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!

December Reads

December is always my month for reading Christmas stories. This year I bought the Dreamspinner Advent. I don't always buy it because I find I can be very hit and miss with the stories and I've yet to finish the entire set. This year I managed to read 25 of the 31 stories.

These were my favourites: 

Analog to Digital by Posy Roberts - Very cute Christmas story. I knew where things were heading early on but the getting there was cute as hell.

Teddy Bears by Brandon Witt - Adorable and nerdy bears. And how many Christmas stories are set in a bathhouse?

How the Supervillain Stole Christmas by Charles Payseur - If you watched the kids cartoon Phineas and Ferb then you know what I was thinking when I read this. A different take on a Superhero story.

Cursed Miracles by Meg Harding - This short story could have been heartbreaking as a longer novel.

Popcorn Garlands by Ariel Tachna - A cute story that truly reflects the sentiment of the season.

Krampus Hates Christmas by Andi Van - Loved Karl, the Krampus that needed to find his holiday spirit.

Simple After All by Yolande Kleinn - As sweet as gingerbread men, even zombie ones :)

Ranger Station Haven by SA Stovall - I'm not normally one for established couple stories but I love a grumpy MC and this has one of the grumpiest, yet most endearing that I've read for awhile. Adorable, funny, and achingly sweet in the best way.

Bite Night by Clare London - Clare London has a way with certain phrases that just make me howl with laughter. This was a funny short story set on Christmas Eve, when 22 year old Benny walks in on Santa's little helpers dropping off some presents around the tree. Only this isn't Santa, or elves, or even reindeer. Have you heard the one about a vampire, a werewolf, and an alcoholic sprite walk into...

For me the rest of the stories ranged from okay to instantly forgetable to meh. Not a great rate of success for the money spent but equally there are stories that I loved in the list above that I wouldn't have looked twice at if I'd been picking and choosing what to buy.

I didn't get to read much else (that wasn't a comic) but I did read a Josh Lanyon I'd had hanging around for several years that I didn't even realise was a Christmas story: The Dickens with Love. Rare books, a mysterious backstory, shady characters, an ocelot, the threat of snow in LA, a descendant of a Dickens character. It's all going on behind a beautiful love story. My only complaint is the sex scenes are a touch OTT (and all the more obvious when you listen to the audio, which I did after I'd finished the read through). As usual with Josh's books the ending it quite abrupt (85% if you're wondering) but there is a glorious coda on their website.

Bones - series review

Another series all finished unless Kim Fielding decides to add another book.

Yes, I'm talking about the Bones series.

I read the first book in this series, Good Bones, three years ago, and then despite buying both sequels I left them languishing in my TBR pile. (Things get lost in there so easily!)

A werewolf story that isn't all 'mine', mates, and insta-love, is always going to endear me to a book in this sub-genre. Chris, the human half of the couple, is an adorable redneck, with more brains than he lets on and a habit of taking a piss off his decking when he's drunk.

Fast forward three years, a quick read of the blurb and my GR review and I'm up to speed and ready to start on book 2. Buried Bones (Bones 2) catches up with the boys several weeks after the end of book 1. This story addresses some of the backstory and lingering issues that the guys are still dealing with at the end of the last book and by the end their relationship is solid. The main story is about a ghost in the house (unlike the characters I guessed who he was almost immediately) and Chris reconnecting with his estranged father. Oh and it appears there is something in the pond.

In Book 3, Bone Dry, Chris and Dylan head off on holiday and leave their artist friend Ery looking after the house. And that thing in the pond...it's a gorgeous naked man. I could see this one had an issue that would be hard to be resolved and despite expecting it, when that moment came I still cried. I should have had faith in Kim Fielding's ability to provide me with a  happy ending. But a HEA seemed more difficult to achieve and still I got a satisfactory one. I loved that Chris and Dylan had quite a substantial part in this story and not just as catch-up filler. And we get to meet up with the characters from Speechless again.

Overall a lovely series and one I'd happily recommend. And it can now be bought in a Dremspinner bundle.

Fiction Friday - on a Tuesday

It's been a month since I did a round up of my reading.

This has been favourite author reading month.

I started off with the L.A. Paranormal series by Lou Harper. I'd not read any of these stories before despite having had the first book on my Kindle for ages. I plan to do a separate series review post but needless to say it's well worth picking up this series.

In my last post I talked about how much I loved All in With the Duke by Ava March. I followed up by reading the next two books in the series. These books overlap with the first one and there are some excellent crossover scenes within the series. I really loved all the couples in this series.

A Flirty Dozen by JL Merrow is a collection of her short stories. The collection is excellent but my favourites are Love Found on Lindisfarne and A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou.

I followed that up with another anthology from JL Merrow and Jo Myles, Truly, Madly, Boys (Mad About the Brit Boys Book 5). This includes one of my favourite  short stories, Epiphany but all four stories are excellent.

Rather than spending the entire month reading JL Merrow  (not that I wouldn't enjoy that) I moved on to Clare London and discovered her excellent timey-whimey story Timeslip.

Historical seems to be my genre of choice at the moment and I moved on to The Copper by Bonnie Dee. I love the stories she writes with Summer Devon so it was hardly a risk to take a chance on this story. Grittier than a lot of the books in her writing partnership but exciting and fast paced with engaging heroes.

