Page 245 of 268

Wish by Kelly Hunter

October 9, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: After my less than successful experience with my first try of something from the Destiny imprint, I was keen to read another which I liked. I’ve heard about Australian author Kelly Hunter from various trusted reviewers and I even have another of her Harlequin books on my TBR but I hadn’t read any. When I saw this on NetGalley, I felt like this would be a sure bet. I was right.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) All single mother Billie Temple wants for Christmas is to trade her hectic Sydney lifestyle for simple country living and a place to call home.

All widowed cattleman Adam Kincaid wants is for Billie and her son to go away.

Someone’s got a problem.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I’ve always thought it takes a special talent to write short. To tell a good story in less than 100 pages is a talent I both recognise and envy (if I ever do write a book, I can’t imagine it being short!). And, sure I could happily have read more about Billie and Adam, but, the story was told and very enjoyably too in that less than 100 pages.

Ms. Hunter creates characters using bold strokes but which nevertheles feel complete. She doesn’t use a lot of words to explain the characters, letting them largely speak for themselves, but there was enough that I had a very clear picture of the main players, without any of them feeling like caricatures. I enjoyed the humor too – the way she portrayed Adam’s initial interest in Billie is one example:

Billie was doing the rounds for empties when he walked in and she looked businesslike and efficient in tailored black trousers and a crisp white shirt. Not that he’d been expecting a miniskirt, fishnets, and six-inch heels, no, but a man had his fantasies and that one had been particularly vivid.

I had half expected the book would be on the sweet side of the steam scale, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the heat level was higher than that – no shying away from use of the word clitoris. There wasn’t tons and tons of sex – it’s not an erotic romance and of course, it’s not very long, but there was enough for the story and it was well done too.

Billie is open about her desire for Adam from early on and it is obvious he is struggling with feeling the same way even though after the death of his wife and son in a car accident some years before, he’s not looking for a relationship. The presence of Billie and her son on his property is enough to give him the heebie geebies and it’s bringing all sorts of uncomfortable emotions to the surface. He’s gruff and outright rude but he is at heart, a good man and a protector and he is drawn to Billie.

Eventually they start up a friends with benefits type arrangement, on the quiet and with no strings from either side – Adam can’t bring himself to use Cal’s name referring to him as “the boy” and Billie knows that a relationship with a man who can’t include her son in his life is doomed. But, he’s sexy and she’s lonely so, despite her better judgement she embarks on a fling. When some strange things start happening in town and it looks like Billie is under threat, Adam’s protective instincts outweigh his reticence and he takes Billie and Cal into his home. And he finds, against his will, he likes it.

I enjoyed the Australian setting and farming work peppered throughout the story and I liked how Billie stood up for herself with her new boss at the pub Roly and got her way in getting the pub modernised and bringing in new customers. The “suspense” plot was a little thin I suppose but it all made sense and as I read for the romance I wasn’t bothered by it.

Billie has been through a lot in her life too and I appreciated that she was the sort of person who could take a little time to grieve but then got up and moved on with optimism, without being a Mary Sue. Adam sees that and takes some inspiration I think.

I also enjoyed the scene where Adam went shopping. Very fun. 🙂

The book is nothing earth-shattering – just a sweet sexy and short contemporary but I really enjoyed it. The length is just right to finish in an evening and it left me with a smile on my face.

What else? According to Goodreads, the book was first released last year but it is up at NetGalley now as release for the new Destiny imprint so I guess it is getting a new audience.

I enjoyed Ms. Hunter’s writing voice and will definitely be reading more from her.

Grade: B+

Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

October 8, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I saw the Twitter buzz (especially from Angela James, Carina Press editor who said it was super dirty) so I hoofed it over to NetGalley and was happy to be approved for the title. I’ll just say here too that the copyright information at the front was pretty classy I thought (basically that it’s okay to lend, but keep within your peer group and lend like you would a paper book.).

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) All Noelle Cunningham has ever wanted is a life beyond–beyond the walls of Eden, where only the righteous are allowed to remain, and beyond her stiflingly restrictive existence as a councilman’s daughter. But only ruins lie outside the City, remnants of a society destroyed by solar storms decades earlier.

The sectors surrounding Eden house the corrupt, the criminal–men like Jasper McCray, bootlegger and cage fighter. Jas clawed his way up from nothing to stand at the right hand of Sector Four’s ruthless leader, and he’ll defend the O’Kane gang with his life. But no fight ever prepared him for the exiled City girl who falls at his feet.

Her innocence is undeniable, but so is their intense sexual attraction, and soon they’re crossing every boundary Noelle barely knew she had. But if she wants to belong to Jas, first she’ll have to open herself to the gang, to a dangerous world of sex, lust and violence. A world where passion is power, and freedom is found in submission.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Angela James was right. It’s super dirty! 😀 In the wild west environment of Sector 4, anything goes (so, expect some f/f action as well as multiple partners and a little BDSM play). Dallas O’Kane rules the sector and he makes sure the women under his protection are free to choose what that they do and with whom, just like the men. In Eden, woman (I gather) are ornaments for their fathers and later, their husbands; sex is not allowed and certainly not for fun. Noelle does the rubber band thing a little – going from one extreme to the other, until she settles at what is comfortable and happy for her. But, from the first, when she literally falls into Jasper’s arms, she feels a special affinity for him and he for her. It takes a while for both of them to realise that their attraction is based on more than him being her white knight that day.

I *really liked* how there was no slut shaming in this book by the people of Sector 4.

“Do you think I’m a harlot?”

She could not be serious. “No. I think maybe you’re a lady who likes to fuck.”

Noelle’s lips twitched. A laugh bubbled up, and she jerked her hand from his leg to cover her mouth. “You say it so easily, like it’s not the same thing at all.”

