Nothing but trouble as Cory settles into her role in the hill! Book Review of Bound Volume 1 by Amy Lane
Little Goddess
Paranormal Romance
DSP Publications; 2 edition
e book
Little Goddess: Book Three
Vol. 1
Humans have the option of separation, divorce, and heartbreak. For Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick, sorceress and queen of the vampires, the choices are limited to love or death. Now that she is back at Green’s Hill and assuming her duties as leader, her life is, at best, complicated. Bracken and Nicky are competing for her affections, Green is away taking care of his people, and a new supernatural enemy is threatening the sanctity of all she has come to love. Throw in a family reunion gone bad, a supernatural psychiatrist, and a killer physics class, and Cory’s life isn’t just complex, it’s psychotic.
Cory needs to get her act and her identity together, and soon, because the enemy she and her lovers are facing is a nightmare that doesn’t just kill people, it unmakes them. If she doesn’t figure out who she is and what her place is on Green’s Hill, it’s not just her life on the line. She knows from hard experience that the only thing worse than facing death is facing the death of someone she loves.
Loving people is easy—living with them is what takes the real work, and it’s even harder if you’re bound.
Nothing but trouble as Cory settles into her role in the hill! Book Review of Bound Volume 1 by Amy Lane
Little Goddess
Paranormal Romance
DSP Publications; 2 edition
e book
Little Goddess: Book Three
Vol. 1
Humans have the option of separation, divorce, and heartbreak. For Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick, sorceress and queen of the vampires, the choices are limited to love or death. Now that she is back at Green’s Hill and assuming her duties as leader, her life is, at best, complicated. Bracken and Nicky are competing for her affections, Green is away taking care of his people, and a new supernatural enemy is threatening the sanctity of all she has come to love. Throw in a family reunion gone bad, a supernatural psychiatrist, and a killer physics class, and Cory’s life isn’t just complex, it’s psychotic.
Cory needs to get her act and her identity together, and soon, because the enemy she and her lovers are facing is a nightmare that doesn’t just kill people, it unmakes them. If she doesn’t figure out who she is and what her place is on Green’s Hill, it’s not just her life on the line. She knows from hard experience that the only thing worse than facing death is facing the death of someone she loves.
Loving people is easy—living with them is what takes the real work, and it’s even harder if you’re bound.
Wisdom and a Laurell K Hamilton Quote
There is wisdom in this. We all have a choice in how we deal with bad things. We can rant and rail and drive ourselves crazy with all the bad in our lives, or we can accept that bad things happen and look at the positive. Be grateful that we have a chance to react and find a way to focus on that. That is my wisdom for the day… Be a victim of life or a survivor… I choose to survive and be grateful for what I have and can do… Rather than bitter about what I cant
Wisdom and a Laurell K Hamilton Quote was originally published on Best Book Lover Book Reviews
[Top]Netflix led me to compare … Gilmore Girls versus Good Witch
So, of late I have been watching a lot of netflix. I usually don’t because I’m reading or rereading something. And as a book addict, well I sort of agree with all book nerds that the best things lie between the covers, movies never live up to the original form and TV is a form of the deliberate dumbing down of America. So when I found myself sick and reading was too much effort-I started watching netflix shows (on my 13 year olds netflix account). Once I got past the shock of some of the shows I didn’t know she was watching, I started looking at shows for me. And I found myself watching “Good Witch” from the Hallmark Channel. It’s a plucky story of a widowed mom who lives in a quirky town with her 15 year old daughter and her two older stepchildren who are out of the house. Catherine Bell is a witch in this small town who decides to open her home as a Bed and Breakfast. As I watched episode after episode of this show I realized it’s a sanitized version of the Gilmore Girls. Instead of sarcastic wit and insane townspeople, we have magic feelings and sappy story lines. No one is having sex, but we have a lot of townspeople working together to bring bizarre festivals to life. And I realized that this dichotomy is one we are facing in everything today. Instead of sarcastic banter we have vitriol. Instead of challenging plot lines we have super heroes. And instead of leaving each episode of a favorite TV show feeling a little bit guilty for enjoying all the pop culture banter and the snarky commentary of Lorelai and Rory–we have this empty feeling as though that’s an hour we will never get back…
[Top]CtD ch26
Uhhhh i’m not sure I can talk about this in a coherent fashion but wth I’ll give it a shot. Everything, EVERY SINGLE THING from the second Cassie and Pritkin end up in that security booth is pure pain. Like when he made the decision to switch back, did he know his body wouldn’t have the energy to heal the wound? Probably. He just looks at the injury for a second and decides in that split second to die for Cassie. I mean, damn, Pritkin’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but his commitment to Cassie is INSANE. And then, then, he’s dying and he’s still trying to keep her safe?? He knows that if he admits that he can’t heal she won’t leave him, and he can’t look at her and I think it’s partly guilt, because she’s so upset, he didn’t think she’d be so upset, and partly that it hurts way more than he was expecting? Like not the physical pain, but the separation from her, he’s faced with saying goodbye to her and I don’t think he can do it. And don’t even get me started on Cassie’s reaction, the panic, the pleading, the disbelief: “I stared at him, unable to believe this was happening. That he could just disappear, along with everything rich and strange he’d brought into my life. Vanished, like magic.” Listen, I’m not crying, you’re crying. I’m not saying Cassie was in love with Pritkin at that point, because I don’t think she 100% was. But he’s already more than just a friend to her.
