Review - Sheer Pleasure by Maggie Shayne

Library Books Read to Date: 19

Erotica Reading Challenge Books Read to date: 3

This was an awesome book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars. It is a book with three short stories. I read this for my erotic reading challenge. It wasn't overly erotic, but the stories were great and quick to read.

The first is Leather and Lace. Martha Jane had to model lingerie for her business even though she didn't want to. She wore a mask so nobody would recognize her, especially her old boss Richard. Here is a quote from the story:

He reached out, gripped the leather, pulled it slowly down.
His hands slid over her her skin as he did so. Her waist. Her hips. Down her thighs. He let it go, let it fall to the floor around her ankles.

The second is Awaiting Moonrise. A science professor is trying to find a new species of animal in the bayou, some kind of wolf. She ends up face to face with the wolf, but what --or who--is it really?

The beast leaned closer, its dark eyes moving over her body. It seemed, she thought, to be looking her over as thoroughly as she'd been doing to it. P. 90

The last story is Daydream Believer. Megan has visions of a man for many years, and ends up meeting up with him. She helps him to find a serial killer with her visions, but he may be in danger too.

She drew a shaky breath, nodded, and got into his car, then sat there watching him in panic as Sam moved toward her house, the gun leading him. This wasn't right. She was supposed to save this man, according to her recurring dreams. P. 235

Library Loot - February 25, 2010

I got a few books from the library and can't wait to get started on them!

Triptych (Will Trent #1) by Karin Slaughter

I read Fractured which is book #2 and didn't realize it was part of a series, so I need to read this one

Blindsighted (Grant County #1) by Karin Slaughter

Love Karin Slaughter, so I thought I would read this series too!

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

My friend Staci from Life In the Thumb recommended this book, and she has good taste in books.

Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins

I read the first book in this series and got hooked, so I have to read the next!



That's it for this time. That's enough. No more checking out 19 books at a time!

I have to finish up White Oleander (February Pen Pal Book) and Sheer Pleasure (Erotica Reading Challenge Book) before I start any new books.

I recently bought The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I will be reading this after the previous 2 books, since that is my March Pen Pal book!

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:Grab your current read.Let the book fall open to a random page.Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers!

P.32

This time she put a sprig of oleander in his
milk, another in his oyster sauce, in his cottage cheese. She stuck one in his
toothpaste.

Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Monday
is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.

I won the audiobook copy of Dear John by Nicholas Sparks from Laura at Laura's Reviews. Here is her blog: http://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2010/01/winners-of-dear-john-by-nicholas-sparks.html. I actually got this in the mail today. Can't wait to listen to it. Thanks Laura:

Review - White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Astrid is the daughter of Ingrid who is a single mother. Ingrid is afraid to get into a relationship, but she ends up falling for Barry. Things were going along fine, but all of a sudden, Barry stopped calling. Ingrid went to his house and found out he had another person he was dating.

Ingrid lost and and started stalking Barry. She broke into his house and wiped out his hard drive. He then came to her house and wanted to be let in but Ingrid wouldn't let him in. He broke a window pane and Ingrid stabbed his hand with a knife. Later, the police came by because of a complaint that Ingrid broken into Barry's house. She told the police officer that he tried to break into her house and that the neighbor called the police because of him.

All of a sudden Barry wanted a truce and for them to be friends. Ingrid took her daughter and went to Tijuana to buy DMSO from a pharmacy. Astrid asked what it was and found out that it is for arthritis, but also found out that it makes the body absorb drugs faster. Astrid had a feeling she knew why her mom got the DMSO. So she killed Barry and went to prison.

Astrid went from house to house and this is the story of her life and the good and bad people that she had to put up with and the relationship with her and her mom while her mom was in prison.

No matter where Astrid went, it seemed like everything always went wrong, but she always seemed to make the best of the situation. The people that she shared her life with seemed better for knowing her.

I didn't particularly like this book. I liked the basic story, but I didn't like the style of writing. I read this as a February pen pal book. If it wasn't for that, I don't know if I would have kept on reading it. I guess I will give it 2 stars out of 5.

Review - Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4) by Richelle Mead

Rose must fulfuill her promise to Dimitri.

