Roomies by Lindy Zart

Hey everyone,

I hope you’ve all been enjoying the black Friday weekend, I know the UK has embraced it in a big way this year! Luckily for us bookworms lots of books were also on offer this weekend and one such book that I found was Roomies by Linday Zart. To be honest I brought this book almost entirely for the cover, I love it and think it works perfectly for a contemporary romance book.

The book:

Graham Malone is my roommate, my personal eye candy, the reason I get up in the morning smiling (that could be from the illicit dreams I have about him too, I suppose. Let's move on.). He's also beautiful to look at, but his heart is where his true beauty lies. Take away the exterior and the interior still shines. 

I love him. I mean, I'm pretty sure I do, having never been in love before. Anyway, it seems legit. 

And now his brother Blake is here, and, well, he's the complete opposite of Graham. Sarcastic, brooding, and totally available. But he's leaving soon, and Graham's the one I want. I shouldn't have to remind myself of this, right? I wouldn't have to if Blake would quit looking at me like I'm something yummy and he's starving. 

Here's a toast to roomies; the ones you should never fall in love with. Or something.

My thoughts:

I’m finding Roomies a tricky book to review; probably because I have conflicted feelings about it. Some parts of it of I loved, for example Kennedy’s crazy, unique, wonderful personality. She was a mess and she didn’t always say or do the right thing. She had insecurities without having an insanely dark past. Her humour and inner monologue was for the most part very amusing. Her voice was unique and her personality best described as quirky.

Semper Fi by Keira Andrews

Hey everyone,

Hopefully you are all liking the new blog design and are enjoying the holiday season. As I currently work in retail I realise how hectic it can be this time of year so it’s always nice when you can relax, put your feet up and read a good book. Semper Fi is a historical m/m romance that I’ve had my eye on for a while and I finally got around to reading it this week.

The book:

The war is over. The battle for love has just begun.

As Marines, Cal and Jim depended on each other to survive bloodshed and despair in the Pacific. Relieved to put the horrors of war behind him, Jim went home to his apple orchard and a quiet life with his wife and children. Knowing Jim could never return his forbidden feelings, Cal hoped time and an ocean between them would dull the yearning for his best friend.

But when Jim’s wife dies, Cal returns to help. He doesn’t know a thing about apple farming—or children—but he’s determined to be there for Jim, even as the painful torch he carries blazes back to life. Jim is grateful for his friend’s support as he struggles with buried emotions and dark wartime memories. Then Jim begins to see Cal in a new light, and their relationship deepens in ways neither expected. Can they build a life together as a family and find happiness in a world that would condemn them?

My Thoughts:

If you want a love against all odds love story Keira Andrews should be your go to author. Semper Fi tells the epic love story of Cal and Jim, two men brought together by the horrors of the Second World War when they both joined the Marines. I think my favourite aspect to this book was the dual timeline between Cal and Jim’s experiences in the Marines and also the time they spent together after the war on Jim’s farm, Clover Grove. While in the Marines they became best friends as well as brothers in arms; they helped each other survive the war despite all the pain and suffering they witnessed.

Not Dead Enough by Mina Carter

Hello everyone,

The hero is a zombie! You all know I love zombie based romances, I blame The Walking Dead, but I’ve never read one where the hero was a zombie. Therefore I couldn’t resist reading Not Dead Enough by Mina Carter.

The book:

Brett Perkins was a soldier until the Project killed him. Now he's finding that life after death isn't so hot. With the Project base destroyed, he and his team have been tasked with running down and destroying a group of rogue Bloods. Unfortunately the vampires always seem to be one step ahead. Then they start kidnapping women...

Thanks to her soon-to-be ex-husband, Julia Collier is despised and reviled in the small town of Greenwood. His stories have painted her as everything from an air-headed gold-digger to a nymphomaniac serial killer. She can't even shop in the local store without suffering abuse from her fellow townsfolk, and that's before the late night calls or her ex's bully-boys following her.

When her home is broken into Julia assumes it's her husband making good on his threats to 'deal with her for good'. She never dreams that it will lead a descent into another, terrifying world. One inhabited by werewolves, vampires... and zombies. Or that zombies could be so damn hot. Especially one certain example who makes her heart pound and all her common sense disappear over the horizon. After all, what woman in her right mind would fall for the undead?

