Minis: Strike Zone by Kate Angell, The Breach by Patrick Lee

Hey... July has been one hot month so far! I've been pretty much staying away from the blogosphere and twitter, trying to concentrate on family, friends and outdoor activities. Yes, I've 'checked out' a bit, although not altogether, but I've been reading.

Actually, I began rearranging the print books in my TBR in a new book shelf and now that they are "visible," they are looking readable again! I actually read (and finished) three books from my TBR pile earlier this month, the first one Open Season by Linda Howard, I reviewed for the TBR Challenge this month, here are the other two:

Strike Zone (Richmond Rogues #3) by Kate Angell has been in my TBR for a long time and I purchased it based on Nath's recommendation.

Strike Zone is a contemporary romance with baseball players (pitchers) as the male protagonists and baseball as the background, which I love. Two couples, Brek and Taylor and Sloan and Eve, find their happy ever after.

Brek and Taylor's is the main romance with a second chance at love trope. Taylor left Brek at the altar a few years back when her parents died in a tragic accident. She went on to live her life as a thrill seeker, and now that Brek is engaged to be married she comes back to apologize for her behavior, but of course there are unresolved feelings between the two. This storyline would have been great, except that Brek and Taylor didn't spend too much time together and although there is a happy ever after in the end, the reader never gets to experience how they really work out their differences. Everything just... kind of happens, and that includes the end of Brek's engagement.

Sloan is a young pitcher, and pretty much a superficial hunk with lots of groupies. He has his pick of women and enjoys choosing his one-night stands. He goes after Taylor first, but as he and Taylor's sister Eve get thrown together often, ends off liking her instead. Their romance is cute and I like the way Eve puts Sloan in his place, and Sloan makes Eve feel daring. But, frankly I wish their story had been longer or better developed.

Both romances in Striking Zone have likable characters, the baseball atmosphere is delightful, unfortunately although a cute, nice read, by making both romances central to the story neither is really developed enough to make this a memorable read. Grade C

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I also read The Breach by Patrick Lee, a book that was recommended to me by amazon (because of my browsing history). I purchased it and it has been in my TBR where I just let it linger...

The Breach is a suspense action/thriller with sci-fi flavor. I know those look like a lot of categories, but believe me, this book fits them all. Travis Chase is an ex-cop/ex-con trying to make some decisions about his life while hiking in Alaska. He finds a crashed airplane full of dead bodies and one strange note giving instructions to retrieve an artifact taken by the killers. Travis ends up saving  Paige Campbell's life and retrieving the artifact, but he's about to enter a world that will change the course of his life. A world that contains the Breach and "artifacts" that can change the world as we know it. Paige is tough. She's a combination scientist, super soldier with a spine of steel, with a few vulnerable spots that show at the most unexpected of times throughout the story.

Travis and Paige team up to save the world in this action packed story full of twists and turns, scientific as well as some science fiction details. The pacing is so quick that there's no putting the book down once you begin reading it, and the story feels shorter than it actually is (384 pages), as Travis and Paige run all over the world trying to figure out how to beat the villain of the piece, a super-intelligent, cold as ice villain. There's suspense, a mystery to unravel, cool gadgets, and gun fights with some horrific violent scenes included.

I think of The Breach as one of those fun action/thriller suspense reads (with some sci-fi flavor to spice things up) that are great to pick up in the summer because they're so full of action and such quick reads that it becomes tough to put them down. That's a big positive, but in reality this was not a great read for me. Why? It has a great beginning with a wonderful premise but there are holes in the storyline, the secondary characters are never more than two dimensional, and while I found Paige's characterization stereotypical, Travis left me cold. I questioned his decision-making abilities from the beginning and that's not a good thing. Example: why did he wait until Paige's father was dead before taking action? That was my first WTF moment -- I had a few more along the way.
Grade C+

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So far I've enjoyed contemporary romances by Kate Angell, but they have not been big winners for me. That doesn't mean that I won't read more. I like the atmosphere that she creates and the likable characters usually make her books enjoyable while I'm reading the books. If I want a quick contemporary romance fix, I'll keep Angell in mind. :)

And will I read the other two books in the Travis Chase trilogy by Patrick Lee? I already had the second book in my TBR (yes, I bought books 1 and 2), so I will be reading Ghost Country, and that means I will probably finish the trilogy. I hope the other two books are quick, action packed thrillers like the first one. :)

TBR Highlights: Gay Spec Fic, Fiction, Non-Fiction

This was my week to again review a (one) book from my ever-growing TBR (to be read) pile. Last month I highlighted books added to my Kindle library, this month I would like to share with you some of the latest print books added to my book shelves.

