Why I haven't posted anything for a week

Dear readers

I am not lost in space or away at sea. I'm just going through the yearly cleaning weeks my mom institutionalized at our house since I was born. Therefore, I must help otherwise the air would be... unbreathable.
So sorry, but I'll return around the 6th of July or some days after.
Having to work doesn't help either.
Or my stupid slow (and mostly uncooperative) internet.

But I'll get my revenge when I'm on vacation after the 17th.
And when I finally get my hands on the new laptop I'm buying next month.

"See" you all soon.
Hugs,
me
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Jessica Bird - Leaping Hearts

A beautiful young woman with a defiant spirit, A. J. Sutherland spends a small fortune on a horse with a wild reputation, and is forced to sacrifice her position at her family's stables to keep him. She plans to ride the magnificent stallion in the biggest event of the show-jumping season--and she knows she can win. But without the backing of Sutherland Stables, A. J. must rely on a stranger to help her: a man who makes her heart pound, her head spin...and who just happens to be a legend in equestrian circles.
When Devlin McCloud's career was cut short by a tragic accident, he never expected to get back in the ring. But when A. J. asks him to be her trainer, he finds he cannot resist the chance--or his stunning new employer. And what begins as a business arrangement soon becomes something deeper, as Devlin and A. J. learn that even in a sport full of hazards, sometimes the most dangerous thing to risk is one's heart.... 

Comment: This was the last book by the author I had to read. At this point, I’m not particularly interested in her Silhouette editions as I put aside all harlequin and similar books. I have to be selective and only special circumstances would make me grab harlequins now. Anyway, this is one of four contemporary books by the author. Now, that she’s fully into paranormal, I have to say I regret that a bit, as I actually liked the four books, even the one I considered the weakest.

This is the story of AJ, she loves horses and the book starts with her buying a stallion nobody actually wants because he has a lot of phobias. However, as someone who has been around horses all her life, AJ is confidant she’ll know how to train her new horse. But she won’t be able to do it by herself, so Devlin shows up, he’s a retired horseman, he used to compete but an accident ended up his career. He feels attracted to AJ and knows it’s risky to train her, but they don’t resist is and so their journey begins.

I liked this one. AJ seems a sympathetic character, she comes from a rich family but buying the horse was her first truly independent action and she spent all her money on that. Later on she takes drastic measures to pay off her debts to Devlin for his work. This shows she’s not too spoiled and she cares about her responsibilities. I liked this part of her personality, because at first I wasn’t very fond of her, trying to show off by calming down the horse and by feeling hopelessly attracted to Devlin the second she saw him. Do people really feel that much at first sight, it seems unreal to me. Anyway, throughout the book, I learned things about her and she grew up on me. She has secrets and I didn’t like how she went about those, but I can’t actually say if it were me, I wouldn’t do the same, when something is important we might be a bit blind for justifications anyway.

Devlin was very likable as well, especially for one reason, despite being away from competition he isn’t completely away from the world, and although he tried to stay away from AJ, when he made up his mind, he committed himself to the work and even to his feelings for AJ. I have to confess I was surprised by how easy it was for him to open up – after a while - even when trying to push AJ into a decision about their future whether if it was to be only as professionals working together or as soon to be lovers. At least, he had his principles.

There’s a lot of talk about horses and I’m an ignorant of that, anything I might know it’s because of books, so I felt the author did her research and I was impressed by how realistic it all seemed. Even the little details, like what might spook a horse, how to take care of a horse, I don’t know… many details pertaining that world were addressed here and there. I know she had to, in order to make the story more complete, but I liked that, nevertheless.

In the end, this book was easy to read, interesting; it provided an interesting enough story, a couple with chemistry and a HEA to match. It’s perfect to spend some good times with.

