What I'm Reading Wednesday

Wow, the 28th of January was the last time I did this /o\ So many books since then *hides*

Ok let's start.

First, When Love Flue In by Lillian Francis - SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS ONE. Granted, I might be a teensy bit biased because I'm friends with Lillian, BUT, this was just a sweet romance, perfect little read for the holidays and having read the original version AND the new updated version (and also having been one of her beta readers) I would be hard pressed to point out which scenes were added, very seamlessly done. You should check it out if you're in the mood for a lovely little romance.

Then I read a short by Sam Schooler, Write Your Own Ransom Note, and I got sucked in immediately and wanted more. My big complaint, it was too short and I felt the ending was a bit rushed, but OOH I'm adding Sam to my list of authors to watch out for! SO GOOD!

Natural Instincts by My Raiya - this was not at all what I expected and there were some elements that made me a bit uncomfortable. The writing was solid, the story was solid, I think this one just wasn't my thing.

Then I started The Secret Circle Series by L.J. Smith because I LOVED the tv show so much and remembered loving the books when I was younger. I powered through the first three, The Initiation, Captive Part 1, and Captive Part 2. I will say, on reading them again as an adult, I really felt the first one dragged a bit, and I was really angry with Faye taking advantage of Cassie (and Cassie letting her) in books 2 and 3 and I don't remember being that angry about it when I was younger. I remember feeling sorry for her...so I guess that's the thing that comes with age, your perspective changes LOL.

Then back to the THIRDS series. Rack and Ruin (book 3) and Rise And Fall (book 4) I read them back to back because I had been warned that book 3 ends in a terrible cliffhanger and it DID. Both books continued to deliver what the first two promised and finally answered some questions about the past and of course brought up new ones. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series, whenever they come out.

Guilty pleasure time /o\ ARE had a sale on their ALPHA series so I um *cough* bought a few. The Bearly Controlled Alpha and Lifting Tail For The Alpha by Jenika Snow. They were on sale. Enough said. The Brat, The Bodyguard, and the Bountyhunter by Loki Renard (come on man LOKI!!!) this was slightly better in that it at least had a plot and in the end the woman finally stood up for something she wanted and believed in, so there was that. But like I said, guilty pleasure /o\

Back to The Secret Circle Series with The Power, The Divide, The Hunt, and The Temptation. The final three were actually written by Aubrey Clark (there's a WHOLE story behind that, too long to go into here, Google it along with The Vampire Diaries books). Having read all of them back to back, it is easy to see the change in writing style. However, if I had not done that? I'm not sure I would have noticed it that much. The big difference was pacing. The fourth book had a faster pace then the previous three and the final three had a faster pace then the fourth. I blew through the final three because I couldn't put them down. I'm not 100% on board with Cassie's choice of "soulmate" but that's why it's her choice and not mine LOL. Still, very entertaining books, glad I have them all on Kindle and I look forward to reading them again in the future. (Although I may skim the first three LOL) I think at some point I will attempt The Vampire Diaries, but not right now.

Right now I'm reading (almost finished with) Wood, Screws, and Nails by Piper Vaughn and Kade Boheme. May-December romance (which I didn't know going in - I got this during November when DSP was doing their tweetaways) and I am LOVING IT. The angst isn't TOO MUCH, it's just enough, the sex has been super hot and delicious, and I'm anxious to see how it ends.

And *phew* I'm all caught up now!

See you on Friday for Fun Friday!

<333
Katherine