Forever Blue by Suzanne Brockmann

I'm down to the wire on this series. Only Identity Unknown is left on the TBR pile, although I have a feeling that it will go forever unread since it's OOP (out of print) and I don't have it. But I was lucky to get Forever Blue and as always, it didn't disappoint!

I had gotten to know Blue McCoy over the other books in the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series. Blue was Joe Cat's swim buddy during BUDs training. This books was to be read as the second in the series, after Prince Joe, but since it takes place outside of the SEALs center of command I didn't feel as I had read it out of order.

Blue goes back to his hometown for the wedding of his step-brother Gerry to his high shool sweetheart Jenny but when Gerry shows up dead, Blue becomes that main suspect.

Lucy Tait has had a crush on Blue since he saved her from being assaulted in high school. He was the one that was out of her league. Well he is back in town and as a police officer it's her role to stay impartial to his guilt or innocence but when she suspects that the cover up to Gerry's murder goes up the ranks of the police department, she cannot stand aside and watch Blue go down for a crime she is sure he did not commit.

I loved getting to know Lucy and Blue better. In a later book Lucy gets seriously injured and I realized that she was a strong character and I really needed to see where she was coming.
Another high point in this book was when Blue realizes that he is being idolized by Lucy. He is able to open up and show him that he is not a hero but a man of flesh and blood.

This one is not one that should be shrugged off and left unread. This series is a must read not just for Brockmann fans but for anyone that is looking to meet some serious Alpha Males!

Grade: A
Format: ebook

A Perfect Fit by Sheridon Smythe

I started reading the duo that is Sheridon Smythe a while ago with her books from the 'Completely' series. I have found their work to be on the lighter side of romance. I have never found the work to be emotionally compelling or memorable but they are great reads for when you are looking for a beach book.

In this one we meet Alex Bradshaw who is a bit of a workaholic. To the point that it is making him ill. He has finally arranged to go away for a few weeks at the advice of his doctors as well as his family and friends. Before he leaves, though, he receives a tip from an ex-employee of his, recently acquired, condom factory, that there might be some wrong doing taking place in the small town.

Brooke Welch has a bad temper. Her fuse is so short some might consider it to be an innie (like in the bell buttons). Her parents where killed several years ago and left her to raise her 14 year old sister. This sister has just announced that she is pregnant and that the one that got her in that condition has been avoiding her calls. This sets Brooke into a rampage of unparallel proportions. She is determined that the cad that got her little sister pregnant marry her or pay dearly for ensnaring her sister in the romantic trap she finds herself in now. Her way of doing this is to kidnap him and make him face HER music!

The only glitch to this is that she kidnaps the wrong guy! That's right, poor Alex was just minding his own business when Brooke sweeps down on him and forces him into her car with what he thought was a gun but was really just a dildo.

After Alex realizes that Brooke would not actually harm him, he decides that she might actually be able to help him untangle the mess his condom factory appears to be in. With a little blackmail and alot of sexual tension, he convinces her to help him.

The book was just a smooth read but there was one thing that had me hung up from the very beginning. It was that Brooke was very attracted to Alex and actually found herslf kissing him twice, BEFORE she realized he was not her little sister's boyfriend. I found that very disturbing and for some reason, she never could redeem herself after that. It was always in the back burner and I had problems getting over that.

After finding Brooke flawed, I found that she was loud and difficult to really care for. Regardless of any sad tale that was spun, I really couldn't connect with her. If you don't care much about the sisterly betrayal, you will enjoy the book. It is witty and the characters are sharp.

Grade: C+

Servicing Lady Termayne by Emma Wilde

This ebook was a short read but it was very enjoyable. It had a bit of the unusual, a bit of suspense and then a lot of sensuality.

Daphne, The Countess Tremayne , was left a widow a few years ago. Although she cared for husband, Jeffrey, he was much older than her and she found herself fantasizing about the physician that attended him the last two years of his life. Although the thoughts had been there, she did not betray her husband and only after her mourning period ha past did she dare to call on Dr. Blake.

Thomas Blake is the 5th son to a viscount and without prospects he has made medicine his profession. When Lady Tremayne has him summoned to her home for a consult he never imagined that he would be asked to service her in another way.

I really must say that the author is quite good at writing a well rounded tale. From the moment that Daphne seduced Thomas until the expected HEA, it was all believable. There was adventurous liaisons in a brothel, as well as passionate loving at his office. There was also a villain that gave another twist to the story, and Wilde put it all in at 30 pages without missing a beat.

