This week at Smexy….

A+ review – A Little More Scandal by Carrie Lofty
A review – The World is a Stage by Tamara Morgan
B review – Bride of the High Country by Kaki Warner
B review – Jacked Up by Erin McCarthy
B review – A Gentleman Undone by Cecilia Grant
B review – Cost of Repairs by AM Arthur
B review – Blue-Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells
B- review – Blood Kin by MJ Scott

Interview with Kaki Warner
Interview with Erin McCarthy
Guest Author – Barbara Ashford
AAD Spotlight – Gayle Donnelly
AAD Spotlight – Samantha Kane
Cover Reveal for Lover at Last by JR Ward 
Smexy’s Top Ten

News From Mandi: Over last weekend, I finished up The Marrying Kind by Ken O’Neill. This is more of a m/m romantic fiction rather than your standard romance book but I really enjoyed this book. It is funny and quirky and the author has a great voice. A review will be coming soon. I stuck with the m/m genre and read Running Wild by Joely Skye. You guys – this one has a horse shifter in it! I actually really liked how the horse shifter is presented – he is sexy, yet skittish and horse like. I was disappointed in the conflict with the werewolves, but I’ll read the next one in this series. Review coming soon. After being slightly disappointed with Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis, I read the next book, At Last and loved it. The sexual tension and chemistry I this book is so fab. Review coming closer to release date. I enjoy Darlene Marshall’s adventure books, and Castaway Dreams is really fun. A very naieve, silly heroine paired with a  more serious hero. There is a shipwreck and pirates. Fun. I also read the very erotic and dirty Bound to You by Bethany Kane. For a novella, it packs a dirty, smutty punch. Review to come Monday. I’m currently reading Stalking the Others by Jess Haines and I’ll be starting The Dark Knight by Elizabeth Elliott.

Tori’s News: Need to add a new book boyfriend to your list? Derek Craven of Lisa Kleypas’s Dreaming Of You is your man. This self made wealthy man is the owner of one of London’s and most decadent and exclusive gambling houses. Watching him go from a hard cynical man to a man so desperately in love with his wife that he would literally die if separated is a heady, romantic experience that will soften even the most jaded of romance readers. From there I decided to try more of Kleypas’s historical romances and picked up Stranger In My Arms. This one was okay. The premise was great but the heroine was annoying with her flip flopping over hero and their relationship.

HooRAH!!! I found Yasmine Galenorn One Hex Of A Wedding. I really enjoyed this series a few years ago and it took me a few years to find this book.

Nora Robert’s Remember When has always a favorite of mine. Remember When is a novel that blends present-day romance and futuristic suspense when two separate sides of the same author come together to write one thrilling story.

Jane from Dear Author has been singing the praises of Tammara Webber’s YA Easy so I decided to buy and see if she was right. Well, she was. Easy is similar to Beautiful Disaster but with a more realistic and centered cast of characters and storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed.

Diane Rowland’s Even White Trash Zombies Get The Blues picks up where White Trash Zombie leaves off and is packed with the same macabre humor and adventurous mystery. Review to come. Lynn Viehl’s Dead Of Night was a DNF for me. It wasn’t a bad book but just incredibly boring. When Shadows Call, a prequel to Amanda Bonilla’s Shaedes Of Gray, is a delightful look into her heroine’s life before she became immortal and the reasons why she accepted such a gift. Enjoyed. Alex Bledsoe’s Wake Of The Bloody Angel is a adventurous pirate mystery filled with humor, action, and a delightful cast of characters. I look forward to investigating his back list. Review to come.

I am currently reading a secret book. I could tell you but then I would have to kill you. True story. I am also starting Chris Manby’s Getting Over Mr. Right then hopefully will get to Amanda Carlson’s Full Blooded because I CANNOT RESIST ANYMORE. I tried to wait because I’ve heard her 2nd book doesn’t release till March. Which is really,really,really,really,really,really,really long time away. *deep sigh*

News From Helyce:  Well, big changes around here!  I got a part time job after being home with my kids for 16 years.  It’s a brutal adjustment for me and I give all you mom’s who work both in and out of the home big kudos!  At the end of each day, I could just cry; but I’m too exhausted.  So, I’ve missed the wrap up for a bit.  Sadly, with work, I haven’t quite figured out when I’m supposed to find time to read and my 30 minute lunch just doesn’t cut it.

Here goes: I finally finished Cowboy Casanova by Lorelei James. Because of it’s premise, it’s not my favorite of the series. I think that’s why I kept putting it off. While I really liked Ben and Ainsley as a couple, the whole BDSM thing was just meh for me. Next I read The Long Con by Lori Toland. This is an m/m contemporary romance and I was intrigued by the premise, but there was something about the romance part that didn’t work for me.  The "con" part was really well done, but everything kind of moves very quickly and I had a hard time with that. I also read Wolf Line, book 5 of Vivian Arend’s Granite Lake Wolves series. When Mandi offered me this one, I jumped at it!  I’m so glad that I took the time to read the previous four stories before this one too.  It takes place on a cruise ship that caters to shifters! Jared has some really interesting secrets!  Really good! Review to come closer to release.

I’m a huge fan of Pamela Clare’s I-Team series, so when I saw that she’d released a short story I had to read it.  It’s Skin Deep, and it was really well done. Though technically a short story, it still had everything that I love about this series. If you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy this one.  I also read Frog by Mary Calmes.  I’d seen this on Goodreads and saw a few tweets about it and I finally took the plunge and bought it.  I’m so glad I did.  This is an exceptionally beautiful and moving story that just grabs you and pushes every single one of your romance buttons. You laugh, cry and fall in love with these two very different men who are truly meant for each other. I devoured Armed and Dangerous by Abigail Roux on release day! It is by far the best of the series and is so full of yummy goodness I actually tried to savor it and read it slowly which I failed at in epic proportions!  I need more Ty and Zane right now! Next up was Mine To Hold by Shayla Black. I really liked this one, but I’m struggling with the review.  Some things just did sit right with me.  I’ll cover it in my review. At the moment, I’m reading Messenger’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden who is a new to me author. Angels on earth…yes please! About half way through and it kinda jumps around a lot.  On the fence about it.  We’ll see how it goes.  Lastly, I’m almost done with Cowboys Down by Barbara Elsborg, a well done m/m romance about an uptight stockbroker from London who comes to the wilds of Wyoming to deal with some issues in his personal life. Really liking it! I hope to get some more reading in this weekend, just not sure what yet!