Curve Ball

Curve Ball
by Charlotte Stein
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Review:
So far, this is my favorite shorter story by Charlotte Stein. I think I've read this one five or more times since I got it. This book is my first thought when I need a Charlotte Stein hit. It's just so wonderful and cooky and heart-felt.

It doesn't hold to ideals of body image perfection. Some people might say that Judy had a lot of insecurities, but I felt like she was fine with who she was, she just felt that other people were judging her for her weight. She gets upset because of the comments Steven makes and the ways other people treat her, not because she thinks there's something wrong with her.

Judy has such an outlandish internal monologue. You just seriously want to be a part of her brain for a while. When she admires Steven's pecs, she scolds herself for thinking that maybe her brother would tell her “Ah well, he developed those rock hard bosoms with a strict regimen of daily squeezings”.

This story is told first person, from Judy's perspective. It's a pretty limited story – we don't really know what these characters do, if they have other friends, what their life is like outside this vacation on a boat. It's a perfect little snippet of life for it's length though. We're interested in these two people, not anything else that's going on around them. Charlotte Stein has such a wonderful way of writing first person, but still giving you those little clues to know what everyone else is thinking and feeling. There's a lot of internal mutterings, but they all feel wonderful and like exactly the sort of stuff you'd find going through your own mind in these situations.

Steven is this big, buff sounding guy who's pretty goofy. He's been around Judy for years but never let on that he was attracted to her. So she thinks he hates her. He seems pretty confident of himself once he decides that Judy might be interested. He can act like a little, sad puppy; or a goofy joker; or even a decently sentimental guy when the mood strikes.

It's a very British book, which is always fun for me. Tea and biscuits, jumpers and vests, things being sat and stood upon. And you truly have to be British to use the word daft. I always snicker when I read these lines because they all sound so very proper but Charlotte Stein throws in all the quirks and silliness with them.

All of that doesn't mean this book isn't filled with sex, because it is. It's got a whole lot of unexpected sexual contact along with caring and happy emotions. I think this one takes me about two hours to read so it's great for when you have a couple hours to just relax and enjoy a whole story.

The Perfect Match

The Perfect Match
by Kristan Higgins
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
This was a very compelling story. I found it hard to put down most of the time. I was surprised how many of the characters seemed creepy and dark, a little more intensely diabolical feeling than most of Kristin's other books. I kept thinking that someone was going to do something really nasty: find a dead body in a freezer, kidnapping or murder, rugs made out of human hair, or something equally creepy. It never came to that, most of the creepy just sort of disappears around the halfway point and only has vague references after that.

I had a lot of trouble figuring out Honor. She's very strong and professional, the heart of her family, puts pretty much everything she has into her family and is great at getting things done. But she lets her friends (and often her family) walk all over her. She gets things done, she can be really outspoken and control/manage everyone, but then sometimes she just completely sat back and curled into her shell. I got upset by how often she let her friends say whatever nastiness they wanted without answering back. I figured it could be because she has no real friends or doesn't want to have good friends because she's scared people will leave her if she truly cares about them. But the way she resolved things with her friends was very true to her character.

Tom, well, he was easy to picture because I saw so many pictures on facebook that he was crafted after Tom Hardy. Some things, like his drinking, seemed to not really amount to anything. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be an important plot point or not. I guess not because it was just sort of dropped after a couple mentions. Tom felt very complex and well rounded. Not very good at emotional conversations, but very caring in the way he acts. He was amusing for how serious and droll he could be, but so mysterious with his hidden depths of feeling.

So yes, this book still involved the requisite Kristin Higgins book crying. The characters just have so much relatable pain and sadness that you can't help crying sometimes. It's a bright and optimistic book. You don't feel weighed down by the content. But these characters have to walk through their valleys in order to get to their Happily Ever After. These two are totally ready to settle with whatever they can get. For Honor, because life is passing her by. She's the good, boring one. The one everyone is comfortable with but no one is willing to see her as special. For Tom, he doesn't think he needs anyone caring about him. He just wants to be able to care for his little circle of people without interference and if that means he needs a wife, well he might be able to manage that.

There were lots of familiar characters. We meet Goggy and Pops (the grandparents), Dad, Faith, Jack, Prudence and all the other assorted family members in The Best Man and they continue to be an integral part of this book as well. Besides the creepy factor with a lot of the secondary characters, I liked how rich this story was. Each character seemed to be complete and whole, even if we only see them for a few minutes.

I found all the wine references sort of funny. Since I don't drink wine, I have no idea if people really talk like this about their wine. I mean, these people are intense with the flavors. At one point there was a wine that “had a lovely nose of fresh-cut grass, grapefruit and a hint of limestone”. I'm pretty sure there was another one with a hint of leather. I sort-of roll my eyes at those things and think, that's probably one of the reasons I don't like wine.

I was glad that there wasn't some huge creepy thing going on because that's definitely not why I read Kristan Higgins books. But I was confused about why so many things seemed like they were supposed to be important but then dropped. Everything wrapped up very tidily at the end. EVERYONE had a happy ending, but felt a little rushed to me, like we barely get the chance to see Honor and Tom work things out before the book is simply over. It's a great book to curl up with and a great world to enter. Not my favorite Kristan Higgins, but a good addition to the Blue Heron series. I'll be looking forward to the next book.

