July 2011 Reads & Minis

July was a hot month in more ways than one... hot temperatures and hot books. I began the second half of the year in good form by reading some excellent books, and as you'll see below, I have four top picks! Of course there were also some deep disappointments, but that's par for the course.

What will I remember about July? All the historical romances I read about Dukes! I read three in a row and it felt as if I had Dukes coming out of my eyeballs, lol! Thank goodness some of them were really worth reading. *g*

I read 16 new books in July and that's too many to recap by writing minis, so I'm highlighting my highs and lows. The rest of my July reads can be viewed here.

I'll begin with my recap:

Total books read: 16
Re-read: 1
Contemporary Romance/Fiction: 4
Historical Romance: 5
Urban Fantasy: 1
Paranormal Romance: 2
LGBT: 4 (Gay Fiction: 2, Gay Romance: 1, Mystery/Romance: 1)

Top July Reads:

• The Abode of Bliss: Ten Stories for Adam by Alex Jeffers - My top pick of the month and an amazing contemporary gay fiction read. Expect a review this week. (Upcoming Review)
• Silk is for Seduction (Dressmaker Sisters, 1) by Loretta Chase: I believe this is the first historical romance to receive a straight A from me this year! I loved it, no question about it. Grade: A
• What I did for the Duke by Julie Anne Long: This is another historical romance that I really enjoyed, both for the romance and the humor. This one helped with my craving for historicals this month. Grade: A-
• Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey: I truly enjoyed this contemporary. I can't believe I waited so long to try Shannon Stacey's series about the Kowalskis and then began with the third book! I do have the first book of this series in my TBR and will definitely read it. Grade: B+

Biggest Disappointments:

• Waking Up with the Duke (London's Greatest Lovers #3) by Lorraine Heath: This was a highly anticipated read for me that didn't quite make the mark. You can find out why in my review. Grade C-

• Baby, Drive South (Southern Roads, #1) by Stephanie Bond: This contemporary romance just fell flat for me. I didn't like either one of the main characters. The female protagonist couldn't make up her mind between the man who dumped her because she wasn't attractive or young enough for him, and the immature "hero" who attempts to keep her around by lying to her. She was pitiful and he was annoying. I never bought the fact that he fell for her, and couldn't believe that she actually vacillated about staying because the ex-boyfriend might want her back. Pitiful! At this point the only thing that kept me reading were the two other brothers who seemed interesting, and I figured I would read the second book. Grade: D
• Baby, Come Home (Southern Roads, #2) by Stephanie Bond: Well, I should have known better! The second book was even more annoying than the first one. I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately the female protagonist, whom I really, really hated disliked, and the way the story was going made it impossible for me to keep going. Too bad, I liked Kendall in the first book and thought his story had potential. DNF

• One Whisper Away (Ladies in Waiting #1) by Emma Wildes: This is another book I really wanted to like. I've enjoyed a couple of stories by Emma Wildes in the past. However, I'm afraid that after reading 59% of the story I couldn't continue. The clichés were far and wide and I couldn't get past them: the American half-breed who inherited the title of Earl, but who although educated in expensive American schools and having resided most of his life in Boston, behaves like a boor when he hits English society. Cliché. Society in America was quite strict at the time and even with the differences in culture, this man's lack of knowledge and his behavior were too unlikely to suffer through and something I didn't expect to find in this book. Riding the London streets without a shirt? Really? *Sigh* I've read scenes like these too many times throughout the years to continue... DNF

Of course I'm not done reading historical romances yet. At the moment I'm reading Meredith Duran's A Lady's Lesson in Scandal, my first read by this author (yes, it is!), and I have a few other ones waiting on the wings, Mary Balogh and Madeline Hunter's latest releases are two of them. Plus, I'll be reading a couple of new gay fiction releases for review in August as well... hmm... so many books, so little time!

My number one pick for July was The Abode of Bliss: Ten Stories for Adam by Alex Jeffers, what about you? What book did it for you in July?

