Waiting on Wednesday--Just In Time (Alaskan Nights Bk 3) by Addison Fox

After a rejuvenating trip to Ireland, Avery Marks can’t help her frustration with the pace of her life in Alaska. Back in the small town of Indigo—where everyone knows everyone else’s business—Avery dreams of a bigger life. But with her ex-boyfriend back in town, it’s hard to get the past out of her head.
Drafted by the NHL right out of high school, Roman Forsyth left behind the love of his life to follow his pro career. With an injury sidelining him, Roman isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be at the top of his game.  He is sure that he wants Avery just as much as he ever did.
While Roman wants a chance to make things right, Avery isn’t sure she can just forgive and forget. But when their long-buried passion sizzles back to life, they need to escape the watchful eyes of the rest of the town long enough to figure out if it’s any harder to stay together than it’s been to stay apart …

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I haven't read the second book yet but I've been excited for Avery's story since she was introduced.  She was the girl left behind by her high school boyfriend when he hit it big.  He's guilty but doesn't know how to handle it.  Both want to be together but are unsure how to move forward. Avery doesn't know if she can forgive and Roman doesn't know how actually make it up to her.  I love these kinds of stories and had it been a Sarah Morgan romance I would be expecting a lot of angst.  I'm super excited to find out how they make it work.

Release Date: August 6, 2013
Published by Penguin--Signet
Estimated Length--384 Pages

Top Ten Tuesday--Ten Covers I Love of Books I've Read

I'm a self-proclaimed cover lover.  I tend to pick up books simply because of their covers.  Sadly I have turned away many books simply because of the horrible covers.  Now with the advent of more and more digital books making their way to me, covers have become a little less important.  I still love them and love looking at them.

Here are mine, in no particular order:

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson Bk 4) by Rick Riordan

I've never finished the Percy Jackson series but I read through the forth book.  I just love the covers!  I love this one especially with the lit coffin, Percy's lit sword, and the ground as the labyrinth.  It just makes me want to read long maze-like scenes for awhile.  Did I mention I love mazes?

The Fairy Godmother (Five Hundred Kingdoms Bk 1) by Mercedes Lackey

 

 I had never read Mercedes Lackey before this book and although I haven't read one since, this is the book that added her to my TBR list.  The cover was just so shiny, pretty, and completely girly I had to pick it up.  It took me three weeks to get through it (slow beginning) but I was glad I persevered. It was a cute story about a fairy godmother and the prince who was an ass (literally and figuratively).

Flat-Out Love (Flat-Out Bk 1) by Jessica Park

This is one of those incredibly simple covers but the lettering and coloring made me pick it up off the library hold shelf.  I'd heard of it but I hadn't been interested in this one until that point.  I put a hold on it and voila! Loved it!  I'm not much of a YA/NA reader but it was amazing and I plan on picking up "Flat-Out Matt" at some point.

Inside Out (Brown Sibling Bk 3) by Lauren Dane

I love the Brown Sibling series but this is the cover I love the most.  The dragon tattoo is captivating with the blue background.  Ella's read hair is beautiful next to the blue and green.  Plus the cover is sexy.  I love sexy covers.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish by Roxanne St. Claire/Jill Shalvis/Maureen Child

Man chest.  Nuff said.

Never Seduce a Scot (Montgomery and Armstrong Bk 1) by Maya Banks

This cover made me read the excerpt.  The excerpt made me read the book.  Reading the book made me continue the series.  Seriously there is something about the blue dress with the purple background.  Also what is up with her position?  It's so awkward, it made me look at it a few times.

The Seduction Hypothesis (Science of Temptation Bk 2) by Delphine Dryden

Did I mention I love sexy covers? I picked this up as an e-galley and promptly bought the first book.  The sexy cover combined with the mathematical looking title made it a slam dunk in the cover department. Thankfully the book measured up (reviews to come).

Tall, Dark and Divine (Bagging a Greek God Bk 1) by Jenna Bennett

This is going to sound weird.  The girl is what drew me to this cover.  The guy looks a little creepy but the red lipstick and the dark hair makes me think punk chick.  I just wanted a punk chick to bag a Greek God.

Unveiled (Turner Bk 1) by Courtney Milan

Oh the ribbons.  I love the ribbons. Well and the blue dress.  The first time I saw this book I missed the guy in the background and wanted the dress.  I wouldn't look good in it but damn it's a sexy dress.