Tis The Season To Be Kissed

'Tis The Season To Be Kissed
by Amy Andrews
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
This one is a super short novella that takes place over the course of one day. New Year's Eve deserves some love and kisses. It was fun and flirty. Not too much detail about life obviously because of the length. But I had lots of happy tingles from reading about these two. I love Amy Andrew's voice in pretty much any story and this was no exception. (I have a definite weakness for Australian and New Zealand authors.) The book is set in the north east US, but there's definitely a little bit of Australia in it. Not as much as some of her other books though.

Luke is fun and creative and doesn't let a little negativity stop him. He's younger than Tamara, but is feeling grown up and ready to settle down...and also all ready to show Tamara that he can bend her rules without officially breaking them, but still get what he wants. He was hot and open, but didn't overwhelm Tamara from having an active role in the action.

Tamara is a kindergarten teacher. She's got the strict teacher looks down pat, but she's just so cute about it. I honestly couldn't get into the whole drinking to oblivion thing, but besides that Tamara is funny and outrageously honest. She's also horny. I loved that she wasn't ashamed of her sexuality. She may be trying to make good decisions, but she knows what she likes and also what she wants. She lets Luke take the lead in their journey because he wants to, but she doesn't give up her own role and doesn't sit second guessing herself once she's decided what she wants.

The story is so self contained; everything happens in this little cabin, in the middle of a snow storm, over the course of one day. If anything, I wanted more of these two. They didn't know each other before, so the one-day-we're-ready-to-get-married thing takes some extra escapism to believe. But I truly enjoyed the story. When you only have an hour or so and want something light and sexy, this is a great story to pick.

Serafina and the Silent Vampire

Serafina and the Silent Vampire
by Marie Treanor
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I was really surprised by how much I liked this one. I've been out of the vampire scene for quite a while and I wasn't too sure that I wanted to get back into it. This one has a lot of the “normal” vampire troupes like the sexuality involved in being bitten, but it sort of took a broad view of vampirism without getting too specifically into the hows and whys.

This story is about Serafina MacBride, a psychic/telepath who can sense emotions and speak to the dead. Interestingly enough, she doesn't believe in vampires until she's presented with conclusive evidence. She runs a paranormal style agency, partly as a scam and partly to resolve her own guilt about the people in her life that she thinks she should have been able to save.

Serafina is really complex. She's smart and tough and generally tries to avoid love, but she's really protective of her friends and pretty much anyone who's hurting. She's so intense that she loses friendships easily, but she does whatever she can to give people the benefit of the doubt. She always is alone because of her psychic abilities but she also feel special because of them. She was very relatable. I liked her and knew where she was coming from.

Blair was also a likable but complex character. He wants to seem all tough and he is, but he also really cares for his friends and his responsibilities. He pretends like he's unfeeling and cold but it's all an act. I didn't find him to be all that emotionally intelligent. He doesn't express his emotions verbally or even when the story picks up his perspective, but he's definitely action oriented and shows he cares pretty obviously.

It was a really interesting perspective that these vampires are unable to speak. Not only are they separate and trying to stay hidden, but they have no connection to humans except as a food supply. I don't think I ever saw one of Blair's set write, text, use a computer, etc. They had no means of communication with humans except body language and the occasional bit of telepathic suggestion until Blair meets Serafina. It made the vampire world in this book really closed off and separate. Even the vampires individually were very disconnected from each other.

I felt like the location of the story was really dark and oppressive. Like dark storm clouds hanging around and keeping everything rather drab and gray. It felt very low to the ground. Almost a steampunk/post-apocalyptic feeling. The only place I remember some color was inside Blair's house. It's the way lots of vampire stories feel to me, but at least for this one the action is pretty constant so you don't end up feeling like the story itself is depressed.

In the same vein, I kept throwing myself into the Regency period with this one. It's a modern day story, but most of the time it completely works as a Regency too. There are only occasional use of cars or phones or modern technology (although there was lots of coffee). I'd be reading along and forget the time period until there was a computer thrown into the story and then I'd feel like I got whiplashed back into the modern era.

The people in this story generally had a positive, can-do attitude. So even with the closed off and restricted nature of the story, it was action packed and enjoyable without feeling depressed or fatalistic. Even with all the violence, it all gets painted with a somewhat broad brush so we're not sucked into the disaster, but can simply look from the outside. We don't have to deal with the nitty-gritty, but can enjoy the fast pace and thrill.

I ended up taking quite a while to read this one. Only getting in a couple pages at a time before I'd get called away again. But the story was well told and concise enough that I never felt lost re-entering this world. It's the first book in a series, so there were lots of pieces thrown into the story that weren't resolved yet. Nothing like a cliff hanger, but just lots of whys that I hope will be resolved later in the series. I liked this story a lot and I will definitely read the next book in the series.

I received a complementary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Naughty Nicks

Naughty Nicks
by Christine d'Abo
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
This was a fun and sexy, holiday read. I thought the story could have easily been a full length novel. I would have enjoyed reading lots more about these two. It's such a constrained space when we see the characters. I felt like seeing some part of their outside lives would have given me a better read on who they were. They both have other jobs and seemingly other friends, but we only see them in this small holiday box. It sounded like they almost didn't even talk throughout their non-holiday years of knowing each other.

