Tag Archives: Jordan Castillo Price

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Ackity!

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Contests

  • Leave a comment for LesleyW with some urban fantasy related ideas to muse about for your chance to win a copy of Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day. Winner announced on May 29.
  • S7anna’s having her very first contest. She’s giving away three different packs of romances and swag (bookmarks, etc). Leave a comment by May 30 for your chance to win.

Bookity

  • I don’t ever usually watch book trailers, but I’m glad I watched this one by Tessa Dare. Best. Book. Trailer. Ever. (Thanks, Donna F!)

Ebookity

Learn, Make, Do, Think

Yikes

LOL

Awww

  • Comparison pictures of how different kittens look when they’re young vs. when they’re a bit older.

Reading Update
The Blue Moon Cafe by Rick R. Reed. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m chiller about a guy who becomes involved with a mysterious restaurant owner who never seems to be available at certain times of the month. At the same time, Seattle’s gay community is reeling from a series of brutal murders…
Witness by L.A. Gilbert. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about a cop who meets a bike messenger while on a routine call, then runs into him again when he backs over the guy’s bike. This book would’ve benefited from a bit more conflict (or perhaps conflict not effortlessly resolved) and fewer point-of-view shifts, particularly near the beginning of the book.
Idaho Pride by Sarah Black. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a sports writer who ends up in an altercation between some hockey players and staff members of the Idaho Pride newspaper – an altercation that changes the lives of many of the guys involved.
Betweentimes by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook short. Cute short m/m romance about a businessman who is surprised (but pleased) when his cute bohemian neighbor invites him out for dinner at the tacky local Mexican place.
Special Delivery by Heidi Cullinan. ebook. Very good m/m romance about Sam, a nursing student who hits the road with trucker Mitch and learns a helluva lot about himself in the process. Those of you who know I’m not a fan of books with menagey bits are probably surprised to see that I read and liked this one, huh? This book worked for me because it didn’t neglect the emotional to focus strictly on the physical. While I had to stop reading several times because I was a bit overwrought about Sam’s emotional safety, I kept returning to the book and am very glad that I read it.
An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride. ebook. Very good m/m scifi romance about Pasha, a whore whose master, unable to cover a bet, loses him for 24 hours to a rough and fascinating man. Pasha can’t remember the man, who seems to know more about him than he knows about himself. I’m glad Jase warned me that this stopped abruptly, so I was prepared. *commences impatiently waiting for sequel*
Winner Takes All by Jenny Urban & Elizabeth Silver. ebook. Very good m/m romance about two competitive friends and business rivals (one gay, one straight) who fool around when they’re drunk… and then a business crisis escalates things a bit.
Black: Black Leather by Vic Winter. ebook short. Steamy short m/m romance about a band that’s touring for the first time since the previous lead singer overdosed. The lead guitar player isn’t looking forward to being in charge of keeping the new lead singer in line.
8 Seconds on the Mountain (Mountain #4) by P.D. Singer. ebook short. Oh oh – is Kurt trying to get himself and Jake beaten up at the rodeo?!
And Is Never Shaken by Alexi Silversmith. ebook. Good May-December m/m romance about a professor who keeps running into a book restorer. Will the secrets from the professor’s past be insurmountable?
Only His Heart (Only #3) by Shawn Lane. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a nurse, new to the hospital, who can’t resist the handsome doctor that the rest of the staff calls the Ice Queen.
Forces of Nature by Lily Grace. ebook short. Cute short m/m romance about a physicist who’s had a huge crush on his actor best friend since college, but has always been afraid to do anything about it until they get caught in a thunderstorm together.
Time Zone Impaired by Andy Slayde & Ali Wilde. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a guy who stops at a restaurant after a flight from Australia, not realizing it’s Valentine’s Day until his cute waiter tells him. This had that unfortunate open-ended feel that makes me suspect it is the first in a series of shorts about this couple. I hate that – I’d much rather buy a longer completed story than read a serial.
Where the Moon Touches by Kiernan Kelly. ebook short. Good short m/m paranormal romance about a werewolf who’s being forced to marry a female and plans to go on sex binge with as many guys as he can during his last 30 days of freedom. His plan gets short-circuited almost immediately. (This also had that “part of a serial” feel.)
Left of Center by Zathyn Priest. ebook. Somewhat bizarre m/m romance about a non-Goth veterinarian who shamelessly lies on an online site for Goths so he can pick up guys – and then the player gets played.
Skipping Stones by D.J. Manly. ebook. I started out liking this book about a young artist who retreats from Paris after the end of an affair and seeks shelter with his best friend, who’s part owner of a gay friendly resort in Florida. Alas, by the end of the book, I wanted to slap the three main characters.
Picture Me Perfect (Sammy Dane, Book 2) by Stormy Glenn. ebook. So-so m/m romance about a photographer who moves in with a cop to hide from his abusive drug dealer ex-boyfriend. Typical Stormy Glenn. What else can I say, other than please get a better editor? (Or maybe any editor…)
Screwed by Amanda Young. ebook short. So-so short m/m romance about a teacher who was fired after racy pictures of he and another guy showed up online.

