Happy Gay Friday on a Sunday & How that happened

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Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging and other fun stuff. Like last Friday - after spending the rest of the week on the road for work, I was looking forward to a nice and quiet Friday at home, doing some errands, reading, blogging and bloghopping. But it wasn’t meant to be. Turned out that one of my colleagues got ill and I had to take her place as a coach in this course for a group of volunteers that work in our organization. There went my Friday and Saturday…

I didn’t even have time to post my m/m cookie, but here it is, two days late:

And then there’s the thing that I don’t feel fit at all today. I really hope it’s just a little after-effect of the exhausting week and not one of those nasty viruses that seem to be wandering about these days. Hubby is feeling under the weather too, so he might have caught something at the hospital where he’s working, and brought it home with him. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it’s not the latter.

But let’s get to the book stuff. Here’s the list of books I’ve read in September:

Jasper's Journey by Lisa Marie Davis, 3.5 stars
Fearless Desires by Stacey Espino, 3.5 stars
Talker by Amy Lane,  4.5 stars
Size Matters by Stephanie Julian, 4 stars
Genesis (Heaven Sent, #5) by Jet Mykles, 4 stars
Sly Spectral Trick (HS extra, #4) by Jet Mykles, 4 stars
Feisty Little Firecracker (HS extra, #3) by Jet Mykles, 3.5 stars
Sexy Spring Surprise (HS extra, #2) by Jet Mykles, 3.5 stars
Pretty Red Ribbon (HS extra, #1) by Jet Mykles, 3.75 stars
Faith (Heaven Sent, #4) by Jet Mykles, 5 stars
Hell (Heaven Sent, #3) by Jet Mykles, 4.5 stars
Purgatory (Heaven Sent, #2) by Jet Mykles, 4.75 stars
Corporate Seduction by Bridget Midway, 2 stars
In the Flesh by by Ethan Stone, 4.75 stars
Corralled (Blacktop Cowboys, #1) by Lorelei James, 4 stars
Gone Stumping by Braden Williams, 3.25 stars
Eternal Seduction (A Darkness Within, #1) by Jennifer Turner, 4.5 stars

Considering I’ve spent half of the time on the road having a hectic work month, it’s not a bad list at all I think. I’ve read a total of 17 romances, of which four were short stories. And I’m really proud that I’ve finished a series that was on my TBR for a while, the Heaven Sent series by Jet Mykles.
I think I’ll go try and read at least one of the other numerous series on my to-read shelf in October again. I did one in August too, so if I succeed in October as well, I might have started a new challenge for myself. ;) I’m thinking finishing the Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon in October should be doable…
Additionally I want to at least start (because ‘finish’ is aiming a bit too high) one of those paranormal series that are hiding on my shelves for quite some time now and about which I keep saying that I really want to start reading them soon, really, but still haven’t yet… One of those is the Demonica series by Larissa Ione, which I bought in paperback no less! This series has the advantage that it ‘only’ has five novels out yet, which seems a better start than the eight or ten books counting series by JR Ward and Kresley Cole. :)

Right now, I’m going to make the best of my Sunday, paying a visit to my mother in law who’s celebrating her birthday and tonight reading on the couch with hubby nearby. Who knows, I might get lucky… if he feels like rubbing my feet I mean. ;)

Hope you enjoy your Sunday too!
~

Vacay Giveaway Kick Off & Where did July go?

I’m in the middle of packing while I’m writing this post. By the time you’ll read it, me and my love will be on our way! First we’re heading to Belgium where hubs needs to pick up something he bought on ebay and then our next destination is Bretagne in France. From Wednesday on we’re in a rented apartment which has no internet access whatsoever…

In a way I’m actually looking forward to that. I know, it’s weird, because I will really miss blogging and bloghopping! Especially since I haven’t been able to hop for a while now due to the preparation of our vacation and my Vacay Giveaway event, which starts today!
I want to apologize for being absent on most of your blogs the past couple of days, but I’ll be back after my vacation and will read all the posts that I’ve missed! I promise. :)

