February Re-read Challenge

2/28/2009 11:01:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

I recently read the first two in this series. Extreme Exposure and Hard Evidence (my review here). When I first read Unlawful Contact (review here) I had no idea that it was part of a series. I had wondered briefly because some of the characters were talked about like the reader should know them but then dismissed it, don't know why. So after reading the other two, I needed to re-read and felt this book would be good for the challenge.


Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare
Taken hostage by a convicted murderer while reporting at a prison, Sophie Alton has no idea that the man holding the gun to her head is the bad boy who was her first love in high school. Condemned to life without parole, Marc Hunter finds himself with no choice but to break out of prison after his younger sister disappears with her baby. Though he regrets what he has to put Sophie through, he can’t let anything get in the way of his stopping the corrupt officials who are set on destroying what’s left of his family. But being near Sophie rekindles memories for both of them. As the passion between them heats up, so does the conspiracy to put both of them in their graves.

I loved this more the second time around. A lot of the things I missed the first time around because I had not read the other books made more sense this time. Last time I felt that I was missing something and that I was supposed to know the other characters and had no clue who they were. I had more background info on the heroine than before so that also added to my enjoyability. Some very hot scenes and a lot of soul searching for Sophie. Great storyline and great characters.

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Extreme Exposure and Hard Evidence and other stuff

2/15/2009 03:40:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (1)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Hubby took us girls on a date to CiCi's pizza. The littles got dressed up and walked holding Hubby's elbows like little ladies, it was very cute.

I have been watching my middle child (the 4 year old) more closely lately and have noticed something. I have always known that she is a good liar, but something that has come out of that is her imagination. She has a great imagination. She is my storyteller and she directs all the storyline when playing with oldest or just herself. She tells oldest what to say and has the whole story worked out in her head. Great stuff, it is fun to watch and listen to. Maybe she will be an author one day.

Have you picked your re-red yet for this month, don't let it sneak up on you, this is a short month. After reading these two books, I picked mine, Unlawful Contact. When I read it the first time, I did not know it was part of a series and felt that I was missing something because it read like I should have known who these other characters were and I did not know them, So after reading these two I definitely have to re-read it. Just foundo ut too, that there is another story in this series in an anthology called Catch of the Day that has Lissy's story about meeting Will. I will have to look for that one.

February reads so far:
Dark of the Night by Suzanne Brockmann (A) did not review because everyone else already has and I had nothing to add, I loved it.
Midnight Sins by Cynthia Eden (A-) comes after book Hotter After Midnight good paranormal romantic suspense
Kiss of a Dark Moon (Moon Chasers book 2) by Sharie Kohler (B)
Night Huntress (Sisters of the Moon book 5) by Yasmin Galenorn (review here at Book Binge)
The Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress by Maya Banks I have always made it a policy of mine not to buy any book with Tycoon, Millionaire, Billionaire in the title, but for Maya I make an exception. Not my fav by her but good. (C+)
Into the Lair (Falcon Mercenary Book 2) by Maya Banks (A-) Great paranormal action read

Update: Joint review of Kiss and Tell by Suzanne Brockmann over at Breezing Through Books



Extreme Exposure (I-Team Book 1) by Pamela Clare
It's been years since her child's father dumped her, and since then investigative reporter Kara McMillan has kept men at bay—although every day she aches more for a lover's touch. But to get that, the hard-boiled journalist must become vulnerable—a feeling she vowed never to have again.

With his dangerous good looks, charm, and power, Senator Reece Sheridan could have just about any woman he sets his piercing eyes on. But he’s intrigued by only one. This Kara, this gutsy investigative reporter, has a sensuality that arouses him to no end. If she’s a firebrand in print, he guesses, she must be just as fiery in bed…

But this is no fling. A sudden political scandal—and attempts on Kara's life—could very well drive them apart. Or maybe, just maybe, adversity could draw them into a bond even more intense than their steamy sexual embraces…

Great solid romantic suspense. Kara is a single mom trying to get ahead in her career. She is an investigative reporter and covers the politcal arena. She is very good at what she does. She get a very dangerous lead about a company that is not following environmental laws and as she followsup on this someone wants her to stop or else. Reece is a senator that has noticed Kara around and respects her professionally. Now he wants to get to know her personally. He is a great do-gooder hero. He was a teacher turned politician trying to be a good example to his students and cannot wait to go back to teaching. But still Alpha in his protectiveness. Good stuff. Great story.



Hard Evidence (I-Team Book 2) by Pamela Clare

After the murder of a teenage girl, a mysterious man in a black leather jacket was seen lurking near the crime scene. Investigative reporter Tessa Novak has him in her sights as the culprit…

That man was Julian Darcangelo—an undercover FBI agent working with the Denver police. He’s closing in on the trail of a human trafficker and killer. Tessa’s accusations could blow his cover—and he wants her off the investigation.

But just as Tessa has made Julian a target of interest, she is now a target—of the killer. And as they are forced to trust each other, their physical attraction escalates as intensely as the threat from a ruthless murderer who wants to see both of them dead…

Another solid romantic suspense. Tessa is in the wrong place at the wrong time. A teenage girl is killed right in front of her and now Tessa wants some answers. But the more she delves the more she puts herself in danger because she does not realize the caliber of people she is dealing with. Julian is an agent that has been tracking this criminal and been undercover working on this particular crime ring for years. He has many scars on his heart and thinks that he is too damaged to be good for anyone. He is so opposite from Reece (hero in previous book) in pasts and what they have seen. But they both are men with a goal, to stop bad things from happening.
Tessa thinks that the girls death was the result of gangs but little does she know that she is now in the middle of a human trafficking ring.
The only thingI didn ot like about this book was her naivete about human trafficking. She is a reporter and does not know that these things go on and what happens to these girls. Even I know that much from tv and books. Besides that I loved the book.

