Vixenwriter

It’s a pretty darned good time in the release biz these days – so many fabulous books out right now, many of them right next to my bed in a pile OSHA would probably say is unsafe.

I’d mentioned on Twitter a few weeks back that I was on a contemporary binge and asked for book recommendations – people brought up Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down over and over, which is awesome because I already had it and was all set to get cracking.

And I wasn’t sorry when I picked it up to get started. Talk Me Down has several of my very favorite story tropes – cops, small towns, girl returning home after being in the big city and oh my, the older, seemingly unattanable best friend of an older brother. That Victoria Dahl uses all these but in a way that touches on WHY we like them, but adds some twists to make it hers, is just the icing on the cake.

Talk Me Down has great dialog, the sexual chemistry is off the charts and the heroine is fabulously self aware when it comes to what she likes and how she likes it. The hero is the perfect combo of sensitive guy and big burly protector. Dahl manages to keep the book sexy without being vulgar, and contemporary without seeming like a parody. In short, I thought it was a wonderful read.

Let me tell you about my favorite scene, shall I? (Over at Dane/Hart I went all giddy about this scene so if this is a repeat for you, I apologize)

Okay so we’ve got this woman who has had a thing for Ben, her older brother’s best friend, since forever. Obviously I don’t want to give spoilers but it’s pretty clear they become a couple (it’s even in the blurb). But Dahl takes something Molly witnessed some years before between Ben and another woman and she turns it on its ear. Dahl takes this interlude between Molly and Ben all these years later and it’s just one of the hottest love scenes I’ve read in a book in a very long time – because Dahl uses that longing, uses all that desire Molly has had and when she looks up at Ben and says she always wanted it to be her, she wanted to be the one on her knees there with him…whooooo, guh!

I highly recommend it!

I also mentioned this a bit ago but I read Jeri Smith Ready’s Bad To the Bone, the follow up to Wicked Game and wow. Just wow.

If you haven’t read any of Jeri’s books yet, you really should. Well, only if you like tightly written worlds with really interesting characters with a vampire storyline like you’ve never heard before.

In this world, vampires sort of mentally freeze in whatever era they were made vampires. With this, she creates this sense of timelessness, of all times and no times at all – and it works. And then, she puts these vampires into a radio station where each vampire does a show based on the time they were made. It’s really very clever and unique and totally well done.

She picks up a while after Wicked Game ends – with Shane (think grunge poet) and Ciara working on their relationship, her issues, his attempts to not get bogged down in the decade he was made and oh yeah, crazy freaks who have decided to jam the radio signal every time a female singer or the lone female vampire DJ has a show.

Bad To the Bone is, quite simply put, one of the best books I’ve read this year. Great dialog. I’m not exaggerating when I say the world is tightly built. There aren’t any huge plot holes like you might see in some books, there are reasons why, or people want to know why if the reasons aren’t articulated or known yet. The characters are flawed but not stupid, they’re the kind of characters you can’t stop reading about. You want to know more. Ciara is my favorite kind of UF heroine, she is growing, she’s not just angry all the time for no apparent reason. She learns and she grows and I like her a lot.

Bad to the Bone is a great follow up to what was a great series opener. I really can’t wait to read what she’s got in store for us next.

Next week, I’ll be talking about SJ Day’s newest Eve book – Eve of Destruction (speaking of totally awesome UF books)
Bad

Cynthia Eden’s Midnight Sins – This is the second book in Eden’s Midnight Trilogy and gives us Detective Todd Brooks’ story (Collin’s partner we meet in Eden’s most excellent Hotter After Midnight).

Eden’s universe where the existence of Others is a secret but an endangered one is clever and her characters are engaging and three dimensional. The suspense element is well done without being over the top or totally wallpaper.

You actually care about Cara, the heroine who also happens to be a succubus on the sex wagon at the beginning of the book – the chemistry between Cara and Todd is instant, even when she’s a murder suspect. Eden does a great job at giving us two main characters who are flawed but also believable and likeable.