“Dear internetz: Please send help. This woman continues to hold me prisoner under the most miserable conditions imaginable.” -Mayhem

Contests, Gluten Free, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes, Tunes

Today’s forecast is for sunshine and linkity

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Contest Update

  • JessaLu’s celebrating her blogiversary with a big contest – she’ll have five knitting related prizes, one for each year that she’s been blogging. The prizes are wonderful – some of her gorgeous box bags, socks knit for you on her sock knitting machine, or gorgeous sock yarn dyed by Scout. Contest closes midnight EST, February 19… and tell her I sent ya. 🙂

Reading & Beyond

  • What are your reading neuroses? A major one of mine is getting extremely anxious about what’s going to happen to characters in books, to the point that I need to put the book down and have a bit of a lie down.

Yay, Minnesota!

Get Your Geek On

Eh, Canada

  • Music blog Star Maker Machine is focusing on Canadian songs this week in honor of the Olympics.

Yum

Fun & Kitties & Goats, Oh My

  • Aww! How come my kitties have never slept in such a configuration?!

Reading Update
Thanks to jmc of Shuffling through a book-less desert, where I won a copy of the historical m/m romance, Seducing Stephen!

Love Ahead by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux. ebook collection. These two m/m romances were decent, but you can definitely tell that they were older stories from Urban and Roux. And, as Tam pointed out when she read them a week or two ago, how names are used in each story was definitely odd. In the first, both guys mostly used each others’ last names. That was ok, since they knew each other through their work at a construction site. Then, later in the story, when they started to use each others’ first names, it was obviously supposed to indicate their growing closeness and intimacy. I get that. But why the hell did they both have first and last names that could be first or last names?! It was so confusing. So very confusing. And in the next story? The name thing? Really? You never exchanged actual names after talking to each other on the phone for months? *headdesk*
Snow Plowed (Bay City Paranormal Investigations) by Ally Blue. free holiday short. This was a cute’n’steamy m/m Valentine’s short with the characters from Love, Like Ghosts. And if you haven’t read the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series, what are you waiting for?! It’s one of the series that sucked me into reading m/m romance. Hmm… Ok, maybe that’s why you haven’t. 😉
Petit Morts 1-5: Hue, Tint and Shade; Slings and Arrows; Moolah and Moonshine; Other People’s Weddings; Spanish Fly Guy (1, 3, 5 by Jordan Castillo Price; 2, 4 by Josh Lanyon). ebook shorts. These delightful little m/m romances are all loosely based around a mysterious chocolate shop and Chance, its equally mysterious proprietor. Although I enjoyed each and every one, I think that #4 (Other People’s Weddings by Josh Lanyon) was my favorite, with #1 (Hue, Tint and Shade by Jordan Castillo Price) following closely behind. Recommended. (Val at Obsidian Bookshelf has much more detailed reviews of the Petit Morts, as does Jenre of Well Read.)
Holiday Outing by Astrid Amara. ebook. Another delightful Hannukah m/m romance from Astrid Amara! A successful author of gay fiction, still closeted to his family, gets snowed in with his family (and a high school nemesis) for Hannukah.
Fantasies: Thanksgiving by Cassandra Gold. ebook. Enjoyable m/m romance about two guys, one gay, one straight, who have been friends for many years… and then something changes in their friendship. (We’ll be revisiting this cover image at some point in the future, too.)
True North (Lost Boys & Love Letters, Book 1) by Bethany Brown & Ashlyn Kane. ebook. Darn good m/m romance about a deeply closeted petroleum engineer and the new doctor in town, and about how limiting it can be to let your fears control you.
Picture Perfect (Lost Boys & Love Letters, Book 2) by Bethany Brown & Ashlyn Kane. ebook. Ok m/m romance that started out feeling like a freestanding story, but seemed as if, partway through, it suddenly needed to become part of a series (the few paragraphs that were apparently supposed to tie it to True North didn’t seem, to me, to fit)… probably right about the time it detoured into m/m/m for a bit. Very ambivalent about reading the third book.
Hero by Heidi Cullinan. ebook. This was another read for Kris’ m/m rut challenge. This was a fantasy (I guess sort of an urban fantasy, actually) based on the Japanese myth of the kitsune. Intellectually, I could tell it was a pretty good story, but I was fighting against the fantastical elements of the story the entire time. So, basically, I don’t think I can fairly rate this one.
Heart and Soul (The Assignment, Book 2) by Evangeline Anderson. ebook. Ah, this poor m/m romantic suspense got a bit caught in my expectations for it (sequel to The Assignment!) and my discomfort with parts of the story itself. Don’t get me wrong – it was a decent read and definitely worth reading if you enjoyed the previous book (and subsequent shorts) – but I had trouble reading around all the plot holes. *sigh*
Coach, In Bear’s Bed, Office Advances, and A Biker’s Vow (Campus Cravings, Books 1, 7, 8, & 9) by Carol Lynne. ebooks. Reading Carol Lynne is like eating potato chips – not very filling and you know they’re probably not good for you, but you just can’t stop. O_o As you might guess from the name of this series, it’s set on a college campus. (And yes, that is Candy Cane Guy In Bear’s Bed! That naughty boy…) Oddly, at the end of A Biker’s Vow, this series appears to be intersecting with Lynne’s Cattle Valley series.
Sonny’s Salvation (Good-Time Boys, Book 1) by Carol Lynne. ebook. See my comment on reading Carol Lynne books above. 🙂 Sonny quit the FBI to run the family ranch in Nebraska after his dad died. Too bad there aren’t many gay men in rural Nebraska… (And I already know I won’t be reading past the third book in this series, based on the subject matter of the fourth book.)
Rules Were Made To Be Broken by Lenore Black. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about a guy who recently took over running the family sporting goods store and his (straight) best friend who’s feeling a bit jealous of the store and all the time it takes up. Very nice review of this and Lenore Black’s other works over at Dear Author.
Dead Men Get No Tail by Misty Malone. ebook short. Ok m/m romance about two college roommates, one of whom decides to have a fake funeral for himself. This one left me sort of “Huh?”
Fool for Love by Cassandra Gold. ebook. I’m not a big fan of May-December romances, but Cassandra Gold does a nice job with this m/m romance between a professor and his college student neighbor.

