Don't be givin me 'tude Be-yotch

sub title

A Rant

(warning - bad language ahead. A LOT of bad language. My mamma would wash out my mouth)

I've said before that I love my job. And I do, I truly do. But I think everyone including those who have the bestest job in the whole world will have a bad day or two. That was the case with me today. First off, I couldn't get on my computer and when the IT dude came over to my desk, he told me that it was my fault, that I had to have used the wrong password. I Very Carefully typed it in after the first time it was rejected. Very Carefully. And I knew I hadn't used the wrong password. Turned out it was a glitch in the system. But that was my first "fuck the hell off" thought of the day towards someone else. Arrogant IT people. Not all mind you, most are very helpful but obviously not all.

Then I was on the phone and the person on the other end was telling me in the snottiest of tones, that their records didn't match our records and what was I going to do about it? Since we had just got this client in our department and the person wasn't on my particular caseload and I was just reading the notes for the very first time as I was talking to her and she was giving me definite 'tude, that was my second "fuck the hell off" thought of the day.

Later I answered another call from the relative of a client with a concern, a legitimate concern. I told her that I would have the Case Manager give her a call as soon as she got in. Then before the Case Manager returned, I got another call on this same client and the person on the other end gave me 'tude. That was my third "fuck the hell off" thought of the day.

Because it was so Very Busy today and I wasn't comfortable leaving until I had reached that certain point where I felt I had done all I could for the day, I ended up staying an extra hour. This will be an hour without pay since we have to have all overtime PREapproved and I didn't realize it would take so long until nearly the end of the day and our manager had left for the day.

Sometime during the day, the crankies were really catching up with me and I thought I could either get cranky or in reverse physicolical (yes I know that is spelled so wrong but not even spell check can figure out the word I mean), do something to make me feel better. So I called the blood donor clinic to make an appointment to donate blood. And guess what? There was no time available!! Here I was trying to give blood to some anonymous person who needed it and I couldn't get in to donate!! The soonest time I could is on Thursday at 5:30.

So you would think a bad day was finally over at 5:30 (not 4:30 mind you) but you would be wrong. When I got to the home and up to the back door, there was this large piece of paper taped to it and this is what it said

PLEASE TAKE CARE

OF YOUR CAT

(LET IT IN) WHEN

COLD OUT OR

PLEASE GET RID OF IT

THANK YOU

NEIGHBOUR! 48

Know what I say to Neighbor 48?

JUST FUCK THE HELL OFF,

A) I called and called The Little Shit ( and I call her that in the most loving of ways) before I left for work this morning but she didn't come when I called. The reason I let her out first thing was so she could do what her name implies - shit.

B) It wasn't that cold out today and Hello - she has a fucking fur coat.

C) Who the FUCK do you think you are telling me to get rid of my cat??? You have TWO Jack Russell terriers that do nothing but fucking bark all day long so just bloody well FUCK OFF.

D) Passive Aggresive much telling me THANK YOU.


There! I feel so much better know that that's out of my system! Sometimes nothing works but using that ol' F bomb.

Oh, Those Crazy Hybrids!

One of those quirks I have that I'm sure are shared by many who catalogue their books is how does one categorize some books? These days so many can be put in a number of different genres.

Such is the case with the book I'm reading now. I'm stumped by where to put it!

Time-travel agent Collins is preparing for a routine assignment to the past when rebels kill his commander and force him back in time unprepared. With no sex-suppression drugs and incomplete training he's stranded in a strange old world.Candy was almost resigned to her humdrum life until a man in a strange black get-up dropped onto her park bench. If he wasn't gorgeous and wounded she might listen to her common sense and run. But curiosity and kindness have always been her weaknesses and the fact that this guy rouses her long-dormant libido doesn't hurt either.Overwhelmed by the novel sensation of lust Collins can't resist Candy's sensual sweetness. But every fevered joining of their bodies breaks the stringent laws to which he's sworn allegiance. Being trapped in the past is bad enough. Committing carnal crimes with an irresistible 21st century indigenous could destroy his future and hers.

