Tempt Me At Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

I haven't been hopping around blogland much but I don't recall seeing too many people talking about this book.

I'm loving it!!

I have the last few chapters to read but I can't see where it can go wrong. Unless the H/H die then I'm all good.

Harry is such a SOB and I love him! I think he's giving Sebastian a run for his money but then I never read the book where Sebastian was the villain.

I love it when you get characters that just don't fit any expectations.

Harry isn't a hero although I can't help but get all mushy about him now. I do think there is more that we could have known. He's not exactly forthcoming even in his own thoughts. He just knows what he wants and grabs it.

I would have liked to see him thinking about his hobby while working through something. I think there is a lot assumed about who he is (and I don't doubt he's every thing imparted) but it's not shown in his thoughts or actions for the most part. I think people who have active minds can't help but get distracted by seeing something new or interesting to them.

I guess it's just that Poppy is the new and shiny.

I can't wait to get to Beatrix's story although I imagine Leo will get his HEA before she does.

Okay, I didn't see the time creeping up on me and bedtime is calling!

But I can definitely call this one a KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER!!!

Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

I wanted to love it.

Really I did.

Cindy Blurb: Zoe Lexam had been missing for 12 years when she is delivered to her family's front door. Of course, other woman had tried to pretend to be the missing Zoe and had been shown the door quite quickly. This time however, the gossip hounds were abuzz with the tale of The Harem Girl and how this time, it looked like Lord Lexam had finally found his real daughter.


Lucien de Gray has lost everyone he ever loved including a stubborn little girl he knew as a young boy. Hearing she had gone missing when he was seventeen shut Lucien down and he believed her to be dead. He continued on with his life, or as much of one as he allowed himself. Since Zoe must be dead, Lord Lexam was surely being fleeced and it was his job to go and oust the impostor.


Only the minute he saw her he knew it was Zoe. It just wasn't the Zoe he remembered.


What I loved about this book was Zoe. She is a breath of fresh air but then, she would be. She was kidnapped and sold into white slavery at the age of 12. She became a gift for a powerful man's son and was married to an impotent man. What happens to Zoe for those 12 years is very much glossed over or the story would have been far darker. In fact, I imagine it was far darker, we just don't get to see that. Zoe escaped her captivity and finally made it home where she was going to live a life of freedom and obviously not look back at her past too closely if at all.

The problem is her mere existence is scandalous. Put her in a room with people and she'd be ruined in minutes.

In comes Lucien, the boy she once knew as a child, who is now a duke. Lucien decides he can make her acceptable by presenting her to the Queen and having her acknowledge Zoe.

Lucien and Zoe accomplish all of this with some cute banter and maybe a few longing looks. Although I don't remember that many now.

I can't say I warmed to Lucien. I think he was supposed to be charming when I thought he was just dull. Sure, he'd lost everyone he loved but it didn't seem to grant him very much character. He just seemed to flow with life and as long as he wasn't bothered he was fine. So having Zoe come into his life didn't seem to affect him all that much. Sure, she discovered a bunch of stuff happening in his household and he was forced to become a grown up and handle situations but for the most part - meh.

In the end I wasn't bowled over by their story. I think Zoe may have got the shorter end of the stick while the duke made out like a bandit. I mean, Zoe is fun and while the duke likes fun, he's still kind of flat.

And all the stuff with the servants. Bah.

C+

This one was missing the zip for me. It wasn't the trainwreck that was Miss Wonderful and it certainly wasn't the beauty of Mr. Impossible.

If you are a Loretta Chase fan girl, have fun, if Ms. Chase is more hit or miss for you as she is for me, you've been warned.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Phew!!

Another book read and it was awesome!

This was my first Jennifer Ashley book and I can say it won't be my last. Although the other brothers in this story couldn't possibly be more interesting the Lord Ian himself.

Cindy Blurb: Beth is a newly rich woman after the elderly woman she had been a companion to left her an inheritance. Beth has not had an easy life but she's known love and understanding but it's been 7 long years since her husband died and she's ready to be a wife again. At least, she thought she was.

Lord Ian Mackenzie is believed to be mad, after all he was declared so in a competency hearing when he was 12 years old. Everyone knows he was released only because after his father's death his brother, a right powerful duke, made it happen. Ian states things as he sees them, has a photographic memory, can re-play any music he hears and is unable to stare anyone in the eye.


The minute he sees Beth he decides he must save her from a horrible betrothal and proposes to her on the spot. Beth, a sensible woman, declines the offer but can't stop herself from being curious about the man who seems unable to tell a lie.

And then came love.

I don't know that I can do this story any justice.