My additions? They are a motley crew! You tell me:

Wilde Stories 2012: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction ed. Steve Berman (Lethe Press, July 2012)

Prepare to skew your view of the world: where jinni in the clouds of a future Tel Aviv aren't spirits but powerful computer programs; where a suburban garden hiding unrecognizable bones; to a planet colony that outlaws color; or the night when a lonely lab tech finds a spambot flirting with him. The latest volume in the acclaimed Wilde Stories series has tales of hitchhikers on the run, dragons in the sky, swordsmen drawing their blades. These are stories fantastic and strange, otherworldly and eerie, but all feature gay men struggling with memories or lovers or simply the vicissitudes of life no matter how wild the world might be.

I loved the 2011 Wilde Stories Anthology and wasn't about to miss this one. But why in print? Well... my 2011 copy is in print and I like to be consistent when keeping collections, plus the cover for this book looked gorgeous. As it turns out, the cover IS gorgeous, now I have high hopes for the stories. :)

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Sexual Revolutions in Cuba: Passion, Politics, and Memory by Carrie Hamilton (University of North Carolina Press, March 2012)

In "Sexual Revolutions in Cuba" Carrie Hamilton delves into the relationship between passion and politics in revolutionary Cuba to present a comprehensive history of sexuality on the island from the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 into the twenty-first century. Drawing on an unused body of oral history interviews as well as press accounts, literary works, and other published sources, Hamilton pushes beyond official government rhetoric and explores how the wider changes initiated by the Revolution have affected the sexual lives of Cuban citizens. She foregrounds the memories and emotions of ordinary Cubans and compares these experiences with changing policies and wider social, political, and economic developments to reveal the complex dynamic between sexual desire and repression in revolutionary Cuba.

Showing how revolutionary and pre-revolutionary values coexist in a potent and sometimes contradictory mix, Hamilton addresses changing patterns in heterosexual relations, competing views of masculinity and femininity, same-sex relationships and homophobia, AIDS, sexual violence, interracial relationships, and sexual tourism. Hamilton's examination of sexual experiences across generations and social groups demonstrates that sexual politics have been integral to the construction of a new revolutionary Cuban society.

Now this book falls more under Latino Studies (history and sexuality in Latin America). The subject fascinates me. The whole idea of a sexuality study done by way of oral history (interviewing subjects) was intriguing enough, but throw in the fact that this is a Latin American country that has undergone political upheaval, and my curiosity as to how those changes influenced sexuality did me in... I had to have it! Ebook format is not available! (I'm reading this book right now)

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Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel by Edmund White (Atlas & Co., October 2008)

Poet and prodigy Arthur Rimbaud led a life that was startlingly short, but just as dramatically eventful and accomplished. Even today, over a century after his death in 1891, his visionary poetry has continued to influence everyone from Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan to Patti Smith. His long poem A Season in Hell (1873) and his collection Illuminations (1886) are essential to the modern canon, marked by a hallucinatory and hypnotic style that defined the Symbolist movement in poetry. Having sworn off writing at the age of twenty-one, Rimbaud drifted around the world from scheme to scheme, ultimately dying from an infection contracted while running guns in Africa. He was thirty-seven.

Edmund White writes with a historian's eye for detail, driven by a genuine personal investment in his subject. White delves deep into the young poet's relationships with his family, his teachers, and his notorious affair with the more established poet Paul Verlaine. He follows the often elusive (sometimes blatant) threads of sexual taboo that haunt Rimbaud's poems (in those days, sodomy was a crime) and offers incisive interpretations of the poems, using his own artful translations to bring us closer to the mercurial poet.