My thoughts:

Why couldn’t this book be longer! It was one of those books that I couldn’t stop reading but didn’t want to finish. Mina Carter has reinvented the zombie, making them hotter, stronger and faster; instead of the sluggish brain-eating monsters of popular culture. Brett and his friends were part of a top-secret government project but have since gone rogue and are now hunting down a group of Bloods (vampires) that are kidnapping women. Our heroine Julia is one of these kidnapped women but manages to escape and runs straight into the arms of Brett.

“Electricity arced between them at the first touch of her fingers. He gasped, the air snatched from his lungs as the darkness, the non-human part of him that craved blood and death, surged forward as though pulled towards her’.

Gunpowder Alchemy by Jeannie Lin

Hey everyone,

A slightly later than usual post as I’ve been working since 9 in the morning and have only just found the time to sit down and write. This week I want to talk about Gunpowder Alchemy a steampunk romance novel set in China. I mean if that doesn’t make you a teeny tiny bit intrigued I don’t know what will. I certainly was and pre-ordered Jeannie Lin’s novel despite never having read anything by her before. Also the cover is simply beautiful!

The book:

Since her father’s execution eight years ago, Jin Soling kept her family from falling into poverty. But her meager savings are running out, leaving her with no choice but to sell the last of her father’s possessions—her last memento of him.

Only, while attempting to find a buyer, Soling is caught and brought before the Crown Prince. Unlike his father, the Emperor, the Prince knows that the only chance of expelling the English invaders is to once again unite China’s cleverest minds to create fantastic weapons. He also realizes that Soling is the one person who could convince her father’s former allies—many who have turned rebel—to once again work for the Empire. He promises to restore her family name if she’ll help him in his cause.

But after the betrayal of her family all those years ago, Soling is unsure if she can trust anyone in the Forbidden City—even if her heart is longing to believe in the engineer with a hidden past who was once meant to be her husband…

My thoughts:

I think my favourite aspect of Gunpowder Alchemy was the setting of historical China and the amazingly rich detail the author included. Although I have visited Asia and even have friends in China I am shamefully ignorant of the culture, history and customs but after reading this book I feel I might know just a tiny slither. Before I get carried away on the history and culture of China I feel it is important to state that this is Steampunk and although clearly based on well-researched history of the Opium Wars Jeannie Lin admits that she has fictionalised certain elements, a big one being the technology present in the book.

Gremlin’s Last Run by Jaye McKenna

Hey everyone,

The last few days i’ve been struck down with illness, which has meant a lot of time in bed but little time for reading. While ill, however, I realised it had been ages since I’d read a true, set in space, science-fiction romance so after some rooting around on Goodreads I came across Gremlin’s Last Run by Jaye McKenna. The cover and blurb instantly intrigued me so despite it being the second in a series I quickly hit the buy now button on amazon. This story set in Earth’s far flung future when we’ve spread across the galaxy, although a specific time frame was never given. Oh, and did I mention its an M/M romance?

The book:

Rhys Tyler, captain of the Gremlin, is no stranger to living on the edge: the edge of solvent; the edge of legal; the edge of sane.

An empath so sensitive that he cannot bear human touch, Rhys makes his living hauling cargo through the deep dark, the interstellar emptiness between populated star systems. And if keeping his aging freighter in working order means resorting to smuggling, well, a man does what he has to in order to survive.

Alek McKinnon is a Federation agent in trouble. Everything that could have gone wrong with his latest mission has. He's been ambushed, kidnapped, imprisoned, and forced to participate in an illegal experiment that has crippled his psi and left him bonded to an ancient artifact that has already proved itself deadly.

When Alek stows away aboard the Gremlin, all he's looking for is a way home so he can report to his superiors. He's not expecting to find a psion in desperate need of training. And he's sure as hell not expecting to fall in love.

My Thoughts:

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from this book, whenever, you buy a self-published book it can always be hit and miss and lately I had been DNFing quite a few books. In contrast Gremlin’s Last Run grabbed me from the very beginning with the suspenseful first chapter where Alek is attempting to escape captivity from an unknown enemy. I loved the world created by Jaye Mckenna, particularly the concept of Psi who are humans with special powers.

Honor Among Thieves by Elizabeth Boyce

Hello everyone,

Hopefully you’re all enjoying the weekend and have managed to find some time to relax with a good book. I myself spent the morning reading while my two dogs sprawled out my bed like they owned the place. The book I read was Honor Among Thieves by Elizabeth Boyce and as soon as I finished it I knew I had to write a review of it.