But I look forward to almost three weeks of reading and relaxing and having all the time in the world and being full time together with hubby. Although that scares me a little too, lol!
I’m really glad that my blog is in good hands with my guest bloggers until I’m back again! Check in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday if you like to, to discover who these guest bloggers are and to show them some comment luv! In return you’ll have a chance of winning one of six wonderful prizes! :) Look below for the contest rules and prizes.

~~~~~

July was a really slow reading month for me and I was so busy wrapping things up at work and preparing for the vacation (on my blog and at home) that I completely forgot to post my DIK Reading Challenge Review! I did read the book, Islands by Samantha Kane, but forgot to write about it. So, that Challenge is a fail now :(

And here is the short list of only 12 romances I read in July:

1. Double Shot Cappuccino by Stephani Hecht, 4 stars
2. Gay Friendly (G-A-Y, #9) by Kim Dare, 3.75 stars
3. Tempted by Megan Hart, 3.5 stars
4. Seeking Kokopelli by Shelley Munro, 2.75 stars
5. Finding Home (Quinn Security, #1) by Cameron Dane, 3.5 stars
6. Saying I Do (Quinn Security, #3) by Cameron Dane, 4 stars
7. Raising Kane (Rough Riders, #9) by Lorelei James, 4 stars
8. Blinded By Our Eyes by Clare London, 4.5 stars
9. Bus Stop by Pepper Espinoza, 4 stars
10. Islands by Samantha Kane, 4 stars
11. As You Are by Ethan Day, 4 stars
12. Tie 'Em Up, Hold 'Em Down by Carolina Valdez, 2.75 stars

~~~~~

Although the month flew by, July did have a great final when I met Leontine at Utrecht, a city in the middle of our country, the Netherlands. I can’t tell you how much fun we had! We met at the Central Train Station at 11am, went down town for some coffee. We started talking on our way there and never stopped talking until it was time for Leontine to catch her train home at 6pm! In between we had lunch, ate some ice cream, went to the bookstore and walked around town along the canals, before we ended up at another pavement café for a drink. Leontine brought me a fun bag with all sorts of goodies, like book marks, signed covers and a book from Josh Lanyon! She’s a generous person who never bores you and likes to laugh a lot. When we had to say our goodbyes after 7 hours we felt as if we still could talk for hours and hours! From now on we’re going to call each other and hopefully meet again soon in person!

How was your month? Did it fly by too? Have you read any good books? Did you meet cool peeps?

I look forward to your comments when I come back from vacation, just know that I won’t be here until August 20th to respond as you’re used from me! But my guest bloggers will be.