No idea why but I had some notion that The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon was an historical. It's not and I'm a numpty for waiting this long to read it. Great mystery and a lovely slow burn relationship.

Comfort read time next. Heat (Salisbury Stories #1) by RJ Scott and Chris Quinton. And it gave me a craving for Jelly Babies.

Another Lou Harper book (and a book to finish off a series) Temper Sanguine (Sanguine #2). I loved this books about a vampire Hunter and his vampire boyfriend. Gutted this is the last in the series. Lou Harper I'd be up for reading more of these two if you have a mind to write them.

If reconnecting and lost love is more your thing I can recommend Dancing Days by Clare London. And lovely to see a mature couple getting the limelight.

The good thing about a short story done well is that you can devour it all in one sitting. The bad thing about a short story done well is that you can devour... Yeah, I  know, impossible to please. Night Watch by Josh Lanyon is one such example. 42 pages of excellence.

Another historical series I devoured was Victorian Holiday Hearts by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon. These novellas are based around a Victorian acting family and take place during various holidays.

And I finished off the month with a paranormal  (it is Halloween). Dead Man and the Restless Spirits (Dead Man #1) by Lou Harper. How can you resist a book where the first line is "Dying sucks hairy monkey balls, even when you're not the stiff.".  And the MCs in this one are adorable.

Next month will see a change of tack for the reading challenge. I'll be attempting to finish off some series that I'm partway through. And I'll also try to clear some of my free reads. So no more favourite authors? Wrong. First book lined up is Dead Man and the Lustful Spirit by, yep, Lou Harper!

Fiction Friday

Gosh I've been awful remiss with these posts of late. I've not posted since a reading post since 20th May.  And d'you know what, I haven't even got a huge amount to show for the last six weeks. I've done some beta reading, and I'm currently reading a book for research, plus my lunchtime reading is a non m/m historical mystery, A Wicked Deed, which I've been devouring rather than taking my Kindle to work.

According to Goodreads I've read 11 books, That's poor. And most of them aren't good enough to share with you.

But what would I recommend to my friends?

Let's start with a strange one. The Soulframer: All's fair in love and art by Alex Hawk. - The writing style was quirky to the extent that I couldn't tell if it was good or not but I loved the tale it told.

Next isn't even a book. It's a comic. Deadpool: X Marks the Spot (Deadpool Vol. II #3) - My favourite arc of the 2008 run so far. Deadpool as a pirate!

Back to more regular reads and I've had this one on my Kindle for years. Cowboys Down by Barbara Elsborg. Cowboys. Did you see that in the title? Cowboys, Nuff said.

Ghost's Sight  (Ghost's Sight #1) by Morwen Navarre. This one is a free read that was being given away by the publisher at least a year ago. Makes you wonder about the impact of these free giveaways. Although in this respect I'm interested in buying the next book in the series, so maybe it was a successful exercise. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy-style short story.

And finally, Home Is Where You Are (Alphas' Homestead, #1) by Alex Jane. I helped as a beta on this story so I might be sort of biased but come on, historical western with werewolves. How is that for a debut novel. Yes I did say western, so that's cowboys, right? Seriously though, from the glorious cover to the western setting this book tells a tale of not one but two broken men. One physically and one emotionally.

Okay, that's enough for now. I'm currently reading Not Quite Shakespeare which will tick several authors off my UK Meet challenge and I'll update you on that and how the challenge is going next time.

Fiction Friday - Festive edition

Christmas, a time of good cheer and plenty of feel good books to read.

I had a long list of books I wanted to get to this year but I didn't manage even half of them. In fact there were some that I was really looking forward to that never got opened and a huge pile from last year (2014) that still never got read. But I did read some excellent stories with the warm and fuzzies galore.


Winter Wonderland (Minnesota Christmas #3) by Heidi Cullinan. One of most eagerly anticipated books of the year. I was sitting on this for weeks but refused to let myself open it until 1st December. 5 stars for the book and 5 for the series. Please say there will be more... Winter Wedding, anyone?

The Winter Spirit by Indra Vaughn. A warning to all. Read the Blurb, or at least glance at the cover. Either would have given me the inkling that the love story was with the ghost *facepalm* No wonder I wasn't feeling the relationship in the first part of the story, I had the wrong MC. Once I got back on track I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

One Holiday Ever After by Tere Michaels (Goodreads Author), Elle Brownlee (Goodreads Author), Elizah J. Davis. Three stories in one book here. Holiday Roommates - 4.5* Delightful./Holiday Sanctuary - 4* Very cute./Holiday Homecoming - 4.5* Gorgeous. Honestly I know the average of the 3 stories is closer to 4 than 5 but the stories are such an amazing collection of sweet, Christmasy goodness that I couldn't give them anything less.

The Working Elf Blues by Piper Vaughn. Throughly charming. And apparently I have a soft spot for stories set in the North Pole!

If Only in My Dreams by Keira Andrews. Road Trip. Former friends to enemies to lovers. What's not to love.

What Happens At Christmas by Jay Northcote. A veritable pile of tropes, brilliantly executed.

An Angel in Eyeliner by Hunter Frost. This was a pleasant surprise. A new to me author. And a sweet story.