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My Fair Captain and The Englor Affair

2/08/2009 04:42:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (1)

Hey everyone, hope that everyone is doing great. So far we are all doing well, but with the economy the way it is who knows what next week brings so keep praying. The school system in my county has to make 100 million in cuts so me along with many other teachers are wondering if we will have a job next year. I remember thinking when I started teaching that it was a good idea because we always need teachers and there will always be kids to teach. but I am foreseeing a very hard time coming up for education and fear for our kids' quality of education.

My hubby is getting ready to launch his new web design company so that is exciting. He is very excited about it and happy that he can do it from home so that he can stay home with the two little ones. I will post the site when he launches it in case any one is interested or curious. :)

Moving on, I had heard so much about this book and how good it was that I got it and the next in the series and read them back to back. Good stuff.


My Fair Captain (Sci-Regency Book 1) by JL Langley
Talk about a compromising situation! A storm of political intrigue, murderous mayhem and sexual hungers is brewing on planet Regelence. Swarthy Intergalactic Navy Captain Nathaniel Hawkins ran from a past he had no intention of ever reliving. But when his Admiral asks him to use his peerage, as an earl and the heir to a dukedom, to investigate a missing weapons stash, hes forced to do just that. As if being undercover on a Regency planet where the young men are supposed to remain pure until marriage isnt bad enough, Nate finds himself attracted to the kings unmarried son. All Prince Aiden Townsend has ever wanted was to be an artist. He has no interest in a marriage of political fortune or becoming a societal paragon. Until he lands in the arms of the mysterious Earl of Deverell. One look at Nates handsome face has Aiden reconsidering his future. Not only does Nate make a virile subject for Aiden's art, but the great war hero awakens feelings in Aiden he has never felt, feelings he cant ignore. After a momentous dance at a season ball, Aiden and Nate find themselves exchanging important information and working closely together. They have to fight their growing attraction long enough to find out who stole the weapons and keep themselves from a compromising situation and certain scandal.

This is a great M/M futuristic romance story. Nate was a great Alpha hero. Aiden was definitely a beta male and it worked for them. The storyline was very good and the world building was unique to me. On this particular planet called Regelence, they live perpetually in approximately Regency England and M/M relationships are the norm. Children are mostly lab created using the DNA of both parents. Nate goes there to investigate a theft, little did he know what he would find there. There is some d/s as well in the story.



Cover Image of The Englor Affair eBooks, by J. L. LangleyThe Englor Affair (Sci-Regency Book 2) by JL Langley

In hiding who he was, Payton found himself…and the man he would grow to love. After his brother is kidnapped, Prince Payton Townsend masquerades as an Admiral’s assistant in order to track the culprits through the tangled mysteries of the planet Englor. He finds way more than he bargained for in the form of Marine Colonel Simon Hollister. Simon is no ordinary soldier. He’s heir to Englor and his life is mapped out for him: throne, bride, and eventually an heir. He never expected a dalliance with Payton to blossom into love, or that the organization that taught him to lead would threaten that love—and their lives. Danger and intrigue abound as they learn more about their shared enemy, and about each other. What they learn could help them rise above to an enduring love—or pull them apart.

I read this as soon as I finished My Fair Captain, the first in this series. I loved the storyline, lots of intrigue and romance. This was an excellent futuristic romance. Simon was a great character. He is heir to the throne of his world and is dealing with the politics and intrigues of the court. He is also attracted to men and that is not an accepted thing on his planet. Enter Payton, who is from Regelence, a world where M/M relationships are the norm, and he is also there doing some investigating. I loved watching them and wondering how it was going to work out. Payton was a lot more alpha than Aiden was in the firt book. Simon was the slightly more dominant partner but Pay could hold his own well. This partnership worked a little better for me because it was a little more balanced to me than the last book. Nate has a large role in this story but you do not see Aiden very much. Great book.

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King of Sword and Sky and others

2/02/2009 04:38:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

Happy Groundhog Day! This evening Hubby and I are going to do our yearly tradition of watching the movie Groundhog Day on groundhog day. If you have not seen it, you are missing out, it is a great movie.

Reads for past two weeks:
Witch Fire by Anya Bast (B+)
Witch Blood by Anya Bast (B)
Witch Heart by Anya Bast (review here at Book Binge)
The Quickening by Antonia Tiranth (review here at Book Binge)
No Other Lover by Jane Ann Long (A-)
The Mane Attraction by Shelly Laurenston (A-)
Sons of Amber by Bianca D'Arc (C+)
Kiss and Tell by Suzanne Brockmann (review coming soon)


Thought: You know you are a book junkie when ... you buy your purses based on if you can fit a book into it. (I never buy a purse that I cannot fit a trade size book into.)



King of Sword and Sky (Tairen Soul Book 3) by C. L. Wilson
Returning to the Fading Lands with his Celierian truemate, Rain discovers a dissension among the most powerful members of his own council. As the Eld plot their next deadly strike, Ellysetta struggles to master her powerful magic and discover how to save the tairen, while Rain confronts open challenge to his rule and prepares to lead the Fey army to war.

I promised I would post this after my re-read of the first two books.
Great addition, I LOVE this series!! They finally travel to the Fading Lands and find that things are not exactly as they should be. Rain discovers somethings that have happened because of his near insanity. When he was not himself his power was given to the Counsel and now (like when the military takes power during a war) they do not want to give the power back over to Rain. They have gotten huge egos with all that power and do not want to give it up.
They also have a lot of suspicion about Elly and her Marks that she has and how safe she actually is, they do not trust her.
Elly starts working with the tairen trying to save them and discovers exactly what is happening to them, but does she have the power to save them.
Great story. I cannot wait for the next book to see what happens with the Mage War. And if Shan and his mate get rescued. Good stuff, June is too far away :(

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January Re-read Challenge

1/31/2009 11:48:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (6)

Well, in December, Nath issued a re-read challenge. I knew my January books right off the bat. I had been wanting to re-read the first two CL Wilson books before I read the third book. So I read Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows. I read them back to back over about three days, they were just as good as I remembered. And one thing I love about re-reading is discovering things you missed or forgot from the first time around. They are both still definitely part of my keeper shelf. If you enjoy fantasy and have not read these, you are missing out. My thought are after the summaries of both books.
For the other challenge reviews for this month you can go here.