Mini Impressions: May Reads 2011

Here are some of those mini-impressions I usually include with my monthly recap. I decided to post them separately for my May 2011 reads because my post changed, and it turned out to be too long. As you can see they're mainly LGBT and contemporary romance reads.
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Homecoming by Rick R. Reed

Homecoming is a story of loss, grief and finally a second chance at love as life goes on. This was not an easy ride, but rather Reed takes the reader for an emotional roller coaster ride. After Toby dies in an accident, his partner Chase is left devastated by loss and grief. Chase's journey to recovery from that grief begins when the couple's friend Mike invites him to visit their old haunts in Chicago with hopes that Chase will snap out of his depression.

There are two love stories in this book, the central one is Chase and Toby's and then there's a more subdued one that develops as Chase finds his second chance at love. I loved Chase and Toby's love story, told through Chase's memories as he both grieves and is haunted by his lost love. I also enjoyed the hopeful ending, but most of all the journey that took Chase to that end. (LGBT) Grade B

Promises (Coda Books #1) by Marie Sexton

I enjoyed this story, the two main characters and the slow building friends-to-lovers trope. It does have a "gay for you" feel to it, although it might be argued that the one character is basically buried in the closet. However, I found the writing lacking in detail and rushed throughout with more "telling" than "showing." As an example, issues and problems between the two main characters are introduced, but the reader never experiences the resolution with the characters, instead they are "told" in a paragraph what that resolution was and the story moves on at a pretty quick pace to next scene. Having said that, Sexton's main characters are likable and the story has enough good moments that I enjoyed it to the end. (LGBT) Grade C+

The Dark Farewell by Josh Lanyon

A good whodunit with a rather distant protagonist and a rushed and dissatisfying ending. That's what I thought of The Dark Farewell by Josh Lanyon. This is one of those novellas that would have benefited from more character development for those secondary characters and fine details, although again the historical atmosphere and particularly the whodunit were well-done. (LGBT) Grade C

Still the One (The Educators, #1) by Kathryn Shay

This was an average contemporary romance read for me. It's a self-published story by Shay that deals with a teacher who falls in love with one of his senior female students, leaves, and years later returns to town to apply for a position as principal of the high school. The young woman, who also had feelings for the teacher, reacts radically when he leaves and basically ruins her immediate future. In the present she is a widow with two boys and a teacher at the school.

Shay takes on the sensitive subject of attraction between teacher and student and deals with it quite well. I also liked the high school student and teacher atmosphere she developed in this series. There's definite chemistry between the two main characters and that's a plus. I had a few problems with the story though, the teacher was 24 years old when he fell for 18 year-old Annie in senior year, however he "had been there for her" ever since she was a freshman. How old was Dylan when he began teaching, 20? When did he have time to get his BA and his teaching degree? I don't know... just one of the little niggles. The bottom line for me is that although there is chemistry between the characters, the romance just doesn't feel well developed and for some reason, I had a tough time connecting with Annie. The fact that even as an adult she blamed Dylan for her downward spiral bothered me to the end. This is a self-published book/series, so expect a few errors throughout the text. (Contemporary Romance) Grade C

Someone Like You (The Educators, #2) by Kathryn Shay

In the second book of The Educators series, Shay goes back to Crystal Corners High School and features another teacher and war widow, Brie Gorman, as she falls in love with her dead husband's best friend and hot coach, Nick Corelli. As with the first book, Shay also makes the students part of the romance and in this one she highlights Matt, a young man with severe issues at home who has turned to cutting as an avenue of escape.