Talk Turkey (Sleigh Ride - 2015 Advent Calendar) by Bru Baker. I didn't buy all of the Advent this year. But I did pick a few that were either by favourite authors or got decent reviews from the first few readers. And I think I was hungry when I wrote my review on Goodreads!

Personal Shopper by Tere Michaels. Cute with a twist.

Christmas Miracles of a Recently Fallen Spruce (Sleigh Ride - 2015 Advent Calendar) by Brandon Witt. The last line is perfect.

Grateful (Sleigh Ride - 2015 Advent Calendar) by Kim Fielding. If there is ever a time of the year to believe in love at first sight it's Christmas.

Midwinter Night's Dream (Unwrapping Hank #2) by Eli Easton. I had my issues with this book, more so than any other on the list, but I still enjoyed reading (most) of it. More details of my issues in the Goodreads link.

Humbug by Joanna Chambers. At 48% I was firmly in the 'I hate this MC' camp. And then a miracle happened...

Loving Blitz (North Pole City Tales #4) by Charlie Cochet. An obsession with the North Pole, I tell you. It's the only explanation.

Magic & Mistletoe by Annabelle Jacobs. No angst. Not a jot.

A Fortunate Blizzard by L.C. Chase. I started the month on a 5 star read and ended on one too. I sobbed my way through a lot of this book. Highly recommended but tissues may be required.

I read more, a total of 32 books over the month. I dnf'd none (in the spirit of the season I skimmed rather than dnf'd), although two were deleted from my Kindle immediately after finishing (can you guess which ones I skimmed, then). The remainder were satisfactory to good reads, with a coupe that would have made it to this list with a bit more backstory and a couple more chapters.

All in all a successful month of reading.

With a Kick Wednesday - A Fiction Friday post for the hump day

With a Kick is a series of novellas/novels set in London and alternately written by Clare London and Sue Brown.

I read the first of these stories, A Twist and Two Balls by Clare London, at the end of November and promptly fell in love. With the idea, with the ice cream shop, with the secondary characters, and most importantly with the MCs, especially Nuri.

I moved on to read Nice and Snow in December. That meant jumping out of order but the story dealt with the same two MCs as in ATTB and if anything they were even more engaging the second time around.

Then in early January I finished off this series.

Hissed as a Newt by Sue Brown starts with a drunken clown rolling around in the gutter. Normally I hate clowns but Stan was a darling.

Slap and Tickle by Clare London is, as the name suggests, a kinky little offering and I loved Phiz and the way he lets his mouth run away with him.

Bells and Balls by Sue Brown. Not one but two rugby players. Anyone who has read my own books will know I have a soft spot for a man who can play rugby, so this one had my name written all over it :) Sweet, and we get to catch up with several of the other couples, plus it's Christmas to boot.

Pluck and Play by Clare London. A busking cowboy! Plus a real sense of a threat in this book made this one of my favourites in this series.

This is a great little series, full of a well-rounded cast of reoccurring characters, and plenty of British humour.

And there is another book coming in February *snoopy dance*

Plus if you pick these books up in January they are half price at ARe and Amazon

Fiction Friday

Yep, this is going to take some doing, I've just looked back and my last Fiction Friday was put up on 6th November. Two months worth of reading!

So, first up, I kinda stalled on 'Loving Luki Vasquez'. When I put this down at the end of November I left it with this status update: "I'm reading this a scene or so at a time. It's a beautifully written story but I'm struggling with how much time and reference Luki gives to smoking and how he almost implies Sonny makes him smoke more! But that aside it is a gorgeous read." I have picked it up again in the last view days but I'm still finding it easier to dip in and out of rather than reading in one go.

What else did I read in November that I might have actually finished?

Played!  by J.L. Merrow. This is Book 2 in The Shamwell Tales. I found this adorable. And yes, Book 3 is due out next week. Yes! *scurries off to pre-order*
I'm back...

Double Up (Lake Lovelace #1) by Vanessa North. This was my first Vanessa North book but it definitely won't be my last. The first half was full of well written sex and certain I knew what I was getting I strapped myself in for the ride. Then, bam, she hit me with the feels.

Boys Who Go Bump in the Night (Mad About the Brit Boys #2) by J.L. Merrow & Josephine Myles. A collection of shorts with a paranormal theme. They have all been published before but I have only read one of them. A varied collection and, if you love these authors, you'll enjoy dipping into this book. You may need tissues for one story in particular.

Then it was back to Bluewater Bay for book 3 of the series, Hell on Wheels by Z.A. Maxfield. Nash is an adorable character, what more can I say.

Rough Road (Lake Lovelace, #2) by Vanessa North. Back to Lake Lovelace for Eddie turn to get what's coming to him (and doesn't he love it). Great to catch up with the boys from Double up, as well.

I did read one more book that I loved in November but I just finished reading the entire series so I think I'll save that for a post of its own.

So that is November finished. And as a 'series' based month I did pretty well. I caught up with a couple of series, and moved on in a few more. On next to December which were all holiday/Christmas based stories.

