Natural Law (Nature of Desire #2) by Joey W. Hill

Erotic suspense.  I enjoyed this second book in the Nature of Desire series much more than the first.  As always I found the writing well done and enlightening.  There was a good mystery going along with the self-discovery of the two main characters.  I will definitely continue this series.

Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee

 Cute contemporary romance.  International businessman, Blake Harrison, needs a wife to fulfill obligation set by his fathers will or lose his inheritance.  Enter professional matchmaker Sam Elliot.  Blake is attracted to Sam from the first.  She needs money to support her ill sister and he needs a wife.  They contract for a year but didn’t count on falling in love.

Holding The Cards (Nature of Desire #1) by Joey W. Hill

As you may have guessed by now I am a fan of Joey W. Hill.  When this book was put on Amazon for free I grabbed it as I hadn’t yet read this series.  It was good but not as good as the Knights of the Boardroom series or the books I’ve read in the Vampire Queen series.  I will read the next book in the series just because I feel like I may miss something if I give up too soon.  

Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb

Celebrity in Death is the 34^th story in the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb.  These stories are consistently first rate. 

In this latest offering Eve and Peabody must find the murderer of the actress that was playing the part of Peabody in the movie adaptation of Nadines book on the Icove case.  

You either love or hate these stories.  Count me among those that love them and will continue to buy them as long as Ms. Roberts keeps writing them.

Raven Calls (Walker Papers #7) by C.E. Murphy

One of the first e-books I ever purchased was Urban Shaman the first Walker Papers book.  I’ve since purchased a paper copy as it is easier to share and I don’t have to worry about whether or not it will work on my next device.  My first e-reader was a Palm PDA.  I’ve been hooked on this series ever since and it just keeps getting better.  Ms. Murphy has grown as a writer and Jo Walker has grown as a character.

Warning Raven Calls is not a stand-alone book.  If you haven’t read the other Walker Paper books RUN and get them NOW! 

Poor Jo she finally gets the guy and doesn’t get the chance to enjoy or explore it.  She has to fly to Ireland in response to a vision and the fact she has been bitten by a werewolf.   Poor Jo she can’t catch a break.  Morrison calls Gary and gets him to go and assist Jo in her endeavors in Ireland.  Without giving away too much I can say that Jo grows a great deal in this book.  She gains new friends and says farewell to others.

And now I have to wait for the next book. 

Scanguards Vampires (Books 1 - 5) by Tina Folsom

Samson's Lovely Mortal – This book started with a blow job and I thought oh, it’s going to be one of those.  But it wasn’t.  Sure there are plenty of hot love scenes but the blow job is important to the story because the sexy Samson can’t get it up.  Samson is a high powered executive and the owner of Scanguards, a bodyguard company, whose confidence was shot down by a gold-digging ex-girlfriend and his love life is in the toilet until he meets he lovely mortal auditor Delilah who is running from an unknown assailant.  Things would go much smoother if men and women communicated better but it wouldn’t be as much fun to read about.

Amaury's Hellion – Nina’s brother Eddie worked for Scanguards human division and killed his client and then himself or so the story goes.  Nina doesn’t believe it.  The  Scanguard vampires must have done something to him.    Amaury is an executive at Scanguards who has been cursed to feel everyones emotions but never to love.  It gets downright painful at times.  When he is with Nina it is blissfully quiet except he would really like to know what she is feeling.  Will she be the one to break the curse?

Gabriel's Mate – Gabriel and his crew from NY were called in to assist in the investigation into the deaths in Amaury's Hellion.  They’ve been asked to stay on as Delilah is pregnant and Amaury and Nina are honeymooning.  Maya is a doctor who has been turned against her will.  The attack was interrupted and she was brought to Samsons.  Samson has a pregnant mate and Amaury isn’t focused so it is up to Gabriel to oversee the lovely doctor’s turning. 

The good doctors turning wasn’t accidental.  She has a vampire stalker and he is killing off all those she might have told about him and he wants her back.  Gabriel is falling hard but has a problem.  Another instance where communication would have made things a whole lot easier.

Yvette's Haven – Yvette is one of Gabriel’s NY crew that’s come out to San Francisco to help out Samson.  When Zane (another of the NY crew) is taken off a job because the client thinks he is too scary Yvette gets the job.  She and her client are kidnapped by Haven a bounty hunter and vampire slayer.  He is forced into the job to save his screw up brother.  Killing a vampire is just a perk because a vampire killed his mother and kidnapped his sister 22 years earlier and he will kill every vamp that gets in his way till he finds his sister and her kidnapper.  In a classic case of opposites attracting these two are incredible together.