What I can tell you is that in the beginning I was stumbling with my perception of Lord Ian and that's because I had seen someone put a diagnosis on him and I thought it was autism. Not knowing an adult with autism but knowing plenty of children I couldn't get the image of Ian 'the man' right in my head. I was prepared to stop reading the story but decided to head off again in search of what Lord Ian might be suffering and discovered I had made a mistake and it's believed he has Aspergers. I have seen adult men portrayed with Aspergers so after that I was able to see 'the man' and not a child.

And it was awesome.

But I think I've mentioned that.

With the many nuances of Aspergers, there is a million ways for Beth and Ian to not understand each other but neither seems to want to walk away from the other. This is not just a relationship between Beth and Ian but also between Ian and his brothers, Beth and Ian's brothers, Beth and her previous relationships and finally between Ian and his awful father.

Like I said, I can't do this story any justice, just know that I really enjoyed it. I ended up staying up past my 'bedtime' to finish reading the story the night before Bob's family was to come for the day. And you know how I need to sleep!

All that said, there were a few things that quirked.

There is a mystery to be solved and it took Beth to figure it all out which seems a bit silly but I guess with the assumptions the brothers made, it would take an outsider who believed. There's a TSTL moment but I remember feeling invincible at the age of the heroine so maybe it's acceptable.

I also have to say I'm not sure the rest of the brothers are at all likable which makes me wonder if I'll like other books.

I know I would love to re-read it again in the future but I'll go with a B+ as a grade.

To Beguile A Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

I spent the whole day reading. Talk about bliss!

So I just finished To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt and decided to get some of my thoughts down cause I'm awake and it's day light and I'm hyper.

Good times.

Cindy Blurb: Helen Fitzwilliam is a wonderful heroine in the fact that she is nothing like what I have read before. Sure she's all good and sweet and stuff but get this. She's the long time mistress of a Duke and has two children from the relationship.

I know!

Then, the hero is a tortured (literally) soul with a horribly scarred face who has holed himself up in a decrepit castle.

So down to brass tacks and all that, the heroine has decided she must flee the Duke and knows that the Duke will try and keep her by stealing her children from her.

A friend of the H/H sends Helen to Scotland to the above mentioned castle to act as a housekeeper for Sir Alistair who is of course a grouchy grump but true love will prevail and all that.

The good news is that I enjoyed the story for the most part.

Anyone that knows me knows I don't like kids in my romance books. Not only were these kids not just a peripheral thing, they had their own little stories within the bigger story. Ugh. I powered through and enjoyed the little boy Jamie only because he seemed right for his age whereas the girl Abigail was 9 and moody. Basically too much like me as a child. Poor thing.

I liked that the heroine had a past and it wasn't something anyone was going to be able to sweep under the carpet. She makes no apologies for who she is or how her life has turned out. She just knows that she needs to move towards happiness before it's too late.

Sir Alistair could have become one of those heroes you've read about more than once. A small scar on the face and they feel marred for life and unworthy of love. Alistair's scars were immense and people fainted when they looked at him and children screamed. He knew what his reality was and had somehow etched out a way of life that was lonely and sad but was his.

He also wasn't charming or overly sentimental. He was rough spoken and like I said above, a bit of a grump which made him wonderfully different from most heroes. I was also surprised at his reaction to Helen's revelation later in the story. Most heroes would hold their tongue and maybe leave the room for a few hours. Not Alistair. He was brutal, not to be evil but because he is so immersed in reality that he sees everything Helen's revelation means.

All that said, the story was missing something for me. That zip that makes a book a keeper and one you'll want to re-read again. As much as I enjoyed this book I can't say I would re-read it but if you love historical romances and don't mind kids in your story then I say give it a try for something different from all the other historicals out there.

C+/B- Can't decide. So I guess I'll have to tag this one under both grades.

Cause I'm lazy.

Buddy Review!! Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh

Woohoo!!

I finished this book shortly after it was published (there be no slumpville when my auto-buy authors come out!) but boy there is a lot of work in doing up a buddy review!!

Thanks to Nath for letting me play and having the patience for it all and for doing all the 'techie' things that need to happen to get a review like this up.

Without further ado:

Breezing Thru and Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh

You still here?

Seduced By A Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

Yikes. I never reviewed this book and with my stupid memory I need to make a record of it.

This is where my record keeping with books gets murky. Sure they side bar says I read X number of books but if I forget to change it when I finish a book it's likely I won't ever remember to change it. Thus, lost books. Okay, not lost but not on the fore front of my memory either. I'm using 'Read in 2009' as a tag so at the end of the year I can go back through and remember what it was I read. Now I just have to make sure I review the books or at least make a note somewhere.

Course, I lose notes.

So keeping track would be better.

Instead this will be a note.

I know I liked the book enough to want to dive into the next book To Beguile A Beast which is currently ensconced in my gorgeous new purse.

But Singh's book arrived and stuff happened.

Translated, I can't remember a thing about the darn book except I remember 'seduce a sinner' was in the dialogue somewhere.