“Sheesh, May, you totally missed this spot by your elbow when you were bathing. What a slob.” -Chaos

*strikes kitty yoga pose #742* -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkin’ to books, bookin’ to links

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Donna’s giving away two copies of John Brown’s new fantasy novel, Servant of a Dark God. Contest closes 8 pm CST, November 29. Plus, check out her post that’s chock full of giveaway and free read info. (Many thanks to Donna – I won a $10 Amazon gift certificate in a recent contest over at Fantasy Dreamer.)

Pat (of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist) is giving away a smorgasbord of fantasy (including some urban fantasy) books, such as The City and the City by China Mieville, Black and White by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge, and an ARC of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Galileo’s Dream.

Former Samhain editor and current Carina Press editor Angela James is having a contest to celebrate her four years at Samhain and new job at Carina. She’s giving away several goodie bags and will draw winners on December 7.

Amazon’s giving away $3 worth of mp3s (your choice, use by November 30) (via Lifehacker).

Don’t miss SciFiGuy’s weekly overview of contests, news, and more.

Dear Author suspects there are some unannounced Kindle book sales going on and provides tips on how to find them.

Some numbers on ebook piracy, again pointing out that ditching DRM and getting ebook buyers used to the idea of buying easy-to-use content is probably the best way to handle piracy.

Top 10 myths about ebooks, from literary agent Nathan Bransford.

Jackie at Literary Escapism (as part of Weekly Geeks) is interested in your lists of the top 10 books you’ve read in 2009. (She has info on how to submit your list.)

Harlequin manages to spectacularly damage their brand with an ill-considered venture into offering vanity publishing services. Whoops.

One reader charts her path from reading m/f romances to reading m/m romances.

Hee hee – a fine bit of book geekery at xkcd.

How good or evil is your blog? Discovered via the more-evil-than-me Kris’n’Good Books. 😉

Aw, look at the cute black kitty, all prepared for the possible pumpkin shortage.

All teh tiem!

Yay! Google Reader added favicon support!

If you’re thinking of shopping on Black Friday (are you crazy?!?), you might want to read Gizmodo’s tips on anti-deals.

