Only back briefly but thanks once again to Cindy S *sigh*

(while Nancy gets ready - she's more of a girly girl than me and takes much longer - why she's putting on make-up and stuff when she knows I'm going to make her sweat by helping me clean out the back bedroom I don't know - but it gives me a bit extra time)
Cindy just had to do it. She just had to mention buy 3 get one free at Chapters. I know Nath mentioned it, but I kind of forgot. But Cindy couldn't not remind us.
So of course I had to go for it. And of course I couldn't let it rest at buy 3 get one free. I had to buy 6 get 2 free.
My latest purchases:


Dead to Me by Anton Strout
Katies been saying how good this one is and her review sounded intriguing. So I went outside my box for this book.












The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter
Yep, I know a lot of you are envious that I have this one. For some reason it was on the shelves early. Now all I need to do is start reading this series. I have all of them - just need to read them.










Lessons from a Courtesan by Jenna Petersen.
I got this one after reading her interview at Ciara's blog. I've never tried any of this authors' books before












Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves
I've loved just about all this author's books save one and last time I looked it wasn't on the shelf. This time it was!!












In Twilight's Shadow by Patti O'Shea
I looked for this one last time and couldn't find it even though the store said they had it in. I looked again this time again, didn't see it in the romance section but I found it in the general books shelves











Wild for Him by Janelle Denison
This one was a bit of a gamble. Her last one was a DNF for me but I liked the previous books. So I figured it was only fair to give her another chance.











Never Say Never by Geralyn Dawson.
It's been years since I've read her books. I used to like them but then the Wedding books got to be a bit too much so I kind of stopped. But this one is a RS so I wanted to give it a try.

The Loner by Geralyn Dawson
A Western, not one of her Wedding Series and it was time I tried her again. I've read good buzz on her lately so wanted to get back into the swimming pool

TBR Day - My Pick

Keishon's TBR Reading Challenge for April

Book: Ravyn's Flight

Author: Patti O'Shea

Published: 2002

Publisher: Love Spell

Blurb: Alone on a strange planet. Their teammates murdered by an unknown enemy. Help weeks away. Could there be a worse time to fall in love?

Ravyn Verdier was the communications specialist on a mission to test the habitability of Jarved Nine. Damon Brody was the commander who rescued her when the rest of her team is mysteriously killed. Trapped on a planet that harbored an unimaginable evil, they must depend on one another, trust each other implicitly.
An abandoned city held the key to their survival, but what they found behind its ancient walls defied all their preconceived notions, tested the very limits of the bond that had formed between them. To succeed, they would have to cast aside their doubts and listen to their hearts. For only when they were linked body and soul—when they realized love was their greatest weapon—would they be able to defeat the monstrous force bent on destroying all life.

I've had this one in the TBR pile for a little while now. I got it from a friend, good thing as it never made the shelves here - in fact it's not even listed on Chapters web site. Not long after though, it seemed to disappear. In the meantime I bought the sequel, Eternal Nights but didn't want to read it until I'd read RF - but it had gone missing. Between the two I had read The Power of Two in the 2076 Series and really enjoyed it. So she was an author on my 'look for' list.
I found Ravyn's Flight just a month or so again thus proving my theory about not looking for something and it will eventually show up.
After flitting around from TBR book to TBR book trying to choose and having nothing grab me, I finally settled on this book.
Good choice.
I really got into this one and enjoyed it quite a bit. I love Futuristics - or Sci Fi Romance as they seem to be called these days and this was no exception.
It started out with a bang when our heroine Ravyn was the only survivor of a viscious attack on the exploration team on an earth like planet. A Special Ops team came to her rescue only to have every one of the team killed just like the exploration team with the lone excpetion of their leader Damon Brody.
The run for safety by our hero/heroine was suspenseful and well done. And their attraction to each other crackled. There is also a very good secondary love story between Ravyn's brother and her best friend who are on their way to rescue the two lone survivors.
I thought the character development quite well done and I know there are some readers who don't really like this angle, but their was almost a soul mate feeling to the two of them. Since I like that angle, it was right up my alley.
I'll be looking forward to reading Eternal Nights now as well as catching up on the other books she's written.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Recent Reads - Part 2

As I said, I've been reading quite a bit lately. This is the second batch though- which is really the first batch since I read them first.




