Colters' Woman Winner!!

First, let me say, that every time I've typed in the title of this book, I've typed in "Colter's Woman" then had to go back and change it to "Colters' Woman". Apparently that apostrophe likes to mess with my head....

Anyhoo, there were less than 10 entries in my Silly Little Giveaway, so we wrote down the names on paper and I let my middle child pick the winner ('cause 8-year-olds luuvvvv that kind of thing). And here to announce the winners are the Colter Brothers:

SusiSunshine!!!!

Congratulations! Please send me your mailing address (my e-mail is in my profile) and I'll get it out to you - I have to be honest though, I'm not going anywhere near the post office before Christmas, so expect it sometime in the New Year!

Last Day to Enter My Contest and Bloggish Thoughts of the New Year

Today is the last day to enter my Silly Little Giveaway! Enter here to win a copy of Colters' Woman!


I just realized my blog is 6 months old! Very cool. I have always loved to read and I really enjoy the comraderie and friendships in the book blog world. I think I've mentioned before that I have three kids, each about 8 years apart. With the birth of each child, I stopped reading for a few years, until they didn't need constant supervision and I could sit back with a book, confident that I could get in at least a few pages before Mommy was needed to grab something out of reach or assist with a task. My youngest child is three now, and when she was two I picked up reading again - I read the Twilight saga. Then a co-worker recommended Sherrilyn Kenyon, and then I found the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Oh my! I trolled the internet for more, more, more! Then, while I was googling sexy vampire books, I found Ms. Moonlight , Mandi, VampFanGirl, and Cecile. I had no idea there were blogs dedicated to books out there! I had been keeping a personal blog for awhile, and thought to myself, why not? My co-worker who recommended the Dark Hunters had moved to another job, and I didn't know anyone else who was into these kinds of books, so I jumped in with both feet and am so glad I did!


Now that 2010 is peeking around the corner, I'm thinking of ways to improve. I see features on other blogs that I like and thought about incorporating some of them here:

I'm wondering if I need a button? Are they better than a regular link?
I'd like to try a rating system (probably stars, I guess: 1-5 like Goodreads system?)

I'd like to link to reviews by other bloggers to the book I'm reviewing.

I've seen where some people put the ISBN # and where you can purchase it, price, etc., do people really find that helpful? I usually just write down the author and title and go to my local bookstore.

We're doing Christmas at our house, so I'll be around a bit, but headed out to Houston for New Year's Eve. I'm looking forward to the three Challenges I've signed up for and if my sidebar is any indication 2010 is going to be a great year for reading!!

WANT!!!

I stumbled across this today, and want one (or more!); They're available here or here.

Beloved Highlander by Sara Benentt

Gregor Grant was the son of the laird of Glen Dhui. Then, there was a rebellion against the English, and England won. He and his father were thrown from their land and the English took over.

Years later, General Mackintosh now owns Glen Dhui. His daughter, Meg, is his only heir. He has promised her in marriage to the Duke of Abercauldy, but recently found out the Duke was responsible for the death of his previous wife and is scared for Meg's future. He sends Meg out into the country to find Gregor and bring him back to Glen Dhui. Meg does not know it but her father plans to ask Gregor to marry Meg - that way she'll be safe from the Duke.

When she finds Gregor, he is drunk and injured from a duel over a woman. He eventually agrees to go back to Glen Dhui for a fee, and she patches him up. Of course, on the way back to Glen Dhui she finds she is attracted to him and he is attracted to her, but stubbornly they each decide not to act on it.

Once they arrive at Glen Dhui, her father fills Gregor in on his plans and all the problems that would be solved by the marriage. The people who rely on Glen Dhui for protection will all rally under Gregor, whom they all remember and respect, and Meg will be safe from the Duke. When Meg learns of the plan, she fights it but eventually agrees it would be the best solution. The wedding is rushed when some of the Duke's men come over to the castle to check on Meg. Passion abounds in the marriage bed, but neither is sure if the other cares for them or if the marriage is just one of convenience and sex.

To make matters more confusing, the woman Gregor had dueled over in the beginning of the book shows up on their doorstep! Gregor grabs her to tell her to leave, but Meg sees and thinks he's embracing her. Hurt, she turns away. While this is going on, the Duke has learned of the marriage and is enraged. He sends a party back to Glen Dhui and kidnaps - the wrong woman!!

This story was pretty good. It's better than my review makes it out to be. There was a secondary story going on with some of the side characters that was interesting. I liked watching Gregor's development from a gruff, grumpy loner to an upstanding and honest character.

Thursday Thoughts

I was talking to my SIL the other day, and we were talking about the Friends To Lovers storyline. I said I really like that plot...and I also like Love Triangles, Marriage of Convenience, Enemies to Lovers....at which point she stopped me and said, "Maybe you should just list what you don't like!" I laughed and said "anything with a baby, 'cause that's too much like real life."

