A new Saturday post where you can share with us what you are currently (or just finished) reading and I will share my brief thoughts on books that I read during the previous week.
June 26th - July 1st
The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian
Releases July 4th!
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Goodreads |
- First time reading Sebastian, will definitely read more from her
- Solid writing, enjoyable story
- Hot chemistry!
- One hero is bi, the other gay
- YES IN A HISTORICAL! Stop thinking that only white cishet people got HEAs in historical time
- Set up
- Lord Courtenay is an infamous rake -- you name it, he's guilty of it
- His brother-in-law (apparently the hero from book 2, btw) thinks he is the wrong influence to have around his young nephew
- So Courtenay stops his rakish ways in order to prove he should be able to see him
- Enter Julian Medlock, who has worked hard over the years to be one of the most respected gentlemen in the ton
- Julian's sister, a friend to Courtenay, hopes that her brother's respectability can rub off on Courtenay
- Of course, while Julian is working to make Courtenay respectable to society, Courtenay is trying to lure him into some decidedly . . . unrespectable fun :)
- No review for this one; I don't know what more to say -- I really did enjoy this one! But I'm having a hard time coming up with anything to expand upon in a full review.
Find all my tweeted quotes HERE
A Change of Heart by Sonali Dev
Audiobook from Overdrive
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Audio Goodreads |
Narration rating = 4 Stars
Rating = 5 Stars
July Royal Pick
- TRIGGER WARNING: Rape. Quite graphic, revisited in memory. Plus the lingering emotions/affect/hangups from it throughout.
- But if that's not an issue for you, highly highly recommend this one!
- Emotional as fuck
- From both the hero and heroine
- Beautiful writing
- Wish I hadn't been listening -- only because it's hard to share passages and quotes! Will reread at some point to be able to share quotes
- He's a doctor, widowed when his wife, also a doctor, was killed (which is part of the entire plot so I won't explain too much past this basic info)
- She's a single mother, a Bollywood chorus dancer, who has been blackmailed into approaching him in order to find evidence that his late wife hid
- At its core, this is a story of two broken characters coming together and making something new with their lives
- Cannot wait for Dev's next book (December), which will feature a couple hinted at in the end of this book.
- Narrator: Great, I really enjoyed listening to this story from her
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
Overdrive -- Ebook
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Goodreads |
Rating = 3 Stars
- American historical set during the Civil War
- Heroine is (obviously) a freed black woman working as a spy for the Union
- She's undercover as a slave in a Senator's house
- Loved how fierce she is, plus a bit of a sassy mouth
- Hero is a Scottish-American, and also a spy for the Union
- But he's undercover as a Confederate soldier
- He's great and luckily understands that he holds a power (white man), even if he doesn't believe in such power
- Treats her well, listens to her, believes her -- all the good things a hero should
- My average rating has more to do with me than the book, I swear -- I'm just in one of those Meh-What-Is-Wrong-Why-Is-Nothing-Wowing-Me moods
- Nothing wrong with this book at all! I liked it, and love that we're getting romances like this -- long overdue and definitely underrepresented in the genre
- I'll definitely try Cole again because I can't pinpoint anything about this book that bothered me, it was truly just a case of "It's not you, it's me (right now)"
Find all my tweeted quotes HERE
The Red by Tiffany Reisz
Releases July 11th
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Goodreads |
I'll be doing . . . not quite a review, but a little discussion about this one Monday, along with a fun giveaway from Reisz. Be sure to come back then! :)
I will say this was a kinky, filthy erotic story that won't appeal to all readers -- and that's okay! I quite enjoyed it though, and I always love seeing Reisz try new things.
Find all my tweeted quotes HERE
The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks
Audiobook from Overdrive
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Audio Goodreads |
Narration rating = 2 Stars
Rating = 2 Stars
- Divorced mother (human)
- Curvy
- School teacher
- Dreams of designing clothes, does some minor things for herself
- French vampire
- World famous fashion designer
- Picked this one up because, again, none of my holds were ready. I really didn't like this one. Didn't hate it like some rage books I've ranted about this year, but definitely didn't love it
- Something about the heroine's size and talk of "fat people" in general in this book, rubbed me the wrong way but I can't pinpoint exactly WHAT my issue was/give examples
- Heroine is perhaps the most oblivious, clueless woman ever
- Despite a million OBVIOUS CLUES, she never realizes that he's a vampire -- until he tells her at nearly 70%
- And even then she's convinced that if anything he's just this vague "immortal", and when he finally says vampire she's all "No way, those don't exist!" (But, what, an "immortal" does? IDK, stupid things but her clueless-ness was annoying, not funny)
- Honestly these vampires might be the worst vampires ever because people were always sneaking up on them and shit --- dude, you all have super hearing and smell and all that, WHY ARE YOU SO CLUELESS TOO?
- INSTA-LOVE
- No, not fated mates even -- he never thinks anything like that; I can sometimes deal with fated mates type of love, but that was not the case here
- Just BAM, he's in love with her even though they literally knew nothing about one another beyond a few of the most shallow, superficial things
- I didn't see the romance build, didn't get why he suddenly loved her, etc
- IDK, just a bunch of little things about this one that either bored me or made me roll my eyes
- 2 stars mainly because it didn't make me rage like a true WTF 1 star read
- A few fun lines, but not nearly enough to change my mind on this one
- Narrator = Pretty bad, especially her accents. She'd sometimes start and randomly drop them when switching character voices
- Her Scottish accent was cringe worthy -- and didn't even sound Scottish, really
- The accent for one character -- I think he was supposed to be Italian? -- sounded like the most cliche attempt at a Luigi accent or something. It was just horrible
- Will I try another from Sparks? I'm not sure. If I ever do, it'll be a long time -- I'm in no rush. And probably not in audio, if this is her usual narrator
Currently Listening To:
Yep, still waiting on my library holds. This one was available, I do enjoy Quinn, and I adore Landor's narration, so it's not a hardship to pick this one up, really. :)
Currently Reading:
Almost done.
Starting this ARC next. M/M romance featuring an FBI hero and a wealthy Southern gentleman.
So what are YOU currently reading?
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Audio Goodreads |
Yep, still waiting on my library holds. This one was available, I do enjoy Quinn, and I adore Landor's narration, so it's not a hardship to pick this one up, really. :)
Currently Reading:
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| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Goodreads |
Done
The winner of this week's #TBQsTBR pick (poll runs every Sunday on my Twitter!). First time reading Snyder. |
| Kindle | NOOK | Kobo Goodreads Releases 7/11 |
Starting this ARC next. M/M romance featuring an FBI hero and a wealthy Southern gentleman.
So what are YOU currently reading?
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!
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