Yes, I'm lucky to remember where I live most days.

Noted.

The TBR Pile Rescue!

I read over at KristieJ's that her TBR pile is starting to cause anxiety.

Been there.

For a long while.

My TBR pile can be such a fickle bitch but I commented at Kristie's that this year it saved my ass big time.

I'll have to go back through my posts for this year but I'm pretty sure all the books I have been reading in 2009 have been from the TBR pile. When backed into the Slumpville corner the only thing I could finally do was face the pile and just start picking.

I started easy.

I decided those Harlequin books would help get my numbers up for reading this year and I knew it was part of my stumbling block. Once I got past a few books I was able to look at other ones in the pile that I had thought about or heard about for the past year or two.

It was like a reward for darting through more than 4 books for the year. Pressure was off, I had officially beat my horribly pathetic record from last year and now I could pick those odd books out of the pile that had been calling for a while.

Yep, looking at the my tag for Books Read 2009 I see that the first 4 books of the year were Harlequins. Diana Palmer and Jessica Bird.

Done.

It was then I decided a box needed to busted open so I went with a romantica. Once again, looking at the AAR Annual Poll I picked the title that won. Beth Kerry's Wicked Burn.

Sadly I just had to skim my own review to remember anything about this book. The good news is I didn't stop reading and I used my 'new super power' skimming over the blah stuff.

Side trip: Buckled up? Let's go!

Skimming for me is a painful way to read. I swear my brain sends out 'pain' impulses to stop my eyes from passing over words. I remember in high school they had a few lessons on how to speed read.

I tried all methods (looking at one word in a line of text and somehow the brain absorbs the rest *snort*, reading the first and last sentence of paragraphs etc) and discovered that I knew next to nothing about a story or essay when I got to the end.

And then there was the whole 'hurting' thing going on. Probably trying too hard.

Anyways, I have been honing the skill but I figure I do it differently than probably most people. If I'm antsy or board I will skip the descriptive scenes of a room or house or what ever. I have a pretty good imagination so I only need a few words for my brain to have it all figured out. Also anything about food, especially when it runs over long. Three paragraphs to describe a dinner table and I'm either yawning or putting the book down to hunt for some food in the pantry.

Hmm, so good question. What does skimming a book mean to you? Are your eyes still scanning every line (that's what I automatically think of when someone says they skimmed a book) or are you more like me in that you'll skip over paragraphs to get to dialogue or past drawn out descriptions?

Annnnnd, we're back!

After this book I wanted to read an author who had a good past with me and my attention was pulled to Kresley Cole.

There was a book in the pile by Kresley Cole (there are actually another 4 including this one) but I picked Kissed By A Demon King because it was published in 2009.

Huh, would definitely count for next years AAR Annual Poll and I would get a new number up there on my sidebar in a different category.

SOLD!

Then I hit that description of the hero that had me scratching my head and yearning to just drop the book and try something else. Only that's where my slumps begin. With stopping. So I waited and picked the book up here and there while running errands with my husband until it reached out and grabbed me and said 'Hey, pay attention! I'm awesome!'

And it was.

Yummmmm.

Onwards!

The next book wasn't from the pile. Nope. Nalini Singh had a new series out and I decided I was allowed a free pass.

Sadly, it was back to the TBR pile afterwards because the Singh wasn't what I expected and I needed a pick me up.

Jessica Bird was back up from the pile and on deck.

It was good.

Ah yes, now I remember. I was heading back to my massive and towering TBR pile to pick out the next Jessica Bird book I found.

Turns out I don't have the ones I was looking for. Which surprised me because I thought my massive and towering TBR pile had everything I would need!

Bad TBR pile.

So I kind of had to move on.

And there in the pile was Seduced By A Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt. It had been flashing it's pretty yellow cover at me for a while and I had shifted it back and forth not sure I was ready to read a historical again.

Turns out it was terrific. (I'm working on one of 'my' reviews)

And now I'm back at the well, picking through the pile knowing a good book is in there somewhere.

And my reading speed is A-okay with me for now so that's a positive.

I should admit though that the month of May has some new releases I'm really looking forward too. Hello Anne Stuart!

What's funny is that in reviewing what I've been reading this year I've discovered that most of the books were a disappointment.

Out of the 9 books I have now read, only two are keepers. Then there are an F and D review of Palmer books, three C reviews and two B reviews (which meant I must have enjoyed them). For me, C books aren't ones I enjoyed but I wouldn't say other people wouldn't find something in those books for themselves.

So there we have it.

Let's call this a 'first quarter review' cause Wow, I got wordy!

The Billionaire Next Door Jessica Bird

Bloody Hell. The things I learn after.

This book was the first in a series about three brothers. Guess what? No plans on the horizon to come back to it. I really wanted to read Mac's story. Ah well. I have a few more from Bird's back list yet.

