It's Monday! What are you Reading? meme (12)

This is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey through a world of Books.

Books Completed Last week:
1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie Macomber
Close Quarters by Lucy Monroe

Books I'm currently reading/listening to:
Glimmerglass by Jenna Black -still reading because other books got in the way
Finding Perfect by Susan Mallery -almost done
The Renegade by Rhonda Nelson - half way done
Body Head by Brenda Novak

What's up next:
Skin Tight by Ava Gray
WitchFire by Anya Bast

Waiting on Wednesday (6)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly Meme started by Breaking the Spine. It is a feature that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This awesome cowboy romance comes out September 7th and I'm quite excited for it.

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Teaser Tuesday (9)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author ,too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

He reached out and flipped the strap back into place, then stepped back, squelching the zing of pleasure that zipped through his finger at the heat of her bare skin. "You won't even have to clean up much. I was just going to take you the Roundup."

Pg 15 of Cowboy Trouble by Joanne Kennedy


Please comment on what you are reading with a teaser quote as well.

It's Monday! What are you Reading? meme (12)

This is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey through a world of Books.

Books Completed Last week:
Marked by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
Skin Game by Ava Gray

Books I'm currently reading/listening to:
Glimmerglass by Jenna Black
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Redheaded step-child by Jaye Wells

What's up next:
Skin Tight by Ava Gray
WitchFire by Anya Bast

"Do" judge a book by its cover (1)

"Do" judge a book by its cover is a weekly meme hosted by The Thoughts of a Book Junky!Have you ever picked up a book because of its cover? Of coarse you have. Well here we get to look at some of the outstanding covers that are coming out soon! To participate, just link back here and grab the pic, and let everyone know what your favorite cover of the week is!

This week's fab cover:

The new Goddess Summoning novel from the author of the multimillion- selling House of Night phenomenon.

After her car plummets off a bridge, Isabel, a world-weary photojournalist, struggles between life and death when she's saved by the Water Goddess-with one tiny caveat: Isabel must travel to another time to seduce the legendary Lancelot du Lac away from Queen Guinevere.

The handsome knight is a dream for any woman in any century. But Isabel is the one who's seduced by King Arthur. For Isabel, a deal is a deal. Now, the King watches as fate takes from him the mysterious beauty he has come to worship, knowing all too well that any interference on his part could destroy the kingdom he loves.

My thoughts:
I love PC Cast Goddess Series and I just love the ethereal feel of this cover. Its soft, feminine and absolutely beautiful. I can't wait for it to come out!

Waiting on Wednesday (5)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly Meme started by Breaking the Spine. It is a feature that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Finding Perfect is the third novel in Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold series. I loved the previous two as well as the novella Sister of the Bride in the anthology Summer Brides. Finding Perfect comes out August 31st! I'm so excited to read about Pia and Raoul.

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Review~*~ Sister of the Bride by Susan Mallery

Sister of the bride is a short Novella in the Anthology Summer Brides. It also has novellas by Susan Wiggs and Sherryl Woods. I was skeptical that two people could fall in love in 99 pages but it happened beautifully.

With Mallery's usual wit and charm Katie and Jackson have a whirlwind romance. Jackson is Katie's date to her sister's wedding. Both Jackson and Katie's mothers forced them to go together. Katie's sister was marrying Katie's ex-boyfriend and her mother didn't want Katie going to the wedding alone. Katie's family members were very worried about the fact that Katie was still single being the older sister. Hilarity and family squabbles ensue with Jackson taking it all in stride.

Jackson and Katie met when they were younger. Jackson was going by his first name of Howie and Katie thought he was a big geek. Jackson thought that Katie hated him. Their first meeting did not go over so well. When they get reacquainted at the hotel sparks fly. The novella brings them together and has them falling in love in the midst of the disaster that is Katie's sister's wedding. Her sister is spoiled and wants everything just right. Katie in the end gets what she deserves in Jackson.

I loved this novella. I was hoping to meet my own Jackson. I love geeky guys that know how to treat a lady right. I give the novella 5 out of babies.

