The Reading Spot

Well this month we started out with moving to a new house.  Then I went on vacation so that helped my reading log because I had many hours of sitting the car to read.  Later, my parents took the kids for about 4 days and I spent a bit of that just chilling out and reading :)

On my car trip I re-read Elizabeth Vaughn's trilogy of Warprize, Warsworn and Warlord.  Still great books!
I read a bunch of neat ebooks this month.
One Night with  Rock Star by Chana Keefer (sweet rocker romance with Christian theme, very good)
Stars, Love and Pirouettes by Roy and Alicia Street
The Princess Problem by Diane Darcy (cute, sweet contemporary fairy tale)
Markings by S.B. Roozenboom (very nice shifter paranormal)
Midnight Playground by Eliza Gayle (re-read)
Forbidden Forest by Tenaya Jayne (very good fantasy, looking forward to next book)
Tucker's Fall by Eliza Gayle
Try Me and Tempt Me by Olivia Cunning
Their Virgin Captive by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
One Night Forever by Lisa Renee Jones
Ask For it by Selena Blake
Educating Ansley by Cat Johnson
Blood Seduction by Pamela Palmer
Pride's Prejudice by Misty Dawn Pulsipher (an excellent and sweet contemporary retelling of the classic.  Definitely recommend.)
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels Book 1) by Ilona Andrews (re-read)
Magic Burns (Kate Daniels Book 2) by Ilona Andrews (re-read)
Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels Book 3) by Ilona Andrews (re-read)

Because of moving and taking a vacation I did not get much from the library this month but I did read:
Forged in Steele (KGI Book 7) by Maya Banks
Dream Eyes by Jayne Ann Krentz

Labels: action, Christian, contemporary, faerie, fantasy, shape-shifter

Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson

Ann Silver is a cop’s cop. As the Midwest Homicide Investigator, she is called in to help on the worst of the cases, looking for answers to murder. Hers is one of the most trusted investigative positions in the Midwest.
 Paul Falcon is the FBI’s top murder cop. If the victim carried a federal badge or had a security clearance, odds are good he sees the case file or his guys work the murder.
 Their lives intersect when Ann arrives to pass a case off her desk and onto his. A car wreck and a suspicious death offer a lead on a hired shooter he is tracking. Paul isn’t expecting to meet someone, the kind that goes on the personal side of the ledger, but Ann Silver has his attention.
 The better he gets to know her, the more he realizes her job barely scratches the surface of who she is. She knows spies and soldiers and U.S. Marshals, and has written books about them. She is friends with the former Vice President. People with good reason to be cautious about who they let into their lives deeply trust her. Paul wonders just what secrets Ann is keeping, until she shows him the John Doe Killer case file, and he starts to realize just who this lady he is falling in love with really is . . . 

I really enjoyed reading a Dee Henderson book again, it has been way too long since I have read or re-read one of her books.  I really like Dee Henderson's style and characters that she creates.  I enjoyed the characters in this book but I also enjoyed the different kind of cop book that this was.  Most books where the main character(s) are cop(s) have a serial killer that they are trying to catch before they kill again or someone after them and are very suspenseful.  This one was not one of those.  These are two cops that have been cops for a while and have worked up the ladder and are portrayed more as what I would expect FBI and such who are not undercover typically do.  There are some intense moments followed and preceded by lots of paperwork, waiting, thinking and analyzing.  Now because of this it was a little slower reading than her usual books.  But I still found it a good read.

The two main characters are trying to build a friendship and then a relationship amidst working in two different states and very demanding jobs.  There was a lot they had to work through and issues they had to deal with while trying to learn each other and see if this was a relationship headed for marriage and that was nice to watch.  I liked that she brought the O'Malley books into the storyline, that was nice ;)
I would recommend this if you were looking for something different with a solid romance story to it.

Labels: Christian, contemporary

I treated myself to a Kindle gift card this month so bought a bunch of ebooks and sailed through them

Labels: angels, Christian, contemporary, magic, paranormal, shape-shifter

Beastly by Alex Flinn (B+)

Labels: Christian, contemporary, fantasy, historical, magic, paranormal, vampires, werewolves, young adult

A friend from church gave me these to read and pass on. The sequel was written by the first author's daughter after her death. These are inspirational romance so language is PG in nature but there are still some mature subjects addressed so Iwould not let anyone under mid-teen read them. I enjoyed them. I was told to pass these along after I was done so I will pick a commenter from this post Monday night (July 13th) and announce on Tuesday. If you know someone who might like these books please send them over. My first giveaway, I need to do more of these...

PS. My baby turns 1 this Friday!!!!! I will make sure I post pics of her.
PPS. I have a guest review of Animal Attraction by Charlene Teglia up over at Book Binge


The Women of Catawba by Hilda Stahl
From the author of the White Pines Chronicles comes an exciting tale of five courageous women and their fight to build a plantation home in the raw wilderness of South Carolina. Set in post-Revolutionary War days, Women of Catawba is an inspiring story of men and women whose faith, strength, and capacity to love are tested to the limit.

The story starts Taylor and her baby daughter getting ready to sail to America. But she is being coerced into going. She is a new widow and is in debt to her husband's cousin who has told her that she is going with him or to debtor's prison. before they set sail she uncovers a plot of his and sneaks aboard another ship with her slave, Cammie. So now she is on another ship bound for America with a runaway slave. On the ship she meets Maida who is traveling as a companion to her aunt and uncle. And she meets widower Yates Marston and his children, Laurel, Kendra and Reid who are moving to America and meeting up with Yates's brother, Ward. They are the main characters for the series. Things happen that force them together and they all end up at the Catawba Plantation. When they get there it is not exactly what Yates and his family were expecting. Especially Laurel who at 17 and very snobby, was expecting a large plantation home and is faced with a small log cabins and a lack of servants. Some things and people happen to test their relationships and faith. Don't want to say anymore and give away everything.

Good story. It was a nice change of pace from my usual books. Taylor and Maida were the main characters in this part of the series. They become friends but have different outlooks on life. Taylor has known love but Maida thinks it is a fairy tale, she wants it but is to scared to hope for it. I enjoyed reading about them and their trials that they went through, it was a very well told story.


The Winds of Catawba (Sequel to The Women of Catawba) by Laurie Stahl
Kendra longs to tell the world of her love for Court, but he has sworn her to secrecy till he is a free man. Can she keep her true feelings hidden--or will impatience destroy her chance of happiness? Set in post-Revolutionary war days, this sequel to the Women of Catawba continues the saga of the men and women whose faith and strength tamed the American Wilderness.

This installment concentrates mostly on the kids, Laurel and Kendra. It has been 2 years since the first book and the plantation house is built and they are all prospering. Now Laurel is ready to settle down but has always wanted to marry a "proper Englishman" and is ecstatic to find that Joshua Douglas, is coming to visit from England with his sister. But there is a new man in the area that sets her heart pounding and he is definitely not a refined Englishman. Meanwhile Kendra is still waiting for Court to finish his indenture but when he tells her not to wait what will she do? The characters from the previous book are also all involved and are working on saving abused slaves and continue to grow in their faith. Cammie also is looking for a husband, but has her eyes set on a very stubborn and hurting man.

Good ending to the two book series. I wish she would have done a little more with Cammie in this book, we did not see her all that often. But I liked the rest of the story lines. She wrapped up all the loose ends well from the other book.

Labels: Christian, historical