Whatsoever He Might Kind Of Want Or Desire

Whatsoever He Might Kind Of Want Or Desire
by Jody Wallace
Rating: 5 of 5 stars


Back Cover Blurb:

Gorgeous former party girl law student Krissy LaLove has a heck of a lot riding on her slender shoulders—the care and feeding of several orphaned brothers and sisters. That’s why the vague but high-salaried job description in Creep’s List entices her to apply to be the eighteenth floor personal assistant of none other than ruthless billionaire CEO of CEO Industries, Assad Masterson. 
However, Krissy quickly, ah, comes to discover the high-paying position she’s so desperate to land might mean swallowing her pride...and some other things...as Masterson introduces her to a world of dark lighting, sexual domination and binding contracts. A world where a six figure salary and company health insurance mean nothing next to satisfying one’s burning desires.

My Review:

This book is really short, like 21 pages. But contained within these pages is so much silliness that I had to force the chuckles away while I tried to get my kids to fall asleep. I think if you cross Legally Blonde, with Spaceballs, with 50 Shades of Grey, you'd have some form of this story. It's hilariously filthy and fun. The writing is very clear and amusing, even when you're following five different tangents down their respective rabbit holes. I had such a fun time read this story that I have to go find some more books by this author right away.

Oh, and from my perspective, this is how 50 Shades of Grey should have gone... :)

The Hostage Bargain by Annika Martin

The Hostage Bargain
by Annika Martin
Rating: 4 of 5 stars


Back Cover Blurb:

When small town girl Melinda Prescott is taken hostage by three hot bank robbers, she quickly discovers that a life of bank heists, luxury hotels, and kinky menages is way more exciting than working on the family farm. She should be scared of her dominating, fierce captors...but there's something wicked inside her that's craving to obey their every dark desire.
Melinda eagerly throws in with her three smoldering fugitives...and realizes little by little that these are no ordinary bank robbers--and that bad guys aren't always what they seem. But will her delicious captors overcome their own demons enough to let her in? And can they fight a conspiracy that's larger than all of them?

My review:
I can't say I'm all that adventurous of a person. No bungee jumping or ski jumps for me. So on the one hand I had a little trouble connecting to this book. It was all about the thrill and the adventure and just letting go. I could understand the feeling of just being pulled along through life and never really doing the things that would make you happy. I connected with Melinda on that level and enjoyed her adventure. So when you're able to completely release the real world and just settle in to enjoy a steamy, sexy read, this was was fun and fulfilling.


It's totally erotica so expect pretty constant steamy, pushing the limits sex all the time. There were three guys and one girl and they try out all kinds of male-dominated kinkiness. Some of the BDSM stuff just wasn't for me. The sense that you just have to trust, even a person you just met, is not something I can get too on board with, but there were never any questions of consent or enjoyment. Everyone had a good time and even when there was some hesitation, it was obvious that no one was being coerced.



Not that I've seen Gone In 60 Seconds, but that's what the book reminded me of. So if you're looking for an adrenaline spiking, wrong side of the law adventure with a lot of kinky sex, look no further.

In The Dark by Sally Eggert

In The Dark
by Sally Eggert
Rating: 2 of 5 stars

My Review:
Sad to say, I just couldn't read this whole book. It dragged and dragged and dragged. I knew within 30 pages who was the good guy and the bad guy. And I was so upset that the heroine asked no questions and really didn't care about finding out anything. She was simply Too Stupid To Live, in my mind. I felt like I read for ages and was only 17% through the book.

I liked the writing enough that I couldn't just leave the story altogether, so I skimmed a lot and read the last 30 pages too. I felt the descriptions and mullings went on for a really long time without anything interesting happening. As I skimmed, I'd find pages and pages where the heroine doesn't speak with anyone and seemingly just ruminates on how she really doesn't want to be a part of life. Not that she was exactly depressed (or maybe she was), but everyone fit into a spot in her head and she didn't care to find out if her assumptions were correct.

Josie just floats along, not wanting anything too hard. In her head, she just doesn't want to deal with anything serious in life. I could understand some of it to start with. She can barely handle that Johnny might be anything other than a sex buddy. She's so closed off - no friends, no family, no ties at all. Do your job, keep your head down, don't look up or look around. The descriptions show this. It seemed like no names, faces, no distinguishing features to pretty much anything.

But that part wasn't what bothered me. It's when she gets the shot of adrenaline that she can't look the other way anymore, so she calls the guy on the business card (ba-du-dum). She seems so wishy-washy to me. She really feels strong and like she belongs when she's working at the bar, but as soon as there's the possibility that a “big, important guy” could just take care of her, she's ready to jump on it even if she doesn't know anything about him. I wanted to shout at Josie “why would you trust this guy just because he said he worked in the same building?” It's like she says I'll just call him up and turn in whatever I can to him with no verification or anything. Why would you be that trusting of “the agency” still? The agency almost got her killed and yet as soon as anything comes up, she's still willing to do whatever. PTSD be damned, she'll put up with whatever she has to.