Reading Update
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. A bit more literary m/m than what I’ve been reading. No HEA (happily ever after) or even HFN (happy for now) with this one. But y’all know that already.
A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan. I’m pretty sure this young adult novel plays homage to the shenanigans in all those teen movies like Sixteen Candles. The narrator, Cameron, is going to his senior prom with his boyfriend… sort of. Funny and heartfelt – it’s not often that a book has me alternately laughing and sniffling.
Shady Ridge and the Neon Sky by Chris Owen. ebook. Good m/m romance about two cops in a small-town in Texas. Bit of a rough start, but fortunately the menagey bit wasn’t ongoing. 😮
Carbon and Ash by Chris Owen. ebook. This was a short but sweet m/m romance about slowing sliding into something other than friendship without being fully aware.
Cheek to Cheek (911, Book 2) by Chris Owen. ebook. Another sweet m/m romance from Owen, this time about ballroom dancing firefighters. 🙂
Collision Course by K.A. Mitchell. ebook. Wow! Really well done m/m romance about a social worker and a paramedic who has a lot of issues with social workers. Recommended. I’m definitely picking up more K.A. Mitchell titles. (And yes, I now know that I should’ve read Diving in Deep first, but darn it, Samhain sure doesn’t make that clear on their site…)
Inking Aaron by Cheryl Dragon. Ok, very weird that there was an Aaron Chase in Collision Course and now in this book… Sadly, while the premise of this m/m romance was intriguing (a seemingly uptight hotel manager gets involved with the guy who owns the tattoo shop in the lobby), the writing was extremely choppy (transitions aren’t a bad thing, really). Additionally, it seemed like the story needed to be fleshed out more. And then there were the unclear pronoun references, which I’ve mentioned is a very bad thing in m/m romance.
Lord and Master and Taking Work Home (Lord and Master 2) by Jules Jones. ebooks. Comfortable m/m romances about a PhD student working as a research and personal assistant for the owner of a London company. A nice break from the usual high angst of many m/m romances! (“Lord and master” refers simply to being the boss…)
Out of the Past by Sean Michael. ebook. Hmm. This one’s hard to summarize. Ten years ago, Andy was in a bad car accident and when he woke up in the hospital, a lawyer told him that his boyfriend Steven didn’t want to see him anymore because of his injuries and scars. However, Steven was told that Andy died – went to his funeral and everything. Quite the surprise when they run into each other again…
Making Your Own Luck by Sean Michael. ebook. Fun short m/m romance about Friday the Thirteenth and trying to break a string of very bad luck. (Here’s a good place to confess that I get squicked out by tooth injuries. Stephen King and The Tommyknockers, I’m looking at you!) But hey, there’s a gigantic black cat named Demon in the story, too. It’s all good, right?
Quarterback Sneak by Pepper Espinoza. ebook. Touching m/m romance about two pro quarterbacks in a decade-long relationship who are outed.
Kegs and Dorms by Stephanie Vaughan, Tory Temple, Jane Davitt, & Kiernan Kelly. ebook. The title of this m/m romance collection does it a disservice. It is about guys in college, but the stories are much better than one would guess from the title!
Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook. This paranormal m/m romance was definitely a cracktastic read (as in completely addictive and will keep you up too late). What if vampirism was caused by a virus? A really, really contagious virus? There’s a reason Price is on my must-read list!
Payback, Vertigo, Manikin, Tainted, & Rebirth (Channeling Morpheus, Books 1-5) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebooks. All five of these paranormal m/m ebooks probably equal one regular paperback, so don’t get too excited about my reading five books here! These are the first five books in the raunchy adventures of vampire Wild Bill and non-vampire Michael, which continue with the Sweet Oblivion series.

“Sheesh, now you want me to move so you can wear the socks? I grow weary of your unreasonable requests, Mom!” -Mayhem

For those in the US, have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! To all, this is the last post until Monday, November 30. 🙂

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

TGIF… oh, wait, it isn’t Friday yet… *sigh*

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Tell authors Diana Holquist and Julie James who you think People will pick as the sexiest man of 2009 and if you’re correct, you have the chance to win a copy of Holquist’s book The Sexiest Man Alive or James’ book Just the Sexiest Man Alive. Contest closes 10 pm CST, November 15, or before if People announces their pick early.

Don’t forget that J. Kaye always has at least a dozen bookish giveaways going!

Head over to Vampire Wire by November 22 for your chance to win a copy of Molly Harper’s Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men.

