FROM ROLE PLAY TO PUBLISHED WORKS

                 

           Where to start? Well, for me it started two years ago after much pushing by my daughter, my sister (fellow Bitch), and a dear friend I entered the world of Facebook.  I said over and over, why would I want to try it, if I want to talk to friends or family I will use the phone. My sister and our friend told me about how you could read stories written by Role Players based some of our favorite book series. Finally I caved, made my account and I haven’t looked back. I began to follow one group faithfully.  Not only would they post story lines, but they interacted with the fans. In this group were so many talented writers. I could not get over how connected some of them were with the characters they portrayed.  It was as if the character had truly come to live for me, so much that yes on many occasions I giggled and blushed at the comments made by certain characters, you know who you are *winks*.  I am fortunate enough to have become friends with several of these wonderful writers outside of the characters.  Among them there are those who have now ventured off the pages of Facebook out into the world of published works. Today I am going to give reviews on two of the author’s latest releases.

                                    Kindle Alexander’s Up In Arms

          In this book you meet Reed Kensington, a worldly lawyer, who while at his brother’s wedding meets Trevor West a soldier. This story not only follows these men’s love affair, which is sweet and sexy, but we also see the after math of how they deal with a tragedy.  I love these boys, how they interact, how they over come, how one of them blushes *sighs*. Sorry I love that!

                   JT Cheyanne and Venus Moon’s For the Love of a God

         Suria is a strong willed, dominate female, until she meets Euro, the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love. Euro who during his existence had nothing more that fleeting encounters with females, lasting no more time than it took to satisfy his lust. Until he sees Suria, together the learn about each other and more importantly themselves.

               Kindle Alexander, JT Cheyanne, and Venus Moon are all very talented writers. They can all weave a tale that paints a picture giving you the feeling you are a part of the story.  Please take a moment to check out the links below, I know you will enjoy the books by the wonderful ladies.

Kindle Alexander:

http://www.kindlealexander.com/

Links where to find Up In Arms:

http://www.amazon.com/Up-In-Arms-ebook/dp/B009GIIU04/ref=pd_rhf_cr_p_t_2_NH0X

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/up-in-arms-kindle-alexander/1113015241?ean=2940015632002

JT Cheyanne and Venus Moon:

http://jtcheyanne.webs.com/

Links to find For the Love of a God:

http://www.xoxopublishing.com/Products/index.php?route=product%2Fproduct&filter_name=For+the+love+of+a+god&filter_category_id=91&page=2&product_id=319

http://www.bookstrand.com/for-the-love-of-a-god

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-fortheloveofagod-1043563-340.html

http://www.amazon.com/For-Love-A-God-ebook/dp/B00B1NKA6E/ref=pd_rhf_cr_p_t_1_JQG2

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!!!

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the way the season makes me feel….what?? Yes I know it’s January. I am well aware that the holiday season is over with but I’m still in the holiday spirit so I’ve been reading Christmas themed books.  *grins*

I have not had the pleasure of reading Debbie Macomber’s books before. My mother gave me many of her Christmas themed books when she was done reading them. With the busy holiday season and taking a break between semesters, I didn’t read as much as I had wanted.  But before classes started back I read both The Perfect Christmas and Trading Spaces.

I have to say I really enjoyed both books. Contemporary romances aren’t usually my forte as I tend to enjoy some paranormal of some sort in my romance if not fully paranormal romance.  Oh and I try my best not to give any spoilers here………………………..

The Perfect Christmas sounded interesting to me as I read the back cover…

For Cassie Beaumont, it's meeting her perfect match. Cassie, at thirty-three, wants a husband and kids, and so far, nothing's worked. Not blind dates, not the Internet and certainly not leaving love to chance.

What's left? A professional matchmaker. He's Simon Dodson, and he's very choosy about the clients he takes on. Cassie finds Simon a difficult, acerbic know-it-all, and she's astonished when he accepts her as a client.