Don't expect a romance that will leave you breathless, or erotica that will curl your toes, but if you a looking for a sexually driven tale that does not cross the line into vulgar and yet leaves you smiling at the lightness of the story, don't miss this one.

Grade: B
Format: ebook

Off World by Stephanie Vaughn

Stephanie Vaughn was introduced to me last year by a friend who suggested I read her m/m ebooks Jumping the Fence and Crossing the line. These two titles were just fabulous so when I saw Rosario had given her newest m/m ebook a good review I didn't hesitate to go out and pick it up. I was disappointed though.

I guess I had higher expectations and, even though I had been warned about the open ended, or better said abrupt, ending, I really expected more.

Your looking for more details?

Caleb Adams' best friend has been murdered in what appears to be a cover up for a string a murders that have taken place on earth. The blame for the murders has been put on Sarhaan's rogue military crew. The group of men are self made exiles and are wanted men. Cal doesn't believe this and with a small aircraft goes out to find the crew to enlist their help in finding the real culprit as well as clearing their names. He really was not expecting the crew to be so against his ideas.

Sarhaan,the leader - so to say, of the ex-military group, immediately find himself attracted to Cal but is unsure if he can be trusted. Funny thing is that it's okay to lock him in Sarhaan's room and lust after him, ultimately taking him as a lover, but not okay to trust him... hmmm, I can see that.

The scenes were definitely hot and exciting but the story that was taking place outside of the bedroom just was not coherent enough for me to enjoy this book to the fullest. There were too many unanswered questions that Vaughn maybe threw out there to make things a bit more mysterious and then forgot that they needed a closure?

Caleb appears to have been tortured at one point by a crew member but we don't know what actually happened since Caleb doesn't even remember it (he had been drugged). The resolution takes place behind the scenes, so to say, since it was more of an epilogue. We never really get to know who Sahaaran really is, just that he is decent.There was an incident in the crew's lives which led them to become rogues but we just get a glimpse here and there.

There were just so many angles that could have been flushed out and Vaughn left them all out there without a home. It was a messy story and I felt very disappointed that no one actually told Vaughn that her subplots needed tweaking. Anyway, there appears to be a sequel to this one, but I honestly am not sure if I want to go there. This one left me a sour taste in my mouth. The grade I gave this one was definitely influenced by the sensuality of the scenes and not so much for the story behind it.

Grade: C-
Format: ebook

The Assignment by Evangelina Anderson

I think I will add another goal in 2007 as to read at least one ebook each month. I had missed the darn things!
What I like about ebooks is that you don't find as many barriers as to the content. Its funny to think it in today's day and age, but it appears that mainstream publishing does censure it's content. In a way I do understand the reasoning behind it, since certain genres do cater to a particular audience. I still like the physical feel of a book when I'm reading but I really love certain genres that you can find more easily in ebook format. One of those genre is gay relationships. Male/Male pairings are very sexy and, when written well, very romantic.

I picked up this title after I saw the recap Rosario had on it in her blog.

The story revolves around Nick Valenti who is a detective and his partner, Sean O'Brian. They get assigned to a case that has them going undercover to a gay spa/resort. Nick has issues accepting his sexuality and his growing attraction to his partner. He recently divorced and has thought himself straight but his feelings for Sean are very strong and he does not believe Sean would EVER return his feelings.

During this trip/assignment Sean has had no problem falling into the role of Nick's boy toy and they find themselves pushing the limits as to what is acceptable to do to 'catch' the bad guy. The thing is that it is pretty obvious that Sean is definitely attracted to Nick but he is not sure if Nick is ready to accept his own feelings for Sean.

Scenes were hot, hot, hot! And if it wasn't for Nick's constant need to remind himself how Sean would NEVER accept a relationship with him, I would have given this one and A.

Grade:B+
Format: ebook

Anthology - Over the Moon

I picked up my first Anthology in the year mostly because I am so hooked on those Mageverse stories. I also was looking forward to the Wyndham Wolves story by Davidson. Although I have not yeat read all the books in that series, my daughter just loved Derik's Bane and I find myself looking for good reading material for her. With this first Anthology under my belt, I'm just 11 books away from reaching my reading goal for 2007!