Scrooge McStorytime

Reads of Christmas Present

Winter Wonderland by Heidi Cullinan

I’ve been waiting eagerly for Paul’s HEA since, well, since I finished the last page of Arthur and Gabriel’s story at the beginning of last December. I fawned over the cover and rejoiced when the blurb revealed who his Christmas beau would be. I added to wishlists, and snapped it up as soon as it was available for pre-order. On release date I downloaded it to my Kindle and then sat (im)patiently on the file until 1^st December. So much anticipation for a read can sometimes be a disastrous thing, building up a book to such heights that it fails to reach. Not in this case. This book was everything that I wanted and more. It has the best first line ever. Paul is gruff and bear like on the outside and a gooey mess on the inside. Kyle is a fluff piece, except that he isn’t: he’s cheeky, relentless, toppy, kind and strong. And exactly what Paul needs despite the 10 year plus age difference. I won’t say more because ‘spoilers’ but just know that I loved this story. In fact I love this series and I look forward to seeing (hoping) if we get another book next year. The possibilities for future stories are certainly there and if Heidi Cullinan decides to write them I’ll be first in the queue to read them, but not until the 1^st December.

Reads of Christmas Past

A list of books I’ve enjoyed in Christmas Pasts:

Tinsel Fish by Harper Fox

Baby, it’s Cold by Josh Lanyon

Waiting for Winter by LB Gregg

Comfort and Joy by Joanna Chambers

Sleigh Ride by Heidi Cullinan

Unwrapping Hank by Eli Easton

Vixen’s Valour (North Pole City Tales #3­) by Charlie Cochet

The Heart of Frost (North Pole City Tales #2) by Charlie Cochet

Ilya and the Wolf by Rory Ni Coileain

Home for Chirappu by Ariel Tachna

Saint Martin’s Day by Kim Fielding

The Trouble with Elves by Therese Woodson

Rebound by Chris Scully

Batteries Not Included by JL Merrow

Let it Snow by Heidi Cullinan

A Prairie Dog’s Love Story by Eli Easton

Spam! It’s What’s for Christmas by Lenore Black

How I Meet Your Father by LB Gregg

Carol of the Bellskis by Astrid Amara

And one where 'twas I who put pen to paper (figuratively speaking). Fancy a story about a chimney sweep?

When Love Flue In by Lillian Francis

Reads of Christmas Future

This is a list of the books I hope to read this month:

The Winter Spirit by Indra Vaughan

Midwinter’s Night Dream by Eli Easton

A Case of Christmas by Josh Lanyon (This isn’t even out yet, but as soon as it is…)

What Happens at Christmas by Jay Northcote

Magic and Mistletoe by Annabelle Jacobs

A Fortunate Blizzard by LC Chase

Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

Neither of these list are definitive of what I've read or what I intend to read but I'll to the list when I can and update this year's read section too.

A is for...

anticipation.

Christmas is all about the build up. As a kid it was anticipation about what you would find under the tree on Christmas morning. As a young adult it was all about the parties. As a new parent it became anticipation on first reactions: the tree, trip to see Santa, all those brightly wrapped presents.

Nowadays it's the anticipation of having all my family in the same room at the same time and things that I deny myself the rest of the year.

Mince Pies. Yes, they've been in the shops since September but I won't buy (or eat) one until 1st December. That's today. Yay!

Christmas reads. Authors have been pimping their Christmas stories for weeks if not months now whipping me into a reading frenzy of anticipation. I've been eagerly waiting for Winter Wonderland by Heidi Cullinan for months. That is the first book in my huge TBR pile of Christmas themed stories. I'll let you know about the others as I decide what comes next like peeling back the door on an advent calendar.

I guess I should mention that I have my own Christmas story. It's several years old now but that shouldn't lessen its appeal to those who are only recently discovering my existence. And I think its my favourite title out of all my books.
Here's a link to the main page for When Love Flue In which includes buy links and reviews.
Not convinced you should click the link?
Sinfully Sexy Books proclaimed it "A true Christmas fairy tale." and said "You have to read this one for Christmas. It will genuinely warm your heart."

What do you look forward to about Christmas?

Fiction Friday

It's 8am on Friday morning so I'm a bit late putting this Fiction Friday post together and I'm recommending everything I read in the last week of October!

To round out October I finished my Favourite Five authors read-a-thon with Pricks and Pragmatism by J L Merrow. A perfectly flawed narrator and a virgin bear. What more could you ask for?
Then a break from the plan--I can be spontaneous--to read Secrets & Ink by Lou Harper. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the 'solid, gruff cop & the flighty almost-twink' trope. I guess that's why I love Josh Lanyon's work. It's a pairing type JL does to perfection.
I then spent the last few days of October embracing the witching hour by only reading paranormal. I only managed to fit two in (a shame as I managed to find about ten books on my Kindle to fit the 'plan').

The Ghost on My Couch by L A Gilbert. A low/no sex read. I shed a few tears reading this one. The man was in love with a ghost, people, I'm allowed to cry, okay.
Oleander House by Ally Blue. You'll see I'm reccing this to you even though it doesn't have a rating at Goodreads. That's because this is a series of seven books and I felt that this one ended quite abruptly and unresolved in all manner of things. However I have the next book lined up on my Kindle and I enjoyed this book despite the ending (I don't think I would have said this if I had read it when the book first came out!)

On to November. Series month. Namely finish the series I've already started month.
Yeah.
Sure.
Started well enough by continuing a series I was reading last month, which meant more RJ Scott (yay!). The Barman & the SEAL. Book 6 in The Ellery series. I've got The Agent & the Model all lined up and ready to go.
Then Dreamspinner had to go and put the Vasquez and James series up as dollar titles and I knew I had book one on my TBR pile. But did I want to buy the entire series if I didn't like the first. Two chapters in I was loving it, so I bought the lot. It's screwed with my plan, though. So I'm currently reading Loving Luki Vasquez with the last Ellery book to follow.