TBR Challenge: LaVyrle Spencer - Morning Glory

ELLY - In town, they called her "Crazy Widow Dinsmore." But Elly was no stranger to their ridicule--she had been an outsider all her life, growing up in a boarded-up old house under the strict eye of her eccentric grandparents. Now she was all alone, with two little boys to raise, and a third child on the way.
WILL - He drifted into Whitney, Georgia, one lazy afternoon in the summer of 1941, hoping to put his lonely past behind him. He yearned for the tenderness he had never known, the home he'd never had. All he needed was for someone to give him a chance.
Then he saw her classified ad: WANTED--A husband. When he stepped across Elly Dinsmore's cluttered yard, Will Parker knew he had come home at last ...

Comment: This month the theme of the challenge is books that have won a Rita or some award. I had three novels by ms Spencer and I thought it would be the best opportunity to read this book, which I knew so many readers loved, besides the fact it did win a Rita award. I was very curious about this book and why it's still in the best beloved romances even today.

This is the story of Eleanor and Will. Will is a poor man, an ex convict, and he is hungry. When his boss realizes were he's been, he's dismissed and again leaves. On the way he stops at a bar to read the paper and perhaps find something he could do and he sees an ad asking for a husband. Having nothing to lose, he goes to the address and finds Elly, a pregnant woman with two small children at her feet. Wary of each other at first because nothing in their lives has been easy, after some time together they start to see the beauty in the other and even with some challenges, they manage to fulfill their hearts with love and hope.

I did love the book. I wasn't disappointed after so much expectation and I'm really happy to have read the book and I get it why so many others loved it too.
I think it's the mix of apparent simplicity and romance that makes this so endearing to me. I really liked how the author created the right amount of background to make the protagonists special. These days, so many authors rush that or don't give it as much importance and sometimes it's not done in a very balanced way and somehow, in this book, all those things seemed well done and you can't help but notice when a story flows more easily, more naturally, better. I guess it's one of the reasons why this novel is so good.

Then, the two main characters..I really loved Will. He's one of those heroes that remains with you...I felt sorry for him when he was hungry and suffered injustices. Yes, the times were others but...were they really? Nowadays prejudice still happens. Anyway, I loved how he wanted to prove to Elly he was a good person, he deserved that place to stay and even better, I loved how patient he was about everything, especially from the moment he realized he was in love with Elly...he gave her time and that was wonderful. Of course he had his moments, but even when he seemed like a stubborn example of the male of the species, I still liked him.
Elly was sweet too. She is the kind of heroine I like, she's poor but has her pride, but she's not stupid to want to do things alone all the time and she treated Will with respect, something I really appreciated considering his past. I think the author has here a couple that proved they were worthy of each other and their inner battles only made them stronger and more receptive to cherish love and the feelings between them.

I'm not going to talk about all the little - and bigger - details about this story, but I really liked the pace of things, how the reader gets to learn things step by step, the information isn't dumped on us. I liked how ms Spencer inserted th things she wanted very cleverly, because the story feels so easy to come up with and I'm sure it probably wasn't. I think this is a romantic book, so many beautiful, special scenes with them, with the children, with the other characters. Loved the final scenes and even how Elly did something she didn't think she could just to help Will. Isn't it wonderful to read a story about a romantic true love?

In the end, I was really glad to have read this one. I'm now quite curious to read the other two I have by her. I hope they're as romantic even is not as good. This one I recommend, without a doubt.

Rowan McBride - One Shot

Nick Carlyle understands the intricacies of his job better than anyone. He lives to crunch those numbers and his skills are valued throughout the company. If his personal life might be lacking, he doesn't notice, especially whenever he steals a harmless glance or two at Riley Jameson's tight body.
When a universal flu shot is developed, it's hailed as a miracle, and rightly so. But the seemingly harmless side-effects begin to change the world, warping the statistics that Nick's always used to guide him through life.
No one changes as much as Riley. Suddenly the young man is bigger, stronger. He's also aggressive in ways Nick isn't prepared for, and for the first time analyzing the numbers does nothing to help the situation.
And if numbers can't help him, what can?