Walking Disaster (Beautiful Disaster Bk 1) by Jamie McGuire

I love tattoos on book covers.  This one was like "HERE'S A HOT GUY AND A TATTOO!"  I was mesmerized by this cover more so than Beautiful Disaster.  While I've only read bits and pieces of this book, I love the cover and it sits on my desk with my other favorite books. 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Review--"Just Curious" by Jude Deveraux

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In the snow-covered hills of Virginia, a young widow finds that miracles really do come in the least expected packages. First appearing as a short story in the anthology Simple Gifts, this festive eBook is now available on its own at an unbeatable price—perfect for new and old fans alike.

Let's Read Twilight Ch 5--Blood Type OR How I Got Annoyed at Bella Again

Previously on Let's Read Twilight

Bella Became the Center of Attention

Bella and Edward shouldn't be friends

Edward offers to go to Seattle with Bella

Chapter Five--Blood Type

Summary: Edward randomly decides him and Bella are cool so he sits with her at lunch.  They discuss being friends since Bella is clearly stupid and the rainbow quality of Edward's eyes.  Edward informs Bella he's ditching biology but Bella heads there.  It's blood typing day and once the blood starts, Bella gets sick.  As Mike takes her to the nurse, Edward intercepts her and eventually takes her home after Bella admits she hates the smell of blood.  During the car ride they discuss their parents and Edward informs Bella of his future absence for Friday.  He tells her to be safe.

My Thoughts:

What in the world does 'ocher' mean?  Seriously what kind of a description is that?!

Ocher--Noun

1. An earthy pigment containing ferric oxide, typically with clay, varying from light yellow to brown or red.
2. A pale brownish yellow color.

That is not a sexy eye-color description.  Bella needs a thesaurus or a box of crayons.  Topaz is fine! So is golden.  We don't 'honey', 'butterscotch', or 'ocher'.

On the other hand, Edward is adament Bella can't smell blood.  Who decided that?  Frankly I can smell it.  I would imagine if someone bled out on the floor, someone could probably smell the blood.  Even water has an odor when smelled by itself.  It seems like we're imposing weird rules on our characters.

I actually have been wondering if Edward has a mental illness.  I get he's battling with protecting Bella by staying away or being a danger to her, but dude! pick one!  He also contradicts every single thing he tells her within five pages.  I get whiplash reading it.

Overall, Bella is still a bit whiny for my taste and Edward needs to chill.  We also need to discuss why Bella utilizes complicated, un-sexy words to describe Edward's eyes.

Edward's eyes:
 Currently--Ocher
Previously--butterscotch, melted honey

Stacking the Shelves May 18--Weekly Wrap Up

Sorry for the late update but it has been one crazy week. For those of you interested...

1. My car is dead.
2. I had to drive my little brother to Keystone Exams three days this week (Hello 6:15am).
3 I sold a large private collection (other job) which was long and stressful.

So anyway, here are the spoils and the weekly updates:

From the Library

 1. The Iron Duke (Iron Seas Bk 1) by Meljean Brook
2. Inferno (Robert Langdon Bk 4) by Dan Brown
3. Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light by Amy Thomas
4. God Save the Queen (Immortal Empire Bk 1) by Kate Locke




















For Review

1. A Royal Without Rules by Caitlin Crews
2. Tempted by Two by Portia Da Costa
3. Prince of Secrets by Lucy Monroe

Purchased:

 1. Listed: the Complete Series by Noelle Adams
2. Falling Into You (Falling Bk 1) by Jasinda Wilder
3. Storm (Elemental Bk 1) by Brigid Kemmerer
4. Sharing Hailey by Samantha Ann King

Weekly Wrap-Up

Reviews

1. Valentino's Love Child by Lucy Monroe
2. Dark Desire (Carpathian Bk 2) by Christine Feehan
3. Stay With Me by Maya Banks

Memes

1. Top Ten Tuesday--Top Ten Books I Want to Read In the Next Month
2. Waiting on Wednesday--Highland Ever After (Montgomery and Armstrong Bk 3) by Maya Banks

Let's Read Twilight

1. Chapter Three--Phenomenon--OR Why Ice is Evil!
2. Chapter Four--Invitations--OR Bella Hates Being the Center of Attention

Random

1. The Book Funk and How You Can Help

The Book Funk and How You Can Help

I love reading.  It seems silly to say when most of us who work on or control a book blog.  It must be connected, after all.  Why would anyone choose to run a blog based on something they don't like?  That being said, I've been dealing with an odd little conundrum recently. Well not so much of a conundrum but rather an issue.