See you later! Au revoir, mes amies! :)

~~~~~



Contest rules:

Leave a comment on this and/or any other blog post between August 2nd and 20th for a chance to win one of the six Vacay Giveaway prizes.
A comment on one of the posts from August 2-20 gives you 1 entry for the contest, a comment on 2 of the posts 2 entries, a comment on 3 of the posts 3 entries, etc. So, the more frequent you return to show some luv to my guest bloggers the higher your chances to win one of the six prizes! :)
In the weekend of August 21st I’ll announce who the 6 winners are (selected with random.org); winner #1 can choose first, winner #2 second, winner #3 third, etc. from one of the six prizes. Don’t forget to check back then or leave a way for me to contact you in your comment or profile.

The prizes are, in random order:
• A $15 Gift Certificate from any online bookstore I can buy from
• An ecopy of Daughters of Persephone by Julia Rachel Barrett
• One of Mia Watts’ ebooks of choice. Check out her books here
• A book of choice from The BookDepository (of max $10 and only when they ship to your country... sorry)
• One of Bronwyn Green’s ebooks of choice. Check out her books here
• An ebook of choice from DreamSpinner Press

With thanks to DreamSpinner Press, Mia Watts, Bronwyn Green and Julia Rachel Barrett for sponsoring this Vacay Giveaway by donating their prizes!

Reading List - June 2010 & Favorites of 2010 so far

TGIF! It's been a long week, with hot days at the office that didn't seem to come to an end. We’re struggling with the heat, which is rare in our little country. Today the temperature will run up to 36-37 degrees Celsius in some places in the South (where I happen to live). Google tells me that’s circa 97-99 degrees Fahrenheit. I know, for some of you this might not be warm at all, lol! But when you know that 20-25 degrees (68-77 F) is way more common in summer over here, you can imagine what this means for us.

This week there’s another reason than usual to look forward to Friday, because today our soccer team will play the quarter final of the world cup! Uhm, against Brazil… I don’t think we’ll win, but I keep my hopes high. :) You never know, right?

But first, let's celebrate with a Happy Gay cookie! :)

Time to look back at June and the first half of this year!

I’ve had a great reading month, in which I read 20 romances. Not as much as last month, but I wrote more reviews and that did cost me some reading time…

From those 20 books I rated:

• 1 with 5 stars
• 1 with 4.75 stars
• 2 with 4.5 stars
• 1 with 4.25 stars
• 6 with 4 stars
• 2 with 3.75 stars
• 4 with 3.5 stars
• 2 with 3 stars
• 1 with 2.75 stars

This is the list:
• Car Wash by Shawn Lane, 3 stars
• Captured by Julia Rachel Barrett, 4 stars
• Bi Now, Gay Later by Kim Dare, 3.5 stars
• Sinful by Charlotte Featherstone, 5 stars
• Under My Skin by M.L. Rhodes, 3.75 stars
• Under My Skin II by M.L. Rhodes, 4 stars
• Bad Brad by Cheryl Dragon, 2.75 stars
• Jungle Heat by Bonnie Dee, 4.5 stars
• Bad Boys, Bad Boys (Boys in Blue, #1) by Mia Watts, 3.5 stars
• Love & Loyalty (Faith & Fidelity, #2) by Tere Michaels, 4 stars
• Three Wrong Turns in the Desert by Neil Plakcy, 4 stars
• Bring The Heat by M.L. Rhodes, 3.5 stars
• Duty & Devotion (Faith & Fidelity, #3) by Tere Michaels, 4.25 stars
• I Fell in Love with a Zombie by Sean Kennedy, 3.75 stars
• Reasonable Doubt (Boys in Blue, #2) by Mia Watts, 4.5 stars
• Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, 4.75 stars
• Pool Hall Green by Sara Bell, 3 stars
• A Detour Home by Devon Rhodes, 4 stars
• Love Mode Vol. 1 by Yuki Shimizu, 3.5 stars
• Pack of Lies by Vanessa Vaughn, 3.75 stars

With the last book of June I read the 100th book of this year (yay!), so I think I will manage to finish my 100+ Reading Challenge in time. ;) I also finished the M/M Romance Challenge 2010 this first 6 months of the year, and I’m on schedule with the DIK Reading Challenge.

My absolute favorites that I read the first 6 months so far are:

 

Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels

Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy

More by Sloan Parker

Bound to Him (Bound, #2) by Ava March

Inland Empire (Taking the Odds, #2) by James Buchanan

Past Lies by Shayla Kersten

Sinful by Charlotte Featherstone

Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

I'm curious, what was your favorite book of this year so far?

Happy Friday!

Reading List – May 2010 & How do you like your reviews?

I had a very good month reading wise. I’ve read 33 romances in total. It might have helped that I had this virus – at the end of the month – that made me stay in bed, feeling not up to much else than sleeping and reading. :)

Here’s the list:
1. Night Shift by Jenna Byrnes, 3.5 stars
2. JackMagic by Jillian Snyder, 4 stars
3. Bound by Deception (Bound, #1) by Ava March, 4.5 stars
4. Bound to Him (Bound, #2) by Ava March, 5 stars
5. Deliberately Unbound (Bound, #3, Free story) by Ava March, 3.5 stars
6. Cheating Chance (Taking the Odds, #1) by James Buchanan, 4.5 stars
7. Inland Empire (Taking the Odds, #2) by James Buchanan, 5+ stars
(plus a few Taking the Odds free reads and stories from anthologies:
Squirrel Run (c) 2008Spree (c) 2007
Measure Up (c) 2008
Technique from Toy Box: Handcuffs (2007)
A Little Trust from Toy Box: Rope (2008)
8. Give and Take by Anne Brooke, 3.5 stars
9. An Australian Christmas In New York by Sean Kennedy, 3.5 stars
10. Start From The Beginning by Chrissy Munder, 3.75 stars
11. Out of My Mind by M.L. Rhodes, 4.5 stars
12. Broken Bones, Mended Hearts by William Cooper, 3.75 stars
13. Toy Box: Handcuffs by James Buchanan, Lorne Rodman, Chris Owen, Jodi Payne, 3.5 stars
14. Somatesthesia by Ann Sommerville, 3.75 stars
15. Positive Possibilities by Shayla Kersten, 4 stars
16. Gaps in Your Soul by Shayla Kersten, 4 stars
17. Mark's Toy Box by Laine Williams, 4 stars
18. Under Control (Lessons in Mastery, #1) by Laine Williams, 4 stars
19. Under Restraint (Lessons in Mastery, #2) by Laine Williams, 4 stars
20. Under Fire (Lessons in Mastery, #3) by Laine Williams, 4 stars
21. Hidden Hands (Hands, #3) by Shayla Kersten, 4 stars
22. Heaven (Heaven Sent, #1) by Jet Mykles, 4 stars
23. Never Let Go (Always, #1) by M.L. Rhodes, 4 stars
24. Hearts & Bones (Always, #2) by M.L. Rhodes, 4 stars
25. On Fire (On Fire, #1) by Drew Zachary, 4 stars
26. Black Wade: The Wild Side of Love by Franze & Andaerle, 4 stars
27. On Fire II: Still Burning (On Fire, #2) by Drew Zachary, 4 stars
28. More Than Just a Good Book by Sloan Parker, 5 stars
29. Timing by Mary Calmes, 4 stars
30. Sub for Hire by Claire Thompson, 4 stars
31. Swap Meet by Lolita Lopez, 4 stars
32. Past Lies by Shayla Kersten, 5 stars
33. The Cost of Eternity (Eternity, #1) by Shayla Kersten, 4 stars

I hope you had a great month as well!

I also had a lot of time to think without the distraction of internet. For example about my reviews. I want to do more of them, but I don’t want it to take away too much of my reading time. Writing one of my longer reviews (for example the High 5, Low 5 ones) costs me more than an hour (yep, it’s not in my mother tongue remember ;)).
I also figured that reading the longer reviews can be rather time consuming too for you guys, so maybe some of you might welcome another format as well, especially when I succeed in writing more reviews. ;)
So, how can I write them in less time – say 15 to 30 minutes tops - and still say everything I want to share about the book I’m reviewing?
Well, I thought maybe I should try some sort of a template format that’ll spare me the time of plotting and structuring what I want to say and in what order. A template that has a few recurring elements.
Maybe it gets boring writing or reading them after a while, but I’ve decided to give it a try. Besides, it doesn’t mean that I will do all my reviews like this.

This is the format I’ve come up with:
~~~~~
Basics
- Bibliographic information [like title, publisher and backblurb]
- Genre & Keywords:
- Rating/Heatlevel: [1 to 5 stars/1 to 3 flames]
- Why I read it: [ARC/recommended by…/previous books of this author I read]
- Storyline in short:
- Short summary of my thoughts:

Extension
- Characters: [description/likeability/emotional involvement/etc.]
- POV:
- Plot: [structure/pace/development/time jumps/ending/suspense/humor]
- Smexing:
- Writing style:
- Favorite scene/quote:

Author’s other titles & links
~~~~~

What do you think? Does this cover it? Do you think you’ll like to read a review structured like this better than the epic ones, or not? What is important for you in a review?

I’d really like to know! To encourage you to think about it and letting me know, here’s some eye candy to keep you occupied while you sit on it. ;)

Reading List - April 2010 & Monday’s Hot Couple

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I’m back and exhausted, lol! But we had a great time! :D
Today was back to business as usual and although a lot of work was waiting for me at the office I did manage to visit a lot of your blogs in between the boring tasks to catch up with all the, sometimes multiple, posts. I didn’t have time to leave comments though, but I will be back in the ‘comment saddle’ by tomorrow night the latest, I think :)

We had a wonderful long weekend, although I missed being online a lot ;) And Queen’s Day (or Koninginnedag as we call it) was one big exhausting party! I took some pictures but it rained part of the time, so there weren’t as many boats as usual in the canals. Here's a little visual impression:

Still, everyone was in a good mood and lots of music was played and we were having a good time until far after midnight, for three nights in a row. We stayed for the rest of the weekend to meet with some other friends, have dinner with them, go out dancing and to the Casino and do some shopping.

And I bought me some ‘real’ books, that is, not of the digital kind but of the dead tree type. I know, it’s a shock! ;) I had these gift certificates, so I was looking for some English paperbacks to spend them on, and I stumbled upon the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost and Soulless by Gail Carriger in the biggest bookshop of Utrecht. I must say that I’ve never seen any of these books before in our local bookstore, so it was a surprise to find those authors. Look at them, being pretty on my desk!

Hubby looked at the Night Huntress covers and asked ‘Are those the smutty kind of books too?’, and me ‘No, *g* eh, maybe, why?’ and he, looking at the covers again ‘That’s one hell of a good looking chic!’ I couldn’t help laughing and teasing him with ‘So, you want them to be smutty!’.

Which reminds me, I have to wrap up my April smut reading month. Here’s my reading list:

Only Yours by J.R. Patrick, 3.5 stars
Dangerous Distraction by Mia Watts, 3.75 stars
Two Steps Up by Sean Kennedy, 3.5 stars
Her Vampire Husband by Michele Hauf, 3.75 stars
Oleander House (Bay City Paranormal Investigation #1) by Ally Blue, 4 stars
What Hides Inside (Bay City Paranormal Investigation #2) by Ally Blue, 4 stars
Ratchet (Deviations, #2.5) by Chris Owen & Jodi Payne, 3 stars
Pineapples & Chocolate by E.M. Lynley, 3 stars
Twilight (Bay City Paranormal Investigation #3) by Ally Blue, 3.5 stars
Closer (Bay City Paranormal Investigation #4) by Ally Blue, 4 stars
An Inner Darkness (Bay City Paranormal Investigation #5) by Ally Blue, 4.5 stars
Where The Heart Is (Bay City Paranormal Investigation #6) by Ally Blue, 4 stars
Happy Ending (Men of Smithfield, #2) by L.B. Gregg, 3.5 stars
Icing On The Cake by Shayla Kersten, 4 stars
Perfect Man by Shawn Lane, 4 stars
Another Chance by Shawn Lane, 4.5 stars
Trust by Shawn Lane, 4.5 stars
Heart and Soul (Assignment, #4) by Evangeline Anderson, 3 stars
Turquoise and Leather (Collared, #1) by Kim Dare, 3.5 stars
Centrefold by Kris Norris, 3 stars

It’s a total of 20 titles, but a lot of them are shorts and novella’s. Not a single 5 star rate this month, but still a good average and I enjoyed all the stories.
I hope you all had a great month too!

Reading List - March 2010 & Man Candy

March has been a weird month for me with losing our baby Binny right in the middel of it (the 17th). It damped my enjoyment in bloghopping and writing reviews. Only this week I started to pick up where I left a little bit. I certainly want to bloghop and review much more again in April!
Luckily, it didn't diminish my reading a lot, although I started reading a few books that I haven't finished yet. Somehow I couldn't stay focused and left them to pick up another book. But I definitely will finish them soon (among them J.R. Patrick's Only Yours, Lorie O'Clare's Taking It All, Joey W. Hill's Natural Law (almost finished) and Rachel Vincent's Shift).
I still managed to read 10 other romances in March, that brought some wonderful distraction from my grief.

This is my list:
1. Midnight Dalliance by S.J. Frost, 3.5 stars
2. Conquest by S.J. Frost, 4 stars
3. Catch Me If You Can by L.B. Gregg, 4 stars
4. The Darkest Fire (Lords of the Underworld, #0.5, Prequel) by Gena Showalter, 2 stars
5. The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, #1) by Gena Showalter, 4 stars
6. Issue of Trust by Lorie O'Clare, 3.5 stars
7. Rope Dreams by Eliza Gayle, 3 stars
8. Somebody Killed His Editor (Holmes & Moriarity, #1) by Josh Lanyon, 4 stars
9. More by Sloan Parker, 5 stars
10. Freeze Frame (Faerily Imperfect, #3) by Mia Watts, 4 stars

I'll write some reviews later and post them in April!
 