Kim and Blake meet when she picks him up at a bar near Christmastime. They have a fling and Blake hires Kim to run his upcoming business (that was designed for his ex-wife before the divorce, obviously). They see each other for a couple months leading up to Christmas. Now working on year three in the business. The business of sexy, stripper Santas.

Kim is ambitious, brash and goes for what she wants. You can see that from the very first page and it stays that way through the whole book. She's likable, but just rather sure of herself. Except when it comes to Blake. Kim knows how to handle everyone around her; whether it's the employees, the clients, her friends. She seems to know exactly what everyone needs and is able to find a way to get it for them. She also knows herself and doesn't take time second guessing or feeling guilty about who she is.

Blake, well, he's the more damaged one in this book. Getting over his divorce, he's still trying to get back on his feet. He seems competent at what he does, but he's not nearly as necessary to the Naughty Nicks business as Kim. He's “older” (haha, 36), so he just doesn't think it would work out with Kim. Doesn't keep him from some rather explicit fantasies though. I liked seeing him get over himself.

He's a settled sort of guy, who wants to be settled in married life again, but just doesn't think Kim would be that sort of person. And for as much as he kept the business going, it felt like he had to work a long time to move through the stigma of “those people” can do crazy things like strip and he's not one of them. He had everything pretty black and white of who fit where. Since he sees Kim as being on the other side of the divide from me, it just won't work between them. He had to somewhat find a way to put himself on the other side, but more so break it down to say that everyone has a bit of wild in them.

I liked that there was no shame involved in any of the conclusions. No one had to feel like they were wrong for what side they were on. It was just a matter of them (especially Blake) growing to see life more fully and accept love and friendship from the people around them.

The story mostly revolved around sex or thoughts of sex, but in between the sexiness there was quite a bit of sweet. There's some talk about kinky stuff, but they didn't really take it very far. The piercings didn't do anything for me. I find them a little strange personally. But I enjoyed this book and I will definitely look for more by this author. When you need a sexy, holiday read and hello, stripping Santas! Pick up this book.

I received a complementary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Queen Of Swords by Katee Robert

Queen Of Swords
by Katee Robert
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
This was quite a space opera/adventure. It had a little bit of everything in it: space travel, paranormal, suspense, harlequin-esque secret baby, intrigue, contemporary drunk partying, daddy-issues, etc. I would be hard pressed to categorize this into only one genre.

Ophelia was quite an intense character. She was constantly faced with tough decisions. She did pretty well with them, at least as well as you'd expect when you're puking through most of the book. She was well tuned in to what was needed of her and even when she didn't want to do it, past guilt kept her walking the road laid out for her. I wasn't really sure how her partying and drunk sex ways lined up with being a gun runner and generally trying to hide from the authorities. She woke up from her first night with Boone, remembering nothing and thinking she really has to stop doing that so she doesn't kill anyone or get kidnapped. I couldn't figure out if that was simply something she did out of guilt (her ship was taken and crew killed) or if that was generally her personality anyway. Most of that got pushed aside when the adventure started anyway.

Boone had a lot of his shoulders too. He was rather domineering and controlling, even if he was trying to do what was best for everyone. He wakes up to his feelings for Ophelia before she sees them and is willing to work through whatever's necessary to be together. Like all the other characters in this book, he walked a fine line between likable and distasteful. He's honorable but also demanding enough to not give explanations. He's a bit annoying when he doesn't truly listen to the people around him, but luckily most of those people are strong enough to take matters into their own hands.

No one in the book was truly good or evil. The good guys did bad things and the bad guys weren't without their complicated motivations. People died and were betrayed and had friends betray them too. I enjoyed the amount of thought behind it all and the action, but there were so many different worlds and cultures, I don't think we got a real intense taste of what any of the cultures' or individual's motivations were. I didn't feel like a whole lot of world building took place. Lots of drama and action but not a lot of the whys behind it.

There were lots of injuries and blood. I mean, LOTS of blood. People bleeding and dying but generally carrying on with life as necessary. Not so much sadism that I had to stop reading, but it was always lurking in the background. It was all very intensely action-packed.

This was more drama/action story to me than simply a romance-type novel. I thought that Boone and Ophelia had an almost Klingon style relationship with each other. There was a lot of fighting, a broken nose, some stabbing and other various injuries in between the times they expressed caring and had sex.

This wasn't a very emotional book for me, but in the end I think that was good. If the bad parts were written more intensely I probably would have stopped reading. Instead the book took a birds-eye view of most of the physicality and emotion to make it an intense story but not a tear jerker or sadistic madhouse. It was a swashbuckling adventure in outer space and a good start to a series.

Hot In Here

Hot In Here
by Lori Foster
Rating: 4 of 5 stars average

My Review:
For each of these stories, I really like the length of them. When you're looking for an emotionally fulfilling story with lots of happy twinges but you don't have hours and hours to get sucked into a full length novel, these are great. The sex scenes are somewhat graphic but they don't take up huge portions of the story. My one complaint with these stories is that they tended to make a lot of gender role assumptions: it's not just that “this” is what the heroine is like, it's that she acts (or looks) so feminine because of “this”. Same thing with the heroes, they do things because they're masculine not because that's just the heroes personality.