I enjoyed this story a bit more than the first one. The initial dislike and slow-building attraction between the two main characters kept me reading. The teacher/student relationships and school atmosphere were also well rendered by Shay. However, the story takes a few turns where the reader must suspend disbelief in order to finish it. The resolution to Matt's story is one of them. A good read that fizzled toward the end. (Contemporary Romance) Grade: C

Maybe This Time (The Educators, #3) by Kathryn Shay

In this, the conclusion of The Educators trilogy, one of Shay's teachers again confronts tough issues while finding love. This time it's the cool, young teacher who gets her turn. While stuck at Atlanta's airport on her way home, Delaney meets a man and proceeds to have a hot and sizzling one-night stand, that both feel might turn into more. Later, she finds out that this man is non other than her favorite student's father, Gage. Stephanie is not just a favorite student, but a troubled and psychologically fragile teenager who trusts Delaney as an adult. A relationship with Stephanie's father is out of the question, but as the parent and teacher have more contact with each other the mutual attraction becomes a frustrating, losing battle for the couple.

This contemporary romance had good moments with a couple that had chemistry and again, that good high school atmosphere with teachers that care. However, I had just one too many problems with it, including the amount of issues that were thrown into the simmering pot for Gage and Delaney. Stephanie's psychological rebelliousness, the school situation, the way over-the-top drama with Stephanie's friends, Stephanie's mother and how her bipolar illness was handled within the story. Most of all the unplanned pregnancy, which is not one of my favorite devices, and how that affected the romance between the two main characters. So, not a favorite read for me. (Contemporary Romance) Grade: C-

His Hearth (Warder Series #1) by Mary Calmes

An M/M romance that basically, like its characters, couldn't make up its mind which way to go: a contemporary romance through 80% of the story and a paranormal for the last 10%.

This story had one main character who didn't sleep around unless he was in a committed relationship, yet did, and another one who was begging, and I mean begging and pitiful, throughout most of the story. He comes off as weak and manipulative yet later, during the paranormal part of the story, we are supposed to believe this character is somehow a macho, killing machine. I didn't buy any of it. Nothing made real sense, neither the contemporary part of the story, nor the paranormal. A real disappointment for me. (LGBT) Grade: D-

Review: Shadowfever (Fever Series, Book 5) by Karen Marie Moning

I'll begin by saying that there's no way to write this review without giving away some spoilers. This is the last book in a series of five, plus in order to really get into the story and express my thoughts, I must refer to characters and events.

Book Summary:
Shadowfever begins where Dreamfever ends, with Mac killing the Beast that protected her while she was lost in one of the Silver's dimensions. As the Beast turns into a human, she finds out this beast is none other than Jericho Barrons. Mac is grief-stricken and through that grief, comes to terms with her feelings for Barrons and comes to the decision that she wants him back. The outcome of her deep, dark grief is again one more transformation. When she looks into herself, she accesses a dark place where she can conjure runes to protect herself and/or bind others, mainly the Fae.

Mac proceeds to align herself with Darroc, the Lord Master, in order to get whatever information he has gained about the Sinsar Dubh. He appears with the Unseelie Princes, and after coming to an understanding, agrees to take Mac out the Silvers. In order to get back to Dublin, Darroc must use a Silver and he takes Mac through the Unseelie King's concubine's White Mansion where some of Mac's buried memories come to the forefront.

But all is not as it seems, and Barrons is not dead. A chain of events unfolds where, through reading different translated prophecies and experiences dreams and recollections, Mac ends up questioning her origins. In the meantime, after Mac rescues the Seelie Queen from certain death, the hunt for the Sinsar Dubh is redoubled and all the interested parties assemble in Dublin. The McKeltars come from Scotland and join the fray, Rowena and the Sidhee-seers are at the center of it all, as are V'lane, the Seelie and Barrons men. Everyone wants the Sinsar Dubh, and most of them want Mac dead.

Review:
I'm a fan of Karen Marie Moning's work and when I began reading this series, I was excited and thought that the story was quite interesting. I still think the story behind the series, the battle between the Seelie and Unseelie, their lore and how humans and the Sidhe-seers come into it, is fascinating. As a matter of fact, I spent countless hours doing background research and I still have copious notes, including the sequence of events, characters, etc. Having said all that, the Fever series as a whole has been inconsistent for me -- I enjoyed the second book and the rest were inconsistent or disappointing.  When it comes to Shadowfever well... in many ways it provided what I know many were looking for: a happily ever after and the answer to some questions. However, for me personally, the book was a disappointment. Here is why.

