnificent creature of raw yet disciplined desires, the muscle-bound primitive succeeds where no puny Kystran male had before--igniting a raging fire within Tedra that must be extinguished before she can even think of saving her enslaved world. . .

Came out in 1990. I had a hard time with the hero, he is one of those Ultra-Alpha males. I love my alpha male but there is such a thing as too much for me. There is no compromising with these males, they have to have it their way and cannot fathom that there might be another option than the one they have come up with. But Tedra is a good match for him. She is strong enough to deal with him so she would not get squashed by his attitude but soft enough to deal with his hardness.
This is still a keeper for me, mainly because I like to read this one before the second book, but I think I could only re-read this one about once every 5-7 years.

Keeper of the Heart

In search of a true and gentle love, fiery Shanelle Ly-San-Ter flees the lustful advances of the blue-eyed barbarian who has been chosen as her lifemate--confused and frightened by the fevered yearnings the handsome brute has awakened in her innocent soul.

Where Passion Reigns. . .
A warrior, virile and magnificent Falon Vanyer is overwhelmed with intense desire for the spirited beauty who has vowed never to be his. And though the heavens themselves conspire against him, he will pursue his sensuous prize--and brave any peril to conquer and claim the keeper of his heart.

Heart of a Warrior

Sorry did not post anything last week. got busy. Did not actually read much to post about the previous week. I spent most of the week reading a trilogy for the Re-read challenge.

Question for anyone out there: who is planning on going to the RT convention or more specifically, the book signing on Saturday? I am planning on going and was curious who all was planning on going as well.

Home news:
We survived Oldest's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. She had a blast, I was glad we were able to do it. Our Spring Break is coming up and Hubby and I are leaving the kiddos with the grandparents (their idea of a vacation is time with the kiddos and ours is a break from them, so it works out all round) and Hubby and I are going on a little trip to visit some friends that moved out of our state last year. Baby is doing great. She is scooting backwards all over the place ,but cannot quite get the forward action going. (Not that i am really complaing, it is easier when she is not as mobile). Medium (that is what she calls herself, she says she is the medium child and who am i to argue with a 4 year old) is just as mischeivious as ever. I fear for us with her as a teenager. She is very much her own person, it is so fun to watch her.

Here is what I have been reading this week.

Relentless by Lauren Dane (A-) review to come :D
Mona Lisa Darkening by Sunny (review to come at Book Binge)
A Toy for Two (Dungeon Master Book 2) by Jennifer Cole (review to come at Book Binge)

Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy
Independent single mother Tamara Briggs wanted to find a new, sexy, no-strings-attached man—just not one as young as NASCAR driver Elec Monroe. But he sure does get her heart racing. And after she’s tricked into a blind date with him, Tamara gives in to her passion. Things screech to a halt, though, when he asks to meet her children. Whatever happened to wham-bam-thank-you ma’am? Suddenly Tamara has to decide how much risk she’s willing to take to experience the power of true love.

Good sexy read. Usually I do not like books with kids in them, but this one worked for me. Great storyline, interesting characters and some very hot chemistry. But I do not really like the blurb. He does not really ask to see her children. He shows up on her doorstep and asks to come in. He does want to meet them but not like the blurb implies. This is one of those stories where they go into things expecting to have a fling and then go on with their lives, but then fall further than they were expecting to fall. Good solid story, what I expect from Ms McCarthy. (B)

My Man Michael by Lori Foster
On the verge of a title shot match, fighter Michael “Mallet” Manchester is injured in a car accident. And just as quickly as his career was taking off, it’s over. Then Kaylie Raine appears, offering him a second chance at becoming whole. Even though Mallet thinks it’s the pain medication talking, he accepts her challenge. And on an extraordinary journey with Kaylie, he’ll get a chance to fight again—to save the woman who has saved him.

