Tempted by the Soldier by Nicolette Day

Tempted By The Soldier

by Nicolette Day
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

My review:
I was so excited to read this one, once I found out it was connected to No Strings Attached (this is Jace's brother's story). I loved No Strings Attached. I've re-read it multiple times. Although I didn't remember too much of Nate's personality, I found this book true to what I do remember. He's a closed down person with a lot of emotional pain. He's got the emotional intelligence to watch out for his brother, but he really doesn't connect or share himself with anyone.

Lilly was almost the same way. It seemed that this book was maybe a year plus after the first story and as much as Lilly was really close to Hayden at one time, they don't feel all that close in this book. Lilly has her own share of pain and heartache and problems connecting with people. She and Nate had a single night way back when, but it ended badly and they haven't interacted since then. Now, they're on the way to Hayden and Jace's wedding, with weather issues and a long road trip.

The sexual tension between these two was pretty awesome. I loved the banter and teasing at the beginning of the story. Neither one is going to do anything, except push the other's buttons a bit. They both had a decent give and take, they poked at each other in a lighthearted, sexy way, and I liked how their story was progressing.

Nate and Lilly each had some emotional issues that started getting deeper as the story went on. By the midpoint, I was feeling rather depressed for the characters. These issues were big. Lilly and Nate are just such broken, disconnected people. Lilly has abandonment and trust issues that need to be worked out. Nate has the somewhat normal, romance novel guy issues of running from emotional entanglements, with the extra PTSD of war-zone proportions. They have some hot tension and closeness when they're stuck in a car together, but when night fell and they stopped driving, Lilly seemed to hit rock bottom... and then they had sex. I felt really let down that this was the point they had sex. They've been bantering and teasing all day and after all kinds of rejection from Nate, Lilly is dealing with her pain when Nate decides he's had enough of restraining himself. Eventually Lilly got into the encounter too, but I felt like Nate had “horny caveman” written all over him. I don't think he commented on her tears or anything, just barges in and starts on the foreplay.

As the story progressed, I liked Nate less and less. He got way alpha. He turned possessive, jealous, and demanding. And it felt like Lilly's personality shrunk in proportion to Nate's ballooning ego. She sort of went along with whatever he wanted and stopped introspecting about how to deal with her own insecurities. I saw her having a magical attraction to Nate, but I didn't really see Nate being the type of person that she'd want to be with. He didn't seem to add anything positive to her life.

By the end of the book, Nate and Lilly had worked out their relationship issues. Nate especially grew up enough emotionally to admit that he was in love and didn't want to keep running from connections. But I felt the rest of their personal issues were just dropped. They stopped introspecting about their very real personal issues and didn't seem to spend any time figuring out how this relationship would work. It just all magically disappeared for the sake of a happily ever after.

The story had a nice setting, good writing, and detailed characters, but I didn't think these two actually dealt with their issues or liked each other beyond their soul mate status. I was depressed through the second half of the book, but I was invested enough in the characters to finish and feel nice that they were happy at the end. I wish they had more time and space to grow as people. All in all, the book took about three hours to read and was worth it for the sexy tension, but without enough time spent on resolving the heavy emotions I couldn't commit myself to their happily ever after. I'll keep looking for more by this author, but this one isn't my favorite.

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


**This review is archived on my blog: The Theory Of Lieto Fine

Angeli by Jody Wallace

Angeli
by Jody Wallace
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

My Review:
Another one of those really hard book for me to rate. On the one hand, I really liked the writing, the adventure was fun and original, the sexual tension was good but realistic. Overall I was pleased with the pacing. But then there were lots of places where I had to put aside my questions and hope for answers at the end. Those answers never came. I don't actually know if this is just the first book in a series, so maybe the answers come later. But by the end of the book, I felt like the characters were just plugging along with a veil thrown over their heads, so they never saw beyond their own feet.

Adelita was tough and fatalistic. She got things done and had a good time doing them. I loved how she was drawn. She felt very real and she was able to integrate all parts of the situation pretty well. I liked how she could be emotionally vulnerable but also take charge and intelligent. She seemed to always have a plan and know what needed to be done without being clued in to all the details.