I could put it under Time Travel as the hero travels through time.

I could put it under SciFi/Futuristic as the hero comes from the future.

I could put it under Erotic since Ellora's Cave is the publisher.

I don't know how to classify it! I can add tags for all three in Good Reads and the other online book catalogue places but I only have one choice in my spread sheet.

Any ideas?

And in case you're wondering, other than the Really Bad Cover (really, really bad) so far so very good!

Outrageous

I was just checking out Amazon for some good book deals and came across this. Who in their right mind would buy it. Check out the Kindle price!

OK - unless you click on it, you can't really see the price. But they are asking $19.56 for the ebook and $10.20 for the print book.

Wonderings

I happened to check in with Ramblings and discovered much to my horror that I haven't blogged yet this month!! That's terrible of me. I have any number of topics these days that come to mind, from the really hot guy who is doing my basement to fact that *sigh* I have to get rid of The Little Shit as she, well, shits in the basement and now that I have a really hot guy coming in to do the basement, I can't really have her doing what her name implies she's doing.

Or I could mention that I am very seriously considering selling my house and living the apartment condo lifestyle which means no raking of leaves from numerous trees in the fall, no shoveling snow in the winter and no mowing the lawn in the summer. But then I kind of freaked at the thought of moving out of the house so soon and realized I'm not emotionally ready to let go of it. And of course I'm getting this brand new basement....


Then there was the trip I made yesterday to our local police hangout - the police station. No, I'm not in trouble. But apparently I have to have a background check done on me in order to do volunteer work. I also stopped and had an interview with our local hospice centre. She seemed to think I'd be a real asset. I did get a secret chuckle though. It cost me $10 to have the police check me out. That's a discount since it's for volunteer work. It also cost me me money for administration type costs to start volunteering. By the time I got home yesterday I had shelled out $50. For some reason that greatly amuses me.

But the real thing I was pondering today was concerning the book I just started reading. Well not the book in particular as I've just started reading it, but more the experiences about reading the book. I can tell that it's going to be a painful book to read and I'm wondering if anyone else has the same kind of experiences while reading. I think I do because I have a tendency to jump into the deep end in some areas and reading is one of them. At times I become ONE with the book.

In this particular story, it's a medieval and the heroine has been terribly abused, first by her father, then her late husband and finally by her husband's brother. Her children were taken far away to be fostered and now her brother-in-law is threatening to do the great harm unless she goes along with his very nasty scheme to try and help murder her most recent husband, a bitter rival of the b-i-l, that she is forced to marry. And she is expecting the worst. I'm not very far into the book and already I HURT for the brutal life she has lived so far and I want nothing but good things to happen to her. Of course this is a romance so naturally they will, but at the moment I'm so immersed and feeling so hurt for her that I'm just going to take small bites of this book until things start turning around for her.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad thing. In fact it's a Very Good Thing that I can get so emotionally invested in a book. But it's not an easy thing. Depending on how the author can bring me out of a painful situation is often the mark of a real keeper. If the author can make it so I'm almost brought to tears, well, this is a book I will want to read over and over.

So does anyone else ever feel this way about a book? That it is almost too painful to read, not because it's bad as in the case that Animie June recently experienced, but because you get so involved in what the author is putting her characters through. If you have felt this before, did the author manage to make you feel uplifted by the end and did it become a real treasure of a book? And can you name any book that this has happened with?

I'm discovering that many of us who are addicted to romance share a lot of the same traits, so I'm betting that this has happened to some of you. Care to share????

Ponderings

I'm sure there has been much written about this and more times than I can imagine, but I'm looking to add some of my favourite books to either Kindle or Kobo on my IPad so I have them with me always. I LOVE this idea. So far I have Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, Conor's Way by Laura Lee Guhrke (I am looking at you Wendy - heh heh), In the Midnight Rain by Barbara Samuel, the first two books by Pamela Clare, Sweet Release and Carnal Gift.

This is one of the huge pluses to having an eReader. Good books at Great prices. So it is with a great deal of confusion and wit quite a dash of anger thrown in, that there are some that will not be loaded onto my eReaders. And the reason you ask? Simple.