Onwards!

The Billionaire Next Door is awesome.

It was just what I needed, a story with two people falling in love. Sure there were the misunderstandings waiting in the wings but I knew they were going to show up because He-llo, Silhouette Special Edition.

Cindy Blurb: Sean O'Banyon is rich, like the title says and has made his way up from nothing. He's used to the world he lives in and sees every one around him for what they are, sharks in suits.

What the world doesn't know about O'Banyon is that his father was an alcoholic and abused him and his brothers, Mac and Billy during most of their childhood. The brothers left that life behind and never spoke of it again.

Lizzie Bond is the downstairs neighbour of an old gruff man who has been her friend for a few years. It is a sad time for her when he dies of a heart attack and she is finally allowed to call a number for a son, Sean O'Banyon.

There are lots of hurdles here.

Lizzie is a nurse working two jobs to make ends meet and lives a fairly simple life helping out her upstairs neighbour. She is a great heroine who is able to see pain in people and recognize when to push and went to let go. To say Lizzie is living pay check to pay check is generous but she is not a person looking for handouts. I really enjoyed her mother in the story as well.

Sean, meanwhile, meets Lizzie and feels refreshed. She doesn't recognize him or want anything from him. She's just attracted to the man and Sean avoids telling her who he is or what his father did to him and his brothers.

Thinking on it, Sean got lucky cause not many people could forgive as much a Lizzie did.

Halfway through the story Sean finally tells her who he is and she is shocked and upset. Why did a rich man let his father languish all alone. Sensing more to it Lizzie lets her anger go and once again they start down the path of falling in love.

The revelations are left until almost the very end which did give the reader more time to see Lizzie and Sean fall in love instead of having to deal with things extremely heavy at the beginning of a relationship. In the end, I enjoyed the romance and the sexiness and I, of course, wanted to know more about the other two brothers. Okay, I want to know more about Mac.

B+

Books read for 2009 - Eight!!

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

Holy crumb it took me forever to read this book.

My bad.

Or maybe it was the messy first half that had me scrambling.

I have to be honest and say I would have 'quit' this book much earlier if someone hadn't posted a small excerpt of Raphael and Elena's love scene. Seriously, I was reading to get to that scene and when it finally showed up?

Meh.

Cindy Blurb: Elena is a Hunter-Born which means she's like a hound dog and can sniff out vampires and track them. Why would this be something needed?

Not for the reason you are thinking of.

See there are angels in this world and they create vampires whenever the mood strikes them but these vamps have contracts with the angels that last the first hundred years. Well, I guess that's an awful long time so vamps run off and the angels need to have them back. Angels can't track I guess.

Then there are archangels. I guess they are the really powerful mofos. Raphael is one of these (there are 10) and he has a job that only Elena can help him with. Elena, not being a fan of super authority is fearful of the archangel (as everyone should be) and there is a dance between them.

There are secrets, immortals who have lost their humanity and a world that feels seriously off kilter.

Here's what I can tell you about this book. The first half needed to be cut or seriously edited. See Elena is a hunter and is contracted for a job that's pretty important in the 'holy crap end of the world' kind of way. Now it could be just me but if someone told me that I had to track a super killer cause he could end humanity as I knew it, I would probably buckle down and get my head in the game.

This doesn't happen.

Instead, Elena hides from Raphael cause he's scary and the reader is introduced to a bunch of people. Then Raphael finds Elena and the reader meets a bunch more people who are vampires and angels and archangels. There was a scene I have yet to understand in the grand scheme of the story. Raphael takes Elena to see vamps and humans intermingle. WTF?

How am I as a reader suppose to worry about the 'Big Bad' that's coming if the characters in the story are acting like nothing big is happening.

The spine of the book reads 'Urban Fantasy Romance' and yes, this is urban fantasy but it was schlocky and slow in the beginning. Actually, for most of the book, questions that I had were left unanswered. Why are there angels? Where did they come from? Why are 'hunters' born? The reason for why there are vampires is answered in the last few chapters.

Everything else?

Don't know.

Do Elena and Raphael fall in love? Apparently. But it's one of those stories where I don't get why they fall in love.

When the 'Big Bad' does finally show up on the scene I didn't care.

There was this sense by the vamps and angels that humans were expendable.

You know, just there. This feeling never leaves the story so when human characters besides Elena showed up it was like watching little ants on the scene. All I kept thinking was ' you have no way to protect yourself and you are only alive because you're not a nuisance'. For me, if you build up immortals to such great heights then what shot does a human have?

Immortals in most stories have a weakness and now I know why. If there is no weakness, if they can't be killed by anything other than their own kind, what's the point?