Zane's Redemption – Zane is on the abyss flailing his arms so he doesn’t fall and his friends can’t get near for fear of sending him off the deep end.  It takes an innocent to grab him by the collar and pull him back.  Zane is a big, scary, emotionally scarred vampire.  When Zane blatantly kills a rapist Samson puts him on light duty babysitting Portia.  Portia is a young hybrid college student who is also a virgin who needs to lose said virginity before she becomes a full vampire and is a virgin for eternity.  Her father has hired Scanguards to watch her while he was away.  He told them she was a wild child and that they should keep her away from boys and parties.  He doesn’t count on the attraction between Portia and Zane.

This was an emotionally tough book for me.  But I guess they way you redeem the bad boy is by explaining how he got that way.

These books are fun, sexy, inventive vampire romances.  I heartily recommend them.  BTW: Ms. Folsom count me in among those who want Thomas and Eddies story.

Some Like It Hot (Rising Star Chef #2) by Louisa Edwards

What’s not to like?  HOT men that can cook both in and out of the kitchen.  In this the second Rising Star Chef book Danny gets his girl, Claire is still having man problems, Wilson and Drew are on again / off again and we learn a lot more about Beck.  Can probably be read as a stand-alone but is so much more fun with the back story provided by the first book Too Hot To Touch (Rising Star Chef #1).  Hot Under Pressure (Rising Star Chef #3) is already on my wish list.

Fury of Fire (Dragonfury #1) by Coreene Callahan

Nurse practitioner, Myst Munroe is having a bad day and it is about to get worse.  Myst goes to check on pregnant patient Caroline and finds her bleeding out on the floor.  She begs Myst to save the child.  911 says it will take 30 minutes for an ambulance so she performs an emergency c-section and saves the child.  Then her world gets really interesting. 

Dragon shifters are at war.  On the one hand are the Nightfury (led by Bastian) who wish to coexist peacefully with humans and then there are the rogue Razorbacks (led by Ivar) who think that humans are pests only good for breeding and eating and the rest should die. 

Bastian takes Myst and the baby into custody while saving her from the Razorbacks.  Back at the lair we meet several hunky alpha dragons and a beta elf (who I want for my very own). We learn about their world and Bastian and Myst fall in love.  But there are questions and stories untold so this will be an interesting series.  I liked that Myst was a strong woman who didn’t let the alpha male lie to her, and owned when she was wrong.

As I was reading this I kept thinking of Lara Adrian’s Breed series.  This is a lot like it only with dragon-shifters.  It has room to grow and I shall join the ride

Just because

Something About Witches (Arcane Shot #1) by Joey W. Hill

I’ve read Joey W. Hill’s Knights of the Boardroom series and am working my way through her Vampire Queen series.  I even have the first book in her Nature of Desire series on my TBR shelf.  So when I found Something About Witches at my bookstore I grabbed it.  I’d heard it was to be more main stream.  Everything is relative I guess.  Ms. Hill does not write brain candy or fluff.  The Knights of the Boardroom series starts out hard and ends OMG.  The Vampire Queen series is dark and often brutal (but it is about vampires after all). 

Something About Witches takes place in the same world as the Vampire Queen series but it isn’t exactly a spin-off.  It is a book about choices, good vs. evil, love and redemption and like every Joey W. Hill book it was well written, intelligent, with smokin’ hot love scenes.  I am not Wiccan and don’t know much about Wicca.  I am sure that I missed something when reading this because of that but not enough to take away from the story and I did learn a thing or two.  

All in all another great read.  Will be adding In The Company of Witches (Arcane Shot #2) to my wish list.

Midnight Enchantment (Dark Magick #4) by Anya Bast

The fourth and final (?) book in this series.  In this book we meet Elizabeth Cely Saintjohn an asrai, a rare type of water fae.  She is young, conflicted but determined.  The Summer Queen has given Elizabeth two parts of the key needed to open the book that can free the fae from the prison that is Piefferburg.  Neither want the walls to come down although for very different reasons.  Enter Niall Quinn.  He has been sent by the Shadow Queen to retrieve the keys. 

I think this may have been the best book in the series.  All of the characters are wonderfully multifaceted.  A definite must read for Anya Bast fans.

Hex Appeal (Jazz Tremaine #2) by Linda Wisdom

Jazz and company are back.  The story isn’t as good but the characters are stronger.  I’ll definitely be reading the next installment.

50 Ways to Hex Your Lover (Jazz Tremaine #1) by Linda Wisdom

Jasmine Tremaine is a witch who can't stay out of trouble.  Nikolai Gregorivich is a gorgeous vampire looking into the disappearance of several vampires. Jazz and Nick’s love affair has been on-again, off –again for about 300 years.  Now Nick needs Jazz's help with stopping an enemy that Jazz thought she had killed already. They are surrounded by a fun bunch of characters, including Irma, the chain-smoking ghost who haunts Jazz's sports car, Dweezil, her ghoul of a boss, and Fluff and Puff, a pair of bunny slippers with sharp teeth, short tempers and voracious appetites. 