This one is different and takes an unexpected twist to the series. If you do not like time travel or unexpectedness in your books then you will not like this one. I have heard a lot of negative reviews about this one because it is not her norm for stories. This is not my favorite by her but it was not totally bad or anything. But do not go into it expecting a basic contemporary book. (C+)

Well, work is kicking my butt at the moment. They cut my counter part at school and have doubled up my classes in K-3rd. So I have two classes at the same time and they have given me a aide to help. It is not going too badly, but I am so worn out. Kindergarten was scaring me, but I think that we have worked out a workable solution. I have the classes two at a time, but it is staggered because of the previous schedule. So one day I have classes A and B and the next day I have classes B and C, and the next, C and D etc. So that make lessons not ideal because I cannot build on the lessons they way I wish. They say that it is probably only for the semester then they can try to make it better in January. By then I will be used to it, I hope, and it will not matter. It is just difficult adjusting, it is a new challenge. Okay i am done with my whining.

The kids are all doing well. The baby is growing like a weed. She is up to 14 lbs. The middle one is amazing her daycare teacher with her energy and ability to lie. The oldest is doing very well in school and getting ready for soccer to start. They all impress me and stress me everyday, it is great. :) I hope that everyone is doing well.



Davin's Quest (Resonance Mates Book 2) by Bianca D'Arc

Which man will Callie choose, the alien or the warrior? Or can she have both?

For each Alvian, there is one perfect match—a Resonance Mate whose soul blends in perfect harmony. Unlike the rest of his race, Davin has emotions and suffers for it. Without a mate, he is doomed to go mad. Searching for answers and understanding, he seeks out Callie O’Hara, a human woman with strong empathic gifts. Could this fragile human be his Resonance Mate?

Rick St. John is a tough-as-nails survivor of the Alvian occupation of Earth. He doesn’t believe in much, but when he sees Callie for the first time, he starts to believe in love at first sight.

The Governing Council is gunning for Davin, the upstart who dares to defy them. And they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way. Davin and Rick must come to terms with their feelings for Callie in order to keep her safe, while she has to find a way to save them both... with her love.

If you have not seen Dr. Horrible yet, you have to check it out. The full title is Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. There are three acts each about 15 minutes long. And (Zeek with love this) it was created by Joss Whedon. It will only stay online until Sunday then you have to buy it from i-tunes. The third act will be released on Saturday. It is a mini-musical with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. It is awesome, check it out!!
I also wanted to say that Emily and I are doing fine. I appreciate all of you thoughts and prayers for us. Hubby and I are enjoying our time with her before our other two come home on Saturday.

Well, eventful weekend here. My oldest turned 6 so we had her birthday party at our house. The day was beautiful temp wise. But it was windy as all get out. We had to get packing tape to tape the tablecloths down to the tables. Scotch tape was not doing it. We alternated in and out of the house, because the candles would not have survived outside. And unwrapping presents would have been interesting. The kids had a blast though.
The pregnancy is going well. I will try to post a sonagram pic this week. But they say it looks like a girl. My husband is a little overwhelmed by the thought of three girls. He is excited just a little tired at the thought of doing this all over again now that the youngest is potty trained and eating correctly and all that stuff. He is stressed out about work. The place where he was working is closing so he has been helping with packing up all the inventory and it is just sad. So that is not helping his stress level. Prayers please for him.

Wulf by Kayelle Allen (ebook)
This is the first in the series of The Chosen. This was also my very first M/M book. Interesting. I do not think that I will read them on a regular basis but it made for an interesting change.

Lust. Power. Forgiveness. And a romance that lives forever.
Wulf Gabriel longs for freedom. A superstar in the Tarthian Empire, he is bound by an unscrupulous agent to a restrictive contract. With his career threatened and his life at risk, Wulf must trust the one man he swore would never again control him -- Luc Saint-Cyr, a.k.a. the Harbinger. For the Harbinger, saving Wulf is a simple matter of asserting his will. This enigmatic individual's legendary power makes him the most feared man in the empire. Gaining Wulf's trust, friendship, and eventually his love requires the consummate skill of a master -- and a romance that lives forever.

Alitus by Kayelle Allen (ebook)
Got this book not realising that there are other books between Wulf and this one. Now I have to go get the other two, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure and For Women Only. Those two are about brothers Senth and Khyff and though it is not imperitive to read them before Alitus, there were things mentioned that would have made a lot more sense if I had read the other two before this one.
It was interesting, but I think I will like them both better if I read all the books in order one after the other.