“Because it’s not. No one here is going to think you’re a bad person.” Seeing her mouth covered was a travesty, so he pried her fingers away and rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. “I’ll show you tonight, and you’ll see.”

It takes a while for Noelle to understand that along with the power to say “yes” to things, she also has the power to say “no”. Ultimately, I think Jasper’s earlier reticence about Noelle was about this – if she only said “yes” did that make the word meaningless?

Jasper’s insta-love didn’t bother me as much as it usually would have (though generally it’s not a trope I love) and I can’t really put my finger on why. It was just an accepted fact in the story very (very) early on. I did believe he feels for Noelle something he hasn’t felt before. I liked the way he’s clearly fairly alpha but he wasn’t uber possessive of her either. It seems even after their HEA they will still have many sexual adventures.

I liked Noelle’s journey (now she’s free, what’s she going to do with it?) and I liked the glimpses we had into Dallas (rowr!), Lex, Ace (more rowr!), Rachel, Bren ( ro… are you sensing a theme here?) and Six. I think I’m going to like Maddox too as the series progresses.

Dallas in particularly is a very interesting character (absolutely ruthless but with a unassailable sense of honour) and his dynamic with Lex is something which outshone Noelle and Jasper from time to time. For some reason, I didn’t mind though. 🙂

Because of the way the story was set up, with bits of Dallas, Lex and others, there was a sense of the book being somewhat unfinished. This was a satisfying read, but it’s clear there is a LOT more to tell.

I also liked that Noelle didn’t just cave into Jasper at the end, she actually thought about it – valued herself and him enough to sit back and make a decision. I also liked that she took responsibility for her part of the relationship and didn’t expect hearts and flowers and perfection – that she undertook to make it work too.

Jasper had hurt her. Whether through good intentions or carelessness, it didn’t matter. He’d crushed something fragile, and while doing it had damaged her trust. She couldn’t close her eyes and believe that he’d always know what she needed, that he’d always be there, giving it to her, no questions asked.

But maybe it had been the wrong sort of trust. Open, passive trust, the kind that was reckless to give and easy to shatter. The girl who’d been thrown through the gates of Eden had trusted blindly because she hadn’t had any other choice. That kind of trust meant as little as one more yes from someone who never said no.

This time would be harder. She’d have to trust Jasper, knowing he was human. Knowing he could hurt her, even when he didn’t mean to. She’d have to trust that he’d do his best, and make amends when his best wasn’t enough.

What else? I appreciated that the book wasn’t overwhelmed by world building, while at the same time being curious about some aspects which weren’t explained. All in all though, I’d rather the less is more approach I think. I’m curious to know more about the world – I got the sense that the authors know the answers even if they’re not actually in the book (as opposed to some books where I’ve felt that no-one has a clue or “they’re making it up as they go along”), so I’m happy enough to go along for the ride. I’m definitely looking forward to finding more about this world and I can hardly wait to find out more about Lex and Dallas and the other Sector 4 characters.

Grade: B

Kit Rocha (who is the alter ego of Moira Rogers – aka the writing team of Bree and Donna) have a most cool promotion on at present, where you can sign up and join the O’Kane gang – complete with (temporary) tattoos. You can also grab a badge just like this one to show your allegiance. Very fun.

The Hot Floor by Josephine Myles

October 6, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: It’s an m/m/m romance so that was enough to pique my interest. Then I saw some reviews which said the boys actually talk, so I was in. Bought it the week it was released. Plus, Books on Board was having a sale (so I bought the author’s other 2 books also).

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Two plus one equals scorching hot fun.

Dumped by his boyfriend and reduced to living in a grotty bedsit, Josh Carpenter has gotten used to expecting the worst. Now he lives only for his job as a glassblower…and occasional glimpses of his sexy downstairs neighbors, Rai Nakamura and Evan Truman.

Every time he overhears the diminutive academic and the hunky plumber having loud and obviously kinky sex, Josh is overwhelmed with lust…and a longing for a fraction of what they have.

To his amazement, Rai and Evan find his embarrassing tendency to blush utterly charming, and the three men grow closer over the course of the long, hot summer. Despite Rai’s charming flirtation and Evan’s smoldering gaze, Josh is determined never to break his new friends’ loving bonds.

On the night a naked Josh falls—quite literally—into the middle of one of Rai and Evan’s marathon sex sessions, the force of their mutual attraction takes control. But just as Josh dares to hope, he senses a change. Leaving him to wonder if the winds of love are about to blow his way at last…or if history is about to repeat itself.

Warning: Contains one well-endowed stud with a sexy accent, one improbably toppy bottom boy with an unfortunate owl obsession, and one blushing naïf who can’t believe his luck. Also, the occasional indulgence in mathematical spanking and some shameless armpit sex.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I have a weakness for m/m/m romance. I’m not quite sure why that is. But, much of what I have read has been firmly in the realm of fantasy (no matter that the label said contemporary) because there is often very little discussion on how the relationship is going to work. What I liked about this one is that it was clear from early on that Evan and Rai was in the habit of talking over things explicitly in their relationship. Josh is very shy and finds it difficult to talk about his feelings or his desires but Evan and Rai just won’t put up with it. They require (in a kind way) Josh to participate actively, to answer questions and ask for what he wants himself and, over the course of the book, he finds it comes easier and easier to him and he sees for himself how much easier it is in the long run to have open and clear communication.

For all that communication is big with these guys, there were a couple of conversations I would have liked to have seen on page. Rai and Evan decide that they want to have a long term relationship with Josh (and I don’t think it was inappropriate for them to have that talk just the two of them) and plan on talking to Josh about it. I felt like we got half the conversation but I would have liked a little more of it.