My daughter brought this one to my attention.  If you like Kimberly Frost's Southern Witch series or Candace Havens' Bronwyn the Witch series (which I would love to see more of) you'll enjoy Jazz Tremaine.

Hot Secrets, Possession, Engaged in Wickedness, & Dark Seduction

I had some time to catch up on a couple of books on my TBR:

Hot Secrets by Lisa Renee Jones 

A sweet and sexy romantic suspense story with a sexy bodyguard and an assistant DA trying not to become a victim. 

Possession by Linda Mooney

I’ve never been one for ghost stories and I’m still not.  A friend said this one will change your mind.  Nope.  J is a blind seer and Kiel Stark is a cop that was killed in the line of duty but brought back.  There was no way this could end well.

Engaged in Wickedness (Bridal Favors-Engaged #1) by Jade Lee

This was a fun freebie from Jade Lee to introduce her Bridal Favors series.

Dark Seduction (Altered States) by Cheyenne McCray 

Cheyenne McCray does good PNR.  This is no exception.  Tori  meets and falls for Logan, fast.  Then her boss informs her that Logan is a bad guy and she must go under cover and retrieve info on the top-secret project he is working on.  This looks like the first in a series.  I hope so.  

The Cursed Clan: Callum by Melissa Schroeder

Callum Lennon is a cranky, reclusive, wealthy Scot with a problem.  He and his cousins were cursed in the 1700’s.  They have recently come into possession of a diary that may contain the way to break the curse.  The problem is it is written in several languages and in code.  Enter Phoebe Chilton.  Phoebe is the daughter of famous archeologists, went to college at thirteen and is now a widow from a horrible marriage.  She does however possess the skills to decode the diary.  Sparks both good and bad fly between Phoebe and Callum from almost the instant they meet.

 

I’ve read and enjoyed several of Ms. Schroeder’s erotic romances.  This is not an erotic romance despite some very toasty scenes.  I’d call it romantic suspense with a paranormal feature (the curse).  That being said, I LOVED this story.  Hot Scots, action, adventure, and mystery what’s not to love?  Bring on Angus.

Driving Mr. Dead by Molly Harper

This story takes place in the world of Jane Jameson.  Miranda is a human with an eclectic background who has taken a job driving vampire Collin Sutherland from Washington to Kentucky.  Miranda is basically a reformed free-spirit with cheating fiancé issues.  Collin is an aristocratic stick in the mud hermit.  Hours on the road with almost slapstick mishaps make for a laugh out loud funny read.

Shane's Last Stand (Short Story) by Suzanne Brockmann

Prequel to Born to Darkness.   A short story about Shane’s final mission as an officer with SEAL Team Thirteen—the mission that strips him of his command, earns him a dishonorable discharge, and leaves him blacklisted and unlikely to find work in the darkly futuristic world of the mid-twenty-first century.

Shane is an officer with a bright future ahead until he and his team is sent on a mission to take out a terrorist known for blowing up hospitals and children except the target isn’t who they say she is.  Shane and his team have been sent to take out a witness to a massacre who is in hiding.  Shane aborts the mission knowing it could cost him his career. 

Once again Suzanne Brockmann gives us a strong, moral fighting man who does the right thing against all comers.  I am looking forward to Born to Darkness.  

Forever Buckhorn: Gabe\Jordan (Buckhorn Brothers 3 & 4) by Lori Foster

I really enjoyed Buckhorn Beginnings, Sawyer and Morgan’s stories and was looking forward this next book with Gabe and Jordan’s tale.  I think I liked this book even more than the first.  First of all these two brothers are more likeable to start with.  Gabe is the local heartthrob and Jordan is the smooth talking vet.  Their matches are their total opposites.  For Gabe we get the shy virgin and for upstanding tea-totaling Jordan we get an exotic dancer with two kids.  I loved it.  Ms. Foster treated each with humor and sensitivity and good ol’ cowboy lovin’.  Bring on Casey’s story.

Lace and Lassos by Cheyenne McCray

This is about starting over and redemption mixed in with a whole lot of cowboy loving.  Wayne Cameron and Kaitlyn Barrett grew up together and fell in love.  Wayne developed a drinking problem that put Kaitlyn in a position where she had to leave him.  Years have passed and Kaitlyn moves back home after getting out of an emotionally abusive marriage and upon inheriting her father’s ranch.  Wayne is now sober and has never stopped loving Kaitlyn.  When they meet again they have to work together to save her ranch and rebuild the love and trust they had shared. 

Sweet and sexy

Haven't forgotten

I've been ill.  I've gotten my husband reading the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich and I am re-reading them along with.  I am on Twelve Sharp and hope to be feeling well enough to start something new soon.