Kari Thomas - Hunted Mate

For decades, the Wolf and Cat Shifter Clans of Washington State have been kept in peace by an uneasy truce and a favor owed between their leaders. At last, Damian is calling in that debt, and with it, his natural enemy Logan Cross has just become entrusted with the most precious of tasks: to retrieve the prophesied mate of the Wolf Prince and protect her from all others.
Tara Stuart has always known of the powers that came with her birthright, powers that could either unite or destroy depending on the mate at her side to help wield them. She’s been trained in the magick, her skills honed. But she would run far and fast before letting primal, seductive Logan Cross deliver her to a complete stranger. She believes her destiny lies elsewhere, maybe even with Logan.

Comment: I don't know if it's because the book wasn't tought to be big or what but there's something about books from independent publishers - or smaller ones - that makes the books come out a bit weak...Perhaps it's just me, but I think this is a world that could be so mucher better explored...the way it is now it feels it just had to show off the HEA and that's it.
The end is cute but the book didn't leave a mark with me.
I wish I'd seen more substance, more something...it's a good premise, an apparently interesting world, but it lacks developpment, structure, world-building. It's just not good enough to me, even tough it's readable.

Harper Fox - Driftwood

Dr Thomas Penrose meets Lieutenant Flynn Summers when a surfing accident dumps Flynn, half-drowned, at his feet. Never were two men less likely to form a bond... Flynn, a reckless air-sea rescue worker, will surely never find common ground with Tom, whose time as a combat medic in Afghanistan has left him desperate for a quiet life. And yet the attraction is there, sparkling like sunlight on the sea-water of Cornwall. As spring turns into summer and they become lovers against all the odds, Tom discovers dark secrets behind Flynn's bright exterior, and is forced to confront a few shadows of his own. He's falling in love: but can he unlock enough of Flynn's past to save him from the grasp of his ex, a mysterious helicopter pilot called Rob, whose deadly hold on Flynn seems to tighten the more he struggles to escape? Rob has been keeping some very bad company. One stormy night at sea, Flynn and Tom find themselves up against Rob's arms-dealer friends, fighting for their lives – and, more importantly, for one another's...

Comment: Hilcia suggested to me that I should read this author, so I looked for Harper Fox and picked this story (also the one Hilcia haven't read yet).

Tom lives a isolated life, he changes after some bad experiences at war as a doctor and now works just to be occupied. He had a relantionship in the past, one that marked him, but he lived it for one night only and that pusues him with guilt. Guilt is a powerful intrument...even when one says "it's not my fault", unless we actually believe it...well, it can shape someone's mind and behaviour.
Flynn has an even deeper issue, he goeas through punishment during intimacy with his partner because he thinks he deserves it.
I think this was the most important thing in the book, for me. I don't know anyone, personally, who lives like that, but I'm sure it happens a lot more than one imagines. Sometimes, if we are told something long enough we start to believe that. Like that abyss quote from Nietzche that when we look really deep into it, it stares back, well, it's true, it happens. People's minds are something unique, people don't just work the same because it can be convenient...so I got Flynn's issues, I understand why he thinks that way and I don't think it's too farfetched. Nowadays people hear a lot of PTSD cases but this is as serious as that. We can know something and still aloow it because to someone who thinks like that, that is real. As real as the sunrise and sunset.
So, this book convinced me because of that. Things aren't always happy and shiny. But they talked, processed and overcame their problems. I think because of this the HEA at the end tasted much sweeter. This isn't a light book, but it's appealing. I enjoyed the writting style too. And I'm very happy to have read it. Thank you for the suggestion, Hilcia. :)

Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr Y

When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.

With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel.

Comment: This has to be one of the most weird books I've read.
The story isn't conventional, it follows its own rules, which we must thank to the author's vision. It's quite clear she studied a lot and she has a lot of knowledge to make things look perfect, especially the parts where she inserts real author's ideas. I confess I got a bit lost in several places because I didn't read Derrida or Heidegger of other names mentioned but she obviously simplified it for the average reader without losing the book's goal.
The ficion part is strange, very strange, the main character, Ariel, travels to other people's minds in a different "place", let's call it that, all due to an author's book she read. I'm not going to explain what happens because only reading can one understand most things, but the end is a surprise, a very big very wow surprise. I wasn't expecting it, at all!
This is a fiction work but with many references to philosophy, physics, literature. It's interesting and fresh but not my cup of tea. For having entertaining me and for having offered a thoughtful surprise I liked it, but I admit it didn't run the way I tought it would based only on the blurb.