By the time Mac finished processing the fact that she killed the Beast, or Barrons, I was already tired. Where did that come from? I understand that she felt guilt, that there was lust between them and dependency on her part. But where did love come into it? The long, interminable diatribe we were treated to at the beginning of the book served no other purpose than to set up the following scene. Mac's transformation, again! Yes... because of her actions, guilt, and need to erase those actions, she transforms and (gasp) gains ADDITIONAL powers. This device was used to death in this series, and became a predictable device.

Throughout the series, Moning uses long and involved internal dialogues to develop Mac and to narrate her story. However, in Shadowfever this style is used to an extreme. There are pages and pages where Mac contradicts herself over and over again throughout the whole book. This often served to confuse and distract the reader. After a while, all it achieved was frustrate me and yes... I wanted to skim Mac's prolonged and contradictory self-analyses. I couldn't stand her thoughts any longer and just wanted to get on with the story. Period.

As a female protagonist/heroine, Mac left a lot to be desired. I was not impressed. She was manipulated by all the males around her, and the ones with the real "Power" were ALL male: Barrons, V'lane, Darroc, the Unseelie King, the Sinsar Dubh (yes), and Ryodan. She depended on them, one way or another, to do what she had to do. They played her like a violin. I don't care how many transformations she had to make her into a "kick ass-type heroine," Mac wasn't strong for herself, instead she was strong for others or because of others.

Then we come to Barrons and the "romance." Barrons treatment of Mac is explained away by making him part Beast, yet even when he is a man... his treatment is questionable. He is often violent, possessive and downright abusive at times (both verbally and physically). They fight and have sex and that's supposedly where they truly understand each other. How is that supposed to be romantic? It's not. Mac's see-sawing, back and forth feelings for Barrons continue in this book! No, it's not over after she realizes he's alive... it goes on and on. Yet, they do come to a sort of mutual emotional understanding and dependency by the end. I still think that in order to call it love, that relationship needs further development.

There are resolutions to some of the threads, and some of those resolutions are good -- some predictable and others not. There's a "happily ever after" for one couple in the book that was unexpected,  and there are plenty of betrayals by both friends and foes. We are told there are battles, although few of those are shown, and characters from the whole series make appearances.

As to the rest of the storyarc, there were threads left incomplete left and right, and some that didn't seem to serve a real purpose. For example: The McKeltars were a waste of pages read, what was the point? Christian McKeltar plays a key role in this book and series, yet his story is left incomplete. Barron's story is also left incomplete -- although some details are revealed about his past to pacify readers, there's no meat to his story, no in-depth details or revelations. Dani has her own point of view in Shadowfever, yet she disappears and is absent at the end, leaving the reader wondering what happened to her. And last, but certainly not least, the most important story line of them all! The Seelie and Unseelie, the wall and their battle? Incomplete.

So what does that tell this reader, apart from the fact that the book finishes with "The End .... for now?" Well, it says that either this series' "ending" is riddled with holes, or that there will be a continuation that will involve all the above mentioned story lines. And for me neither is acceptable, not when this book was supposed to be THE END to this series.

Category: Urban Fantasy/Romance
Series: Fever Series, Book 5
Release Date: January 18, 2011
Grade: D

Visit Karen Marie Moning here.

Minis: White Tigress by Jade Lee, I Love This Bar by Carolyn Brown, Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb

So what's everybody reading? I've had one of those great, lucky months so far where almost everything I pick up I either love or like with very few disappointments. Those months don't come too often, so better enjoy it, right?

I haven't been doing my Weekly Reads posts this month because well... there have been quite a few distractions for me. But I would like to share some quick impressions from this month's reads including my post for the In-Death Challenge.