Review ~*~ Marked by PC and Kristin Cast

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (May 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312360266

I just finished this book today. I had bought the whole series from someone who was selling a bunch of books from our local classifieds. I only bought them because of the hype. I didn't have very good expectations of the book going into reading it. I really don't like books that have a lot of hype. I like for my books to be understated and not super popular. Marked surprised me. I can say that I liked it much better than Twilight. I couldn't stand Bella in Twilight whereas in Marked I loved Zoey Redbird. Marked has been out for a few years now and I'm sure it has been blogged about countless times so I will not go into great detail on what I thought of the book.

Zoey Redbird is the main character in Marked. She gets Marked by the Vampyre tracker but that Mark is made special by the Goddess Nyx. Her Mark is completely coloured in where other fledglings marks are only outlined. Zoey's special Mark makes her an outsider at the finishing school House of Night from the start.

I think the reason I liked this book so more than I thought I would is because of the different take on Vampyre Lore. The book mixed Vampyre Lore with Goddess Mythology. At times I felt like the Goddess parts of the book overshadowed the Vampyre parts and that the book could have functioned purely on the Goddess parts. I felt that the Vampyre parts were thrown in at times because Vampyres are the big sell right now. Overall I did enjoy reading Marked and will continue to read the rest of the series.

I found that even though this book is classified as a YA novel it didn't read as such. True, in parts the dialogue is senseless prattle that doesn't lend to the storyline it does show what teenagers are like in High School. The House of Night is a totally different High School where you learn to become an adult vampyre. Zoey is also in training to become the next High Priestess.

I give this book almost 4 out of 5 babies. Its more than 3 but not quite 4. I really enjoyed it but think at times the plot does not flow as well as it should. It exceeded my expectations but didn't have me staying up all night like 5 baby books do.

Teaser Tuesday (8)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author ,too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Kyra held the guy's balls in the palm of her hand. Literally.

Pg 1 of Skin Game by Ava Gray


Please comment on what you are reading with a teaser quote as well.

It's Monday! What are you Reading? meme (11)

This is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey through a world of Books.

Books Completed Last week:
Claimed! by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Books I'm currently reading/listening to:
Marked by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
Skin Game by Ava Gray

What's up next:
Redheaded step-child by Jaye Wells
WitchFire by Anya Bast

Review ~*~ Heartless by Diana Palmer

Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: HQN Books; reprint Edition edition (April 27, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373774508

This is the first Diana Palmer book I've read. I've read many, many reviews of her copious amounts of books. I've bought a bunch used and was given a few as gifts.
As I've mentioned before I love cowboys. Jason was certainly an interesting cowboy. He had a ranch that he ran as well as buying companies. Gracie is his younger step-sister who lives at his city house where she does the gardening and helps plan his extravagant parties. She has a terrible family secret that she has never told Jason before.

I really liked both Jason and Gracie as characters. However, it was a bit disturbing to me that they were stepbrother and sister. Jason even helped raise Gracie when his dad passed away. I just don't get how a man can be a father figure to this girl and then suddenly turn that off and be in love with her.

This is the first book in a long time that I didn't absolutely love. The mystery was well written. The sex scenes were much more than I expected. I heard she wrote love scenes that were very close doored like Debbie Macomber but they weren't close doored at all. I liked the sex scenes but felt dirty when I thought about the fact that they were raised as brother and sister.

I also didn't like that Gracie was so down on herself and her abilities even after so many of her friends told her otherwise.

I gave this book out of 5 but it still had some elements that I like if I could forget the fact that they were raised as step-siblings.

Review ~*~ Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: HQN Books (June 29, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373774907
ISBN-13: 978-0373774906

After reading Ethan and Liz's story I want to read all of the books I haven't read by Susan Mallery. I have fallen in love with the romance genre again because of Almost Perfect. It is a romance story of redemption and true love. I've been waiting for this story since the end of Chasing Perfect when Ethan spots Liz at the bike race.

Ethan and Liz have a history together they dated secretly and were in love before something led Liz to leave town. They share a child but Ethan didn't know about him. Liz is back in down to take custody of her brother's children who have been left behind in the house that Liz grew up in. A huge misunderstanding led to Ethan not knowing about Tyler. Ethan does not want Liz to take Tyler away from him again which causes a bunch of problems. Ethan and Liz do not have the greatest of friendships at the beginning of the novel but they work through their problems with ease.