Comment: This is one of those books that also caught my eye because of the cover. I love these types of cover, really gorgeous art.
This isn't the first book I've read by the author, and despite having enjoyed the first, I didn't have many expectations about this one.

This short story - it's really not that big - talks about the possibility of one day existing a vaccine to stop the flu, like we nowadays have vaccines against measles or small pox, for instance. The vaccine has secondary effects, of course. For some people it also helps muscle growth, which means some people get bigger in size and stronger. For a small percentage of the population, however, the body size can decrease and people get smaller. But it's a risk many are willing to take so they can change the way they see themselves and how others will see them too.
Nick is in charge of one particular team in a huge company. He's not eager to have the vaccine but when his co workers all have one, and Riley in particular has it and grows several inches and starts looking him down, he fears his position in the company might be jeopardized because people react to confidence and size. So he decides to have the vaccine and after that, everything changes.

I think the concept of this story wasn't that bad. I'm pretty sure it's not as out there as so many others, especially considering the advances in science every day. It's still weird, but I wasn't put off by this and it did allow for some interesting thoughts, such as how would people want to modify themselves just to please others or what they should be like and how this would push people into thinking they had to belong to a certain group...it's all rather interesting, sociologically speaking. A great idea for a science fiction story.

In terms of characters, I got the dichotomy here. How the changes in the protagonists shaped the things that happened afterwards and how by taking the vaccine, the way they saw each other and others changed too. Nick was very by the rules and at first he didn't seem worried, but with time he started having doubts like I'm sure many would too, ad this prompted him to have the vaccine. I think the biggest lesson he had was how no matter people change their bodies, it's the inside that matters and if someone has confidence in themselves, they can charm others around them. Of course, things weren't this simple, but in the short amount of pages it took to tell this story, most concerns were addressed. The story it told by Nick's perspective, so we don't really have the others' thoughts unless when someone talks about it, and I think I could have used a second point of view in this, but overall, it's was fine.
It was a pity the story was so short, because the subject was interesting and with more time it could be more meaningful, especially for the main couple and how these changes had an impact on them. The way things are, I think everything was a bit superficial, and it had many interesting points to develop more if the author wanted.

All in all, it wasn't the best story ever, but I liked the idea, I liked some of the consequences addressed but wish there could have been more to develop.

Jesse Hayworth - Summer at Mustang Ridge

"A single visit to Mustang Ridge can change a person's life in the most unexpected ways...."
Recovering from a difficult divorce and having problems with her daughter, Shelby accepts a summer job cooking at a family-run dude ranch. She hopes the animals will be just what her daughter, Lizzie, needs. Little does she know that ranch life will work some healing magic on her too.
When Shelby meets the head wrangler, Foster, she is put off by his brusque nature, but Lizzie takes an instant liking to the cowboy and his horses. While both Foster and Shelby have been scarred by love, it's not long before Shelby is drawn to the rugged cowboy and his thoughtful ways.
But with summer nights in short supply and Foster wary of falling for a city girl, a simple summer romance soon grows complicated. As the days dwindle, Shelby will have to decide not only what is best for her daughter, but also where her future--and her happiness--will be found.

Comment: This is one of those cases where the cover does make an impact. I like a beautiful cover as anyone else, but it’s not my main concern in buying a book. However, after I decided I wanted this one, to see the gorgeous cover…it’s really evocative and I was hoping to have a matching story.

This author is Jessica Andersen, I’ve read her paranormal books but since I found out this would be different I was really eager to read it. I was hoping her writing as Jesse Hayworth would be another great experience.

The story is about a mother and a daughter going to Wyoming during the summer. The mother, Shelby, is going through a tough time because her daughter Lizzie doesn’t speak and no therapy helped so far. She hopes being around horses might be the key so she accepts the job and there they go. There, she meets many people and she even makes friends, in particular the owner of the ranch where she goes to work and her grandmother. She also meets Foster, he is in charge of the stables and there’s an instant attraction between them.  It doesn’t take that long for Shelby to see both the improvement in Lizzie as the good it would be to be there…longer.

