TBQ'S Book Palace: Whatcha Reading? (May 12th)

Romancelandia Recap

The Good

If you enjoyed Tiffany's Reisz's erotic tale, The Red, I have good news for you: there's a sequel (different characters, same world) coming out in spring of 2019. Find out more about The Rose HERE.

Kit Rocha -- aka, Donna and Bree -- signed on to do a series with Tor Books (post-apoc romance) that is described as a cross between Orphan Black and Avengers. Not release dates yet. You can find out more about the series HERE. I am SUPER excited about this, and so is Jen!

More book news -- Jaci Burton has a new series starting in 2019, and there's a cover for book 1, Hot to the Touch, up on her Twitter. Find out more about the book/series on her website HERE.

The Bad

If you want to know a bit more about what's going on with the author trademarking "cocky", Milan has a thread with some good links and info. Much like last week, there's still so much going on with this situation, it's kind of hard to link to everything/explain everything. But this is a good source of some of the basics. Said author also couldn't stay off of social media, and did an hour and a half video on FB which was . . . um, a hot fucking mess, much like her/this entire situation. I didn't see the video, and as I understand it she took it down. BUT, Jenny Trout did a live-tweet of it. (It was uploaded to Youtube for a few hours, but was then taken down.)

My Week

The lilacs in my yard are starting to bloom and I have my windows open most days. So I guess spring is finally here! If you're following the Yard Saga from a few weeks ago -- my yard is still a jungle mess because my mower is still not working. Who needs a nice looking yard though, really? *sigh* Besides, my yard is messy, my house is messy, AND my life is messy. So I must get points for consistency, right?

A bit of a slow reading week for me again. Why can't I get an extra hour each day to read? Or ten? Hell, I just need more hours in the day, period, and not only for reading.

Anyway, let's move on to what I read this week and what books are keeping me company this weekend!

What I Read:

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
Narrated by Kim Staunton
2 Stars

✦ Biracial hero passing as white; rich
✦ Cook on her way to California
✦ He rescues her in the Nevada desert
✦ IDK, writing is fine, narrator was fine. I didn’t feel/care about the couple at all
✦ Where’s the romance development tho?
✦ I mean, he's still engaged to another woman until 50 PERCENT IN and she's still seeing other beaus until 69 PERCENT IN and then suddenly they see each other again and proclaim their love and desire to wed ASAP. Uhhhhh no. Sorry, but no, that doesn't work for me. They barely even spoke, and definitely nothing that would lead to a budding relationship, before any of that.
✦ I mean, I guess the last 25% of the book was decent and the two had their moments together -- but I'm reading a damn romance; I expect the romance to start LONG BEFORE the last 25% of the book!
✦ Also, he's a Republican and I don't care about the time period or history or anything else -- I just can't with a Republican man, IRL or in my romances.
✦ On the bright side, one line during a sex scene lead to quite a thread on Twitter.
✦ BTW, the sex was pretty much MIA as well. A few brief fingerbanging Os for her, which usually I'm HERE FOR but I was just meh about this book overall so I couldn't even get excited about the sex, either. No on-page intercourse, either.

Goodreads

Kindle | NOOK | Kobo

Rogue Hearts (anthology)
3 Stars

✦ 6 novellas (5 M/F, 1 M/M)
✦ Black VP heroine
✦ Journalists
✦ Rockstar + lawyer
✦ Librarian + cop
✦ . . . My mind is drawing a blank on the other two couples . . . [This is my fault, not the authors!]
✦ Overall: A nice sampling, but I wanted more from all the stories. So much potential! I see that Amy Jo Cousin's (Librarian + cop, M/M) will become a full story, which makes me happy because here it ended before it even started! But I don't think any of the others are going to be turned into anything longer and that makes me sad.
✦ IDK, novellas/short stories are not always my thing, so take that with a grain of salt

Find all the quotes I shared HERE

Goodreads

Kindle | NOOK | Kobo

Pas De Deux by Lynn Turner
4 1/2 Stars

✦ Black ballerina [French]
✦ Slightly older choreographer / dancer [American]
✦ He gets her to come to NYC to star in his show; the two are also dance partners for the show
✦ GORGEOUS writing, esp. the dancing
✦ Fantastic tension and banter throughout
✦ MASTURBATION FTW! For both!
✦ The sex scenes were not overly graphic BUT were still really quite hot and sensual and intimate
✦ I just loved it 😍
✦ Yes, there were a few things that I would have liked developed a bit more but honestly I'm too in love with everything else to ding the book down more for that
✦ Cannot wait for more from Turner!

Find all the quotes I shared HERE

Goodreads

Kindle | NOOK | Kobo

Currently Listening To:

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Kindle | NOOK | Kobo

Goodreads

First book in a beloved UF series. I'm just about done and really enjoyed it, so I'll be back for more. She's a grim reaper and PI. He's the son of Satan. One thing I fucking loved: in the opening chapter, she's having wet dream orgasms because of him. I am HERE FOR THINGS LIKE THIS in my romance (or even UF, as it were).

Not sure what I'm going to listen to for the rest of the weekend. None of my library holds came in so I'm stuck scrolling through the WHY IS THIS BOOK IN THE ROMANCE TAG IT'S NOT ROMANCE section of my Overdrive. *sigh*

Currently Reading:

Stripped by Tara Wyatt

Kindle | NOOK | Kobo

Goodreads

Out Tue (15th)

The hero has to go undercover as a male stripper for a case! Um, yes please, I'm already here for this! Also, they had a 1NS . . . and then SURPRISE! She's his new partner. (An elite detectives group of sorts.)

Want to follow along as I read this? I'm tagging my quotes on Twitter HERE.