Sexy, smart, some great twists – Midnight Sins is a great read! I can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy!

Jordan Summers’ Red - I cannot say enough about Jordan Summers’ Red – the book is tightly written, well done, sexy, smart, scary, edgy, dark, even sweet in places. There is absolutely nothing typical or cliche about Red – the book is entirely unexpected from the first person POV of the villain, who remains a mystery until the end (although I did figure it out about 70% in, it was still very well done) to the heroine, who, while being a kickass type, isn’t cardboard or stupid.

The world Summers builds is unique and interesting, complex and layered. Red and Morgan are a sexy match – a very alpha wolf and a very alpha cop/soldier and it works.

There are moments definitely NOT for the squeamish. The killer is a werewolf after all – totally unstable and insane. His crimes are not pretty. At the same time, I didn’t feel the description was unnecessary or manipulative at all. This is what Red is facing, this is the crime that drives her to finally snap free from what is expected of her and to find justice for the victim.

Brava to Jordan Summers for taking the risk in writing this book and also a big brava to TOR for taking a chance on something as unexpected as Red.

Beth Kery’s Wicked Burn – I was lucky enough to get an early peek at this spicy, complicated and darkly sexy read from Beth Kery some months back and I knew others would be as compelled as I was.

Vic is an uber alpha, dominant, domineering and arrogant, Kery walks a line with him but it works. The combination with Niall, who is less confident, more hesitant and yet, has a strength of her own – is explosive and emotional.

Kery has done a great job with Wicked Burn!

Eve Kenin – Hidden – In Kenin’s follow up to last year’s Driven, readers return to her post-apocalyptic world and she takes them on a ride just as exhilerating as before.

I love me some post apocalyptic books and with Driven and Hidden, Kenin delivers some fabulous worldbuilding! Her characters breathe and the reader wants to know more about them, cares about them, gets mad on their behalf.

Tatiana is broken and on a mission to find the mysterious Tolliver, the man who has the key to finding the lab where she was kept prisoner and experimented on for most of her life. In her search she runs into Tristan and sparks fly from the start.

Tristan has secrets of his own and he’s also drawn to Tatiana, a woman whose strength and independence he admires. The two do a dance of secrets (I won’t be more specific so as to spoil the plot) but there’s suspense, romance, danger and a surprising vein of sweetness all wrapped up into a really wonderful package.

I’ve read a lot of really good books of late. So many I keep having to write about several and put more off until the next week, LOL.

First off, Nalini Singh’s Hostage to Pleasure

It’s no secret how much I love Nalini’s books. The world she’s created with her changelings and the Psy is riveting and unique and her characters just as much.

I’ve been waiting to see what she’d do with Dorian, a shifter who is unable to take his animal form, a man tortured by the horrible murder of his sister by a Psy madman. It’s made him blinded by his need for vengeance in many ways while still honor bound to protect his family of changelings.

Singh gives him the challenge of having to protect a Psy, a woman he hates on principle because she’s one of “them” But Ashaya is also a mother, a woman who has lived the lie of silence on the outside while doing all she could to protect her child (and two others by helping them escape in a previous book) and now he’s having to deal with the fact that things are never what they seem. His riotous reaction to her nearness, her scent, his need to protect her, his desire for her, is at war with anger and guilt.

Shaya has secrets about her twin, big ones and that doesn’t help his natural distrust. But she’s not a doormat or a wilting flower. In fact, she’s one of my favorite Singh heroines to date. She’s strong and will do whatever it takes to protect her son. I liked that about her. I liked her approach to Dorian, her desire for him, to heal him, her fear of feeling anything for him. When they come together it’s authentic, not forced. It’s sexy and romantic and Dorian is uber alpha all the way.

This one is in my top three books in this series. Well done!