Like I said, I was very hopeful about this book. I confess when I started reading I pictured a sort of Catherine Anderson and Robyn Carr mixture, as both of them write quite well in the genre. However, I have to say that, for me, this book was a bit of a let down. I felt really bad to think so, but I can’t pretend I wasn’t bored with the way the story was told, which I think wasn’t that captivating or even worse with the main couple, which I think wasn’t that good together.

We know they are supposed to have chemistry but I didn’t feel it that much. I thought it was more convenient and although some of the scenes with them were good and even the ones with Lizzie, I still wasn’t very impressed and to be honest I could move along without any problems. I was happy on how Lizzie dealt with her problem and those scenes were interesting, but I don’t know, the book overall, wasn’t that fascinating and after reading I could easily move along. I know they both had problems in their lives and things in their pasts they had to deal with as well, but I was more sympathetic towards Foster. Shelby didn’t strike me as such a good protagonist, yes she had many qualities but I didn’t care much for her, not sure why, but something about her wasn’t very compelling.

In the end, it was an ok read, but for me, no more than that.

There’s a small excerpt at the end of the book about the next story. It does seem more interesting, at least the protagonists look that way, and I believe I’ll try it. If it’s more of the same, I’ll consider not reading the series anymore.

Caris Roane - Burning Skies

Enter a hidden world of winged vampire warriors -- bound by duty to protect humankind, and sworn to fight for the women they love....
A vampire warrior in exile, Marcus Amargi resists the call to return to the ranks of the Guardians who fight the death vamp armies. Here on Mortal Earth, Marcus has another battle on his hands -- the seductive lure of Havily Morgan. The woman meant for him. Whose blood he craves. The one who comes to him in dreams -- and demands his surrender...
A beautiful immortal with extraordinary powers, Havily lives in the realm of Second Earth but, in her fantasies, yearns for her winged lover Marcus. Soon, their bond will be put to the ultimate test. When their bloodthirsty enemies set the night on fire with sky-blazing weapons, Marcus and Havily must unite body and soul, to unleash the full power of their passion -- and fight fire with fire... 

Comment:  It’s been five months since I’ve read the first book in this Guardians of Ascension series. I really meant to read this second one closer to the other one, but as you know trying to follow any reading list isn’t as easy to accomplish as that. Still, as I enjoyed the first book, I was determined to read this one as soon as I could, but it kept being pushed further on until this month I decided I’d get it and that was it.

Burning Skies is the story of Marcus and Havily. As we know from the first book, mates in the Second Earth dimension recognize each other by scent and in the first book, Marcus and Havily met and realized who the other meant for them. Still, Marcus’ business in Mortal Earth (our world, let’s say so) and his desire to be away from the fighting that stole him his family didn’t allow him to pursue Havily or to consider anything serious with her. Havily, on the other hand, also didn’t look for Marcus because she thinks he’s a deserter, leaving his warrior friends without his help for so long. But when Havily is attacked at home and Marcus knows about this, all the instincts that he fought came to the surface and he went after Havily for good.

This series has a lot of interesting elements, like how each world is shaped the same way as the original, the Earth, but it’s like a different dimension where rules are different. I picture them one layer on top of the other and so on. Then there’s the mate scenting, which I find amusing as each couple has a different smell, in Marcus and Havily’s case, it’s fennel and honeysuckle. It’s really funny. Another interesting thing is the rules for the Second Earth world, and how every thing works; I think the author has created a very solid world in her books.

The story line follows the same pattern as the previous book, which is the fighting against the Commander, the enemy of the good guys. We also get to see a little bit of each one of the Warriors and, of course, the basis for the next book has been prepared, as we know who will be the next couple.