Gregori is an enhanced alien/humanoid. He was honorable, a little blundery, and ready to take on the world. He felt a little like the Wolverine, but with wings. The pain of his enhancements is sort of glossed over in a way that he just shrugs and says that's how things are. He seems like he's not that good around people and he was ok with Adelita taking charge when she felt like it. Not that he was all beta and bendable. He could be rather full of himself sometimes and an authoritarian know-it-all, but he was still flawed and Adelita was just as likely to be the one in charge as he was.


It felt like Adelita and Gregori were pretty perfectly matched to each other. They were able to support each other and care for each other in such unerringly precise ways. They fit together like puzzle pieces and their romance and sexual tension was well done without being over powering.

If this were a book written only for the romance, I'd give it four stars for the characters' interactions together. It had a happy ending for the romance portion of the story. But the romance and emotional tension was only about a third of the book. The rest was focused on the adventure and in those terms, I felt like I was just left hanging. Even Gregori and Adelita's part in the adventure seemed to be unclearly resolved at the end, so I was left frustrated and unfulfilled. Perhaps if I see a second book in the series, more of my questions will be answered and I won't feel so slighted, but right now I feel like I put all kinds of time into confusing myself. I did like the writing, so I still have plans to read more by this author.

#1 Comfort Food

There's always things like stew or chili or chicken noodle soup as comfort food, but growing up my favorite was always Cream Turkey. Not it's real name, not even a real, written down recipe. But it was always my favorite. A creamy sauce, lots of turkey, all poured over buttered bread. And if mom and dad were feeling especially like messing up the comfort food, add peas.

Now that I'm the grown up, I only remember to make this every now and then, but it's always a hit with the boys. Short Stuff eats an adult-sized serving and the Small Person is still on a half serving, but there's never any complaining. Mr. G. prefers it with corn and peas, so he gets a little side dish to pour on top.

We only used to have this near Thanksgiving when there would be fresh turkey, but now that Costco sells pre-cooked turkey breasts, we can have it anytime. A batch of this uses half a Costco turkey breast and will make at least two meals for the four of us.

Cream Turkey

1 stick butter
2/3 cup flour
2 cups water w/Better Than Bullion
4 cups milk
half a Costco pre-cooked turkey breast, sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
sliced bread
butter for the bread
frozen peas and corn (if desired)

Melt the butter in a medium pot. Add the flour. Stir until it's made a nice solid paste with the butter. Keep stirring and cooking for about a minute. Add the chicken stock (water and Better Than Bullion) and milk to the pot all at once. Stir constantly (in a figure eight shape) while cooking on medium to medium high heat. Keep cooking and stirring until the sauce starts to thicken. It should start to look like white gravy. (Don't get impatient. Give it time - probably about 5-10 minutes.) When it's close to gravy thickness, add the turkey (and the corn and peas if that's in your plan) and keep it on the heat (and stirring!) until the turkey is heated though - another 5 minutes maybe.

If you have a second person, you can toast and butter the bread while you're cooking the sauce, but do not skimp on the stirring. If you have to, just wait until it's all done cooking and off the heat, then take care of the bread. Once the bread is toasted and buttered, lay it flat on a plate and ladle out a scoop or so of the sauce and turkey onto each slice of bread. Sometimes a little salt and pepper on top can be extra nice but not necessary. Use a fork and knife to cut into bite-sized pieces so you can soak up plenty of sauce on each piece of bread.

The Horizon by Charlotte Stein

The Horizon
by Charlotte Stein
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
This was one of those really fun, sexy books. Charlotte Stein by herself is always a winner in my opinion, but Charlotte Stein does space cowboy is practically the cutest thing ever – in a filthy, sex-obsessed way of course. It's got cowboy slang with just a hint of british grammar, so it took some thinking on my part to understand the sentences, but those are some of the funnest books for me to read.