We're never in anyone else's head to get a different perspective on events, so the whole time when I'm thinking uh-oh, spooky music, why would you go into the house by yourself, poor stupid horror flick bimbo?! thoughts, there's no other balancing view points.

I don't often read romantic suspense, so I don't know if this is normal, but it was all so confusing to me. Nothing is really named or out in the open. I mean, I knew who the bad guy was right away, and the good guy was too vaguely good to really be bad. But the company is just “the agency”, no word on what it actually does. No clear information about why she was almost killed, just her boyfriend was asked to give up the names and he refused.

I'm sure there would be people that would like this book. I would guess a lot of the elements are par-for-the-course of romantic suspense. But it just didn't do it for me. If it weren't for the Too Stupid To Live factor, I probably would have read the whole thing, because I enjoyed the writing style. But I guess romantic suspense is probably not my genre for now.

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

Broccoli Spinach Soup

Ok, so here's my favorite soup for the week in the Vitamix. I made this one last week and it was so good, I made another double batch last night. It's got a really great taste and is perfect with a couple slices of toast with butter.

Broccoli Spinach Soup

1 Tbls butter
6 oz. spinach
1 head of broccoli
1 small onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2-3 carrots, sliced
2-3 stalks of celery, sliced
2 small white potatoes
1/2 a small apple, quartered
1/4 or so tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of thyme
dash of salt
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a pan, then add the spinach, broccoli, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Stir and let it sauté for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are soft and the spinach is all wilty. (While this is cooking, microwave the potatoes until they're cooked, the quarter them.) Put 2 cups of water in the Vitamix, then add everything else except the cheese. Turn the Vitamix on and quickly turn up to High. Let it process for 6-7 minutes, then turn it down to about 5, take out the lid plug and pour in the cheese. Let it process for 15-30 seconds, until you don't see shreds of cheese anymore. Turn it off and pour into your bowl. This makes at least 4 servings of soup.

Two Wrongs, One Right

Two Wrongs, One Right
by Katee Robert
Rating: 4 of 5 stars


My Review:
Another good installment in the Come Undone series. Katee Robert is fast becoming a comfort read for me. I've been so curious about Nathan after reading all about him in Wrong Bed, Right Guy. He seemed so closed off and unhappy in that book and we finally get to see why.


Nathan and Chelsea were secretly married eight years ago, but immediately after that, he shipped off to Basic Training and Chelsea ran away back to her high-brow family. They've left everything alone for eight years but Chelsea's decided to finally get the divorce papers signed. The invitation she receives (from Nathan) to Gabe and Elle's wedding seems like the perfect opportunity to take care of things.


The tension in this story is really thick. Both of these characters are carrying around huge amounts of pain and hurt. On the one hand, I was surprised by how hot and heavy everything was very early on. These two, especially Chelsea, are so angry at each other and yet they almost immediately have a case of serious lusty pants. Slightly unbelievable to start with although once you read a bit further and see the almost supernatural soul-mate status of these two, it all makes sense. The sex is graphic and intense. They have some sexual power plays that were fun to see. These two didn't let themselves be walked on and enjoyed keeping the other off balance.


There's a lot of artistic expression in this book. Nathan owns a gallery, Chelsea also owns a gallery. You can tell that art is very important to not only these two but also to the author. Settings, backgrounds, and colors are all described with an artist's eye and are very expressive and affecting.


Nathan and Chelsea had to work really hard for their happily-ever-after. It was great to see them actually talk things out and both take responsibility for the things they did in the past. They each started out completely blaming the other for their problems, but they were able to empathize and see things from the other's perspective. You don't get much in the way of secondary characters with this length, but you get a solid view of Nathan and Chelsea. At about 160 pages, this is a perfect length for a quiet afternoon or even a not-too-late night of reading.

Almost Real by Charlotte Stein

Almost Real
by Charlotte Stein
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

My review:
When you want to get deep into a character's mind, Charlotte Stein should be your first choice. There's clones and bad guys with big guns, questions of apocalyptical and ethical proportions, but the real reason to read this book is to be completely subsumed by Margot.

Margot is tough, used to having no emotion, has more relationship with her computer systems than people, and is pretty much completely enclosed in her head. But then somehow she ends up in a job where she needs to be married to Sergei. He's the grunt and she's the brains for keeping their installation of “the corporation” running and hidden. If Margot thinks she doesn't show emotions, Sergei is like a stone compared to her. He barely speaks for the first half of the book. I was honestly expecting some twists with him that never happened, but that didn't impact my enjoyment of the story. He was big and bad-ass and silent as a tomb, until he finds out that Margot really wants to know him. He opens up and blossoms into a normal, crazy, every day, mostly insecure person – who still happens to be big and tough and bad-ass.

