Category: Uncategorized (Page 15 of 18)

The Trap by Indigo Wren – B+.  Confession time.  I actually read this in February but it got missed when I was doing my Feb reads post so I’m putting it in now.   This is  a really good story about David and Ethan who were best friends and about to start a tech business together when “something” happened and one David took off without a by your leave.  The other went on to (very successfully) start the business.   Fast forward a few years and David books a well deserved holiday on a tropical island.  Only, he gets there and finds out he’s alone with Ethan, who’s set the whole thing up to work out their relationship.   I must admit I was a little uncomfortable with the whole kidnap thing.  But, putting that aside, I otherwise really enjoyed the story and how Ethan was trying to demonstrate to David he could be trusted in the only way he thought would work.  While I didn’t think much of abduction and false imprisonment as a method, it was clear that Ethan cared deeply for David and that they both had a very strong connection.  The latter part of the story, off the island, worked a little less well for me.  I didn’t quite understand what took so long to resolve things and felt it was unncessarily drawn out.     All up though, this was a good story with good characters and, oh my, smokin sexxoring.  I think this is Ms. Wren’s debut book so I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from her.

Curran by Gordon Andrews – B.  Cute free short with scenes from the first 3 books from Curran’s perspective. It’s not very well edited but then hey, it’s a FREE short. I did like seeing Curran’s perspective – here’s hoping we get more of it – I think that’s a fair bet, after all, it says Vol 1 on the cover!  🙂
ETA:  There are actually a couple more free scenes from Curran’s POV on the authors website.  If you’re a fan of the series, you will enjoy.  

My One and Only by Kristan Higgins – C- This is hard.  I wanted to like this one a lot more than I actualy did.  Higgins has become a favourite contemporary romance author for me and I adored her previous release, All I Ever Wanted. But, in this book, I found it hard to warm to the heroine (although I did after a while) and very difficult to like the hero.   There are some amusing moments – especially the scenes in New York where Harper is chasing down a demented old man and some of the secondary characters (Dennis, BeverLee and Kim in particular) were very engaging.
Harper James is a divorce attorney who begins the book by unromantically proposing to her hot firefighter boyfriend (HFFBF) Dennis.  She actually treats him poorly in the book – he’s arm candy and she clearly thinks she’s better than he is.  I appreciate that Higgins took a bit of a risk with this character in making her not terribly likeable at the beginning.  I did warm to Harper later in the book and she does realise that Dennis deserved better, thankfully. Harper’s younger sister is set to marry the brother of Harper’s ex-husband Nick and as this will be her 3rd trip down the aisle, Harper is worried that the decision is too hasty.  Harper and Nick meet up at the wedding. As the book progresses, Harper and Nick are forced to spend time in each other’s company.  The old attraction is still there but there were real problems in their marriage – can they work them out and find their HEA the second time around?     
When Nick and Harper were married, Nick worked all the time and Harper, alone in a new city with no friends, felt increasingly isolated and discontent.  She got a job in a bar and made some friends but, embarrassed that her husband was absent, doesn’t tell her co-workers she’s married.  When Nick finds out he goes ballistic, they have a fight and he leaves.   As Harper’s mother (who is a real piece of work let me tell you) left her on her 13th birthday (because Harper was prettier than her mother o-0), Harper understandably has abandonment issues, so Nick taking off like that hit all her hot buttons.
What is surprising in this scenario is that for most of the book, the marriage breakup is portrayed as Harper’s fault.  In what universe?  I mean it always takes two and certainly Nick wasn’t doing his bit.
Now, Nick had his own family issues; his dad had treated him very poorly, favouring his step children over Nick in the worst way.  I didn’t really understand how Nick could be so forgiving of the hurts his father and step brother inflicted but was so very unforgiving of Harper – and this in the face of not taking (very much) responsibility for his own behaviour.
Like I said earlier, I didn’t like Harper much in the beginning and it took me quite a while to warm to her – her HFFBF deserved better and I wondered what she was doing with him in the first place because she seemed so contemptuous of him (which is not attractive). I did quite like Harper’s stepmother, BeverLee but I thought the conflict between her and Harper’s dad was contrived and unrealistic (once the mystery of it was revealed). As for Nick, I thought he was an ass at the beginning and he only marginally redeemed himself. I wasn’t convinced by the HEA – what had really changed?   I needed more of how it was going to work out or better yet, showing me how it was actually working out to convince me that Nick had really changed. To be honest, I don’t know how Nick had managed to delude himself that their marriage breakup was all Harper’s fault and  his “apology” when it came wasn’t really good enough.  Jane has an interesting review of the book over at Dear Author – she was less forgiving than me and gave it a D.

The Accidental Wedding by Anne Gracie  – C.  An okay read about an impoverished gentlewoman who rescues a stranger with a head injury (and consequent amnesia).  It was enjoyable enough but I wouldn’t rave about it.

**pick of the month**

The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne – B+.  I’ve had this one on my TBR for ages and I really don’t know what took me so long to read it.  However, inspired by the DABWAHA tournament, I decided to pick it up.  I’m very glad I did.
This is kind of a prequel to Bourne’s first book, The Spymaster’s Lady.   Set shortly after the revolution in France, it follows the story of English spy Doyle and French aristocrat Marguerite.  Bourne has such a wonderful touch with prose.  You can tell when the point of view is from an Englishman or a Frenchwoman – there’s just something in the way the words are placed which make it obvious.  And her phrasing, the pictures painted with words are just beautiful.  Here’s a couple I particularly noted:

She could become lost in this man, in territories of amazement, countries of sensation. 

and

She did not rush to fill the silence up, in case LeBreton might have a use for it.

The connection between the characters, how they related to one another and saw through one another and did not jump to misplaced conclusions about one another was refreshing and much appreciated.  At the start of the book, both the hero and heroine are pretending to be someone else – but rather than making it the obvious “Big Mis” story, Ms. Bourne told another (and much more satisfying) tale.    I was so inspired, afterwards, I went and read The Spymaster’s Lady again and then I ordered My Lord & Spymaster too.  When I checked the author’s website, I was happy to see that Adrian’s story is coming out later this year.  I’m very much looking forward to his story – we meet Justine (his lady) in TFR.  This one is my **pick of the month**.

The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne – A-.  I read this book shortly after it came out and loved the beautiful way it was written as well as the sexy Spymaster Grey and how he was caught (in the romantice sense) by the Fox Cub Annique.  Having read The Forbidden Rose this month, I went back and re-read this one.  TFR was written after TSL but I found there was an extra layer added with the background story found in TFR in my mind when I re-read, particularly in relation to Doyle, Maggie and Adrian.  Grey and Annique aren’t in TFR at all (although I’m pretty sure Annique’s mother was the the spy/madam at the brothel where we met Adrian’s Justine.)  This book holds up very well on a re-read.   Once again, where we are in Annique’s head, there is a different phraseology that is entirely French which I really enjoyed.

 Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran – C.  Not my favourite Duran – it was okay but it seemed less… dense and lush than her earlier books and not quite what I expected. The plot was a bit thin and there were some anachronisms (or at least it seemed so to me – it’s quite possible I’m wrong about this and it’s more that I couldn’t get my head around the Victorian setting but did they really say “no take-backs” in the 1890’s?).

Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh – B+/A-.  I was impatiently waiting for River Marked to arrive in the post so I thought I’d pick up an old favourite – I say old favourite but I’d actually only read it once before.  I admit to skimming the scenes where Wulf and Christine weren’t together but not out of any lack in the book – it’s just that I could because I’d read it before and knew the story.  I love Christine -she is perfect for Wulf and I loved revisiting the way he opened himself up to her while staying the Wulf I’d known and loved in the previous 4 books.  Definitely a comfort read. 🙂

River Marked by Patricia Briggs – B. I liked it but I don’t think it was as good as earlier books.  It’s possible I suffered from “too much anticipation-itis” on this one.  Still, a solid B and the ending was very good. Maybe it was lacking in angst and conflict in the middle and that made it less compelling for me? An enjoyable addition to the series nevertheless.
Also, Adam and Mercy were on their honeymoon and they were clearly gettin it on fairly regularly – sadly the bedroom door was firmly shut in this book. (why oh why?)
I think I will enjoy this more on audio as I get to hear Adam speak.

Otherwise, another excellent (and excellently narrated) installment to the series. I’ve decided to buy them in print now and I’m looking forward to Magic Slays in May.

First: It made much more sense once I’d listened to the first book.

Second: I’m kind of glad that I did it in this order or the first part of this book would have driven me even more batty. It was very episodic and entirely about setting the scene to get to where Bones makes his entrance. …moreI actually listened to the first hour or two of this one before I worked out it was the second one in the series, so then I stopped and listened to the first and came back to this one.
First: It made much more sense once I’d listened to the first book.
Second: I’m kind of glad that I did it in this order or the first part of this book would have driven me even more batty. It was very episodic and entirely about setting the scene to get to where Bones makes his entrance. The bits prior to Bones being in it were little short vignettes which didn’t interconnect well and just when they started to get interesting, they stopped. However, once Bones made his appearance, things looked up and the book went from Hmm… to Yay! (esp. ch32! – Now I know what everyone was talking about!)  *grins*

Why I read it:  I received a review copy from the publisher via ARRA (The Australian Romance Readers Association).  Plus I’ve read most of her other books and really liked them.

What it’s about: Lucy Trask, a Medical Examiner in Baltimore, discovers what she believes is the body of a close friend while out for her morning run.  Fortunately, the dead guy was someone else but that then begs the question, why was he placed and dressed like her friend?  What is the connection between the killer, the dead guy and Lucy Trask?  Baltimore detective, JD Fitzpatrick, along with his partner Stevie Mazzetti are assigned the case and quickly realise that the dead guy is just one of many,  and that Lucy is on the hit list. 

What worked for me/what didn’t:  Like most Karen Rose stories, the story is complex and involves many characters. The first quarter or so of the book was as a little confusing when I was trying to work out how the various characters and plot points intersect.  Then I had my “a-ha” moment and it clicked into place.  Unlike many other Karen Rose books, this one takes place over only a few days, so the romance aspect is intense from the start -there is no time for a slow get-to-know-you build.    While I’m not sure I completely bought the initial connection Detective JD Fitzpatrick felt for Lucy, it wasn’t at all difficult to believe the development of their relationship from there.  So much happened in such a short space of time, it felt like weeks, not days.   Plus, I liked both JD and Lucy so I was certainly cheering them on.
Given that this is a romantic suspense – and there is a fair amount of romance in the story – I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that JD and Lucy get their HEA – there’s even a nice little epilogue so we readers can be assured their relationship has what it takes not just to survive the pressure-cooker but also the everyday and long-term.
As for the suspense part of the equation, the villain is pretty dark and gruesome  – as Karen Rose bad guys tend to be – there’s plenty of blood and gore, so it may not work for those with a low squick factor.

What else:  As a reader, I read romantic suspense for the romance.  I want the suspense to be internally consistent and the police procedures to be believable (which is code for consistent with Law & Order: SVU probably!!), but it isn’t my focus.  For me, the suspense forms a setting for the development of the relationship.  At the same time, I don’t want my hero and heroine to be having sex when they’re being shot at or when there’s a child missing or something.  There is a lot of suspense in this book but Lucy and JD aren’t too stupid to live, so there weren’t any instances of either of them acting unprofessionally or foolishly just to get it on.  Overall, I think I prefer a suspense book where the time frame is longer – I’m not generally a fan of insta-love – or where the h/h already know each other so the step into romance is a little more believable.  That said, this book was very engaging, while not my favourite of hers (that would be Have You Seen Her I think) – I raced through it in only two days and it left me wondering why there are still one or two of her books in my TBR.

Grade:  B–

Fade to Midnight by Shannon McKenna – B.  I’ve had this book for ages but for some reason had been reluctant to read it. I think I was scared that I wouldn’t like it and I wanted to like it so I procrastinated.  I really needn’t have worried.  While I don’t think it was her best book (that goes to Out of Control – Davy’s book I think, although Hot Night was also damn good) it was nevertheless pretty darn good.  Ms. McKenna’s villains are weirdly over the top as usual and the plot is kind of out there but what makes her books work for me is the way she writes the desperation and compulsion of her heroes in love.  I wouldn’t want one to fall for me in real life of course – waaay to much for me! – but I do love reading about the absolute adoration, conviction and passion they have (almost immediately) for their ladies.  She writes such intense men who straddle the line between protective gorgeous alpha heroes and stalkerish whack job asshats.  I must admit the fierceness of the love the heroes have for their women is something special for me.  Fortunately, McKenna also writes women who push back and the men have to learn to BACK THE HELL OFF.  Also, the sex is smokin”. *fans self*   
This is Kev’s book – the long lost McCloud brother and it was as over the top as ever – Seriously, Blofeld and other James Bond villains have nothing on the bad guys (as opposed to bad boys – who are yummy) Ms. McKenna writes. I would have liked to have seen more of the McCloud brothers together – after all, they’d thought that Kev was dead for 20 years and there was this thing about Kev’s head…  Turns out it was just me.  There was a reference to Kev being really tall, at least 6’3″ and to Edie being 5’8″ and also a reference to Kev being able to nuzzle her hair without having to bend his neck.  My immediate mental picture was of  freakoid head which was really loooong – I was so concerned about it, I did a diagram to scale of the height difference and his head didn’t look freakoid, so then (and I can’t believe I’m admitting this) I measured my head.  I know!!    (So, next time Kris does a post of the weird things people do as a result of books they’ve read, I’ll have a story to tell…)

Show and Tell by Jasmine Haynes – C-.  Jasmine Haynes writes erotic romance and I quite like the way she does.  The problem with this book, for me, was that there seemed to be an awful lot about Trinity’s work problems and how she overcame them – which, in itself, isn’t a bad thing – it’s just that I was expecting ER.  Don’t get me wrong, there were some very steamy moments (although, I found it difficult to believe that any woman would open a hotel room door to a total stranger – even if he is really good-looking – and then let him watch some, er, self pleasure.  Talk about risky!!), but I wondered sometimes what the book was trying to be.  The bits about work were okay, but they weren’t moving the relationship between Trinity and Scott any further and I found myself skimming.  Also, Scott deserved some severe ass-kicking for springing his adult children on Trinity without any warning!!  There are 3 books in this loosely connected series. I thought book 3, Fair Game, was the strongest (I really liked it)  and then the first one, The Fortune Hunter, with this one coming in third.  I didn’t hate it, it’sjust that there were parts that didn’t interest me much.

A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh – B+ .  I just love Mary Balogh. I actually really liked this book but I’m glad I didn’t pay a hardback price for it. For starters it was only 275 pages long and secondly I really resent paying a hardback price for an ebook.