I've had this biography of the French poet Rimbaud on my wish list since approximately the time the book was released but for one reason or another always put off buying it for later... and later. Well, I finally purchased it. I hope it doesn't take me four years to read it. :) I've always been fascinated by both the poetry and the poet.

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Boys Like Us edited by Patrick Merla (Harper Paperbacks, October 1997)

In stunning essays written especially for this collection, 29 noted gay writers recount their true "coming out" stories, intensely personal histories of the primal process by which men come to terms with their homosexuality. These essays form a documentary of changing social and sexual mores, timed to coincide with National Coming Out Day (October 11) and AIDS Awareness Month.(

Boys Like Us falls under the Gay Studies Memoir category, and it is a Lambda Literary Award winner. These are essays written by gay writers about their coming out experiences. This is another book I've had on my wish list for a long time that finally made it to my personal library.

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The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd (Dial, May 2009)

It's Dade's last summer at home. He has a crappy job at Food World, a "boyfriend" who won't publicly acknowledge his existence (maybe because Pablo also has a girlfriend), and parents on the verge of a divorce. College is Dade's shining beacon of possibility, a horizon to keep him from floating away.

Then he meets the mysterious Alex Kincaid. Falling in real love finally lets Dade come out of the closet - and, ironically, ignites a ruthless passion in Pablo. But just when true happiness has set in, tragedy shatters the dreamy curtain of summer, and Dade will use every ounce of strength he's gained to break from his past and start fresh with the future.

The Vast Fields of Ordinary is another book I've had in my wish list since it released in 2009. I do this a lot! I add books to my list and then wait to buy them. This book is young adult gay fiction. It won the 2010 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award and I understand it's good. Why print? I found a used hardcover copy at a great price, so why not?

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Have you read any of these books? Are any of these books in your TBR? I added three (3) non-fiction books to my print book collection. Do you enjoy reading non-fiction?

TBR Review: Open Season by Linda Howard

Be careful what you wish for....

On her thirty-fourth birthday, Daisy Minor decides to make over her entire life. The small-town librarian has had it with her boring clothes, her ordinary looks, and nearly a decade without so much as a date. It's time to get a life -- and a sex life. The perennial good girl, Daisy transforms herself into a party girl extraordinaire -- dancing the night away at clubs, laughing and flirting with abandon -- and she's declared open season for manhunting. But her free-spirited fun turns to shattering danger when she witnesses something she shouldn't -- and becomes the target of a killer. Now, before she can meet the one man who can share her life, first she may need him to save it.

Seamlessly blending heart-pounding romance and breathless intrigue, Linda Howard delivers a stylish and provocative novel that absolutely defies readers to put it down.

I've been wanting to read Open Season for a long time. Don't ask me why I never picked it up, I usually end up loving Linda Howard's books and Open Season is no exception. A romance between the small-town librarian and the Chief of Police? What's not to like? And a romance it is. Open Season is categorized as a romance suspense, however because the suspense is not substantial and there's no real mystery, this book is really what I think of as a thinly disguised romance where the suspense serves to drive the romance. So let's talk about what constitutes the meat of the story.

Daisy Minor is what people think of as a "typical" small-town librarian. Well-respected but overlooked by all, Daisy lives with her elderly mother and aunt. She pretty much acts like an old fashioned naive spinster from another era and dresses the part. On her thirty-fourth birthday Daisy decides she's had it with being a "good girl" and makes major changes in her life. A makeover and some shopping are a good beginning and moving to her own apartment helps, but her answer to finding a man is to hunt one down at nightclubs by becoming a party girl. This leads Daisy into trouble when she inadvertently witnesses a murder and becomes the killer's target.

Jack Russo was a big city cop and SWAT officer in both Chicago and New York City, but after his divorce and the death of his aunt exchanged that life to be the Chief of Police in the small town of Hillsboro, Alabama. He runs a clean, dry town and the last thing he expects is big trouble, murder or to become helplessly attracted to the town's prissy and naive librarian. But that's just what happens to Jack.

