Until Next Time...

 I first read Julie Anne Long way back in 2012.  I jumped into her Pennyroyal Green series with book 6, How the Marquess was Won.  And let me just tell you, I fell in love with her writing.  So, when I was given the opportunity to become part of her ARC team I jumped at it.  Julie's latest release is How to Tame a Wild Rogue.  It's part of her Palace of Rogues series.  Book 6 to be precise, and it's my favorite of the series.   It's always fun to come back to a series that has characters that flow in all the books because you get to see them grow and change, even if they're not the main focus of the current story.  In this one, Lorcan and Daphne are the main characters, but lordy!  We get a lot of Angelique, Bolt, Delilah and Capt. Hardy.  And the scenes with them were MAGNIFICENT!!!!  There was this one sequence where all of our couples were not getting along and they all end up elsewhere (I'm trying to be vague to not sp...

 It's been a hot minute since I put a book review up here.  I felt this book needed some more words LOL  The reviews I post on GoodReads and on Facebook are usually short and to the point.  Here I can wax poetically about stuff. Well, hello Santos Augustine!  Santos and Madelena are the main characters of Forgive Me My Sins by Natasha Knight.  I hadn't read anything by her before and this sounded good when I read the blurb so I figured, why not? I am SOOOO glad I got it.  Once I started reading I couldn't put it down.  Santos is part of a criminal family who is trying to make a name for themselves and be accepted by the rich and elite.  And how does the Augustine family expect to achieve that?  By having Santos marry the daughter of one of those families.  Here's where you get Madelena.  But the thing is, Madelena is only 15 and I'm guessing Santos is around 25. Naturally, they can't marry immediately because of her age.  ...

  Ya'll know my love of historical romances.  I started out reading them when I was young.  My mom had all the Victoria Holt books and I loved them.  That is why I also have an affinity for Gothic romances LOL   Anyway, in my never ending quest to read anything I can get my hands on, if it's a romance book, all the better, I picked up The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe.   If you haven't read her yet, I suggest you get one of her books and get started.  This is the second book in her Fifth Avenue Rebels series.  Joanna mainly writes historicals that are set in the Gilded Age in New York City.  What a fantastic time!  Money, power and excess galore!  Our heroines get a little more freedom than Regency but there are still societal expectations.  And Joanna's heroines are doing their best to move women forward.  Some are more straightforward than others LOL In here we have Alice Lusk.  Typical shy heiress who h...

 HOLY SMOKES, BATMAN!  This series had me captivated from the first page! There are three books in the V Games series - Vlad, Ven and Vas. Think Russian mafia. Think dark depravity.  Think women who are equally as strong as the men - Diana, I am talking about you!  Think twists and turns.  If you have all that going on in your head, multiply it by 5122554256 and you have what is going on here.  This series starts with Vlad's story.  I don't want to say too much about the actual story lines and give too much away, but just know that Vlad and Diana are willing to put their families first and do what must be done.  Do Vlad and Diana love each other?  Of course not!  Remember, family first.  So, who do they love?  Wellllll, Vlad loves Diana's younger sister, Irina.  And Irina has always loved Vlad but knew she could never have him.  Those twists and turns happen and this book ends with Vlad and Irina together. Now,  ...

  I have a love/hate relationship with Kristen Ashley's books.  I've been reading her stuff since 2012.  Some of them, I have absolutely LOVED - The Gamble, I am looking at you.  Some I have quit reading without even making it to the half way point - the Honey series *shivers* just NO.  I have felt that the last few books I have read/attempted to read by her just haven't been in her style.  Kristen Ashley is wordy and descriptive.  Her characters are some times so aggravating, but at the same time you love them.  Well, with Still Standing I think she has gone back to that type of writing that her followers all across the world fell in love with. Yes, Clara was a bit trying at times.  She seemed a bit lost, and with good reason.  But she had such a good heart.  And let's not forget Buck and his alpha-ness.  But under that jerk he was sweet and loyal.  I loved that he spoke in full sentences - if you are a KA reader, you TOT...