The sex is hot, awkward, insecure and tentative most of the time, but still really awesome and intense. If you haven't guessed already from something like the cover, it's really explicit too.

This is not a post-apocalyptic story about clones and the establishment, with some romance and sex thrown in. This is a deep dive into Margot's character as she finds out what love is and experiences awesome sex and a closeness with someone for the first time, in a world that just happens to be post-apocalyptic with a clone war going on. As well as her being a bad-ass, like Sarah Connor, for the man she loves - which is awesome all by itself.

This was a book that took my entire brain while reading. The language is awesome, but so subtle that you really have to pay attention to catch everything. If you just skim read, you'll end up missing half of the reasons behind things and that would be really sad. We only get Margot's perspective here, but she ruminates so deeply that you'd think you're a part of both characters and I had trouble pulling myself back out of the book once I was finished.

Live by Mary Ann Rivers

Live
by Mary Ann Rivers
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
Destiny is caught in the web of her family and all of it's problems and sadness. When she meets Hefin, she's pretty much hit rock bottom. She's not one to let life keep her down though and things start to look up for her even as her family's in the midst of more pain. Hefin is stuck and getting ready to make some of his own decisions. There's no way to see these two working out at the start of the book, although most of the conflict is internal. Destiny is so rooted in her life even though it's sad, and Hefin is ready to move on, to finally make his life more satisfying.

I wasn't sure what to think of Hefin. He seemed really nice and likable, but at the same time it felt a bit like he saw his attraction to Destiny as equivalent to his relationship with his ex-wife. I wasn't sure in the beginning if he really understood what went wrong in his first relationship, in order to make this one work. By the end of the book, I was pretty sure, in a snuggly, content sort of way, that these two would last.

This book was really compelling. It's not really an escapist book. It's down to earth and sort of gritty. These people live in their bodies always. They're emotional but it doesn't feel like they sit ruminating on things very often. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean, but it feels like they're very physical, like even when they're emotionally somewhere else, they truly live inside their bodies in a way that is very real and authentic. Both are just fine with their sexuality. The sexuality is rather explicit and pervasive, but not exactly in an erotic way. These characters are awkward and really open with each other.

Thinking about bodies, this book also has quite a bit of a gory feel to it. Wounds can be described pretty specifically in a sort-of gross way and there was a general earthy, body-conscious feel to some of the situations. Words like “sacral dimples” are used and made me feel very tied to the physicality of the characters in a way I don't find with many books.

Most of the book is overrun with a sense of sadness. Like the message is: people need to take every scrap of happiness they can find, wherever they can find it, because life is still filled with pain and sorrow. Hefin and Destiny are both able to compartmentalize quite a bit. It felt real in the sense that I'm sure most people can do similar things to hold on to their happiness even when the world is falling apart around them. But it was still sad to see.

I loved the language in this book. There's something so poetic and earthy about Mary Ann Rivers' writing. It takes a little longer for me to read than normal because I'm not used to some of the words in the order they're presented, but it's all very beautiful and touching.

These two characters spend most of the book trying to figure out how to live in the moment. There's so much bad and confusing happening around them, and they work the whole time trying to figure out how to find happiness in spite of all the problems surrounding them. It's a great message to have and a compelling story, but there was a lot of sadness to deal with. I did get one good laugh out loud moment. So if you're looking for a compelling and earthy romance, this is the one for you.

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

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These ended up being all stars in my house. This one batch made exactly 24 cookies and they were gone within a day or two. Not very sweet, soft on the inside with a little crisp feeling on the outside. Even the boys, who say they don't like anything with nuts, ate these like there was no tomorrow. Everyone has already asked me to make another batch. I believe these are Paleo/Gluten Free, but if I'm wrong let me know.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2-1/2 cups raw almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
2 Tbls maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Put 1 cup of almonds at a time into the Vitamix and process on high for 15-30 seconds until you get almond flour. Put the processed almond flour into a mixing bowl and keep going until you've finished with all the almonds. If there are any chunks left, just throw them back into the Vitamix and/or leave them in the bowl and have some crunch in your cookies. Add the salt and baking soda to the almond flour and mix. Add the coconut oil as a solid or liquid and mix well (try to squish all the chunks of coconut oil so it's spread evenly throughout the dough). Add the eggs, maple syrup and vanilla and stir until everything is combined. Finally, throw in the chocolate chips (1/2 cup or maybe even a little extra) and evenly distribute throughout the dough.