"We both agreed that we'd rather be dead--truly dead--than walk the world as Strigoi" p. 12

Dimitri was turned Strigoi after getting attacked in the last book, so Rose is setting out to kill him. She decides to look for him in Siberia since that is where he is from.

While in bed, she felt the presence of Strigoi outside. She went out, only to find there there were two. She didn't think she had a chance because they attacked her, but a bunch of ghosts appeared and saved the day. She then passed out and ended up in Baia which was Dimitri's hometown. She asked the woman who was attending to her who she was and she said "Olena Belikova" who just happens to be Dimitri's mother!

Rose spent time with Dimitri's family, but was ordered to leave the town, so then went off to do what she set out to do--kill Dimitri. She had to find him first though.

I won't tell anything else because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. If you haven't read this series, you should. There is a cliffhanger at the end, and I can't wait to read the next book which comes out in May!

Review - Night Embrace (Dark Hunter #3) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

This was another great book in the Dark Hunter series. The only thing that takes away from this book is that there are so many characters introduced and it's hard to keep track of who is who.

Talon is a Dark Hunter who was in new Orleans to fight the Daimons (vampires) that would soon be in town. He got run over by a Mardi Gras float, but is saved by a woman named Sunshine. Talon and Sunshine have a day of passion, but Talon has to leave and go to his own house. He fears that if he gets to close to her, she will be killed like the rest of the people he has loved because of a curse that was put on him. There is just something about her that he can't get out of his head. He just can't put her out of his mind.

There was a lot of hot moments between Talon and Sunshine, but there were some slow moments too, which is why I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Review of The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I got through this book fairly quickly. The man and his boy have to try to survive in a burned world. They eat whatever they can find along the road and come across some surprises along the way. They have to be careful to hide from the "bad people". It really makes me appreciate life and how much we have. We can buy food from the store and don't have to eat food that has to be sifted for mouse turds. My heart was breaking for the boy and his father in this story.

I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers!

This is the book I just finished tonight:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy



In a pantry they came upon part of a sack of cornmeal that rats had been at in the long ago. He sifted the meal through a section of windowscreen and collected a small handful of dried turds and they built a fire on the concrete porch of the house and made cakes of the meal and cooked them over a piece of tin. p 71

This is the book that I am starting tonight:





Night Embrace (Dark Hunter #3) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

He lifted her up in his arms, supporting her weight as he deepened his kiss. Effortlessly, his strong hands held her bottom against his hips so that his bulge pressed against her core. She moaned at the intimate contact with leather and man. P 63

Review - Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

I loved this book! It reminded me of Twilight because it involved wolves. Grace was attacked and bitten by wolves when she was little, but one of the wolves saved her and brought her home. Since that time, Grace has kept track of the wolves, especially the one with yellow eyes who saved her life.

A boy from school was attacked by wolves and dies, but then comes up missing from the morgue. A group of men goes into the woods and wants to kill the wolves for doing this. Grace tries to stop them. She goes home to find the yellow eyed wolf--her wolf--bleeding from gunshot wounds, but he is in human form. His name is Sam.

Grace takes Sam into her house, but has to make sure he keeps warm at all times so he doesn't turn back into a wolf. In the meantime, their love grows stronger. They can't figure out why Grace never turned into a wolf though because she was bitten as a little girl. They try to figure out what she may have done to be cured from turning into a wolf.

I fell in love with the characters and with this book. It is another one of my favorite books that I have read this year, and I gave it 5 stars. I highly recommend this book!

Review - Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa, niece to King Randa of Middluns, has a killing Grace. Since she was a small child she has been able to kill a grown man easily with her bare hands. She does whatever King Randa wants her to do and kills and tortures whoever he sends her to take care of.

She also works with the council and trys to help people with her grace. On one of the council jobs, she meets Po who is a graced prince in another realm. Katsa has to decide if she wants to continue killing for the king or go her own way.

At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book when it started talking about kings and kingdoms. The names of the characters threw me off a little too. Once I started reading it though, I really got into it. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Review of Beyond the Dark

The cover of this book is hot! The stories were pretty steamy, but some of the stories were hard to get into. I did put the book down a few times times and read another book in the meantime. My favorite of all of that stories was the last story by Diane Whiteside "In a Wolf's Embrace". That story kept my attention from the beginning to the end and was well worth reading the book for!

Thanks to Staci for the great book! I gave it 4 stars out of 5!