The pain continues. I’m honestly surprised Pritkin doesn’t get slapped more often, he’s dying and he tries to use it as a freaking ‘teachable moment,’ like what is wrong with you??? Okay, I know what’s wrong with him, he’s horrendously bad at comforting people because he’s spent the last hundred years actively repressing his own feelings and has such low self-worth that I don’t think he actually realises how badly his death would affect her. “One person is not so important in the scheme of things.” GOOD FUCKING BYE TO MY HEART. And then he’s so gentle with her? He cups her face and wipes away her tears and runs his fingers through her hair??? I love how he seems to like rediscover this forgotten capacity for tenderness with her, I love how when she kisses him to get him to feed, he just kisses her back, he kisses her goodbye, you can’t tell me that he didn’t feel something like love for the first time in decades at that moment. That he didn’t have a bittersweet revelation that he repressed as hard as he could after but never quite managed it. And Cassie’s “I can’t lose you,” that’s a ‘more than friends’ line if ever there was one. UGH what did I do to deserve being battered with these FEELINGS.
The actual sexy stuff is somehow WORSE bcs you’ve got all this reigned-in need and passion on Pritkin’s side and Cassie’s trying so hard to get him to let loose. Her reaction when he says please?? There’s a little streak of dom in our girl. And don’t even get me started on Pritkin calling her ‘Miss Palmer’ during sex (WHY IS THAT SO HOT?? – that’s pretty much my motto for this whole book) and just, the slow, deliberate way he teases her – ugggggh PLEASE. Anyway, this chapter ruined my life, I’m emigrating to the sun.
OK, So I have been a little silent for a while but figured I’d do my somewhat usual call and response to a post. I’m planning to do another reread soon, and I am sure I will have way more to say, but as we know these post and responses keep me a little on track…
There’s a great deal of angst and so much has changed between Cassie and Pritkin, but I view this a little differently. I think that both Cassie and Pritkin slip under each others defenses. Cassie is growing up and collecting friends, lovers and family left and right. Pritkin is trying to protect an unprotectable Pythia from everyone and anyone. Between body swaps and time jumps, its all too damn much. Pritkin is being Pritkin and for him its better to die in service to Cassie than to take a chance with emotions and feelings. Far easier to die than to live.
As for how he restrains himself and that Cassie isn’t letting him go without a fight, well they are both playing to their strengths. Would Cassie’s life be easier if one war mage was interchangeable with another-sure. But Cassie has never taken the easy road. Of course the craziness has gone to another level, but really even the body swap was going above the previous level of craziness!
All right so there’s my opinion, take it leave it argue about it -thats the point of the reread right!
[Top]Shiloh Walker’s Pieces of Me
Book Review of Shiloh Walker’s Pieces of Me
I am a huge fan of Shiloh Walker. I have been for a very long time, so when I
heard about Pieces of Me I got excited.
I love all of Shiloh’s series and had read a good number of her other
works. The great thing about Shiloh’s
work is that even within the same genre each story is unique. Shiloh is able to really encapsulate the
feelings of her characters and this book did not disappoint. If you like romantic suspense novels, this is
definitely a great read. This book has
graphic sex and violence against women.
While the heroine does a great job being a survivor, it could be
upsetting to those who have experienced abuse.
You have the main
heroine, Shadow Grace-A woman who has been broken so completely she doesn’t
know how to survive. She struggles to
make a life for herself while recovering from a traumatic experience that makes
Russian prison camps look nice. Yet, as
broken as she may be, she clings to her art and has the talent to bring beauty
into an unforgiving world. Shadow isn’t fully
healed but every day she is getting stronger and she dares to reach by starting
to fantasize about a guy she sees on the beach regularly. Shadow barely dares to dream about a man, but
for some reason, this one-well he sticks in her brain. And he doesn’t come out easy, even when
fantasy starts to merge with reality and they meet.