White Tigress by Jade Lee

Englishwoman Lydia Smith sailed to the Orient seeking her fiancé. She found treachery. In seedy Shanghai, she was drugged, sold, made a slave—to a dark-eyed dragon of a man. But while her captor purchased her body, was that what he sought? He demanded not her virginity but her Yin—the essence of her ecstasy—and there seemed no choice but consent. What harm, Lydia wondered, was there in allowing him to pleasure her, to teach her, until she could flee?

It was the danger—and reward—of taking the first step on a journey to heaven, and her feet were already on the path to becoming a radiant and joyous White Tigress.

White Tigress by Jade Lee was a free erotic ebook and not quite the thing. Set in China, this story just didn't deliver. The author uses Taoist philosophy as the basis of the story but frankly the whole thing doesn't turn out to be erotic -- at least it didn't work for me. The characters, particularly Lydia is a study in contradiction. She is English and shows up in China to meet her fiance, is kidnapped and sold into slavery and used by the main male character for erotic purposes. This woman is submissive and lost one minute and smart and resilient the next, back and forth -- you never know what you're going to get with her, or indeed out of this story. The ending is highly improbable too. Grade D

I Love This Bar by Carolyn Brown

Funny, sexy, and sure to appeal to the huge audience of country music fans, this new trilogy features the Honky Tonk beer joint and its succession of lovelorn owners. Serving two counties, one wet and one dry, the Honky Tonk is the gathering place for every hothead, thirsty rancher, and lusty lady looking for a good time. Owner Daisy O'Dell vows she'll run the place until they drag her cold dead body through the swinging doors. That is, until the day Jarod McElroy walks in, looking for a cold drink and a moment's peace from his ornery Uncle Emmitt. The minute Jarod sees Daisy, with her hot looks and smart mouth; he knows he's met not only his own match, but Uncle Emmitt's as well. Now, if only he can convince her to come out from behind that bar and come on home with him…

An ode to Toby Keith's song, country music, honky tonks and country living. I Love This Bar was full of great characters, fun moments, music and good lovin'. Don't expect detailed bedroom scenes in this book although they're there, do expect good romantic moments. I loved all the down to earth characters from Daisy and Jarod to the secondary cast: Chigger (boy, oh boy!), Momma, the Walker triplets, Tinker, Merle and cousin Cathy. There were a couple of threads left dangling that I'm sure will be picked up later in the series, but that really made no sense in this book. If you like ranchers and country music, you'll enjoy this one. I did. Grade B

Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb

No one likes to be alone during the holidays. For New York's most posh dating service, Personally Yours, it is the season to bring lonely hearts together. But Lt. Eve Dallas, on the trail of a ritualistic serial killer, has made a disturbing discovery: all of the victims have been traced to Personally Yours. Eve soon enters an elite world of people searching for their one true love--and one killer searching for his next victim.

Holiday in Death had a good criminal investigation going with sexual crimes committed by a man dressed as Santa Claus. The victims were all people who had signed up with Personally Yours, a love-match agency. The villain used the 12 days of Christmas as a theme for his crimes. I enjoyed the criminal investigation in this book.

This story has the most sexual scenes between Roarke and Eve in the series so far. Wow! I began skimming them after a while, I think because I'm not used to them in these books? I particularly enjoyed the byplay between Peabody and McNab and Peabody and Eve in this story. Eve's judgment continues to get clouded by her past experiences while she's solving crimes and her psychological problems interfere with her work. I wonder if or when this will be addressed by her superiors? She's relentless in this story and borders on self-destructive by not taking care of herself, but isn't wonderful the way Roarke is there to bring her back and make sure she does? A good read. Grade B

Christine's In-Death Challenge - October Review

Okay, so I didn't mention above what I was reading! I just finished two books -- The Indiscretion by Judith Ivory and A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh, both were historical romance and quick reads. Right now I'm re-reading a paranormal romance, Rising Moon by Lori Handerland. It's spooky and great for Halloween. :)