Let's see if I can stick to the plan for next week *rolls eyes*.
Oh, and I've added a huge number of Christmas reads to my must have list *even bigger eyeroll*

Fiction Friday - The five star reads (October edition)

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

This month has been a brilliant month for reading (lucky that, since I've written hardly a word). Only a couple of books have triggered my 'why am I reading this' alarm. Almost all have been four star reads and books I'd happily read again and these were listed in last week's post. A handful have have been so good that I won't hesitate to recommend them to you as must reads.

In Sunshine or In Shadow by Josh Lanyon - Amazing what Josh can do in so few pages. 
Muscling Through by JL Merrow - Adorable. Funny. Different. 
Passing Through by Jay Northcote - This book is a slight departure for Jay Northcote but only by a few degrees of angst. Her characters are still endearing, the relationship is still sweet, and the sex is still hot. However you will need tissues.
Permanently Legless by J.L. Merrow - The strength of this short story is in the voice of the narrator. What could have been an uncomfortable and bitter read was funny and hopeful.
Strange Fortune by Josh Lanyon - For a book that I wondered if I would struggle to finish it in the first few chapters, this developed into an amazing read. Maybe I was just looking for something slightly different, I don't know, but I ended by loving this story. High on adventure, low on sex, with a slow burn relationship this fantasy/historical was just brilliant.

With tomorrow being the end of the month I'm bringing this challenge to a close.

I had intended for November to be a random month but a off the cuff comment from RJ Scott reminded me how many unfinished series I had to read. Consequently I have changed my November challenge to Series! December will still be Christmas and related holiday stories, which means I will be holding off on reading some much anticipated books until the 1st December.
Wanna know what they might be? 
Winter Wonderland by Heidi Cullinan

What Happens at Christmas by Jay Northcote

Rebound Remedy by Christine d'Abo

Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

Any books you guys are particularly looking forward to?

Fiction Friday - part two

For October my plan, which I'm pleased to say I've been sticking to with very few exceptions, was to pick five of my favourite authors and read as many of their books as I have languishing on my Kindle. And there are many. What am I saving them for? What joys am I doing myself out of?

Why five authors? Because as much as you love an author the writing style can get repetitive when you read nothing but them for the entire month.

Who did I chose for this first month (because three weeks in and I've found this a most rewarding experiment, so I will be doing it again)?

Josh Lanyon
Jo Myles
Jay Northcote
JL Merrow
RJ Scott

Now looking at that list I think you can expect several things; many of these stories will have a very British feel, and there have been a lot of good reads from this bunch of authors. In fact too many for me to do my normal Fiction Friday roundup. So what I'm going to do is list the books that I enjoyed and then next week I'll follow that list up with the five star reads.

Cold Feet by Jay Northcote
Dead Shot by JL Merrow
Alpha, Delta by RJ Scott
Heart Trouble by Josh Lanyon
Camwolf by JL Merrow - Okay I do want to say something about this one. It's much darker than JL Merrow's normal work and from reviews it seems to be a marmite book but it is well worth the read.
Coming Home by Jay Northcote
The Bucket List by RJ Scott
Barging In by Jo Myles (This is one of the first m/m books I bought, I have no idea why I didn't read it then.)
Wizard's Moon by Josh Lanyon - More fantasy than romance
Perfect Day by Josh Lanyon
The Carpenter and the Actor by RJ Scott
The Doctor and the Bad Boy by RJ Scott
Hairy, Horny, and Over Here by JL Merrow - OMG I loved this one so much. Funny.
The Paramedic and the Writer by RJ Scott

I also read Tea and Crumpet, an early UK Meet anthology, because it included stories by a couple of these authors and discovered a whole bunch of authors that I hadn't read before but will happily seek out. It contained some excellent short stories.

I don't know how many more books I'll get around to reading during the rest of this month. I'm currently reading Josh Lanyon's Strange Fortune as the next book in this challenge. From an authors POV I have to proof read New Lease of Life by Friday. Hopefully I should get a few more struck off this list before the end of the month. Then I think I'll make November a random month, and December, as usual, is a holiday reads only month. That means that I'll probably come back to clear out the remaining books by these authors (and anything new they've added) in January. Sounds like a plan. How do you plan your reads?

Fiction Friday

If you remember many weeks ago I was reading the Irregulars anthology. And what a great collection of stories it was. I particularly like the way the stories were interconnected within the same world.
My favourites:
Cherries Worth Getting, by N. Kimberling: An interesting world with two solid leads and a well thought out investigation. Would have loved a longer investigation to stretch out the romance. 4* (The sequel to this story is in the Charmed and Dangerous anthology that I mentioned last Fiction Friday.)

No Life But This, by A. Amara. A much longer story than the previous two. Loved the couple (although the romance most definitely played second fiddle to the plot) and the plot kept me interested and invested. 4.5*

Things Unseen and Deadly, by G. Hale. This took me an age to get into and I honestly thought about putting it down several times in the first chapter or so. I'm glad I carried on reading. The leads were engaging once you worked out what their story was, not true, Jason was engaging from the get-go but Henry took some warming to. And we got an extra helping of Gunther. I ended up really liking this one. 4*

For some reason I had this part of the blog post ready to go and forgot to hit publish! (The scheduled date for this post was 2/10/2015!)