I used a 1 inch cookie scoop and got 24 cookies. I put them on aluminum cookie sheets and squished the tops flat a bit (like if you were making peanut butter cookies). Cook at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets immediately and try to wait until they're cool enough before everyone starts noshing. They're not too sweet, so you can even treat yourself for breakfast or snack time.

The Courage To Love by Samantha Kane

The Courage To Love
by Samantha Kane
Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
This book was quite compelling. There was definitely a certain fascination to everything happening. It was one of my first MMF erotica novels, so I'm still never too sure what to expect when I pick one up. This one was really explicit and had pretty much every combination you can imagine between two guys and a girl.

The story behind all the sex was actually pretty violent and left a nasty feeling in my stomach. The violence and rape talk were pretty graphic and it was hard for me to imagine that a woman who's been through all that Kate went through just magically is ready to have sex with two guy now. It didn't feel like she processed her fear and grief, but she pretty immediately jumped into (not just some safe, gentle sex but) pretty intense, put all your trust in us, sex with these two guys (although she did know them from before and trusted them, so that's something).

It was actually somewhat jarring to have completely intense sex scenes thrown in with external sadism and violence almost whenever these characters leave the house. The two men (Jason and Tony) obviously cared for Kate and protected her very strongly but they felt really young to me. Almost like they were playing pretend all the time. Outside the bedroom, they did what they could to keep the story going and they seemed honorable and caring. But they felt like teenagers trying to strut their stuff more often than mature adults.

It was an interesting plot, not something an ordinary person would have come up with. The style and voice behind the book was well done and the emotions of the characters felt real. There's a bit of BDSM thrown into the book, but when you've already got two guys and a girl, it's nothing too hard core to throw in a little extra dominance. There were some plot points (outside the sex, obviously) that didn't really get resolved at the end of this book. I'm guessing since this is book one, these things will be taken care of in a later book.

All in all, I can't say for sure if I'll read book two. I did find the characters and the sex scenes pretty fascinating, but I'm not sure if I can stomach the possible violence in later books.

Idolatry of God by Peter Rollins

Idolatry of God
by Peter Rollins
Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I appreciate what Peter Rollins is trying to say here. It was an interesting read. He tries to walk that line between “not conservative” and “not liberal” Christianity. Most of us are told Christianity will fill in that void (“everyone is born with a God-shaped hole”) and when we still feel empty, we're told we're just doing something wrong. I like the honesty behind the questions in this book and the “third way” (instead of conservative or liberal) idea. But I felt thrown (possibly in an intended way), that this book left things really open ended and empty.

Peter Rollins doesn't give “answers” per se, but ideas and possibilities for breaking that reliance on having all the answers, on being filled up and complete. I like that he wasn't trying to brush off the questions or even “fill in the hole”, but the book left me with more discomfort than peace.

It felt like a new take on the emergent church ideas that were popular 10+ years ago. So many of his ways of engaging people and being part of people different than “me” have been raging on social media for a while, that I felt it was almost redundant to read half the book. If you've read Brian McLaren, Frank Viola, even N.T. Wright, you'll probably find a lot of similarities in this book.

I found it difficult to combine the ideas presented that you really can't let go of the questions and certainty on your own, you need to be in community, but there are so few of these types of communities around that you'll probably have to strike out on your own to start something. And not only that, but you'll be untrue to yourself if you just stay where you are. It felt vaguely like another impossible guilt trip from the hottest new church crowd. “If you don't do it our way, you're bound for doom.” I'm a little burned out from that sort of idea.

I was also disturbed at the sense I got that breaking away from certainty is another “experience”. You can't really quantify it or teach someone how, you just present lots of experiences and hope to draw people further along this road. I understand the complexity behind that, but it's just so similar to “if you were a real Christian, you would have felt something” that seems to happen whenever you walk away from something that's not working. Reading the book left me with this discouraged feeling of another person trying to sell me something – and being able to blame me if it doesn't actually work for me. So, if I don't feel free after following this path, it must be something I did or didn't do because otherwise it would have worked. Tried it with this church, and that church, and the emergent church, etc. I think I'll just keep floating here for a while, thanks, where I can just be (which interestingly enough, is one of the ideas inside this book – the ability to just be).

So, did the book give me something interesting to think about? Yes. Will I keep mulling over the ideas behind this book, breaking away from the need to fill the void? Definitely. Will I be looking for a community of other Uncertain-ites or starting my own? Probably not. Will I read more books like this to challenge myself and keep from stagnating? I'm sure I will occasionally.