The book:

Grave robbing ain’t no job for a lady… 

To pay off her recently deceased brother’s debts, however, Lorna Robbins must take drastic measures. When she happens upon a resurrectionist gang stealing his corpse, she does the unthinkable and joins the criminal outfit to save her family estate and her younger sibling. For the first time in her lonely, duty-driven life, Lorna finds herself leading a treacherous and exciting double existence. By day, she becomes a popular lady of the ton, relying on society gossip to help her body-snatching gang. By night, she becomes the grave robber known only as the Blackbird.

Surgeon and anatomy teacher Brandon Dewhurst relies on resurrectionists to bring him the specimens he needs to further his research on pregnancy. When his usual suppliers become unreliable, and then downright sinister, he’s reluctantly drawn further into the black market. As Lorna and Brandon both target the same body—a pregnant woman who is still very much alive—they find themselves powerfully drawn together time and again while trying to maintain their own respectable facades. But this daring duo is courting danger, and romance is a complication neither can afford.

My thoughts:

I know this is a book that will stay with me long after I finished reading it. The writing, the character development and the plot were all superb but these are not the main reasons why this book will stick in my memory. It was the world that Elizabeth Boyce chose as her setting for Honor Among Thieves, the underbelly or dark-side to Edwardian medical advances.

All or Nothing by Kendall Ryan

Hey everyone,

Hopefully your weeks are all going swimmingly and if they’re not you’re half way through so keep your chin up until the weekend. This week I’m reviewing All or Nothing by Kendall Ryan a hot contemporary romance. I loved the cover and blurb but what did I think of the book? Let’s find out...

The book:

As one of the world’s most sought-after male models, Braydon is no stranger to the finer pleasures in life. The last thing he wants to do is limit himself, especially when it comes to women. His best friend, Ben, might’ve settled down, but Braydon doesn’t want to waste his youth on the messy complications of commitment. He wants fun. He wants easy.

Ellie isn’t looking for a casual relationship, but her tough and sassy personality instantly attracts Braydon, who proposes a “friends with benefits” arrangement. Unable to resist the powerful pull of the charming bad boy, Ellie eventually relents, though she longs for all-consuming love.

As the two spend more time together, Ellie soon realizes that Braydon’s posing skills extend off the runway. His carefully crafted façade masks a secret hurt that he’s reluctant to share with Ellie, even as they embark on a passionate affair that sends them hurtling toward a fate neither expected. Can Ellie risk her heart while she waits for Braydon to let her in, or will she be forced to demand all or nothing?

My thoughts:

Firstly I should probably admit that I haven’t read the first two books in Kendall Ryan’s By Design series and as such for the a little while I had very little clue what was happening, who people where and how they knew each other. It was obvious that our hero and heroine, Braydon and Ellie, had met before and had some sort of history but what that history was I had know idea. It made it a little confusing to understand they’re familiar but caustic reactions to each other, however, this quickly passed and I soon immersed in their story. Kendall Ryan’s writing is seriously addictive; I just couldn’t stop reading this book, because I needed to know what would happen between these two characters. I was hooked from the first page where our hero and heroine prevent anyone interrupting their friends from having, an intimate moment shall we say, on their wedding day.

“Sex noises seemed really out of place in a church. Call me old-fashioned, but I was certain of two things: One, doggie style should be reserved for the bedroom, and two we were all going to hell”.

Mr. Jaguar by K.A. Merikan

Hey everyone,

As promised a second blog post in a single weekend, don’t say I never spoil you! A slight change in genre from yesterday as Mr. Jaguar by K.A. Meridian is a contemporary MM romance. This book was written as part of the Love’s Landscapes event created by the M/M Romance group on Goodreads and is therefore inspired by a photograph, but thats enough background about the book. Also if you missed Saturday’s post feel free to check it out!.

The Book:

Mike Miller’s life has gone to shit. The formerly popular high school quarterback now works at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The last thing he needs is meeting the guy he used to bully at school and seeing him all polished up. James is now the proud owner of an amazing silver Jaguar and a self-made millionaire. It seems that the day couldn’t get any worse for Mike, but James ‘Lovelace’ Austin might just turn out to be his golden ticket out of the job he hates.