There was also a place where Evan and Josh are getting started while waiting for Rai (with his encouragement) and Josh lets slip something stupid inviting a comparison between Rai and himself. Evan just will not compare. I loved that about Evan. He really was straight up and down – what you see is what you get, and a man of true integrity and I liked that he didn’t want to get into any silly games which would only lead to tension. But what was missing was the conversation with all three of them about it – not to shame Josh but, maybe to set out some further ground rules. One of the things which happens a number of times as the triad relationship emerges is that they have to make more rules because what was initially expected to be a fling, with the prime relationship staying Evan and Rai, becomes something more. I liked that Evan and Rai were quick to identify when things were moving beyond expectations and bring things up (by the end, I thought Josh would do that too, but for most of the book he was unsure of his place and so I didn’t expect him to lead the process).

I wondered if they moved to the no condoms a bit too quickly – would they not actually exchange test results? However, I’m glad they talked about it and at least some effort was made to deal with the sexual health issue.

The story was told from Josh’s 1st person POV so the view of Evan and Rai was somewhat limited. I did think there was enough of the both of them though to get a fairly clear picture of them, separately and together and I liked that both Evan and Rai made an effort to spend time with Josh alone too.

The book was humorous and quirky, from Rai’s obsession with 70’s kitsch and his owl fetish and Evan’s love of Kerplunk and B horror movies. There were also positive female roles in the book – something which is always welcome, with Josh having a strong friendship with Denise, his downstairs neighbour and friend and fellow tenant Stella the little old lady with the open and somewhat dirty mind who needs help because of her arthritis.

Josh’s glass blowing job was interesting too and it was nice to see him become more confident in himself professionally as well as on the personal front over the course of the book. I wonder if we might not see Dylan in a future story?

What else? I will admit I got a little confused during the armpit sex. I thought Rai and Josh should be facing the other way – but I am not in any way the expert on this.

The sex was smoking and there was no pronoun abuse – I always knew who was doing what and saying what – something that can be problematic for me in m/m and which can be magnified in m/m/m. It says something about the strong characterisations that Evan and Rai came off the page so distinctly.

I also enjoyed the Bath setting and the authentic English vernacular (although I now have to go look up “gert lush” means).

I’d love to catch up with Josh, Rai and Evan in a future story -maybe a Christmas short (hint hint) or something because these guys were fun and sexy and a joy to spend time with.

Before reading this book, I’d only read Pole Star (a free short) from this author. I’m glad I have 2 others on my TBR because this was great.

Grade: B+

Lean on Me by HelenKay Dimon

October 4, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I heard the Twitter buzz and snapped it up when it was offered on NetGalley.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Cassidy Clarke once climbed the world’s highest mountains, but after an unexpected illness ends her career she’s back in her hometown, broke and hoping for a little luck. But the townsfolk aren’t exactly putting out a welcome mat for the woman who once snubbed them in the media, despite her apologies now.

Mitch Anders knows someone has set up camp on the grounds of his plant nursery, and he’s surprised to find his sexy high school crush ducking questions about where she’s staying. Though he’s sworn to stop cleaning up other people’s messes, Mitch offers Cassidy a job and a place to stay—his place. Bedsharing optional, but definitely welcome.

Out of options and too attracted to Mitch to keep things platonic, Cassidy says yes to his offer. She wants to get back on her feet financially and start a new career. She never expects to suffer a different kind of fall, one that has her believing Mitch just might bring her something bigger and better than luck

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I knew I was going to like this book when I got to page 9 and found this:

“What happened to your neck?” She closed her eyes the minute the babble left her mouth. Her breath also caught in her throat. She blamed the fumble of words rather than the feel of his hand folded over hers. “I mean, you, ah, look slimmer. Not that you were ever fat.”

One of the bystanders laughed.

Cassidy rushed to cover her most recent verbal disaster, though she feared there would be more. “You were more muscular then. Like, thicker in the shoulder to jaw area. You had a neck, of course. It was just…big.” She swore she heard a gurgling sound. Probably had something to do with her drowning in stupidity.

He held up his free hand as his eyes sparkled with mischief. “That compliment, if that’s what it was supposed to be, was kind of painful.”

“It didn’t sound too great in my head either.”

And the deal was sealed on page 14 when Mitch gets saucy:

“When I do go—” he pointed in the direction of the glassed-in office at the far end of the room, “—you’re going to be tempted to watch my ass.”

The comment was so out of context it hit her like a sharp smack. “Excuse me?”

“Just to be clear, I won’t be offended. As far as I’m concerned, you can go right ahead and look because I can guarantee you if the positions were reversed, I’d be watching yours.”

I love that kind of humour – it put me in mind of Shannon Stacey’s Kowalski series and it made me smile as I settled in to read.

Yes, there were things I thought were a little on the thin side – for example, the mystery regarding Cassidy’s stepfather Allan’s strange behaviour – I mean, seriously, how long did he think he was going to keep that a secret?

And, I would have liked the story to be a bit longer so as to flesh out Mitch’s backstory just a little more – I liked the way there wasn’t a great big info-dump, but rather was parsed out in small pieces, but at the end, I felt it was not quite enough.

I did think the final “conflict” was a little bit manufactured, given the faith Mitch had shown in Cassidy up til then (and the fact that that faith had consistently been rewarded) but they sorted things out quickly and he groveled sufficiently that I was prepared to let it go. Besides, the guy was hilarious clinging to a tree up the side of what was basically a hill and telling Cassidy (who had climbed Everest for goodness sake) to stay well back from the edge.

Mitch made the story for me – I really think he had most of the best lines:

“When we talk about everything else, we’ll cover that issue too. No more hiding.”

“I’m not really comfortable with any of this. After all, it’s my life. My business.”

“That argument would be more compelling if I hadn’t spent an hour washing shit out of my hair last night.”