I don't know if I'll read another..I brought this one from my local library so if I see there some more I might try them...several prized and known authors recommend it too.

Alexis Harrington - Allie's Moon

Althea Ford lives alone with her invalid sister in a crumbling Oregon farmhouse, burdened by sins of the past. Desperate for help, she reluctantly turns to Jefferson Hicks, an ex-lawman who has fallen as low as a man can. But here at Allie's farm, his silent, numb heart suddenly begins to beat again. Drawn to this woman who is as much a prisoner of the past as he, Jeff discovers the healing power of love. But to claim it, they must confront spiteful enemies determined to keep them apart forever.

Comment: Some time ago, I was looking for a different author when I stumbled on this one. I read some blurbs and went for opinions and decided to try this book.
This story is sweet and simple but strong main characters who win their fights and prove that love is the biggest thing out there. Rationally, I'd have a lot to say about this story... first, because I don't believe in such love, second because the conflict was too easy to overcome, but to be really honest that doesn't matter in most romantic books I read. I want them to have a ridiculously beautiful HEA and to make me smile and ease my RL problems.
It's amazing to think that soemone would actually abandon everything just to be right and be with that special person. Personally, I don't know if I would. I stick to conventions because...well, one has to stick to something. I'm not in love so I know that shadows my perspective but still a perfect love is too hard to find, so extra romaticism for this book to accomplish that. Perhaps things are too "cute" because this is an historical, but I liked it and that's enough.
The secondary characters offered the biggest conflict, especially the main female character's sister and it was very good to see that they just didn't make up so things could end well...people fight, they hurt and they get disappointed, so this story had an extra touch of trueness because they stayed mad with each other.
I recommend it.

I'd compare it with Catherine Anderson's novels, but if hers are usually perfect 10's for me, this would be a 6.5 if I were to grade and really compare them.

Julie Garwood - Mercy

Attorney Theo Buchanan - brother of seasoned FBI agent Nick Buchanan, the hero of HEARTBREAKER - is in New Orleans to receive an award for his work with the Department of Justice. When he becomes unexpectedly ill at the gala, a beautiful stranger rushes him to the hospital and saves his life. The woman - a brilliant surgeon named Michelle Renard - intrigues Theo, but before he can learn more about her, she leaves New Orleans and returns to her small clinic in Louisiana. Theo seeks her out to thank her, but finds more than he bargained for. When he arrives in the little town of Bowen, he discovers that Michelle is being followed, her house has been broken into and her clinic destroyed. Theo is in a position to return the ultimate favour. Michelle saved his life...now can he save hers?

Comment: The first book in the series (Heartbreaker) wasn't a winner with me. Everything seemed rushed, phony. I was quite reluctant to read more (I had read the 1st one a long time ago) but the constant good opinions by some people I trust convinced me to keep reading. And I liked it.
This book shows a better chemestry between the main characters, the plot isn't that special, I must confess...there are other authrs who can do a better job with the mistery and the thriller parts, but it was intriguing enough to entertain.
There are three of four scenes that I really loved seeing and the end is sweet and hopeful.
All in all a better read that what I'd expect and I'll read more in the future.

Elizabeth Scott - Stealing Heaven

"My name is Danielle. I'm eighteen. I've been stealing things for as long as I can remember."

Dani has been trained as a thief by the best--her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends--a real life.
In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes. For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani--because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known--or the one she's always wanted.


Comment: Just finished this book, literally a few minutes ago.


I confess YA is another type of book I usually stay away from. I like some kind of closure in the books...there are so many things in life we have to keep open or we don't have the power to finish them on our own and in fiction I like to see an end, to see things completed..I guess it's a controling issue when few things in Real Life are, so...and in YA it doesn't always happen because youthness isn't exactly a synonim of steadiness. It always depends on several things but it's how I, personally, see things.
Anyway, Dani, the main character, is a thief along with her mother. They steal silver in rich people houses. She never went to school she doesn't have any real friends and right now they are in Heaven to steal some more. We see things from Dani's perspective and the daughter who lives in the house they're going to steal from turns out to be her new friend. Plus she's attracted to a guy who happens to be a cop. Obviously something's got to give...
Surprisingly, the story moved me more than what I expected mainly because we know what Dani is feeling and what's going on through her head. The writing is simple but strong and the few details let the reader concentrate more on what's happening, on feelings. I liked it a lot, actually. The only "bad" thing is the end...I guess it could be better explained but in a way that's the reader's job, to process the information any way one wants.
I'm not sure I'd be willing to read more books by the author - she writes only YA - but this story will stay with me for some time, I'm sure of it, and that is one of the best compliments an author can have, I think.