Imagine some alien species, somewhere between Cybermen from Doctor Who and Vidiians from Star Trek Voyager (the ones with the Phage), chasing and capturing two humanoid space pirates to do whatever sick, twisted things they do. Except for REASONS, the space pirates get away after being shot up with some neural toxin drug. What happens next is fun and crazy and erotic. And for as much as there is a rollicking adventure happening in the background, this story is about two people finding out they belong together.

Both characters are pretty tough and unemotional, so every little step they take towards each other feels so poignant, like their crossing miles just to say “I like you”. They fight all the time and it's all so raw and perfect. They're both sort-of awkward but comfortable in their skin and comfortable with exactly how the other is. They're not out to change each other and their fighting is always related to caring and tough-guy posturing. I loved watching them finally figure out their feelings and see a little bit of their sweet, soft underbellies.

This book is written in third person, so we get a nice mix of each of their feelings. This is not a really long book – somewhere around 100 pages. So it goes pretty quickly and it's the perfect therapy for the end of a busy day. It goes into my “read again whenever I need a pick me up” pile.

Romancing The Duke by Tessa Dare

Romancing The Duke
by Tessa Dare
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
Tessa Dare books are always on my must read list. I think you pretty much can't go wrong with any of them. No matter if it's my favorite one or not, I never pick one up and then wonder if it's the best choice for right now. Within 10 pages, I'm completely hooked. This one was no different. Sadly, I didn't have four hours to read in one day, but the book was in my hand every chance I got.

Izzy is her own personal fairy tale. Pretty much nothing goes how she'd like but everything has some thread of familiarity to it. I found her to be very amusing and relatable. She took all the bad and transformed it into something good. She was the ultimate lemons-to-lemonade woman. She takes whatever she can get, grabs whatever loveliness she can, and allows herself to be whoever she needs to be. That sounds confusing, but really it was just that she was fine acting in certain ways to keep up the impressions of who she was. In some books, that might be annoying (and it was to Ransom for a while), but she was strong enough to own who she was but still play a role when she felt like it. She wanted to give everyone else the fairy tale because life can be magical.

Ransom is scarred and cynical, but he also wasn't one to deny his feelings. He's the reformed bad-boy that everyone would like. He's got brothel receipts a mile long, but hasn't been with anyone since his accident. Izzy brings him back to the land of the living, but really she taught him how to believe again. It wasn't her dragging him along, but instead she showed Ransom the magic of friendships and life and fighting for what you want.

Tessa Dare has been writing Spindle Cove novels for so long that it was hard to remember no one in this book came from that world. This book had it's own complete cast of secondary characters. I didn't necessarily like all of them. Some of them were rather self-absorbed and inconsiderate. They weren't bad, but they also didn't make me long to see their own happily-ever-after. Bad guys are given almost no page-time in this book. The characters take their time to work out what they want and how they'll get there and it doesn't have much to do with the villains, even though there is a mystery with dishonest characters.

When you need a book to carry you away into a different world, this is the book for you. Like watching a engaging movie, this book made me happy. I liked reading it and I reveled in watching Izzy and Ransom's story unfold.

Green Veggie Cheesy Pasta

Here's the thing: if you've seen my recipes for a while, I'm always trying to get more green (and other colored) veggies into my children. They've generally accepted the idea of green, smooth sauces and soups as long as nothing is obviously leafy. I count that as a win, but sometimes you just have to push the boundaries a bit.

Enter the cauliflower. It's white! How can the kids object?! But my last couple efforts were a total failure. "There's something chunky in here." "Did you put cauliflower in here?" "I don't like this." and so on forever and ever amen. They managed cauliflower pizza crust ok because it's really cheesy but nothing with obvious veggie-ness.

Onto the experiment. Rice the cauliflower? check. Grind up spinach and onions? check. The boys saw me make the cauliflower. But I'm getting smarter to their ways. When we sat down to eat, before they even took a bite, they asked "does this have cauliflower in it?". Evasion... well, there's a lot of parmesan cheese. *Take bite* "I think I felt something chunky in here." It's probably just the parmesan cheese. A little more evasion and they both ate their whole bowl. Success. Hubby said it tastes a lot like a pizza.