Uncovered
4.5 stars
I've read this story three-plus times now. I love the characters, the emotion and the plot. It's been on my keeper shelf for a while and I liked that I got to add it to my Kindle collection now. Whenever I need a nice, easy, shorter story, I pick this one. It's a great friends-to-lovers story and gives me lots of happy twinges when I read it. Clair is strong and smart and decides to take her destiny into her own hands. Harris likes his friendship with Clair and starts out pretty nervous to change that, but he doesn't deny his feelings as they get stronger. You can really believe in these two.

I like that, even though there are the gender stereotype issues for me, Clair is still obviously smart and capable. She goes after what she wants and doesn't let insecurities in her relationship with Harris stop her. She caved with some of the “girly” stuff, like when Harris gets protective and doesn't want her to run alone, first she starts to set him down but then mutters that she wouldn't do that anyway. It bugged me a little bit on this read, but the story is good enough to get through that and I know I'll read it again.

Tailspin
4 stars
Buck and Sadie were fun to read. It was my first time reading this story. There were some well-worn, old-school stereotypes for romance heroines in here. Sadie grew up sheltered, alone, and teased with a freshly deceased mother who was sick for a long time. Now she's a wide-eyed virginal heroine just waiting for someone like Buck to notice her. But she's so shy and reserved that she wouldn't dream that someone like Buck would be interested.

The two dogs really pull off this story though. You're able to see so much of the characters personalities through their interactions with the dogs. I enjoyed the book for the fun romp that it was. It had some nice romantic parts and was fulfilling in an old-school sort of way. It won't be my first choice in a re-read, but it'll definitely be read again sometime.

An Honorable Man
3.5 stars
This story was a bit more difficult for me. It felt more sad overall. Instead of happy twinges, I ended up holding back tears a couple times. Liv has been so love-deprived her whole life and Ham has plans to finally change that. But his plans involve making Liv confront her biggest fear: marrying a military man.

I can totally understand trying to compromise and take love where you can, but this just felt so sad to me. I left the story feeling like “you might as well take what you can get because it's better than nothing”. I mean, Liv has real reasons for not wanting to marry a military man and while Ham is trying to find ways to compromise he just ends up seeming rather controlling. He didn't come out and ask Liv about his ideas. He didn't try to brainstorm compromises with her. He just set some plans in motion and then assumes she'll be prepared to give up everything she's worked for because he decided to “compromise”. I just felt Liv was the only one truly being asked to give anything up and that was just sad. The end felt like jumping off a cliff, “whoa, it's over” and didn't really feel like the characters would enjoy long-term contentment.

Each of these stories involved the hero having a certain amount of time off work. Buck and Ham were both on vacation for the length of the story and I think Harris had some vacation time during part of the story too. I believed Harris and Clair's story a lot because they had a prior relationship. I wasn't too sure about the other two stories' long-term prospects because everything was outside normal with the whole vacation thing. Still, I enjoyed the stories for the romantic snapshot that they were, but don't read the last one unless you're ready for the tug on your heart-strings and possible tears. These stories, especially the first two, are fun rainy day stories when you just want to relax for a couple hours.

The Accidental Bride

The Accidental Bride
by Christina Skye
Rating: 2 of 5 stars

My Review:
This was somewhat different than I was expecting, but started out rather compelling just the same. I had a little trouble with all the different names and time line jumps that the books starts out with, but I got it straightened out in my head after not too long.

The sense of place in this book was really good. I liked the author's descriptions of the setting and felt most of the interactions between characters were authentic and compelling. I got into this book pretty easily and looked forward to each day when I had some time to read. I felt like the characters often monologued in unrealistic ways, but most of the time that was easy to overlook. I found out later that this is not the first book in the series so some of my confusion might be cleared up if I read these books in order.

Jilly is a restaurant owner and chef. Her one passion is cooking. But when she has some heart problems she's told to cut back. Her friends send her on vacation (but trick her by saying it's cooking classes) to help her relax. She gets involved in the town of Lost Creek and is almost indispensable to them, in the process of worming her way into Walker's heart.

Jilly had this almost preternatural ability to read people, but she can't read Walker. I think there was also some sense that she could share his dreams later. It was an odd combination of almost supernatural and not. I couldn't tell if the book was trying to go somewhere with that because it's never mentioned outside these strange occurrences (that seem to be important somehow). I was left adrift wondering why it felt so important but was just dropped.

Walker and his dog Winslow are great characters in the book. They have a great relationship together and the time that Walker and Jilly spend together is most special because Winslow is around. It made both of these characters more real to see them interacting with Winslow. I didn't feel like Walker grew in a believable way. He was very reserved and taciturn at the beginning of the book, even though Jilly has the magical ability to get him to open up. But by the end of the book, he was monologuing to the two women that he thinks might be Jilly's friends about his relationship with Jilly. I didn't find that believable at all, along with some of the preachy monologue from Jilly's friends themselves. People just don't talk like that and if they do, you really just want to slap them.

