This week at Smexy….

A review – Phantom Shadows by Diane Duvall (paranormal)
B+ review – Tigerland by Sean Kennedy (m/m contemp)
B review – The Hot Floor by Josephine Myles (m/m/m contemp)
B review – Blind Destiny by Shiloh Walker (paranormal)
C+ review – A Night of No Return by Sarah Morgan (contemporary)
C+ review – The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa (ya paranormal)
C+ review – Blood by Moonlight Anthology (paranormal)
C review – Twelfth Night Secret by Jane Feather (historical)
D review – The Valkyrie’s Guardian by Moriah Densley (paranormal)

Guest Author Lynne Silver
Interview with Sylvia Day
To Be Read – January

News from Mandi: My week started well with Starfish & Coffee by Kele Moon. A story about two men who fall in love in their early twenties and then break-up only to be reunited six years later. The majority of the story is them falling in love. I wish a little more time had been spent in present day but otherwise this is a very steamy (oh so steamy) and emotional story. Review coming soon.

I loved Night Whispers by Alisha Rai. A dystopian novel with zombies (but the zombies don’t play a huge role) this has a kick ass heroine and a beta hero. The most adorable beta hero. When this book starts, the heroine is on the west coast and the hero lives underground on the east coast. He is her boss of sorts and talks in her ear. They’ve never met, yet they flirt. When the heroine gets into danger, the hero must decide if he is brave enough to leave his underground hidey-hole (that is a technical term) to go save her. I really liked this one. I’ll post a review closer to the late November release date.

Lord Gray’s List by Maggie Robinson is a light-hearted historical about a heroine who publishes a gossip paper and the man she always targets. Cute and sexy, review to come soon.

Lean on Me by Helenkay Dimon didn’t quite work for me. A contemporary novella, the hero and heroine went to high school together and then 10 years later the heroine comes back to her small town. They are immediately familiar with each other which didn’t make a lot of sense. I didn’t understand the romance nor did I particularly like the small town. Review to come.

I just started Devil’s Thief by Samantha Kane and I plan to read Truth by Aleatha Romig this weekend.

News from Helyce:

Not much to report for me. I made the mistake of starting too many books and not finishing any of them.  There are so many good books out right now and I want to read all of them!

First up, I have Forbidden by Jacquelyn Frank.  This spinoff from her Nightwalker series has taken me quite a while to get into.  A slow start due to the introduction of the premise and it’s characters had me a bit bored until about the 100 page mark.  When I finally realized that there is huge connection to the Ancient Egyptians, it all finally fell into place.  I love mythology a lot and when it mixes with actual history, even better.  Finally getting into it, we’ll see how it goes. I expect to finish this weekend; review to come soon.

Another book I started and have read off on on for days now is Enslaved by Elisabeth Naughton.  This is Gryphon’s book and while I’ve been looking forward to getting his story, this one too started out a bit slow for me, not quite grabbing me to the point where I fell into it until somewhere around the 50% mark. I love about that there is a lot of focus on the main characters; they are getting a lot of page time, BUT I’m not feeling the story move forward much. Again, I expect to finish up this weekend as well-review to come closer to release date.

For fun I’m reading Tigerland by Sean Kennedy which released recently.  Tigers & Devils was one of my first m/m reads recommended to me by Miss Mandi, and I’m thrilled that we get this sequel.  I’m loving getting to spend more time with Declan and Simon and their friends and seeing where they in life a few years later.  Love!

Next up for me is Tart by Lauren Dane.  I’m not big on menage in my romances, but I so enjoyed Sway in the Cherished anthology that I wanted to read this one because I enjoyed the characters so much and wanted to revisit them. Keeping my fingers crossed!