Summer vacation got off to a rainy start. It rained Memorial weekend, with a pause on the following Wednesday, and restarted on Thursday and Friday. Miss R was beyond bored.
Miss R ended her elementary school year with a consistent “A” average, including her K-2 grades, which were rated “S.”
Mr. Z accomplished what we thought was impossible. He raised his art grade from an “F” to a “B” for the quarter and ended the semester with an “A.“
Reading Highlights from this month:
I finished the Scars of the Wraiths series with Take. Out of the entire series, this book was the one to wreck me. I cried at the end. Mainly for Max and what she did to free herself and Jasper. And for Jasper, whose survivor’s guilt turned him into a monster for years. I hope that the author writes more in the series. There are people I want to see get their happy endings (Damien, for example!).
I finished the first book in The Magestone Chronicles (Stones Unbound). I had a tough time getting into it. I actually fell asleep while reading it twice. It got to the point where I brought it to Miss R’s riding lesson (twice) to finish it. It was boring. However, once the book picked up around 70%, it ended with a bang. Because of that, I will read the rest of the series once the books become free or are added to KU.
I finished book 1 in the Dark Universe series (Into the Dark). Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the book at first, the characters and storyline grew on me.
I finished Someone to Remember Me, but I’m not entirely sure how I liked it. Halfway through the book, the author revealed a couple of significant twists that threw me off.
I finished The Nevada Brides series. This was a cute series to read, and I enjoyed not having to think too much about the storyline. It did get a little preachy in Abigail’s book, but even that didn’t bother me.
I started and DNF’d Mightier Than the Pen. It was one of the most boring books I have read.
I read the first book of the Bionics series (Bionics). It was interesting, and with the cliffhanger ending, I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series when it becomes available on KU or the books become free.
I started and finished the Men of Mercy series. Oh, baby, was this an intense and sexy series!!
I read The Orb of Wrath and was pleasantly surprised by it. The storyline revolves around a party of D&D-type characters, and it didn’t fail. I was totally engrossed by it.
I read the first book of the Logic series (Spell Checked). It was an interesting book that explored reincarnation, the paranormal, and romance. I will finish the series if it ever goes on KU.
I read the first book in The Surgical Strike Unit (Vengeance) series. It was excellent and heartwrenching. I can’t wait for the rest of the series to become available on KU.
I read the first book in the Love in Bloom: Seaside Dreams series (Seaside Summers). It was a cute but predictable read. I am waiting for the rest of the series to go on KU.
I also read the first book in the Reckless & Real series. I am on the fence with this book. I am not sure if I like it or not. However, regardless, I will read the rest of the books if they become available on KU.
I started the first book in the Jessica Brodie Diaries (Back in the Saddle). So far, I am liking it. The rest of the series will be on next month’s wrap-up.
Books I Read:
Books I bought (unless otherwise stated, books were free at the time of purchase):
Here is what I am reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.
Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!!
Happy Reading!
What I am currently reading:
The Orb of Wrath combines fantasy, intrigue and adventure, while transports the reader into a world where almost nothing is what it seems. Plots, counterplots, mysteries, blossoming relationships, disappointments, betrayals, dangers and successes, are combined in this fun cocktail. Erion is a skilled looter who runs the kingdom of Bor with his “brother” Mithir, performing dangerous commissions for wealthy clients. Mithir helps with his long trained magical abilities. One day, when they are doing one of their assignments, they encounter another group of adventurers, with whom they are forced to cooperate. The plot runs in the World of Oris which consists of 12 kingdoms and includes elves clans, dangerous monsters, dwarf kings, rich desert emirs, strange beasts, hospital halflings, ferocious orcs, ingenious gnomes, powerful wizards, brave knights, merchants, terrible vampires, etc. Recommended for the permanent library of all fantasy readers. Do you dare to accompany Erion and his friends in their adventures?
What I recently finished reading:
He thought he was done. His career as a special forces sniper was over. He’d lost his leg and his dignity in that ambush. Now, after nearly a year of rehab, he was fighting the toughest battle in his life: prove he was still worthy to serve.
His chance: Contract with Landry Security to pull protection for a rancher by the name of Sam Bishop. If he succeeded in routing out the bad guy, Cord would be back on the team.
The bonus: He’d be able to get the hell away from all the counselors and therapists trying to tell him how to come to grips with his PTSD and missing limb. There were no emotions and feelings in west Texas, just rough necks and grit. Exactly what he needed.
The catch: Sam’s real name is Samantha and she’s not a codgy old man – she’s the one girl from Cord’s past he never got over. He thought he’d lost his chance with her, and now that he wasn’t a whole man, he didn’t deserve her.