 This year my reading goal was 104 books.  That roughly translates to 2 books a week.  That is considerably less than previous years goals.  But, I knew that with working full time and going back to school there was not much of a chance of reading a whole lot more than that.  I managed to finish 113 books for 2020.  Not bad, all things considered.   When I was going through the list of books I read this year to pick my top 3 favorites, I realized I might have to do it a little different because there were quite a few that I loved and several of them were in the same series or stand alones, but by the same author.  These are in no particular order cause I loved them all. First up is the books I read by Ilsa Madden-Mills this year.  All three of them were added to my Favorites list on Goodreads.  I read The Revenge Pact.  I have the review posted here .  River and Anastasia killed me! There was also I Promise You.  Dill...

 How was your Thanksgiving holiday?  Ours was great!  The Squirrels were home from Tuscaloosa and Lola and Agent J (that is what we call Lauren and Jarrett LOL) came over.  We went simple this year - fried turkey, obligatory veggie casserole, green beans, mac and cheese and Lola made homemade rolls and a pumpkin ganache for dessert.  Over the long weekend we got Jenna mostly moved into her new apartment.  I think we just have the dressers and mattress left to move.  We unpacked most of the boxes and got things put up on the walls.  There is a nice new gate at the top of the stairs because Emery wanders 😂 We still need to put the one at the bottom, but that is an easy fix.  The top one had to be screwed in the wall because we are sure that she would walk up to it and push and then she and the gate would go tumbling. I got lots of stitching time and reading time during the break.  I finished stitching Town Church by Little House Needlewor...

 I've told ya'll how wonderful it is to do a book blog with my bestie, Amanda.  The perks are amazing.  We get more books than we know what to do with. I have discovered lots of new authors while doing the book blog.  One of them is Ilsa Madden-Mills.  She quickly became a favorite of mine.  She is one that I will always recommend when people ask for book recommendations.  Ilsa writes the best combination of angst and humor in her books.  They always make me smile 😄  Ilsa Madden-Mills has a new book out today....I Promise You.  It's Dillon McQueen's story.  You may remember him from Ryker's story, if you've been reading the unofficial series.  Well, let me tell you, Dillon is my favorite football player from Waylon University.  This starts with Dillon at one of the legendary bonfires at Waylon during his freshman year.  Legend states that if you kiss a girl at the bonfire when you are freshman, she is THE ONE.  ...

 So, for those of you who are new to my blog here, let me give you some background info.  My bestie and I run a romance book blog called Two Girls with Books.  You can check it out here . Sometimes we write these long, rambling reviews, sometimes it's short and sweet - or maybe that's just me that rambles 😂.  We are fortunate enough to get some really great books before they're released to the public to review. At the beginning of the week I got a copy of Scandalous Prince by Rachel Van Dyken.  This is the second book in her new series, Mafia Royals, which is a spinoff of her Eagle Elite series.  Don't worry if you haven't read Eagle Elite, I haven't either.  So, I am jumping into Mafia Royals without knowing anyone LOL  But truly, you don't need to read them, she gives you some background information on the Eagle Elite people - they're all grown up here and are parents!   Well, I read Scandalous Prince and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!  I ...

The Woman Who Loved Jesse James by Cindi Myers My rating: 4 of 5 stars 3.5 stars When I was a young girl, I had strange goals and dreams.  At one point in time, I wanted to be a truck driver (this was after watching Smokey and the Bandit).  As I got older, I dreamed of being a mafia wife.  All through those times, though, I had a strange obsession with Jesse James and the James Gang.  I don't know where I first heard of him, but I was smitten.  I guess it was kind of like the dream of being a mafia wife...mysterious and dangerous and on the wrong side of the law. Well, if I hadn't been in love with Jesse James before, this book would have done it for me.  This was the story of Jesse and his wife, Zee.  It was a fictionalized telling of their life, with a dash of truth thrown in.  The author portrayed Jesse as a loving, caring man who valued his wife and family, even though he had an adventurous soul and couldn't be happy living a normal l...