Christine Feehan - Ruthless Game

Ghostwalker Kane Cannon is pure male—animalistic, sexual, protective, instinctive—and his past missions have prepared him for anything. But his newest assignment, to rescue hostages in Mexico , plunges him into a hot zone he never anticipated: the hiding place of Rose Patterson—fugitive, ex-lover, a fellow Ghostwalker pregnant with his child.

Rose is in flight from the insidious experiments that still live in her dreams, and from the madman who’d do anything to take her child. Of all the Ghostwalkers enlisted to hunt her down, Kane is the only one she can trust. But as their passion reignites, the stakes are raised. Because Kane is now a wanted man as well. And together they’re about to face the most desperate challenge of all: staying together and staying alive.

Comment: My favourite series by this author is this one. I think the premise is not that unimaginable as that and I like to see how the characters behave. Although one must say it's quite repetitive how each one faces their predictament, I'd like to see something different in that aspect, to spice things...

This story follows Kane and Rose and their baby. I loved the book mainly because there's a baby in there and it so much fun to see others interact with him, especially because all of them are fighters in a certain way, and not used to affection and simplicity. I also liked to see more of the interaction between them all, it's good to see them united like that.

The end is happy but I'm afraid this will be another life long series, where the bad guy keeps getting away...

But I'll dutyfully wait for the next book.

Lori Foster - Too Much Temptation

Breaking his engagement should make a man's life simpler, but for sinfully handsome Noah Harper it meant defying his grandmother, losing his job, and disappointing everyone who thought the bride was his perfect match. Though the breakup wasn't his fault, he agreed to play the gentleman and take the flak for it. After all, he'd lived without his grandmother's approval before; he was wealthy enough not to need the job she'd given him; and, while facing the resulting mix of scandal, disaster, and confusion wasn't exactly fun, freedom from an appalling mismatch was definitely worth it. The first thing he planned to do was enjoy his freedom -- to find a woman who was willing to pursue pleasure for its own sake. He never expected his grandmother's sweet, innocent assistant, Grace Jenkins, to rush to his defense -- or to find she had a passionate nature to match his own. Suddenly, freedom is nowhere near as important to Noah as being with Grace -- for her loyalty, love, and luscious womanly curves are Too Much Temptation.

Comment: This is one of the kind of books I usually stay away from. The other being contemporary drama.
Contemporary light isn't something I particulary enjoy because what happens in there is always about sex or having lots of sex. Ins't there a plot where the focus is the not wanting to have sex?
Anyway, the writing wasn't bad, I actually liked the simplicity and the to the point stuff. What I didn't really like was the story itself. The heroine has a complex of inferiority but she smiles and she goes out of her way to hep others...she's rather likeable but she gave in too soon...she was in love with the guy since ever and she is shy and pudgy...one would guess she would put a bigger fight to acknowledge both her feelings and attraction, considering the way she's described. I didn't really see her struggle to change the way she saw herself because she wanted to be the guy's sex slave! In a funny way, I mean.
I'm not saddened not to have any more books by the author..she's all right to decompress but to me, not to be an intentional read.

Stacia Kane - City of Ghosts

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss—and Chess’s drug dealer—gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

Comment: Amazing! Completely amazing!
I loved this book, everything was great. Chess is sad, she's down because Terrible hates her and she has strong feelings for him. Plus she's bound not to share Church matters with others. The Lamaru are attacking again and now she has to work with a partner. Her live is a mess.
I thought things couldn't work out for Chess...she still has a long way to go in order to reach happiness. I'm not even sure on how will she do that but she'll have to eventually. But in this book she thinks and solves a major issue, she saves the Church and she talks to Terrible. Things look rocky between them but there's this HFN that just made my day!!
I'm sure the author will find lots of obstacles for them, and I'm a bit afraid of what's to come, but hopefully in the end of the series...they'll end up in perfection.

m/m Challenge authors

Well, here's my list of authors for the m/m challenge...
Let's see how it goes, I haven't titles yet, I'll choose as I go.
I had to repeat letters, for I wanted to have different authors with different last names, so I picked up names in alphabetical order, but I had to repeat some because I wanted to have 30 books total.

