This week at Smexy…..

B+ review – Country Mouse by Aleksandr Voinvov and Amy Lane (contemp m/m)
B review – On the Island by Tracy Garvis Graves (contemporary)
B review – One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea (contemp m/m)
B- review – Star Crossed by Kele Moon (erotic contemporary)
B- review – Hot in Handcuffs Anthology (erotic contemporary)
C review – Giving it Up by Amber Lin (erotic contemporary)
D review – Hawaiian Gothic by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane (pnr m/m)
D review – Two in Winter by Vanessa North (contemporary)

A Few DNF’s
The Siren by Tiffany Reisz on Sale!
AAD Spotlight – Manda Collins
AAD Spotlight – Damon Suede
Smexy’s Top Ten

News From Mandi: I started the week reading On the Island by Tracy Garvis Graves. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one – I reviewed it (see link above). I moved onto Rodeo Rebel by Debra Kayn and had a hard time with the hero. He is a wimp. I didn’t like how the plot unfolds at the end either. I did like the heroine, who is a strong bull rider. Review coming soon.

I read the very cute and sweet, One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and MJ O’Shea. I also posted the review this week. (see above). I read the very short, Two in Winter by Vanessa North and didn’t like it. Again, read the review for more of my thoughts.

The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand has a very sexy Parisian chocolatier in it. This is the first in a new series, which will feature other chocolatiers. I think we learn a lot more about the heroine than the hero, and I think the love scenes could have been more detailed *ahem* But it’s a cute one. Review coming soon.

Another new series is coming out – Hell on Wheels by Julie Ann Walker is the first book in her Black Knights series. This features a group of men and women who are ex-military and secretly working for the government, using a fancy custom motorcycle shop as a front. The author’s voice reminds be a bit of JR Ward with the slang and over the top dialogue. I liked this one. The heroine exhausted me a bit but I think this is going to be a fun series. Review coming in early August.

I finished the week with a quickie novella, Down to Business by HelenKay Dimon. It’s a good erotic for 50ish pages. I’ll post a short review next week.

News From May: This week I read the best historical romance I’ve had the pleasure of reading- The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James. (review to come) The straightforward love story was James at her best. As her last few books have been disappointments for me, this really was a treat!

What to follow that up with? I went for The Dragon who Loved me by GA Aiken and was treated to another installment in one of my favorite series. While I didn’t care for the main romance, it was a really fun read and I’m beyond excited for Izzy’s story coming in September!

Finally this week I read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. While I liked her writing style, as well as the plot and world she created I absolutely hated the edward/Bella reminiscent relationship at the heart of the book. The guy is beyond alpha. Don’t challenge him- he’s an ancient predator and if you do he will just kill you. The simpering witch heroine is his exact opposite. Her power is tied to her love for him and she’s nothing without him. so not the characters for me.

(I posted the wrong ‘News from Helyce’  this morning- have corrected!):  Not much to report this week.  My family left on Tuesday and I’m still playing catch up around the house!  The family room is still a mess of blankets and airbeds and pillows and I’m sure that when I finally go through it I’ll find remnants of their visit and will be sending a box with many trinkets back to Maui for them. I did minimal reading this week, but will be ramping that up as I attempt to get ahead of my review books before heading out to our annual camping trip in August.  So, here we go:  I read the Hot In Handcuffs anthology by Shayla Black, Sylvia Day and Shiloh Walker. Review for this ran yesterday if you’d like to check it out.  My favorite story of the three was Fire by Sylvia Day and I will be checking out her book Bared To You as soon as I catch up on some review books. I had the pleasure of reading an ARC of The Angel by Tiffany Reisz. This is book two in her Sinners series and it is absolutely, phenomenally, fantastic. While it pushed my comfort level a bit, I could not stop reading it. Killer cliffhanger!!!  I predict book three, The Prince, will be my favorite read of 2012.  I can’t wait.

Getting back to review books, I’m currently reading Secret of the Wolf by Cynthia Garner.  Only a few pages in, but an interesting premise where the vamps and weres come to earth every so many years via some sort of rift that opens between worlds.  These preternatural beings, or the essence of them, than take over a human’s body and inhabit it.  Kind of a new take on an alien theme. So we’ll see. I’ve got Stygians Honor by Lora Leigh up this weekend.  Love her Breed series, though recent offerings have been mediocre to say the least.  Not ready to quit the series yet, though. Heroine in this one has been featured quite a bit in previous two books, so I’m hoping some of the old magic will be back in this story.

News From Tori – Tori’s internet has been down. She’ll be back next week!