I cried when Liz found out that people actually did care about her and what was done in her name without her knowing. She left Fool's Gold embarrassed and disillusioned with the town but comes back years later and falls in love with the town.

The reason I loved this book is because I love reading about people who have been in love with each other for years without really realizing it and coming to the epiphany that they truly do love each other. Ethan was not the nicest of guys when he dated Liz the first time but after a lot of soul searching he redeems himself fully. He is such a lovable character in that he puts his family first and works hard. He is of a dying breed of men that work hard to take care of their family and will do anything for them.

We get to hear about Pia, Jo, the triplets and Ethan's mother. We also mean Raoul who was a character in Sweet Spot. I love that we hear from all the characters and the sense of small town life comes through once again. I really want to pack my family and move to a small town like Fool's Gold. I just love how everyone is always there for each other and come together to help when it is needed.

I'm once again eagerly awaiting for the next Fool's Gold novel to come out. I've started reading her novels Sweet Talk, Sweet Spot and Sweet Trouble because I just can't get enough of her novels. I give this book a strong 5 out of babies because it will be a book I will read again. It will be one of those books I go back to when I need a book to read that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

It's Monday! What are you Reading? meme (10)

This is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey through a world of Books.

Books Completed Last week:
Lover Revealed by JR Ward
Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Heartless by Diana Palmer

Books I'm currently reading/listening to:
Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper
The House on Olive Street by Robyn Carr
Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione ~ Found it just need time to read it!
The Stranger in her Bed by Janet Chapman
A Perfect Darkness by Jaime Rush

What's up next:
Not quite sure I have SO MANY to read.

The Dead Girl's Dance

This is the second book in the Morganville Vampire series. I really enjoyed the first book, Glass Houses and I am participating in a Young Adult challenge, so I figured I would give it a shot. This book takes place after the attack on Clare and the Glass House, and the action starts right away. Shane's father has come back to town, and he remembers everything. He brings a group of people with him in hopes to start a vampire killer group. But it quickly takes a turn for the worse, and they start attacking Clare, Eve and Michael.

Eve and Shane finally find out Michael's secret when Shane's dad 'kills' him. A vampire is found dead, and a manhunt has started for the group. Shane also finds himself accused of killing the vamp. When the mayor's daughter gets kidnapped, everything changes, even Michael does something unthinkable to help bring down Shane's dad.

I LOVED this book. I didn't think it could get better than the first one, but I was wrong. I think this series is awesome because it has a different spin on the vampire genre. I think every YA reader would love this series, and I think even fans of supernatural books in general will enjoy it. I give this book a . I really recommend it. Can't wait to read the next one!

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly Meme started by Breaking the Spine. It is a feature that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Almost Perfect is Susan Mallery's second novel in her newest series. I read the first one Chasing Perfect in a day and a half. I absolutely loved the characters and I can't wait to read about Ethan's story. He seemed like tortured soul in Chasing Perfect. I just love a tortured hero! June 29th won't get here fast enough!!

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Review ~*~ Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery

Mass Market Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: HQN Books; Original edition (April 27, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373774524
ISBN-13: 978-0373774524

I will start off saying that I love Susan Mallery ! She is a kind hearted soul that loves her fans and I think that makes me enjoy her books so much more.

Her latest novel is the first in a new series set in Fool's Gold, California. A town not know for its abundance of men. The heroine in this novel is Charity Jones. She is looking to settle down in a small town and create a root system of friends and family. Something she never had growing up. She meets and falls for Josh Golden. However, along the way, they have many obstacles to overcome.

I really loved the character of Josh Golden. He was seen as the typical "bad boy" but really underneath the "Golden" persona was a great guy who really cared about people. He also wanted to settle down even if he didn't know it. His lifestyle as a world class cyclist left him wanting a low-key lifestyle. Josh, also, reminded me a lot of Lance Armstrong who I have had a huge crush on for years. His character may have been based on a typical bad guy but nothing about Josh was typical. He had a lot of things to work through. He was someone who you instantly liked because of the way he took the time to get to know people and take care of those he loved.