This one is tough to grade. I would have stopped reading if I hadn't already had a sneak peek at an excerpt, after I got to that scene I didn't want to finish the book but because I'm stomping out a slump I knew I had to finish it. The last few chapters were the best because there were some answers and stuff actually happens but is it a case of too little too late?

Okay, C-

I considered a D but after thinking about it D books make me crazy mad and this story just left me feeling nothing but meh.

That said, I love the Psy books and will definitely be buying the next one in July. This series though? I think I'll be reading reviews of the next one before making a decision.

Go here to read Rosario's review which as always, will tell you much more eloquently what this book is about.

I haven't read any other reviews yet so I'm off to see what others thought. I did glance through Rosario's review when I thought to myself 'where's the plot?' and yes, she mentions this in her review.

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole

KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER, KEEPER !!!!

Woohoo!!

Today's number is S-I-X!

As you can see, I have just read my first KEEPER of 2009 AND it's a 2009 release.

Super Cool!

Not only that, I read this book (which is part of a series) out of order (I think there are 3 previous to this one I haven't read) and completely understood everything.

I'm telling you, Kresley Cole must have a room in her house where she can write shit on the walls because her books cover similar time spans which means that while the characters in this book were falling in love, there were other characters falling in love elsewhere (and whose books were probably before this one). There has to be a flow chart somewhere in the world to keep track of the time line and events and I can't see it being contained on a measly piece of paper.

Cindy Blurb: Uh.

Okay, the world building is really intricate and there are vamps and demons and sorceri and well, anything you can imagine I'm guessing so yeah, it's a paranormal.

We have Sabine The Queen of Illusions as the heroine and what a character she is. I loved her and her 'plotting' ways. Sabine is a sorceri who has died a few times, (her sister had the magic of commanding - and every time Sabine died her sister 'commanded' her to live - seriously, that's tricky stuff!), loves and trusts only her sister and is constantly being hunted by creatures that wish to kill her. Add to this a half brother who can't be killed and is extreme evil as Sabine's protector and you get a woman who knows nothing but trickery, illusion and survival of the fittest.

Rydstrom is a Demon King who was de-throned by Sabine's half brother and barely escaped with his life. For 500 years he has tried to find a way to kill the imposter and he finally learns of a sword that should do the trick. Rydstom is all that is loyal, true and good.

His fated mate is Sabine and what won't kill you, can only make you - well, fall in love?

I have to break this story down to just the relationship between Rydstrom and Sabine. It took me about a chapter or two before I was able to settle into this book and I think most of that was because there is so much that needs to be told to the reader about the world and the characters they are about to meet.

That said, I read this book out of order and I understood every thing. So if you are itching to read a great story and are many books behind in this series, no worries, this book is stand alone. Although you'll get glimpses of other characters and want to know about their stories also.

Let's get to the story.

Sabine captures Rydstrom and imprisons him because she knows she is Rydstrom's fated mate and in order to defeat her brother (this is her side of the story) she must become pregnant with Rydstrom's heir.

Rydstrom is obviously furious and is further enraged to discover the woman given to him by fate is not even remotely what he bargained for.

I loved the way Sabine always managed to keep control. She knew what she needed and went after it with no small amount of pleasure. She, however, didn't expect to fall in love with Rydstrom as he was just a means to an end. Sabine is not a heroine I've come across often. Maybe not at all. She is not afraid to welch on deals and is always a few steps ahead of those around her. The great news is that love doesn't change who Sabine is. She's a thief, a liar and a manipulator and Rydstrom better learn to love her as she is or all hell will break loose.

Rydstrom meanwhile, was not hard to like. I did start to have problems with him when he believed that only he could save Sabine. Sabine is a fierce warrior and Rydstrom can't seem to come to grips with this. Midway through the story the tables turn on Sabine and she becomes Rydstrom's prisoner. What drove me nuts was that Rydstrom would rather leave her defenseless (if you tie Sabine's arms behind her back she can't create illusions - she can make you see your worst nightmares, make herself invisible so she can slit your throat or create distractions by having things seem to blow up) than allow her to protect herself. When she ends up being attacked Rydstrom finds her but just in the nick of time. Even after seeing that Sabine can fall into danger Rydstrom still won't allow her her magic.

I can see his point. He knew Sabine would escape him the first chance she got but somehow leaving his mate defenseless made more sense to him than making sure she was safe. I found the whole thing a bit 'neandrathol' and annoying as he never really changed in this respect.

That would be the one 'pain' for me with this story. Rydstrom couldn't back up enough to allow Sabine her due. Yes, he acknowledges her power and strength and abilities but he still has this need to protect her. Hey, you can have the need all you want, but respecting the person you love is also way up there and needs to be part of a relationship.

So I could see Rydstrom driving Sabine crazy after a few hundred years with his over protective ways.

Other than that though I loved the banter and trick for trick between these characters. Each had an agenda and each tried every thing they could to get their needs met. All this while falling in love with their so called enemy.

