Reading plan - February

The title doesn't lie this is my reading plan for February.

To finish:
Jack of Thorns by Amelia Faulkner
Astounding by Kim Fielding

Focus reads:
Duty to the crown by Rebecca Cohen (followed by Forever Hold his Peace)
Hexmaker by Jordan L Hawk

Books by Rebecca Cohen
Books by Jordan L Hawk
Books beginning with D
Books beginning with H

Loving Hector by John Inman

Blueswater Bay:
The Deep of the Sound by Amy Lane
When to Hold them by GB Gordon
Rain Shadow by LA Witt

Next in series:
Stormin Norman by Sue Brown (Bk 4 & finish)
He's Behind You by Rebecca Cohen (Bk 3 & finish)
Threshold by Jordon L Hawk (Bk 2)
Us by Sarina Bowen (Bk 2 & finish)
Kiss the Rain by Megan Derr (Bk 2)

Optimistic I think, especially since at the time of writing Samhain have just announced they are closing at the end of the month and under my new purchasing restrictions (in a pointless attempt to control my TBR pile) there are at least 4 books that need to be read before I commit to buy the sequels and only two week to do that in. And I have a book to beta by the 24th, which obviously isn't on this list.

Reading Round-up - January

As you know if you've been following this blog I set myself a reading plan for January. Time to see how I did.

Focus books:
Alpha Barman by Sue Brown and Romancing the Wrong Twin by Clare London. Read them both.

Theme books read:
Dreamspun Desire titles - 1
Sue Brown titles - 2
Megan Derr titles - 3
Books beginning with R - 1
Books beginning with A - 9
Sue Brown series - none finished but made progress on 1
Off list reads - 6 (these were mostly because next book in series was on sale and my resolution is to stop buying recklessly.)
Currently reading (books I started in Jan and carried over) - 2 (Jack of Thorns by Amelia Faulkner and Astounding by Kim Fielding)
DNFs - 3
Comics (collections not issues) - 3
Fanfic - 2

Total read - 19
Not a bad haul for January. I should probably keep a log of how many I bought, but I'm not that brave!

More Fiction Friday - still catching up on a Monday

In the last post I left you having read Rebecca Cohen's excellent cross-dressing (for plot not kink) historical set in Elizabethan England. From there I moved to post WW1 America. (Yes, books give me the power of time travel and I don't even need to find somewhere to hide my TARDIS.) Aunt Adeline's Bequest by Amy Rae Durreson was a beautifully written short story. The mystery itself was easily solved but the emotions and the love story were gorgeously portrayed.

This amazing read was followed by a couple of awful reads. One where I skimmed to the end and the other that I dnf'd. I retreated to the wonderful world of Merlin fanfic. Ashes, Embers, Flames by unpossible. Gorgeous, broken, stoic Arthur is one of my favourite things and he is perfect in this as an ex-para with a dark secret, who doesn't think he's good enough for Merlin. I was sobbing like a baby while they muddled through from friendship to a relationship.Sweet, angsty, slow burn relationship with an exciting plot and a hint of magic.

Then I moved on to something so OTT and cracky that I wasn't sure if I'd fallen into an alternate reality. Frat House Troopers by Xavier Mayne. Suspend your disbelief before you open this book and hen fall down the rabbit hole and hold on for the ride. I had some issues in the first 20% with the way the guys expressed themselves in regard to gay porn and gay guys in general, but after that it was ridiculous and fun.

And I finished January with Served Hot by Annabeth Albert. A sweet quick read that was just perfect for those times when what you really need is fluff. We all need that so I bought the rest of the series.

And that rounds up January. Phew!

Fiction Friday - a catch up

So I totally failed at rounding up January's reads. My excuse is I was so focused on getting Theory Unproven back out and available for you to purchase that I just didn't get the time.

I finished the last post with Hazel Takes Over. From their I moved on to one of Dreamspinner's Dreamspun Desire titles. The few of these I've already read are pure 'fantasy' romance (as opposed to fantasy/romance, which I'll come to in a moment), full of romance tropes, instalove, and work out perfectly endings. They're akin to gay Mills and Boon (Harlequin for those of you across the pond) but that is their point; if you want realism and angst-ridden stories then move along, because these are books are unapologetically sappy. Enough with the summing up of the DS line, which title did I read:

The Duke in Hiding by MJ O'Shea - Fits the lines brief perfectly. And managed to make me cry. My only complaint (apart from a bit of miscommunication that annoyed me) was that we didn't get enough time with Theo at the end before the big moment. I'd have like the reactions of his friends, and a more public declaration.

Now on to some fantasy/romance (see, I told you it was coming). Pirates of Fathoms Deep by Megan Derr. The first book in this series, The High King's Golden Tongue, was one of my favourite reads last year. If anything this one is even better; a pirate and a one-eyed captain of the guard, second chances, a plot, and, of course, a King that nobody pays any heed to, despite his gruff and bluster. And this series has some glorious covers. I mean, look at this one.

Suffering from a serious book hangover after this one I decided to try something completely different. Deadpool's Art of War. Overall the story was meh, with Deadpool playing devils advocate to increase sales of his new book by starting a war between Thor and Loki that ended up including a whole host of Marvel characters. There were some excellent moments though and worth the read for those bright spots alone. And another title with Deadpool in (yes, he's everywhere at Marvel atm) Uncanny Avengers: Unity Vol 2. Better than volume one but I'm disappointed about the direction they are taking Hank Pym.

The Actor and the Earl by Rebecca Cohen. I've been sitting on this book for ages. Who knows why? It was excellent, with that constant low level worry that they might get found out and sentenced to the tower and execution. The rest of the series awaits (yay!) and I may even have a new book to beta *grins*

Have I only made it to reading day 23 Jan? *sigh* I read too much. Hah! No such thing... But I'll end this post here and bring you up to date next week. I'll leave you with a question.
The next book in Megan Derr's Tales of the High Court series, The Heart of the Lost Star, isn't due out until August. I don't know if I can wait that long. Is there any book that you just can't wait to read but have to because it's yet to be published?

I know this is supposed to be Fiction friday...

but I forgot to prep the post.

Instead have a quick round up of what's happening in my quiet corner of the publishing world.

The first newsletter went out, only a week late and with only one formatting issue that I've had reported back to me (which I had caught when it was too late, and didn't see the point of reissuing). I'd hoped giving away a free book would generate some reviews for said sadly neglected short but it was not to be. Still, it's good to have Waiting for a Spark back on the virtual bookshelves.

Talking of returning to the shelves, I managed to get Theory Unproven re-released just days before my self-imposed deadline. I also flirted with sending out ARC copies. I've had a few reviews from that but I'm not sure how much impact that has had on sales.

This month I intend to re-release Lesson Learned, my very first book from back in 2012. In fact it was originally released 5 years ago yesterday. I'll be sharing the cover in a week or so. This one has had a bit of a rewrite and has taken more work to get it back on the shelves. Thanks to Clare London, Alex Jane, and Katherine Halle for helping with this. I WILL have this on sale by the end of the month.

I've signed all my books up to Payhip. But I've yet to have any sales there. I think there is a post here but I'll save it for another time.

Anyway, that's just a quick catch-up on what's happening with me. Oh, and my hair is purple.
I'll leave you with a banner for Theory Unproven, because who can resist looking at those boys...and Eric and Tyaan aren't bad to look at either.

Universal Amazon link: myBook.to/TheoryUnproven_LF