Lord of the Fading Lands (Tairen Soul Book 1) by C. L. Wilson
Long ago, in the magical holocaust known as the Mage Wars, the immortal Fey and their allies fought to defeat the grasping evil of the Elden Mages and their dark-gifted supporters. During those wars, in a fit of grief-induced madness caused by the death of his mate, Fey shapeshifter Rain Tairen Soul nearly destroyed the world in a blaze of tairen fire. Now, a thousand years later, the fierce Fey king must fight to save his race from the brink of extinction and once again stop the evil rising in the homeland of his enemies, the Eld. The key to his success lies in the mortal city of Celieria, where the Mage Wars began, and with a young woman whose soul sings to him in ways no woman’s ever has, whose presence reawakens the primal fury of the tairen within his soul, and whose vast, untapped power can either save or destroy him and his people.

I thought alot about Ely's circumstances in this one. She goes to Main street to get a glimpse of the Fey and this big animal that she has only heard about swoops down and turns into a man and then tells her that she is his mate. That would kind of freak me out too.
Rain has travelled to Celieria because the tairen Eye told him that the answers to their problems was in Celieria. When he gets there he senses something he never thought he would have, his truemate. In their history, Tairen Souls have never had a truemate. So he swoops down to claim his mate and is a little overwhelmed by the fact that he has a mate that he is a little dominating with her. Ely has been raised with the belief that magic is evil. Fey were people that were interesting to read about and look at but that is it. There is also the problem that Ely has just been betrothed to someone else. Rain has his work cut out for him to try to win this woman.



Lady of Light and Shadows (Tairen Soul Book 2) by C. L. Wilson
Since her earliest memories, Ellysetta Baristani has feared magic, even as she has been inexorably drawn to all things Fey, especially the poetry and legends of Rain Tairen Soul. Now claimed as Rain’s truemate and no longer able to deny her own magic, Ellysetta is swept into the very center of a struggle filled with the magic and darkness she has always feared. The High Mage of Eld wants to capture her. The most murderous dahl’reisen who ever lived wants her dead. And her enemies will corrupt even the people she loves most in their quest to claim her magic for themselves.

Elly has finally accepted her magic and is trying to learn to use it better. Her mother though is making this very hard. Her mother still harbors a great fear of magic and is scared that the Fey are leading her daughter to evil. Elly is preparing for her wedding and learning more about the Fey. She and Rain are continuing to grow closer as they learn more about one another. The Eld are making a lot of mischief in the realm as they try to capture Elly and end up hurting a lot of people.

My thoughts:
Great books. I am so happy that I read these again. Rain is such a great troubled hero. He has survived the horror of losing many loved ones at once and it almost drove him insane. He is trying to tame down is dominant nature a little so that he lets Elly have some choice in her life. Elly is a good match for him especially as she grows more sure of herself and confident in her powers. She will tell him "no" and her feelings about something without being afraid of him.
But she is still holding some things back from him and that will bite her in the butt later.
The High Mage is an intriguing bad guy, I do not mind reading the sections about him. (There are other books that I always skip over the sections with the bad guy POV but in this one they were almost always short and very informative.) I feel so bad for those trapped by him and am very curious about the little girl with his eyes that they keep mentioning.

I was anxious to start the next book and I did, review to follow soon.

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Key to Conflict , Key to Conspiracy and Key to Redemption

1/25/2009 03:03:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (1)

Well, I think for the time being with the rate that I am writing posts I am going to do one review post a week and then a recap of the rest of the books that I have read but did not review once a week or once every two weeks. If you are interested in the books below, read all of the reviews because I was liking this series until the most recent book.

Life update: the kids are doing well. Friday was Hubby's birthday and we were going camping with my in-laws this weekend. So of course Saturday morning I woke up sick. It was not pretty. I felt really bad. So Hubby took oldest to her soccer game (they won, and are 1st in their division) and when they got home I was still not feeling well so they went without me. I am disappointed that I could not go, but I also got some uninterrupted reading time as well which was nice. I felt better about 5 hours later . And I got to sleep for 8 hours without interruption!!! I was so happy. I have spent Sunday watching chick movies on Netflix Instant and working around the house and I am still feeling fine. I watched a movie called Love and Other Disasters that was cute and Shakespeare Untold which is an English mini-series of four Shakespeare stories retold in modern times. Cute so far, am watching the retelling of Much Ado About Nothing set in a local brocast station. I decided only to watch the one episode. I found they also had North and South with Richard Armitage so I am watching that instead.

Key to Conflict (Gillian Key, Paradoc Book 1) by Talia Gryphon
Meet Gillian Key-a paramortal psychologist who can treat the mental distress of nonhumans. And she's a Marine Special Forces operative who can get physical with them when the situation calls for it.
Gillian's two worlds collide when she travels to the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to counsel a dangerously attractive local master vampire-and becomes embroiled in a brewing turf war with the legendary Dracula.