Anyway that was the end of September and I read a couple of other stories worth mentioning before October rolled around.

First Class Package by Jay Northcote - *Free Read* A geeky science writer has a crush on his postman. First thing to note on this is it's a free read, and not just any free read but a freebie by one of my favourite authors. It's set at Christmas, has a geeky writer type, and a plethora of stuffed toys.

Bonus by Liam Grey - Confession time. I've had this waiting on my Kindle for 3 years and it's a Torquere Press short so there is a good chance that this story is no longer available. However if you do have this short story lurking in the dark corners of your reader dust it off and give it some love.  Bitey sex with hidden feels under a rough 'n' ready attitude.

So that's a summary for the end of September's reading. I'm going to split this post in two and deal with my October Plan in the next segment.
BRB

Fiction Friday

So, as I finished the post two weeks ago I mentioned that I was reading the Charmed and Dangerous anthology and would give you my thoughts next time I posted (I actually said it would be last week but we'll ignore that shall we).

That is one long book. It is also quite excellent. My favourites (and there were a lot of them) were:
Swift and the Black Dog by Ginn Hale - Excellent world building that evolved naturally as the story progressed. Quite dark in tone and more of a fantasy with a sliver of romance than a fantasy romance. The story was gripping but could have been better served in a longer format, certainly with regard to the romance. 4*
A Queer Trade by KJ Charles - Excuse me while I squee. Set in the Magpie verse but with no knowledge of the other books in the series required. Full of Charles' rich well-rounded characters, humour and horror in equal measure (and often both at the same time), and a beautifully paced love story that could have been called insta-love in a lesser author's hands. 5* (NB. A novella staring these two characters is in the pipeline. YAY!)
Magically Delicious by Nicole Kimberling - Enjoyed this sequel to the story in the Irregulars anthology. 4*
Everyone's Afraid of Clowns by Jordan Castillo Price - My first outing with Psycop. Don't know why. Another series to start reading. 4*
The Thirteenth Hex by Jordan L. Hawk. Loved this. Fell easily into the world without needing a complicated build up and the characters were gorgeous together. 4.5*
One Hex Too Many by Lou Harper - I like Lou Harper's writing and enjoyed all aspects of this story, although I'd have liked a bit more made of the relationship. 4.5* (Plotbunnies have taken hold of Lou Harper for this world. We will see more I'm pleased to say.)
The Trouble With Hexes by Astrid Amara - Second chances story with a real sense of urgency. I loved both characters and I thought the in depth details on hexes were excellent. I guessed the bad guy early on but you know I wasn't in it for that, I was in it for the relationship and that was perfectly pitched. 4.5*

Now, Magically Delicious by Nicole Kimberling is a sequel to a story that originally appeared in the Irregulars anthology (which I own but had never read). Naturally I had to read this first so I started the Irregulars anthology while halfway through C&D. I'm glad I did as it had backstory that helped me appreciate her story in C&D more. I've not finished Irregulars yet so you'll have an update on that next time out.

What else have I been reading? To be honest, not a lot. Really, that anthology was very, very long.

Deadpool comics but you don't want to know about that.
Some okay reads and some bloody awful, delete off my Kindle immediately reads.
Oh, and Demon Dog by Ally Blue. I have quite literally just finished this book moments before writing this post. It's good. A very good paranormal mystery, in fact. It's established couple and a spin-off from the Bay City series by this author. I have to confess I didn't realise this when I started to read but it didn't have any bearing on the enjoyment of this story. There are characters from the other series in this but at no point do you feel like you are missing anything. Now I can't decide whether to go on to book 2 in this series or start the original series and discover everyone's backstories first.

Apart from the books that are already queued up to read on my two Kindles I'm going on to free reads for the rest of the month. Expect me to have very few recs next week and less books on my Kindle if the two I read last night were anything to go by!

Fiction Friday

Sorry there was no Fiction Friday last week. I was laid out by the flu and it knocked me for six.

Omega Heart  by G.G. Géricault 

A new to me author and I really enjoyed this. Yes, it's shifters. Yes, it's mpreg. Am I sorry? Nope.

Well written. Surprising low on sex for a shifter story. Well thought out plot. Would I read more by this author? Yes, I would. FYI, don't buy the parts separately. You can get the whole collection for 99p.

Toy with Me by Annabelle Jacobs 

Who can object to a story where a large pink dildo plays a role? Not me. Very cute and I'd love to read more of this couple.

Cheeky Hipsters & Jocks by Posy Roberts 

Manties! I have nothing more to say. :)

Bad Moon Rising  An LT3 anthology. (This may be going out of print if it hasn't already. I apologise if you look for it and it has already gone.) 

Nine stories in total.
5 great stories.
1 that was well written but not for me.
3 that I struggled to finish.