Mitch made up his mind as soon as he laid eyes on Cassidy that he was going to be getting to know her very well and I enjoyed his single-mindedness on the issue. He wasn’t all alpha caveman about it, but he was quietly determined and with the dimple and the eye-twinkling Cassidy was a goner right from the start. The chemistry between the two was sizzling and fun and even though the book only spanned a few days, I didn’t have trouble believing that they had a real and lasting connection.

What else? Another good thing about this was that the small town of Holloway, West Virginia wasn’t full of sweet old ladies and kind friends (On Twitter, it was referred to as not being “Stepford”). The townsfolk were pretty fired up about an interview Cassidy did some years before where she was pretty scathing about her hometown and they haven’t forgiven her. The gossip mill is active and mean in Holloway – which is the way gossip usually is. Mitch is on Cassidy’s side right from the start and that made him a wonderful hero. Here he is again:

Nice and slow, making sure everyone saw and no one got the story wrong, he lowered his head and treated her to a shoe-shaking kiss. He let her have it all, didn’t hold back. And when he lifted his head again she was smiling.

The twinkle had returned to her eyes. “No, that’s how a man stakes a claim.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Wait until you see how I do it with my clothes off.”

It’s a light, fun, sexy contemporary which was a pleasure to read.

Grade: B+

September Reads

October 1, 2012 / Kaetrin

on Paper/eBook

**NB this review first appeared in the September ARRA members newsletter and at the ARRA blog**

What a Girl Wants by Selena Robins – C- Maddie Saunders is a daredevil travel reporter who decides she needs a “sexual boot camp” and she’s nominated her best friend Alex Donovan to be her “Sergeant”. Alex is one of those reporters who goes into war zones and writes about the serious issues. When they are both sent on assignment to Hawaii (I should be so lucky) Maddie decides her time has come.

I don’t know a lot about reporting but it seemed odd to me that Maddie and Alex were to spend weeks on the (fictional) island of Makana for their story – Alex was to interview reclusive billionaire Maxwell Hollister and Maddie was to take in the tourism spots. It seemed like a long time spend on an assignment.

I was expecting a fun, flirty, friends-to-lovers story and at the beginning, that’s exactly what it was. Except that Alex turned Maddie down quite a few times and she came off as desperate and a bit pathetic after a while. Just when she’d decided to bow out gracefully, Alex decides that resisting temptation isn’t worth it and they begin to steam up the sheets. I found the sexual euphemisms somewhat surprising, considering this is a book from Samhain, a publisher very comfortable with the erotic. Would a man really refer to his penis as “my hardness”? Some of the terminology made me roll my eyes. I would have preferred the characters “call a spade a spade” but YMMV.

Maddie is also searching for the identity of her father – her mother has never told her who he is so she’s hired a private investigator to find out for her. For much of the book it appears that the mysterious Maxwell Hollister is Maddie’s father (I won’t spoil it by telling you whether that’s true or not). There’s also Maddie’s attempt to reconnect with her flighty mother, her relationship with Alex and something about a former IRA getaway driver. If that’s not busy enough, add in that Alex has accepted a position in London (and wants Maddie to move with him), an ex-girlfriend with a grudge and a BMX accident for good measure.

I did like that Maddie had very good reasons for not wanting to drop everything and follow Alex to London and the way it was eventually resolved.

Alex and Maddie certainly had chemistry but I was ultimately a little confused about what the book was trying to be – chick lit or a sexy contemporary romance. But, if you like contemporaries with a hearty dash of women’s fiction, this might be a book for you.

Master Class by Rachel Haimowitz – C After a smallish cameo by Devon and Nicky in Power Play: Awakening, I was curious to read their story. I already had SUBlime on my TBR having won it in a blog giveaway a while back but I wanted to start at number 1, so I went and bought Master Class. At only 55 pages, it is a quick read. Unfortunately, the characterisation you can savor in a 290 page book such as either of the Power Play books cannot be found in anywhere the same degree in a novella. I found myself dissatisfied because I didn’t get to know either character well enough. I wanted to. I found both men fascinating and as with the Power Play books, I liked the writing style. But it was really just the beginning of their story and there seemed a lot more to tell. Nicky is a Broadway actor/singer and submissive/masochist who has come from money and feels guilty for things having come so easily to him. Devon is a big time movie star and Dom/sadist but we really learn very little about him. In fact, I felt I knew them better from their scenes in Power Play.

SUBlime – Collected Shorts (Master Class #2) by Rachel Haimowitz – C/C- This is a short (45 pages) collection of even shorter “scenes”. Many of the scenes felt incomplete in that they sometimes stop in the middle of the action. There were, for me, hints of character growth, but only hints. While the stories themselves were interesting and well written, they didn’t satisfy my craving to get to know these two men better. The grades for these 2 stories reflect that I’m a romance reader first and foremost and the emotional depth was a bit lacking for me here. I’d happily read a full story about them – I know they are married by the time the events of Power Play occur and I know that they don’t live “the lifestyle” 24/7 but I don’t know really how that works (at least for them) and I don’t know how Nicky’s career fits in (in Awakening he said that Devon “let him out” to play occasionally – I thought that meant Nicky doesn’t work much?) and I don’t know how they came to get married. I would love to read that story.

Keeping House by Lee Brazil – D I wasn’t sure what to read next so I went for something short. I was still in a m/m mood, so I started on this one – a book I bought a while back but could remember nothing about when I got started. It is just over 50 pages. It made me grumpy. The more I think about it, the grumpier I am. A trust fund baby, 20 year old Mischa accepts a dare from his 3 older brothers to support himself for one year. He gets a job working as a live-in housekeeper for Donovan Holloway, a 40 year old advertising exec who has just bought a house but is too busy to do anything in it. Leave aside for the moment that no-one in their right mind would give Mischa this job ( he has no experience and has to Google how to make coffee). Donovan falls instantly into lust with Mischa (which is the ONLY explanation as to why he gives him the job) and within 1 or 2 DAYS they are both expressing undying love for each other. By the end of the book, 2 months have gone past and they are picking up the baby they’ve just adopted. Add into the mix, Mischa has friends, Dex and Trick who are twins and who are gettin’ it on. I do not like the twincest and really, why was it in this story? The basic concept of the story interested me. But there was nothing for me here apart from that. The 20 year age difference between the two men wasn’t addressed and the whole thing was just silly.