The romance was fun. It’s a bit weird, I confess, to see them talk about their past relationships and how long it was, and how they had families…I mean, there’s a certain trend in romances to see the main couple happier now than when they were with others before, but in this case, the characters live for so long, it’s understandable they could have been happy with other people before, and to have had families, actually both Marcus and Havily had had children a long time ago… in a way, it’s strange to think about it…but overall, it’s not such a big deal, but weirs it’s for certain.

In the end, Havily and Marcus understood each other and got their HEA. I think the path for their happiness wasn’t easy, but it suited their personalities and desires, I liked it.

The books are quite big, more than 400 pages, so lots of things happen, being a huge part of it the preparation for the book after. Things are prepared and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Laura Florand - The Chocolate Kiss

Welcome to La Maison des Sorcieres. Where the window display is an enchanted forest of sweets, a collection of conical hats delights the eye and the habitués nibble chocolate witches from fanciful mismatched china. While in their tiny blue kitchen, Magalie Chaudron and her two aunts stir wishes into bubbling pots of heavenly chocolat chaud.
But no amount of wishing will rid them of interloper Philippe Lyonnais, who has the gall to open one of his world famous pastry shops right down the street. Philippe’s creations seem to hold a magic of their own, drawing crowds of beautiful women to their little isle amidst the Seine, and tempting even Magalie to venture out of her ivory tower and take a chance, a taste…a kiss.
Parisian princesses, chocolate witches, pâtissier princes and sweet wishes -- an enchanting tale of amour et chocolat. 

Comment: After such a wonderful first book, I was very eager to get my hands on this second one and I was more than hopeful to get a story as addictive and fun as the previous one, The Chocolate Thief. I bought the book the same month I read the other book and now I finally had the chance to pick it up.

This time, it’s the story of a character we knew about in the other book but who never made an appearance, if I recall correctly. Phillipe Lyonnais is a pastry chef, the best of course, and he just opened another store in Paris, very close to the Maison de las Sorciéres, where Magalie works with her aunts. Magalie doesn’t this to happen because she fears the clients will stop to go to their shop. She confronts Phillipe and the battle begins. They clash all the time but we know there’s more to it than just business differences…

I’ll say it right now, I don’t think this story was as beautiful and sweet and strong as the other one. I think one of the best things about The Chocolate Thief was how the characters looked more alive and better explored in terms of personality and inner thoughts, or just more likable at some point, that in this one I just wasn’t as marveled by them. Phillipe was quite intriguing and I really liked him. Magalie, on the other hand, felt stricter and I kind of approve of people to be cautious, but somehow in this book I wanted her to enjoy the playing more, to not feel like a capitulation when she and Phillipe finally got together. It’s hard to explain, but in general, the main relationship wasn’t as great as I imagined.

The story was good. This I expected and it was delivered. I felt Magalie’s fears for the future of her aunts and herself and why she acted impulsively at first and how she felt forgettable, I mean, in the beginning her character was very intriguing and I wanted to know what she was thinking. Until their relationship got more intimate, I was very amused by how Phillipe and Magalie would “fight” and meet and try not to feel the attraction, or better, tried not to show they were feeling it. Then Magalie finds out some things she wasn’t aware of and that sort of helped her decisions further. I get that, I do, but again, I don’t think she was that fun to read about from then on. Maybe I’m being too harsh, I mean, if it were me in her position, if I were to meet someone like Phillipe I guess I’d find it too good to be true as well, but well…in romances, we kind of want out heroes and heroines to be more understandable, right? Ok, let me get one thing clear, I didn’t dislike Magalie, I just think her character wasn’t as easy to care about as was Cade in the first book, that’s all. It’s the character’s build up and the author knows best, but personally I’d change her a bit, just a tiny bit…

The end was cute. Not fairy-tale-like-beautiful like the other – I guess I can’t help but compare them, as I truly loved The Chocolate Thief and all about it – but still able to make me smile and be happy for them. I think in a way, they got what they wanted and it was so cute to see them in a happy mode and with happiness in their future. I hope all the author’s books are like this.

Now, I can’t help but be really eager to read the next one, I already pre ordered it!