Daisy is looking for a man, but Jack is not her type: he's an outsider and too muscular/fit for her. Jack is not looking for a woman, and although Daisy's eyes and smile are truly attractive, she's not his type: she's too prissy and conservative for him. But as Daisy undergoes her makeover and gets in the way of Jack's ongoing investigation in the nightclubs, he can't help but feel protective and more attracted to her, and the more she tells Jack he's not her kind of man the more he gets on her way. Their physical attraction grows and whether she likes it or not slowly but surely Jack becomes her man.

Oh Lord! There are such great scenes in this book between Daisy and Jack. Under the guise of protecting Daisy, Jack basically seduces her, and she helps along by spilling the beans to her family and the whole town. I mean almost everybody has an idea of what's going on between Daisy and Jack even before they do! And while there's sexual tension and their bedroom scenes are super hot, others are fun and hilarious. Just read the PartyPak condom scenes, there are two of them. The discussion that follows had me laughing, and I mean out loud! Those two didn't know when to stop!

The suspense involves sexual slavery and transporting females illegally from foreign countries for that purpose, date rape drugs are used to subdue the women and one man is using the drugs on local women at the nightclubs. There's no mystery as to who is involved in the crimes, so this becomes more of a police procedural (how Jack and company figure out the truth), and of course keeping Daisy safe from the killers. The resolution to all of these threads is a bit surprising, but not really dramatic.

On the other hand, the romance is very satisfying. This romance grows from prickly dislike between Jack and Daisy, to a sort of friendship, some pretty hot and steamy scenes because they can't keep their hands off of each other and on to love. I loved their dialogue throughout the story, particularly how Jack went out of his way to rile and tease Daisy, and his attempts to play down jealousy and protectiveness when other males came into the picture. I loved that Daisy found her man and happiness, but the real Daisy didn't change... much. Open Season was a surprise because as a romance suspense it turned out to be a fun and very enjoyable romance with a suspense plot that just happened to be part of that romance.

Theme: Free Pick Month
July Review

Category: Romance Suspense
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Pocket Books/August 2001, Hardcover
Source: From Mariana, NJ Blogger book swap on July 2011
Grade: B

Find out more about Linda Howard here.

Midyear Recap: Favorite Reads January through June 2012

It is time for the midyear recap covering books read from January through June 2012. What's different? I gave out more A's than usual this first half of the year, so they are all included below. This year I've separated the titles by category and in no particular order of preference. I'm keeping it simple and will leave that chore for my end-of-year post. :) Let's look at my list:

2012 New Releases:

Contemporary Romance/Suspense: The Witness by Nora Roberts (Putnam, 2012): A
Historical Romance: Starlight (The Christies #2) by Carrie Lofty (Pocket, 2012): A-
Fantasy: Range of Ghosts (Eternal Sky#1) by Elizabeth Bear (Tor Books, 2012): A-

Gay Historical Romance: Purgatory: A Novel of the Civil War by Jeff Mann (Bear Bones Books, 2012): A-
Gay Fantasy: Point of Knives; A Novel of Aestreiant by Melissa Scott (Lethe Press, 2012) A-
Poetry: Slow Lightning by Eduardo C. Corral (Yale University Press, 2012): A
Poetry: He Will Laugh by Douglas Ray (Lethe Press, 2012): A-

Re-Released in 2012:

Historical Romance: The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh (Dell, 2012): A
Historical Romance: The Rake by Mary Jo Putney (Kensington Books, 2012): A
Gay Historical Romance: It Takes Two by Elliott Mackle (Lethe Press, 2012): A

Released in 2011:

Gay Contemporary Romance: Split by Mel Bossa (Bold Strokes Books, 2011): A-


As always this is a frustrating process for me. Of course As should be on my top reads list, but there are so many books that I thoroughly enjoyed this first half of the year that it would be sad if some of those awesome, memorable Bs went unmentioned. So here are a few honorable mentions, some released in 2012 and others before, but all reviewed this year: We the Animals by Justin Torres, The Proposition by Judith Ivory, Drown by Junot Diaz, Old Man's War by John Scalzi, Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold, History's Passion: Sex Before Stonewall edited by Richard Labonte, The Heart's History by Lewis DeSimone, Her Best Worst Mistake by Sarah Mayberry, Taxi Rojo by Erik Orrantia, and well... there are so many more my list could go on and on. :)
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NUMBERS:

