Tag Archives: What Have You Been Reading

Your Reads, Our Reads, ALBTALBS March Reads!

So … we’re pretending it’s April for this post, okay? I’ve had a time of it, and then just stuff, and simply standing up feels like quite an accomplishment. Accordingly, I’m off schedule. Although, we should all know I should know better than to try to have a schedule, right? šŸ˜› But on to the important stuff! Books! I know reviews have been sparse … none have been sent in, requests are piecemeal and I can’t handle email, so that’s what happens. (Or review myself, clearly.) Continue reading

What the ALBTALBS Crew Read: February Edition

Hi friends! So we’re back again with a list of everything I read in February! And some of the Review Crew’s read books or recommendations! Some of the books are/will be reviewed… Most will not. I’m just not built that way anymore. I do leave pseudo review/streams of consciousness over at Goodreads if you ever have the burning desire to understand the further ramblings of my brain. I’ll try to get the Review Crew members to write reviews to go live at ALBTALBS. šŸ˜‰

As you see, this time I got the review crew in on it! I asked members of the review crew to send me a comprehensive list, or the books that they felt the most strongly about – either love or hate. (Of course they went positive. :P) Continue reading

What’ve You Been Reading? (And My Non-Review Blitz)

I (desperately) need to write reviews. Recently I’ve read two L.B. Gregg books for the TBR challenge (which I also dropped the ball on) – and you know, fuck you, 2013. I thought 2012 was bad and I mean it was, with the family and hospital and my stuff… but then people dropped like flies in 2013, and I get that getting older means that, but it for damn sure shouldn’t mean funeral after funeral and so much that you can’t even keep them all straight.

Also the holidays make me put my ranty pants on, because all this family and while others might have awesome ones, mine are more like the “oh that’s just unrealistic” ones in books. >.>

Anyway.

I read Simple Gifts and How I Met Your Father. I don’t read much m/m – not as aĀ thing but I just haven’t, and there’s so much I’m behind on already. But I like L.B. and I read the premise to Simple Gifts and I was sold. I definitely recommend both, and wish more romances were like these two. M/M, M/F, F/F, whatever. M/F/M is good too. šŸ˜‰ And now I feel like I should talk about more of the books I’ve read, so another new one was Ripped by Sarah Morgan. Loved it!!! More of this please!

Today I read Whispers by Carolyn Jewel. I liked it, but not as much as I was hoping to, because I thought they were romances – or romance novellas, and I might disagree with using “romantic” to describe them. I’d be interested in hearing what any of you think if you were to read it. The short stories are all very well written, and I like Carolyn Jewel’s voice, but they are dark dark dark. And maybe it’s just that I see a lot of dark so my mind immediately goes to … possibly a place worse than others might, but, yeah. I think if you start with the knowledge (or expectation) that this is erotica, you’ll be blown away.

WhispersFive graphic, erotic, romantic, short stories from Carolyn Jewel.

Donā€™t read these if youā€™re disturbed or offended by strong, possibly offensive, sexual content. Really. Donā€™t.

INIGO THE MAGICIAN: A demon delivers on an ice-cold revenge after a magician uses him and a human woman to satisfy his sexual perversions. Six months later, sheā€™s not even close to recoveredheā€™s free and their first meeting is a volatile combination of minds, bodies, and the consequences of a promise made.

DEMON LOVER: New Orleans, 1859. At nearly twenty-eight, Zoe remains at home to support her widowed father. She longs for something more in her life. David Nataniel is a dangerous man for a woman to know. Heā€™s a client of her fatherā€™s and is often at the house, but Zoe believes sheā€™s safe from his wickedness. Sheā€™s not.

MY GOBLIN BOYFRIEND: ā€˜My Goblin Boyfriendā€™ should say it all, but in case it doesnā€™t, Violet finds out first-hand why goblins have a rep for mastery in the bedroom after she finds an injured goblin passed out on her porch. She does the right thing for everyone involved and nurses him back to health. Heā€™s big, strong, definitely not-human, and not shy at all. Features goblin sex. Doh.

CONSTANCE: In Edwardian-era America, Nathan reluctantly agrees to seduce and impregnate his good friendā€™s cousin. As he comes to know and like the woman, her tragic past changes him forever.

THE WILD: An unrepentant werewolf finds the woman of his dreams. She needs the kind of pain only he can deliver— As long as sheā€™s willing to get Wild with him. Not for the faint of heart. Includes werewolf sex.