Author Heather Long is giving away $10 Amazon gift certificate over at Fantasy Dreamer. Enter by 8 pm CST, November 23, for your chance to win.

You could go to Moderncat for your chance to win kitty toys made from old sweaters and socks (drawing on November 17)… or you could go and look at the pictures and probably make your own. Moderncat’s also holding a contest for a cat toilet training kit… *blink blink*

The usual thorough weekend updates on urban fantasy and paranormal romance from SciFiGuy and Literary Escapism. Don’t miss Donna’s weekly news and contest post, either.

Smexy Books highlights some very steamy forthcoming books.

Dear Author links to a few of this month’s ebook specials.

Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books? They look pretty cool as data sets for visualization.

If you’re NaNoWriMoing, I hope you’re reading author Lynn Viehl’s blog, Paperback Writer. She offers up tips, encouragement, and humor, all of which you probably need about now.

Hey, that sure looks like a handknitted hat! Of course, May would want it pink, furry, and sparkly.

This is exactly what would happen if I knit a kitty bed for Chaos and Mayhem.

Don’t these gf pumpkin pie bars look yummy? I wonder if I could make them dairy-free…

Margene alerted me to a holiday I missed – Chaos Never Dies Day, which was November 9. Thanks, Margene!

Reading Update
How To Score by Robin Wells. This was a light-hearted and fun contemporary romance that I think would score respectably on the CursingMama book readability scale (and since I just invented it, I’m sure CursingMama is as puzzled as y’all as to what that might be). I keep trying to summarize the plot and failing. The best I can do is tell you that this book involves an FBI agent pretending to be his life coach brother, a hitman on the loose, a woman who keeps injuring the guys she dates, a dog who will go to great lengths to devour leather, and art deco houses.
Paul’s Dream by Rowan McBride. ebook. Lawyer Paul doesn’t know that the puzzles he solves in his dreams are real, until incubus Kian shows up to thank Paul for rescuing Kian while he was dreaming. Decent, not great paranormal m/m romance.
Partners in Crime (Cards on the Table & Murder at the Heartbreak Hotel) by Josh Lanyon & Sarah Black. ebook. Two excellent stories of m/m romantic suspense.
Portrait of a Kiss by T.D. McKinney and Terry Wylis. ebook. Good paranormal m/m romance that had me sniffling a bit near the end. A cop inherits an old Southern house haunted by the ghost of a man believed to have murdered a pair of young lovers 50 years before. A very handsome and irresistible ghost…
A Bit of Rough and Roughhousing by Laura Baumbach. ebooks. Very steamy, yet romantic m/m romances about an architect and a guy who works in construction. Definitely worth reading.
Sympathy by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook. Sweet and well done m/m romance that wasn’t paranormal, which is unusual for Price.
Jumping the Fence and Crossing the Line (OC Pride, Books 1-2) by Stephanie Vaughan. ebooks. Two good m/m romances from Vaughan about figuring out who you really are and what you need to be happy.
IM by Rick R. Reed. ebook. Usually I avoid serial killer books, but I think I sort of blocked out the serial killer bit when I picked this one up. Since the tagline is “Instant Message… or Instant Murder?” I think I really had to work on blocking it out. 😉 Anyway, this was a solid m/m romantic suspense offering from Reed that had me on edge to the very end.
Car Wash by Shawn Lane. ebook. Ok m/m romance about Kevin, who’s working at a car wash after getting laid off from his office job. I must admit that I got a bit frustrated at Kevin not standing up for himself.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by Cassie Stevens. ebook. Good m/m romance about finally taking control of your own life.

“Neener neener neener – I have my own holiday and you don’t! Ha!” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Go get a cup of coffee before you start this linkfest, eh?

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So… it’s been sort of a while since I did a books and reading post. Brace yourselves. 😉

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Tuesday, October 6, for your chance to win a copy of Marliss Melton’s new romantic suspense novel, Show No Fear!

Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) has an amazing list of new releases and contests. So does Jackie at Literary Escapism.

Lea’s celebrating her first blogiversary with a week filled with contests. She’s giving away an Amazon gift certificate and books and who knows what else! Stop by each day to enter the latest contest.

Book Junkie’s having several contests. The first is her follower appreciation contest, which runs until October 2. She’s also giving away a copy of Kimberly Killon’s Highland Dragon. The second contest runs until midnight, October 5.

Jackie at Literary Escapism is having a contest for two Chloe Neill books and assorted other goodies. I really, really enjoyed Chloe Neill’s excellent vampire romance, Some Girls Bite, and am looking forward to reading the sequel, Friday Night Bites. Contest closes midnight, October 6.