There were also passages that had me laughing out loud and that is always a wonderful surprise with a book.

I'm going with an A- because of that one pain that became more noticeable as the story progressed. Still, Sabine was a thrill to watch and her reactions to life were fun and different from many romance heroines.

All in all, if you want to try something different I would highly recommend this book!

Anybody else read this one yet? Other opinions? Cause you know they are always welcomed.

Another Down

I just finished my 6th book of the year.

Go me!

I'll write a review up when I'm feeling better. I have the oddest sensation going on with my ears which then triggers certain nerves to fire off. Right now it's fine but then there will be 10 - 15 minutes where my ears crack and my nerves twitch uncomfortably. I'm probably coming down with something but PMS-ing masks a multitude of sins when it comes to whether or not I'm feeling well.

I just know if I'm writing up my kind of review and my ears start firing I'll make a mess of it.

Fine, a bigger mess than usual. I mean there is some serious world building stuff and ... uh, stuff.

So, you'll have to wait.

I know. Mean I am.

The decisions that have to be made in the next hour or so are :

Can I eat that piece of cake without having a complete tummy meltdown (it's at the halfway stage and I'm pretty sure intense sugar with some ice cream will send it over the edge)?

Do I read Blue-Eyed Devil by Kleypas next or Singh's latest? I just finished an intense paranormal so do I cleanse with a contemp or just dive right back in?

Do I have anything on the DVR worth watching that will keep me from noticing the weird ear thing and the potential upset tummy?

Sadly I think the answer to the last decision is NO.

And clearly, that poor piece of cake didn't have a chance.

Wicked Burn by Beth Kery

Good news. It got better.

And our number of the day is F-I-V-E.

Cindy Blurb: Vic and Niall are neighbours (I see Niall and in my brain I pronounce is Nee-ail - painful) who for some reason start having banging sex. I mean wow.

So there's sex.

More sex.

Yep, more.

Oh, some talking! No wait. Those are instructions for where exactly Niall's legs should be.

Okay.

Oh no he didn't! Oh, yep, he did and Niall's fine with it.

Any plot? Finally.

Vic is a playwright and a huge gruff bear - grrrr. He was also dumped years ago by a woman who tore his insides out. Not literally cause he really wouldn't have survived. You get it.

Niall is I *think* a museum curator or something like that but her job isn't important because her personal life is a tragedy. No really. Tragic. It's what kept me turning the pages.

I KNOW! You'd think the sex would have kept me reading but not so much.

I don't want to spoil the story for anyone so that's all the plot you get - except there's sex, there's a blow-up, some good ol' hiding, then the chase, then the reckoning with lots of sex.

I'm calling this book romantica although there is nothing on the front, back or spine that says this. It says contemporary romance. Hold on. Berkley Sensation - maybe that's their sexy line.

I think this is probably milder than some of the romantica out there but still, I was a wee bit surprised. Yes, eyebrows were in the hair line at times.

I have mentioned before that it's the sexual tension that is important and yes, I'll be pissed if a door slams in my face just when things are getting good.

With that in mind, I find that sexual tension goes right out the window when two characters have sex in the first few chapters of the book. So that's one of my biases. But I'm glad I read most (and then skimmed to get to plot) of it to get to the meat of the story.

Things that didn't work for me:

1. You can use more than 12 words in a conversation. Try it. You might discover shit doesn't land on you.

2. A heroine who has had violence done to her is maybe not going to be open to certain things the first time the H/H have sex. After certain revelations in this story I felt that maybe a few things that happened in the bedroom were far from realistic.

3. The overly alpha male with submissive female. I need the female to fight back even if it's just a bit but I think that would run towards another personal bias.

I'm going with a C .

I've read romantica if Shannon McKenna fits the bill but I pretty much hated the one I read. Bad book! Bad!

I decided to try another author and see if romantica is something that works for me. I'm thinking not particularly but I'll probably try a few more authors before deciding if this genre is for me or not.

If you've never read romantica and you want to try it I would say this is as good a place to start as any.

Now, I wonder what I'll pick up next.

Seriously, I have no clue.

Heartbreaker Diana Palmer

I wish I knew how to use a dancing monkey gif or a fireworks gif cause baby - I've read 4 books for the year!!

I feel so much better. I broke out of that damn 3 from last year and yes I cheated by reading categories but the fine print in these were horrid on the eyes.

Again, no one really cares about this book so I will say that the hero in this was such an A-One Asshole that I was waiting with bated breath for his life shattering moment.

Meh.

The heroine lost her memory so he was able to weasel his way back in. Yetch. Yuck. Bleck.

F

I'm not putting a + on that because I really did have to force myself to finish it and it was uhhhhhhhhhhh-gly.

But I'm at 4!

Can you even imagine how obnoxious I'm going to be when I get more books read?