PRICING!!!!

How and why on earth are there many (many) ebooks at Kindle for either the same price or even MORE? How can the publishers possibly justify that? Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas for example, in my top 5 list for years now, is at Kindle for $9.04. Paperback is $7.99. It makes no sense to me why they would charge $1.05 more for an ebook than a paperback. $9.04 seems to be the standard price for ebooks from Avon.

I was looking at getting the ebook of Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis, but it's even WORSE! They are asking $10.24 for the kindle version but only $7.99 for the paperback. It means they actually have the nerve to charge $2.25 more for a book that doesn't cost them in printing or distribution - $2.25 more for a book we can't actually hold in our hands. How can they do that? I looked at a couple more examples and that seems to be the difference in many Berkley books.

And that got me curious about some of the other publishers and how the prices compared from print form to eform. Grand Central (publisher of Elizabeth Hoyt for example) seems to be the same in either format. This is better than charging more and given a choice these days I'd probably go digital.

Now Ballantine's pricing is starting to make sense. Their print books are, on average, $7.99 and their ebooks $6.39, so with a savings of $1.60, digital is definitely the way to go. A few of the more well known authors with them that I've read are Monica McCarty, Christy Reece.

And then we come to Harlequin/HQN. Their prices seem to be all over the map. In my very unscientific poll, I had 3 different price differences for 3 different authors. But as all 3 were over $2.50 LESS expensive for Kindle, my days of buying HQN print books are pretty much over. The exception is Judith James as I love her books so much I buy both - speaking of which - for anyone interested, Broken Wing can be purchased for the Kindle for only $6.15. I know this because I bought it so I can have it with me wherever I go.

Harlequins aren't quite the squeal of a deal that HQN are, but they are still cheaper. And since they are less expensive to begin with than single title books, it's all good.

And I just recently discovered another good reason why ebooks wins out over print books. Say one's basement were to flood and they had several thousand books in the basement. Thankfully they could be up a bit high so they don't get wet. But the bookshelves themselves are toast. That could mean that one might have 35 boxes of books sitting in one's living room when the restoration people the insurance company sends out. These are books that used to be boxed up and then were released, set free as it were, in their very own room, only to be shuffled off when their owner allowed her son to be move back home for a while. The son had promised to rebuild the room the books loved so much and felt so free in, but the son lied and never did rebuild for them.

And now they sit, imprisoned once more. Only this time they are 'boxing in' their fellow books, the upstairs, younger books that are in the upstairs living room book shelves. So right now, the IPad is probably the best place to read books.

My Baby is Now a Married Man!!

I have been a terrible, just errible blogger lately. I could blame my son's wedding but since my (now official) daughter in law has been in total control of everything since Day 1, I can't really blame that. I have started quite a number of posts but didn't get any of them finished. I have read aLOT of books and have a number of reviews in different stages of completion.

Nope - no excuses for not updating more often. But I plan to do better from here on in, yes I do. Until my next post though, here are some pictures of my baby's wedding last Saturday. It was a gorgeous day - the weather couldn't have been better. And everything went off without a hitch. The ceremony was beautiful, the venue was a big armory with the ceremony being in one part and the reception in another. So what they did with the seating was to have it in a circle, signifying being surrounded by their circle of friends and family. They also did something differerent. Both her mom and I walked Rye up the aisle carrying jars of sand which the two of them poured together into one vase. That was to show their lives were mingled now and could no longer be seperated, just like the two colours of sand couldn't be separated any longer. That is what they are doing in the first picture.

His wife is perfect for him and I lucked out so much too with her. She makes him SO happy. I got almost weepy a couple of times and real did at one point, wishing that Ron was there to see them. But overall, it was a great day.

Recent Read

The Many Sins of Lord Cameron

Why this one: I mostly love this author's books and the first in this series, The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie totally blew me away so it's a no brainer I'm continuing to read this series!!

Steam Level: Wowzers! She writes good steam

Blurb: Cameron MacKenzie is a man who loves only horses and women - in that order - or so his mistresses say.