My Lightbulb Moment

I've had this issue with BDSM romance for a while now and I haven't been able to nail it down to something specific. One of my best-read reviews ever was for a BDSM romance that I feel like I really tore into and I've had a really hard time understanding why it bothered me so much. Not just bothered in the sense that I didn't believe in the romance even though I really liked the writing, but also bothered me that so many other people didn't see things that way so maybe I'm just missing something. As I follow more people on twitter, somehow I've ended up interacting with a lot of authors that write BDSM-style erotica. Some for a long time and some as part of this new trend. I honestly read very few of the books just because there's something about them that really does bother me.

Then yesterday I was reading The Hostage Bargain by Annika Martin. It's an absorbing, fun, fantasy book with three guys and a girl as a gang of bank robbers. I'm not quite all the way through it yet so I don't know how it ends. So far I've been enjoying it but when they start throwing in the BDSM, I feel a little uncomfortable. Thinking about it all night finally flicked the light switch for me I think.

Here's the thing, there's a couple issues that really make me feel uncomfortable. First, there's never anyone (in the limited number of books I've read) that says the safe word. They never talk about hard limits. They never cross the line and then have to actually communicate to keep a relationship going. This puts me in the mindset of those earlier romance novels where the sex scenes are angry and rapey. The heroine doesn't actually give her consent to anything but “she would have put up a fight if she didn't actually want it” and then later they're all totally in love. The heroine comes to expect that she can't actually talk to the hero or express her own desires. As long as she's willing to receive whatever the hero gives, it's all good. And she just loves him so much that it doesn't really matter if he waits for a “yes” or not.

In these BDSM books, they never run into an issue were one of the characters truly doesn't like what's happening. Even when the book sort-of implies they don't like it, they don't say the safe word because they don't want to miss out on what might happen next. What kind of relationship do you make with someone where if you were to say “stop, I don't like this”, they just walk away and say we can't actually have a relationship. That seems so abusive and manipulative and full of patriarchal influence. “As long as you let me do whatever I want, I'll be with you. But if you say no to anything, we're done. Even though we've just met, you can totally trust me to cause you pain but make sure it's 'worth it in the end' because I'm just a stand up sort of guy.” I've had enough experience with abusive and manipulative people that I just cringe as I read some of this.

I want to scream at the heroine “just say the safe word! Make a relationship where everyone knows that you can say No if you want to!” I'm not saying that everyone has to like or not like the same things. But I do want to see people stand up for themselves. I'd like to see romance tackle the hard stuff like having a conversation beforehand about what hard limits they have. Or stopping because someone said no, then talking it out and keep going with the new boundaries. I'd like to see conversations of “I don't want to do this now, but maybe I'd be willing to try some other day”. I'd like to see the dominant character hear a “no”/safe word and graciously accept it without implying the relationship is over.

Trust goes both ways in a relationship and it feels like a lot of the BDSM-style romance asks the submissive character to put all trust in the dominant without actually receiving any trust in return. “You can be with me, as long as you don't question me. The minute you do, we're done.” I have such a hard time believing in a love story where they haven't actually talked it out or where either character gets away with never having to accept a no and/or compromise.

Now I'm not saying that the vague consent, patriarchal, or rapey feel is the intention that any of these authors are going for. There's some compelling element of imagination/fantasy to these stories that I can understand, but I have trouble believing the romance. But these are my own issues and I own them for what they are. We've all had our own experiences and obviously mine come through in the way I look at things when I read. But it still makes me feel uncomfortable and very careful about which books I pick up.

So, what do you think? Do you think there's a correlation between the earlier romances with rapey elements and today's prevalence of BDSM romance? Do you have any recommendations for books that actually address some of these issues and/or communicate without simply saying “trust me”? Is there some other way I could look at these issues? Do you think people are reading these for the nonconsensual/rape fantasy theme anyway vs. believing the love story itself?

One Enchanted Season

One Enchanted Season
by C.L. Wilson, Erica Ridley, and Elissa Wilds
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
All three of these are sci-fi/fantasy stories set near Christmas-time. They're all different flavors from each other. I enjoyed each story for different reasons and I felt like I should have given myself a break in between each one because it was hard to jump right in to a completely different story after finishing one.

Upon A Midnight by C.L. Wilson, 5 stars
This one is more of a supernatural/urban fantasy style. Contemporary, except with angels and other supernatural powers. The story is totally engrossing and very emotionally gripping. I was crying within the first five pages and almost didn't stop until the end. C.L. Wilson has this way of writing that overflows both your heart and mind. The characters are so caring and compassionate, but need each other to be complete. Some of the themes felt very religious in nature (part and parcel with the Christmas and the angels theme), but other parts completely turned expected religious norms on their heads. I could go on for ages saying what I enjoyed about this story, but I'd end up giving away too much. For this story alone, the book is worth your purchase.