Suburban Vampire’s giving away three signed copies of the graphic novel Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer. Contest closes 8 am PDT, October 13.

It’s Banned Books Week, and numerous bloggers have some great posts about it, including Neil Gaiman, The Book Smugglers, Wendy the Super Librarian, Lauren Dane, Love Romance Passion, Romance Book Wyrm, TeleRead, Dottie (My Blog 2.0), and many more.

Make sure you check out the interactive map of censorship attempts in the US from 2007-2009, too.

Kresley Cole is giving away a pdf copy of her short story “Warlord Wants Forever,” which is the first story in her excellent Immortals After Dark series. You can download the story here (link is directly to the pdf).

Harlequin Mills & Boon has ten ebooks available for free download, plus you can enter to win a Sony Reader.

How cool is it that CJ, who lives mere blocks away from me, has a shiny new urban fantasy coming out next year?!

Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) wonders whether it’s possible to tame that TBR (to be read) pile. I have my doubts! One of the unadvertised features of an ebook reader is that it makes your TBR pile far less visually overwhelming.

Dear Author debunks eight myths about ebooks.

TeleRead links to a nice roundup of available ebook readers and a comparison of the various Sony Reader options, then points out that Amazon is not dominating the ebook market.

Um……. a fake blood energy drink? Ewww!

Reading Update
Breaking Point and Into the Storm (Troubleshooters, Books 9-10). Suzanne Brockmann. audiobooks. These romantic suspenses made my drive to and from Toronto fly by! (Although Into the Storm was a serial killer book and I generally avoid serial killer books…)
The Stone Prince by Gena Showalter. ebook. Sweet paranormal romance about a woman whose kiss awakens one of the statues in her er0tic statue garden.
Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress, Book 4) by Jeaniene Frost. Paranormal romance. Although I adore Bones and Cat, I wonder how long I’ll be able to keep reading this series because of the relationship angst…
Stolen Fury by Elizabeth Naughton. Very good romantic suspense about an archeologist and an antiquities thief and ancient statues of the Furies. (Thanks, Lea – you were right!)
Soul Bonds, Rush in the Dark, and Edward, Unconditionally (Common Powers, Books 1-3) by Lynn Lorenz. ebooks. The first book in this paranormal m/m romance series never really engaged me, but the next two were better.
I Heart That City: Naked Richmond by Ally Blue. I Heart That City is a bar and Naked Richmond is but one of the stories (each by a different author) centered around the bar. This one’s an m/m romance about a bike messenger who crashes into a guy he has a crush on.
Passion and Satisfaction by M.L. Rhodes. ebooks. Related m/m romances about a high-powered businessman and a bartender.
Falling by M.L. Rhodes. ebook. This paranormal m/m romance had a vaguely Harry Potterish storyline… (Sorry to those of you who are now quietly whimpering.)
Like Coffee and Doughnuts by Elle Parker. ebook. Sufficiently good m/m romance about a PI and a mechanic that I’ll be looking for more from Parker.
The Name of the Game and It’s How You Play the Game by Willa Okati. ebooks. Decent related m/m romances. I liked the first better than the second, which seemed rather choppy.

The Tiger Within by Viki Lynn. ebook. Meh paranormal historical m/m romance set just after WWII.
Notturno by Z.A. Maxfield. ebook. Intense and engaging paranormal m/m romance about a professor who tracks down ancient er0tic texts and the vampire who wrote one of those texts.
The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley. ebook. This was another of A.M. Riley’s intense but not comfortable m/m romances. It’s very good, but very graphic.
Chasing Victory by Tory Temple. ebook. Decent m/m romance about a stock car driver who discovers that there’s a lot more to life than racing.
Bound by Love by T.A. Chase. ebook. Ok m/m romance about lusty cowboys.
Out of Bounds and High Line (Love of Sports, Books 1-2) by T.A. Chase. ebooks. Good m/m sports-related romances about a pair of twins and the guys they fall for.
Tabloid Star by T.A. Chase. ebook. Excellent m/m romance about a bartender and an up and coming Hollywood actor. Has a bit of a connection with the Love of Sports books.
Allergies by T.A. Chase. ebook. So-so paranormal m/m romance – who knew the IT guy was a werewolf, anyway?! Looks like this is going to be a series… that I probably won’t follow.
Love and Loyalty by Tere Michaels. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a cop who won’t let himself care for anyone so he can’t get hurt. I highly recommend both this and the previous book, Faith and Fidelity.
The Vampire and the Man-Eater by G.A. Hauser. ebook. Somewhat painfully written paranormal m/m romance. Let’s just say I won’t be reading anything else from this author, hmm?
Body and Soul, Secrets, and Camp Hell (Psy-Cop, Books 3-5) and Striking Sparks (novella related to Psy-Cop) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebooks. This is a great paranormal m/m series. Price is one of those authors on my must-read list.