Shelly Laurenston’s The Beast In Him

I discovered Shelly Laurenston through her anthologies with Cynthia Eden (a favorite of mine) and I’ve been working my way through her books ever since. It’s very hard to write humor effectively, there’s a balance and Laurenston seems to know just how far to push, even when she’s pushing way harder than other authors would in her genre. Simply put, her books have really great and unexpected humor along with unconventional characters, weird characters that if I read someone describing I’d wonder why on earth I’d want to read about them, but I do and I love every one.

The Beast In Him gives us Smitty’s story and it’s one of my faves, the reunion/friends to lovers story. Only Jessie Ann does not run into his arms, grateful to see him again like he expects, no, she pretends like she doesn’t know him and gives him all sorts of trouble.

It works because he’s such an alpha he needs to be taken down a few pegs, even though everything he does, he does for everyone else’s good. Again, I can’t explain WHY it works, she just does it and makes it seem easy.

I have a thing about shifters, I generally stay away from those that aren’t wolves or big cats but Laurenston can write dragons or wild dogs and I love them. She’s got talent and I’m quite happy to read everything she puts out there!

Laurell K Hamilton’s Swallowing Darkness

Folks, I gotta say, I was really impressed with this book. It’s very light on sex. There were two scenes, one that wasn’t quite finished but where the title comes from, yes, that’s what it means and one I felt was unnecessary to describe as much as she did and with the characters she used, although I understood why she did it, I felt like it took away from the main character relationships.

However, this is urban fantasy far more than romance. The action is well done, Merry is in danger pretty much from page one but she’s not whining, she’s not desired by everyone and she’s not a passive victim. She’s out for vengeance and fully aware of the stakes now that she’s pregnant. I liked this Merry a lot. I liked Merry using her hand of blood without apology. I liked Merry telling Doyle how she felt. I liked her men not pouting (there was a tiny bit but not too much).

In short, this, to me, was the LKH whose writing I fell in love with, the plot was strong, it stayed on course, there weren’t four zillion characters and a bunch of threads left undone. In fact, she could end the series right now if she chose (though I hear there’s another book coming). But she makes choices, she’s active in her future, they’re hard choices and she makes them with the sort of ruthlessness she’s been missing in the last two books or so.

Swallowing Darkness was very well done and I’m glad I grabbed it.

Perfect Kisses – Susan Johnson, Sylvia Day and Noelle Mack

I was lucky enough to have the ever so fabulous Sylvia Day drop this into my hands at RT in April. I love Sylvia’s writing, she’s one of those people who can go from historicals to paranormals without blinking and have me grabbing up everything she writes.

So it’s not that big a surprise that it was her story Mischief and The Marquess that was my fave of the three. The reunion/friends to lovers theme which I always gravitate toward – with a wonderfully non virginal character who’s been disgraced and her childhood friend now whooo hot guh sexay and wanting to make her his at looong last. The sex doesn’t happen right off but the tension is there and drawn very well. The cast of characters is interesting and you care about them, you want to know more.

Johnson’s School For Scandal was another story I really liked although I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. She wrote some lovely romantic and sexy scenes, she gave readers a wonderful heroine who likes sexin (thank goodness!) and who knows what she likes and isn’t afraid to ask for it. And a hero who isn’t freaked by that quality at all, which made me really like him

Mack’s Ruby Kisses had the least amount of sexin and romance of the three stories but a different sort of setting than a regency ballroom, which I always like (although I am a hooor for ballrooms and pretty dresses, sue me). I think if she’d had about 15K more, she could have fleshed out what was a very complicated story to make it far more satisfying. I can see what she was going for and I liked that part, but I wanted more and found the wordcount stifled her ability to get me there. Still, I like Mack’s writing!

Again, there was more but I’m off to get some writing done before my kids riot for lunch. Have a great Saturday!

I have to open with a tease about how I read Ann Aguirre’s Skin Game over the last few days and it’s AWESOME. I’ll do a review much closer to her actual release day (next year) but you’re going to love it. Reyes is my favorite of all her heroes so far. He’s totally, guh.