Fair Game by Josh Lanyon – B+.  Really good story about an ex-FBI agent turned history professor who is asked to investigate some disappearances at the university where he works.  His ex-lover, still with the FBI, is also on the case and sparks fly.  I liked it a lot.  The characters were engaging and the story solid.  I was struck by how it could easily have been a female history professor and the story would have worked just the same (albeit that the characters would have been different – guys are different from girls don’tcha know) – what I’m trying to say and possibly failing, is that the m/m aspect of the story was not the reason for the story.  The suspense was and the romance was but the fact that the protagonists were both men seemed (to me) to be almost by the by – it was romantic and there were some *sexy times*  but being gay wasn’t an issue in the story. Most of the m/m I read involves at least an element of dealing with prejudice or issues about being out etc, and as much as I like them, it is nice to read a story where that doesn’t play a part.

Turn It Up by Vivian Arend – B-.  Cute sexy story about a younger man (rawrr) who knows what and who he wants and an older (but not older than me!) woman.  The plot does involve pregnancy and babies so stay away if it’s not your cuppa.

The Promise by Marie Sexton  – B. Cute free short about Matt and Jared from Promises. Awww!

Putting Out Fires by Marie Sexton – B+. Short, sweet and funny story about Matt and Jared from the Coda series. Matt wants to do something special for Jared for Valentine’s Day. The kitchen scene was hilarious! I love these guys.

 72 Hours by Clare London – C.  This is a story about 2 men who work for an uber-secret government agency – one has left after a fight at work but he’s called back to action when the team is threatened.   I’m not sure exactly why this one didn’t work as well for me.  Maybe I wasn’t in the mood.  It took me a while to realise that the story was set somewhere in the US – I think it’s because I had “London” on the brain and that kind of threw me – totally my fault of course! *grin*.  Romantic suspense has been a bit hit and miss for me lately and I’m afraid this one didn’t get me very excited.  The super secret spy network thing works for me less and less.  I liked The Tourist much better so I know this lady can write – I’ll check out future books for sure but I will probably stay away from this kind of storyline in general.

Opposites Distract by Stephani Hecht – C-.  As the title suggests, this is an “opposites attract” story – at 26 pages, I didn’t really buy the insta-love I’m afraid. I just needed a bit more to believe the connection the 2 lead characters had. Lee was a funny sidekick type but there wasn’t enough of Clayton and Pryce to really believe in the HEA.  I like the author’s style but there needed to be a little more depth to the story. 

Firm Touch by Christine D’Abo – B.  o-0! It’s all an education! An enjoyable short story but not for the faint of heart!  (hint, it involves a fist). The relationship and the trust is well set up, esp for such a short story.
Generally speaking, I think a story about an existing relationship works better in the really short format.

**Pick of the Month**
Nowhere Ranch by Heidi Cullinan – A-/B+.    This author makes me care.  Roe’s journey was touching and special.  He was so down on himself because of how he’d been treated by his family in particular, it was lovely to see him come to realise he was special and worthy.  Told in the Roe’s first person POV, it is the story of how he comes to find home on a ranch in Nebraska with rancher, Travis Loving.  Roe had been kicked out of home by his parents when his gay skin mags had been discovered by his mother.  His family could not accept him and tried to have the ‘gay’ exorcised from him.   Not belonging at home anymore, he feels there is nowhere he could belong.  The beauty of it is that “Nowhere” (the name of the ranch) is exactly where he does.
The dialogue was excellent.  I had no trouble “hearing” Roe’s accent and voice and I understood him because I was shown, not told (yay).  Even though this is more Roe’s book, I quite liked Travis also – he was patient with Roe but he fought for him too which hadn’t really happened for Roe before.  There is a strong BDSM aspect to the relationship which may have made me uncomfortable but for the POV of the story (it was nevertheless a bit eye-opening!).  As we are always in Roe’s head and he is the submissive partner, there was never any doubt that what was happening was always with Roe’s complete and enthusiastic consent.
The story takes a bit of a turn right near the end which, while not bad, was a bit under-developed, I thought.    Still, all the strengths of this wonderful story make this book a real winner and my *pick of the month*.

Just Like That (Bradfords #2) by Erin Nicholas – B.  Sexy story about two people who don’t want a relationship (although their reasons are different).  Well written, funny, with good main characters and strong secondary characters.  The opening scene, where Danika’s sisters are questioning her over her lack of partner-assisted orgasms (which is overheard by our hero Sam) is hilarious.
I liked the book so much I went and bought the first and third in the series and read them next.

Just Right by Erin Nicholas (Bradfords #1) – C+.  This is Jessica (Sam’s sister) and Ben’s story.  I liked it but I thought Just Like That was stronger.  

Just My Type by Erin Nicholas (Bradfords #3) – C.  The last in the series, this is Sara and Mac’s story.  Parts of it were really good but others seemed confused to me.  It was almost like it didn’t know what kind of story it was trying to be.   It starts with Sara deciding that she and Mac belong together.  Mac is 12 years her senior, she’s his best friend’s little sister and he likes raunchy no holds barred sex.  Although she’s not a virgin, he thinks she’s too innocent – he loves her but he’s not the right man.  He turns her down and Sara runs off to St. Croix to get herself some experience so she won’t be so innocent anymore.   **Spoilers Ahoy** Mac follows and (I got a bit lost here) they end up married.  That’s right.  Mac wants to push her away and he does it by marrying her.  Hur?  There were a few of these sorts of things in the book where I felt that the characters did things so they’d be in a certain position/place for the purpose of the plot, but not so much for any other discernable reason.  Pretty soon, Mac and Sara are saying they’re in love and despite his hands off rule, they’re sharing a bed and he’s confessed all his secrets to her.  Then the story becomes a “fish out of water” tale (har har) where he leaves Sara in a little town 45 minutes away from Omaha to fend for herself while he’s working.  Leaving aside that being 45 minutes away from a city like Omaha is hardly in the boonies, it was another one of those sudden shifts in the story which left me struggling a little to catch up.  Then, the story turns back on itself and it’s about how no-one is seeing Sara for who she actually is as opposed to who they want her to be and everyone has to stop, look and listen to see the real her.    I felt there were too many themes in the book to really explore any one satisfactorily and the jumping from one to another was confusing.  Also, Sara was a brat at the beginning – after all, she announces to Mac that he loves her and she loves him and they should be together – it does very much fit the very stereotype she later tries to break away from saying it’s not “her”.  Perhaps if I’d read this one first I may have liked it better – in the earlier books, I had the impression of Sara being protected yes, but nontheless capable, smart (she has a Masters degree and runs a Youth Centre) and able to stand on her own two feet.  However in this book, I was presented with a Sara who only ran the Youth Centre because Sam and Jessica had “made the job up for her”, a super-fussy eater, someone who never did anything on her own – a “Princess” by name and by nature.  It didn’t fit with my picture of her from earlier books.  So, all that, you’d think, “well, why did you give a C?”.  Because for all the things which bugged me, I liked Mac and I liked the Bradfords and their group of friends.  I like the voice of the author even though in this book the plot and the characterisations didn’t work for me so well.  And there were parts of the story which were really good in spite of my sometimes confusion.  Plus the sex was pretty smokin’.   So, in the end, the things which didn’t work for me were evened out by the things which did and in the end, my overall reaction was a C.

Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante – B+. This book marks the start of the Natalie Ross/Phil Gigante narrating team for this series.  I did like Phil Gigante’s narration, but while I enjoyed Natalie Ross, I thought Joyce Bean was better.  And, can I just say – Chapter 4?  Wow.

Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante – B.  And this is the end of the series.  I definitely enjoyed the series and this book, but there was a little too much of Mac’s inner monologue in this one.  After 4 books, I just wanted to know what happened!! – I even found myself reading the print version to skip ahead a little whereas I hadn’t been tempted before.  On the one hand, that is a sign that this was a compelling story.  On the other, it illustrates my impatience over Mac’s incessant thinking.  I am a big fan of Jericho Barrons however!  And, here’s hoping we’ll get a story about Christian MacKeltar one of these days. Overall, I think the series is a B+. 

Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Phil Gigante – B.  I wasn’t read to leave KMM’s world so I started listening to some of the Highlander series in an effort to “wean” myself.

Phil Gigante does an excellent Scot’s accent and his female characters were actually not bad. The trope of the 25 year old virgin is a little old but otherwise I did like this one. Seriously, what’s not to love about a man in a kilt??

The Dark Highlander by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Phil Gigante – B-.  Again, an enjoyable listen with Phil Gigante doing the narration.  I decided to leave the series there for the time being as there is a certain “sameness” to the storylines – I think they might be better enjoyed with gaps between.

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman – A.  I was urged to listen to this series by my pal Brenda and I must say a big thank you for that!  What a great series.  Renee Raudman is an awesome narrator – everything I have listened to of hers has been a big winner. As good as the stories are, I suspect I am enjoying this series more because the listening experience than I would have if I were reading the books.  I love the humour and the snark and I love Curran!  He’s my newest shapeshifter boyfriend. 🙂

This audiobook also met my “Listen to a new-to-you author” category in the AAR Speaking of Audiobooks Listening Challenge.

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman – A.  The second installment, we get more of Kate’s background and more of Curran and we meet Julie and Raphael.  (I’m pretty happy with Raphael too – I must read the novella from Must Love Hellhounds which, I understand, is told from Andrea’s perspective and is about her and Raphael getting together – oh and solving some magical crime of course!

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman – A.  Even more Curran this time (yay!) and lots of humour and again, just excellent narration.  It will surprise no-one that I’m currently listening to Magic Bleeds. *grin*   I’ll probably be sad for a while when I finish but there’s a new book coming out in May so it’s all good!!

 

Marry Me by Jo Goodman – B-.  This is a follow up to Never Love a Lawman, featuring new Reidsville doctor Cole Monroe and local girl Rhyne Abbot.  I found it quite hard to grade.  I enjoyed it very much when I was reading it and was eager to continue, but when I closed the book at the end and reflected on it, there was nothing that really stayed with me.  Still, an “average” Goodman is better than average if you know what I mean.  Others have liked this one better than NLAL whereas the first one grabbed me a bit more.

His for the Holidays by Carina Press- B – I reviewed LB Gregg’s contribution Mistletoe at Midnight a little while back (I gave it a B- at the time) and I finally got around to reading the other stories this month.  And, can I just say – nice covers!! *fans self*

Nine Lights Over Edinburgh by Harper Fox – B-.  This is a story of a divorced alcoholic policeman (James)  (sounds sexy huh?) who is trying to bring down a criminal who kidnaps women and girls and sells them to the highest bidder.  He meets a Mossad agent (Tobias) who is in the UK on secondment to a politician’s security detail and then James’ daughter is taken by the criminal.  James and Tobias have little time to find James’ daughter before she is sold to some evil pedophile type.  I was a bit worried about whether there’d be “inappropriate sex” – after all James’ daughter has just been abducted and I thought *sexy times* in those circumstances would be… off.  Well, I needn’t have worried.  There is sexual tension and a bit of fooling around but mostly the focus is on getting the child back safely.  After (it’s not a spoiler that she’s found is it?), that’s when there’s *sexy times*.  So, on the one hand, there wasn’t enough sex but on the other it would have been inappropriate to put more in really.  I don’t think the suspense plot was all that plausible but I did enjoy the relationship between James and Toby. And James did turn out to be quite sexy.  Go figure.

I Heard Him Exclaim by ZA Maxfield – B+.  This one was my favourite of all four books in the anthology.  Chandler has been appointed the guardian of his newly orphaned niece, Poppy and is taking her to his parents house where he plans to hand her over to them, feeling inadequate to raise her, as much as he loves her.  On the way, he meets up with Steve, who isn’t feeling the Christmas spirit this year – until he meets Chandler that is.  The relationship between Poppy and Chandler was especially well done and I really liked how the relationship developed between the two men.  I would have liked a little more between the last chapter and the epilogue – I wanted to know how Chandler decided to keep Poppy and more on how she was doing after the death of her parents, but I understand the space constraints of the format.  Nevertheless, a really good sexy story.  I haven’t read this author before and I understand there is a fair sized backlist for me to dig into.  Yay.

Icecapade by Josh Lanyon – B-.  Former jewel thief Noel Snow and FBI agent Robert Cuffe hook  up in this one.  It felt a bit short to me and I would have liked a little more depth.  Also, the references to brand names felt a bit overdone – it’s not something I usually notice.  Still, a pleasant story which encourages me to read more Lanyon – I think I may prefer a longer story from him – because I really liked the style and wanted to know more about Noel and Robert.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys by Mia Watts – B.  Cute sexy short about two previously straight cops who fall for each other.  Re-read to refresh my memory before I read Mack and Geo’s second instalment.

Reasonable Doubt by Mia Watts – B-.  Sexy short.  It was good to see Mack and Geo still together after a year but there were some pretty serious topics brought up which weren’t given enough attention IMO and some of it was a little bit hokey (The rings?  Mack is not a demonstrative person – he doesn’t like PDA’s so would he really wear a ring like that? It’s a bit out there isn’t it?).  However, I like Mack and Geo and hope to read more about them.  Also, this cover is much better than the first one.

**PICK OF THE MONTH**
One Real Thing by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox – A-.  This is a gem.  Nick and Hollister (“Holly”) have been friends since college. Holly is a bit of a screw up and Nick looks after him.  After Nick marries evil bitch wife, his friendship with Holly goes the way of the dodo but he keeps up with Holly’s doings by virtue of  websites like TMZ.  When Holly gets into trouble, Nick goes and helps him out, gets him back on his feet.  Then Nick splits with evil bitch wife and he’s the one in crisis and it’s Holly’s turn to help Nick.    It is then that Nick realises what Holly has known forever but thought he could not have – they are “it” for each other.  That’s a really ordinary way of describing this very special story.  It stayed with me after I finished it (always the mark of a great read).  At the risk of offending (which is not at all my intention but it may come out wrong), this is the first time I’ve read about a D/s relationship which I “got”.  I’ve read and enjoyed other books with this theme but not with any real understanding of how it came to be, what made each partner want that sort of relationship.  I’ve seen reviews (most particularly by Sarah Frantz over at Dear Author) where she explains that it just “is” but I’ve never before really understood.  In this book, I did.  Their relationship is very symbiotic.  I could see (shown not told = excellent) what Holly got out of being submitted to Nick.  I could see what Nick got out of dominating Holly. I could see they both needed it and I could see it was beautiful.  And sexy too.  The only niggle I had was that it wasn’t terribly clear to me that Nick was bisexual.  I got the impression that he had been straight and straight only until his relationship with Holly commences (after he splits with evil bitch wife).  But, there were a couple of comments along the lines of “it’s been a long time” from Nick which indicated this wasn’t the case.  The comments were in the sex scenes and, because I wasn’t expecting it, they kind of threw me out of the story a little.   However, that could just have been me. Sarah Frantz in her review didn’t feel that way at all, so YMMV.  This was an excellent, moving, touching book and my pick of the month.  Yum.

Naughty and Nice by Carina Press – B-.  I reviewed Believe by Lauren Dane back in November (I gave it a C+/B-) and I read the other 3 stories this month.

Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey – B.  I really liked this one.  Chloe Burke goes to her hometown to house-sit for her parents and, after an electrical incident, decides to get their wiring upgraded for Christmas.  Enter Scott Quinn, electrician who’s had a crush on Chloe since High School.  But Chloe is a Boston girl and Scott is a hometown boy.  Can a holiday fling become something more?   Fun. Sexy. Good.