Let It Snow by Erica Ridley, 4 stars
This was more of a silly book. The characters don't exactly take themselves seriously. It was fun to read, but coming right off a heavy story like Upon A Midnight, it felt like whiplash. I should have given myself a day before I started this one. Lance is a treasure hunter who decides he's going to get this treasure from an enspelled castle to pay off the bounty on his head. Marigold has been trapped in the castle for the last 600 years. It was quite a puzzle over how to break the spell. I had bunches of guesses as I read and still didn't get it right so A+ on the riddle. Lance and Marigold were fun characters and I liked how they got along and cared about each other.

Snowman by Elissa Wilds, 4 stars
An alien race who founded the human race now at odds with itself over the destruction of humanity. One of the rebels protecting the humans saves a woman from his own kind. He finds her to have strong recessive genes of his people and that's why she's always been an outcast on earth. Love and sex ensue. This book was the shortest of the three and really constrained since they spent all their time in a cabin during a snowstorm. I enjoyed it but felt like I barely got a taste of the characters and the world building.

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

In Bed With Mr. Wrong

In Bed With Mr. Wrong
by Katee Robert
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

On Sale January 13, 2014
From the Back Cover:

The blind date from hell is about to get hotter…Brianne Nave is never doing her friends a favor again. When they begged her to go on a blind date, she didn’t expect someone so perfectly gorgeous. She’s a mousy librarian—totally not in this man’s league. And judging by his odd reaction when she opens the door, he knows it, too.
Air Force Pararescuer Ryan Flannery avoids his hometown at all costs. He’s not thrilledabout the date until he’s shocked silent by the prickly little librarian’s sweet curves and kissable lips…and her smart mouth. But then an argument leads to a kiss that spirals out of control. How can two people have so little chemistry outside the bedroom when they fit together so perfectly in it?
When their friends strand them in a cabin to “work things out,” Bri’s not sure whether to kill him or put the industrial-sized box of condoms they find to use. Bottom line—Ryan’s career military and hates the tiny town she loves. He’ll leave, just like everyone else in her life. And if she’s foolish enough to give him her heart, he’ll take it with him.

My Review:
This is my third Katee Robert contemporary. I need to be in the right mood to really enjoy these, but it's scratches exactly the right spot. Mostly they're best when you can give them the 2-3 hours they deserve. I've tried in my head to compare this book to some specific type and I think the closest I'm getting is some of the angry 80's Diana Palmer books (maybe like Heart Of Ice), but with a healthy dose of female agency thrown in. You know the ones, “I can't stand you, I'm going to yell and scream at you, but now we're kissing, how did that happen?!”

Brianne and Ryan are at each other's throats almost from the first moment of the book, but they're also totally in Lust. Think: wild, angry sex is the only way we can keep from yelling at each other. They snipe at each other constantly unless they're having sex. It could have turned into just a caricature of a romance but it didn't. See, these two aren't angry to hide their lust or because they're just too innocent to understand their attraction. They're actually so wounded that they can't let anyone close. They know just where to prick at the other's vulnerability so it takes a long time for them to calm down and see the wounded animal in the other. They eventually start opening up and healing and it was beautiful to see. They took baby steps and had lots of fits and starts, but they did it. They gave each other compassion and understanding, forgiveness and space to heal.

It was a rather narrowly focused book. We didn't get many details about either character's work or daily habits. They had a couple friends/family members that were instrumental in the romance but weren't very clearly defined secondary characters. I loved the interplay between Ryan and Brianne, but most things outside their immediate, romantic sphere were blurry and indistinct – a pretty normal occurrence with this length of book.

I ended this book knowing that Brianne and Ryan really belonged together. They fought hard, with each other and with themselves, but they came out of it better, more vulnerable people. I knew that they'd do whatever was necessary to work out their issues together. When you need an angry, passionate romance with lots of satisfying sex; and two breathtakingly wounded, vulnerable characters, look no further than In Bed With Mr. Wrong.

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

Chicken And Dumplings

So, I still haven't actually convinced my kids to willingly eat this one, which is so disturbing because I practically begged for chicken and dumplings when I was growing up. I usually only get a batch of mixed veggies thrown in but in my quest to add more greens I ground up a whole package of spinach this time and it turned out just fine. Besides the whole "completely green" broth, you'd never even taste that there's spinach.

Easy Slow-Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

2-3 chicken breasts, diced (not cooked)

1/3 cup flour

frozen mixed veggies

baby carrots

6 oz raw spinach

1 tbls Better Than Bullion 

1 roll Pillsbury biscuits

Put the veggies, carrots and chicken into the slow cooker. Sprinkle the flour on top. Push the whole wad of spinach into the Vitamix and add enough water to get up to the four cup line. Throw in the Better Than Bullion. Turn on the Vitamix and process on High for 15ish seconds, until you don't see any clumps of spinach. Pour into the slow cooker. Add another cup of water to the Vitamix and swish around to get the last of the spinach, then pour that into the slow cooker as well.