Good start to the series. This is not my favorite but I am intrigued enough to continue and see where Ms Gryphon goes with the series and characters. If you are interested in eading this you have to be okay with the heroine sleeping with someone other than the hero. In this book she goes to Romania to treat a vampire with "fangxiety". He is depressed and contimplating why to go on. Gill is a very strong heroine. She is attracted to her patient, Aleksei but cannot have any sort of relationship with him outside of couselor until a year after he is "cured". So she begins a friends with benefits relationship with his brother, Tanis, who is also a vampire. During this time Dracula, one of the three vampire Lords, stages a revolt/revolution/coup or whatever you want to call it, to try to take over the paranormal world and then the rest of the world.


Key to Conspiracy (Gillian Key, Paradoc Book 2) by Talia Gryphon
In northern Russia after a devastating earthquake, paramortal psychologist and Marine Special Forces operative Gillian Key helps break up a ring of child traffickers preying on newly orphaned children. But away from Count Aleksei Rachlav, the irresistible vampire she left behind, Gillian is vulnerable to the Dark Prince himself—Dracula—who would like nothing more than to use her as a pawn in his escalating war with Rachlav.

I liked this a little more. Gillian finally gets together with Aleksei but not til halfway through. The first part of hte story is Gill helping to break up a ring of child traffickers. You get to see more of her fighting side. I love how she dealt with the film crew that her superior sent with the team to record the capture of the traffickers. Then she heads back to Romania to be with Aleksei but then gets rerouted to England and has a bad run in with some ghosts. Eventually she gets back to Romania and can pursue therelationship. Very busy book, lots going on.


Key to Redemption (Gillian Key, Paradoc Book 3) by Talia Gryphon
In Romania, the estate of master vampire Aleksei Rachlav has become the headquarters for those paramortals who stand against Dracula’s army. And soldier and paramortal psychologist Gillian Key finds herself with a new group of clients. One is straight out of legend—a disfigured, masked man who haunts a Parisian opera house— and who becomes Aleksei’s rival for Gillian’s heart.

This book is where I lost it with the series. I did not finish this book. At first I was excited when I read back thattalked about The Phantom of the Opera being her new patient. Until I found out that he is to be a patient with her because she is a certified sex therapist. When Aleksei objected to her sleeping with someone else she told him to get over it and that he needed to accept her job. She has always been a very Alpha character but she just became too Alpha for me in this book. I read about 3/4 of hte book and then could do it any longer because she ticked me off.
Aleksei loves her and treats her wonderfully and I was mad at her for doing that to him. Some poeple can see past it and evenI understand why she did it, but I could not finish the book.

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The Missing

1/19/2009 10:18:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

Happy MLK day to other US people. Love having an extra day off.

The Missing by Shiloh Walker
Her psychic gift drove away the man she loved— and years later has drawn him back to her… As a teenager, Taige Branch hated her psychic gift. No one could understand—except for Cullen Morgan, the boy who stole her heart. He did his best to accept her, until his mother was brutally murdered—and he couldn’t forgive Taige for not preventing it.
Now a widowed father, Cullen Morgan has never forgotten Taige. But what brings her back into his life is another tragedy. His beloved little girl has been kidnapped, and Taige is his only hope of finding her. Working together against the clock, Cullen and Taige can’t help but wonder whether—if they find his daughter in time—it isn’t too late for the overpowering love that still burns between them…

Taige sees things. She is a mixture of precog and telepathic but it is selective. She can see people that are in trouble but not everyone and not always in time to help. This has been happening to her since she was a girl. She even saw her parents die when she was a kid but could do nothing to stop it. With her parents dead she has to go live with her abusive uncle who also happens to be a self proclaimed preacher. He sees her gift as a curse and tells her that she is demon possessed and evil. (Nice guy huh) After Cullen loses his mother Taige feels guilty and goes to college and begins to work as a consultant for the FBI. Her job takes her into some nasty places but she takes solace in being able to do something about the bad guys.
Cullen has become a famous fantasy author and has a beautiful little girl. One day she is abducted and he races to Taige for her help.

Overall I liked the book. I loved the premise. Psychic characters always are good with me. But the personalities of these characters did not totally work for me. There were a couple of things that bugged me but nothing that completely detracted from my liking it. First was the fact that he slept with someone else while dating her in the summers. They were never officially a couple but since we see most of this section from her perspective and very quickly I view them as a couple and him cheating. She had no problem with it because they were not official and only saw each other in the summers anyway, but it bugged me. Taige's flaw is her self-confidence. And I love strong heroines so that kind of detracted for me at points. She had no backbone when it came to Cullen. She could take a killer down without blinking but could not say no to Cullen. Which i know is how it is sometimes and when I was reading it it bugged mean little but now looking back it bugs me more.
I loved the whole plot just did not love the characters. So it would be a C for me.

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Heart Fate and others and stuff

1/11/2009 05:37:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (6)

This weekend I went to the orchestra, that was a lot of fun. I have not been able to go in a long while. I will say that I take my students to the orchestra every year, but then I cannot sit and enjoy it, I am dealing with students and leading bathroom breaks. My school participated in a essay contest and the winning student from each school got three free tickets to an orchestra concert. One ticket for them, one for a parent and one for the music teacher. There were other winners there and during intermission all the winners and teachers get to go back stage to meet the performers. I loved the particular concert that we got to go to because it was the Dublin Philharmonic. They played one specifically Irish tune with Irish pipes and then there was also a soprano that sang about 4 songs in the first half. During intermission, the performer that played the Irish pipes (just looked up the technical name and they are called Uilleann pipes) gave us a demonstrations up close and explained how they worked. It was cool.


I have been on reading kick, finishing a book a day (and totally neglecting everything else). I will probably not review them all but I will say this about some and review Heart Fate just because I loved it so much.