All She Wants For Christmas by Jaci Buron – B-.  Small-town-girl-made-big country music star Riley Jenson comes home to film a biography for one of the entertainment channels.  There she meets up with ex Ethan Kent (who has 2 sexy brothers I’m hoping to read about one of these days), a widower with a young daughter who’s a big Riley Jensen fan.  Riley left town after finding Ethan in bed with former BFF Amanda (mother of Zoey – the daughter).  The attraction is still there, can they get over what happened in the past?  I enjoyed this quite a bit, even thought it was a little saccharine at the end.  I would have liked just a little more detail on exactly how they were going to organise their lives (it’s not a spoiler to let you know they end up happy ever after is it?) and I was serious about wanting Brody and Wyatt’s stories.  I can so imagine the movie of the week of this one!

Unwrapped by Megan Hart – C+.  This one is about newlyweds Leah and Brandon taking a holiday away from the family for Christmas.  It was definitely sexy but I thought the conflict about babies was a bit contrived. I probably would have enjoyed it better if I had read the earlier story involving this couple (- on Goodreads there is a mention of Taking Care of Business and No Reservations which feature Leah and Brandon.)

The Courtesan’s Daughter by Claudia Dain – C-.  This was hard for me to grade.  There was a lot to like and some very amusing moments.  Sophia (the Courtesan of the title) was a very intriguing character but the romance was between Caro (the daughter of the title) and Ashdon and there just wasn’t enough of it.  In the end, I didn’t totally buy the HEA – there just wasn’t enough depth to the relationship – lust yes? but love? I wasn’t convinced.  I didn’t understand why they were in love.  I didn’t see it happen – there just wasn’t enough for me to believe it.  So, it must be graded lowish on the scale because I didn’t buy the romance.  Also, and tellingly, it took me about a week to read.  It was only 260 pages long and normally a book of that length would take me only a day or two.  This tells me that I wasn’t in a hurry to get back to it.  In fact, I started to choose watching the television than reading it.  Ultimately, I read romance novels for the romance and this book was more about the machinations of the Courtesan to get her daughter her HEA than the romance between the H/H themselves.  However, I know that Jane Litte from Dear Author and Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books love this series (and plenty of other people too) so don’t just take my word for it.

Force of Law by Jez Morrow – C.  Okay, shortish, story about a very rich man (Law) and a mechanic who used to date Law’s cousin.  I could have used some more character development.  I didn’t quite get what was so good about Law myself.

McKettricks of Texas: Tate by Linda Lael Miller – C.   I don’t read a lot of Westerns but I thought I’d give this one a try.  Tate is the eldest McKettrick brother.  The McKettricks are filthy rich (they’re compared to Ewings in the book).  He’s divorced from bitchy wife Cheryl and has twin 6 year old daughters.  His old flame is Libby Remington – they were going out until Tate “knocked Cheryl up” when he was away in college and had to marry her. I thought the conflict was a bit glossed over – after all, Tate cheated on Libby and dumped her when Cheryl got pregnant.  Libby had been humiliated as the whole town knew what had happened and pitied her.  Even though years had passed, I didn’t quite buy the “I forgave you ages ago” thing.  While I didn’t think Tate would cheat on her again, I wondered if that was a proximity thing (ie, he was planning to stick close to Libby anyway) and I wondered why Libby thought he wouldn’t cheat.  There were a LOT of characters in this book and some of them I, frankly didn’t understand why they were there.  They didn’t seem to add anything to the forward movement of the plot (eg, the lawnmower/ostrich lady).  I think Ms. Miller has written many McKettrick books and even though this is the first in the most recent series, I wondered if the other characters had been in previous books and appeared in this one as a “catch up” for fans.  The sex scenes were pretty hot and I liked how Tate was with his daughters but in the end the book didn’t really grab me.

The Tourist by Clare London – B. Interesting short about a ghost type being who inhabits corporeal bodies, hopping from person to person for fun and sexy times – he calls himself a tourist, hence the title. The concept was interesting and different. The book was well written and, despite the tourist’s initially expressed wish to keep his visits to sex and lust only, there’s heart to it too.

By the Book by Scarlett Parrish – B+/D.  Reece and Georgia are a sexually adventurous couple who invite a third in from time to time to spice things up.  For Reece’s birthday, Georgia brings her best friend Sarah to put on a bit of a show and give Reece *the best birthday evah*.  Reece, who works in a library, meets Daniel Cross, a novelist, when he comes to return some books and stays at the library to do some writing.  There is an instant connection.  Daniel is bisexual (“do you have a pulse?”  “then I’m flirting”) and outrageous and smokin’ hot (both to Reece and to me as a reader).  Georgia’s keen on a the idea of Reece “returning the favour” he had on his birthday so Daniel joins Georgia and Reece for a night but there is no sexual contact between the boys – Reece is straight.  Or, until he met Daniel, he thought he was anyway.  When Georgia suggests a rematch, Daniel declines unless some m/m action is on the table too – Daniel wants Reece any way he can get him and Georgia is hot and sexy so it’s not a chore or anything, but to have Reece so close and naked and not touch – not gonna happen.  Dilemma.    To cut to the chase, Reece wants Daniel AND Georgia – can he have them?

I found this book very hard to grade.  On the one hand, I was truly enjoying it right up until the end – so it would have been B+ at least.  But the end was too ambiguous for me – (this is hard to explain without giving away spoilers, but I don’t think it’s fair to give them away here, so I’ll do my best) – as in most romance books, there is a conflict which keeps the main characters apart and the end should be a resolution to that conflict.  Well, I didn’t see a resolution to the conflict.  Just a few extra pages or an epilogue may have done the trick, or just some inner monologue from Reece (the story is told from his 1st person POV) even but it wasn’t there and that made the ending a D.   If I’m lucky, Ms. Parrish will write a Christmas short or something and I’ll get the resolution to the conflict (or the certainty of it at least) I crave.  (note to self: check out author’s website just in case.)
There were some problems with the book, it was a little light on the relationship building between Daniel and Reece and there was almost no relationship between Georgia and Daniel.  But, when I was reading those things didn’t bother me, I was caught up in the emotion of the story and desperate to know how it ended.  Unfortunately, the ending didn’t give me the closure I needed. YMMV.

As an aside:
Can I just say that this was described as “novel length” at LooseID and I paid USD$6.99 for it.  At 178 pages on my Sony reader, I thought it was a bit shorter than a novel.  No complaint to the author, but I thought the LooseID pricing was a bit high for the length of the book, which is (or nearly) a MMP price.  I have struck this at LooseID before with other books too.  Maybe I’m becoming more tightfisted with my $$ as I’m getting older…

Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh, narrated by Justine Eyre.  B-.  Unfortunately, my listening pleasure suffered because I was on holidays when listening to this one and there were long breaks in between listens – doing snorkelling and spending time with kidlet and hubby etc.   I have the book and plan on reading it one of these days and Archangel’s Consort is on its way to me from the Book Depository too.  Raphael is hawtness.

My online audiobook friends have been urging me to try Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series and they were especially excited because of the January 18 release of Shadowfever, the final book in the series.  They had a re-listen of the series in the lead up to the latest release and I decided to hop on the bandwagon.  Also, I’m participating in the Speaking of Audiobooks Listening Challenge on AAR this year and Darkfever meets my “start a new series, see if it hooks you” category.  It did.  Oh boy did it.