Albright, Addison

Beecroft, Alex

Calmes, Mary

Dahl, Kenn

Eastwick, Karma

Ford, Catt

Green, Amber

Hecht, Stephani

Izanaki, Miza

Johnson, Ava Rose

Kimberling, Nicole

Lane, Amy

Mitchell, KA

Nichols, Zoe

Okati, Willa

Payne, SA

Quinton, Chris

Rhodes, ML

Sutherland, Fae

Temple, Tory

Urban, Madeleine (with Abigail Roux)

Veinglory, Emily

Winter, Mary

Yates, Serena

Zachary, Drew



The repeated letters

Amara, Astrid

Lanyon, Josh

Langley, JL

Martinez, Angel



The surprise ?

Stacia Kane - Unholy Magic

For Chess Putnam, finding herself near-fatally poisoned by a con psychic and then stopping a murderous ghost is just another day on the job. As an agent of the Church of Real Truth, Chess must expose those looking to profit from the world’s unpleasant little poltergeist problem—humans filing false claims of hauntings—all while staving off any undead who really are looking for a kill. But Chess has been extra busy these days, coping with a new “celebrity” assignment while trying on her own time to help some desperate prostitutes.

Someone’s taking out the hookers of Downside in the most gruesome way, and Chess is sure the rumors that it’s the work of a ghost are way off base. But proving herself right means walking in the path of a maniac, not to mention standing between the two men in her life just as they—along with their ruthless employers—are moving closer to a catastrophic showdown. Someone is dealing in murder, sex, and the supernatural, and once again Chess finds herself right in the crossfire.

Comment: This book (#2 in the author's Downside series) leaves a mark. It makes you think. A Lot.

I don't know how thr author can deal with everything she puts on the page. I had a hard time digesting what I was reading, I can't imagine what it must be like to write and process and analyse and whatever an author has to do to make the story good for publication.

Chess is finally caught in her double affections. Then she suffers more because she realises she wanted something and now it's too late.

What amazes me the most in this series is Chess's feelings. The ones she shows off to the other characters and the ones only the reader sees. She's far from perfect. I hate it that she had such an awful past, that sehe thinks she deserved that and that she has to drug herself to live through its memories.

But I can't help getting to know what is happening either, so...

Professionally she usually has a balanced way of seeing things, even when she's in trouble. She still has a moral conduct in her, despite all the mistakes and wrongness. I think it'll be interesting to see her development.

Unholy Magic is a difficult, emotive book. But iyt's totally worth it.

Isabel Allende - The House of Spirits

A best seller and critical success in Europe and Latin America, The House of the Spirits is the magnificent epic of the Trueba family - their loves, their ambitions, their spiritual quests, their relations with one another, and their participation in the history of their times, a history that becomes destiny and overtakes them all.

Comment: I've been quite lucky lately because all the books considered more "classic" or serious, have been a great bet and this one isn't an exception.

The story follows the life of Esteban Trueba and everything that happens in Chile during his life. We see his thoughts once in a while but the majority of the book is described in the 3rd person.

The language is crude and doesn't give euphemisms to soften the impact. At first it was strange but then it became clear it couldn't be in another way.

The politics are deeply ingrained in this story but it's part of what makes it more realistic.

The characters are all well done, with things that make them too distinct from one another, but they make the story richer just for being like that.

I couldn't put it down, in two days I've been immersed in their lifes and I loved it even tough it's a tragic ending. At least, sad it is.

Sandra Hill - Dark Viking

Rita, a former stunt woman, can't believe she signed up to be a female Navy SEAL. She needed the signup money to pay her mother's medical bills.
Steven, a fierce Viking warrior is depressed over the "death" of his brother Thorfinn. Yep, even Vikings get the blues.
Rita can't believe she's been tossed back in time to the tenth century wearing a head-to-toe wetsuit and flippers with her face cammied up.
Steven can't believe the gods have sent him a fish woman to ease his woes. Not a beautiful mermaid, but an ugly-as-death fish.
How dare the brute put her in a cage!
How dare the wench teach his people line dancing!
Love and laughter guaranteed in this trip down Memory Lane...uh Fjord.