Blog wise March was a friendly month for me. I received quite some blog awards. One of them I haven't even mentioned yet. It's the Love Your Header Award from Leontine. Thanks hon!
 

 
And what would a monthly wrap-up post be overhere at my place without some yummy man candy, right? So, one delicious, hot, playful guy coming up! Enjoy!
 

Reading List – February 2010 & Some Book News and Man Candy

It’s a busy week at work so I’ve (had) hardly time to bloghop or write a blogpost, but I finally wrote one. The bloghopping will have to wait a little bit longer… sorry for that!

First some book news.
There’s some exciting news about Tere Michael’s new book: the sequel to Faith & Fidelity will be released at March 23 on the Loose Id site! Thanks to Chris for the heads up! :)
It’s called Duty & Devotion and will have the characters from Love & Loyalty featured as supporting roles too. I so want to read that!

Another wonderful M/M author released a new book yesterday: Catch Me If You Can by L.B. Gregg (on the Samhain website). And if you want a chance of winning this funny, sexy book, go over to Chris’ blog @ Stumbling over Chaos and enter her contest.

And finally here’s my Reading List for February. I only read 10 romances last month, but I enjoyed a lot of them very much! I haven’t written a review about Snowed In by Aile & Urban (yet) but I really liked that novella. It’s very hot and full of sweet moments too. It’s an M/M/M in which three friends stay in a cabin and get snowed in. One guy is bisexual the other two straight and they start experimenting for the sake of the erotic romance one of them is writing. The sex scenes are really sexy, sweet, exiting, tender and arousing. In one word: hawt!
There are a few other titles that don’t have a link to an earlier review. Either I won’t review them anymore or I will when I finish the series (Adrien English Mysteries).

And at the end of the post I have some candy. Enjoy!

1. This Side of Heaven by Fallon Blake, 4.5 stars
2. Seeing You by Dakota Flint, 4 stars
3. Upwardly Mobile by Clare London, 3.5 stars
4. Fatal Shadows (Adrien English Mystery Series #1) by Josh Lanyon, 4 stars
5. A Dangerous Thing (Adrien English Mystery Series #2) by Josh Lanyon, 4.5 stars
6. Racing Hearts (A Calculated Risk\An Outside Chance\This Time Around) by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Nancy Warren, Dorien Kelly, 2.5-3 stars
7. Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy, 5 stars
8. Magnus by Jambrea Jo Jones, 3 stars
9. The Runaway Man by Jambrea Jo Jones, 3.5 stars
10. Snowed In by Rhianne Aile & Madeleine Urban, 4.5 stars

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January Round-Up & Catching Up on My Reviews

January went by very fast and I didn’t read that much!

As a lot of other bloggers, readers or tweeps I’m also trying to find a better balance between reading, blogging, bloghopping, emailing, tweeting on the one hand and my EDJ (evil day job), RL friends, hubby & other hobbies on the other hand. And I have especially a hard time finding a balance between all the activities in the first group, because there’s only this small amount of free time in a day (and the EDJ and my man do the demanding thing very well ;) so no worries there).

But the more I bloghop or twitter for example the less I read. Every time the reading gets the worst of it compared to one of the other activities, which sucks to be frank. Don’t think I don’t wanna bloghop or tweet, nope, that’s not it, I really enjoy doing that (that’s part of the problem). It’s just that I want to read more, especially after hearing and reading about all the great book recs on your blogs and in your emails and tweets *sigh*.

Has anyone found a solution to this dilemma yet? Please let me know!

And then there’s the reviewing part! I don’t mind reviewing a book a few weeks after I’ve read it, in fact I prefer to create that little distance in time to look at a book with a more objective view. But even for me it’s taking too long now – I still haven’t reviewed this fabulous book that I’ve read in 2009 and then some more in 2010! The thing is that I’ve read all these books that were 4 or 5 stars reads for me and because of that I want to do a proper review, nice and long (for example my High Five, Low Five format).

But I better face it: that’s not gonna happen!

So I decided to do a January reading AND reviewing wrap up in one post. They will be short an it’s not that I’ve read that much so this shouldn’t take too long… And I already reviewed a couple of them earlier...

(P.S. It turned out to be longer than I thought. So, sorry for that – maybe you can read it in several small pieces or skip most of it ;) – I just had to get it out of my system!)

Here’s my reading list:

Read in 2009
The One That Got Away by Madeleine Urban & Rhianne Aile, 5 stars

This was one of the best M/M reads of 2009 for me! I can really recommend it. For a change it’s a book with no angst in it. The characters are well developed and the smexing is long anticipated but scorching hot when they finally get to it. The story is about two friends, one gay one straight. One of them breaks his shoulder and needs some help during his recovery. So his straight friend moves in with him. Because of the injury, the heroes share some very intimate moments and something starts to sizzle. I thought that the authors did a great job of making their feelings tangible and showing how lust and love developed steadily. This book is especially highly recommended to all my M/M virgin friends because of the new to gay sex hero who’s been lead into this wonderful experience by his kind and loving friend.