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Joyce Bean – B+  Told in the first person, this is the story of Mackayla Lane, debutante Southern belle, who travels to Dublin to investigate the death of her sister and finds out there is more going on than she ever thought.  She is a Sidhe (spelling? sounds like “she”) seer (because I’m listening to these books, I know how to say the words but have no clue how to spell them, forgive me.  I do plan on getting the books now though – I think I’d like to read them too.) who can see Fae.  She meets the mysterious Jericho Barrons and starts her quest to avenge her sister.  I’m told that this is the book where she is “pink Mac” – and some people get impatient with her because she’s blonde and a bit ditzy and very privileged.  Over time however, she turns into “black Mac” (I think I have that right) and she becomes much more kick-ass and therefore much more popular with readers/listeners.  It took me a little time to get into – part of that was because of the “pink Mac” thing and part of it was because the world building was so different (I haven’t read any Moning books before – though I understand the Highlander novels have a simlar mythology) it took a bit of getting used to.  I think it is probably easier to me to pick up a new “world” on paper than on audio but I got there in the end.  I’m very very glad that I will be able to listen to all 5 books in a row and don’t have to worry about cliffhangers.  I’ve been finding excuses to do housework so I can keep listening-  the mark of an excellent audiobook IMO!!

Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Joyce Bean – B+  The second book in the series, it basically picks up where Darkfever leaves off.  I’ve come to think of this series as one book, in five parts.  I think I’m likely to grade the series as a whole after I’ve listened to them all.  I’ve stuck with B+ for now because, as much as I’m enjoying the stories, I don’t know what’s going to happen; I don’t know who Mac ends up with (although I’m hoping it’s Barrons); I don’t know who Barrons is; I don’t know for sure that the world building will be consistent through the series and that it will all make sense in the end.  My friends tell me it is and it does and there is a HEA (and thank the Lord for that or the whole series would become a wallbanger for me!).  But, with so much unknown, I’m hedging my grading bets.

Faefever by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Joyce Bean -B+.  Joyce Bean is doing a great job narrating this series.  I understand that the next two books are jointly narrated by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante – so I expect they aren’t told in first person POV anymore.  Nevertheless, Joyce Bean has really helped bring this series alive for me.  Her male character voices are very very good – especially Barrons and she does really well with the accents.

ETA:  I have started Dreamfever now and Natalie Ross does most of the narration.  Phil Gigante just does the bits where one of the male characters speaks.  I quite liked Joyce Bean’s Barrons, but Phil Gigante does have a yummy deep voice and I think he get’s the “not quite Irish” accent down a little better.  As much as I enjoyed it, Joyce Bean’s Barrons sounded quite Irish to me and it was little odd as the book desribes his accent as not really Irish and hard to pick it’s origin.  I’m getting used to Natalie Ross and she certainly gets the angst of those early Mac scenes.

The Ungrateful Governess by Mary Balogh -B-  The Earl of Rutherford causes Jessica Moore to lose her position without a character and, feeling guilty, offers her 2 solutions – a position as his mistress or the assistance of his grandmother to find an alternative position.  I liked very much the interplay between Jessica and Rutherford but the book was a little lacking in tension and angst compared to some of my favourite Baloghs.

The Obedient Bride by Mary Balogh – B.  This is a story about a marriage of convenience between Arabella and Viscount Astor.  Astor things he can just go about his normal life and keep his wife in the country – not from maliciousness but from cluelessness.  He was a beta hero who wasn’t very self-aware and it was interesting to see his eyes open.    There was a secondary thread (so small it could hardly be called a story) about Mr. Hubbard and his estranged wife (who had run off with another man, taking Hubbard’s son with her).  Hubbard decides to forgive his wife and try and sort things out when she writes asking for a reconciliation – I would have loved more of that story and how they would have gotten on in society and if it would have worked out etc.

An Unacceptable Offer by Mary Balogh – B.  Viscount Fairfax is a widower with 2 young daughters who comes to town at the urging of his friend Sedgeworth to find a new wife and mother for his children.  He decides to choose with his head and not his heart, having gotten it wrong the first time.  Jane Matthews is in town for a season having fallen in love with Viscount Fairfax from afar some 5 years earlier (but then he went and married someone else) and she’s determined not to pine away for something that can never be and accept an offer of marriage from someone suitable.   Fairfax decides that Jane would be suitable and much to her surprise, Jane turns him down – she, after all, wants to be wanted for herself.  Jane’s cousin, Honor, has set her cap for Fairfax because he’s a handsome devil and somehow Jane ends up betrothed to Sedgworth instead.  Then there’s a house party.
No sex 🙁   –  sometimes I barely notice its absence but I did this time.  I really liked Fairfax, Jane and Sedgeworth and was prepared to detest Honor. But Balogh has a way of making secondary characters more nuanced than that and not quite what one might initially expect.   So, in the end, I really liked Honor too.

An Unlikely Duchess by Mary Balogh – B-.  This was a farce.  A story of a very silly girl (Jo) and a Duke who’d been very dutiful and staid until he met her.  You kind of have to go with it because she really is very very silly.  So,  if you don’t think too much about why on earth Paul fell for her, it’s a bit of a hoot.  Again with the light on in the sex department.

At Last Comes Love (Huxtable Quintet #3) by Mary Balogh – B+/A-.  Really really good.  After all the Balogh categories, I felt like something more substantial and then remembered I hadn’t read bks 3 and 4 for the Huxtable series yet.    I really loved Duncan.  Again, first impressions can be deceptive – there was much more going on than met the eye and than most people ever knew.  He is a very very good man.  With a terrible reputation. But, as Duncan’s mother says:

But he is thirty years old.  Multiply those years by three hundred and sixty-five and even if you ignore the leap years, that is a large number of days in which he has not behaved in a dastardly manner.  Find out about those days Margaret.  Find my son.  Marry him if you can.  Love him if you will.

Margart deserved her HEA and it was so nice to see her get such a wonderful man.  I liked the way they dealt with each other – communicating openly and directly and giving each other a chance to explain.    I did think the bit at the end where Meg doesn’t talk to Duncan for a week or so was a bit contrived – that just didn’t seem to be how they’d dealt with each other up to then and it was pretty quickly resolved – which just proved to me that it wasn’t necessary.  The external conflict was quite enough for a satisfying ending.
I highlighted quite a few passages in this book where I was impressed with Balogh’s turn of phrase and the way she can sketch a character so well with a few sentences – like here:

Norman fixed him with a stern stare – something he had perfected at the age of eight or so.  His shirt points waited hopefully a scant inch from his eyeballs.

Seducing an Angel (Huxtable Quintet #4) by Mary Balogh – A.  Somewhat surprisingly, I enjoyed Stephen’s story – I had thought that a 25 year old hero would be a bit young for me.  But, Stephen has grown up well and is a mature 25 year old.  Once again, the looks can be deceiving theme is part of this story and it is once again done very well.  Cassandra is a worthy heroine (with an awful, but thankfully, dead husband – there are rumours she killed him in fact), also well deserving of her HEA.  Plus it is nice to see an older woman/younger man story – she’s 28 (hardly ancient, but still).
There is a part in the book where Stephen is feeling very angry and gives his valet a scathing set down – he apologises later and he’s not generally mean or anything but I was struck by the language and tone and I could just see it in a Pride and Prejudice type tv show/movie to show aristocratic arrogance:-

“Pardon me if I have misunderstood the situation Philbin,” he said.  “But are you not employed to serve my  needs? Are you not employed to care for my clothes, among other duties?  To have them clean and ironed and ready when I need them?  I will expect these clothes to be all three when I next call for them.  In the meantime you may have bathwater brought up for me and set out my riding clothes while I bathe.  You may then shave me and help me dress.  If, in your deepest fantasies you imagine that one of your duties is to talk to me while you work and offer your opinion on my behaviour and the condition of my clothes when I return them to you care, then you must be forced to face reality – and forced to seek employment with someone who is foolish enough to allow such daydreams to flourish.  Do I make myself clear?” 