Lisa Kleypas – Seduce Me At Sunrise - I wasn’t sure how I’d like this book after meeting Kev and Win in Mine Until Midnight (which I absolutely adored). I shouldn’t have worried. Kleypas walks a wonderful line between angst, societal realities regarding race and class and terrible longing.

Kev and Win have loved each other since they were children but he knows he can’t have her. She’s white, the sister of a titled noble and he’s Rom. He loves her so much he resists her, pushing her away even though he wants nothing else in the world more than her.

On the other hand Win has been very ill and has finally regained her strength and vitality. She thinks Kev’s protests are silly but after getting pushed away so often,she sets her sights elsewhere because she wants a husband and children.

The push and pull is painful at times but well done. the romance is beautiful, the love scenes dont’ come too soon and fit just perfect with who this couple is.

Susan Andersen – Cutting Loose – I’m a big fan of Susan Andersen. I love her humor and her writing. Loved the beginning. Loved the characters, especially in the beginning but toward the end of the middle I found myself skimming a bit. The story picked up again in the last bit though. All in all, a very satisfying read.

Shelly Laurenston’s The Mane Event – I love Laurenston’s humor. Humor is very hard to keep up and to have so much of it, to essentially have it be your trademark and in a good way, is really difficult. And yet, she does it well.

The Mane Event is two novellas – Christmas Pride (my favorite of the two) featuring a lion shifter and a cop – great chemistry, fabulous sexin, smart, snappy dialog without being stupid. Great story. Novellas are a talent unto themselves and leaving readers satisfied at the end takes a lot of talent. Laurenston has it in spades.

And Shaw’s Tail – also featuring a lion shifter but this time with a wolf. A dog and cat and she’s not happy about it at all. Fabulous opening with Shaw being loopy from fever. Great chemistry between a very determined male and a woman who wants to improve her life by not making snap decisions to sleep with strange men. You can’t blame her, she’s not an idiot, but the sparks are really hot and Shaw is uber sexy.

Great scenes with the wolf pack and Ronnie Lee’s friends to give you a flavor of who she is and who she comes from too.

Loved it.

I’ve had a lot of stuff going on so I haven’t been able to read as much as I normally do but I have a stack of books I haven’t even commented on yet!

Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box – I really loved this book. Heart Shaped Box is one of the best horror novels I’ve read in years. It’s dark and atmospheric. Hill does an amazing job at creating three dimensional characters and great dialog.
The ghost story is truly scary in places and downright uncomfortable in most others. The taut nature of the action and mystery as they get closer to the confrontation with the ghost is handled very well.

The end hung together and it worked. I’m also glad he followed up after the main story had ended.

Hill is a better writer than his father in many ways, he certainly does have his dad’s hand with creating characters who simply walk out of the pages. But he is his own man too and I sense some more really entertaining books from him in the future.

Karen Marie Moning’s Faefever: the third book in Moning’s dark urban fantasy series, Mac goes even deeper down the rabbit hole. She doesn’t know who to trust. She’s living in the gray and has begun to realize achieving the greater good sometimes means doing things you’d never do if you weren’t in a life and death struggle.

This book is dark, although not quite as dark in ways as book two. But there’s no quarter, no haven for Mac as we draw closer and closer to what may very well be the end of the world as we know it.

The writing is very engaging and powerful. It kept me off balance, just like Mac was. Can Barrons be trusted? Can V’Lane? Who is the LM? The end is a shocking cliff hanger and I’m eagerly awaiting the final installment

I went on a Gena Showalter binge in September and read her Alien Huntress series (can’t wait for the next one!)

Awaken Me Darkly: In the first book in her Alien Huntress series, Showalter builds an interesting alternative future where Earth shares its ground with aliens who are using portals to travel and settle here.

Of course this has caused some trouble so AIR has been created – an alien law enforcement agency where the agents keep the aliens in check and humans safe.

Mia Snow is a badass AIR enforcment agent – she kicks butt and takes names and she’s on the trail of an alien serial killer.