January 2010
1. Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels, 5 stars

And boy did my year start with another great M/M read! It has the potential of becoming the best M/M book of 2010 for me. At least one of the best! Here we have two alpha guys, both cops who become friends after the wife of one of them died. Their lonely souls connect and gradually they start coloring each other’s lives again. The buildup is beautiful. One day an intimate touch of consolation opens the door to a more physical relation. Everything is new to both of them since they never were with a man before and one of the heroes has to deal with his feelings of guilt towards his deceased wife. All elements that are worked out very well. The opening scene is heartbreaking so be prepared to shed some tears and the angst is big in this relationship. This made it not a light read, but every now and then I love an emotional rollercoaster like this one!

2. Cuffed and Dangerous by Bronwyn Green, 4 stars

I actually reviewed this one. It was my first experience with the paranormal genre and it was good! I received this book from Bronwyn Green as a present!

3. Mind F*cked by Mia Watts, 4 stars

This was another fabulous paranormal romance, this time of the M/M kind. It’s about a very attractive half-breed faery who has the ability to read other people’s minds. Due to that fact he became quite cocky because everybody is lusting after him thanks to his looks. When he meets (his average) Joe he can’t read his mind which is unusual and makes him very insecure. During the security job they are involved in together he starts falling in love for the first time in his life but Joe is skeptical about his feelings and his feary background. It was foremost a very funny book! And the characters were wonderful and very right for each other (even the magic approved of it). The security mystery was a nice addition to this pretty original love story although that particular part was a bit predictable and lacked real suspense. It’s the first book in a series, the next books feature Sage’s siblings and I’m really looking forward to their stories! Even for the humor alone I would want to read them!

4. Beth's Acceptance by Teal Ceagh, 4 stars

And yet another paranormal romance! I did a good job on this new to me genre, didn’t I? This is also the first book in a series (of three) which seems very promising. Take a human, a vampire and an elf and put them together in between the covers of a book and you get one very steamy romance! That’s what this book is in a nutshell. Then there’s something going on with ugly evil creatures and a war that has to be fought. The three protags have to prevent the creatures taking over by forming a holy trinity. I know, this sounds like pretty heavy stuff but it was not that bad. I could easily comprehend what was going on and had no trouble believing any of it. The only thing that happened too fast for me was the woman’s acceptance of the paranormal world she had no clue about until then. And this world saving thing is not wrapped up in this first book of the series but will go on in the next two I presume. The romance story did have a nice happy ending though. I like that in a series! The smexing in this book was excellent too. To become a real trinity there was some unusual love making going on between these three sexy protags, really unusual *won’t say more*. In short, I loved this novella enough to wanna read the sequels, that have different H/h. I won this book over at the Blackraven's Erotic Cafe blog.

Look here for my selection of a sexy, smutty scene from Beth’s Acceptance.

5. Blind Faith by Claire Thompson, 4 stars

Great short M/M novella about two on-and-off lovers who haven’t seen each other for over a year. When one of them returns from one of his wanderings around the world and want to meet the other again, it turns out that his lover has been in a car accident almost a year ago. He was badly injured and lost his sight permanently. This comes as a shock and changes their relationship. I loved the dynamic of this couple. The heroes are hot and have a good chemistry going on. Their loving is sweet and Ms. Thompson knows how to develop a story well. It was too bad that this wasn’t longer, that’s the only thing I disliked besides the overly clichéd ending (it involves a cruise ship, need I say more?).

Look here for my selection of a sexy, smutty scene from Blind Faith.

6. Hard to Hold (Hold trilogy, #1) by Stephanie Tyler, 3 stars

I did a High Five, Low Five review about this book last weekend. It was a bit disappointing due to my own high expectations.

7. The Broken H by J.L. Langley, 4 stars

Last but not least, another good M/M story, recommend to me by K.C. from Smokinhotbooks who is celebrating 14 days of man love over at her blog (with great giveaways!).