Reflected in You by Sylvia Day My rating: 5 of 5 stars ***BE WARNED!!  THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD!!**** Yeah.  Well.  I just don't know what to say.  With the way this ended, I don't know that I can accept it.  Does Gideon's actions finally make sense? Yes.  But the better question is, does it make up for the hell Eva has felt and lived through because of his actions?  I say no.  At least for me it doesn't.  I want to be like Eva and just be ok with him ignoring her for the most part, for running hot and cold with her, for being seen in public with his ex-fiancee and having everyone believe they'd gotten back together, including Eva herself.  I'm not.  And I'm mad.  Not just at Gideon for doing these things (for Eva's protection), but I'm mad at Eva for knowing, knowing , that she's falling back into her old self-destructive depressive patterns, and continuing to allow the little contact they had to continue to eat her...

Play of Passion by Nalini Singh My rating: 5 of 5 stars IT'S WAR!!!  At least that is what is going on in the overall story line with this series.  The Psy Council has split in two factions - those wanting to continue on with Silence, even knowing it's failing and those who are ready to change cause they see how it isn't working.  So, the Changelings are brought into the internal fight among the Psy because of Psy defectors and business dealings.  And I CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES!!!! Oh yeah!  This was a romance book.  Did I forget to mention that?  Sorry. I got a little excited there cause I love the world that Nalini Singh created and I read these for the overall story as much as for the romance. This was Drew Kincaid and Indigo Rivere's book.  Both are members of the SnowDancer wolf pack.  Indigo, or Indy as Drew calls her, is a Lieutenant and Drew is the Tracker for the pack.  I fell head over heals in love with Drew. ...

Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had 4 long hours of car time to think about what I wanted to say about this.  I both loved and hated this book.  It was wonderful and amazing to get back into this world, but I hated the way Tohr was a total jerk to Autumn/No'One - denying that he was falling in love with her and the way he treated her sometimes nearly killed me.  I get that he lost his mate and felt that he'd never love anyone else ever again, but the things he said to Autumn were rude and uncalled for; and they were said in anger cause he was experiencing what he thought he'd never feel again. The whole John Matthew and Xhex thing was another love/hate part of the book for me.  I loved that JR Ward showed us that not all the couples have fairy tale perfect lives once they mate.  I hated that Xhex was so stubborn and wouldn't go be with him and wouldn't attempt to compromise before he approached her.  When she decided to work in the...

Changing the Game by Jaci Burton My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another 4 solid star book by Jaci Burton. I read the first one at the beginning of this year and wondered how JB was going to make me like Liz.  Well, guess what? She did.  Liz apologized for what she did to Tara and Nathan in the first book and got fired by Mick.  Then Liz proceeds to hide from Gavin (Mick's hot little brother that Liz also represents and she's in love with).  When I found out that Liz has been in love with Gavin for several years, my heart went out to her.  Here she is, representing this guy that she loves and he has NO CLUE and is a playboy and she has to watch him with all these different women on his arm all the time.  She's a stronger person than I am, cause I would have been gone. I adored Gavin from the very beginning.  He was fun and sexy and playful and just a tad bit dominating in the bedroom.  When he realized he had feelings for her, he didn't back away, ju...

Well, I've learned a couple of things reading this book...      1) I need to actually skim the reviews my friends write rather than just looking at their rating.  This is one of those Nicholas Sparks type of books that leaves you snot-sobbing at the end.  Not exactly my favorite reading.  Sure, I love angsty books, but this was just totally heartbreaking.    2) I don't focus well on the words that are written on the page if I have tears pouring down my face.  I just can't see through the tears. That being said, this is a book I'm glad I didn't chunk at the wall half way through when I learned it wasn't a true HEA.  Dexter grew so much through this book.  It was amazing how he changed.  I really hated him at one point during the book.  By the end, I felt so sad for him.  He wasted most of his life not being with the woman he loved (he was too stupid and blind to know he truly loved her), and then she was ta...

