REALLY good reads over the past year

Sometimes a book or an author resonates with me so well I simply must ‘yell it to the rooftops’.  Anyone who has followed this blog for a while and wandered back to discover that ‘hey! She’s back. will know this.  Carian Cole is such an author.  I discovered her last year and since I wasn’t blogging at the time I didn’t get a chance to do my thing.  But now I can.  I have read some of her books multiple times since I read them the first time and now here I am, sharing what I’ve loved so much yet again.

 
The first few books are about a rock band, Ember and Ashes and while I’ve read and really enjoyed some rock singer books, for me these are on another level altogether.  I reviewed most of them on GoodReads (I think) so I’m reposting them here, starting with the first book.  I should note that since first doing this review, I've read the book twice more.

Storm by Carian Cole


I don’t read a whole lot of rock star books, though there are a few authors that have written in this trope that I’ve read. So when this one popped up, despite the rather scary looking cover model, I thought ‘what the heck? It’s cheap (read FREE) so why not give it a try?’ Sometimes those are good spontaneous decisions and sometimes not. In this case it was a Very Good Decision.

This book written in present tense, first person POV stars Evelyn as our heroine and Storm as our hero. Only a few years ago I wouldn’t touch this POV for anything but so many of the books I seem to be reading are written like this, when I read a 3rd person POV book. And the 1st person works very well. Evelyn and Storm meet under unusual circumstances. Evelyn is on her way to a conference in a blizzard and she is lost. While trying to figure out what to do, she manages to do damage to her car. Someone comes to help her and after giving him a hard time, she gets in his car and then he does something to his truck. It’s a long hike for help and the snow comes down like crazy so they are forced to spend the next two days in close company in his truck. Evelyn is a hoot and makes things very frustrating for Storm, but Storm is more amused than anything else. Though Evelyn has no idea who he is, turns out he’s a famous rock star. He’s hawt, long haired, tattooed and can get anything/anyone he wants so it’s rather refreshing to have someone treat him the way Evelyn does.

They develop a deep attraction to each other but Evelyn refuses to acknowledge or act on it. She’s been in a 12 year relationship and even though it’s clear to Storm as well as the reader that it’s a dead end road, Evelyn refuses to give up.

I enjoyed this book SO much. It’s funny and it’s cute and quite a joy to read. Evelyn is on the prickly side but it’s a good prickly and once you read about her history, we understand why she is the way she is. And Storm!! My goodness what a swoon worthy hero. He’s one of the better ones, that’s for sure.

One of the reasons for this review since the book is on the older side is this is the first in a series of books about all the members of Ashes & Embers, their band. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I was delighted to see she has quite a nice backlist. I’ve already purchased the next two in this series. I look forward to reading and will be reviewing more of her books. So listen to this here reviewer, get this book and give it a read. It's well worth the time.
Grade: 5 out of 5

“Politics again!’ you say?

I’ll make this one quick.  I’ve often been frustrated with John McCain.  He ‘gets’ what a nightmare trump is, he and Lindsay Graham both but when push comes to shove they both vote party lines instead of what’s good for the majority of the people of the US.

 

But he acted in what I consider a real act of courage the other evening when he voted no to the skinny bill despite what I’m sure was tremendous – nope sorry, I can’t use that word anymore – great pressure to do otherwise.  But he put the people first this time when he refused to vote for a bill that made no sense, apparently no one but a very few wanted and that would have devastated so many Americans with its mess up of health care.

 

Health care in the US is messed up anyway but why can’t the politicians just think of the people first instead of themselves or the kickbacks they get from big corporations.  And since this is basically a blog about romance, this is why I never read a book about politicians.  Even if they start out with the best of intentions, a politician will be corrupted at some point.  It’s unavoidable.  For some it might not be that corrupt and they may still have a relatively intact heart.  But for the vast majority they lose their soul.  And while the US it’s so blatant that it hurts, no country with any kind of democracy is immune.  I would love to see some politician come out and do some kind of congrats to a member of a different party on some kind of political deal.  Here in Canada when a new budget comes out, the opposition can’t wait to pounce on it.  Why can’t one leader, at least once say something like “While it’s not something our party would do, I see why they did that and that they are trying to do the right thing.

 

Which brings me back to John McCain.  At 2:30 am or whatever time it was when I turned the television off after the results of the vote on the ‘skinny bill’, I felt a bit of hope.  It’s not a lot of hope mind you as the GOP continue to allow this maniac called a president to run around unchecked doing untold damage, but even a bit of hope is nice.