So anyway, immediately afterwards I read Making Over Maris. That was a cute story with a definite romance, and I’ll be reading more books by both authors.

What about you though? I’m still on the hunt for erotic romances with a definite happy ending and closure. I’d prefer not dark dark dark but most important to me, is that it’s well written. So, let’s dish about books!

What Have You Been Reading? (Here’s Julia’s Answer)

Can you believe it’s been a few months? Here’s what Julia has been reading, as it says. Hooray for her organization because I don’t know if I could do this. šŸ˜€ I’m curious to see what books you all have been devouring!

Iā€™ve continued my somewhat eclectic reading journey the last few months without really planning to. I just pick up whatever seems to suit my mood. Which apparently swings like Tarzan on a vine.

Iā€™ve had a renewed taste for paranormal and urban fantasy. Thanks to twitter I found JC Daniels aka Shiloh Walker. I loved her new book Blade Song (P.S. It’s only $2.99 on kindle right now!), a fast-paced book with a heroine Kit, who will not give up, even when things seem their bleakest, which is my favorite kind of character. I liked Danielsā€™ take on the were/vamp world, especially since the story is set in my backyard of Winter (Wolf) Haven FL. Ha! The second book in the series is newly released Night Blade is the continuation of Kitā€™s story.

Blood Smoke and Mirrors by Robyn Bachar is a very different story both in terms of the supernatural world and the atmosphere of the story. Cat (This name occurs way more often in Romancelandia than the real world. Iā€™m not discouraging its use. Sorry. Not sorry.) is confronted with her long-lost no-good dad and the ex who betrayed her. In this magical world, Cat wins her battles as much for being a good person as she does for being clever or powerful. Itā€™s a nice upbeat counterpoint to the serious level of menace from the villains and the epic amount of angst.

How Beauty met the Beast by Jax Garren has a really unique almost steampunk vibe to its world building. Garren brings the heat with another heroine (for me, itā€™s all about the heroine with PNR/UF) who knows how to get back up when she gets knocked down. I love how this story doesnā€™t shy away from the ugliness of the ā€˜beast.ā€™ There is no sugar coating it and the heroine doesnā€™t magically see the goodness in the heroā€™s heart. But slowly, bit by bit, Jolie (which is French for pretty) discovers how wonderful Hauk is and as a reader I got to see it all happen on page. I loved that.

In case you think I abandoned my erotic romance reading the last few weeks for swords and sorcery, fear not! I found the naughty wonderfulness of Charlotte Stein. I her latest release Control which was much talked about on twitter. (Which, dude, also just $2.99 for kindle right now!)I loved all its twisty, touching weird characters. What I love about Stein is how she can take characters I have nothing in common with, certainly not our sexual kinks, and yet I love those people so much I want them to have every single one of those things that donā€™t quite dare want. I absolutely could not turn the last few pages fast enough because I had to know how it was going to end! I was not disappointed.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Rigaud is a hoot of a Pride and Prejudice adaptation. (Heads up – this time it’s the print book that is cheaper, a bargain trade paperback at $6.) I read some chat about this online. Iā€™ve no idea why I picked it up and passed on some other adaptations but Iā€™m glad I read it. Darcy is a rock star and Lizzie the guitarist in an up and coming band. At first I read along, having fun picking out where the stories were the same and what had been changed. But before long, I was reading along for the fun of the story itself. Who hasnā€™t wanted to go along on a tour with a band? This book had all the fun details of the life of a rock god but I still got to sleep in my own bed at night. The story is long and adheres in clever ways to the overall story of Pride and Prejudice. There were some bits at the end that I didnā€™t love, but by that point I was too invested in Lizzie and Darcy and their band mates to let that detract too much.

What am I planning on reading next? Sequels galore. Several of the above titles have sequels out that Iā€™m dying to read. Lauren Daneā€™s upcoming Lush (I LOVED Lush) has been much talked about on twitter and I am counting the days ā€“ another rock star romance for me! Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson has been very warmly recommended by a few twitter friends, so thatā€™s got to move up the TBR pile. And last week after finally getting to meet one of my favorite twitter friends Megan Mulry(squee!), I got to hear Ann Patchett (she shook my hand!) talk and got an autographed copy of Bel Canto, so Iā€™m going to reread that. It is NOT a romance. Itā€™s a beautiful, wonderfully written book but not all sunshine and rainbows there, so donā€™t say I didnā€™t warn you before that book rips out a little piece of your heart and puts it back in a slightly different place.