That got me to thinking about what I do look for in a story....I certainly enjoy the scenarios listed above, and Oh My Goodness I do love me a sexy Highlander. Alpha males? check. (Tats a plus) Kick-ass heroines? check.....weeeelllll, usually. I get frustrated when they're so kick-ass they forget they're human (if indeed they are human) and can't accept any help from others. I love, love, love vampire and shapeshifter romance. Fairies sometimes. I haven't read too many stories with witches, except for Kim Harrison's Hollows series, which I really like. Ghosts just don't do it for me. And, you know I can't resist a story set in New Orleans. It gets me every time!

I like historicals, and I've recently discovered contemporaries, which I like very much too. Futuristic? Not so much, which is why I keep shying away from trying Ann Aguire's Grimspace novels, even though I hear they are awesome. I should give them a try, as I did like Lauren Dane's Undercover...

I also shy away from Cowboy romance and anything that takes place on a ship, which is why, although I loved Goddess of the Hunt, I haven't been able to read the second book because it takes place on a ship! The third book sounds wonderful but I've got to read book 2 first and I haven't been able to make myself do it yet!

Okay, I'll also admit I'm lovin' the erotica (as long as the participants aren't related *cough* Coulters' Woman *cough*) - m/m? check. Menage? check. I've learned that I am a smutty, smutty girl! This would be another instance of my having the brain of a teenage boy  Smut = I loves it!!


I'm on the fence about YA. I like it, but it's not usually my first pick. There are a few YA series I love (hello Twilight and Vampire Academy) but for the most part I've resisted, which is probably a huge loss on my part. I've got a couple of YA in my TBR that have been sitting there yelling "pick me! pick me!" for awhile that I really should read.

Undercover by Lauren Dane

I picked up this book because I liked Laid Bare, and while browsing Amazon saw this book was on sale. Whoo-eee! I didn't realize it was a futuristic story, as I don't usually enjoy that sort of book, but this one was great. Sooo sexy.

Sera Ayers was in love with Ash Walker 10 years ago. He was totally Dominant and she loved submitting to him. He was the love of her life and he ended up having to marry for political reasons. Sera refused to be his sanctioned mistress. She was bitter and depressed and channeled her energy into advancing her military career.

Fast forward 1o years, and Sera is called in to her commanders office for a new assignment. She'll be working with Ash and Brandt Pela as an undercover group to travel to another planet to gather information about who is selling weapons and information to federation enemies. She is supposed to pose as Ash's concubine, but she refuses and agrees to pose as Brandt's concubine. Once they're there, though, someone notices she has Ash's mark on her (she never had it removed) and ends up having to pose as concubine to both men. I liked that the men interacted with each other as well as Sera.

Ash explains to her what's happened to him in the last 10 years, including divorce from his wife and that he never got over Sera. Sera never got over Ash either, but she's wary of seeing him again. Because of their mission, she's already involved with Brandt, and when Ash gets involved everyone is happy.

The covert mission is interesting, and the relationship between the three is complex. I enjoyed the ending once the mission was over. This was a fun read with a lot of sexin'!

Highland Knight by Hannah Howell

(For some reason it was hard to find a cover for this book)

This was my first book by Hannah Howell. I haven't seen any reviews of her books that I'm aware of, but I've seen a lot of her books at the bookstore so I picked up a few. I hope they're not all like this one.

It's not that I didn't like the story - the premise was good: Avery, a highland lady, and her cousin, Gillyanne, are kidnapped and given to Cameron, a rival clan leader, as payment for a debt. When he realizes Avery is the sister of the man who dishonored Cameron's own sister, he thinks fate has kissed him. He plans to dishonor Avery, and hold her as ransom to force Avery's brother to marry Cameron's sister, Katherine.

This was another story where you had to suspend disbelief a bit - Avery of course falls in love with Cameron, who is still planning to deflower her and return her to her family after her brother marries Katherine. I had a hard time buying that she would fall in love with a man like that. I liked two of the secondary characters, Gillyanne and Leargan, Cameron's second-in-command. Gillyanne was a bit creepy as she was only 13 but had the demeanor of a much older woman, so in my head she was a peer of Avery's and not a child. Leargan was a good foil for Cameron and I enjoyed him quite a bit. All I will say about Cameron's sister Katherine is that she was a real piece of work!

My main issue with this book was the way Ms. Howell wrote the dialogue - she used a lot of phonetic spelling and it was confusing to me; I couldn't just read clean through but had to think about what the words actually were. Phrases like "Ye cannae and ye ken it. " and "She has kenned my plans from the beginning." Cameron said tersely as he mounted. "I have ne'er lied to her." I found it a bit frustrating; I don't want to have to stop and sound it out. Also, they said "mon" for man and that bugged me because a)I kept waiting for a Jamacian to jump out of the background, and b) it was too close to mons - which, well, I'm not going there.