Samantha is determined to show Cord he’s everything she ever wanted. Her biggest battle isn’t the stalker threatening her life: it’s making Cord see he’s worthy of her love and so much more.
What I plan on reading Thursday through Sunday:
Broken relationships were a constant in Mae’s life, causing her to swear off men forever. Unwittingly lured to Ireland, Mae finds herself knee-deep in a hidden world she never knew existed and head over heels for the very man that tricked her to coming there. His deception is complicated by his own feelings for the one person that holds the key to merging the ancient races that once ruled the ancient word. Mae finds herself in an underground world of witches, and vampires, which are half-breeds of aliens long gone. She learns about her own unique parentage and powers, which she must study in order to control, before they consume her. Beck and Helen’s love for one another spans across a millennium, her human soul reincarnated to match Beck’s own immortality. This time however the body she occupies is of a being that cannot be eclipsed by her return. After waiting two hundred years, Beck finds himself tormented by Helen’s inability to return and his growing love for her new host. Some of the underworld creatures welcome her with open arms as a savior, while others seek to destroy the abomination they believe her to be. Will the knowledge of her existence cause a race war when the true power of her blood is discovered? Or will love become her ultimate downfall?
Scarred by a tragic past, one woman will do anything to exact vengeance…
Left for dead after assassins killed her parents, Jenna Paterson believes she survived for one reason only. Vengeance. She vows revenge on the men behind the attack, including her once beloved older brother, Kai. But Kai has disappeared with a microchip containing data on a top-secret government research program.
Ten years ago, undercover agent Niko Andros sent a vicious Mexican crime lord to prison. Now the man has been released and he’s kidnapped Niko’s aunt. The price for his aunt’s freedom is Kai and the microchip. Niko will do anything to save his aunt―including using Jenna as bait.
As Niko dives back into the deadly criminal underground he’d barely escaped, Jenna discovers she’s not as tough as she thinks. Teamed up to find her brother, Niko and Jenna fight to survive in a dangerous world of lies, betrayal, and hidden agendas. Only love can save them…if they’ll let it.
SEASIDE SUMMERS is the newest addition to the LOVE IN BLOOM series, featuring a group of fun, sexy, and emotional friends who gather each summer at their Cape Cod cottages. They’re funny, flawed, and will have you begging to enter their circle of friends. You met them in READ, WRITE, LOVE, (The Remingtons, Book 5), follow these friends on their search for forever love in the Seaside Summers series. COMING SUMMER 2014.
Bella Abbascia has returned to Seaside Cottages in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, as she does every summer. Only this year, Bella has more on her mind than sunbathing and skinny-dipping with her girlfriends. She’s quit her job, put her house on the market, and sworn off relationships while she builds a new life in her favorite place on earth. That is, until good-time Bella’s prank takes a bad turn and a sinfully sexy police officer appears on the scene.
Single father and police officer Caden Grant left Boston with his fourteen-year-old son, Evan, after his partner was killed in the line of duty. He hopes to find a safer life in the small resort town of Wellfleet, and when he meets Bella during a night patrol shift, he realizes he’s found the one thing he’d never allowed himself to hope for—or even realized he was missing.
After fourteen years of focusing solely on his son, Caden cannot resist the intense attraction he feels toward beautiful Bella, and Bella’s powerless to fight the heat of their budding romance. But starting over proves more difficult than either of them imagined, and when Evan gets mixed up with the wrong kids, Caden’s loyalty is put to the test. Will he give up everything to protect his son—even Bella?
He talks dirty to me, but I don’t know his name.
He wants to tie me up, but I don’t know his face.
He turns me on, but I couldn’t point him out in a crowd.
I’ve fallen for an anonymous stranger, and now the anonymity ends. I want more than typed secrets and texted promises. I want something reckless. Heat. Passion. The thrill of being entirely possessed.
Because I suspect this anonymous stranger isn’t a stranger at all.
*****
Lizzy Thompson met riverrat69 online through a service promising to deliver meaningful relationships by forbidding its users to share names or photos until they’ve reached a certain benchmark. She was looking for love. He was researching an investment. They hit it off. Talked and flirted, hid behind screen names and cartoon avatars.
Now they’re breaking the rules and meeting in person. But Liz is prepared. She’s picked up hints and followed clues. She’s nearly convinced she’s discovered the identity of her dirty-talking online friend.
She wonders if her ex-lover Sam Bradshaw knows her identity too. When she rolls the dice on one reckless night, her chance at something real could crumble.
Escape Into Reading 