Now here's the hard part. If you're feeling so inclined, you could make your own dumplings and drop them into the slow cooker. I'm usually in a hurry so I grab the Pillsbury biscuits, open the container, cut small pieces directly into the slow cooker using scissors. Or hire some little people to do your cutting. Try to get the pieces to land all across the top of the mixture (not just clumped in the middle).

Cook on high for 4-6 hours. The dumplings will be all along the top so be sure you scoop servings out all the way to the bottom of the crock pot so everyone gets some dumplings.

Falling For The CEO

Falling For The CEO
by Audra North
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
Meredith is the new CFO at a company when she discovers some discrepancies right near Christmas. The money is needed pretty much immediately so she screws up her courage to face the CEO and figure out the issues. He's very invested with this Christmas money so he insists she work in his office with him to figure out what's going on. One thing leads to another and she goes to a corporate fundraiser-type function with him.

These two are both generally settled, competent, and emotionally healthy. They are perfect together and it seemed really natural for them to fall in love. It was a short novella, so they do process their attraction quickly, but in a wonderful, romance movie sort of way.

Meredith just needs to figure out how to go after what she wants. She's got all the right tools behind her, but she's never decided to risk telling someone what she wants. She's always been on her own and hasn't ever felt comfortable letting someone in. I wasn't sure what to think with how competent she was in the business world. She shows so much initiative, but she's really shy and awkward. I wasn't sure if I believed it but it also gave me a certain hope that people can get a good feeling from someone, even if they're shy or awkward, and still give them a chance.

Andrew was super cute and awkward in his own way. Maybe that's why Meredith's brand of clumsiness worked so well in his company. He wasn't ever pushy or commanding, but it was so cute to see him try to get Meredith to say what she wants. He was observant and good at what he does, but he didn't give Meredith a free pass. Meaning, he was exactly what she needed.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was a nice Christmas-y romance with good characters who get exactly the hope and family they need at Christmas time. I'll keep my eye out for more books by this author.

Sweet Potato Burritos

I don't even remember where I got this general recipe from. Someone passed it along ages ago and I make it every now and then. Sweet Potatoes are not a common food for me so I'm glad to get a little variety into my life. This is just filling for a burrito, so you can throw some spinach on top, or a dollop of plain greek yogurt (or sour cream), even some olives or salsa.

Sweet Potato Burritos

2 tbls butter
3 sweet potatoes
1/4 cup-ish of almond milk
1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
3ish tsp of cilantro (I use 3-4 cubes of the frozen Dorio stuff)
2 cups cheese

First scrub the sweet potatoes, poke them all over and microwave until they're soft (possibly 12-15 minutes). Let them cool down if you want (so you don't burn your fingers), then peal off the skin and mash the meat in a bowl.

Melt the butter in a skillet and then add the sweet potato mash. Stir around and add the almond milk - enough so the sweet potatoes are a little fluffier but not runny. Add the black beans and cilantro. Stir until heated through. Finally add the cheese and keep stirring until it's all incorporated and nicely melted.

Use it to fill whatever burrito-y thing you feel like: tortillas, lettuce wraps. Even grab a bowl and use it as dip for chips. My favorite is wrapping in a tortilla with spinach on top and some plain greek yogurt. If I remember, I'll throw on olives too. Sadly, my kids refuse this mixture altogether and after forcing the issue once (and having a child with a tummy ache later), I decided the beans and sweet potatoes are not the thing for my kids. Maybe one day their palette will mature.

Asking For Trouble

Asking For Trouble
by Tessa Bailey
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I didn't think there was a way that Daniel and Story could have been knocked off the top-couple-of-the-year for me, but Brett and Hayden are right up there. These two sparked off each other every time they were together. There was still a lot of dirty talking, but Brett and Hayden did so great feeding off each other. Brett wasn't the same sort of dominant personality as Daniel, but Hayden was also a lot more aggressive. I absolutely loved these two together.

Brett and Hayden are so alike personality-wise. They say things at the same time, even when they don't like each other. And a night of Hayden not backing off gets the book off to a really hot start.

They both have some misconceptions about the other and as those start to fall away, they convert their energy into lust for each other. I thought their connection felt very real and I loved that Hayden was this strong, take-no-prisoners personality. Brett takes care of everyone he knows, but doesn't let his friends see that part of him and he's really at loose ends that Hayden doesn't need to be taken care of. He thinks she's this prissy socialite who does nothing all day. She thinks he's an uncouth jerk. They both couldn't be more wrong about the other and it's so great to see each new facet of their lives be exposed to each other and to us.