Looking back, it was this and other scenes which helped me to believe that Stephen was no longer a boy but a fully grown man and it was important in this book to believe that was the case or otherwise it would have been…. unsatisfying.
The other thing about these 2 books is that the other siblings and their partners all have parts to play but do not appear for no reason at all. They are also, the same distinct characters. Elliott is still a little stiff and austere to appearances but has mellowed some without having a character transplant.  Jasper is still a teaser with a twinkle in his eye.  I enjoyed them so much I went back and read their books too.

First Comes Marriage (Huxtable Quintet #1) by Mary Balogh -B+.  This one holds up very well on a re-read.  I wasn’t grading back when I first read it so I can’t properly compare but I certainly didn’t have any trouble getting through it again.  Balogh captures very well the bafflement men can feel regarding women and emotions and I enjoyed Elliott getting in touch with his feelings.  I also loved how Vanessa became truly beautiful to Elliott – I think everyone needs to be beautiful to someone.

Then Comes Seduction (Hutxtable Quintext #2) by Mary Balogh -B+.  Again with the re-read and the holding up well.  I enjoyed seeing there was more to Jasper than a wastrel who didn’t care about others.  I enjoyed his humour and I liked how Kate and he were absurd and laughed together often – that was very much a feature of their relationship and a connection they had almost from the start.  I also liked how Balogh didn’t let Jasper off the hook – he had to truly apologise to Kate for his reprehensible actions with the wager (the cad!) and she had to forgive him for them to be truly happy together.

Con’s story (A Secret Affair) is out in MMP in January so I thought I’d save some cash and wait a few weeks (I can manage that but it’s probably just as well it took me so long to read these books or otherwise I would probably have been forced to pay hardback prices for the ebook – which is just plain sad.)  I’m looking forward to finding out that Elliott was wrong and I’m hoping that there will be a sufficient explanation that I understand why Con didn’t tell him sooner.  Fingers crossed!

And thus, ended (at least temporarily) my Balogh glom. I felt in the mood for something more contemporary so I turned to

Second Chances by Lauren Dane – B-.  *spoilers ahoy* I must admit I found this book hard to grade.  It is a re-vamped, revised, re-published early work from Ms. Dane and it kinda shows.  I thought it was strangely structured and I can’t really explain why without giving away some spoilers.  Sorry. The story is ultimately about Rori and Jude and starts off being about Rori and Jude and ends up being about Rori and Jude but half of the book (in the middle) is about Rori and Zach and it was that part that totally got me. Jude was an asshole at the beginning – he knew it but it didn’t make me feel very warm towards him even later. Zach on the other hand, was lovely. I cried like a girl when he died (well, there was a spoiler warning, don’t say I didn’t mention it 🙂

In the end, I based my grade on my emotional reaction overall to the story so I gave it a B- – and that was all up to Zach.

Beyond Reckless by Ava March – C+.  Cute Regency m/m short.  I think these characters have been in earlier books (but I haven’t read them).  24 pages isn’t really enough to get to know 2 men but I am interested enough to check out the earlier books. If I had read the earlier books first I suspect this one would have meant more to me. 

Faith and Fidelity by Tere Michaels – A-.  The minus is because it ended a bit soon.  This was friends to lovers, gay-for-you story, with angst, hotness and children.    Evan Cerelli is a widower cop with 4 children.  Matt Haight is a former policeman with friends in common with Evan.  The book starts off at Evan’s wife’s funeral so I was crying before the end of the prologue.  Which shows that the writing was so good I was hooked right away.  Neither Matt nor Evan have previously been into men before.  At one point, Matt was wondering to himself what he’d say if anyone asked him why he was so cheerful:-

Uh, let’s see… he’s about six feet tall, muscular – with these silver-blue eyes that frankly make me harder than any rack I’ve ever laid eyes on.  Go figure.  I’m an eye man.  And, apparently, a “man” man. 

Every once in a while he’d stare at the phone wonder what kind of day Evan was having.  Good Christ, Matt, you’ve suddenly wound up in a fucking romance novel.

Plus, there are children to consider and weird in-laws.  Both men are well drawn and likeable.  I liked the exploration of where both were at and how they got to their HEA – I would have liked just a little more at the end… but,  really, excellent.

Love and Loyalty by Tere Michaels- A-.  This is the second book in the Faith, Love & Devotion series and is about Jim (a character who has a brief but important interaction with Matt in bk1) and Griffin.  Jim is a cop and Griffin is a screenwriter who wants to write a screenplay about a case close to Jim’s heart.  The relationship between Jim and Ed Kelly (a father-type figure) is particularly touching.  Both characters are gay and comfortable with it from the start, so it is quite a different book to bk1 – which is a good thing of course.  I really enjoy this lady’s writing.

Duty and Devotion by Tere Michaels – B.  The final book in the series (so far? ever?), it is also the shortest and least satisfying.  Both couples from bk1 appear here but the story is more about Matt and Evan continuing to work out their HEA.   I think I would have liked it better if it had been a little longer but I as much as I enjoyed it, I felt a tiny bit short changed.

Like Pizza and Beer by Elle Parker – B-.  This is the sequel to Like Coffee and Doughnuts and follows the relationship between Dino Martini (private investigator) and Seth Donnelly (best friend and mechanic) who wound up in a romantic relationship in book 1.  Before Seth, Dino was only into women, so Seth feels threatened when Dino’s ex, Gigi turns up asking for help.  This series has a really nice film noir feel to it – the way it is written in the first person just adds to that atmosphere.  I thought book 1 had more to it but this one was still an enjoyable read.
Also, thanks to my Secret Santa Ivandort for this one!

Not Knowing Jack by KA Mitchell – B+/A-. *spoilers ahoy, kind of*. This is the story of Jack and Tony, who were secondary characters in Regularly Scheduled Life (my equal favourite KA Mitchell book so far).  Jack and Tony are happy together but they don’t really talk.  They communicate through (hawt!) sex *fans self* and food.  They haven’t faced any major problems in their relationship so the lack of talking hasn’t been a big issue. But, when Tony finds out that Jack had a former wife and has 2 children things get rocky.  I liked the way the children were portrayed but I struggled a little with how they had been left basically alone at school for so long.  But then, so did Tony.  Jack feels like a failure with nothing to offer anyone and that if Tony finds out about the “real Jack” he would leave – so he doesn’t share.  I, as the reader, knew that Jack was thinking this but I’m not entirely sure that Tony ever understood that was what was going on.   I graded it on my emotional reaction when I finished the book but the more I think about it, there really were things missing that I wanted to know. Probably just another chapter would have done the trick for me and tipped this over into awesome territory.  Where exactly did they end up working and living?  What were the arrangements for the kids’ school?  Why did we miss the wedding? (oh why?).  What happened with the ex?  Surely she just didn’t disappear?  Did Tony go back to work?  Did he become a “house-husband” and was everyone okay with that?  Did Jack get some help/get past feeling like a failure?  Did he actually start opening up to Tony?  In the end, the last 2 were probably the biggest questions I had – I had to just believe it would happen/had happened rather than being shown that it did.    Still, even with all the questions, this story was really good and I still love Jack and Tony – I just wanted more!