Angela Knight – Moon Dance: More of the Mageverse world! Yeah me!! A little more on the Direwolf clans (first introduced in Master of the Moon, and then revisited in Master of the Wolves). Elena is part of the aristocracy of the Direwolves. Her father has elected the Direwolf that would be her mate more for the fact that Stephen will conserve the ways of the past, than the possibility that he will be good to his daughter. Elena refuses to give in and when her burning moon finds her on the way to being raped and impregnated by the bully of a man she seeks help from Lucas Rollings.
Lucas is one of the 'bitten'. He is young in terms of his time as a Direwolf but he has learned from the best. He is a Cop in a small town where Direwolf population is down to 1. When he sees Elena being smacked around by Stephen in the parking lot of the Police station he has to step in.
Knight definitely knows how to take a short story and put as much into it as she can. The story was well rounded, believable and very hot!! It's a must read for anyone following this series since it does explain the bureaucracy among the Direwolf and the separation of classes. I had to give this one an A

Virginia Kantra – Between the Mountain and The Moon: Kantra was a new author for me and I was impressed with the ability she demonstrated in writing a short story about love that developed in a few hours. This is a sequel to an earlier story of this author (In the Anthology Man of My Dreams) but the funny thing is that even though I enjoyed this tale I am not inclined to search out the first book. The first tale is about the parents of the heroine of this book and Kantra really didn't let me develop an affinity for them. Caitlin finds herself lost in the woods on the night of Beltane.
The Queen of the Sidhe has never forgiven Cat's father his abandonment so she ends her son to seduce the girl and bind her to him in an act of vengeance toward her parents. Rhys accepts his fate as the tool in his mother's revenge until he meets Caitlin and cannot stand aside while she pays the price for her father's sins. The mood in this story is dark and a bit unnerving, it gives the fae world a very sinister feel which is part of the charm of the story itself. B

Mary Janice Davidson – Driftwood: I found myself reluctant to dive into this one just because I have not caught up with the Undead series or with the Wyndham wolf series, so I was concerned this would spoil it for me be honestly I needn't have worried because I really just needed to know who the main characters of each series was to fall right into this one. No spoilers are given to any of the two series. The story started out very funny with Burke (a hermit werewolf) encountering Serena (a vamp) on the beach when she is stuck in a hole. Serena is a sassy thing and when Burke tries to help her out of the hole before he turns, it becomes a ping pong of words of comedic proportions.
The problem is that the story peaks at the start. After they discover who they are, her a vamp and him, a Were, there is not much happening. Yeah there is a mission that Serena needs to accomplish that Burke assists her with, gaining her respect/love but honestly, the story was just a tale about two lonely people that find each other. Could not see myself giving this more than a C.

Sunny – Mona Lisa Three: Last one in this anthology had me double checking the author because it was way too similar in content to Laura K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. I really must say this one was the downfall of this anthology. It seems to take place between full length books. Most of the story was a recap of the series itself and by the time we get to the meat of the tale (which is just a quick physical healing that involved sex) the author had lost the reader's interest.
If you're familiar with the series, the story will still bore you because there is way too much recapping taking place; if you are not familiar with the series (like me), you will have lost interest in what is to come because there is so much politics involved in the recap you find yourself lost. As a Merry Gentry fan, I'll admit it did pull me in a bit, but not enough for me to look up the series or to connect enough with the character to really care who is left behind or not. This one really brought down the book itself and I had to give it a D (For the great sex scenes).


This brings the anthology to a close and I find it funny that the book lost it's steam as we kept reading each story. All of these tales are part of one series or another and I guess you would assimilate your appreciation of each story based on the background you might have on each author's work. Still, when I look at an Anthology I'm looking for stories that can be told in a short format, with a beginning, middle and end. All the characteristics of a story should be included, regardless of the length of the tale itself. Some of these stories did a great job at that, others failed miserably.

Grade: C+

Master of the Swords by Angela Knight

This one is part of the Mageverse series. I admit to have fallen in love with this darn series. In December I gobbled up the first three books of the series and now I tackled the last full length novel published in the series.

We first get a glimpse of Gawain in the previous Mageverse book where the second black grail is destroyed. Gawain is one of the original knights converted by Merlin when Arthur becomes a vampire. Gawain befriended a dragon many centuries ago, but the Dragonlands would not accept the dragon's friendship with the vampire knight so Kel (the dragon) was cursed to spend an eternity in the form of a sword that could yield magic. Kel could break his curse if he used the sword to kill Gawain but his friendship made him chose his imprisonment. This action created a bond between Kel and Gawain that was similar to a spirit link which allowed them to feel each others thoughts, which in turn brought these two very close.