Comment: I've been reading the author for some years now. When I first started reading them, they all seemed amazing and fresh, the language, the humor...
Today I still think that, but the truth is, they no longer seduce me like before.
Today I read them more for fun and loyalty than despair eagerness.
But it's ok, after all everyone changes and it's only natural the reading changes too.

The story is everything the author used us to: the time-travel, the romance, the "what am I doing here?", the HEA...oh and by the way, is it me or the books seem smaller everytime? I enjoyed it a lot, especially because of the reading changes. We all like to revisit loved worlds and characters, and it's no exception in this case. For me, at least.
I'll keep reading as long as the books are a portrait of hapiness...of sadness is the Real World full of...

William Gladstone - The Twelve

The Twelve is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about a most unusual and unsuspecting hero. As a child, Max lives in a world of colors and numbers, not speaking until the age of six. As an adult, Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy about the "end of time," foretold to occur on December 21, 2012.

At fifteen years old, Max has a near-death experience during which he has a vision that reveals the names of twelve unique individuals. While Max cannot discern the significance of the twelve names, he is unable to shake the sense that they have deep meaning. All of The Twelve seem connected, and all of them are important to what will happen at the exact moment the world as we know it will end.

The novel takes the reader on a series of spectacular adventures to Jerusalem, Athens, London, India, Istanbul, China, Japan, and Mexico, culminating in an understanding of why and how Max and The Twelve are destined to unite and discover the true meaning of December 21, 2012.

The outcome of their meeting could fulfill an ancient Mayan prophecy, controlling the future of life on our planet. Only The Twelve can provide the answers, as the fate of all humanity rests in the balance.

Comment: When I read the blurb I was pretty convinced the book was some kind of adventure with lots of action...you see, a bit like Indiana Jones meets Mayas.
So not that.
I guess if I knew what kind of book it was before I might have aproached it wirh different eyes, but the way I did it, it didn't tell me uch.
I don't think about upcomig changes or the end of the world or the beginning of a change (as implied in the book) so the theme isn't something that I find that interesting. The story is interesting enough to have compelled me to turn the pages but after the last one neither did I had a sense of a read well done or did I think I must concern me with the date of the 21st of december...
The book has a spirtual side too, we humans should worry about the world - I'm pretty sure we do, however our societies don't let us worry too long about that when our own personal world is in much danger because of the crisis, but that doesn't matter here - and unite to help it. There's someone in the book that somehow works as a sort of Messias, but if one chooses to believe there's someone like that out there, then one can, but personally, I don't.
In the end, it was a interesting read, for sure, but not my type of enjoyment.

The M/M Romance Challenge 2011

I've read about this challenge in a site that is going to close down, (I'm so sad over it :( ) but as I've discovered I do enjoy m/m books, I'll try to read more things to honor the challenge.

Here's where everything is explained.
I'm aiming for the 20+ reading level, because I know I can manage that.
My reading list isn't quite done yet, I have some ideas of what to read, but no done deal yet. I'll think about it and probably post as I go, for I'm probably going to change my mind a lot.

I'll be posting a list soon somewhere in the blog from february on, as long as I read. I'm probably going to read some more m/m this month, but the challenge books will start next month so I can have things in order.
I hope it will be fun.

Clancy Nacht & Thursday Euclid - Black Gold

Billy "Goldie" Goldean is the biggest pop star in the world and he's harboring a terrible, career-killing secret: he's gay. Even with song titles such as "Astral Glider" and "Winking Brown Eye," few question Goldie's squeaky-clean teen heartthrob status. That is, until Jethro "Jett" Black, an infamous womanizer and underground punk icon, names him in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine as the celebrity he'd most like to fuck.

After Goldie and Jett hook up at an industry party, Goldie's management dumps him, Jett's exes come back to haunt them, and even Goldie's mother makes a public plea for him to come to his senses. Goldie wants to trust his untamed new lover but the pressures of fame may tear them apart.

Comment: The moment I saw the cover of this book I was hooked.