“I’ll humor you for now, Mom, even though this is absolutely not an authentic SRM. Die, fake SRM, die!” -Chaos

What? Where’s Mayhem? She’s here. But hey, let’s not begrudge Chaos spotlight time during his birthday week, mmm?

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

We’ve been squirrelized!

42 Comments

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 24, for your chance to win a copy of Rita Herron’s paranormal romance, Dark Hunger! (And hey, you can download the ebook of Herron’s paranormal romance Insatiable Desire for $1.99 this month.)

Crap. Apparently this is post #1000. Um… rah?! 😉 I know I should throw a party, but I think that’s going to have to wait until after the work craziness winds down. Anyway, many thanks to all of you for making the past nearly four years so enjoyable and interesting. The small, near-daily acts of creativity that blogging requires (taking photos, editing photos, captioning photos, writing posts) have been good for me. And getting to know all of you – through my blog, through your blogs, through email exchanges, through face-to-face meetings – that has been the very best thing of all. So, again – thank you.

Ok, enough mushy stuff. Onward! 🙂

Anna’s giving away a lovely hanging bookcase – leave a comment by August 26 for your chance to win.

Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) is giving away two books from Jeanne Stein’s Anna Srong Vampire Chronicles. Leave a comment by August 25 for your chance to win.

Author Kelly Moran’s giving away five copies of Karen Rose’s new romantic suspense, I Can See You. Leave a comment for your chance to win.

Lea explains what exactly The Great Western Drive is and includes a link to a related contest. Hmm. The closest I’ve gotten to reading any Western romances is the sort of cowboyesque Love at First Bite vampire series by Kimberly Raye. Not sure that really counts! 😉

Book Junkie has links to more, more, more book contests!

Hee hee – several people have pointed out that this seems perfectly Chaos. It does indeed!

Awww, look at the cute little black kitty…

Hmm. An artist who works with the fur of her black kitties. Creative use of cat hair, I must say!

Marketing for pre-owned cats…

Looking for a good, inexpensive book light? J. Kaye has a review of one she liked.

Kindle humor over at xkcd.

Minnesota publishers talk about ebooks.

Reading Update
I Spy Something Bloody, The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks, The Adrien English Mysteries, Books 1-2 (Fatal Shadows & A Dangerous Thing), The Hell You Say, and Death of  a Pirate King (Adrien English Mysteries, Books 3-4) by Josh Lanyon. ebooks. More excellent mystery and romantic suspense from m/m author Josh Lanyon. I really can’t say enough good about the Adrien English series. I devoured the books, and yet had to put them aside periodically because of how emotionally invested and worried I got about Adrien English. It’s been a while since I spent so much time (outside of reading the book) thinking about a character and caring so much about what happened. Highly recommended. (And check out Elisa Rolle’s feature on Josh Lanyon!)
Partners in Crime 4: The Art of Dying by Josh Lanyon and Jordan Castillo Price. This ebook contains suspenseful, non-series m/m stories from the always excellent Lanyon and Price.
Bring the Heat and Out of My Mind by M.L. Rhodes. ebooks. Well-done and steamy m/m romance, with excellent covers. 😉
Double Play by Jill Shalvis. Contemporary romance about a major league baseball pitcher and a reporter who’s supposed to find out dark secrets about the team. Shalvis definitely knows how to write a solid and enjoyable story and I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.
How To Tame a Modern Rogue by Diana Holquist. Kudos to Diana Holquist for her absolutely delightful contemporary and Regency romance mash-up! Highly recommended.
Skin Deep (Laura Blackstone, Book 1) by Mark Del Franco. Very well-done urban fantasy set in the same world as Del Franco’s Connor Grey series – I’ll definitely continue to read this series. (But I still prefer the Connor Grey series!)

