Special thanks to Leontine from Leontine's Book Realm for the super header.


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday Tastes

Hope everyone in the US enjoyed your day off yesterday. Back to a 5 day week for me. But only 3 weeks and then I'm off for two. Looking forward to that, although another couple of thousand kilometres driven. Ah well, it will be worth it. We are melting up here. It's going to be 44C (111F) with the humidity today. I'm really hoping my daughter's outdoor riding lesson is cancelled. That can't be good for the horse or the kid. Ugh. It's supposed to stay like this all week, which means trying not to turn on the stove in my un-air-conditioned house and hope that the unit in my bedroom doesn't die or we blow the power grid around here. Stay cool.

Love Struck by K.T. Grant (150 pages)

Why are there two women on that cover you ask? Is it a generic cover? Nope, two women and I read it. :-) Jenny is a 25 year old business student who works part-time at a very upscale hotel. One day the hotel mogul shows up to interview the staff. Barbara is struck by Jenny (who she literally ran into a while ago at Starbucks) and is determined to get her into bed despite the fact that Jenny is 10 years younger and an employee. They finally hook-up and things are going along not bad until Jenny finds out the real reason for the interviews and feels that Barbara was hiding things from her. They have a falling out which of course because it's a romance, they work out. So how was my first all f/f book? Hmmm. I don't think I'll be changing genres, but it wasn't bad. I saw lots of parallels with m/m, the more aggressive alpha who is rich and gets their way, the younger innocent who makes them behave out of character. Although despite Jenny being 10 years younger she seemed to have her head screwed on straighter than Barbara who did stupid things like have sex with her in a public bathroom at work. Sheesh. But then Jenny got that "frozen deer in the headlights" thing going on, but I liked her more than Barbara who was soooo aggressive and was all just sex sex sex. Now I'm wondering if that was my innate prejudice coming through and if she'd been a man if it would have annoyed me so much. Made me think anyway. So if you'd like to give another genre a whirl I would recommend this book. It's nicely done, the sex is pretty steamy (even if words for girl parts always sound more rude than boy parts) and I liked Jenny's friends that she works with a lot. I'd love to read her male roommate's story. He needs a man. :-D

Knights of Pleasure by Simone Anderson (104 pages)

Dean is recovering from a bad injury he got in Iraq where he nearly lost his leg. He needs a cane to walk and has PTSD. He goes with his sister to the Renaissance Fair as she's been hanging out with the performers since her divorce. Dean meets Ethan, one of the knights and is instantly attracted and it's mutual. Ethan ends up taking him home that night and explains that he is a Dom and is looking for a "slave" and wants Dean to try it for a week. Dean's surprised as a marine that he likes this and is a bit confused but willing to try. Things are going pretty well but when Dean is injured during one of the shows trying to save a small boy, Ethan blames himself and they have a major falling out until Dean's Dad kicks Ethan's ass. Not literally. I enjoyed how it dealt with Dean feeling some confusion about what Ethan wanted and the fact that a strong independent marine would want to be submissive. I did find though that when he raised it with his sister, she seemed to know all about it and was throwing out terms like power exchange and that she would be a switch. It just seemed like she knew a lot for someone who wasn't in the lifestyle. But I liked that Dean was damaged physically and emotionally and he wasn't cured by the magical healing cock. I assume there will be other stories as it has the name of the restaurant Ethan owned with his two gay partners on the cover. So I presume they'll get their stories. I'd read them although as with this publisher there were a lot of errors in the first half that pulled me out of the story, but the second half was better and had far fewer (or I got used to them but I don't think so).

Chasing Butterflies by Cat Kane (68 pages)

Nolan is trying to get to Savannah where he is going to manage his friend's bar when he's on vacation after Nolan's BF suggested they "take a break". Everyone figures Nolan is a screw-up who can't do anything, so he's determined to prove them wrong and when the planes aren't running he rents a car and heads off. He ends up with car trouble in a small town just as their butterfly festival is about to start. At the guest house he meets Gray who charms his way into sharing his room because he's had a fight and can't go home. Needless to say things progress quickly despite Nolan knowing it's a bad move and that he's leaving soon. Maybe not so soon, the parts aren't there so he's stuck. He and Gray have a falling out when a BM takes place and Nolan's ex shows up to bail him out. The misunderstanding is pretty complicated and I don't really blame Nolan for thinking what he thought, but I hate when people talk around something "Oh, I can't talk about their business" kind of thing but drop just enough hints to fuck everything up. I was also happy to see Nolan grow a spine and stand up to his ex, and even Gray, doing what was right. So despite the BM which usually makes me crazy (and it was clarified within 24 hours so didn't drag on) it was an entertaining read and I really liked Gray's personality when he wasn't all defensive and stupid and Nolan was likable as well. :-)

26 comments:

Erotic Horizon said...

Knights of Pleasure by Simone Anderson - Sold Hon..

While I don't like military books much - I do like books where men come home from war and are torn either physically or emotionally... those books can be very gut-wrenching

I like the Kane book as well - sounds cute...

Congrats on you first f/f book - I haven't read that one yet - I am still worknig my way through a few others I have..

E.H>

Chris said...