Ainsley Douglas is a woman with a strong sense of justice and the desire to help others - even if that means sneaking around a rakish man's bedchamber.

Which is exactly where Cam finds her - six years after he caught her the first time. Only then, she convinced Cam she was seeking a liaison, but couldn't go through with it because of her husband. Now a widow, she's on a mission to retrieve letters that could prove embarrassing to the queen. Cam has no interest in Ainsley's subterfuge, but he vows to finish what they started those many years ago. One game, one kiss at a time, he plans to seduce her. And what starts out as a lusty diversion may break Cam's own rules - and heal the scars of a dark and damaging past....

My Thoughts: I'll be honest here and say when I read the first two books of this series, Cam didn't make that big an impression on me. And my main thought was that I would have to read his story before I got to Harts' the one I wanted most after reading all about Ian and the rest of his MacKenzie brothers. So going into this one I wasn't expecting a whole lot.

I don't know if that's the reason or what it might be, but this one turned out to be, as Tony the Tiger says, GREEEEAAAATTT!! I LOVED it - almost, but not quite as much as Ian and Beth's book.

It starts out with a bang when Ainsley is scoping out Cam's bedroom for some missing letter stolen from the queen when in walks Cam and the thieving woman who is using the letters to blackmail the queen. She has hidden them with Cam, though he doesn't know it and as one of the queens lady's, Ainsley is trying to find them and give them back. Cam of course, discovers Ainsley's hiding place and is wickedly delighted. You see, they had a similar kind of meeting six years previous when Ainsley was trying to find something in Cam's room. They had an immediate attraction to each other though Ainsley refused to act on it as she was married and while not in love with her much older husband, respected and cared for him a great deal. But neither has forgotten the other over the year and now that Ainsley is a widow, Cam is determined to 'get in her skirts' this time 'round.

For not being a character who made me sit up and take notice in the previous books, with his own story it was an entirely different matter when reading it. Cam is a man who was betrayed beyond belief by his first wife. Not only did she take many, many lovers over the time they were married, but she also tried to kill both Cam and their son Daniel and indeed ended up taking her own life. She was clearly mad but that didn't keep her from leaving deep, deep scars on Mac, both physical and emotional. He uses his gift with horses and meaningless sex to try and escape his demons. But when he's with Ainsley, he feels a deep sense of peace though it takes him a while to recognize it as love he is feeling. I just loved this poor tortured man to pieces and pieces. He loves his son deeply, and Daniel is a wonderful secondary character by the way who will be getting his own story, but doesn't really understand how to be a father. His own father was a monster and all the MacKenzie heroes have a lot to overcome with their horrific childhoods.

Once he gets Ainsley into his orbit again, he is so gone for her. I've said on many occasions I love a hero who is so gone for the heroine.

And Ainsley is exactly the kind of heroine I enjoy. She's sharp and she's funny and she's intelligent. No false miss is she. After a bit of hesitation and then consulting with friends, when Cam wants to take their relationship much further, she goes for it, with no second thoughts. She has very fond thoughts of her first husband and admired him even though he was much, much older than her.

I love that the author didn't go down the cliched route and make her first husband evil. Even the character that was blackmailing the queen didn't turn out to be evil, evil. She just wanted the money to desperately escape an unhappy marriage. The most evil person in the book was Cam's first wife Elizabeth and her evilness was needed to turn Cam into the kind of person he was.

I finished this book in a very short amount of time as I couldn't bare to put it down. I, um, ah, may have taken longer breaks and lunches than I'm allowed as work since I really didn't want to stop reading this Very Enjoyable Book. I still like the first one better, but just by a shade. But this one also is getting very high marks!

Grade: 4.95 out of 5

Recent Reads

Bound by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon

Why this one: I have been LOVING this series

Steam Level: The story takes place in New Orleans and let’s just say the steam in the story and the steam in the city match!