Total books read as of June 2012: 95 

Grades (+/- included with numbers):
A = 11
B = 53
C = 29
DNF = 1 (exception - I don't really keep a running # of books I don't finish)
NG = 1

Interesting points? 3/11 A's allotted to previously published books, and 5/11 to LGBT books. I will break down my numbers by category on my year-end post. NOTE: These numbers do not include miscellaneous short stories read from anthologies or collections that were not completely read/finished, poetry, etc. I don't list those unless I finish the whole book.
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That's it for the first half of the year, it was a great one for me. Let's hope the second half is just as good or better!

June 2012: Reads + Summary

In June, summer finally arrived in full force and my reading slowed down dramatically. By the end of the month, I found myself needing a break from reading and blogging in order to enjoy outdoorsy events. However, as we all know, quality has nothing to do with quantity, and as you will see below quality-wise June was a great reading month for me.

Total books read: 9
 Contemporary Romance: 1
 Historical Romance: 3
 Science Fiction (Police Procedural): 1
 LGBT: 3 (Gay Spec Fic: 1, Gay Fic/Rom: 1, Gay Hist Mystery/Rom: 1)
 Poetry: 1

1. Slow Lightning by Eduardo C. Corral: Slow Lightning is one of my top reads of the month. I did not write a full review, instead I highlighted it and wrote a recommendation, but this is a magnificent little book of poetry that I will enjoy for a long time since I re-read poetry over and over again. I recommend it highly. Grade: A
2. Starlight (The Christies #2) by Carrie Lofty: I loved this historical romance for its atmosphere and characters that ended up winning me over. The romance was sexy and ultimately satisfying. Grade: A-
3. The Touch of the Sea edited by Steve Berman: Overall this anthology was such a wonderful flight of fancy. The stories took me away and made me dream of the sea. This is definitely one of those books that you can read by the beach while people watching. I guarantee that the stories will make you wonder. . . Grade: B
4. A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith #2) by Julia Quinn: Julia Quinn is known for her fun and light historical romances, and this book has those qualities. I needed some fun and some lightness, so the Smythe-Smith series was perfect for me. Enjoyable! Grade: B
5. No Tan Lines by Kate Angell: Now here's a book that spells summer. I wanted to be at the Boardwalk while reading it, and after. I had a few problems with the inclusion of two other romances and lack of focus on the main couple, but otherwise this was an enjoyable, if average, read for me. Grade: C
6. Logan's Outlaw (Men of Defiance #4) by Elaine Levine: This western romance took me by surprise with its combination of harsh, violent situations and sweet romance. Although I believe that there are readers out there who won't enjoy this combination, it worked for me. Grade: B-
7. Taxi Rojo by Erik Orrantia: This was my first book by Erik Orrantia. I absolutely loved his depiction of Tijuana, Mexico, as well as his rendering of everyday people who struggle to find hope and happiness. Mr. Orrantia's characters stayed with me. Grade: B+
8. It Takes Two by Elliott Mackle: It Takes Two was my very favorite read of the month. I love the way the author transported me to a racially divided little town in a post-WWII America. There was no waste to this story beginning with the depiction of racial bigotry and ending with the realistic romance that develops between the two main characters. Loved it! Grade: A
9. The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters: Now... let's talk about this pre-apocalyptic police procedural (that's not easy to say). In this science fiction story the rendering of the main character and the pseudo-contemporary setting really grabbed my attention. I will be reading the rest of the trilogy because I need to know where Winters will take his character and the overall story arc in the end! Grade: B+

What am I reading at the moment? Well, I just finished another book by Elliott Mackle, Captain Harding and His Men, the second book in his Captain Harding series. However overall, I am finding that the heat of summer has given me an appetite for romance suspense, contemporary romance and science fiction! Interesting, right? I'm not sure what I'll pick up next!

That's it for June, I hope yours was as enjoyable as mine. Did you find any great reads in June that you would love to recommend? Any gems out there? Let us know!