Tal's Book

Maelstrom: A Whyborne and Griffin Novel (Whyborne & Griffin Book 7)

Maelstrom - Jordan L. Hawk This series just keeps getting better. Ival & Grif keep growing as a couple and they even got a little kinky in this one. Saul is awesome. Christine still gets some of the best lines. Miss Parkhurst gets a new crush. Neither of our intrepid heroes figures out the big bad until it's too late which was annoying since I knew who it was almost from page one but half the fun of this book was watching them stumble around oblivious to the obvious. Oh, and it left me craving waffles.

The Winter Spirit

The Winter Spirit - Indra Vaughn This was a perfect holiday read. I loved it.

Will & Patrick Wake Up Married

Will & Patrick Wake Up Married - Leta Blake, Alice Griffiths DNF @ 25%. "He reaches around to wash his ass..." "He shudders as a memory..." "He gets out of the shower and ..." "He smirks" "he shrugs" "Patrick stares..." "Patrick sputters." "Will sighs." This is blow-by-blow third person hell. Had this been written in alternating first person I might have enjoyed it.

A Hard Winter Rain

A Hard Winter Rain - John Inman Need to time to let my reaction to the book settle. Enjoyed the hell out of it.

Graham Ran Over A Reindeer

Graham Ran Over A Reindeer - Sterling Rivers Stop! Do not pass go! <- the warning label that should accompany this book. Yet another perfect example of the argument against self-publishing.

The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (Consulting Magic Book 2)

The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (Consulting Magic Book 2) - Amy Crook Told from Julian's POV and he has a completely different voice than Alex. I did love it though, despite that it was syrupy sweet. I loved his rapport with the plants. A warm fuzzy feel good read.

The Courtship of Julian St. Albans

The Courtship of Julian St. Albans - Amy  Crook An excellent read. A handful of typos/wrong words but not excessive given the length of 360 pages. Robust character development including a large supporting cast of secondary characters and wonderful world building. Oh and I loved the cover art too! *hugs Horace*

Hard Fall

Hard Fall  - James Buchanan This was a difficult book to finish. I really didn't enjoy it and will not be continuing the series. Here are a few of the issues I had with the book;

The minutiae of climbing, it was excruciatingly boring and ultimately served no purpose other than to pad page count.

The dialect used to write Joe is exaggerated to the point of caricature and inconsistently applied. It is difficult to immerse yourself in a story when you have to translate what the hell is being said and by who.

There was no murder/mystery plot to speak of. Just a poorly chosen plot device to try and prop up a weak romance between the MC and the cardboard cut out impersonating the other half of the "romantic couple", aka Kabe.

Editing errors galore. Sentences that make absolutely no sense no matter how many times I re-read them.

Second Hand

Second Hand  - Heidi Cullinan, Marie Sexton Funny & sweet. Appreciated the fact that I got the pop culture references in this one, especially given pop culture and I parted ways a few decades ago.

The Dotted Line

The Dotted Line - Nick Pageant This was not what I expected from a Nick Pageant book. It was farcical, and not in a good way. Very glad it was a KU read and not a purchase.

Dante's Circle (An Elliott Smith and John Mystery)

Dante's Circle (An Elliott Smith and John Mystery) - Dorien Grey So many thoughts and feelings swirling around inside me right now, a coherent review will have to wait. I feel like I'm grieving old friends instead of fictional characters with the news that the author recently passed away. Knowing he left Elliott and Steve's story unfinished ... I'm just at a loss.

Bitch Slap

Bitch Slap - Michael Craft So relieved Mark & Neil's relationship survived. It was nice to see Mark finally get that stick out of his ass too. All and all a decent ending although I did miss some of the supporting characters the other books introduced. I guess it was fitting that the series ended as it began, with the focus on Mark and Neil.

Shy

Shy - John Inman A fantastically funny read. An author who can write comedy as well as romance and thrillers, yes John Inman you rock.

Spirit

Spirit - John Inman What a fantastic read. Sure the ghost plotline was was nothing original and I knew exactly what was going on from the beginning but damn, the story was just so well told that you could not help being entertained. My one issue with the book, which prevented me from giving 5 stars, was Timmy's age. His character was not written as a believable four year old. Six or seven I could have accepted given the characters words and actions. Yes I know it's fiction and you're supposed to suspend disbelief but *I* need my non-paranormal characters to be plausible. Every time the author had Timmy do or say something I didn't believe a four year old would ever do or say, he jarred me out of the story a little.

I still really enjoyed the book though and look forward to reading more from this author.

Chasing the Swallows

Chasing the Swallows - John Inman This is my first John Inman book but it definitely won't be my last. Emotional read that hit a little close to home for me. The juxtaposition of past and present was well executed and the writing itself was superb. I had only one issue with the book and that was the amount of pages given to David's fantasy life. Less of David's fantasy sexcapades and more of Arthur and David throughout their 40 years together would have made this a 5 star for me.

The Tutor

The Tutor - Bonnie Dee Enjoyed the hell out of this book. The writing was fantastic as usual and the best 99 cents I've spent in some time.

lmao! Just stumbled upon another review of this book and it's perfect!