Blurb: POLICE DETECTIVE CHARLOTTE CAISSIE AND HER SHAPE-SHIFTING PARAMOUR MAX SAVOIE THOUGHT THE PAST WAS BEHIND THEM. BUT IN NANCY GIDEON’S IRRESISTIBLE NEW ROMANCE, THEY DISCOVER IT MAY NEVER LET THEM GO. . . .
THEY SWORE THEY’D BE TOGETHER FOREVER.

Detective Charlotte Caissie is suddenly sharing drawer space and making local news with her shape-shifter lover, Max Savoie. He’s determined to be accepted by her peers—so how can she ask him to return to his criminal roots to help her solve a complex case?
BUT THOSE THEY TRUST THE MOST . . .

Working undercover with her partner to find the serial killer who’s kidnapped a colleague’s daughter, Cee Cee is caught between her job and her fiercely possessive lover. And when she calls on Max’s preternatural talents to aid his hated enemy, she crosses a line that strains their relationship to its limit.

. . . WILL DO ANYTHING TO TEAR THEM APART.

With his secret spreading, Max is forced to protect his family and his clan. The only certainty is his love for his human mate . . . unless the loyalties that define them divide them forever.


My Thoughts: As I said at the beginning, I LOVE this series. The hero Max Savoie is like no other hero I’ve read before and he just leaps off the page with his presence. A bit of background for those who haven’t read the first few books. Max was the ‘enforcer’ for a very influential, very bad crime lord. Jimmy Legere ‘rescued’ Max when he was just a child hiding in the swamps of Louisiana after his mother was brutally murdered. But Max wasn’t an ordinary child; he was a shape shifter who because of circumstances didn’t know anything about his heritage. Jimmy used Max, aimed him, pointed him, and sent him after anyone in Jimmy’s way and Max was so grateful to Jimmy, he would have done anything for him.

This was the situation at the start of the first book, Masked by Moonlight. It begins when Max meets up with Charlotte Caissie or CeeCee, a detective with the NOPD. Max’es loyalties are tested. The first three books are wonderful and CeeCee and Max try and work out a relationship with both of them on either side of the legal fence.

Max is, well, Max is unique. He’s a criminal with a strong sense of right and wrong and a sense of loyalty that won’t quit. And he is so totally wrecked for the heroine. He doesn’t see how she can love him as he considers himself part monster and in some ways he is. He breaks the readers heart with his damaged soul. When he is in his animal form, he almost repulsive, but so broken up by who and what he is when he’s not. The author never really explains what animal he is, but whatever it is, Max has powers that no other has; powers that even he isn’t aware of. He is so lost as to what he is considering his mother died when he was very young before having a chance to explain what he is and his father is a mystery.

CeeCee comes from an equally horrific background. Second generation cop, she was captured, held prisoner and tortured when she was young and it was in fact Max who saved her, though she hadn’t been aware of it until after the start of the first book.

In some ways, these books can be compared somewhat to the In Death books by JD Robb in that both heroines are cops and both heroes are or were part of the criminal element. But in other ways they are vastly different. Unlike Eve Dallas, CeeCee doesn’t have the same moral code when it comes to police duties. She’s a rule bender with an attitude that the ends justifies the means and Max, unlike Roarke, is still involved in the criminal element. And he’s not a cultured or suave as Roarke. And unlike Roarke he is very conflicted about everything except those he is loyal to.

All this so far and I haven’t even got to this particular book. But I’ve very enthused about this series and background is needed. As this book opens up, CeeCee and Max are finally taking their relationship to a more open level. They have shown up together at a charity event. As one can imagine, this sends shock waves throughout both the criminal and cop element. CeeCee is called away to work on a case where women have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered. When the daughter of a rather bully of a cop disappears, CeeCee fears she has been taken by the serial killer and races to find her. Because of some of Max’s supernatural powers and his more than willingness to bend rules and out and out break the law, he helps CeeCee in unobtrusive ways. But he has history with the bully cop. Which makes for some wonderful conflict.

Unlike the other books in this series, we don’t learn too much more about Max’s mysterious background. Rather this is more concentrated on solving the case as well as CeeCee and Max trying to establish the boundaries of their relationship.

