My Weekly Reading (10-21-12 and 10-28-12)

I was ready to incredulously declare this a smut-free week until I remembered that I read a book by Charlotte Stein, who writes some of the filthiest books I have ever read.   Oh well.  Nuts to that.


The Best...

Remember a few weeks back when I said I was hoarding Karina Bliss' backlist?  Well, I was in just the right mood for some short category romances so I raided the whole stash.

Like Father Like Son - Karina Bliss

I really liked this one. A spunky teacher helps a divorced dad connect with his ten-year-old daughter and then the two fall into a short-term relationship (that turns complicated, naturally) before she's set to return home to New Zealand.  The romance was really enjoyable.  However, this book is part of a multi-author series, and a significant portion of the story is taken over by the overarching familial drama.  While I found that stuff to be rather confusing and hard to keep track of, I also found it interesting enough (and superbly soap-y) to make me consider tracking down the other books in the series.

Second Chance Family - Karina Bliss

Man, Karina Bliss sure has a knack for writing about grief.  Tragedy and the failure to deal with the raw grief destroyed Jack and Ros' marriage.  Another tragedy, the sudden death of Jack's brother and sister-in-law and the unexpected guardianship of their three kids (two precocious moppets and a surly teenager)  gives them the opportunity to do things right the second time around.  I really enjoyed this book.  I liked that the turn-around isn't instant.  It takes a lot of time for Jack to come around to the idea that he's even capable of being a husband and a father again and I appreciated that.


The Rest...

Salvation In Death [In Death # 27] by J.D. Robb:  This was alright but nothing special.  The murder case involves a Catholic priest poisoned with the sacramental wine at a massive funeral mass. The case was solid and went in an interesting direction. There's not a lot of personal stuff going in in the background with Eve and Roarke and the gang though, and I've found that's the stuff I most look forward to in an "In Death" book

In other news, I'm like 6 books away from being caught up to the paperback releases of this series.  Gah.  I don't want to catch up!  Then I'll have to wait in dreaded anticipation like everybody else. (Amazon||Goodreads)


Breathe [Colorado Mountain Series #4] by Kristen Ashley:  Good cop Chase Keaton is finally out from under the thumb of some really dirty cops but he still doesn't think he's worthy of good in his life.  Geeky librarian and general sweetheart Faye thinks otherwise.  The romance was cute.  The suspense elements were interesting but the heroics at the end were way out of left field.  It felt very much like "Well, this is the Colorado Mountain Series so it's time for the heroine to be put in danger, now go!" 

Also, Faye's a major sci-fi/fantasy geek and the geeky hot-girl cliches made me ground my teeth at first.  However, Faye ultimately won me over with her crazy geek ranting when she got majorly pissed off.  She made me laugh when she told her mother she was mad enough at her to strand her on a planet with Gaius Baltar as punishment but she absolutely slayed me me when she went later went into a long descriptive rant about how exactly Chase's Dad is a worse father than Darth Vader.  Hah.  (Amazon||Goodreads)


Mr. Irresistable [Lost Boys #2] by Karina Bliss: This one didn't work for me.  I believed that the characters liked each other but I completely balked at the declarations of love.  It didn't seem in-character for either of those characters to declare love that fast (only a few days!). (Amazon||Goodreads)

Deep Desires by Charlotte Stein:  Nobody writes smut like Charlotte Stein and it's one of the reasons I love her filthy filthy books.  Unfortunately, I didn't like this one much as it's a story about two severely damaged people so it's a lot darker and somewhat more disturbing than Stein's usual books.  This was just not a favorite of mine as dark and twisty is not really my thing. (Amazon||GoodReads)

Care And Feeding Of A Pirates [Regency Pirates #3] by Jennifer Ashley: This was a rather disappointing ending to a charming series. I think my biggest problem was the lack of playfulness and fun. Seriously, even the "removing splinters from butt cheeks" scene was dry and humorless. There also wasn't much conflict or real plot to be had. (Amazon||GoodReads)

Star-Crossed [Battered Hearts #2] by Kele Moon: I was really looking forward to this book, so much so that I skipped the first one in the series to jump right in.  It did not work for me.  I liked Romeo and Juliet (yes, that's for real) together as a couple.  They had great chemistry.  Unfortunately, I just couldn't engage with the story and I think that largely had to do with some ticks and quirks of the writing that irritated me. (Amazon||Goodreads)


Next Up:  A controversial 90's romance novel gets it's very own post.  And in other news, I'm all caught up, bitches!!!  Ahahahahaha!!  I thought this day would never come.