Green Veggie Cheesy Pasta

1 head of cauliflower
6 oz spinach
1/2 an onion
1-1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbls butter
1 Tbls lemon juice
2-1/2 cups water
1 Tbls Better Than Bullion
a bunch of fresh mint leaves
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar jack or something fun)
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup whipping cream
16 oz pasta (cooked according to package directions)

Start by chopping up the cauliflower and sending it through the food processor/Vitamix until it's the size of rice or smaller (for the Vitamix, I process about 1/3 at a time). Put all processed cauliflower in a bowl and microwave, covered, for about 8 minutes.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Chop up the onion and sauté with the spinach and garlic in the melted butter. Cook until the onion is translucent and the spinach is all wilty.

Put the water and Better Than Bullion into the Vitamix, then add the onion and spinach mixture. Process on high for 15-30 seconds, until it's all smooth. Pour back into the saucepan. Chop up the mint leaves (I ended up with about 1/2 a cup of chopped mint). Add the lemon juice and mint to the saucepan along with the riced cauliflower. Cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add all of the cheeses and stir constantly until they're well melted. After the sauce is smooth again (except for the cauliflower of course), add the whipping cream and keep stirring until everything is warmed through and the same shade of green.

Pour over your prepared pasta (all together, or in individual bowls). Mix it up before you hand it out to the kiddies. Remind yourself to say "it's just parmesan cheese". Sit down and enjoy.

Man Hungry by Sabrina York

Man Hungry
by Sabrina York
Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

My Review:
This one was a lot shorter than I expected. It was pretty much three or four scenes. Jessica is set up by her friend on a blind date with the friend's cousin. The date has both of them pretending they got stood up and they have an emotionally charged one night stand.

I enjoyed the writing and it was a cute, short, sexy story. Some of the language made me laugh. This author seems to like some very specific, out of the ordinary romance novel words; like drool and ort (which I had to look up).

The one thing that did make me uncomfortable was the sense of slut shaming. For a rather erotic, sex filled story, you don't expect the use of the word slut in a somewhat derogatory tone. It makes me feel that Jessica didn't really own her sexuality when deciding to be with Justin. It wasn't really a pervasive attitude. It was more of a “I'm a teacher, so if I have a one night stand that makes me a slut”. Sort-of the expectation people have of her more so than whether what she did was right or wrong, but it still made me cringe that the solution was “since you don't normally do this, it makes you not a slut”.


So, overall an enjoyable, engaging read. Fun situations with humorous characters that have a good time together. But a little bit of female disempowerment thrown in to make me feel cheated out of a great resolution. I will keep buying more books by this author. It looks like I have a bit of a backlist to check out. I hope the other books are able to be sex positive, erotic stories instead of throwing in a bit of shaming towards the heroine's sexuality.

Making Over Maris by Sabrina York

Making Over Maris
by Sabrina York
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I had a few too many alpha-male, I-will-dominate-my-woman books lately so someone recommended I try this book. Nerdy and nice hero who's happy with the heroine taking charge. Seemed like the perfect recipe for what ailed me. I really liked how the book started off. Lots of good sexual tension, misunderstandings, and pining.

Sara was recovering from a bad relationship and was so nervous to show her true self. Jack had been in love with Sara forever and was finally ready to make his move. Jack decides to ask Sara to help give him a makeover. She gives him a list: gym, diet, clothes, haircut, even beard trim. She doesn't catch on that he's really doing all of this to make himself more attractive to her. And he'll pretty much do whatever she says. It was all very sweet.

I really liked how the two of them had to actually talk about what they wanted. They were both nervous but still took the initiative to check with each other before they got involved. It's such a refreshing change from just blundering along and thinking the other person doesn't really like you.

Once they started figuring the relationship out, it lost some steam in the tension department for me. It went from a bit of power play to rather kinky, femdom sex stuff pretty quickly and some of it was a little more hardcore than my cup of tea. But by the end, it traded in the sexual tension for emotional tugging. I was crying right near the end, it was very moving and courageous.