It’s actually the second book in this author’s Ranch series, but can be read as a standalone. I myself have yet to read the first book, The Tin Star. And there even is a third one! The Broken H is about two stepbrothers who haven’t seen much of each other the past decade. But now they are forced to run their father’s ranch together for a while after he had a heart attack. One of the heroes is a cowboy with Indian blood who is the adopted son and the other hero is the more muscular but younger one and the town’s sheriff. Turns out that their split from ten years ago is caused by their mutual feelings of lust and love. They start to figure out how deep their love really was and is while they explore each other’s bodies eagerly. Not much of the ranching is actually involved it was just the immediate cause for their renewed friendship and new loving. I liked their inventiveness in the bedroom (verra steamy!) but I loved their emotional relationship! It was nicely developed and the information was well dosed. Really good read!

So this was my first month of the year. I better turn up the reading speed, otherwise I won’t get the 100+ books of the Reading Challenge done!

And as a reward for those who have made it to the end of this post... here's some man candy. Enjoy!

Reading List - December 2009 & My New Years Resolutions

I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions. They never seem to stick, so I usually don’t make a list...
I intend to have lots of fun though, read as much erotrom as I can (a few challenges I joined will help me keep track of my reading) and talk about my smut a lot – here on my blog in many posts and with you in the comment sections of mine and your blogs; on Goodreads, Twitter and in the Yahoo groups or what other platforms I’ll discover in 2010; with some of you via email or in real life (IRL). For example I’m going to ‘do a Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’ with Leontine (from Leontine’s Book Realm), my new found fellow Dutch friend! And for all of you who like to come here for the visuals ;) I’m definitely planning on continuing the eye candy treats at my place!

That being said, I wish you all a wonderful 2010 with lot of good reads and other great stuff that make you happy!


Now, before I forget, my last reading list of 2009. In December I've read the following 15 romances:

Aile & Urban, The One That Got Away, êêêêê, ¹¹¹
Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, Warrior’s Cross, êêêêê, ¹½
Chris Owen & Jodi Payne, Deviations: Domination, êêêê½, ¹¹½
Adrianna Dane, Sully’s Heart, êêê½, ¹¹½
Ashley Ladd, The Perfect Gift, êêêê, ¹¹½
Jude Mason, Knight or Daye, êêê, ¹¹
Lori Foster & Erin McCarthy & Helenkay Dimon, When Good Things Happen to Bad Boys, êêê, ¹¹
Jenna Byrnes, Nothing But Trouble, êêê½, ¹¹
Jenna Byrnes, Valentine’s Trouble, êêê, ¹¹
L.B. Gregg, Gobsmacked [Men of Smithfield, #1], êêêê, ¹¹
Skylar Kade, Maison Domine, êêê, ¹¹
Ava Grey, Skin Game, êêêê½, ¹½
Evangeline Anderson, Fireworks, êêêê, ¹¹½
Evangeline Anderson, I'll Be Hot for Christmas, êêê, ¹¹
Cat Johnson, Fireworks,êêê, ¹¹

I haven't done many reviews the past month. I'll try to do them soon, but I might just leave some of them be, and make a fresh start this new year...

Reading List - November 2009

My reading list for last month is pretty unimpressive. I've only read 14 erotic romances in November with among them quite a few short stories. It's been a busy month, as well in RL as online. So that must be the reason: life and blogging kept me from reading more books.
Though the good thing is, I discovered so many interesting blogs and met so many fantastic bloggers! It's rather time-consuming, but I love every minute of it!
So here's my saddening short list:

Jill Shalvis, Double Play, êêêê, ¹½
Maya Banks, Songbird, êêê, ¹¹½
Evangeline Anderson, The Assignment, êêêê½, ¹¹¹
Elle Kennedy, Heat of Passion, êêêê, ¹¹
Michelle Cary, Some Kind of Hero, êêêê, ¹¹½
Claire Thompson, Mistress for a Day (free short story), êêê, ¹½
J. Buchanan, K. Kelly and HB Kurtzwilde, Toy Box: Rope, ê, ¹½
Chris Owen & Jodi Payne, Deviations: Submission, êêêê, ¹¹½
J.M. Snyder, Mastering Stefan, êêê, ¹½
Maya Banks, Blame the Rain (free short story), êêê, ¹½
Tawny Weber, Going Down Hard, êêê½, ¹½
Lorelei James, Rough Riders 4 - Tied Up, Tied Down (reread), êêêêê, ¹¹¹
Shayla Kersten, Double Happiness, êêêê, ¹¹
Claire Thompson, Switch, êêêê, ¹¹½

Reading List - October 2009

I've read 22 erotic romances in October:

Lorelei James, Cowgirl Up and Ride (Rough Riders, # 3), êêêêê
Mary Winter, Two in Hand, êêêê
Denise A. Agnew, Private Maneuvers (Hot Zone, #3), êêê
Annmarie McKenna, Blackmailed, êêê
Tonya Ramagos, Caught off Guard (The Heroes of Silver Springs, #1), êêêê½
Maggie Nash, The Master’s Prize, êêêê
Denise A. Agnew, Male Call (Hot Zone, #1), êêêê
Cherise Sinclair, Club Shadowlands (Masters of the Shadowlands, #1), êêêêê
Cat Grant, By Chance (The Courtland Chronicles, #1), êêêê
Karen Foley, Able-Bodied, êêêê½
Shayla Kersten, Hidden Force, êêêêê
Denise A. Agnew, Unconditional Surrender (Hot Zone, #2), êê
T.A. Chase, Out of Bounds, êêê½
T.A. Chase, High Line, êêêê½
Jenna Ives, The Initiation of Isabella, êêêêê
Zannie Adams, Hold, êêêê½
Mackenzie McKade, Take Me, êêêê
Mackenzie McKade, Take Me Again, êêêêê
Cathryn Fox, One on One, êêêê
Melissa Lopez, Boomerang Love (The Thorns, #1), êêêê½
Maya Banks, Colters' Wife, êêêê
Maya Banks, Colters' Woman, êêêê½

It's been a good month, with quite a few 5 stars ratings, a couple of new discoveries for me and some never disappointing favorite authors!