Big Girls Don't Cry by Cathie Linz (B-)
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy Book 3) by Richelle Mead (A-) might review this one later, enjoyed it a lot
Night Fall by Cherry Adair (DNF) heroine annoyed me. Might try it again later though.
Summer Desserts by Nora Roberts (B)
Key to Conspiracy (Gillian Key, Paradoc Book 2) by Talia Gryphon (B) Good series so far, have read the first one and hope to post about them soon.
Undercover by Lauren Dane (B+)
Texas Rain by Jodi Thomas (B)

I also started my book(s) for Nath's re-read challenge. For this month I am reading Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadow.



Heart Fate (Celta Heart Mates Book 7) by Robin D. Owens
Wed to a wealthy older man when she was just a girl, Lahsin Yew runs away from her abusive home to find a new life. At seventeen, she’s about to enter her Second Passage, when her Flair—and perhaps her HeartMate—will be revealed. Lahsin finds sanctuary in a secret garden, where she meets Tinne Holly. Though he is her HeartMate, he cannot tell her, and her troubled past prevents her from trusting any man. Pretending to find her by chance, Tinne helps her through her Second Passage. But when the truth is revealed, can she forgive his deception, and learn to trust in her destiny?

Wow, I loved this book. I could not put it down. The characters were great, i havebeen looking forward to Tinne's story and was not disappointed.
Lahsin was married off to T'Yew when she was 14. Her family told her that he was going to wait for consummating the marriage until she got older, he did not so she has basically been raped for 3 years. Once she turns 17 she is considered an adult and leaves her "husband" and repudiates their marriage. She escapes and hides in a secret garden in the city.
Tinne is not having a good week. He wakes up to his wife telling him that she wants a divorce and then spends the next two days undergoing tests to see if his marriage can be saved. Imagine if they made people do that today. A divorce is extremely rare in First Families and this is another hardship for his already challenged family. Then discovers that his Heartmate has left her husband. He finds her and finds out how she has been treated for the past three years and he feels guilty for not doing anything, not that he knew.
But this is what these two are going through when they meet. Neither is ready for another relationship and both have a lot of healing to do. So they do the friend thing while they work out trust issues.
Great story and great characters. I love this series.

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Broken Wing and Love Under Siege

1/10/2009 07:13:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (6)

Broken Wing by Judith James
Set during the chaotic beginnings of Napoleon's rule, this saga tells the story of Gabriel St. Croix, a street survivor searching for a place to belong. Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, he has never known friendship or affection. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy's family has found him, and they are coming to take him home. Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother's disappearance. When he's located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own. Becoming a mercenary, pirate, and professional gambler, he travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey and the greatest gamble of all is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

**Caution, lots of spoilers**
If you know my tastes you know that I am not a big reader of historicals, but i had heard so much about this book that I was intrigued. I was not disappointed. This was a wonderful book!!!
The description of it, I think is a little misleading. The first half is accurate. And as I was reading and a third of the way through the book and they were already together and in love I was trying to figure out how they were going to stretch out the rest of the book. Then I got my answer. He had to go make his fortune to be worthy of her. Then bad stuff happens to him and he no longer feels worthy of her so he travels around avoiding her. So the whole "in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again" thing I think is a little misleading.
In deference to my "Wonderful" adjective, I will say that I did skim over the section where he was traveling around as a mercenary. But I can understand why it was in there. After his run in with the bad guy, he felt dirty again and as I see him as an abuse victim and has just faced one of his fears, I can see why he feels "dirty". So he no longer feels worthy of Sarah. He should have had more faith in her, yes, but I have known a few men who did not have enough faith in their women. So he is not perfect. I am glad that he was faithful though, if he had not been, I would have thrown the book.
This was such a great book, I would recommend it to any reader, especially those who like troubled, angsty (is that a word?) heroes.

Breezing through Books has a great group review of this book with lots of different views.
I am sorry I have not posted. I have been so engrossed in some books i have not taken time to blog, bad me. I will post about those later but here are two that I read recently.

Love Under Siege (Brothers in Arms Book 2) by Samantha Kane
Phillip Neville and Jonathan Overton have been best friends since childhood. When they return to England as veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, they enter the marriage market. It doesn't take long for them both to fall deeply in love with shy, awkward, beautiful Maggie Trueheart. Phillip and Maggie marry, but Phillip and Jonathan do not tell her about the menage a trois marriage the two men hope to have. When Maggie finds out, it takes the persuasive power of both men to convince her that this threesome was meant to be. In the process of helping Maggie discover the sexually aggressive woman inside herself, Phillip and Jonathan realize their love for one another is more than friendship. Before the two men can consummate their relationship, however, a brutal attack on Maggie and Jonathan's self-recriminations drive the lovers apart. It will take all the love and determination the three possess to achieve their happily ever after.

I was very anxious to read this book after reading The Courage to Love. But was not able to read it just then. :( I finally got it, thanks to Christmas :) I enjoyed it. Maggie was a lot more reluctant to try a threesome than most heroines that I have read. I mean just trying it once, not the relationship end of it. That I can totally see being wary to try. So that was different. I still liked the first one more but I enjoyed this one and was glad to get their story.

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The Art of Desire

1/04/2009 07:43:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (1)

The Art of Desire by Cherie Feather
Museum director Mandy Cooper is obsessed with nineteenth-century artist Catherine Burke—and the artist’s erotically charged relationship with Atacar, her enthralling American Indian lover. But Mandy’s link to the legendary couple runs deeper than she knows. She’s having a heated affair herself—with Jared Cabrillo, Atacar’s handsome great-great nephew who knows precisely what it takes to seduce a woman… He’s in possession of Catherine’s explicit journal. He knows every intimate detail of what she wanted and needed. But he also knows how desperately Catherine had loved Atacar and how dangerously he’d loved her. The journal is timeless and tragic, and the secrets contained within its pages can bring Mandy and Jared together, or just as surely destroy them both—desire by shocking desire.

I really enjoyed this book, it was different. There were two storylines happening during hte book, the contemporary and the historical. It was very hot and neat read.