There is a real shocker of a twist towards the end that I did not see coming and I think will have huge ramifications in future books. Books I will be reading.

For me, this is a great addition in a great series and it gets a real thumbs up from me for a very unforgettable hero. I just noticed she has a number of books written for Harlequin. I’m going to see if they are available as ebooks so I can get my fix until the next book comes out.

Grade: 5 out of 5

Stand-in Wife by Karina Bliss

Why this one: Karina Bliss burst onto my radar with the wonderful What the Librarian Did last year and I’ve bought all her books since then.

Steam Level: Warm

Blurb: Playing with dynamite, a girl could get burned…
What does he know about love and marriage? And exactly how did he, Ross Coltrane—a special forces elite soldier and demolitions expert—end up playing middleman to his kid brother and the estranged wif And most important, why is he suddenly noticing how beautiful his sister–in–law is? He's never thought about his brother's wife…that way…before.
Then he figures it out and everything makes sense. This tantalizing woman is the other twin! The identical sisters have pulled a swap and duped everyone around them. Furious much? Oh, yeah. Poised to bring down their plan, Ross hesitates. Something about Vivienne Jansen's courage and zest for life gets to him. Except, he's not a man who has feelings. Everyone calls him the Iceman. He doesn't know how to be anything else…


My Thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I read it a week or so ago now and need to read the blurb to remember it, but that’s more of a case of declining short term memory retention then the book not being memorable.

Ross Coltrane, our hero, was first introduced in Here Comes The Groom. He is part of an elite Special Forces group – think Seals – only a New Zealand company, who were attacked and lost two of their own in Afghanistan. Each surviving member has reacted differently. In Ross’ case, he is hell bent on getting himself back into fighting shape and avenging his lost friends. He hasn’t time for anything else and holds all feelings in to the point that his nickname is Iceman. His plans are thrown into turmoil though when his step-mother perishes while exacting a nasty revenge on him. He’s had a ‘fractious’ to say the least relationship with her for years, though he is very fond of and close to his younger step brother, Charlie.

The heroine of this book, Vivienne, is walking a fine line. She is a designer in New York, but has taken time out to help out her twin sister, Merry a wife and mother to the nth degree, who has broken her leg and needs surgery. Her twin is married to Ross’s step brother but they are currently separated. Ross is taking his brother’s side and Viv, her sisters. In order to help, it’s too complicated to go into detail, Viv impersonates her sister and I had a number of laugh out loud moments while reading this book with the complications that come along with this deception. Ross is decidedly angry at his sister-in-law for what he considers a betrayal of his brother and when he thinks Viv is Merry is not the warmest cube on the block. It doesn’t take too long though before he realizes it’s not Merry he’s dealing with, but her twin Viv. Viv, the sister he’s lusted after for years.

Viv pleads with him to go along with her plan and he reluctantly agrees to – for a short while.

This book, as I said is delightful and I’m so very happy I discovered this author. She writes believable characters, people you wish were real so you could meet them. I liked this book better than the first one, Here Comes the Groom.

One thing I have to add, please, please, please do not judge this book by it’s completely horrid cover. I never would have read this one if I based picks on covers alone. The cover of this one is a real eye sore. So IGNORE it. Please!

Grade: 4.25 out of 5

I really don't know why

Except that I always did love this song - my love of all things history don't you know - and this was just too cute

Recent Reads

Soldier on her Doorstep by Soraya Lane

Why this one: I read Wendy’s review and her review and the book called to me. Being unable to refuse to answer when a book calls me, I downloaded the eBook

Steam Level: There is no steam with this book but since we are in the middle of one of the nastiest heat waves I can recall in years, that’s OK with me.

Blurb: Soldier Alex Dane promised his dying comrade he'd make sure his wife and daughter were okay, and so he finds himself on a doorstep with his heart in his mouth.

Lisa Kennedy loved her husband, but she must focus on her daughter, Lilly, who hasn't spoken since her daddy's death. Still, the least she can do is offer this battle-weary hero a place to rest.