Promises by Marie Sexton – B+.  A really good story with well drawn characters.  Matt is a cop who moves to Coda, Colorado where Jared lives. Jared and Matt connect instantly – Jared is gay but Matt is straight – or is he?  No surprises to find out that he is, at least, gay-for-Jared. 🙂  I was however, kind of surprised that Matt coped so well once he came out but then again, like he said in the book, once he makes up his mind about something, that’s it – no turning back.  Matt’s dad is a piece of work, with homophobia only the tip of the iceberg.  Are there really dads like Joseph?  Maybe, but I can’t figure why you’d have anything to do with him if that’s what he was like.   I liked this book so much, I went on an immediate glom of the rest of the series.

A to Z by Marie Sexton – B+.  This story starts in Denver where Zach owns a video store and Angelo comes to work for him and helps him to improve and ultimately, save, his business.  They become friends with Matt and Jared from Coda when they meet at a music festival.  This story is told in alternating first person perspective, first Zach and then Angelo and I quite liked getting both points of view (Promises was told solely in Jared’s POV).  The beginning in particular is really funny and had me laughing out loud and my husband querying why I was snorting soft drink out of my nose – Zach is the definition of clueless – he’s not mean, but he’s just unaware.  He owns a video store but he doesn’t really like movies and he doesn’t watch them.  The scene where Angelo is talking to him about movies is a hoot.  Zach has a number of regular customers, who he recognises but he doesn’t know their names – he gives them names himself in his head for reference though.  There is one customer who rents the same video every time (why I don’t know) and he spends hours in the store – Zach needs Angelo to tell him that because Zach doesn’t know movies and has no organisational system and so just puts the dvds wherever, the customer spends all that time searching for the video each time and thinks Zach is just “fucking with him”.  Angelo is organised where Zach is not and knows movies where Zach does not but Angelo needs Zach too – just in different ways.  I didn’t get a complete handle on Angelo so I was a little confused as to why he needed separate rooms and separate space for so long – I mean, I know he had scars but I guess I needed a little more exposition to connect a bit more deeply with him.  That said, I did connect with both of them (just not as much with Angelo).  The book has funny bits all the way through, but most of the humour is at the beginning.  Once Zach and Angelo start their relationship, things become more serious and some heavier themes are introduced.  I thought Angelo and Zach made a great pair and it was nice to catch up with Matt and Jared again too.

The Letter Z by Marie Sexton – B+ This is a shorter story about all four of the previous characters who go to Vegas together for a weekend (and no, it’s not a foursome – get your minds out of the gutter dear readers!!) and is told in alternating perspective of Matt (which is nice because we haven’t had that before) and Angelo.  It is more about the evolution of Zach and Angelo’s relationship and it was a welcome addition as it helped to “finish off” their story I think.  Also, we get to meet Zach’s ex – Jonathon, who features in the next book (although he’s not shown in a very favourable light…).  

Strawberries for Dessert by Marie Sexton – A.  As can be seen from the grade, I liked this one the best out of all four stories.  Cole is a flamboyant gay boy who is independently wealthy and flits about the globe, hooking up semi-regularly with semi-boyfriends as he doesn’t like casual sex but can’t handle a relationship – or rather, doesn’t think a relationship can handle him (although it takes a while for the reader to get to know him enough to see that).  One of his semi-regular hook ups used to be Jared (from Promises) and he sets up Zach’s ex Jonathon with Cole for a blind date as they both live in Phoenix, Arizona, at least some of the time.  The first date doesn’t go well – Jonathon is very career driven and is on the phone a lot of the time (rude!) but they decide to try it again and then settle into a more-than-semi-regular hookup – eventually both stop sleeping with anyone else (not that they tell each other that at the time or anything – they both kind of independently decide to do it because they are satisfied with each other and don’t want to look elsewhere – which was actually kind of nice if, perhaps, unconventional).  They fall in love and Cole is terrified – he doesn’t believe he can be in a successful long term relationship.  I liked how I got to slowly get glimpses of Cole’s fragility – because he is very fragile (I connected much better with him than with Angelo from A to Z, even despite this one being told in Jonathon’s 1st person POV except for brief excerpts of emails from Cole to Jared at the beginning of each chapter). I liked how the story  seemed to slowly unfold – I say seemed to because it was only 153 pages long so it’s not like it was an opus or anything, but something in the tone and voice made it seem like a slow reveal (but not at all boring).  I liked how I saw Jonathon grow and change (he was a bit of an asshat in The Letter Z so I had to have some time and space to change my view, as well as a reason to do so.  I found myself thinking about these characters long after I closed the book and I hope that Ms. Sexton will feature these guys in future books – maybe that means I’m not totally sold on the HEA?  I’m not sure, I certainly wanted to believe but Cole is so very fragile and their relationship was about to go into a whole new phase – so maybe it’s just that I think there’s more of the story to tell.    Anyway, I have definitely found a new m/m author – all four of the books I have read have been solid winners, especially this one.  Personally, I think reading them in order is best but I don’t think it is necessary to read Strawberries for Dessert last – if you like dessert first, go right ahead!

Vision in White (Bride Quartet #1) by Nora Roberts, narrated by Emily Durante – A-.  I really enjoyed the novel and I enjoyed the audio too. The banter between the characters is the sort that I felt would work really well on audio with the right narrator. Emily Durante didn’t have a great deal of pitch difference with the male characters but she caught the snap and sparkle and humour of the characters perfectly. I do love Carter Maguire!

Bed of Roses (Bride Quartet #2) by Nora Roberts, narrated by Angela Dawe – B+. It’s a toss up between Vision in White and this one (both in print and audio) as to which one is my favourite.
I still don’t get quite what Emma went off the deep end about though. So he hadn’t given her a key – they’d only been going out for 2-3 months. And she really didn’t give him a chance to explain. When I really think about it, Emma had all these worries but she never spoke to Jack about them before that fight. I wondered if Jack did the turnaround a little quickly but then, I wasn’t all that convinced there was anything to turn around – I didn’t see him do all that much wrong. Anyway, the fact that I’ve analysed the characters and their responses just goes to show how engaged I was with the story which means it was a really good book.
I think I liked Emily Durante’s narration slightly better than Angela Dawe’s.

Bet Me by Jenny Crusie, narrated by Deanna Hurst – A+. This is my favourite Crusie (closely followed by Welcome to Temptation). Excellent in both paper and audio formats. I love Cal and Min! I was a bit worried that it was better in my memory than in reality but I needn’t have been concerned.  The narrator picks up on the snark and the snappy humour of the characters and gets it just right I think.  Min is a plus sized heroine and Cal loves her just the way she is.  What’s not to love?  (I’m fairly sure that only Jenny Crusie can make an actuary an interesting and wonderful romance heroine!).

High Noon by Nora Roberts, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B- Because Susan Ericksen narrates the In Death series also, I had some trouble with differentiating Phoebe from Eve Dallas and is it just me or did Liz Alberta sound suspiciously like Roarke?
It is, however, a million times better than the Lifetime movie… 🙂

Angel’s Blood by Nalini Singh, narrated by Justine Eyre – B+.  Now I want to read the book too! I was a bit reluctant to listen to this one because I wasn’t sure how the angels mythology in this book would fit with my own beliefs – but this world is not the Christian world and angels don’t mean the same thing as they do in the Christian belief system so I didn’t have any conflict thankfully.
Having got over that minor hurdle, I didn’t have any trouble following the world building and got into the story pretty quickly.  Elena is a kick-ass heroine and Raphael isn’t a pushover either.  It is oft-stated that he isn’t human; he’s an archangel but in my head, that doesn’t mean much – is it just me?  I can’t really imagine anything other than human, frankly….!!  Having said that, angel smex is hawt!!
My only slight dilemma was working out how angels wear shirts – do they have wing-holes?  Maybe my answer will be in the next book.
I’m looking forward to the next instalment of Raphael & Elena (in fact I’m listening to it now).