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Their One And Only and Surrender and A Question of Trust

1/03/2009 11:48:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)

Another menage day. All mfm stories.

Their One And Only by Trista Ann Michaels
Bruised and battered, Kaycee barely escapes the clutches of a serial killer, only to find herself with another dilemma--her attraction to the two men assigned to protect her from the killer. Sam and Tyler Warren are criminal profilers for the F.B.I. They're also identical twins with a very unusual psychic connection, one that has left them with a bleak hope for the future and of finding wives. That is until they meet Kaycee and find a woman who might be able to love each of them. While hiding from the killer still after Kaycee, they explore a passion none of them ever expected to find. But their newfound happiness will be shattered when the killer learns of her whereabouts and puts into motion a sick plan Sam and Tyler may not be able to stop.

This was an interesting book. It combined two of my favorite sub-genres, menage and psychic powers. Kaycee is abducted by a serial killer and the twins when they hold something if hers they can feel and see what she does. She escapes but never got a good look at him because he always wore a mask. When Tyler was cnnected to her he felt something about her that was special so he convinced his brother and the FBI to let them take her and put her in their protective custody. Sam is leery, he does not want to get hurt or rejected again. The brothers can feel and see what someone else does by touching their stuff or them. But because of their psychic connection they also feel what each other feels without even trying. Which means when one is in love with a girl the other is too, with the same girl. Which also means they have to share. they have never found anyone that could handle that for the long run so have been hurt a few times. They hope that Kaycee will be The One. Meanwhile they need to protect her from a serial killer that is determined to get her back.
Good story. Very hot scenes. There is mfm and mf but the brothers do not do anything together if that is your worry.


Surrender by Kimberly Zant
Desperate straights call for desperate measures---If anyone had asked Anna before what she would be willing to do for money, what she'd just signed up for would NOT have been on the list. She's discovered, though, that the needy can't afford to be too picky. And, after all, what's six weeks in the scheme of things? Despite her internal pep talk, though, she discovers she isn't at all prepared for what she has to face in the mansion of ill repute-where 'no' is no longer a part of her vocabulary unless she wants to forfeit the money she needs so badly.

Annie needs money now. Her husband is fighting her for custody of their kids after he leaves her for another woman. So she signs a 6 week contract to be a submissive for a group of men, little does she know where that will lead her. There are five men, all are a little voyeuristic, they like to share and fly solo. So there are all sorts of combinations sex wise in this book (except no M/M).
Good story, there is an HEA it is not all just sex. I liked it. I wish that they had gone more indepth into their histories than they did. That would have made is so much better for me.


Cover Image of A Question of Trust: Menage and More Anthology eBooks, by Jess Dee

A Question of Trust by Jess Dee
Madeline Jones is having the time of her life with Gabriel Carter, a man who fulfills every one of her sexual fantasies. She's sure it can’t get any better than this... until Gabe introduces her to his best friend. When Connor Regan enters the mix, sparks fly. Suddenly Maddie wants more than just Gabe, she wants Connor, too. The two men seem happy to oblige. But threesomes have a way of getting complicated. Hearts can be broken. Although Gabe and Connor play by a strict set of rules designed to minimize the damage, true love does not always adhere to the guidelines. Sometimes, to fulfill the dream of having the love of a lifetime, even the most comprehensive codes of honor have to be challenged.

Maddie is put into a very awkward situation. Her lover, Gabe, turns her one like no one else. She knows that she is not in love with him but is content with what she has. Then Gabe introduces her to his best friend Connor. Connor and her click intellectually and just have that spark. Unknown to her they are grooming her to try an menage with the two of them. Now she knows that they compatible in that way as well. Now she has to figure out what to do.

Something I thought was interesting was the whole story until the very end was told entirely in third person from her perspective. Usually the menage books that I read have all three perspectives (or at least two of them), and know what is going on in their minds. This one I did not and that was different for me. It was a good story. I enjoyed it and the outcome.
This story is in an e-anthology called Menage and More.

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Swallowing Darkness and a new look

1/03/2009 07:30:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (8)

Well how do you like the new look? I have been meaning to change it for a little while and Hubby reminded me of it yesterday, so we went ahead and did it figuring it was a new year and time for a new look. You would not believe what he charged me for the redesign ;)
We are all doing well here. The baby goes for her 6 month check up and shots on Monday. The oldest had a friend sleep over last night and they stayed up way too late and were still up at 7am. I am tired.
Back to work on Monday. Not sure if I am dreading it or looking forward to it.
Please keep my hubby in your thoughts and prayers, he needs to find a evening/night job or a lot more design work coming in with him staying home with the kids. Because we need the money, but jobs are very scarce here.


Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry Book 7) by Laurell K. Hamilton
I am Meredith, princess of faerie, wielder of the hands of Flesh and Blood, and at long last, I am with child–twins, fathered by my royal guard. Though my uncle, Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, claims that he is the true father since he abducted me from my home, betrayed, and defiled me. And now he has branded my guards as a threat to my unborn children. Bearing an heir has placed me halfway to my aunt’s throne, that much closer to my reign over the Unseelie Court–and well ahead of her son, my cousin Cel, in this race. Now I must stay alive to see my children born and claim my place as queen. But not all in faerie are pleased with the news, and conspirators from every court in the realm plot against me and mine. They seek to strip my guards, my lovers, from me by poisoned word or cold steel. But I still have supporters, and even friends, among the goblins and the sluagh, who will stand by me. I am Meredith Nic Essus, and those who would defy and destroy me are destined to pay a terrible price–for I am truly my father’s daughter. To protect what is mine, I will sacrifice anything–even if it means waging a great battle against my darkest enemies and making the most momentous decision ever made as princess of faerie.