Claiming he has her perfect mate in mind, Simon assigns her three tasks to complete before she meets him. Three tasks that are all about Christmas: being a charity bell ringer, dressing up as Santa's elf at a children's party and preparing a traditional turkey dinner for her neighbors (whom she happens to dislike). Despite a number of comical mishaps, Cassie does it all --- and she's finally ready to meet her match.

But just like the perfect Christmas gift, he turns out to be a wonderful surprise!

What got my attention was “professional matchmaker” and “assigns her three tasks”. Oh yeah it had my attention because all I could think was “there’s going to be disaster”.  One, I laughed so hard through her ‘tasks”, poor woman I felt so bad but laughed so hard at her. Two, I adored her main characters. Their attitude and tension toward each other when they first meet to how they become caring and considerate even though they are off limits to each other.

BTW, I also love the tenant who listens to the loud rap music. Ha!!

Now on to Trading Christmas.

Emily Springer, widowed mother of one, decides to leave Leavenworth, Washington, to spend Christmas with her daughter in Boston. Charles Brewster, history professor, curmudgeon and resident of Boston, wants to avoid Christmas altogether. He figures a prison town should be nice and quiet over the holidays ? except he's thinking of the wrong Leavenworth! Through an internet site, Charles and Emily arrange to swap houses for the holiday. So Emily goes to Boston and discovers that her daughter has gone to Florida. And Charles arrives in Leavenworth to discover that it's not the prison town ? it's Santa's village! The place is full of Christmas trees, Christmas music and...elves. Meanwhile, Emily's friend Faith Kerrigan travels to Leavenworth to visit her and instead finds Charles the grinch. Then Charles's brother, Ray, shows up at his home in Boston to discover that he isn't there ? but Emily is. Through all the mix-ups and misunderstandings, amid the chaos and confusion, romance begins to emerge in unexpected ways. Because everything changes at Christmas!

No I have not had the opportunity to watch the Hallmark adaptation of this book. I’m intrigued now. This is truly a comedy of errors. Love every minute it. I have to say my favorite thing about this book is how each of the “couples” open each other up. Not just to the holiday season but cause them to venture out of their comfort zone or their shell if you will and become whole again when they didn’t realize that they weren’t.

In a way this reminded me of The Holiday, you know the movie with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black and Kate Winslet. But no worries Trading Christmas was originally published in 2004 as When Christmas Comes and The Holiday was released in 2006, so no copycatting there. I just reminded me with the whole “trading homes” thing.  Darn…..rambling again.

So even though the holiday season is over I’m sticking with it for a bit longer. I have a few more, ok a dozen or so, Christmas themed books that I have stacked up and plan on reading to keep me in that holiday mood. Now I feel the need to bake some sugar cookies, put a turkey in the oven or heck even drag the tree back out!!  And you think I’m joking…..*laughs*

Heart of Atlantis by Alyssa Day

****SPOILERS POSSIBLE!! I will try my best NOT to give too much away, but proceed with caution!!! And remember this is MY opinion**** 


               I finally got the chance to sit down and read Alyssa Day’s latest book Heart of Atlantis. It is the final installment in her Warrior’s of Poseidon series. I stumbled upon the first book in the series, Atlantis Rising, while shopping at a small used book store near my home in 2009. The word Atlantis is what caught my eye; I love any story revolving around Atlantis or the Arthurian legends. I took the book home and read it in a day, only problem was the used book store didn’t have the next books, which at the time there were 4 books in all. I normally try to buy used since I read through so many it can get expensive to always buy new. This is one of those times I didn’t care. I went looking at new and used bookstores. Of course once I found them I read straight through the remaining books, and have done so with the each of the four following books. I really enjoyed the series over all. It has of course larger than life Atlantean warriors, vampires, shifters, and ancient gods just to name a few supernatural beings. The bases of the story is that Atlantis still exists protected in a magical dome after having been sunk 1000 years ago. The Prince of Atlantis, Conlan, is the reluctant heir to the throne. The prince’s brother Ven, along with Lord Justice, Alexios, Brennan, Bastien, Christophe, and Denal are the elite Seven warriors, they with Conlan protect humanity from vampires, and even from themselves. During the course of their individual stories they have to hunt for Poseidon’s trident and gems along with meeting their would be mates, which means forbidden love (my favorite!), love with the impossible, untimely love…well you get the point, the kind of love that if they truly want it they will have to fight to be together…*sighs dreamily* 