I enjoyed their love story because it was one that every girl would want to happen to them. We all hope to fall in love with someone like Josh. Someone who is not only super hot but has a lot of other qualities that will make a great husband. Charity, was also someone who is very likable. She is someone who doesn't try to be nice but just is. She hasn't had the easiest life at all and it is nice to see a female character that has had a rough upbringing make something of herself. She is something that has changed her life around.

Chasing Perfect is a novel of people finding love when they least expect it. Their love heals a lot of wounds that have been open and raw for a long time. Together they will be able to heal and become whole. It is a novel of great surprises as well. It was great to read a book about great friendships and how small towns can make a newcomer very welcome. The twist and turns were well thought out.

This novel is one you should read if you like sweet romances between two lost souls. Any Mallery fan will love this novel and will be counting down till the next novel in the series comes out. It was a great first novel in a series. It was neat to meet all the secondary characters that we will read about their love stories in future books. The development of the secondary characters was well thought out. I would love to have friends like Pia, Jo and Crystal. Pia's character cracked me up. We all have a friend like Pia who loves to organize parties. Not all make a career out of it like she does but like Charity, Pia has a heart of gold. Mallery's second novel in the series comes out June 29th, 2010.

Mallery has made a website for Fool's Gold that is a great way to promote the novels as well as interact with her fans. As a Mallery fan you should check the website out at Fools Gold

I will give the novel a 5 out of babies because it was a great start to a series that left me wanting to read the next novels ASAP. I could not put the novel down once I started it and left my house a bit messy while I zipped through the novel.

It's Monday! What are you Reading? meme (9)

This is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey through a world of Books.

Books Completed Last week:
Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

Books I'm currently reading/listening to:
Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper
The House on Olive Street by Robyn Carr
Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione ~ still on the reading list! I can't find it! My daughter was playing with it and she has misplaced it!
Lover Awakened by JR Ward -almost done! About 80 pages. Will finish it today.

What's up next:
Night World No. 1 by L.J Smith
Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake
Poison Study by Maria V Sndyer
Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Ten Big Ones

This book is the tenth book in the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie Plum is a female bounty hunter. She landed the job because she was broke and the office is owned by a relative. She isn't the greatest at the job, and she always finds herself in the strangest situations. She also has a bit of boy trouble. She is on again off again with cop Joe Morelli, but she is seriously interested in a fellow bounty hunter Ranger. Her sidekick is the ex hoe turned filing clerk Lula, and occasionally her nutty grandma tags along. There is seriously never a dull moment in Stephanie's life.

In this book Stephanie finds herself in the middle of a serial arsonist/robbery case. The main culprit is out to get her, and as a result she has one of the local gangs looking for her. They even hired a killer from L.A. nicknamed the Junkman who is on her trail. Or course, she continues to try and do her job, and finds herself in some unusual situations. Action never leaves her alone, and this book will definitely keep you entertained.

I would give this book a . It kept me glued to the book, and it provided me with nonstop laughter. The characters are hilarious and beyond loveable. I definitely recommend this series! Can't wait to read the next one!

Virgin River

I had never heard of this author before, but Aubrey recommended her highly. She also had amazing things to say about this series, so I figured I would give it a shot. Virgin River is a small little town in the boonies in Utah.

The book follows Mel, an emergency room nurse/ midwife from L.A. that moves to Virgin River. Her husband had recently been murdered and she needed a change to help her grieve properly. When she finally gets to the town, it is not what she expected at all. The house is in poor condition, and she makes up her mind that she will go back home the next day. As she is getting ready to leave, an abandoned baby is found, and she decides to stay to care for the baby. As Mel starts getting more and more attached to Virgin River and it's residents, the reader is getting attached as well.

The characters are loveable right off the bat. My heart breaks for Mel throughout the whole book. When she talks about her husbands death and when she makes some important realizations. The characters are very developed, and they just seem so real. The book kept me drawn in because the characters were so loveable and so well developed. The ending was so good, and it was just right.

I would give this book a . I definitely cannot wait to read the rest of the series, and I definitely recommend it to everyone!