There was no sex in this book. Some heavy petting, but things didn't go further than that. I was rather surprised about that because of how long the book was. Not that you can't have a book without the sex, I know a lot of authors write those books really well, but I ended this book feeling like the hero and heroine didn't really spend all that much time together.

This book felt super long and I ended it feeling like nothing was actually solved. Jilly had some heart episodes, but they never gave her a definitive reason for them and she's made no connection about why she gets them each time. We know a couple things that Jilly decides to cut out of her life but we never find out what she'll actually keep doing. She has so many things that she's capable of (that never seem to impact her heart condition) and you read each thing that she gets involved in and go “oohh, that's going to be a part of what her life will look like”, but it never panned out into anything. Maybe it is one of those things that these issues don't resolve themselves until the whole series is over.

I ended up feeling rather disappointed with this book. Maybe over the entire series these issues get resolved more to my liking, but I don't think I can get over the disappointment to read the other books. I had to force myself to read the last 20-30 pages just because I couldn't leave the book that close to the end. But by that point I was pretty sure it couldn't work out in a believable way. So it doesn't get a completely bad grade because I did enjoy most of the reading. But I can't get away from how unsettled everything felt when I left that world.

Truly

Truly
by Ruthie Knox
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I got the opportunity to read this story as a serial on Wattpad. A couple chapters were released each week for a couple months. At first I was rather irritated when I'd get the end of each section in a given week. I wanted to keep reading NOW. But then I sort of warmed up to it. This was a good book to read a little bit at a time and really savor some of the parts before moving on.

May is in a bad place: dumped her boyfriend, got mugged, can't get home. She generally does what is expected of her, but she's waking up to find that it's not really who she is. This is the story of her adventure to take control of, not so much her life but, her personality. She doesn't want to be the person who just floats along doing what would look best. Truth is, she has quite the aggressive personality inside her. She's just never let it out.

Ben is a huge chunk of the catalyst that pushes her to be who she really is. At first I really didn't like Ben. He's angry, he yells. He's got some nice in him, but he almost has to pep talk himself into actually being nice. But by the end of the book, he's stopped yelling. He seemed to get a handle on his temper and figure things out. I think this is one reason it was good to read in smaller chunks. For the first few weeks, I kept expecting that he would do some terrible stuff because of how angry he was. As he gradually changes, I was able to take that in more seamlessly instead of still expecting him to act like a jerk still.

Because the truth is, I think the story was specifically about May. Yes, Ben grew. But the important thing was May's determination and seeing her break out of her shell. You keep reading to see how May finally takes control of her life, not specifically to see the romance blossom. And she does a nice job figuring out how to grab life by the horns. From the clothes she wears, to the way she stands up for herself, to the decisions she makes about her life. It's all about her growth. I liked seeing all that. I liked how I could relate to it. I think just about anyone can relate to this book. I appreciated her struggle to find that part of herself on her own, but then also having to learn to own herself in other situations, like when she joins her family finally.

And none of that negates the fact that Ben had to grow too. He had a lot of trouble accepting himself and figuring out what direction to take his life. It's all left a little open ended for both Ben and May when the book closes, sort of like they made peace with themselves so now whatever else happens is just gravy.

On a side note, before this book was released, I kept hearing that it was “the naked beekeeper book”. Sadly, I didn't find any actual naked beekeeping happening in the book. Yes, Ben is a beekeeper who doesn't wear all the beekeeping gear, but alas, not actually naked that I could tell. Not that fully naked would be reasonable, but hearing about it ahead of time my curiosity was definitely peaked.

So overall, this was a good book. I liked it. It was well written, out of the ordinary, relatable and had lots of yummy food. It's a sexy romance that's more a journey for the heroine to open herself up to life and take what she wants rather than simply the process of finding a soul mate. Ben was intriguing and sexy, but May carries the book through her own process of coming out of her shell.

Unbound

Unbound
by Cara McKenna
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I started this book intending to read some of it for a half hour each day and then switch off to a different book during my other reading time. That only lasted for one day before I was too caught up in this story to let it go. Then after a while I had a different problem: I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next, but I'd read a paragraph and then guiltily close the book and stop myself because I wanted to savor the rest of the story.

This was a poignant, narrowly focused, sex-filled story of two messed up people. The story is almost completely set at Rob's cabin, in the middle of nowhere. There aren't really any other characters in the book, except vague mentions for the sake of Rob and Merry's healing process. Merry is further along in the healing process than Rob. She's started taking ownership of her problems and her trek across Scotland is supposed to be the pinnacle of her journey. Her physical body has changed but she still has lots of work to do internally. Rob's physically taken himself away from the bulk of his problems but he really hasn't dealt with any of them.

This book didn't give any easy answers. The characters were working on themselves, but they will always carry the scars of their journeys. It made me think a lot about what we see has whole and healthy. It left some things rather open ended – what friendships turn into when people change, what end Rob and Merry found for themselves. I wouldn't call it a sad book exactly, the characters didn't dwell on their problems in such a way that it brought the mood down but it definitely left me thinking.

I'm still not too sure what I think about the bearded, scruffy hero. But if that's your thing, definitely read this book. I couldn't really line up Rob with his description, so I didn't worry about it and just left him pictured some other way in my own head.