Alitus Vivaldi is a Better, an enhanced human bred for intelligence, discipline, and responsiveness. His combined talents in bed and politics take him from the Conqueror’s favorite pleasure slave to her personal assistant. He quickly learns the way to her heart is passion, love, and loyalty. When the empire’s political upheaval begins to nibble at her iron fist of control, the Conqueror must strip her favorite of his freedom and rights. To help the Conqueror accomplish her secret agenda, Alitus forsakes his identity and pride, and surrenders himself to his darkest fears. But will what he becomes save the Tarthian Empire and its Conqueror, or rock them both to their crumbling core?

Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind by Karen Kelley
X-files comes to romance!! Just kidding. This was an interesting alien book. She is tired of her perfect planet of only women and reads about Earth and comes here to experience sex with a real man (as opposed to her perfect robot companion, Barton) and actually feel dirt and eat chocolate. Though it is hard to believe a world of only females and no chocolate. Scary. But now that she is here she wants to stay, but she has a wacked out guy in town named Harlan who has convinced the tabloid reporters that she is an alien and the people from her planet want her back. Choices, choices... perfection and sex with a robot or chocolate and sex with a man. I enjoyed this book, it was funny. I do not think it was a keeper for me, but I enjoyed reading it.

Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
When I first picked this up I thought that is was going to contain an actual ghost, but no it didn't. Not a bad thing just what I expected from the title. That is what happens when you don't read the back summary. I enjoyed this book a lot. I read her book Finders Keepers and knew that I had to find more by her. She writes very good sci-fi romance. Now I need to find Games of Command because I have heard really good things about that book as well.

After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn’t commit–and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows.
Gabriel Sullivan–alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue–is supposed to be dead. Yet now this seductive ghost from Chaz’s past is offering her a ticket to freedom–for a price. Someone in the Empire is secretly breeding jukors: vicious and uncontrollable killing machines that have long been outlawed. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates Imperial space. The mission means putting their lives on the line–but the tensions that heat up between them may be the riskiest part of all.

Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair
This was a nice change of pace for me. It has been a while since I have read a good sci-fi book. And this one was a romance which made it even better for me. Someone mentioned one of her books (I think it was Games of Command and said it was really good) and I looked her up and my library has two of her books, I was so glad. So I grabbed this one and now have another book, Gabriel's Ghost on request. I do not know if they are related or not yet. This was a great book if you enjoy sci-fi with some romance (more warm than HOT) in it. The only thing that I wish had been different was I wanted more description of the bad guys. I know that they were not human but that is about it that I remember. Besides that I really liked it.


Independent trader Trilby Elliot is making some not-quite-legal modifications to her starfreighter, when an unexpected visitor falls out of space. Literally. He’s crashed onto the uninhabited planet of Avanar in a crippled ’Sko fighter–the last place you’d expect to find a Zafharin military officer because the ’Sko and the Zafharin have been at war as long as Trilby can remember.
Rhis Vanur is your typically arrogant Zafharin. But to Trilby’s surprise, he doesn’t look down on her or her slapdash ship. Still, Trilby’s learned the hard way that even though she found Rhis, she can’t keep him. She’s just a low-budget jump jockey as far as men like him are concerned. She’s not falling for his offer to help…until Port Rumor reports her best friend missing and Trilby learns that the ’Sko are hunting both her and Rhis. Now they’re in it together for better, for worse–or till death blasts them to oblivion....

This is a fun series. The fourth book (The Quest) just came out, but I have not read it yet. This series is futuristic and pretty good. There is not alot of sci-fi jargon and a pretty good story line,if you are not a great lover of sci-fi. You do not have to read these three in order, but there are characters that are mentioned in both so it does help. It is not the best sci-fi I have read, but I liked it.