Kyrin is the male who keeps coming up as suspect number one but Mia’s instincts disagree with the evidence and then Kyrin begins to help her and their attraction is off the charts.

There are some great action scenes in the book. the chemistry and final HEA is not rushed. The twist in the story was something I began to figure out about halfway through but it still worked because it wasn’t such a huge reveal anyway.

Showalter has a great writing voice and her worldbuilding is impressive. Awaken Me Darkly is a great book

Enslave Me Sweetly: In the second entry in Showalter’s Alien Huntress series we get a nice flip of book one. This time the heroine, also involved with AIR but through a black ops angle, is an alien raised by a human man after her parents are murdered.

The hero is a shadowy (read sexy and mysterious) human who is partnered up with Eden after she’s injured when she fails on a mission. There’s great back and forth between Eden and Lucius from the first moment they meet on the page.

The mystery to solve is interesting, the romance is far more central to the story than it was in Awaken Me Darkly but I don’t think the overall story suffered for it at all.

Eden’s character is complex, she doesnt’ want to fail or disappoint but she’s got to overcome a past where she was a spoiled young woman. She has a lot to prove.

This is a wonderful continuation of the series!

Savor Me Slowly: Love the cover, it’s gorgeous!

I’d been anxious to read Jaxon’s story since we met him in Awaken Me Darkly. There is great chemistry between Mishka who has been so tortured and estanged from her human self she doesn’t really believe she’s deserving of love and affection and Jaxon, who is reserved and controlled but this woman eats away at that control and pulls out the man beneath the surface.

The overall story is good, it fits nicely with the other two. You’ll see characters from previous books, which is always fun, but the connection between Jaxon and L’Ace is awesome and he’s simply not going to let her go and once he finds out what she is, he’s even more conviced.

Lots of great, emotional angst here in a great new installment in the series.

Rachel Caine’s Gale Force: Caine’s Weather Warden series is what really sucked me into urban fantasy (and Kim harrison who I discovered right around the same time). I love it when in the hands of the right author, we get to follow one character or a group of familiar characters on a journey spanning several books.

In Gale Force, Rachel is finally going to get her HEA with David but of course it’s never what she expects and all kinds of insanity breaks loose. There’s tension between the new djin who David leads and the old djin and the marriage David proposes becomes a huge point of tension for reasons I won’t elaborate on and spoil the plot with.

There are betrayals where you least expect them and help where you weren’t looking. In short, Gale Force is yet another really wonderful book in a series I’ve loved for several years now.

There are more, but I’ll do those next week!

Everyone have a great weekend and congratulations to Jaci Burton whose Riding Temptation has been kicking butt and taking names and making all the lists! It’s well deserved and I love seeing someone like Jaci achieve all the success she so richly deserves.

Vivi Anna’s Veiled Truth came out from Nocturne this week!!
Blurb: Five years ago, virginal Lyra Magice had fled powerful dhampir Theron LeNoir’s advances. But now an ancient text the dhampir possesses holds the key to solving murders that have plagued Necropolis. When another body is found and evidence points to the Mistress of the city, duty dictates that Lyra work with Theron—a man she regards as haughty, arrogant and immoral—to translate the symbols left at the crime scenes. But with their forced alliance comes darkly sensual dreams that leave her feeling wanton and achy….

Unwilling to reveal his dark past, the dhampir soon discovers that Lyra—a witch of great power—is to be the sacrificial virgin in a demonic scheme to open a portal to hell itself. Salvation will come only if Theron can win Lyra’s trust—and her heart.

Vivi Anna’s return to the world she created with Blood Secrets is my favorite so far. Lyra’s character has always held my interest, I’ve wanted to know more and with Veiled Secrets, Anna gives it to us.

I adored the chemistry between Lyra and Theron. Vivi gives such a great tense lead in with her nocturne books and the reader is SO ready for it when it finally happens. Her characters are so three dimensional and complex and the overall story isn’t shorted for the romance and vice versa.

Veiled Truth is a fabulous read and a great way to spend a few hours inside, curled up and enjoying the day.