When Lilly's little hand reaches for Alex's big, strong one, for the first time Lisa feels her buried emotions begin to stir.…

My Thoughts: First off, read Wendy’s review. She does a great job as evidenced by the fact that she made me want to read this book.

As for my thoughts here goes. This is another line of Harlequin’s that I hadn’t tried before. I gather it’s more of a kisses only line. I’ve really run the gamut when it comes to sensuality levels of books. I used to like the real hot oh so many years ago when I was reading the likes of Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Jennifer Blake and the like. Then I was turned off romance for a number of years and when I came back, it was kisses only. Then I slowly entered the sensuality pond until I wouldn’t read kisses only. Now I’ve completely confused the circle as I’m now reading and enjoying both. So despite the fact that there are no explicit sex scenes, in fact no real sex scenes at all, the author manages to convey a great deal of longing both the hero and heroine feel for each other.

My heart broke for Alex, the hero and I love when I experience that kind of feeling for either of the main characters. He’s so alone and needs Lisa and her daughter Lilly so bad. And they need him too. His family were killed when he was very young and he grew up in foster care. He has great feelings of guilt for both their death and the death of William, Lisa’s soldier husband. He died saving Alex. Alex is following up on a promise he made to William and delivering some personal items to Lisa in Alaska. He has left the services and as the army was his family, he is at very loose ends. When Lisa picks up on this and offers to let him stay in a small cottage on her Alaskan lake property, he is reluctant but agrees anyway. He is drawn to her daughter Lily; understanding the loss Lily if feeling. He is also very attracted to Lisa.

And in return, Lisa is very attracted to Alex though she is torn between her growing feelings for him and the feelings she still has for William. To be honest, I was kind of wondering how I would feel about this as William hadn’t been gone for that long. But the author wrote the story in such a way as it was very believable. William and Lisa hadn’t spent much time together as he was so often deployed on missions. And both men are complete opposites of each other so there is no comparison between them. I truly bought how she could develop such deep feelings so quickly.

And with troops returning, I think it’s a very timely book too. And I love the setting. As a heat hating reader going through a heat wave like I can’t remember, somehow reading a story set in Alaska made me feel just a little bit cooler – that and the fact that I have my air conditioning set way lower than the hydro people want me too. I am a heat hating reader after all.

This book was a wonderful surprise and thumbs up to Wendy for helping me find this heartwarming story. It was a win/win/win – new line, new author and very good book.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton

Why this one: I remember when the cover of this book was held up and one of the best and hawtest covers going – deservedly so. I’ve read and enjoyed her books in the past and have had the chance to meet her in person a few times now. So when I saw her signing this book at the publisher signing in NYC- the signing where the books are free – I picked it up.

Steam Level: While the above book made me feel cool – in a good way, this one had the opposite effect. This one was hotter than the abnormally hot weather outside!

Blurb: The last thing event planner Tara Lincoln needs is the jet-set lifestyle of a football pro like Mick Riley; even though their steamy and passionate one-night stand proved that Mick is an all-star-both on the field and in the bedroom.

Tara played the game of love once and lost big, and she doesn't intend to put herself out there again, especially with a certified heartbreaker. But when Mick sets his mind to win, nothing will stop him. And he has the perfect play in mind to catch this sultry vixen.

My Thoughts: I liked this one – I really did. But since that’s not very helpful, I’ll going into why *g*

Mick was a great hero!! A star quarterback, he’s sowed a lot of wild oats in his day, but when he meets Tara Lincoln in the bowls of the stadium, as she is trying to find a way to a meeting, he’s smitten. And then when he sees her again at a social event she has planned, he’s even more smitten. They spend a wild and a very hawt night together, but Tara scoots out as she doesn’t think she can handle any kind of relationship due to fairly new company and her role as a single mother to a teenage boy.

But Mick isn’t one to give up on something he wants and what he wants is to see more of Tara despite the barriers she’s putting up. Mick has done the dating scene with Hollywood actress and super models and he’s very drawn to this ‘real’ woman. He makes for one dreamy hero – hawt, handsome and really wanting the heroine.

