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


Sunday, August 1, 2010

Reading Update

I should be doing another vacation post after the most amazing weekend ever. :-) But I'm exhausted and have a gazillion pictures to wade through so maybe tomorrow I'll get something up. The pool party and seeing a bunch of new and old friends was great this weekend. I did get some reading done in the morning while we had a lay in. The kid slept, I read.

Police Navidad: Inches of Trust 6 by AR Moler (16 pages)
Torquere Books

Arrgghh. I swore no more books in this series but I just can't help myself. Sigh. I adore Tristan and Brian but once again I was like "That's it? It's over? Huh?" I really need more. Anyway, it's Christmas and Tristan is on desk duty after his tumble down the subway stairs and he promises to spend Christmas night with Brian at friends. He shows up and admits his parents actually invited a girl over to try and hook him up Christmas eve. The next morning Tristan's mother arrives catching them partially nekkid and tells Tristan he has to quit his job and move home and Brian tells her to back the hell off and leave. The end. What? How can you end there? Brian finally tells Tristan how he feels and it was really sweet but I find these stories told in one chapter (more or less) increments very frustrating. Personally, I would have liked to see this whole story as a proper novel or novella. I really enjoy this author's writing and the characters so that's why I keep coming back, but a part of me resents the way it's set up "forcing" me to do so.

Good to Be Home by Jaime Samms (60 pages)
Love You Divine

This is the follow-up to the challenge story that Jaime wrote for Kris called Who Says Shamrocks Aren't Lucky. You really need to go and read that great freebie first. In this story Ian got fired and David left his sugar Daddy (Ian's boss) and they've been practically living together ever since although Ian senses David's skittishness. Suddenly they get a call from the big studio boss to come in and says Ian's old boss has been fired and he wants Ian to take over and David to take on Ian's job. Ian's getting a real weird vibe between David and the boss and sees some things that David doesn't really deny to lead him to believe that David and the boss are sleeping together. What's a guy to do? Get some advice from friends and coworkers and go after his man. :-) This was a very nice follow-up with a lot more detail about the characters, well Ian since it's first person, but you got a nice sense of who they are and how they think and why. I really enjoyed this one.

Carnal Intentions by Stephani Hecht (134 pages)
eXtasy Books

This is book 4 in the shifter series and it's Mitchell's story, the alpha of the pack. Chris, the alpha wolf, and his brother Dean come to Mitchell to offer them information on one of the lost brothers who has been badly beaten and abused and is to be auctioned off. You find out that Dean and Mitchell had a thing 3 years ago and have been having an on-line affair since as Dean refuses to leave his pack and brother. Chris is not being quite honest about giving them the information out of the goodness of his heart, and while Dean can't tell Mitchell what's up, he warns him enough for him to figure it out. Finally Mitchell says he can't do it anymore, Dean has to choose. To be honest most of this book seemed to be about their brother Noah and what he went through, some of it I had to read with one eye shut because it bothered me so, and the rescue efforts. I think he's going to need some serious therapy in the next book. Because it kind of jumped into Mitchell and Dean's relationship there wasn't the build-up you get as they had 3 years of history, but I was happy Mitchell got someone to maybe smooth his life a bit under the heavy cloak of leading everyone. Looking forward to the next book and I thought seeing Cassie maybe find someone was nice too even if I'm not into m/f these days. It was a nice touch.

19 comments:

Lily said...

I'm glad you had a great time at the pool party. I'm looking forward to the pictures!

As for the books, I haven't read any of these. They sound good though. :)

Tam said...

Unless you want to be frustrated stay away from the first one Lily. LOL Maybe Torquere will release them all as a book someday, then I'd say definitely get it.

The others were good reads too and I really enjoy Stephani's series.

Average Reader said...

Hmmm, not sure about these stories. I know, I'm definitely a little biased against short story length as well as coming into the middle of a series. Great reviews! You and Lily set such a good example for me with how fast/much you read. :)

Tam said...

Definitely don't come in the middle Val. You'll go crazy. If you've read Jaime's story at Kris' it's fun to see a more in-depth follow-up of the guys though.

I do tend to read fast and on vacation when I wake up around 8:30 and the kid wakes around 10:30 or 11:00 I don't have much to do but sit in the hotel room and read. Which is nice. :-)

Chris said...

You caved on the AR Moler! I'm cutting myself off. I can see that one going FOREVER....

Oh, I didn't realize Jaime's follow-up was out. Thanks for the heads up!

And I asked Stephani about Cassie a while ago - if I remember correctly, she won't get her own book, but her story will be part of one of the others.

Tam said...

Sigh. Baaaaaa! Call me a sheep.

Not to sound harsh, but I likely wouldn't read a purely m/f book but I like the idea of her story kind of being woven in to the others, letting us know what's happening without a total focus on it.

Sweet Vernal Zephyr said...

We went to a pool party this weekend too! :D It was nice to lay out in the sun. I haven't read any of your reads but Good To Be Home sounds nice... especially since I have read the shamrock story.

Tam said...

Well, I'm not much of one for laying in the sun, but the company was excellent so I can't complain. :-)

It was a nice follow-up that fleshed out the characters, I quite enjoyed it.

Jaime Samms said...

Thanks for the nice comments, Tam :) FYI, I just handed book three of the Irish Lovers' series in to my editor this morning, so there's more of Ian and David to come. It sounds like you're having a great summer. Yay!

Jaime

Anonymous said...

I just bought the Hecht book last night.

I haven't read anything by Molar. That last name bothers me. It makes me think of an evil dentist.

Tam said...

Glad to hear that Jaime. It was a fun follow-up that really gave your original depth. Looking forward to seeing what they get up to next. :-)

LOL Too funny Eyre. It's amazing how stuff like that will work for or against us. I do like the writing but the six shorties is frustrating despite my liking the characters. Hope you enjoy Stephani's.

Kris said...

I'm glad you liked Jaime's story, Tam. It was so great to revisit these characters.

Tam said...

The shorts on your site are great but it's nice to get a real feel for the characters through a longer piece. You are an inspiration my dear. :-)

Jaime Samms said...

Kris sure did inspire me! Her challenge was so much fun!!!

Erotic Horizon said...

I enjoyed the Hecht book alot.. as usual...

I am looking forward to the next really long book you read... you have overloaded my list with these shorts..

:)

Tam said...

Sorry EH. LOL Hopefully after I get home I can focus on something a bit longer. On vacation I only have short bits to read so I read short stories so I don't have to try and remember what I read 2 days ago.

Stephani Hecht said...

Thanks for review and thanks for all the nice comments! I have a little update on the Lost Shifter Series. I fell in love with Noah so much I've decided to give him a Christmas short story.

Chris said...

Exciting news, Stephani!

Tam said...

Ohhh. Nice Stephani. Looking forward to it. I felt for him so much, my heart broke a little.