My favourites:

Moon Dogs by Erica Kealey - 4 stars. Felt like a Sterek AU. This is not a bad thing.
The Were Curse by Sasha L. Miller - 4.5 stars. Loved this one. A very different take on the standard werewolf story.
Moonwitch by M.J. Willow - 4 stars. High on world building, low on romance. Had the romance been more prominent this would have been a 5 star read.
Coming Home by Elizah J. Davis - 4 stars. Great story, well written. Would have been happy if it had been slightly longer to cover more ground when they returned home.
The Werewolf of Grey Lake Inn by Megan Derr - 4 stars. I would have loved this to have been a novel. This story was ripe for UST but only coming into it at the end meant we were robbed of that chance. Still a good story but could have been great. 

How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis 

YA 

It has to be said that parts of that story made me ragey. However the fandom/convention/shipping aspect of the story was brilliant.

Like a Lover by Jay Northcote 

Rent Boy story! And written by Jay Northcote. How could I resist? I couldn't. 

Jay Northcote has the ability to write stories and characters that bury their way into my heart.

So that's my round up of favourite stories for the last two weeks. I'm currently reading the Charmed and Dangerous anthology. I'll give you my thoughts on that next week.

Fiction Friday

This the rest of the post from last Friday and concentrates on my August reads.

Let's see what I've enjoyed...

Weight of Silence (Cost of repairs 3) by A. M. Arthur - Not my favourite of the series but the MCs were younger than I prefer to read. Consequently I could forgive some teenage dramatics. Still enjoyed being back in this series though.

Falling Away by Lisa Henry - First things first, this is a free read from the m/m romance group (the 2013 collection). Very short, bdsm, thrown straight into a sex scene. I should have hated this, but I didn't. In fact I loved it just a little bit.

Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan & Marie Sexton - Second visit to Tucker Springs. Really enjoyed this story, even though Paul had the ability to annoy in places. These author's work well together and I'd happily read more of their collaborations.

The Lonely Drop by Vanessa North - Another free read from the m/m romance group (2014 this time). Oh Nick, how many times did I want to slam my Kindle into your face? How could you be so blind, so oblivious. *Sigh* A beautiful story of pining, bittersweet with thoughts of all those wasted years, beautifully written.

Forbidden Broadway by Jonathan Penn - Free from 2015 m/m romance group event. Cute free short story. I had a couple of niggles (unnecessary journey descriptions are unnecessary) but nothing to stop my enjoyment of the story.

Full Exposure by Amy Jo Cousins - Another freebie from this year's group offerings. Spoilt rock stars aren't normally something that catch my attention. But lucky for me I didn't read the blurb on this. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

All Man by Jay Northcote - “You’re the sleek little sports car to my Land Rover.” The tag line for this short story is just perfect. And this book is a sleek little sports car: small but perfectly crafted and designed to get your engine running.

Hopefully I'll have had the time to add the reads from the 21st to now to this list. I'm currently reading an anthology and have a couple of recs from that to offer up for your enjoyment.
edit: Still reading the anthology plus one other. You'll have to wait until September to find out what...

Fiction Friday - A fantastic discovery & much eye-rolling

Last Fiction Friday I pimped Foxe Tail by Hayley Walsh, which I described as gay Hardy Boys or a cross between QAF and the Famous Five. Since then I have finished the next two books in the series, Foxe Hunt and Out-Foxed. These three books complete the opening story arc of the series and bring all the events incorporated in these books to a satisfying conclusion. Each has a insular plot that is solved within the individual book as well as the main threat and the romance that straddle all three books.

There are several more books in the series which I do plan to read but I’ll give myself a break before (and between) reading that I did not allow myself on this occasion. I found three books (and they’re not short by mm standards) were a little too much of Skyler and his friends, however, because of the cliffhanger nature of the first three books and the overarching storyline, I needed to read these three close together.

Skyler is one of those characters that everybody in his orbit loves: his exes, his students, most of the teachers, random strangers he picks up in bars. The only people that don’t seem to idolise him are the bad guys and homophobes. Maybe because of this trait, Skyler induced many of the eye-rolling moments that I referred to in my title; in fact he is a character that probably should come under the TSTL banner. Given the number of attempts on his life in such a short period (the books take place over a couple of months) by the law of averages he should be dead already.

Sidney, Skyler’s best friend, is far too indiscreet to be a police detective and was probably my least favourite character of the bunch; a shame since she was really the only woman in the series (apart from Skyler’s Mum). The SFC (Skyler Fuck Club)—all exes of Skyler’s—seemed easily led into Skyler’s schemes despite regularly telling him to keep out of the investigations.

I know it sounds like I didn’t like the books but that’s not true. According to the author’s notes the mystery was based on true events in her local community, which I thought gave a sense of reality to the proceedings, nothing was too farfetched (apart from the all-encompassing Skyler love).

I loved Keith, Skyler’s eventual love interest, and was right behind him when, at the beginning of the third book, Skyler asked why Keith didn’t tell him the truth. I also liked 'Skyler the teacher', and the way that he interacted with his favourite class. I loved the kids in that class, especially the two boys and the way their coming out was dealt with.

So, despite my urge to slap several members of the cast, I did enjoy these books and I would recommend reading them without a gap.

4 stars for the overall trilogy.

However my favourite read of the last two weeks was A Hidden Magic by Angela Benedetti. A Hidden Magic is the first book in the Sentinels series.