I found some of the writing to be rather choppy. Little details thrown in that didn't seem to have a set up or match with the rest of the story. Jack is this nerdy, shy hero, but then when the story needed it, Sara saw him as obviously a horn-dog who would go after anything in a skirt. They've been friends for years, but Sara knows almost nothing about Jack. The details that were thrown out made Sara seem like a self-centered cheerleader type, but all her actions in the story don't match up with that.

I had a really good time reading this story and I liked the storyline and the pace enough that I started another Sabrina York book right away. This was a fun story that takes two underrepresented romance characters and gives them a chance to shine.

Marine For Hire by Tawna Fenske

Marine For Hire
by Tawna Fenske
Rating: 4 of 5 stars


My Review:
This is a perfect evening story. I stayed up late for it, but didn't feel too guilty since it only took an extra hour. When you think military story, you think alpha tough guy male and the woman he's after. But this was so much better than that. Sam is military, but he's supposed to be hiding it from Sheri, on orders from her brother. He's doing a favor by being the manny for Sheri's twin 7-month-old sons.


There are a bunch of secrets here, including that Sam's had a crush on Sheri for years (after only one meeting). And I mean, it's a tongue tied, stumble around, sort of crush. It was so cute. Yeah, Sam was a tough guy and took his job seriously, but he messed up all the time and fumbled around trying to get his bearings. We could call him a nervous MacGyver who knows how to order take out when necessary.


Sheri was a good, solid character. She's confident and self-sufficient, but also vulnerable and stubborn. She doesn't always see the best in herself, but she makes no apologies for who she is. She's tough when she needs to be and I liked how confident she was in her own sexuality. I found her very attractive for that reason alone.


I can't wait for the next book in the series. This story gave me lots of happy feelings and was worth staying up for.

Driving Her Crazy by Amy Andrews

Driving Her Crazy
by Amy Andrews
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
Wounded hero, chatty insecure heroine, road trip across Australia. In this case, a recipe for awesome. I stayed up late for this book (and was cranky the next morning, obviously). It was enthralling and engaging. You can picture this being a nice, sweet romantic movie – just the right amount of adventure and sensuality with two wonderful characters.

Kent is the strong, silent type. He was injured as a photographer in a war zone and this was the first assignment he's taken since recovering. I liked that he was a good guy, generally ok with whatever, just doesn't like to talk. He and Sadie had some good, tension filled moments throughout their drive.

Sadie was really tough and seemed like a real go-getter, but had a lot of trouble trying to people-please. She has an eating problem, but it only manifests when she thinks someone will judge her for her size (in this case, an ex-boyfriend). Kent was able to convince her that she was beautiful just the way she was and it was quite an “awww” moment as she finally saw herself through his eyes. It was great to see her gain some confidence and go after what she wanted.

I love the Australian setting. All of the differing landscape, phrases, and foods were really fun for me to read about and twitter was great for the rogue phrase that I couldn't figure out. Where else will you learn about a jolly jumbuck?!


I was a little so-so on the ending. I wasn't really sure that Kent groveled enough for my liking and he did some stuff that was a little douchy, but Sadie was willing to forgive him so I forgave him too. This was a story filled with sexual tension, but very mild on the heat scale. It's a great comfort read and one that I'll probably read again when I have a free afternoon.

Calling His Bluff by Amy Jo Cousins

Calling His Bluff
by Amy Jo Cousins
Inside the HarlequinE Contemporary Romance Box Set, Volume 1
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
So far I've only read one book in this bundle: Calling His Bluff by Amy Jo Cousins. I bought the rest today and I'll read them soon. I really enjoyed this book. It was full of feelings and that special ability to be yourself and at the same time be whoever you want. The writing was funny and real and I fell in love with both characters right away. I think my favorite line was “It's like two polar bears crapped a giant frozen poo and they built a city on it.” Maybe not the favorite line for everyone, but I thought it was perfect and original.