The hero of our story seems perfect in so many ways. Strong, supportive and a little bit dark with
a body that doesn’t quit, Jenks seems like the perfect man. As they start to build something together, he
doesn’t fall apart when Shadow starts the revelation process, in fact he seems
to stick a little harder. But he has a
secret and once it is revealed-well things are not quite as simple as they
first seem.
Of course, the past comes back to haunt Shadow and not only
Jenks but some of the other friends she has made find themselves in
danger. While Shadow know just how sick
and depraved people can be, others doubt that it could have really been that
bad. When the past swallows all of them
whole, only a few will have the chance to survive. And after that—life will never be the same.
Shadow manages to rebuild herself and truly become strong,
facing not only her past but her present and deciding that she deserves more
than what Jenks can give. But when her
past still threatens her, she finds that safety can be found in a strong
partner and Shadow has to decide whether to stand on her own or chance being
hurt again.
July 25, 2017
Obsession can be deadly... Nobody knows that better than Shadow Harper. It seemed like a dream come true when a rich, suave older man noticed her during her second year of college. Stefan Stockman seemed to love her obsessively. He came into her life and swept her off her feet, seduced her, married her...and then slowly, eventually, that dream come true became a living nightmare. Now, three years after she finally escaped him, she's trying to put her life back together. Haunted by memories, struggling with post-traumatic stress, she spends most of her time locked away in her home on Pawley's Island, a small town on the South Carolina coast. Her rare moments of joy come from her trips to the nearby beach. She compulsively checks the locks on her doors, makes sure she has her cell phones--five of them--and if she misses something on her schedule, it throws her into a panic. When she accidentally leaves a sketchbook on the beach, an anxiety attack seems imminent. Her art has become her salvation, her sanity, and losing even one sketch is like losing a piece of her soul. When she returns to hunt for the sketchbook, already fearing it's gone for good, she's surprised to find it still sitting there, saved by a sexy fellow beach lover--the mysterious Dillian Jenkins. He's brash, bold, brutally handsome...and gentle. He's the exact opposite of the man who'd tormented her for years, and Shadow finds herself slowly, almost reluctantly, falling for him. Even obsessing over him. When her ex-husband once again intrudes on the happiness she's finally discovering, Shadow turns to Dillian. But will she find shelter there...or another betrayal?
An explanation of why I’m bouncing off the walls Until May 2nd (Hurry up and preorder NOW)
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This is taken verbatim from https://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/quickening-vol-1-by-amy-lane-blog-tour-guest-post-excerpt/
How It All Began
by Amy Lane
So I know for a lot of people, the “big deal” of Quickening’s release is sort of lost.
Amy writes lots of books. Lots of big books. So?
And let’s face it—this one’s got a girl on the cover, and, yes, well, girls on the cover of an author known for her gay male romance work does not inspire a lot of “HUZZAH!”
But, like with everything, there is a story…
So, once upon a time there was an English teacher who felt compelled to go back to school to get her master’s degree. Why? Well, it was unclear even then. All of her peers were doing it, and it appeared to be the only way to get any income mobility and…
Whatever.
Everybody else was getting their MA in education, the better to become administration, but this particular English teacher wouldn’t touch administration with a barge pole. Ugh. Gross. No.
But learn more about her subject matter? Holy Goddess YES!
So she took a bunch of different classes—an entire semester on Hamlet, anyone? And finally decided that creative writing was where she wanted to be.
And she was in this class, loving it, when some asshole dropped a couple of planes on some buildings in New York, and she had a big epiphany: She’d left her two young children at home during her school time, and they were only six and eight at the time, and she didn’t want to spend her precious moments taking classes to make a quota, she wanted to spend her time with them.
So she dropped out of the master’s program—but she kept writing.
Three and a half years later she self-published the book she’d started during that time in the master’s class. It felt like self-aggrandizement mostly—the master’s project was a finished novel, and hey, she’d done that, so even if she didn’t have the piece of paper to prove it, she had Vulnerable.
This was back when self-publishing was in its infancy, and our English teacher made a LOT of mistakes—a lot of them surprisingly enough, in English.
This was back during a DARK period in language instruction. A time called “whole language” learning—when it was considered unprofessional for an English teacher to so much as request a grammar textbook to teach her students how to write English with any sort of proficiency. They were supposed to just “absorb” that knowledge from the books they read.
For the record—it didn’t work.
Also?