Liked it alot. Much less sex than the previous book. There was too much in that one. In this one there was one scene and it was toward the end. I have heard people say the they thought there to inconsistencies in the characters but most of those that I have heard I was thinking that in most of those situations the people had just hit their point where enough is enough. So their reactions were a little different than normal. I attribute Ceir to his insanity though the Queen was a little more mellow than usual. We also did not see most of her retinue that we usually see. That I kind of missed but maybe it explained the lack of sex in this book.
I think she could end the series with this book but she says on her blog that she is not done with it yet, she plans to follow the pregnancy through. We will see.

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Happy New Year and a review

1/01/2009 10:26:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
I hope that everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. Hubby and I watched Get Smart last night, funny movie!

I have a book review up over at Book Binge for

Night Falls Darkly by Kim Lenox here

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A Year in Review

12/30/2008 02:48:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)

I like how Zeek had her post formated month to month instead of a list so I am borrowing it.

My favorite books for each month.

January
Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi
Beautiful Girl by Shiloh Walker
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

February
Marked by PC and Kristin Cast
Strangers in Death by JD Robb

March
Sweet Surrender by Maya Banks
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

April
Midnight Rising by Lara Adrian
And the Lady Makes Three anthology

May
SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Margret Daughtridge
Hotter After Midnight by Cynthia Eden

June
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
Sea Swept by Nora Roberts
Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole

July (Baby time!!!)
Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
The rest of the Chesapeake Bay series (Rising Tides, Inner Harbor and Chesapeake Blue)

August
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Into the Fire by Suzanne Brockmann
Count to Ten by Karen Rose

September
Courage to Love by Samantha Kane
Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas
Running Wild by Sarah McCarty

October
(I was a bad blogger and reader this month)
The Boys Back Home by Sierra DaFoe

November (hard, a lot of good reads this month)
Be With Me by Maya Banks
Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis
Jaci's Experiment by Bianca D'Arc

December
The Master by Colette Gale
Love Under Siege by Samantha Kane

How was your year, any favorite books stick out in your mind?

PS Nalini Singh just put a contest up on her blog for an ARC of Angel's Blood

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Mermaid's Kiss

12/29/2008 03:45:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

Mermaid's Kiss by Joey W. Hill
The angelic Jonah has been battling the Dark Ones for centuries. But his noble spirit has begun to tire with the weight of war—allowing a Dark One to strike a blow that severs his wings and knocks him into the sea.
Anna is a Daughter of Arianne—a direct descendant of the mermaid of legend. Anna’s longing for love compels her to risk her very life to protect and hide the fallen Jonah. And the longer Jonah delays his return to the heavens, the more Anna’s secret passions are tempted.
But as she falls more in love with him, Anna wonders if she’s destined to lose her heart and her dreams to save Jonah’s soul…

I won a copy of this book and was very excited. It was a different paranormal than your typical werewolf/vampire/cat-shifter book. This one had a mermaid for a heroine and an angel for a hero. It made me think of a line I heard once in a movie (I looked it up and it was Ever After) "A bird may love a fish, but where would they live?". Well since this is fiction it was a lot easier to answer that question, make her be able to shift to human.
This was a difficult book to label, it was not really "cute" but it was not dark either. It was a quest for these two soulmates to help him regain his sense of self and goodness.
The ending was great, very tough, but you still get an HEA.
Pretty hot book. Though it bugged me a little at the beginning how much she emphasized how small Anne was in comparison to Jonah. It made me picture this like 5 foot teenager with this 6'5 man, and that was just a little icky. But then I was finally able to adjust it in my head when they stopped emphasizing it.
I loved the heroine's basis in the legend of the Little Mermaid. I love stories based on fairy tales or legends.
The story was good. I am going to reread it at a later date to re-evaluate whether I like it more or less. I am interested to see if there will be other stories set in this world.

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Christmas

12/25/2008 04:50:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

Well I posted yesterday about some books that I bought with a Christmas gift card. Now for Christmas, bookwise, I got

All Through the Night (Troubleshooter book) by Suzanne Brockmann
Hero Under Cover by Suzanne Brockmann
The Invisible Ring (Black Jewel book) by Anne Bishop
Dreams Made Flesh Dreams Made Flesh (Black Jewel book) by Anne Bishop
Primal Instincts by Jill Monroe

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Magical Christmas Cat

12/24/2008 05:16:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (0)

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I hope that everyone has a great holiday.

A good friend sent me a Amazon gift card so I got to go book shopping!! I bought:

Love Under Seige by Samantha Kane
Broken Wing by Judith James
Sons of Amber by Bianca D'Arc
Surrender by Kimberly Zant
Their One and Only by Trista Ann Michaels

I thought this book was an appropriate post for today, it is the only holiday book I read this year.

The Magical Christmas Cat (anthology with Psy/Changeling and Breed stories) by Lora Leigh, Nalini Singh, Erin McCarty, and Linda Winstead Jones

STROKE OF ENTICEMENT by Nalini Singh
Meeting and relationship between Leopard Changeling, Zach, and human, Annie. Annie is the schoolteacher in the area that teachers most of the Changeling children for the pack. Annie has a slight disability walking but she does not let it get her down. Zach is so sweet and patient. I loved this story.
CHRISTMAS BREE by Erin McCarthy
Honestly did not read this one.
SWEET DREAMS by Linda Winstead Jones
Very different. Unknown to Ruby she is slated to be the next virgin sacrifice to a nasty demon. She is plagued by a small figurine of a cat that she cannot get rid of no matter how hard she tries. Zane is her coworker and neighbor that seems to know more about it than he should. Is he a good guy or bad. Interesting story, alot of story packed into a little bit of space, very fast paced.
CHRISTMAS HEAT by Lora Leigh
A new Breed story!!! Hayley is the human librarian for the town near Sanctuary. She is also the only witness of the conspiracy from the last book (Mercury's War). So now someone is trying to kill her. Noble has been waiting for her for a year before this happens and when her life is in danger all bets are off of him waiting any longer. Hayley is so sweet, she loves Christmas and wants to share that with everyone around her. The Breeds do not really celebrate it, but she is determined to spread a little cheer this holiday. Great story :)

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Sweeter than Wine

12/10/2008 05:46:00 AM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

Hello all. Things are still going here. Hubby is enjoying staying home with the kids, so far anyway. they baked cookies yesterday. They turned out well. I am so glad that he can cook. One of the reasons I married him. I cannot cook. I can make dinner, but I cannot cook. He made a great dinner the other night. We had BBQ chicken, cut up potatoes that he had covered in olive oil and rosemary and baked, and buttered corn for our veggie. Yummy!