The artist is one of the best, for sure, and all the covers done by PL Nunn are always catchy and colorful.
I had to get my hands on this story and I did.
I thought it would be more focused on the character's choices than in the consequences, but that was fine. I think they didn't had to appear so possessive of each other, but the reasoning both of them claimed seemed real, considering I'm not in loveand I'm not well known, therefore I can't really be judge of how I would react in that position.
This story is quite enjoyable I'll look forward to see some more books by both authors.

Shayla Black - Seduce Me in Shadow

Ex-Marine Caden MacTavish has shunned his magical heritage all his life, but he will do anything to heal his desperately ill brother, a Doomsday Brethren warrior in mourning for his missing mate. Posing as a photographer, Caden must convince firecracker tabloid reporter Sydney Blair to reveal the source of her recent exposé on a supernatural power clash. Unfortunately, keeping his hands off the sizzling redhead proves as hard as getting them onto the potent and mystical Doomsday Diary he discovers at her bedside. A bloody rebellion led by an evil, power-hungry wizard is imminent. If Sydney divulges the book’s existence, she will jeopardize magickind’s most deeply guarded secrets and become the ruthless wizard’s number one target. Caden has never trusted magic’s cruel and dangerous powers, but he will protect Sydney with his life and magic—even if it means risking his heart.

Comment: I was quite surprised with this book. The first one in the series wasn't amazing or anything, but this one...it seems everything worked perfect to me in this book: the plot without too much useless information, or too little to make the story advance, the characters acted in a more realistic way and the purpose semed much more better accomplished that what one felt while reading the first one.

In this second book new things happen and new characters appear. It seems to me this a world to keep the eye on because it's getting great.

Next month I'll be reading book #3, let's hope it's as good as this one!

Some Book Statistics

Just wanted to share some statistics from my reading year of 2010, even tough I've only started this blog back in October.

I've read 249 books last year. The month where I read the most was June (27 books) and where I read the least were February and November (15 books).
I've read an average of 20,75 books a month.

In 2010 I've spent 911,30€ in 146 books (1.193,85 dollars).
An average of 12, 16 books purchased monthly. The month where I spent the most was July (144,36€) and where I spent the least was March (1,88€ in an ebook).
Obviously, I haven't read half of the ones I bought, because my TBR list is huge.

Amazing what you can get when you list things.
Besides, it helps to keep things organized.

Sarah McKerrigan - Lady Danger

BORN TO THE BLADE... Raised to fear no man, Deirdre of Rivenloch never backs down from a clash of steel or a threat to her lands and family. But when she tricks Sir Pagan Cameliard into marrying her in order to save her younger sister, she's faced with a new kind of enemy: a husband who would turn her resistance into a fire that heats her blood...and who would use all his cunning to make her cry his name in ultimate abandon. For Pagan has made his own wedding vow. He will best his sword-wielding bride in the field by day and make her surrender in his arms by night. Her heart will be his...even if it means being conquered by hers.

Comment: This book surprised me because it was more fun and interesting than what I imagined. The heroine's resistance to the male character, to surrender, amazed me and in the end when she gives up it's not a defeat, it's a recognition of mutual feelings. I liked it a lot.
I also liked the book doesn't focus too much on either aspect: the romance or the plot. It has a good balance of the two things.

Cooper Davis - Bound by Nature

It doesn’t take Hayden Garrett’s college degree to figure out why Officer Josh Peterson is the last man alive he wants to face. Not because of the council’s harebrained idea to broker peace between their clans.
It’s the sweaty palms that prove Hayden never got over his embarrassing attraction to his alpha rival. Mate with him? Nothing fills Hayden with more desire—or dread. Josh doesn’t have a gay hair in his fur. At least not one he owns up to.
Despite Josh’s reputation for being a connoisseur of female flesh, he’s always cared about Hayden. In a different world, they might have been friends. Now, face to face after five years, the bitterness in Hayden’s eyes fills Josh with regret for what could have been—should have been.
As Hayden and Josh journey through rituals—and intimacies—that will knit their souls for life, passion and anger flares, revealing a powerful secret. The truth about a long-ago sharing of hearts, bodies and souls that ended in tragedy…

Comment: This book tells us the story of Hayden and Josh, two rival alpha werewolves. We get glimpses from the time where they were young and images from years later. Hayden is openly gay but Josh is straight, which is kind of a problem for Hayden because he has a crush on Josh since...forever.
One day, when Hayden returns from college to spend the holidays, he meets Josh and they agree to have a run in that week.
Throughout the book we see what happened after that run and what is happening now, to both of them, when they meet again. And things aren't simple between them anymore.