The sex: well, these two were definitely kinky. Cara McKenna really knows how to write these scenes. She strikes a perfect balance between kinky and caring. I loved that they were able to be together without judgement and even when they were living out some fantasy, it was always based around their relationship without objectifying the other. I loved how Merry was able to step up and let go of her insecurities enough to own her sexuality. She was able to catch on empathetically to Rob's kinks and put herself fully into the role of dominant character. Even though she had only had passive sexual experiences before, she didn't let that stop her from being fully engaged and able to enjoy the power and explore with enthusiasm.

I really wanted to know where these two ended up in the other parts of their lives besides just “together”. They were both on a path that worked for them to be together, but they still felt like they were living in a vacuum. No real career path, no definite plan beyond “we'll see if we work out”. The story leaves it all rather open ended for your own thoughts to keep churning about what it means to heal and what long-term relationships can and should look like when you (like anyone) still have emotional issues to work through.

All that said, I think I'm becoming addicted to Cara McKenna's style. I've only read a couple of her books so far, but I've enjoyed each of them so much that I have to start searching the backlist. If you're like me and read the cover copy on these books and say “wow, that might be a little too messed up for me”, if anyone can take all that and make it a compelling, hopeful and satisfying read, it's Cara McKenna.

Down For The Count

Down For The Count
by Christine Bell
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
Luckily this one wasn't too long because I just couldn't put it down. It's always nice when you find a great book that you can't leave but you still finish it at a reasonable hour. I think this one took me 2-3 hours, so I only had to stay up a little past midnight.

I had been pretty iffy on this book when I read the blurb because I'm not really into the fighter books that are so popular right now. Galen is a boxer and I don't know, I just don't tend to see the appeal of someone who makes it their job to beat people up and get beat up in return. I know lots of people must have a different opinion because of how popular that trope is in romance novels right now, but oh well. I just finished up my first Christine Bell book and knew that I had to get another hit.

Lacey starts out the book finding her 2-hours-old marriage voided when she catches her new hubby cheating with a bridesmaid. She's heartbroken and angry, but man does she seem strong and in control. She was a force to be reckoned with, even as she looked at herself as weak. She's got quite a code of ethics and her internal systems keep her toeing the line all the time.

She's a control freak and I think she was most upset because her honeymoon was supposed to be her time to let go. After a night of drinking her pain away, Galen convinces her to take the honeymoon anyway to relax. It takes her a while, but she does start relaxing. She's able to look at her life a little and start looking for what would make her happy.

Galen is in between fights so he has some free time. There's some sense of obligation for him starting out. He has to take care of his little sister's friend. But then he starts realizing he's not doing it because he has to. He's hot and knows what he wants, and yet gives Lacey space to come to terms with her life.

Galen and Lacey have a shared history. Years and years of little-sister's-friend banter. They have an comfortable, if slightly awkward, friendship. Secretly, Lacey's had a crush on him forever. So in the process of letting go, in paradise, with her secret crush, Lacey lets some of her inner sexuality come out too. It was awesome to see Lacey and Galen start figuring each other out. It all progressed so organically that you just knew they were at the right point to take their relationship further. The sexy-times were pretty scorching, but also sweet.

They still had their bumps and bruises along the way. Lacey's mom was a piece of work and things were not magically better because Lacey stood up for herself. It's always sad to be in that part of a story, but the book also had a good dose of sexy romance and some humor too. I had lots of feelings for these two; good, fun, sexy feelings as things were going well, and sad, depressed feelings as they had to deal with setbacks and problems. Now I can't wait to read the follow up novella for these two and see what else they've been up to. Then I'll have to move on to Galen's sister's book too.

At Your Service

At Your Service
by Amy Jo Cousins
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I started following Amy Jo Cousins on twitter and liked what she had to say. When I saw she's still writing, I had to look up her old books in preparation for her new works. I was only able to find one or two available on Kindle, so there might be others that are just harder to find in print. I don't read too many Harlequin Desire books lately, but I made an exception for this one. It was written in 2003, so somewhat old school.

I think the best part of this story was the writing itself. I love talk of starbursts and flowers and it's so rare I find those sorts of books nowadays. It wasn't one of those hugely emotional, passionate, soap opera books from the 80s and 90s. But it was whimsical and fun and real.

Grace's life is just so barren. She's this in-charge, go-to sort of person, but she has no one. When she runs away from the family business to sort stuff out in her head, she makes her physical life match her emotional landscape. Now, in addition to having no relationships, she also has no money, no home, no nothing. But in stripping away all the abundance that she has, she's able to start rebuilding her emotional life.

I did shake my head at her with all the running away and prevarication that she does. I mean, she has this whole internal monologue about how what she's doing is wrong, but she takes the entire book to get to the point of owning any of it. I could understand her need and all of the little-girl-needs-love reasons she stayed where she was. But she was just so strong and in-charge in the business sense, that it was extremely sad to see her not take care of the problems in the same way and just honestly go after what she wanted.