Coming up next week we’ve also got Anya Bast’s The Chosen Sin!

Blurb: The Chosen are vampires fighting for their very existence. It is Daria Morris’s destiny to become one of them…

Now, while Daria struggles against her newfound bloodlust, the two must slip into the shadows to bring a monster to justice—even as their desire threatens to consume them…

I have been hoping she sold this book for YEARS since I got a peek at the proposal back when it was called The Darkest Kiss. I was like, “You have to sell this so you finish it and I can read it.” Lucky me (and you all too) she did and it’s out October 7 although apparently there have been loads of in store sightings already.

Anya has created a super hot, really fascinating universe with this book and I can’t rec’ it highly enough. Fabulous worldbuilding, one of the hottest heroes I’ve read in a long time, a kick ass heroine that Anya writes so well and whoo, hot guh chemistry.

If you haven’t pre-ordered this one, do it!

“We’re both a little broken,” he says quietly. “But we’ll take care not to cut each other on the sharp edges.”

This is one of my favorite lines from Wanderlust, Ann Aguirre’s second installment in the story of Sirantha Jax and it starts right after Aguirre’s first Jax book, Grimspace, ends. Like Grimspace, the book sucks you in from word one and the action pulls you along. This, along with the POV of the book – gives you a sense of instant recognition of the story.

Jax is a character you like even though she’s flawed and broken and jagged. Her life has fallen apart, her body is failing, she doesn’t know which end is up but she doesn’t quit. You want to know more about her, you care about what happens to her and that’s the lure of this book and indeed this series. In Jax and March (not to mention Dina – who provides some great insight into Jax and some laughs with really funny scenes, Vel and Jael too) we have the kind of characters that can take you from book to book, story to story, because you want more.

Grimspace was breathless, Wanderlust, while action packed, is more introspective – Jax is facing battles on multiple fronts personal and political. It’s a lot for one person to deal with. And her relationship with March, which is complicated and stretched very thin here – I don’t want to give any spoilers but for me, it was a really emotional read in places.

Wanderlust is solid proof that Ann Aguirre is a talented writer with a bright future (thank goodness!)

Blurby Bit: Sirantha Jax doesn’t take chances…she jumps at them…

Sirantha Jax is a “Jumper,” a woman who possesses the unique genetic makeup needed to navigate faster than light ships through grimspace. Jax has worked for the Farwan Corporation her entire career. But now the word’s out that the Corp deliberately crashed a passenger ship, and their stranglehold on intergalactic commerce has crumbled—which means that Jax is out of a job.

She’s also broke, due to being declared dead a little prematurely. So when the government asks her to head up a vital diplomatic mission, Jax takes it. Her mandate: journey to the planet Ithiss-Tor and convince them to join the Conglomerate.

But Jax’s payday is light years away. First, she’ll have to contend with Syndicate criminals, a stormy relationship with her pilot, man-eating aliens, and her own grimspace-weakened body. She’ll be lucky just to make it to Ithiss-Tor alive…

This last week I finished:

Jenna Black’s The Devil Inside – This book was an unexpected surprise for me. I’d heard wildly varying reviews but in the end, I really enjoyed the book.

I liked the worldbuilding a great deal and I’m really looking forward to the next book!

I wanted to add something about the sex in the books – mainly about the BDSM in the books. I’ve seen several comments about how it’s unncessary and makes no sense. But that’s not true.

In the world Black has created, demons, in their plane of existence, are incorporeal. They can’t *feel* anything physical. So when you’ve got one posessing a human, they can feel in ways they hadn’t before or at least in a long time. To me, it makes TOTAL sense that some of those demons would be attracted to BDSM as a way to experience physical sensation.

As for “graphic” sex scenes, I suppose graphic is in the perception of the readers but I write and read graphic sex all the time. The sex in the book was certainly described, but the scenes were not long to be honest, and they were in context.