Can you hear a heart break

I had an entirely different blog post planned but it has been a flowing day.  Since I started this morning, the senate has gone ahead and voted to repeal affordable care.  I truly believe this is the darkest day for the United States in modern times.  Shame, shame, shame on the whole party.  They have put hatred and greed and their own disgusting ambition ahead of the American people.  I’m truly sickened by what they have done today and while I won’t be affected since I live in Canada WHERE WE HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE, I have many friends in the US and my sister lives there also and will probably be affected.  The last time I spoke to her she couldn’t talk about the subject. 

 I’m building up to a rant here and believe me it is not against the American people but how long can things go the way are?  The US is no longer a first world country by many standards.  They have just voted to remove the basic right of health care.  In every other first world country, health care is a given.  In Canada, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in France, Germany and many other nations, health care is a given.  The governments are not fine to let people die because they can’t afford to pay.  This hurts my very heart and should hurt the hearts of everyone who has one, no matter where they live.  I truly want to weep now for the people of this country.

 

How can the GOP do this?  How can John McCain, who claims to be a champion of the people and now diagnosed with cancer, now a preexisting condition, head to Washington and vote to take it away from everyday people?  How can he do this?

How can these people with the exception of Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski vote for something that they don’t even know what it is they are voting for? 

From the Huffington Post:

Heading into Tuesday’s vote, it was highly uncertain that McConnell would have enough votes to take Obamacare repeal over this first hurdle. This first vote was a real test of whether Senate Republicans were committed to undoing the Affordable Care Act, increasing the number of uninsured Americans by millions or even tens of millions and disrupting the health insurance market in ways that would disadvantage older, poorer and sicker people.

Republican senators who voted for this motion did so without having any idea what legislation they were about to move on to.

 

The faces of Evil

 

 

From Politico:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), recently diagnosed with brain cancer, entered the chamber to a standing ovation and cast the 50^th Republican vote. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska broke ranks to oppose the measure, forcing Vice President Mike Pence to break a 50-50 tie.

From Shareblue:

The Republican health care bill is enormously unpopular, and would strip health insurance coverage from over 20 million people, while cutting Medicaid by over $700 billion. It is completely supported by the Republican leadership, including Donald Trump, McConnell, and Speaker Paul Ryan.

 

I don’t understand and I will never understand such cruelty

This and That

Yes.  Surprise.  It’s me again after more than a year’s absence.  If I’m posting this I actually remember my password.

So – for a long delayed this and that.

I’ve been noticing a trend in the books I’ve been reading lately and I’m not sure – no, I am sure – that I don’t really like.  During love scenes, the speaking and the demanding and explaining are getting quite explicit.  It used to be that they would have the hero whisper in the heroine’s ear what he was going to do to her, but now it seems in many a book that he outright explains – in very explicit detail.  Then he demands she reply to what he wants, what he’s doing.  Now here’s hoping it’s not a sign I’m a prude or anything, but I like things less detailed or I don’t know, more purpley.  I don’t like purple but I think I’d like a tad better than too much graphics.  I’d like them to be a bit more balanced I’m thinking.

 

I’ve been reading quite a few new adult, a sub-genre I never thought I’d be getting into.  Most of them have younger hero/heroines and are written in the first person with alternating views.  I didn’t think for the longest time I would enjoy first person so much bet I really am.  I read one recently though were the age was a real factor in knocking the book down a few grades.  The heroine was either 20 or 21 and the hero had serious emotional issues.  While there needs to be a suspension of disbelief in reading many a romance novel and I’m fine with this, in the case of this particular book I just couldn’t buy into for even a moment that this couple would last.  She was too immature and he was too damaged.  I wish the author had made them older and shown some growth in the heroine.  It would have made it more enjoyable.  For those authors who write in this genre, just a wish that they keep this kind of thing in mind.

 

While I haven’t blogged in over a year, I have been more active on both GoodReads and Twitter.  I love sharing books I’ve really enjoyed.  Anyone who has been with me for a while knows this and when I do read a great book I send out a lot of rec’s to my GoodRead ‘friends’.  I also do a lot of checking for other romance authors with similar tastes and can while away many an hour doing this.

And as for Twitter, I’ve come to the conclusion that most people, or at least many, prefer either Twitter or Facebook.  Me, I’m a Twitter gal.  While I had a Facebook pages, I don’t use it at all.  Sad as this is, I think this had an effect on blogging.  Alas, I know it’s been a factor for me.

 

Politics – There is no possible way I could say everything I think in one short paragraph.  It will take a few posts.  But to summarize, I’m appalled, I’m horrified, I’m confused and most of all, I’m scared for the entire world. 

 

Amazingly, we didn’t need a password.  The computer remembered