Sweeter Than Wine by Bianca D'Arc
An abused woman has the power to unite werefolk, fey and vampire against an evil that would see them all dead if she can learn to love again. Christy lies near death after a brutal beating by her estranged husband. Her preternatural friends reach a desperate conclusion: The only way to save her is to turn her. Sebastian steps forward to take on the burden of being her Maker. For him its no burden at all. She draws him as no other woman has for centuries. With the help of a werecougar friend, Sebastian teaches Christy about her new life and abilities, making certain she is as strong as he can make her. Only then can she face her abusive ex-husband and put her old life behind her. But Christy's ex-husband is involved in something more dangerous than any of them had guessed. Vampire, were, and even a fey knight must work together to put an end to the threatening evil. To overcome her past, help keep the darkness at bay, and fight for a new life with Sebastian, Christy must draw on all of her new-found strength. Will it be enough?

This book comes after Lords of the Were. The storyline was good. I would have liked to see a little more with the ex-husband. The story moved well and did not leave me bored at any point. Though there are menage scenes, this is not a menage book. The love scenes were very hot.
If you liked Lords of the Were then you will like this one as well.

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Instant Attraction

12/07/2008 02:24:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (4)

Well, tomorrow (Monday) Hubby starts staying home with the little ones. He was not making enough with what he was doing to justify daycare, too expensive. So he said that he would stay home and take care of them and try to do some web design work to make some cash to balance things out. He also is promising to do some of the things around the house that he has not had time to do (i.e. put the extra shelf up on the IKEA bookshelves we have had for a while now). I am very excited about that.
If you pray, please keep my father in your prayers he was laid off from his job this week. He works construction and had been with the company for over 20 years but he has recently had some health issues and with the economy, he got cut. But he still has to work and cannot exactly go run out to get another construction job with his health and age.

The girls are all growing like weeds. Baby is getting huge (3 weeks ago she was 16.5 lbs) and has the sweetest disposition. The other two hover so much. Every time she makes a sound they rush to her side, it is very cute, (and occasionally annoying especially when she is sleeping and they wake her up in their enthusiasm.
I hope that everyone is staying sane during the holidays.


Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis

Accountant Katie Kramer is a quintessential good girl—working hard, recycling diligently, all the while trying to ignore the feeling that she doesn’t fit in anywhere. That’s all she wants. Well, that—and amazing sex, and the kind of daredevil escapade she can look back on when she’s crunching numbers in a dusty cubicle. Which explains why she just took a job in Wishful, California, working for Wilder Adventures and Expeditions. Waking up to find a magnificently built stranger towering over her bed—that part defies explanation…

After wandering the planet for months following a life-changing accident, Cameron Wilder has come back to the only home he knows. Under other circumstances, he might be thrilled to find a gorgeous woman sleeping in his cabin, but now, while he’ll risk his body taking clients on adrenaline-drenched excursions, his heart is off limits. Still, Katie’s killer smile triggers something deep in his gut…among other places. Showing her how exhilarating it can be to stop balancing her life as if it was a checkbook is the biggest rush he’s ever felt—and an adventure Katie’s wishing would never end...

I was sooooo excited to get an advanced copy of this book, I love her stuff. This was a great book. Funny and sexy is how I label Ms Shalvis's books, they are all great. If you enjoyed her previous trilogy then you will love these as well.
Katie takes a job that deals with adventure, specifically to try to get herself out of a boring rut that is her life. She has survived a traumatic experience that makes her want to live her life to the fullest. Cameron went from the other extreme to where she was, it was like they switched places. He lived his life hard everyday and then had an accident and has not been living it since. He returns to his family's wilderness adventure business after a year of pouting and moping around after his accident. Katie is there as a temp accountant. She took the job hoping to get up the nerve to participate in some of the adventures. Her heart and exuberance begin to inspire him to start living his again.
This book releases January 27 and you can pre-order now it at Amazon here.

I also have a review posted at Book Binge here

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November reads

12/03/2008 09:11:00 PM / Posted by Kris / comments (3)

Since I have sucked at posting this month I am making a list of books read this month. I hope to get more of these reviewed but hoping and actuality are not always the same.

Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis (review to come) A
Destiny (Rogue Angel Book 1) by Alex Archer
Jaci's Experiment by Bianca D'Arc
Deep in the Valley (Grace Valley Book 1) by Robyn Carr A
Just Over the Mountain (Grace Valley Book 2) by Robyn Carr A
Bound by Light (Dark Crescent Sisterhood Book 3) by Ana Windsor B-
Sweeter than Wine by Bianca D'Arc B
Be With Me by Maya Banks
Tequila Truth by Mari Carr
Salvation in Death by JD Robb
Mercury's War by Lora Leigh
Out of this World by Jill Shalvis B
Nauti Dreams by Lora Leigh B
Master by Colette Dane
Strands of Sunlight by Anya Bast B-

Update: Another November read of mine (Heartbeats by Susan Rae) is posted at Book Binge here

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