Tara I found a bit harder to relate too. I never did understand her reservations in getting involved with Mick. I get that she had a lousy childhood and after the father of her child was a young teenage thug, she was a bit hesitant. But dudette, this guy is a dream come true!! Guys like this don’t come round every day. Thank goodness her friends saw this and did what they could to convince her to get it together!! I did have some reservations about how quickly they ‘got together’ but that’s me and my morals. I would have preferred they spend more time getting to know each other before they ‘get it on’.

What I really liked about this book is the relationship between Mick and Nathan. Nathan has no significant father figure in his life and so when this NFL quarterback enters his mother’s life, he is over the moon. And Mick makes for a great friend. Though he is after Tara, he treats Nathan very well.

I catalogue my books and some I have a hard time determining. I wavered on how to classify this one but ended up going with erotica for this one.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

Somewhere in Time by Merline Love lace

Why this one: Someone was looking for the book at AAR and being the curious sort, I looked it up. I’ve enjoyed Merline Lovelace in the past and the thoughts of a time travel where the heroine is an air force pilot who is transported back to the time when Rome ruled the world just sounded appealing. So I decided to try this unusual setting and storyline

Steam Level: Warm

Blurb: Long ago and far away.

Air force pilot Aurora Durant was lucky to be alive. It hadn't been easy to bring her jet down in the bizarre windstorm, but the savvy captain had managed. Now she had to figure out where she'd landed -- and when.

Lucius Antonius, senior centurion of the Roman Empire, couldn't believe his incredible fortune. A beautiful woman had literally dropped out of the sky. But before Lucius could claim the willful, impertinent creature, he had to tame her.

Soon Aurora discovered the true test of her spirit wasn't learning to live in a time two thousand years in the past, but resisting the powerful allure of an ancient warrior. Her agenda could only be returning to her own time, and falling for Lucius could make that mission impossible to accomplish.

My Thoughts: I’m glad I decided to try this unusual setting and storyline. It wasn’t a perfect read, but it was very entertaining. And I did like the setting. I watched a bit of Spartacus – God’s of the Arena until I blushed so hard and it was an interesting time period. I also watched a bit of the series Rome, but not that much.

Aurora had herself a good job flying the muckety mucks around in her air force jet before she flew into a sand storm one evening over the Iraqi desert. Her plane crashes and her team member is hurt. She is discovered by a dude in a leather breast plate and skirt – I’m thinking think Brad Pitt in Troy for a nice visual. For a while she thinks he and his men are some kind of desert tribe, but she can’t be sure and they don’t have a common language. This dude and his men take her back to a small desert city, bring in a scholar and Aurora slowly begins to realize she’s not in Kansas anymore. Instead she has been transported back when Rome ruled the universe and the skirt dude was, in fact, a Roman general in charge of the city.

As you can imagine there is quite the culture clash. Aurora is a woman raised and living in 2003 who’s met her match with a commander of the
Roman Army who is used to command and used to owning slaves and used to getting his own way and used to women being of lesser importance. So one can imagine the clashes between the two.

Often I get cranky with this kind conflict – they hero being a ‘know it all, me Tarzan, you Jane’ type attitude and the heroine being kind of a ball busting bitch. But it worked with this book for me. I think in part Lucius didn’t hold negative views per se; he was a product of his time. He was autocratic because he was a commander and that was what he HAD to be. He didn’t hold a lot of respect for women because that’s the way it was. He didn’t hold them in disrespect, it was more that women held very few position of power. When Jane got carried away in a fit of imperiousness, she really did need to be punished according to the times, but Lucius recognized that there was something very different about Aurora and despite getting frustrated with her lack of respect, he did get kind of a kick out of her nerve. And of course once he started getting a kick out of her, he started developing deeper and deeper feelings for her; to the point where he takes her punishment as his own. Gotta love a hero who will do that for his heroine.

So, in conclusion, I quite enjoyed this rather unique storyline. I check out Kindle to see if she wrote any more along this line but I didn’t see any. Though I think I will check and see if I can find any more books set in Ancient Rome – all suggestions welcome

Grade: 4.25 out of 5