This is book three in the series of the Tyler siblings. Sarah is the down to earth, bookish sibling. She seems introverted, but not too shy. Smart and determined as well. I liked her a lot. She's sort of stuck in this role and only allows herself freedom from it when she goes to Vegas. She likes who she is, but enjoys the freedom to be someone else too.

It just so happens that her brother's best friend comes back into town, whom she's had a huge crush on, kisses her, and in trying to pull his foot out of his mouth later, invites her to Vegas. J.D. sees a side of her that he's never seen before while in Vegas and finds even more reason to love her, because he's somewhat harbored a thing for her too. Things get a little out of hand when he says they got married on the night Sarah was too drunk to remember.

J.D., well, he's sort of emotionally young since he carried on the marriage charade for as long as he did. I didn't doubt for a minute that he loved Sarah, but we really didn't spend much time in his head to understand why he'd keep up the act. I mean, I got the whole little-boy-lost thing, but I was a little so-so on how easily he could spend time with Sarah without telling her the truth. Everything else about him seemed so mature and emotionally in-tune that it was hard to reconcile his ability to keep from saying anything.

I think some of this came down to the timeline jumps. There were a couple times when stuff happens, door closes for the end of the scene, and when you start the next chapter it seems to be the next day, but then you find out it's days or weeks later. It didn't interrupt my enjoyment, but they were the moments my brain had to screech to a stop and re-process before I could move on. I had trouble believing that J.D. and Sarah could practically live together for weeks without him saying something or her looking up the records or anything like that. Maybe in the end they both just wanted to believe the fairy tale.

J.D. and Sarah were really good together and they gave me some good, happy feelings. Both characters were grown ups with their emotions (barring the whole marriage thing) and knew how to deal with their issues. They were loyal and dependable. And in a great way, each character could be responsible without having it held against them. There wasn't really much conflict in the book. It was more the process of them finding out they were meant to be together, not really a story of them overcoming obstacles.

Neither character has very prominent friends in the book, but I loved seeing the Tyler family again. They didn't appear all that much in this book, but I love how supportive they are and all the ways they don't take themselves too seriously. They have a good time together and it feels almost like the perfect family.

Of the three books in the series, I've enjoyed this one the most so far, which is saying a lot because I liked the others too. It's a great addition to the family and I can't wait to read Maxie's story. While the story was pretty steamy, it did leave a lot of details behind closed doors. The pace was pretty quick and I was emotionally invested in these two. I was left with a happy, satisfied feeling.


I received a complementary ARC of this novel from the author.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a craving for peanut butter cookies recents and it's much harder than I thought to find a grain free version that's not simply peanut butter. I really wanted almond flour, but still with peanut butter. Then, if I'm making peanut butter cookies, it wouldn't be that complete without some chocolate chips thrown in. So, I found this recipe. I made a couple changes to avoid the refined sugar, so here's what I got. They turned out really yummy, although the boys voted for the plain chocolate chip cookies I made last time. Those will be next on the list to make again.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 cup butter, mostly melted
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (Skippy for me, cause that's the way I roll)
3/8 cup coconut sugar (this is 1/4 cup plus 2 tbls)
3/8 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2-1/2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Combine the butter, coconut oil and peanut butter. Stir until everything is smooth (no chunks of coconut oil). Add the coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and eggs. Beat well. In the Vitamix, process one cup of almonds at a time until it's like flour and pour finished flour into a separate bowl. (Note: to get an even consistency, I found that NOT using the tamper at all was a better way to go here.) Once all almonds are processed, add baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder to the almonds and stir until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until there aren't any dry lumps. Stir in the chocolate chips.

I used a 1-inch cookie scoop and got about 34 cookies. Place the cookies about two inches apart on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (aluminum is my favorite) and bake in a 350 degree oven for 11--15 minutes. I needed the maximum time, if not a little extra, otherwise the cookies were too squishy when I took them off the pan. This made the edges slightly crisp, with a nice, soft inside. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack, at least until you can pick them up and eat them.