The Challenge by Susan Kearney (Book One)
She was shot protecting the president, and woke up naked, in the arms of a hunk....A hunk named Kahn (a Rystani leader/warrior), who told Secret Service agent Tessa Camen an outlandish story about traveling through time, saving the world, and a Challenge only she can accept. Kahn offers her proof she can't refute: Tessa has been brought forward through time to save Earth by winning an intergalactic challenge. Kahn only has a few weeks to train Tessa to use the psi-abilities he insists she has. He is confident in the success of a time-honored method that uses sexual frustration to bring out her powers, but Tessa is dubious. She's a martial arts expert and can fight her way through anything, but she's never had much luck with emotions. Luckily for Earth, Kahn can be very convincing....


The Dare by Susan Kearney (Book Two)
Dora wants to make love. Specifically, Dora wants to make love with the handsome Rystani warrior-pilot Zical. But since Dora is a computer-albeit a sentient computer-she cannot experience touch, taste and true desire. Dora's logic functions refuse to accept this, so she uses the advanced technology of the 24th century to build herself a body specifically crafted to appeal to Zical, and downloads her computer brain into it. But Dora's sassy attitude makes her too different from the women of Zical's culture. He's attracted to Dora, but he won't make love to her. And while it would be easy for Dora to adapt to his desires, she likes being smart and funny; she's becoming good at being human. When Zical accidentally summons the ancient machines that protect the galaxy from invasion, Zical and Dora's mission is to intercept them and bring them back to the galaxy's rim. Fortunately for Dora, this puts her and Zical into very close quarters for a very long time. But much has changed, and as Dora learns more about human emotions and what they mean, she realizes that she doesn't just want to make love with Zical--she wants to love him. And be loved in return.

The Ultimatum by Susan Kearney (Book Three)
Dr. Alara Calladar needs a man........but she sure as krek doesn't want one. If Alara doesn't make love soon, her cells will fail to regenerate and she'll die. Unfortunately, her only option is an enemy--Rystani starpilot Xander, her abductor.... and a member of the race who has been battling hers since the beginning of time (she is Endekian). Xander issues an ultimatum: He'll make love to Alara only if she will use her psi-talent of identifying DNA to help him find the cure for the deadly Terran virus spreading across the galaxy. Alara is trapped. She gives Xander what he wants--and gets when she needs. But Alara holds a pair of secrets: the more they make love, the more Alara's cells adapt to Xander's body, until the only person she can make love with is him--and the more time they spend together, the more Alara likes Xander. When it seems that all the forces in the universe have aligned against them, can Alara trust Xander with her life.... and her heart?

Kick @$$ anthology byMaggie Shayne, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight and Jacey Ford
This was a fun anthology if you like heroines with a backbone. I bought this for Angela Knight's story but I enjoyed all of them.

The Bride Wore a .44- Maggie Shayne
The heroine has amnesia and is getting ready to marry a man who she does not really know just because she was told they were engaged before the accident. Her mother has pretty much run her life, with her consent, since her accident, but now she is starting to get curious about her life before especially when she opens a trunk of her stuff and it contains some pretty interesting weapons. Great short story.
The Incredible Misadventures of Boo & the Boy Blunder- MJD
I think this was my least favorite, it had some fun dialogue, but I could not get into it. MJD returns to Betsy's world (Betsy is not mentioned though) where Boo is a vampire hunter and ends up saving Boy Blunder (aka Eddie Batley) from being someone's dinner. He in turn decides that tagging along after her would be the coolest, she disagrees. Then she meets Gregory, who is a vampire trying to make is as a comedian and get rid of bad guys in his spare time. Boo knows the vamps are supposed to be the bad guys, she is not quite sure of what to make of him.
Warfem- Angela Knight
This story is set in her world from Jane's Warlord (none of the same characters though that I remember) where two cyborg warriors (Baird and Alina) are reunited after years of separation. But what has Alina been doing for all this time and is she still the same woman that he fell for all those years ago.
Painkillers- Jacey Ford
This story was good, but it was the odd man out for the anthology. The heroines in all the stories were kick butt women, and Lauren is a supermodel who wants to be a kick butt woman. The story was different but still enjoyable. Lauren is a supermodel/CIA agent and Jake is her partner. They are on a Caribbean island trying to prevent a coup d'etat within the government and end up falling for each other. She loves his abilities and strength, and he loves her spirit and improvisation skills. It is a very cute story.