When James Austin meets Mike Miller, his high school crush and tormentor all in one, working at an old, dirty gas station, it feels as if the stars have finally aligned in his favor. He wants to finally get his revenge on the guy, but when Mike turns out to be gay, the whole afternoon takes a turn for the surreal. Instead of just humiliating Mike at his workplace, James decides to hire him for a weekend at a conference he’s attending. A hot guy by his side is the only accessory James needs to rub his success in the faces of his frenemies.

My Thoughts:

Mr. Jaguar was so much more than I expected an amazon freebie. This is a fantastic portrayal of the enemies to lover’s trope, with both Mike and James learning to look beyond their high school knowledge of each other. Since leaving education they have both grown beyond the stereotypes of the quarterback and the nerd. Yet in many ways, like in real life, the experiences they had in school have helped define their personalities. Particularly James who is still socially awkward around people, despite being a successful businessman; he lacks confidence around his peers in the industry, hence his decision to hire Mike for the weekend.

Tempted by a Rogue Prince by Felicity Heaton

Hey everyone,

Firstly apologies for the lateness of this blog post, life as been crazy hectic this week both at work and at home leaving very little time for reading. To make up for it this will be two post weekend, so feel free to come back tomorrow and check out that book as well. Anyway enough of my excuses and on with the reason we’re all here the book Tempted by a Rogue Prince by Felicity Heaton a hot paranormal romance about an elf and a witch.

The Book:

An elf prince on the verge of losing himself to the darkness, Vail is maddened by the forty-two centuries he was under the control of a witch and forced to war with his brother. Now, he roams Hell seeking an escape from his terrible past and the heads of all who bear magic. When demons of the Fifth Realm capture him, he sees a chance to end his existence, but when he wakes in a cell to a beautiful female, he finds not death but his only shot at salvation—his true fated mate. 

Captured by the enemy of the Third Realm when the war ended, Rosalind has spent months in the cells of the Fifth Realm with her magic bound, forced to heal the new king’s demon warriors, and haunted by the lives she has taken. When she’s brought to heal an unconscious man, she discovers her only hope of escape has come in the form of her worst nightmare and the first part of a prediction that might spell her doom—a devastatingly handsome and dangerous dark elf prince.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book. It is one of the best paranormal romances I have read in a long time. When I first brought the book it was merely due to the fact it was about an elf because unless I’ve been living under a rock this is not a common species to write about in the paranormal world. It’s usually demons, vampires, shifters, ghosts but not elves and being a huge Lord of Rings fan I just had to read it. I mean have you seen Legolas in those films, if he doesn’t convert you the wonder of elves no one will... Well expect perhaps Vail. The most perfectly tortured hero who is maybe just a teeny tiny bit insane.

My Wildest Fantasies by Julianne MacLean

Hey everyone,

This book was first published by Avon a few years back and I’ll be honest I wasn’t even aware of its existence. In fact it was quite a few years later that I randomly stumbled upon the newly released audio version on Audible. After the reading the blurb and listening to the sample (an essential step IMO) I immediately brought In My Wildest Fantasies. 

The Book:

Julianne MacLean's thrilling Pembroke Palace Series begins when a young and innocent aristocratic lady is rescued from a runaway coach by a heroic stranger on a horse-who appears like a phantom out of the mist in a fog-shrouded forest.

Lady Rebecca Newland cannot forget the captivating nobleman who saved her life, and she sets out to meet him again when she is of an age to be courted. Unbeknownst to her, her timing is impeccable, for Devon Sinclair, the future Duke of Pembroke, has just been informed by his mad father that he must take a wife before Christmas in order to thwart a family curse and preserve his inheritance.

Lady Rebecca is everything Devon could want in a wife - she is beautiful, charming, and she desires him openly. But can a marriage built on fantasy succeed, or will the lovers be forever entangled in the seductive web of their mutual passion for what occurs each night the marriage bed?

My Thoughts:

A historical romance with a strong heroine, a gothic influence is a book I wanted to love and for the first half I did, however, for me it all went down hill after the marriage took place. At the start I loved Rebecca and Devon, the chance meeting in the foggy forest had me hooked. Rebecca seemed intelligent, curious and brave; Devon was strong, heroic and noble. The sparks were instantaneous, only destroyed by Rebecca being seventeen and therefore far too young for Devon.