Mina Wentworth and the Invisible City by Meljean Brook – B Originally included free in the MMP version of The Iron Duke, for those of us who bought the trade paperback or were able to get it as an ebook, it is now available as an eSpecial from Penguin. Set 8 months after The Iron Duke, Rhys is having difficulty coming to grips with his fear for Mina as she investigates murder and both of them are learning about family and how to parent Anne the Tinker. When a Viscount is murdered, Mina is called in to investigate. It seems Redditch was a target because he opposed automation in factories and, because Rhys met with Redditch the night before his murder, he is also at risk. There is plenty of “happy ever after sex” and romance and it works well as a kind of extended epilogue to The Iron Duke. You don’t have to have read any of the other books in the series (except for The Iron Duke) to enjoy the novella and it’s a fun way to pass an evening. I recommend.

Men of Smithfield: Max and Finn by LB Gregg – B- Slightly less humourous than the first book in the series, this book is about Finn, a prep school teacher who first meets Max, an ex-marine security expert when he’s tutoring Max’s much younger brother. After a hot sweaty encounter over Max’s desk, Finn is fired and they don’t see each other again for some months. When Hemmi (short for Hemmingway), the son of a movie star is a potential target of a stalker, Max is hired to provide security. Hemmi lives in Finn’s dorm and has the lead in the school play which Finn is supervising, so Max and Finn are thrown together and the sparks fly. I didn’t quite understand why Max jumped to so many erroneous conclusions about Finn in the first place – the set up wasn’t quite there for me, so I didn’t warm to Max straight away and I still think Finn let him off too easy. The stalker plot is very serious and the issues between Max and Finn are too so there is less of the quirky humour in this one than other LB Gregg stories I’ve read. Less, but not none. It is only in an LB Gregg story that you will find lines like this:

It was two a.m. How many nights in a row since I slept? Let’s see…the night of the sneak out. The night of the condom. The night of the toaster. Yup. Three nights. Sleep was imperative.

I love the combination of humour and heat and I’m looking forward to reading more about the Men of Smithfield.

All He Ever Needed by Shannon Stacey – see my review here.

Crux (Southern Arcana #1) by Moira Rogers – C I am a sucker for a damsel in distress story – I know it’s probably not very politically correct, but there you go. I was initially very impressed by this book, but the plot took a right turn for me and the book ended up not quite living up to its promise. Mackenzie Brooks has been on the run for a month. She is terrified and confused when she ends up in New Orleans and takes a job tending bar at Mahalia’s. Nick Peyton (who is a girl: this is not obvious by the spelling of her name and I got confused often by it throughout the story) asks her friend, PI Jackson Holt, to follow her to make sure she has a safe place to stay. Jackson and Kenzie have an instant attraction and I liked the way he was instantly very protective of her, without being overpowering. It turns out that Mackenzie is a shapeshifter, something she had no idea about, and she is being hunted by a very powerful shifter who wants to have special babies with his adopted son. At first, it seems that the son (Marcus) is a bad guy – he was certainly presented that way, but he takes a turn into potential hero territory during the course of the book. There is interesting world building and lots of secondary characters I would like to read more about – which is why I plan on picking up the other books in the series – but in this book, Mackenzie and Jackson spent too much time apart for me to be truly satisfied by the romance. And, as much as I liked the secondary characters, there were a lot of them and unfortunately, they tended to shift the focus from the main romantic thread. I picked this up as a Kindle freebie – which is a great way to suck me into a new series.

Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger – B-/C+ First off, thank you to Chris for sending me this book to read. Even though my grade is lower than hers, I did enjoy it and I’m very glad to have read it. In a nutshell, this is the story of Craig and Travis who meet in high school when they are 17. They fall in love but college separates them. 20 years later, Travis decides Craig was the love of his life and he was foolish to let him go. He tracks Craig down (hilariously), journeys across country to do so and, in the end, we have a HEA. The book is told via a series of checklists, memos, journal entries, a little narrative, some emails and various other types of communication. Because of this, it is one of those stories which does work better in print – most ereaders wouldn’t cope with the image heavy book (even if those images are copies of memos) and I imagine the resizing would cause major formatting problems. It’s also very funny. Travis’s best friend Gordo is hilarious and even gets a romance of his own, as does Charleen, Craig’s law partner and close friend. I knew going in there was a HEA. What I didn’t know however was that there is a love triangle. Craig isn’t single when Travis finds him. Part of what worked so well for me in the book also made the ending more problematic for me. Each of the characters, including Clayton, ended up being people I cared about. I wasn’t actually sure how I wanted the book to end but as it progressed, I knew that I was going to be somewhat disappointed one way or the other. Right at the end, Travis has a (for me) confusing conversation with Craig and then we skip forward 6 years. The skip was a little too much for me. On the one hand, it made the ending easier to be happy with because so much time had passed but on the other, in terms of reading, no time at all had passed and I had to grapple with a whole pile of things all at once which I didn’t feel were adequately fleshed out – particularly considering the joyous detail of the earlier parts of the book. Sean Kennedy commented in his review that the style of the book, using memos, email, checklists etc, was somewhat distancing and I have to agree. I found it was a book which was addictive to read – “it’s only one more memo, I can stay up a little later” but also (and conversely) one that was easy to leave once I’d put it down. If the ending had’ve satisfied me better, I think I would have graded this a B+ but the end did disappoint me a little. It’s the author’s own fault really – he made me care too much.

Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins – C I reviewed this one for ARRA. I’ll post a link when the review is up. I think I was a bit too old for this book. They were so young!! And I didn’t find a lot of charm in the Amish way of life, particularly for girls.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar – see my review here.

Addicted To You by Bethany Kane – B- I won this on a blog giveaway some time ago. When I decided I was in the mood for a hot sexy contemporary, I picked it up off my shelf. I certainly got what I wanted, with the hot and sexy arriving by page 9 (!). Katie has been in love with Rill Pierce for years but she was the little sister of his best friend and best friend to his wife so she never let it go anywhere. After the death of Rill’s wife, he hides away in Vulture’s Canyon, Illinois, drinking heavily and spurning all human contact. Katie decides she needs to rescue Rill and arrives in Vulture’s Canyon on a mission. It didn’t initially include having hot sex with Rill, but, hey – she’s nothing if not adaptable. Rill’s real problem is that he thinks his sexual needs are too dark for anyone. He put his wife on a pedestal and this ended up being unsuccessful – they weren’t happy before she died. There was a suspense-y plot which kind of popped out of nowhere at the end which I thought was largely unnecessary, but I enjoyed the relationship between Katie and Rill quite a bit. And, the sex was plentiful (without being too much) and hot.

Seven Sexy Sins by Serenity Woods – See my review here.

Stronger Where It Counts by JL Merrow – B- Enjoyable (but very short – 22 pages) story about Michael, an IT guy who gets dragged to a strip club with a client who doesn’t know he’s gay. Things look up when he spots a hot, well-muscled bartender who seems vaguely familiar. It turns out the bartender (Kyle) and he went to school together. When the Michael was beaten by homophobic school bullies, Kyle didn’t step in. I’d be very happy to read a longer story about these two.

Dead Shot by JL Merrow – B Cute funny story about a guy who’s looking after his nephew for the day when said nephew shoots cute guy in the butt with a homemade bow and arrow. When the nephew says his uncle should kiss it better, Uncle Peter thinks that’s a great idea. Another very short story at about 20 pages – try and get it on special because it’s usual price is $2.99 which is too much for such a short story IMO. Still, JL Merrow manages to write fun and entertaining characters in a very short space and does it very well. Like the previous JL Merrow book above, I would be happy to read more about this couple.

Favourite Quote:
Superficially, you could say Edward and I were dressed the same—jeans and a shirt, with a jacket over the top. Except Edward’s jeans managed to scream ‘designer’ without actually doing anything as common as raising their voice, whereas mine were just moaning tiredly ‘do we really have to do the painting again?’

Two Tickets to Paradise anthology by Dreamspinner Press – I finally finished it – not that it was difficult – it’s just that I put it down and got distracted by the shiny. My review of all the stories is here.

Keeping Pace by Dee Carney – B- Sexy older woman/younger man story. I would have liked to have seen more of them dealing with the conflict that the age difference meant – and it was significant. She’s 41, he’s 26. The epilogue glosses over a lot of the problems which was a bit unfortunate. I would rather the book had been a bit longer and those things been more fully fleshed out. Josh had been quite conflicted with what he was going to do with his doctorate, so I would have liked to have known what job he ended up taking but that’s probably my OCD talking. It’s sexy and fun but the age difference meant there were real issues – the scene when they went on their first date to a baseball game showed just how immature Josh could be and it did make me pause a little. Still, it wasn’t like she was an old hag, 45 is the new 30 – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

The Match Before Christmas by Eden Winters B- – cute short story about a guy who signs up for an internet dating site with the goal of having a boyfriend by Christmas. Cameo’s by Chaos and Mayhem lookalikes 🙂

Fanning the Flames by Eden Winters – B For me, this short story was the pick of the bunch. Barry and Adam have been dating for about 2 months and Valentine’s Day is coming up. Barry’s efforts to find the perfect V-Day present for Adam lead to plenty of happiness for other couples but it looks like his romantic plans are doomed. It’s fun and sweet and gives the HEA promised in the first book.

A Lie I Can Live With by Eden Winters – B- This is Otis and Garrett’s story – in The Match Before Christmas, Barry helps 2 other couples get together before he gets his own match. Otis is one of them. He’s “comfortably plump” and hairy (complete with unibrow) and an IT geek to boot. Garrett is drop dead gorgeous but he has a thing for big, cuddly hairy nerds. It was refreshing to see the non-gorgeous geek get his own HEA and the story was cute and fun and sexy. It’s around 50 pages, so an easy evening’s read.

I’d recommend getting the trilogy from Fictionwise with one of their coupons (I got it for 55% off) which made the price much more palatable. The usual price was $2.99 (one of the books was $3.99) which seems a lot for such short books, but at less than half, it felt it was a bargain.

Double Exposure by Charmaine Ross – C-/D+ I’m sad to say that I didn’t enjoy this debut novel from Ms. Ross, part of Penguin Australia’s new Destiny imprint. When I read the blurb – holidaying photographer snaps sexy photos of gorgeous man swimming in lake, said gorgeous man is an undercover cop so needs to know whether she’s on the side of the angels or not – it sounded like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, for me, the reality didn’t live up to it’s promise. From very early on when Adam starts referring to Eden by her first name (when she hadn’t told it to him), to the idea that Adam had been undercover for 2 years in relation to a marijuana crop (which just seemed excessive to me) to his very sad backstory (“I don’t have any family, I had nothing to miss. Other police had wives, husbands, children and there was no telling how long this might take.”), I felt the story didn’t gel. It seemed like a lot of popular tropes in a mixed bag but I didn’t feel engaged by the characters or the writing style. Eden and Adam both did some pretty stupid things, which felt like they needed to be there only to drive the plot (he needs to be on his own at this point so…, she’s “allowed” to come on the police raid because she needs to be…, etc.) and did not make me feel they were as smart and resourceful as they were probably intended to be. As I said, this is the author’s debut and it’s a big thing to write a book and have it published, so kudos for that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a success for me – a great idea which fell down in the execution sadly.