Judith Ivory’s The Proposition – I totally dug the hero being a ratcatcher! And I liked Winnie as a heroine, smart but resigned to her place in life as an invisible person essentially because she wasn’t really marriagable. Ivory handles this incredibly well and I thought it really thought provoking.

At the same time, the sexual chemistry between Mick and Winnie is like whoa off the charts. He is honorable but by god he wants her. I loved that. And I love the way she grabbed experience and life with both hands. The end was a bit too neatly tied up, but in truth, well it’s a romance and I don’t know that it would have really worked otherwise.

Carolyn Jewel’s My Wicked Enemy - holy wow! I’m so lucky lately with such great worldbuilding in the books I’ve picked up. I’m already a fan of Jewel from her Crimson City books but this world of fiends and mages is fascinating and wicked sexy.

One of my favorite cliches is opposites – I adore it! Here we’ve got the self assured, uber powerful and totally sexypants Nikodemus sworn enemy to magekind and witches like Carson. And Carson, a woman whose power has been stolen from her in an incredibly insidious way. She’s been sheltered and abused and is totally naive.

But whatever they have totally works on the page. I believed their chemistry and I totally love the world Jewel has created here. Great meta-mythology here, sexy too. Well written action and suspense. A total winner.

Speaking of bookgasms – did you know Candace Havens’ Charmed and Ready is now available in mass market paperback?

Gorgeous cover, huh? Go Berkley.

Blurb: After spending most of her life single-practically an occupational hazard for a witch-Bronwyn’s finally found a sexy warlock to love. But it’s going to take more than a few love spells to keep him from getting jealous about her latest gig-protecting a rock star named Zane from the creepy Goth guys in cloaks who keep showing up at his concerts and zapping his mojo. Bronwyn would like nothing better than to blow them up in an inferno of Love That Red smoke, but they’re proving elusive. And in the meantime-what girl wouldn’t want to hang with the hottest man in music?

I’ve got Jenna Black’s next book, The Devil You Know also in my TBR stack along with some Kleypas and two historicals from Suzanne Enoch. I am so lucky!

Taking a bit of a break from writing to update my blog today.

40,313 / 90,000 (44.8%)

OUTSHINED

I’m very happy with my progress! I hope to keep chipping away at that wordcount so the book is done by the end of August. We shall see.

In booktalk land – I read Patricia Briggs’ Cry Wolf this last week and I absolutely adored it. I think Patricia Briggs is one of the best world builders writing today and so I wasn’t surprised at all to discover just how much I loved Cry Wolf.

Some romance, some action, some suspense – all combined into a really quick, engrossing read.

Another winner from Briggs that has me excited to see what’s next for Charles and Anna. The little tidbit at the end of CW for the next Mercy book looks very good too.

And Emma Holly’s All You Can Eat now available in mass market. This was a solid 3 1/2 – 4 star read for me. Amusing, sexy, hot sex scenes. I think Personal Assets remains my favorite contemporary along with Velvet Glove and I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Jack’s “darker” sexual side but there’s something in All You Can Eat for just about all tastes!

OK, back to work for me!

I finished all but one of the Brenda Joyce Deadly books and loved them all. I have to say books 4 and 5 have been my favorites with seven the least favorite so far because I thought Calder acted like an ass for much of it (although redeeming himself at the end). I’m saving the last book as a bit of a treat for when I hit 30K on Outshined.

In the mean time I’m reading Judith Ivory’s The Proposition and really liking it.

I’m hitting a good spot in Outshined and really liking my characters a lot. Erin (used to be Grace) is revealing herself to me and I’m getting to know Todd better too. It’s a contemporary so the worldbuilding aspect I had with Relentless isn’t there. It’s a different sort of writing experience and I’m glad to switch it up a bit.

Oh, Fated has been pushed up a week for release to August 19 from the 12th. Not a big deal but I just thought I’d say so. I’ve adjusted my book page here to reflect that.

That’s about it really. I’m working this weekend, writing writing writing and doing some crit for Megan’s Spice book, Switch (wheee! neeener neener!)