             Heart of Atlantis is Alaric and Quinn’s book, whom you first meet in Atlantis rising. Their story has played out throughout the series. In the beginning I didn’t like Alaric much; I don’t think we are supposed to. I will admit during Atlantis Rising, for some bizarre reason I pictured him in my head like Jafar from Disney’s Aladdin (My apologies to Alyssa Day!!! LOL) I don’t know why I think it was the stiff way he spoke, but as time and the story moved on I changed my opinion of Alaric. From this stiff, gruff, arrogant ass to loyal, selfless, caring funny man…yes I said funny. The banter between Quinn and Alaric had me laughing out loud several times in this book. Which is a quality I love in any book. Quinn is first seen as a hard ass solider with a high wall around her heart, slowly we get to see a different side of Quinn, and what made her the was she is. I don’t want to give too much away about the plot of this book, just know that this series is well written, full of action, adventure, humor, HOT sex, and lots of love. So worth checking out.

 List of books in reading order:

 Atlantis Rising
 Wild Hearts in Atlantis, novella that can be found in anthology Wild Thing or eBook 
Atlantis Awaking
Shifter’s Lady, novella found in anthology Shifter 
Atlantis Unleashed
Atlantis Unmasked
Atlantis Redeemed
Atlantis Betrayed 
Vampire in Atlantis
Heart of Atlantis

I want a Were-bear for Christmas!!!

Kerrelyn Sparks is one of my most favorite authors. I came across her book All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire a few years ago and was immediately enthralled with her characters and her writing. Of course because of my bad habit that this particular book was #5, so naturally I went back and read the rest.

Kerrelyn’s Love at Stake series is more than just paranormal romance there’s a lot of humor as well. It’s one of the reasons I love her works. There have been many times I laugh out loud to myself and you should see the looks I get from my husband. What’s better is the looks he gives when I insist on telling him what I just read.

Now Kerrelyn has just released her 13^th book in the series Wild About You which is Howard the were-bear’s book. I just finished reading it late last night and again she’s blown me away. I love that we finally get to see more of Howard than just the big security guard who loves bear claw donuts.  We see as Elsa says….Handsome Howard...Hunky Howard...Hot Howard.... as well as a very sweet and humorous side. 

Remember the post a couple weeks ago where I complained about characters not coming back to the forefront hardly after their books. Yeah, Kerrelyn made me eat my words. Shanna Draganesti plays a big part in this book and she’s not just walking in and saying “hey” either. There is more insight on her and how she’s dealing with now being “undead”.

Kerrelyn has taken her series from being, in the beginning, vampire romance and has shaped it with many other paranormal beings. She’s done this with grace. At no point have I ever gone “this is too far fetched” . Yes I have read books and thought that. That the author has gone out of their “world”. Kerrelyn has maintained a great world and introduced new aspects without putting a wrinkle in it.

I won’t give spoilers, sorry but you can read the synopsis on her website http://www.kerrelynsparks.com/books_current.html but I will tell you Kerrelyn never disappoints. If you haven’t read Howard’s book get to it. And if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading her Love at Stake series…….what are you waiting for?! Hurry and catch up!!! *smiles*

Now I’m just going to sit here and wait for Mikhail’s story which is in a novella called Vampires Gone Wild and will be released February 12, 2013. Ok I’m waiting……………is it February yet???

Yes Master.....