After the intro which explains the relationship between Kel and Gawain, the story picks up just a bit before the last grail was destroyed in Master of the Wolves. The bad vampires have invaded Avalon while the werewolves battle the rouge vampire/maga.

Lark is a relatively new Maga. She is granddaughter to Tristan (from Tristan and Isolde) and when, during the battle she almost dies from an attack of a vampire, her confidence is shattered. She has already shown signs that she is not content with her role as a Maga, but when this happens she is not sure she can continue to fight to protect humans.

It is decided that all new Maga and Vampires will be paired up with more experienced fighters and Lark has the good fortune to be paired with Gawain. Of course she is a feisty witch which entices Gawain but she is also very frightened of having a relationship with her new trainer. First she has already been on an emotional ride, but every time she thinks of Gawain sinking his fangs into her (vampires must feed from the Maga and the Maga need to donate to the Vampires in order to live), she falls apart. She is scared sh*tless. It doesn't help that she shuts down emotionally to avoid having her heart broken. Gawain on the other hand recognizes early on that Lark is different and he is on a mission to seduce her out of her fears (and her clothes).

This was one of the best of the series. Not just your followup on the same theme - 'we must destroy the bad vamps!!'
This one had a twist with the inclusion of the dragons and the fact that most events took place in Avalon is another notable difference from the others. The bad guy was REALLY bad, vengeance as his motivator. We even see someone that we have learned to care about die. I just could not put this one down. Gawain was a yummy hero, strong and warrior like. Lark was weak and vulnerable at the start and then we see her grow into her powers and into who she was meant to be. Fabulous storytelling!!

Grade: A

My Favorite Witch by Annette Blair

I'm all about reading a series in order and the great part of this Salem Witch series is that the three books have already been released and I have them all! Yeah me!!

We met Kira Fitzgerald in The Kitchen Witch. She babysat Shane at one point in the story and was well known to be the REAL Witch in the bunch. When we start the book Kira is putting behind a very bad relationship where her soon-to-be husband was caught in bed with Kira's younger sister. She has decided that she needs to move away for some time since her parents don't know why she has dumped the minor league ball player a few days before the wedding. Since she really can't cope with her family's doubt in her judgment - not that she blames them since she was just days away from marrying the toad that was Charlie - she accepts a position as Assistant Event Coordinator to the Pickering Foundation.

Jason Pickering Goddard is laid low when he severely injured himself carousing with a blonde bombshell and almost lost his livelihood as a hockey player. He has sworn off women completely and is struggling to get back on the ice. His doctors are not very hopeful, they have actually deemed it impossible, but he is focused on his physical training and won't let anything in his way back to his dream.

His grandmother has convinced/coerced him into giving the Pickering Foundation 6 months of his time. She has teamed him up with a witch of an Event Coordinator that has him jumbled in knots from the first moment he saw her casting a spell against her ex-boyfriend.

The book is just 298 pages but it holds a wallop of a punch. From ghost searches, bee attacks, crow counting, ice skating and many, many rabbit holes, this book just keeps you glued from page one. There is this chemistry between Kira and Jason that just pops off the page from the moment you open the book. I find it funny that the characters appear to want to be flawed (Jason has a kissing issue and has a phobia of commitment while Kira has an issue with Jocks in general and is avoiding commitment as well), yet they are not. These issues are normal issues and might have popped up in anyone's life if they had the same life experiences as these two. These two were just two people that had to find their way to each other at their own pace. And this is where I find the only fault in the book.

It took them FOREVER to find their way to each other. We were 20 pages from the ending and neither of these knuckle heads could see more than desire when they looked at each other. It was so obvious to the reader but they just could not see it. It wasn't even that they were in denial, it was not even there as a possibility. I would have liked to see a bit more struggle on their end to accept the feelings of love. I also would have liked to see the relationship consummated much earlier in the book. They had done everything except the deed and I found it a bit too much to believe. Don't get me wrong, their trips into the rabbit holes were very entertaining but darn, just get it over with!! LOL!

One more thing I need to throw in here is how much I LOVED the use of quilts by Kira. Lots of people associate quilts to elderly grandmothers, and I appreciate that Kira who was a 'bewitching' woman was a quilter. Quilts are a wonderful heritage to leave to your children but to leave them the ability to MAKE quilts is a gift that will last longer than the threads themselves.

Grade: B+