Hey, where you going?

Okay, I promise *fingers crossed* not to be obnoxious.

Onto something completely different.

AAR Annual Poll is over tomorrow night (Tuesday).

That's it, that's all.

I've been entering ballots for the past month but for the last few days they've been coming in like wild fire. If you want to cast a ballot go here.

See you can make me do work and you know I'm lazy.

Lawless by Diana Palmer

Yep, I'm going strong now!

I have to admit this book made me want to re-read Palmer's books from the 90s because I don't remember the men being stupid. Jackass Alpha Jerks yeah but stupid? Maybe they go hand in hand.

Also, I struggled with the 'skivvies' I got from this one.

Cindy Blurb: Cristabel Gaines and Judd Dunn currently co-own a ranch together. The ranch was once owned by Judd's Uncle and Crissy's father but after the death of Judd's Uncle he discovered Crissy's father beating the crap out of her in the barn and had him arrested.

She was 16. Judd was 29.

There is no reason given for what happened next. Judd married Crissy on paper only and secretly. I'm not sure why they had to marry as the father was still alive at the time but in prison. Crissy's mother was also still alive at the time.

When the book opens Crissy and Judd have an obviously flirty relationship. Crissy is always teasing him and he enjoys her company. Crissy is 2 months shy of 21 and the plan is they will get an annulment when she comes of age. Judd is 34.

Anyways, Judd is also a Texas Ranger so there is a crime that needs solving. A film crew is allowed on the ranch because it needs money, a beautiful movie star claims Judd and Crissy decides it's time to date. A 38 year old man.

I mean, c'mon. I'm already squirming with the 'siblings' feeling I was getting from Judd and Crissy now I have to deal with a 38 year old feeling all sassy about a 21 year old.

What a shock. Older men love the extremely young women. No kidding.

Lots and lots of misunderstandings and stupidity for a 34 yr old man (I mean really, Crissy comes off knowing herself better than Judd) and we get a HEA with babies.

I wanted to stop reading a few times because I just didn't like the idea that Judd had married Crissy when she was 16. Sure it was on paper but he knew she would hold to her vows so she never dated or anything. Also, she was constantly flirting with him and yeah, even he recognized hero-worship when it he sees it.

Now I'm a woman who married an older man but I was 24 when we met, done school and out working. Not so much for Crissy. I kept wishing she was just a few years older. And for some reason Cash Grier (the other man) seemed like an old man when I know he wasn't. Maybe I don't like long black hair, mustache and goatee on a man. Definitely not a goatee. But there was something very icky about all the relationships in this book.

Maybe I've outgrown Palmer but I can definitely thank her for getting my reading groove back.

Part of me wants to read about Cash because I'm hoping he ends up with an older woman. But then I would be thinking how he should grow a real beard or shave off the goatee.

I wouldn't recommend this Palmer to anyone so I guess that's a D+

I have to give it a plus because I did finally finish it and I did want to see Judd get his comeuppance.

Now I'm trying to figure out if I should stick with Palmer or try something totally different. This is where I start getting muddle-headed!

A Man In A Milliong by Jessica Bird

I know!

I'm completely floored.

I have just finished my second book of the year. I don't think this happened last year until June!

Take that Slumpville (once again, I'm trying to ignore it's existence, hence, it doesn't exist. Mind over matter and all that noise.)

Cindy Blurb: Spike (OMG, she just can't help herself, can she - by she I'm talking Ward) the hero of this cute little book is one bad ass mofo with the downy soft innards of a Boston Creme pie.

Mmmm, pie.

Ooops. I'm hungry.

Onwards.

Basically Mad is crushing on this Spike guy killer huge but she's not exactly a femme fatale and figures he's into the finer women in life. Not sure why exactly as he's huge and tattooed and not exactly the kind of guy I would find fascinating but a female hard core athlete would totally fall for this guy. And since Mad is exactly that - well, she has some issues.

And he does too.

Keep in mind this *is* a Silhouette there are things that have to happen. I found all of Spike's reasons for worrying about falling for the hot babe completely feasible. Mad's crap was more soap opera plotting but hey, certain things have to happen in a category.

Mad thinks Spike is perfection and Spike thinks Mad is perfection but we can't have the story over in a couple pages. So we have misunderstandings right off the bat which were annoying and almost had me putting the book down. I kept going which proved an excellent choice.

The middle of the story was the best part and sure the ending wasn't bad but the drama at the end was a bit much. The middle of the story was more about the sexual heat these two people feel for each other and it felt more honest and very adult. It was later that the childish tendencies of Mad came to the fore and wrecked havoc.

Probably need more on the plot:

Basically Mad comes from an extremely rich family and has to finally face her half brother with some demands over the family business. Since this brother put her down all her life she has reservations about being alone.