Hmm. Nothing's really crying out for me to rush off and buy it...

Not quite as hot here, but still really sticky. The nice thing about my wee condo is that the wall unit can cool/dry the whole place.

Jenre said...

Blogger hates me.

I like the sound of the second one, but not so keen on the BM which may annoy me about the third one.

The weather here has been really warm but has turned cooler in the last couple of days. I hope this doesn't mean that our summer is now over :(.

Tam said...

Okay, blogger is acting up. The first two posts didn't show and now they did, so if you post and get a big fat nada, be patient. I'll acknowledge you by e-mail.

Sweet Vernal Zephyr said...

Oh, Lovestruck is waiting for me!

And we are sweatin' here too in Upstate NY. BBQ dinners and cold salads. No oven. Maybe the breadmaker.

Keep cool! Think about ice cubes *evil smile*

Tam said...

I no longer have a BBQ. My old one died and I so rarely used it I never replaced it. Tonight though is bread, cheese, sausage and ice-cream. LOL I sometimes put my crockpot out in the garage when it's hot, at least it doesn't heat up the house. My poor little window a/c is working hard. I'm just hoping we don't have a power failure due to excessive use.

Thankfully they cancelled my daughter's riding lesson today. It is tooooo hot to be out in the sun doing anything.

Tam said...

I hope this means that blogger is back up and working properly.

Erotic Horizon said...

Blogger is really getting ot now..

At least you can see your comment - I know mine are there but I can't even comment my own blog... for about a week now... Blogger has told me they are looking into it..

It seem to be spreading instead of sorting itself out..

E.h>

Tam said...

Weird because I can see your's now. I hope it doesn't get worse because I REALLY don't want to have to find a new site. Blech.

KT Grant said...

I still can't believe Barbara would do such wicked things to Jenny in the bathroom! Tsk tsk. :P

Thanks for taking a chance and reading Lovestruck.

Tam said...

She was very naughty. While it might not be my genre, I think a lot of people will like the dynamic and enjoy it muchly. Good luck with future books.

Stephani Hecht said...

It's so hot here in Michigan that I'm refusing to even open my blinds. I would rather be in the dark and stay cool. They say our heat streak is supposed to snap around Thursday.

Tam said...

Same here Stephani. I'll be happy it it drops to the low 90's with humidity rather than 110. It will feel downright balmy.

Average Reader said...

Whoa, Tam, that's horribly hot for Canada (or maybe that's normal?). We're actually starting to get our annual three-days-of-rain out here in the desert. As for the books, they all sound good. Great summaries!

Tam said...

Definitely waaaaay above normal Val. We should be in the 80's I think. We're supposed to get a slight break at the end of the week. I hope.

There were small niggles with each one, but in general they were entertaining reads which is what it's all about. :-) Enjoy your rain.

Tracy said...

I don't think either of those m/m books are appealing to me, sad to say. I guess that's good for the wallet. lol I have Lovestruck.

It was actually cool and overcast this morning which was nice after the 90's we've been in lately. The sun's coming out now that it's 1:30pm but I don't think it will quite get to the "scorcher" category today. :)

Tam said...

I sometimes appreciate it when a book doesn't appeal to me Tracy. Does help the wallet.

I'm sort of getting concerned that on my walk to the car I didn't think it was all THAT bad. It's frightening when you start to think 111F is hot, but not unbearable. LOL

Lily said...

Knights of Pleasure was an ok read for me. I had a bit of a problem with Ethan's attitude sometimes.

It's been a while since I read a f/f but it sounds like a nice story. The third one sounds good but reminds me a bit of A Tender Rough by Fae Sutherland.

From what I heard all day long dealing with clients the Northwest is unseasonably hot. Everyone was complaining about it. We were only about 90 today. Not bad for this time of year. Hope it lets up quick for you.

Tam said...

It wasn't without it's problems Lily but it was nice to see someone who wasn't cured instantly by love.

I've never read that story by Fae Sutherland so not sure.

It's already 31C here (91F) with the humidity at 7:00. Another scorcher. Just keeping the house closed up, blinds pulled and my poor little a/c chugging away.

Janna said...

Wow, you're having a serious heat wave! ugh!

Those m/m books sound both interesting. I saw that the Cat Kane one is from Liquid Silver and somehow I can't buy from their store directly, access to their server is forbidden *g*. So I have to wait until it's available at FictionWise... Not necessarily a bad thing ;)

Tam said...

That's weird they won't let you buy. Oh well, sometimes if you wait, the desire wears off and it saves you some money. :-)

I'm quite tired of the heat. Sigh.

Janna said...

Oh well, sometimes if you wait, the desire wears off and it saves you some money. :-)

You're right, that happens a lot, to my CC's relief, lol!

Polt said...

I believe that's a Brett Corrigan butt you're showing today...and that makes return trips to Tams Reads a necessity! :)

HUGS...

Tam said...

Indeed it is. Love the little blue star.

Jenre said...

Who's looking at the blue star? Not me that's for sure. He has the most gorgeous peachy arse that just makes you want to lean over and take a bite :).

Tam said...

He does Jen. Guess that's part of what makes him so good at his "job".