I love getting free e-books. A lot of the time they are very short. Some are good some are so-so. Regardless I love to read and it helps feed my addiction. While searching Amazon I came across this book, Master at Arms by Kallypso Masters. It was a free e-book and a bit larger than some of the free e-books I have gotten before. I was totally hooked. This book is a prologue to the rest of the series. And yes, I bought the next three because I wanted to know the whole story. Well duh I don’t like being left hanging. *laughs*

The series, Rescue Me, starts with the prologue book (Book 1) Master at Arms, (Book 2) Nobody’s Angel, (Book 3) Nobody’s Hero, and (Book 4) Nobody’s Perfect.  There are also three more on the way.  This series must be read in order. You cannot read them out of order and the author tells that.

Want to know what this series is about?? Two words….Marines and BDSM. Ok that was a word and an acronym but you get my point.  I love the military and I am intrigued with the BDSM lifestyle so this one was right up my alley.

This series is not only well written but well researched. While some of the characters are new to the “lifestyle” they don’t go all “waaaa he spanked me”.  (if you don’t catch the reference then you and I have not talked about that crappy supposed BDSM book) There may be characters that are more dominate than their subs but it isn't all one sided. 

While there are some misunderstandings and conflict in the book, which hello makes great plots, it is in no way teenage drama.  I love the emotions, I love that the way it is written it draws me in and I fall in love with not only the story lines but the characters themselves.

I won’t go into synopsis of the books because you can read them yourselves at Kally’s website http://www.kallypsomasters.com/books . Do yourself a favor and go check this series out. Download the first book for free at which ever retailer you like. Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and All Romance Ebooks has this book for free. 

Now I'm am just waiting for the next book.....*sits with a cup of coffee and waits*

Read and then discarded?

One bite and their done?

I love to re-read books. Not only because I pick up on things I sometimes miss the first read through but also because I miss the characters and the emotions connected with reading "their" book. But that got me to thinking, I read a lot of different series some of which have 10 books or more in that series and while I love to re-read the books, I miss the characters in the first books. Oh sure they make "an appearance" in later books or you'll get an update on them but I don't feel the connection to them as when I read their book.

Oops going  off a bit from where I was headed.....*smiles* Any who, why can't authors bring some of those characters back to the forefront? Maybe I am just speaking for myself but it just feels that those characters that we fell in love with, that snagged us and brought us into the book/series, after a few books have been thrown on the back burner and are getting cold.

What I would love is, if were possible, for authors to have a novella thrown in a series to help bring those characters back to focus. Especially if they aren't having any more than a "walks in and says hey" in the subsequent books.

I look forward to each new book in a series and seeing the reoccurring characters finally having their stories told but their one book can't be all that there is to them. Is it?

Spellbound Falls

I have been a huge Janet Chapman fan since picking up her Highlander series a couple of years ago. I immediately fell in love with the MacKeages. Got a soft spot for men in kilts, especially when you mix that with some old fashion values....yeah you've got my interest. *grins* The series begins with a group of medieval highlanders who were transported to modern times by magic. The first three books focus on the men who had traveled from the past. The subsequent books focused on their children. I can't express how much I loved these from the start....kilts, swords, magic, romance and hard head women. Did I mention kilts?

After reading through that series I began to read her spin off series call The Midnight Bay series. More magic and more medieval men. The focus of the magic starts to shift. So far there are three in this series and I enjoyed them all. I really enjoyed William and his story. 

Now Janet has written another great series which is another spin off, The Spellbound Falls series where we not only have some new characters and magic but the return of some MacKeage men as well. The first two really sparked my interest because the heroins in Spellbound Falls and Charmed by His Love not only were widowed women but had children as well. I like that change of pace and made me really relate with the woman because I myself am a mother.  I'm currently on book three of this series Courting Carolina, and I am loving it! 

There are just some writers no matter how hard I try I can't get into their stories, or they write so much detail that they loose me and I put down the book all together. Janet has never once done that with me. Her writing style is one that pulls me directly into her books and keeps me hooked. She also writes wonderful details that help you to see what is going on with out going too far and boring you. And she keeps me laughing out loud that my husband give me the "eyebrow" when I am giggling to myself with my nose in the book. 

I am looking forward to more in these series with the next Spellbound Falls book coming out in February 2013, The Heart of a Hero.