Spike (a friend of a friend) comes to back her up. There's a half-sister in the story who reminded me so much of Bella from The Brothers series and of course, she needs to play a role in the devastation.

I liked this story for all the reasons I used to love the Brother books. This is a romance and there is no suspense or anything too corny besides the evil half brother (who is probably the original Rhev).

When Mad and Spike could be honest they hit it off great. They knew that they were in love but had too many reasons not to say it. The sexual tension and sex scenes themselves were great and there was even a scene that made my eyes burn like I was going to cry.

Maybe that's PMS but still, not many authors can make my eyes burn with unshed tears. (I did not cry!)

What you will find in A Man In A Million are the trademark Bird/Ward male characters with 'street' language and man on man support of friendship. Not to mention the hero is just blown away by the heroine and has a lot of 'OMG, she wants me!' kind of reactions.

But I loved it.

B-

Get this I went onto the Jessica Bird website and discovered at least two books that I bought long before I ever knew who she was. I hope I still have them!

I've also decided to continue on in my quest to read more books by picking up the categories I have in my TBR pile. I can't remember who mentioned it but you can definitely spike up your reading numbers and I need to keep on this new roll!

I should note that at no time while reading this book was I thinking about how many books I have read or that I need to blog about this immediately. I was sucked right in and thought of nobody but me and the characters in the book.

Which explains why I'm hungry cause I didn't stop to eat!

Heart Of Stone Diana Palmer

This will be a quicky. I'm not sure how many people read Palmer besides me and the Sybs but I'll do a bit of an opinion piece.

Cindy Blurb: Simple.

18 yr old girl has been in love with man 11 years her senior since she laid eyes on him when she was 14.

Man 11 years her senior ignores her (yeah, he should!).

By the ripe old age of 19 she is never going to get married or be with a man because of something awful in the past and well, she is after all head over heels in love with hero.

Hero also had an awful event in his past complicated by one of 'those kind of women' (shallow, selfish, money grubbers).

Hero finally 'can't fight that feeling anymore' and since she's almost 20 they can now declare their love and live HEA.

Okay, so that's kind of the blurb that would go with any one of Diana Palmer's books EXCEPT -

It's missing the ginormous misunderstanding that drives a wedge through two people's hearts and make them angry and bitter towards each other until the Hero (and yes, it's usually the hero) discovers he had it all wrong, wrong, wrong and is the biggest butt in the world.

He seduces young woman who is bewildered by the affection (and erection) from the man she has always loved but who had hated her completely and utterly until about 10 minutes ago.

And if you really want to dive into Palmer's back list there are H/H who are related to each other (cousins) and then there is the famous Older Step Brother with his much younger and tortured Step Sister.

Yep.

If you want to find something sinister and awful to hate in a book you can probably find it in a Diana Palmer.

But I love it.

Okay, the step sibs were hard to take and I do get the 'ick' when cousins are mentioned but Diana Palmer could really bring it.

Soap Opera drama, skank whore who is hero's current fling and treats heroine like a little slut, a hero who makes assholes every where a better name because he is the King and I as the reader can't wait for the truth to knock him off his high horse.

So with this latest release I can say that she's not as PC as she was in around 2000 when I read one of her books and entered 'the complete opposite' world. Hell, the book had no zing, zip or passion. I was sad.

But lately I've been seeing 'Long Tall Texan's' on her books and I've been wondering if maybe she would write up another of her famous alpha jerk heroes.

Basically the hero wasn't a jerk in this book. He had some smarts about him. He did jump to a few bad conclusions but they were quickly fixed after the heroine almost dies. (Hey, I forgot that part!)

The heroine was meh.

The sex was very meh. I mean, seriously. Meh.

I'm not used to Palmer being so slight in the sheets but maybe I'm not remembering everything the way it really happened.

Will I read another Palmer.

Hell Yeah!!

I may even resort to re-reading some of her older, wilder and Un-PC books.

I should mention she has written historicals which fit more into this category. Like you would expect an 19 year old and an older man to get together but she mostly writes contemporary westerns.

God love her.

C+ (I'm suddenly on Sybil's side when she says C reviews don't mean the book was bad. They sure don't mean it's a great book either.)

AND

I picked up another book. I'm currently reading Jessica Bird's - crap, it's got millionaire or something like that in the title. I would have dropped this book at the first page but I was out and about with Bob and we were hitting stores I didn't need to go in so I stayed in the car reading.

It's amazing how you'll read something that makes your eyes roll when there is nothing else to do or read.

And that seems to be the solution to Slumpville (if I can't see it maybe it's not real!) right now. Cause all of a sudden, the weirdness of the whole first chapter has passed and maybe I can see past the 'he-man/she-woman' character traits that Ward is famous for.

Yeah, Bird is Ward.

But then I think everyone knows that.

If not, you're welcome.