Fiction Friday

Hurrah, another Fiction Friday post. That's three in a row.

I could well call this post Fiction Friday - The English Edition, because there is in influx of British authors here with a lone Australian thrown in.

Let's get the Aussie out of the way first.

Red Dirt Heart (Red Dirt #1) by N.R. Walker - Why, oh why did it take me so long to read this book? And even then it took the rest of the series being on sale to force my hand. I should have known from the blurb alone that I would love this book, and I did. What can I say, apparently I have a weakness for cowboys, even (especially) Australian ones. Five stars!

Now we've dealt with the Aussie (and I hope those words will come as easily when the The Ashes start next week) let's see what delights the Brits had to offer me. Full disclosure, these authors are some of my favourites, their inclusion here shouldn't surprise anybody.

Flashbulb (Flight HA1710 #3) by Clare London - Since a plane crash dominates the entire series this story is more angsty than anything else on the list. Clare throws two very different characters into a situation that drastically changes their lives, saddles them with survivors guilt and psychosomatic illness, and then provides them with an unexpected and surprising lifeline--the fifteen minute quickie that should have meant nothing. I honestly think this is the best thing of Clare London's that I have read. Five stars.

Nothing Special by Jay Northcote - One of those books that you know you are going to reach for when you need a pick me up. Sweet and sexy, with a gorgeous character in Sol.

The Summer House (English Hearts #1) by R.J. Scott - I nearly talked myself into not reading this one. I have other books of RJ's that I still need to read and I have my own village series all mapped out (okay, that's pushing it, vaguely sketched on paper, more solidly mapped in my head). Generally I don't like to read something that is similar to a manuscript that I'm even loosely working on. But the lure was too strong and I succumbed to the cover as much as anything. Connor really pissed me off early in the book but he has his reasons, and both the reader and Ash have to wait patiently for those reasons to be revealed. Ash was a delight and I hope we see more of both of them in the next book.

Nothing Ventured by Jay Northcote - So far this collection of books has been made up of cute, fluffy, low angst reads and I expected more of the same from this one. Was I wrong. This tale of training and no strings sex has more bite than the others. The guys are just having fun but the opportunity for disaster is there, a huge iceberg of emotions waiting to scupper everything, and when it hit there were tears. Mine, although some from the characters as well, I expect. I've really enjoyed this series, and in my opinion they just kept getting better. This one was my favourite. Five + stars.

So many good reads. Now I just need to read the remain Red Dirt books. Luckily, I have them all.