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:Grab your current read.Let the book fall open to a random page.Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore:

She was faster than he was offensively--much faster--but he was stronger, and it was as if he had a premonition of her very turn and strike; she'd never known a fighter so quick to defend himself. She was calling up moves she hadn't tried since she was a child, blows she'd only ever imagined having the opportunity to use. p.79

Review of the Maze Runner by James Dashner

This book was exciting and full of action. At first I wasn't sure about it, but I got into it and just had to see what happened.

Thomas wakes up to find himself in the Glades which is surrounded by a maze. He doesn't remember where he came from or any past memories. Thomas discovers that every 30 days, a new boy is brought into the maze just like he was. Supplies are provided to the boys, but they don't know where they come from. Some of the boys who are runners, go through the maze and try to figure it out. Those boys get more supplies such as shoes and weapons. In two years, nobody can figure out the maze. They go through it every day (if they go through it at night, the monsters will eat them), and draw up maps and try to figure it out. The maze changes every day, so they try to keep track of patterns.

The day after Thomas arrives, a girl appears in the Glade - the first one ever. She tells them, "Everything is about to change", before collapsing into a coma. He feels like he somehow knows that girl.

The ending is very surprising and leaves you wondering what is going to happen in the next book. I liked this book enough that I will read the next book!

I give it 4 out of 5 stars!

Giveaway

Check out this giveaway at:

http://maryinhb.blogspot.com/2010/02/giveaway-size-8-in-size-0-world-by.html

Books I added to my bookshelf:

Keeper of Secrets by Anjuelle Floyd

I got this book from the author Anjuelle Floyd who is one of my friends on Goodreads. She contacted me and said she would mail me a copy of this book!

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I got this book on Goodreads bookswap!

Betrayal by Dwayne S. Joseph

I also got this brand new book on Goodreads bookswap.

Just North of Luck by Susan Whitfield.

I got this brand new book from Goodreads bookswap

Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

I got this brand new book from Goodreads bookswap!

Betrayed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

I also got this brand new book from Goodreads book swap!

My bookshelves are getting full!

Review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. It was really full of action and I could hardly tear myself away from it when I had to. I can't wait to read the next book to see what happens! One of my favorite books I have read this year! I would give it 6 stars if I could!

Giveaway - All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

Check out this great giveaway at Book Reviews by Bobbie at the following link:

OPEN TO CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY!

http://bookreviewsbybobbie.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/book-giveaway-all-together-dead/

Giveaways - Release by Beth Kery

There is a great giveaway that I just found that you should check out if you are into erotic romance.

The book is: Release by Beth Kery

http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/2010/02/guest-author-and-giveaway-beth-kery.html

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

The book I am reading is Beyond the Dark. It has 4 short stories, and I will give you a teaser from each story.

The first story is Dragon Dance by Lora Leigh

Josiah could feel himself skidding out of control. His Beast was out and growling, demanding he drive into her, take her hard and fast and ruthlessly. It had been so damned long since he'd even let himself touch a woman. P 32

The second is Caught by the Tides by Angela Knight

Owen angrily threw his head back against the pillows. If a gryphon enjoyed her company, then he could trust her to the death. P 103

The third is Queen of all the Surveys by Emma Holly

When she'd sucked the taste of him from her thumb, a concussion like a chisel's strike had bolted through the pearl of her pleasure. The reaction set her off balance. P 188

The fourth is In a Wolf's Embrace by Diane Whiteside

The fine, almost imperceptible little hairs along his body were prickling with another hormone, more subtle, but no less intense. His cock was rock hard. P. 263

Mailbox Mondays

These are not books that I have won, but books that I have purchased and received in the mail in the past week.

The Second Virgin Birth by Tommy Taylor

I put this on my list to read. I was contacted by the author Tommy Taylor. He said that if I purchase this on Amazon, he will send me a signed copy. I am anxious to read this book and so excited to have a signed copy!

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

I read her book "The Year of Pleasures" and saw this on the Goodreads bookswap, so I just had to have it!

Forbidden Pleasures by Lora Leigh

I haven't read any of the books in this series yet, but I saw this on Goodreads bookswap and thought I would like it!

Wicked Hot by Charlene Teglia

Another book I came across on Goodreads bookswap that I had to have.

I got quite the mix of books!