The Hot Floor by Josephine Myles – review to come. Very sexy m/m/m where they actually talk!

Lean on Me by HelenKay Dimon – review to come. I think if you like Shannon Stacey’s Kowalski series, you will probably like this one. I did. (Oh, I’ve just seen that this is #2 in the series so I will have to check out the first one…) ETA: The first in the series was a novella (It’s Not Christmas Without You) contained in the Carina Holiday Kisses anthology last year – so I have already read it. I liked this one better. ETA review us up: here

Men of Smithfield: Seth and David – B+ – this is my favourite of the series so far. Seth is, frankly, a bit of an asshole, especially at the beginning, but he’s had it rough the past year or so – his twin sister died of cancer, he has guardianship of his niece, 6 year old Molly and his lover moved out because he didn’t want to deal with Seth’s family problems – which cost Seth a bundle. When his regular masseur isn’t available for his weekly appointment, he’s not very nice to David. When David’s touch causes Seth to become unbearably aroused, Seth doesn’t much care about how inappropriate it is for him to rub one out on the massage table. Because the story is told from Seth’s POV, I was able to still find him a sympathetic character and when his ex comes sniffing around and Molly’s deadbeat dad starts making threatening calls, I felt for him. David is very likeable and there’s a whole lot more story there that I only got glimpses of (sadly). The chemistry between Seth and David is off the charts and it soon becomes clear that even though Seth is the aggressor in the relationship, David has been crushing on him for years. Also, David is much more emotionally in touch and so their relationship felt equal to me by the end and the 10 year age difference was unimportant. I liked the straightforward way Seth and David dealt with their various issues. I would have liked a longer story and more about David and Katie but I did love the story and scarfed it down in one sitting. Also, niiice cover.

on Audio

600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster, narrated by Luke Daniels – B This delightful audiobook was a lucky and spontaneous purchase after I saw it featured on my Audible homepage. Edward has Aspberger’s Syndrome and OCD. He’s 39 and lives alone after his father kicked him out of the house after the “Garth Brooks incident”. His father (who is filthy rich) bought the house and pays Edward’s bills but their communication is mostly by letter – and those letters are often from the family lawyer. Edward (as is completely understandable) is upset that his father cannot just talk to him and feels he has to communicate via lawyers). Edward has strict routines: he records his waking time each day and the maximum and minimum weather forecast as well as the day before’s actual temperatures. Once recorded, his “data is complete”. He sees psychologist, Dr. Buckley (“a very logical woman”) each Tuesday at 10.00 am (the one time they tried an 11.00 am appointment was a disaster) and he watches 1 episode of Dragnet (but only the 4 seasons of colour episodes which aired between 1967 and 1970) every night at 10.00 pm. The story is told from Edward’s first person POV. He is never an object of fun or scorn, rather he is a delight and very funny. This is not a romance. I didn’t know one way or another when I bought it, but after listening to the 4 minute audio sample, I smiled, then laughed, and fell a little in love with Edward and had to buy it. The story tracks 600 hours of Edward’s life and tracks the changes which occur as a result of meeting the lady across the street and her 9 year old son Kyle and his ongoing frustration with his father. My romantic soul would have liked the story to be a little bit longer and a little bit happier at the end (not necessarily with actual romance, but just more upbeat) and so it wasn’t as wonderful as I had hoped. But, it was very nearly so. It’s gorgeous and funny and sweet and touching. I recommend.

Strangers in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B- Another enjoyable instalment but the focus is more on the police procedural side of things rather than the relational. Although, there are some developments in the Charles/Louise romantic thread. I’ve read this in print so when I remembered very early on the basic plot, I was a little ho hum about listening. But, the story sucked me in and I ended up enjoying it a little more than I expected to. Not my favourite in the series, but still a very enjoyable listen.

No One Left to Tell by Karen Rose, narrated by Marguerite Gavin – C Watch out for my review in an upcoming Speaking of Audiobooks column at AAR.

Promises in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B Poor Morris. This is the one where Morris’ girlfriend is murdered and Louise and Charles have their wedding shower/bachelor party.

Favourite Quote:
Eve: “I have to go shopping!”
Roarke: “Excuse me, I think I must have had a small stroke. What did you say?”

Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbours by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi – B+ Possibly I should have listened to this one before Driving Mr. Dead and The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires (I had been wondering who the heck Jamie was!) but there wasn’t all that much which crossed over between the books. Gabriel and Jane get married in this instalment. For once, it it not Jane who is in trouble and, to my delight, she and Gabriel are happy and work together throughout the book – their conflict is all external. Plenty of laugh out loud moments, excellently voiced by Amanda Ronconi. This is a great series and it works so very well on audio.