I don't even think I can file this one on my kindle until after I've read it again. It was just that good. I love Tessa Bailey's writing and so far, I think I love this book best of all. If you love dirty talkers, who are still caring, emotional, and connected to their friends and family, pick up this book and I'm sure, like me, you'll be reading it a couple times in a row.

Hajar's Hidden Legacy

Hajar's Hidden Legacy
by Maisey Yates
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I think Maisey Yates will be my new go-to author when I need a Harlequin Presents fix. I hadn't read one of her books before. And I don't tend to read Harlequin Presents either. We all sort of know what to expect from one of them: rich hero, virgin heroine, probably some good soap opera passion too. This had all of that but it was really well done, in a crazy, awesome sort of way.

Zahir is a Sheik, so obviously rich and powerful, but he's been scarred by the terrorist attack that killed his brother and parents five years ago. He lives in a palace where the floors are made of jasper, jade and obsidian. All the surfaces are marble and gold. Even the walls are made of gold and onyx. I don't think there were any silk robes shot with gold, so you know he could still be richer in the future. But he's damaged inside and out and only the love of someone as strong-of-spirit as Katharine could wake up his cold, dead heart.

Unlike many of the Harlequin Presents I've read, Katharine was this totally strong, in your face, independent woman. She sees the ways people have used her and the way they intended to sell her body as a commodity and it sickens her. She grows, chooses how to live her life and owns her soul always. It was wonderful to see and worth giving more of these books a shot if they can hold on to the soup opera without making the heroine innocent and sub-human with no power of choice.

There was a lot of cliched moments and if you ever do the Romance Workouts from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, you'll get quite a workout from this book. But it was all fun and enjoyable without boxing the heroine into a supporting, her-love-and-body-are-the-only-important-things, role.

So, Maisey Yates is now on my list when I need passion and opulence with strong female agency.

Married For Christmas

Married for Christmas
by Noelle Adams
Rating 4.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
This was a stay up late kind of book. In fact, since I was too exhausted to stay up, I ended up not sleeping for ages because these characters were in my mind so much. Then the next day, I totally ignored everything else to keep reading. Daniel and Jessica weren't just characters in a book, they were real people living next to me.

Daniel wants to be the pastor at his hometown church, but the elders are hesitant since he's not married. Jessica, as his good friend, really wants a family but has no dating prospects and offers to marry Daniel to solve both of their problems. Daniel has never thought about dating again after his wife died, but decides that he wants the pastorship enough to marry Jessica. There's a lot of unacknowledged attraction in this book and it's even more exquisite because we only get Jessica's perspective.

Noelle Adams did such a great job showing real people, who happen to find their spirituality important, without being an inspirational romance. Meaning there was not a Jesus-makes-everything-better moral, but these people lived their lives in a spiritual way. I could really connect with these characters and knew where they were coming from. And I was glad, even when someone had some here's-how-to-fix-everything lecture, there was still real work involved in growing.

Jessica is ready to settle down, start a family, and feel connected to others. But she has no dating prospects and lives in a very isolated way. She was very real and understandable. She's tried the normal ways to meet people but just doesn't feel like she's making connections. One of the eternal struggles of the introvert: you want to connect but life and spirituality is often tailored to the extrovert personality. She's not really comfortable putting herself out there and is used to being invisible.

She makes such a heartbreaking effort to be a “good pastor's wife”. I felt so connected to her struggle to meet the expectations she thinks everyone has of her. Seeing things only from her perspective, we never really know if anyone's actually expecting something specific from her, but we know Daniel only wants her to be herself and be happy. It was so wonderful to see and feel Jessica truly understand that Daniel accepts her exactly as she is.

We get this story third person, but we're only ever inside Jessica's mind.We see exactly what she's feeling and all of Daniel's feeling processed through Jessica's perception. So much of the story was heartbreaking, to see each of them dealing with their own grief, isolation and pain.

If anything, it felt like Daniel healed a lot through this book but I felt like Jessica was in a happy-for-now place. I would have liked to see Jessica take some positive actions. It felt like at the end of the book she decided to take certain actions but we don't get to see how they work out for her. I wanted to see her feel like she belonged, not just that she was connected to Daniel. But maybe that was enough for her for now. Maybe she really only needed that one extra connection and others might come slowly later.

Daniel is stubborn and for a pastor he just can't truly leave his way-things-should-be mind long enough to keep a connection with people. He doesn't have to let himself out there because he's the one that's supposed to be taking care of everyone. But Jessica challenges that and she forces him to face his heart and not just his mind. It is exquisite to see the connections form so slowly, all the work that both characters put into growing, and all the silent ways they say what they can't find the words for.

After reading this book, I will now have to go read Noelle Adams' entire backlist because I totally love her voice and how compelling her stories are. I can't read them every day because I'd never get anything else done, but this is a need for me. Even now, my head is telling me to find another one of her books to start reading now.