Fey incursions into the mortal world have been on the rise, and Paul MacAllister's trying to figure out what the king of the local Elven enclave Under the Hill is up to and how to stop it. Rory Ellison was caught up in one of those attacks and nearly killed by a gang of goblins. He doesn't believe they were real, though, and is resisting anything Paul might say to the contrary.

Normally Paul would be willing to let Rory go his own way, at least until he's taken care of more immediate business. But Rory has a particularly rare gift, one the Elven king needs to have under his control in order to carry out his plan. Keeping Rory away from the fey who will use him, to death if necessary, means protecting him night and day, whether Rory agrees or not. 

I guess you would call this book urban fantasy/mm romance. It was a fun read with a great cast of characters and excellent world building that didn't drag the story down with too many superfluous details.

I followed this book up with a collection of all the shorts that have been written in this series.

Definitely a 4 star series so far. I plan to start reading the next book in a few days.

Fiction Friday - Raining Men & Somebody Killed his Editor (audio)

Raining Men by Rick R Reed 

Sequel to Chaser 

The character you loved to hate in Chaser becomes the character you will simply love in Raining Men. 

It’s been raining men for most of Bobby Nelson’s adult life. Normally, he wouldn’t have it any other way, but lately something’s missing. Now, he wants the deluge to slow to a single special drop. But is it even possible for Bobby to find “the one” after endless years of hooking up? 

When Bobby’s father passes away, Bobby finally examines his rocky relationship with the man and how it might have contributed to his inability to find the love he yearns for. Guided by a sexy therapist, a Sex Addicts Anonymous group, a well-endowed Chihuahua named Johnny Wadd, and Bobby’s own cache of memories, Bobby takes a spiritual, sexual, and emotional journey to discover that life’s most satisfactory love connections lie in quality, not quantity. And when he’s ready to love not only himself but someone else, sex and love fit, at last, into one perfect package.

This is not a love story. It's the journey of a man. There is a romance of sorts but it more than takes the backburner to Bobby's growth, in fact it all but happens off the page.

If you read Chaser and hated Bobby for his actions, then you have to read this book. There are numerous sex scenes but Rick R Reed in no way included them for titillation. They will leave you hollow and empty inside. 

I know you won't believe me, those of you that still hold on to the memory of the deplorable way Bobby behaved in Chaser, but your heart will ache for the man that you thought you hated. Not once, but time and time again. 

5/5

Somebody Killed his Editor - Josh Lanyon

The road back to bestsellerdom can be deadly.

Holmes & Moriarity, Book 1

Thanks to an elderly spinster sleuth and her ingenious cat, Christopher Holmes has enjoyed a celebrated career as a bestselling mystery writer. Until now. Sales are down and his new editor is allergic to geriatric gumshoes.

On the advice of his agent, he reinvents his fortyish, frumpy, recently dumped self into the sleek, sexy image of a literary lion, and heads for a Northern California writers conference to try and resurrect his career. A career nearly as dead as the body he stumbles over in the woods.

In a weirdly déjà vu replay of one of his own novels, he finds himself stranded in an isolated lodge full of frightened women—and not a lawman in sight. Except for J.X. Moriarity, former cop and bestselling novelist. The man with whom he shared a one-night stand—okay, maybe three—long ago. The man who wants to arrest him for murder.

A ruthless, stalking killer, or a hot, handsome ex-lover. Which poses the greater danger? It’s elementary, my dear Holmes!

Witty, mystery story which pokes fun at all manner of things to do with writers and publishing. I crushed on this book so hard when I read it, didn't think it could be improved upon. But I was wrong...the audio book is brilliant. Kevin R Free does an amazing job of bringing Kit and JX to life. Kit comes across in turns as insecure, confused, and frustrated, and JX, well, JX is damn sexy and just a little mysterious.

If I could give this 6/5 I would. 

Hey, this is my blog... 6/5

February's reads

Following on from my last post I have February's reads.

Series: I finished the Lang Downs series by Ariel Tachna. I only had the one book left to read in this series, Conquer the Flames (Lang Downs #4) - 4 stars.   Revisiting Lang Downs is like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket and meeting up with your favourite people (not that I often wear a blanket for that.) I know what to expect and Ariel Tachna doesn't disappoint. It's been a while since this book was published (2013) so I'm not holding out much hope for a fifth book but I can always read them again :)

Anthology: Brit Boys: On Boys -  4 stars. Of the 8 stories I had: 1 x 5 star, 2 x 4 stars, 4 x 3/3.5 stars and a DNF. It should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me that Locked out was my favourite (and the 5 star read) since it is written by Josephine Myles.

For the rest of my reads this month I tried to finish as many of the Love's Landscapes stories that I had missed when they originally came out as I could. This made for a mixed bag of results, as you can imagine, and I still didn't manage to finish them all.


Read: 24
5 star: none!
4 star: (including the 2 listed above) 7
DNF:  5
And I read one one the oldest books on my TBR - Clouds and Rain (Clouds and Rain #1) by Zahra Owens

4 star

Until Next Time by Xara X Xanakas
Chapter Five and the Axe-Wielding Maniac by Marie Sexton (read in anticipation of sequel)
Apartment 14 and the Devil Next Door by Marie Sexton
She's Got Balls (Handcuffs and Lace, #9) by Mia Watts
Fighting Dirty by Olley White

Phew. That's that all caught up now.

Hope I've given you ideas for a new title or two you fancy reading.