The Power of Two by Patti O’Shea
Even though I’ve read this one before, I’m going to cheat a little and consider it part of the Keishon’s paranormal challenge for October. This is the third book in the 2176 series started by Susan Grant with The Legend of Banzai McGuire. Cai and Jake, both members of a special forces team, have a special relationship. Something to do with her being a receptor and having nanodes in both their brains and advising him on missions. I didn’t really understand it but I just went with it anyway. Jake thinks all along he has been mind talking to a computer but when Cai gets information on her parents mysterious disappearance, she goes to Jake to ask him for his help. He is stunned to realize all along that rather than a computer, his closest friend is a young woman. He manages to get over it and together along with the rest of the team, they travel to the raft cities to locate Banzai McGuire and her lover, UCE Commander, and Navy SEAL, Tyler Armstrong. She is also hoping to find her parents as she has reason to suspect they are being held against their will be a megalomaniac billionaire.
Obviously, since this is a reread, I quite enjoyed the book. I love both the characters of Jake and Cai. Even though Jake feels betrayed when he first realizes who Cai is, he get’s over it and becomes very protective of her. The sexual tension is great as they are both attracted to the other, but both fighting it. I really enjoyed this whole series and this was a great entry.
Grade: 4 out of 5




Mac’s Law by Sarah McCarty
This one was my first foray into romantica and while I had some issues with parts of it, this won’t be my last. Now – to discuss those issues without getting spammed is a challenge and just for the heck of it, I decided to give it a whirl. As I expected, there is sex and a lot of it in this book. However, one aspect was new to me and that was the amount of alternate entry – um – usage. I’d never read this before and decided very quickly that nope, no sir, never tried it, never will. And that’s probably even TMI. I had a bit of a head scratching while I was reading this book as to whether I was reading something cutting edge or I was just a dirty old lady. If I was 10 to 15 years younger there wouldn't have been any question. Anyway, on to the story. Mac Hollister is local law as well as a rancher. He has advertised for a cook and Jessie or J.C. Sterns is the one who has accepted the job. Mac has been thinking J.C. to be a guy and now way, now how, is he going to take on a woman for the job. Well, she finally talks him into letting her stay on a trial basis and before long they give in to their mutual attraction – again and again and again. In addition to the..um… alternate entry scenes, there was also some laying on of the hand to the lower portion of the heroine which is located behind her, which is also something I’d never read before. And a third party viewing scene which was also new to me. It looks like they are smaller that printed books too which doesn’t leave as much time for character development – but then the same can be said for Harlequins and anthologies. I think I would have liked this one better without some of the alternate scenes, but overall I liked it – I think
Grade: 31/2 out of 5




Master of the Moon by Angela Knight
This was another paranormal for Keishon’s challenge. Unfortunately this was a DNF. I loved Jane’s Warlord and if she ever goes back and revisits that universe, I’m there. But this one creeped me out with its evil elves and satanic theme. I don’t mind violence – as I liked Jane’s Warlord – but this really wasn’t for me.




Dark Lover by JR Ward
I decided to read this one based on Sybil’s DIK review and the fact that this is one the books that everyone else is reading and I didn’t want to miss the reading party. Normally, as I’ve said before, I don’t do vampire books, but decided to make an exception. And I must confess I’m quite glad I did. I like this one. A lot. As most everyone has either read or is planning on reading this one, reviews are all over the place so I don’t need to really add my 2 cents – other than to say everyone is right. This is a good book and I will again break my vampire ban when the next one comes out.
Grade 41/2 out of 5