I enjoyed the story, it was hot at times, sad at others but in the end it has a HEA I've enjoyed seeing.
At first I didn't particularly like the jumps between past and present, because usually it can be tiresome to always change pace and time like that but the things in the past didn't occupy much space, so it didn't get too boring. I think the best asst of this story - apart from the wonderful mate thing I looove in shapeshifter novels - is the feelings. They seemed real and true. Good for the author to know how to draw them in the story.

Judie Aitken - Secret Shadows

Dane White Eagle is an undercover FBI agent, searching for the drug dealers who have been poisoning the residents of the Cold Creek Lakota Reservation with designer narcotics. Dr. Claire Colby works te graveyard emergency shift at the hospital, patching up the walking wounded who appear night after night. When tragedy brings them together, they realize they share a dedication to their work -- to making life better for those on the reservation.

But since the fateful night of their meeting, Dane and Claire share other things as well -- like strange dreams of the legendary trickster spirit, Iktomi. And a growing passion for each other that intertwines thier souls and hearts -- and may lead them into mortal danger...

Comment: The first book I've read in the new year.
I was quite expectant about the story after reading the blurb. I like the stories where there's antive-american culture, where oneof the main characters is native-american, especially the male character.
I was hoping for a timeless story about love...but I wasn't really convinced about the feelings in the book. The plot was ok, I liked it enough to enjoy the read. But the romance part could be more...heartfelt, more desperate, I wish it had more feeling. I'm not disappointed, exactly, but it would a superb romance if the feelings portrayed were depicted in a more focused way, I think.

Katherine Neville - The Fire

Katherine Neville's groundbreaking novel, The Eight, dazzled audiences more than twenty years ago and set the literary stage for the epic thriller. A quest for a mystical chess service that once belonged to Charlemagne, it spans two centuries and three continents, and intertwines historic and modern plots, archaeological treasure hunts, esoteric riddles, and puzzles encrypted with clues from the ancient past. Now the electrifying global adventure continues, in Neville's long anticipated sequel: THE FIRE

2003, Colorado: Alexandra Solarin is summoned home to her family's ancestral Rocky Mountain hideaway for her mother's birthday. Thirty years ago, her parents, Cat Velis and Alexander Solarin, believed that they had scattered the pieces of the Montglane Service around the world, burying with them the secrets of the power that comes with possessing it. But Alexandra arrives to find that her mother is missing and that a series of strategically placed clues, followed swiftly by the unexpected arrival of a mysterious assortment of houseguests, indicates that something sinister is afoot.

When she inadvertently discovers from her aunt, the chess grandmaster Lily Rad, that the most powerful piece of Charlemagne's service has suddenly resurfaced and the Game has begun again, Alexandra is swept into a journey that takes her from Colorado to the Russian wilderness and at last into the heart of her own hometown: Washington D.C.

1822, Albania: Thirty years after the French Revolution, when the chess service was unearthed, all of Europe hovers on the brink of the War of Greek Independence. Ali Pasha, the most powerful ruler in the Ottoman Empire, has angered the sultan and is about to be attacked by Turkish forces. Now he sends the only person he can rely upon'"his young daughter, Haidee'"on a dangerous mission to smuggle a valuable relic out of Albania, through the mountains and over the sea, to the hands of the one man who might be able to save it.

Haidee's journey from Albania to Morocco to Rome to Greece, and into the very heart of the Game, will result in revelations about the powerful chess set and its history that will lead at last to the spot where the service was first created more than one thousand years before: Baghdad.

Blending exquisite prose and captivating history with nonstop suspense, Neville again weaves an unforgettable story of peril, action, and intrigue.

Comment: In October I've read The Eight by this author, a suspense/thriller with some romance that was quite inventive, and where the deep mystery was spread throughtout ages and in two different times, the reader watched the what happened then and now. We got to care for some characters and the things happening during the book were intriguing enough to make us read faster so that we could know everything right away.
In this The Fire, there's a repeat of everything: thw motions people take, the same mystery, the same plot, the same drive, the same things, the same charcter types. What is different isn't enough to make this book good. The first one was unique, written in the end of the 80's...this one is pratically a copy.
I get why, the first worked out pretty well, but this one left a lot to be desired.