Isn't the cover yummy looking?  I'll admit that it was the cover that drew me to this book.  Yep, I'm a foodie and I pick the books I read by the cover, especially if there is food on the cover HAHAHA Anywaaaaay, I picked this up before Christmas when I signed up for Book Chick City's mystery challenge.  Yes, it's a mystery not a romance.  And it was pretty good.  Tally Jones is accused of killing her ex-husband's new girlfriend. So we follow Tally as she uncovers who murdered preppy Brittanie.  We meet lots of people and find out little secrets about all of them.  I think the secret that hurt the most is when she found out her high school sweetheart, who just moved back to town, had slept with Brittanie as well.  It's probably irrational of me to think that hurt the most, but here's my reasoning....Tally already lost her husband to Brittanie and now she finds out Finn slept with her too?  In fact, when Tally finds out this tidbit of...

It looks like my total number of books read for 2011 will be 117 (that is, if I can get through with the one I'm reading right now. It's just grating my nerves).  Of course, I only started tracking them in April, so who knows what the actual number is.  And let's not forget all the multi-multi-chapter fanfiction stories I read this year...last count on that was 57 for the year that I read in their entirety (and they were ALL Edward and Bella stories). So, I thought I'd share with you my top 3 favorites for the year.  If you haven't read them, I encourage you to go find them at your local library or bookstore.  These are books that I will read again :) Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath was my all time favorite this year!  I'll be honest, I am not much on Western/cowboy type stories so I was a little wary going into it.  It blew me away!  It was romantic and angsty all rolled into one (and I love me some angst).  I cried in several ...

Are you reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series?  If you're not, can I ask why not?  And if you're not, I'm going to tell you that I think you need to stop reading this for a few minutes and go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble or some website and either buy you a paper copy or download a copy of Dark Lover and start reading the series (This is a series that HAS to be read in order).  This can wait.  Go do that and then come back and see what I'm going to say. So this was book 9 in the series.  Payne and Manny's story.  And while we got their story, I felt it was eclipsed by Payne's brother Vishous.  I love getting lost in the Brothers' world.  When I open the book and start reading, my children and home all fade away and I'm in Caldwell with them (is Caldwell, NY a real place?).  We got introduced to some new vampires in this installment and that was pretty cool.  There was NO Lesser pov here and that was more than pretty cool....

"I don't think I'm in love with you anymore, I know I am."  Oh. my. gah.  I am sooo in love with Roarke! Holy balls!  Why did I wait so long to read this? (actually I listened) It's like an amazing episode of CSI or Law & Order or some show like that....not that I watch tv all that often, but yeah, Lt Eve Dallas would put those shows to shame! The crime solving portion of the book, which honestly was the majority of the book, was great.  There was enough creep factor to the crime and the reasoning when you found out who it was that did it and why, but it wasn't so bad that you wanted to put it down.  It just made me mad that I couldn't have killed the pervy old man myself. This is definitely a series I will continue.  It may also just convert me to an audio book listener....as you may or may not know, my previous attempts at listening have not gone so well.  But this kept my attention pretty well and I loved the voice characterization of Roa...

I won an ARC of this on Goodreads - thank you so much!  I enjoyed it so much! My favorite romances are of the Regency period and this is that time period.  But that is where all similarities to others end.  Mrs. Russell (I just can't bring myself to call her Martha LOL) is a new widow who comes to realize she will loose her home and her dowry if she doesn't produce a male heir.  The kicker to this is that the late Mr. Russell's brother is a total jerk-face who has taken advantage of women in their home when he lived there as a young man.  Enter Mr. Theo Mirkwood...the rogue who has been sent to the country as a punishment by his father.  Mrs. Russell employs Mr. Mirkwood as her "stud" for a month so she can conceive a child and claim the inheritance.   Mrs. Russell believes she can't take any pleasure from their daily (later it becomes nightly) encounters.  Theo eventually changes her mind.  Martha is so set on her plan to t...