Many thanks to Jeanne for “squirrelizing” this picture for me:

“Dang, he looks tasty, but he’s as big as I am!” -Chaos

“Who are all you people?” -Squirrel

*dreaming of birds* -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Books and links and books and links and books and…

26 Comments

Thanks for the fun captions you’ve been leaving on that picture of Chaos from yesterday! I definitely needed the giggles. 🙂 Mayhem did her part by sending one of her toy mice along with me in the bag of library books to be returned. Chaos… um… well, he didn’t succeed in tripping and killing me while I fed him. 😉

I know that there’s a heckuva lot of book linkity going on in this post – fear not, as it’s meant to tide you over until my next post on Monday, August 17. I’m leaving for da cabin up nord bright and early Thursday morning.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 17, for your chance to win a copy of Sandra Hill’s So Into You!

For your chance to win a copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre (yes, you read that right!), leave a comment over at Yankee Romance Reviews.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Robyn DeHart’s romance Seduce Me, leave a comment at Park Avenue Princess by midnight EST, August 30.

Need a new bookcase? Temple Library Reviews is giving one away – comment before September 6 for your chance at it.

J. Kaye’s usually has over a dozen various book/audiobook giveaways going at any given time, covering a breadth of genres. You should subscribe to J. Kaye’s blog. 🙂 (Speaking of good stuff from J. Kaye, is your library part of Library Elf?)

Fantasy Dreamer Donna has links to many, many more book-related contests!

An interesting post about the benefits of print and ebooks at Embrace the Shadows.

Looking for free ebooks to fill your reader? The Finding Free Ebooks blog might be just the thing for you.

Author Monica Ferris is giving away a free short mystery about a female police investigator and the Minnesota State Fair. (It isn’t a Betty Devonshire mystery, for those who follow that series.)

Some tips for how to read faster. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I guess when I’m reading books, I don’t subvocalize. I do for other sorts of reading, such as blogs, emails, etc. Teaching yourself to knit while you read (or is it read while you knit?) might have a similar effect to the technique in the linked post.

Which of the top ten hero types is your favorite? My answer won’t surprise any of you…

Need a giggle? Carolyn shows how adding vampires would spice up an otherwise ho hum spam email.

And while you’re giggling, you simply must check out this hysterical historical romance-themed cover from Minnesota Monthly magazine.

It ain’t your mama’s romance – and that’s not a bad thing.

Notice anything similiar about the cover of Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn novella, Master of Shadows, and the cover of Lynda Hilburn’s book, The Vampire Shrink??

Dear Author always has informative and thoughful posts. Some that caught my eye recently were on buying ebook readers and a wonderfully snarky book news roundup.

Did you hear that Sony’s coming out with some new, less expensive ereaders? They’re pretty cute. Astak’s also coming out with some comparable looking ebook readers in the same price range.

Hmm. Could Kindles go the way of Betamax? (Really too early to assess things like that, but it’s always fun to speculate.)

Reading Update
Spin a Wicked Web: A Home Crafting Mystery by Cricket McRae. I couldn’t resist the cover when I saw this book at the library, and I’m glad I didn’t! Spin a Wicked Web was a well-written and enjoyable read; it managed to avoid the cloying sweetness to which many craft-related novels succumb. I plan to read the other books in this series – and I wish I’d read the others first, as this turns out to be the third book.
Personal Demons by Stacia Kane. Enjoyable paranormal romance about a psychologist who starts a radio show promising to banish people’s personal demons and gets more than she bargained for.
Watch Over Me by Lucy Monroe. Latest contemporary romance in her Goddard Project series. I read half the book, realized I didn’t care about any of the characters and that I’d napped through a s3x scene, and put it in the pile going back to the library. Also, while using the word “adamantine” (and helpfully clarifying it as “diamond-like” within a few sentences) to refer to someone’s abs does showcase your vocabulary, it’s not a common word and using it twice (complete with “diamond-like” reference) in the first half of the book? Sticks out.
Boys of Summer by Cooper Davis. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about how scary falling in love and coming out can be.
Don’t Look Back, Dangerous Ground, The Dark Horse, and The White Knight by Josh Lanyon. ebooks. Suspense and m/m romance by one of the masters of the genre. Well-written, vividly characterized, deeply involving, and definitely steamy hot – what’s not to like?
Among the Living and Criss Cross (PsyCop, Books 1-2) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebooks. More excellent romantic suspense and m/m romance, but with a titch of paranormal!
Protect and Defend by Francesca Hawley. ebook. A steamy paranormal romance about a cop who’s a shapeshifter and a writer who turns out to be his mate. Unfortunately, there were far too many pages used for the amount of story available, and the draggy bits were too sappy for me. (But hey, it has a great cover and it wasn’t even m/m!)

“I’m sure you heard wrong. No way would Mom leave us for four days!” -Chaos