Catch of the Day by Kristen Higgins, narrated by Xe Sands – B+ I read the print version some time ago and now that it’s been released on audio, I was keen to revisit the story. It’s really a cross between a romance and “women’s fiction” because the romance is a bit light on – Malone, our hero barely speaks (part of his charm) and given that the story is told from Maggie’s 1st person POV, there isn’t very much of him in the story. It was my main problem with the book as well. But, if you go in knowing that it’s more a light comedy of a woman’s search for Mr. Right with some romance (bedroom door closed sadly) rather than a big epic love story, I think it works better. Maggie is lonely and desperate to find a man to love, marry and have babies with. I’ve seen reviews which criticise Maggie for wanting this – a woman shouldn’t need a man to make her happy right? – but I find the storyline very believable. It could have been me – well, without the farcical dates (and, my husband actually speaks, unlike Malone). Sure, if a girl doesn’t want marriage and babies, that’s perfectly fine. But, if she does, I don’t think it’s wrong to want it and be a little sad if you don’t have it. YMMV. Maggie has a beloved dog (Colonel) who is quite old and – well, let’s just say you might need some tissues during the listen. For the most part however, the story is light and fun and Xe Sands does a great job of the narration. I hadn’t heard the Maine accent before – “Ayuh” is quite different in print than on audio (it sounds much more subtle than it reads). I know Xe does a lot of research to get accents right, so I felt safe believing in her portrayal of the native accent. Malone’s voice (when we got to hear it) was deep and sexy and Father Tim (who I didn’t like any better on audio than in print frankly – he took shameless advantage IMO) had the lovely Irish lilt. I really enjoyed this one and it reminded me why I like Kristan Higgins books so much (even if the romance is a little light on). I will say that the bits of Malone we see on the cover don’t suit my mental picture of him at all. He’s not a relaxed and casual kind of guy. The dog however, is just right.

The Duke’s Perfect Wife by Jennifer Ashley, narrated by Angela Dawe – C+/B- The story kept taking unexpected turns for me but unfortunately those turns weren’t super interesting to me. Points deducted for hymen misplacement also. Angela Dawe did a very good job of the narration but the story didn’t excite me. It was better than okay but not as good as the other audiobooks I’ve been listening too lately.

The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie, narrated by Susan Boyce – B Vintage Crusie with a new-to-me narrator who gets her. Much fun.

Two Tickets to Paradise

September 27, 2012 / Kaetrin

This is the latest Dreamspinner Press anthology, which I picked up from NetGalley.

Because there are so many short stories included, I’ll change up my usual review format and talk briefly about each one.

A Good Night’s Sleep by Anna Martin – B- – Two guys backpacking through Thailand and Malaysia meet on a train and hook up (yep, train sex). The story is very short, so the hopeful kind of HFN is appropriate. I know I got this from NetGalley and I can expect to find some errors which (hopefully) won’t be there in the final version, but can I just say that Sydney, Australia is spelt with a “y” and not an “i”?

Fall Forward by Jamie Love – D – 2 college guys take their first vacation together. I didn’t really enjoy this story; it was a bit clumsy and delved into boring minutiae.

Reconnecting by Claire Russett – B – Physics professor meets up with the ex who broke his heart at a conference in Corfu. Quite good but I didn’t get the excitement over getting a free 16GB flashdrive as conference swag – are they that expensive?

Mending and Moving On by Cecilia Ryan – B – Two guys meet up in Spain – one is nursing a broken heart (although, not that broken because he connects pretty quickly with the other guy, let’s face it). Apart from that I don’t like it when adults, especially guys “giggle”, I did enjoy this one. It was quite sweet overall and had a believable hopeful kind of HFN. But, do men really say I don’t like being “penetrated”?

The Jeep Guy by Eric Renner C- This was an odd little story which took me a while to work out – Guy meets another guy during a beach vacation. The story is told initially via blog posts but by the end that device seemed to have been dropped, but without any real explanation.

All at Sea by JL Merrow – B Story about first love on holiday on the Isle of Wight with a sweet surprise at the end. Touching and happy. I liked it.

Haunted by Jana Denardo – C Story about a ghost hunter writing and his photographer boyfriend. I was expecting a ghostly conflict but it was more about the writer being worried his boyfriend was bored/unhappy about all of their working vacations – which was sorted out by one simple conversation.

Something Different by Sean Michael – B Very sexy story about 2 ex-lovers getting back together after 10 years apart, when they bump into each other while they are both holidaying in Las Vegas. I wouldn’t have minded a longer story and to know more about the how of their future, but I did believe they would make it.

Perpendicularity by Mal Peters – B- Cute story about a pro snow boarder and a chef who meet in the French Alps. It has a hopeful HFN ending. Strangely, the story was told in 1st person present tense which felt a bit odd. I would have happily read more of these two however.

Sunlight on Water by Susan Laine – D The clumsy writing made this one difficult for me to finish “He had that surfer thing going on and the surfboard next to him emphasised the impression” (ya think?). Young guys meet on the beach. One is a hustler but nevertheless; insta-love. Did not like.

Off the Tracks by Chelle Dugan – C- This was a kind of odd time travel story. A lot of telling not showing (which I can kind of understand in such a short format, but still). I liked the style but the time travel thing threw me a bit.

All You Need by Dar Mavison – B- Relationship in trouble story – a couple go to New York for a weekend and find some common ground. If the story had’ve been longer, perhaps I would have more confidence that their problems were over, but it’s a more hopeful than happy ending. I liked the alternating first person POV and how the same problems were shown from each man’s perspective. What they also had in common was that they didn’t want the relationship to end.

Know Nobody by GR Richards – C- Story about an older guy who takes a trip to somewhere he knows nobody so he can hook up. He gets lucky with three (!) younger men after “undies night” at a local gay bar. His BFF turns up and they suddenly realise they belong together. Lots of sex but not much emotional connection.

New Lease by BG Thomas – C+ A guy who’s been someone’s dirty little secret for 20 years is still grieving his death and goes to their holiday rental considering suicide. He meets a handsome man there who awakens his dormant libido and gives him hope for the future. I liked the style but struggled a bit with why anyone would have put up with that for so long.

Krung Thep, City of Angels by Zee Kensington – C Young guy hooks up with older more experienced traveller in Bangkok. The young guy felt very young – much younger than 23. Hopeful happy for now ending.

Overall Grade: B-/C+