Tyler's got the ambition to get stuff done and that's led him to opening this business. But his biggest asset is his family. They're wonderful and caring and would do absolutely anything for him. He's stable in that way. He hasn't left room in his life for a romantic relationship, but he is so likable and picks up friends everywhere he goes. And then again, when love does come knocking for him, he doesn't take too much time second guessing himself. He's willing to give Grace the space she needs and he's not very pushy, but he knows where he wants to go, even with the secrets that Grace has.

The interactions between Grace and Tyler were so sweet. Especially when you could forget all of Grace's lies, they were just the perfect couple together. Fun banter and easy camaraderie. They both did what they were good at and let each other have space to grow. The romantic scenes were all rather PG in nature, about what you'd expect from a Harlequin Desire. The ending was touching and heartfelt, but I would have loved to see more of what Grace actually did to stand up and get her business and family affairs in order.

I'm excited to try and find the other books (because I think there's more for the other Tyler siblings). I also can't wait for the upcoming books by this author.

Jesus Feminist

Jesus Feminist
by Sarah Bessey
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I've been reading Sarah Bessey's blog for probably close to seven years now. So when I saw the opportunity to review her upcoming book, I just couldn't resist. Way back when I first started reading her blog, our paths, life stage, and questions were all pretty similar. Since that time we've diverged quite a bit. But I love her poetic story-telling and I think hers is an important voice to the church-at-large.

I think Sarah Bessey's poetic voice comes through loud and clear in this book. I cried many times over some of the touching things she writes. I love the seamless way she weaves together some of her own experiences along with the experiences of others. The stories she shares of people changing lives one stone at a time is so provoking that I wanted to research and help each organization she mentions.

This was a hard book for me to read though. On the good side, I learned a bunch of stuff about myself. On the bad side, I felt pretty uncomfortable through a lot of the book. I'm one of those people that thinks Sarah did a good job writing and exploring issues of gender equality in the church, but didn't go far enough in parts. Or more so, I think half of it was plenty far and the other half felt like the same old line from the patriarchal traditions. One chapter would feel like, “everyone is equal and we hinder the church when we keep half the members from using their gifts”. Then a few chapters later I heard, “but if your church doesn't let you use your gifts, wouldn't it still be better for you to knowingly submit to your church in order to stay a part of the community”. I mean, to me that feels like exactly what people like the Pearls and Mark Driscoll say - “it's not that you as a women are not 'capable' of doing something, but isn't it now more of a gift to God and your male peers for you to knowingly accept that this is what God wants men to do”.

It made me really mad for a while but then I was able to take a step back and say, wait a minute, Sarah's coming at this from a happy, poetic place where she's found something good but not perfect and she hopes everyone can find a similar place. Some of us won't be able to find a place that fits like hers and some of us won't be able to enter back into an abusive structure just to “feel like we belong”. And after relaxing my literal “everyone needs to follow the rules” mind, I was able to move on. As a person who doesn't currently identify as Christian, I don't know that I'll ever find a specifically spiritual place that works for me, but that doesn't mean I'm not involved in community and caring for the people around me.

I loved all of people Sarah quoted in the book. So many interesting people and intriguing quotes that I've never read before. Now I have a lot of people's writings to explore and read their books too. I love seeing that I'm not the only one thinking about gender equality and even how the marginalized are an important part of the kindgom-building process – bringing more compassion and justice into the world.

I appreciated all she had to say about every act we do being important and worthwhile. It's such a underrepresented way of looking at life and we would all be more compassionate people if we saw each loving act, no matter how small, as worthwhile. So many of us work and strive to achieve the Evangelical Hero Complex and feel incomplete when we're no longer a part of that. I think it takes a while to detox from that idea and I like that others are opening eyes to the convergence of ordinary and sacred space.

I found it a little odd when, in other parts of the book, Sarah shares the idea (that I see often in church) that “everything is better if we're a part of the church community”. I find it ironic to say we don't need this hero complex and even the ordinary that we do for one person is important, but then that idea of “better” if Jesus were a part of it. I remember holding that idea when I was a part of churches – that nothing was done quite as well if God wasn't a part of it, that non-Christians really weren't as loving as “us real Christians”, that the mark of a good person was their willingness to go to church. And I frown at my former self for that kind of arrogance. I'm not saying arrogance was Sarah's intention, or even that she meant anything other than that she enjoys being part of a community that calls themselves Christian. But “If Christ is not at the center of the work...it's often unfruitful and incomplete” feels like a thin line to the church-weary.

So, I know I will recommend this book to many of my friends. Anyone in church even slightly interested in gender equality will benefit from Sarah's voice. Even Christians who are not a part of a church would probably find hope in this book. Those of us that are not a part of a church community and who are still dealing with the negative effects of spirituality might have trouble with this book, but can still find hope that possibly one day the church will be more accepting of those of us who don't toe the party line. Maybe someday the church-at-large will see that any work of compassion; sanctioned by the church or not; accomplished by man, woman or child; mega-church-sized or pebble sized, helps achieve God's invitation to build peace.

I received a complementary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Girl Least Likely To Marry

Girl Least Likely To Marry
by Amy Andrews
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. It was one of those books that you sort-of think is going to be focused on changing the heroine: she's frumpy and bookish, so you think make-over and then she'll get the guy. Which is always a sort-of sad way to go, but pretty often that you find things that way. But this didn't live up to any of those expectations. It took everything in a completely different way that turned out to be so affirming.