It destroyed this particular English teacher’s basic knowledge of grammar and punctuation—all she was reading at the time was student papers.
Which meant when her masterpiece came out, there were some really fucking embarrassing errors all over the goddamned manuscript.
But she didn’t care. Because seriously. How many people were going to read something she wrote? She worked in an extremely misogynistic environment—none of the people in her staff room would so much as let her finish a sentence. She grew up with people who thought she was too stupid to finish college in the first place—and were really confused as to why she’d take master’s classes in something that wouldn’t get her more money just because she hated the job. Her students thought she was okay—but it was an inner-city school, and the ones who didn’t think she was okay told her she was a dumbfuck twat on a daily basis, and her administration didn’t really think that was too bad on the whole.
Her children—whom she adored—both had their own difficulties in school. Obviously her fault, because what did she do wrong to produce a kid with a communication handicap and one with a skewed, Eyeore view of life, even at six?
Nobody would read this book. (Except her outstanding and wonderful Mate.) Nobody would care. It was her accomplishment, and hers alone, and she was really proud of it.
And she was proud of the next one, and the next one, and the one after that. For six years, her Christmas gift from her husband was a chance to self-publish the book she’d written that year between kids and school and soccer and dance and karate and, oh, hey, giving birth to two more children for a total of four.
And then, one day, someone on Twitter asked for a short fic—just a short fic—based on a video of some really hot guys and a dirty guitar riff, and she wrote it, just for fun…
And these people—this publishing company—loved it.
In fact, they had read her books. They loved her stories. They thought she was worthwhile—they wanted to see what else she could write.
And her love affair with writing purely gay romance began.
Now, the last thing she’d written on her own had been the fourth book in her first series—Rampant.
And she’d dropped a helluva bomb at the end of that book. A sort of, uh, BIG cliffhanger. Or two.
And just when her writing career in gay romance took off, her teaching career took a HUGE, devastating, killing hit—and yes, the two things were very closely connected. So suddenly, writing gay romance became the thing she absolutely had to do.
It became her livelihood.
And finishing that series—ending that cliffhanger—that became the last thing on her list.
So… what does this have to do with Quickening?
Seven years ago I wrote a book that ended with a teeny-tiny-itty-bitty sorceress being told some VERY BIG GINORMOUS LIFE CHANGING NEWS.
And people have been waiting to see how that comes out. For seven years.
So I’m going to be writing some blog posts about this book in the next week—and I’m going to be WAY more excited about its release than I think my community is going to be.
But that’s okay—because the first book was something I wanted to do for myself. And this book was a promise I kept to all the people who thought that first book was something special, something that resonated with them, and took the time to tell me that my voice—the one that seemed to be raised desperately unheard for so long—was really important to them.
So it’s possible Quickening isn’t going to take the gay romance world by storm.
But I’m so happy that it’s out, I’m could actually cry.
If you’re interested in the books that started it all, start with Vulnerable—it’s been re-edited and recovered, as have all of the original books in the series.
If you’re a fan of the series already, and you’ve been waiting for the last seven years—you’re the best. Period. I couldn’t have done the last twelve years without you.
Amy
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Little Goddess (Book 5)
DSP Publications
(May 2, 2017)
316 pages
Little Goddess: Book Five
Volume One
Cory thought she’d found balance on Green's Hill—sorceress, student, queen of the vampires, wife to three men—she had it down! But establishing her right to risk herself with Green and Bracken had more than one consequence, and now she’s facing the world's scariest job title: mother.
But getting the news that she’s knocked up takes a back seat when a half-elf hunts them down for help. Her arrival brings news that the werewolf threat, which has been haunting them for over a year, has finally arrived on their doorstep—and it’s bigger and more frightening than they’d ever imagined.
Cory throws herself into this new battle with everything she’s got—and her men let her do it. Because they all know that whether they defeat this enemy now or later, the thing she's most afraid of is arriving on a set schedule, and not even Cory can avoid it. The trick is getting her to acknowledge she's pregnant before she gives birth—or kills herself in denial.
booksthatbleeds Review : Midnight’s Daughter (Dorina Basarab #1)
[Top]Mircea has a daughter! That’s who Cassandra saw in the photos in the “Cassandra Palmer” series.
Dori Basarab is quite the rebel. She drinks beer and smokes weed, in part to quiet down the negative side effects that come with being a Dhamphir. Dhamphir’s are susceptible to blackouts and uncontrollable rage. In the book, her best friend goes missing. Along with a friend of Mircea, she sets out to find that friend and do her father a favor that can cost her, her life. Another great K.C. novel.4/5
(review from May 31, 2010)