I've been having increasing difficulty finding something I really enjoy.  I know looking at my just previously read list, I loved "Highlander Most Wanted" by Maya Banks but even that seemed to make me drag along.  While I haven't posted a review on that one yet, I want to preface my next statements with I loved the story.  I did.  I loved the romance and the conflicts and even the Highland setting but I had issues.

The story seemed unnaturally long.  There were times I felt whole chapters could have been taken out and the story would have changed very little.  There were 'getting to know you' scenes  when they were unnecessary.  There were times a conversation would have negated the bulk of the problems.  I understand romances hate to have honest conversations until some huge climax or the end which is usually fine but I've been wrestling with them.  Because we know both the hero and heroine so well, the reader hates how much misunderstandings could be prevented by one five-minute conversation.

I recently read two books, directly after the Maya Banks, and both left me annoyed.  I'll do a detailed review at a later date but I thought I'd talk a little about why they bothered me and why I can't seem to get into a book.  The first book I read was "Wrecked" by Shiloh Walker.  I read one of her short stories in an anthology and loved it.  I went looking into new releases and series and I stumbled on this contemporary.  I was expecting a lot and I was disappointed.

The story is a friends-to-lovers story but it seemed a bit forced.  I understood Zach had feelings for Abigale but she was so clueless it was ridiculous.  I understand a bit of cluelessness but she just took the trophy for it.  On top of that the character was annoying and the secondary characters were completely unnecessary.  The story was about 75 pages too long and some of the conflicts seemed amateurish in implementation.  The whole kiss scene and the subsequent issues towards the end acted like a "WE NEED CONFLICT STAT!" moment.  In general it could have all been dealt with an honest conversation and about five minutes.

The second story I read or tried to read, was "Hip Check" by Deirdre Martin.  This one was a sports story which is not my cup-of-tea but it was a nanny story so I thought I'd check it out.  Unfortunately I think I read a fanfiction like it before and I wrote a fanfiction like it before.  The only major differences that I could see was the career of the man.  So unfortunately I couldn't continue reading it when it got to be tedious.  That one was either 150 pages too long or it had too much unnecessary chapters.  Either way there was no reason for me to keep reading since I couldn't get into the writing style and the story seemed way too familiar.

As you can see I've been dealing with either a bad run of options or it's me.  Well it could be a combination of the two but I've been stuck.  I have a bag and e-reader filled with options but very little is appealing to me at the moment.  I have the new Dan Brown in my bag which seems like my next read but when I re-read the earlier Robert Langdon books, I found them incredibly tedious.  I used to love them and this time I could barely get through them.  I'm pretty sure I skimmed the last 100 pages of "Angels and Demons".

So basically I wanted to vent about my reading issues at the moment.  I wanted to see if you guys were dealing with anything similar or had any tips.  I've thought about switching up my sub-genre a little but I have a backlist of books to read that need to be gotten to.  What do you read when you are having trouble?  Is it a genre? A specific book?  A comic strip?

Let me know please.

Review--Stay With Me by Maya Banks

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Getting her back will be the toughest deal they've ever negotiated.

On the night of her fifth anniversary, Catherine Cullen-Wellesley intends to break the news to the two men in her life. She's pregnant with their child. It'll be the perfect preamble to the vacation they've promised her: Two weeks on a Jamaican beach. No cell phones, no emails, no business. 


But when Logan and Rhys blow off the trip for yet another "business emergency", Catherine faces some difficult truths. She hasn't come first in her busy husbands' lives in a long time. Defiantly, she packs her bags for her long-awaited vacation-alone. It'll give her a chance to figure out what the hell she's going to do with the rest of her life.
When Logan and Rhys come home to an empty house, they realize two things: One, it was a mistake to take Catherine for granted. Two, they're not willing to just let her walk out of their lives.

Winning her back will be the most difficult battle of their lives-more important than any business deal they've ever negotiated.