Cassie is smart, like genius level smart. And she's been groomed since she was a child to fulfill her mother's unrealized dreams in astronomy. But amazingly, Cassie is totally happy with those dreams. She wants them. They are her own ambitions now and she knows she's smart enough to accomplish them. She doesn't care about how she looks or what she wears or even what anyone else thinks about her. She's often misunderstood, but she really stays true to herself. I found it amazing how well Cassie was written. She really doesn't have any tie to her emotions, but she feels completely ok with it. I wouldn't say she reacted predictably, but she was written so well in her emotion-less ways. You really got that she didn't care about any of these things. They didn't even enter her radar at all and she never chose to change that part of herself because it just didn't matter to her.

And that's part of what made her transformation so heart wrenching. She really didn't have any idea about love or emotional availability. And yet, her body manifested so many things that she simply couldn't ignore it any longer. Even though her brain couldn't process any of the emotions, her heart was able to get through to her by controlling the rest of her body.

The opening scenes of the book, where Cassie tries to write everything off using logic, show just a small slice of the ways her body makes her stand up and pay attention. It's so silly and adorable to see her trying to figure out why she just likes the way Tuck smells.

And that brings us over to Tuck. He's hot, has a great sense of humor, is loved by everyone and to top it off he's secretly pretty smart. He's got a huge list of insecurities and he plays up to people's image of himself whether it's football hero, stupid Texan, or spoiled rich guy. When Cassie makes assumptions about him, he just plays along and sort-of writes her off. But as Cassie opens up with her attraction to Tuck, he lets her see more of who he is. And he is totally ok with whoever Cassie chooses to be. He doesn't try to change her or take her away from what she loves. He doesn't whatever he can to just be with her. And when Cassie just wants to sniff him, he's ok with that too. Definitely some smile-worthy scenes.

Cassie has some great friends who don't exactly try to change her, they really just try to open her eyes to the parts of life she's missing out on. They're there for her whenever she needs them and they really, really care about her even when they don't understand her. They were also able to take her at face value and when she said things didn't matter to her, they were able to accept that. I wish everyone had friends like this.

All in all, a great book by a great author. It's got a lot of the harlequin-esque essentials like the wealthy hero with his own plane, but it's smart and sexy and doesn't just follow the status quo. Not only will I have to read more by this author, I'll also have to look for the rest of this series.

Accidentally In Love With... A God?

Accidentally In Love With... A God?
By Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
When the author intro at the beginning of the book says she hopes to make you laugh and have fun with this book, I have pretty high hopes that it'll be a good one. It didn't disappoint. I smiled and even had a few laughs. It makes a huge difference when you know going in that this story doesn't take itself too seriously. I think I might have been frustrated with the characters if I went into the story thinking that it was supposed to be serious fantasy romance.

Emma has heard a voice in her head for as long as she can remember. If I understood the timeline correctly, she's about 22 in this book. Just finished college, figuring out what she's going to do with her life, even trying to date around the objections of the voice in her head. But then out of nowhere (I sure didn't expect it!), she gets hit by a car and is in a coma for a month. When she wakes up, Guy (the voice in her head) has decided it's time to ratchet up the timetable in his head and she needs to fly to Mexico to free him.

The book was written first person when Emma is around and third person the rest of the time. It was hard switching back and forth to start with, but it got easier as I got more familiar with the story.

Personally I didn't like Guy all that much. He withheld so much information from Emma and refused to answer her questions pretty much always. I didn't get how Emma could really even like him through at least the first half of the book. He had this whole paternal, I'm-protecting-you sort of thing going on, but he was asking Emma to do so much on simply blind trust. He had the whole god-thing going where everyone should just do what he says simply because he's the top of the food chain. It's not that he was exactly lacking in compassion, but that it was only big-picture compassion for all-the-humans and Emma by default because of her humanity.

In the end, he got much better. He started acting less like a god and more like a person, with empathy and mutuality towards Emma and he developed a personality with interests and feelings. You could feel the vulnerability open up inside him as he accepted that Emma was actually special to him in a way different from simply human. It doesn't mean he stopped screwing up after that, but he did start behaving in a more empathetic, less manipulative way.

Emma was strong and resilient. Although she's maneuvered quite a bit by Guy, she never felt like the shrinking violet. She doesn't have a lot of control of her life, but she never gave up and she never stopped having her own feelings and beliefs. I didn't always like her decisions and she could definitely be impulsive but I did love her internal monologue. She was funny and I felt she acted in a believable way.

The story was fast-paced and amusing. I wouldn't say there were many plot twists or complicated scenarios. It all seemed pretty straightforward and you pretty much knew who did what early on. I felt the characters could have shown a bit more emotion. We're told something hurt, but they give no physical indication that anything bad just happened. A little more showing instead of telling would have made the characters more real in my mind and pulled me into the story a bit more.

This felt like a complete story, but there were still a bunch of plot questions in my head when I finished. I'm anxious to see if some of the open ends of the plot are tied up in subsequent books. So I will definitely check out the other books in this series. It was a great book to sit and relax with and it kept a smile on my face and I hope the rest of the series lives up to that as well.