I will say this - this book had one of the best final paragraphs ever. It was so sweet and in my mind atypical for an ending in that it was not the hero and heroine kissing and fading into happily ever after, although you know there will be one.

I have two more of Ms. Howell's books and am going to give them a try - it's possible this particular book was just not the book for me.

Silly Little Giveaway

Well, I recently posted a mixed review of Colters' woman, and I thought the mix of comments was interesting (my review is here). I've decided to give away my gently used copy of Colters' Woman.

I have only two requirements:

1 - you must follow my blog, and

2 - I'd like you to review it. You can either do a guest post here or review it on your own blog, but I'd like to read your thoughts.

Just leave a comment telling me you'd like to read and review Colters' Woman between now and midnight on Tuesday, December 22. Contest is open to everyone.

I'm In No Mood For Love by Rachel Gibson

I picked this book up in the bookstore about a week ago, and I must have liked the looks of it because I bought it up again two days later! Yes, that's right - I bought it twice.

Clare Wingate is a young, wealthy woman who just walked in on her fiance doing the washing machine repair MAN. She doesn't get any time to think about it because she has to stand in her best friend's wedding that evening. After the wedding, she has a bit too much to drink and wakes up in a hotel room, naked, and can't remember much after the wedding. Then her childhood friend/nemesis Sebastian Vaughn walks comes out of her shower! He tells her she was wild in bed; she's mortified and makes a quick exit.

Sebastian Vaughn is a world famous journalist who's come home to try to connect with his estranged father. His mother recently died and he realizes his father is all the family he's got left. His father is Clare's mother's gardner. He doesn't know why he lied about sleeping with Clare at the hotel but thinks it was fun to tease her.

Clare and Sebastian are thrown together a few times and the attraction is strong. She tries to fight it as she is still hurting from the betrayal of her ex-fiance and Sebastian is not looking for a commitment. The end up dating but when Clare realizes her feelings may be more than casual, she gets scared and Sebastian gets angry.

I won't give anything away but the ending was good.

This was a nice story. There were no villians, no natural disasters or horrible accidents, just the interaction between the H/H moving the story along. I liked it. Ms. Gibson is a new-to-me author and I'll be looking for more of her work.

Colters' Woman by Maya Banks

I'd read what I remembered to be great reviews about this book, so when I saw it on the shelf I grabbed it! Oh. My. God. I don't even know where to begin...Let me just say up front this review is going to be all over the place. The placemnt of the apostrophe in the title should have been my first clue.

Let me start by saying I like Maya Banks' work. I really liked Be With Me and her Sweet series is awesome! Colters' Woman? Not so much. From page one, you have to drop your disbelief at the front door and pick it up on your way out. I spent almost the whole book thinking "that would never happen" or "WTF?"

The book starts with Adam Coulter, the oldest of three brothers, going out in the snow to get the mail and he sees a woman passed out in the ditch. He rushes over and picks her up to get her inside and immediately gets a hard-on. (My first thought is what kind of guy gets a hard-on for an unconscious woman? But I digress....) He gets her in the house, strips off her clothes, and puts her in the tub to warm up. Then, after she wakes up, and he's got her out of the tub and she's asleep, he sneaks in and gets into bed with her and gets her off with his hands. She thinks to herself WTF and then just as quickly she's okay with it.

Holly is on the run from her husband. She left him on their wedding day after she saw him murder someone. He's looking for her and she's running scared.

Here's the thing with the brothers: Adam is the oldest, kind of Alpha (I guess), Ethan is the middle brother, he's sweet, and Ryan is the youngest, he's an Iraq war vet with some low-grade PTSD. They've been looking for a woman to share. Yes, share. As in BROTHERS HAVING SEX WITH THE SAME WOMAN AT THE SAME TIME. Apparently their fathers had one wife and their grandfathers had one wife. I think I would have been okay with the brothers having sex with her one at a time (which they did) but they also had sex with her at the same time. They didn't care who went where - one would get off inside her and the next one would literally stick it in...mouth, vag, ass; she was like a living blow up doll. And did I mention they're BROTHERS!? I think I also forgot to mention that Holly is a virgin, and her first sexual encounter is with the three brothers.

Oh yeah, back to the plotline - The brothers talk Holly into being "theirs" and she agrees to it (pretty quickly) and they want to help her get a divorce from her husband. She tells the husband if he doesn't leave her alone she'll tell the authorities about the man she saw him kill. Holly thinks it's okay and she can be with the Coulters, but her ex-husband hires someone to kill her. That part of the storyline was pretty good.

I did like seeing Holly go from a scared little girl to a more confident woman as the story progressed. And Ryan's changes as she helps with his war memories is sweet but brief. I think I would have liked this book more if it was about three friends and not brothers. The ending was sweet but too quick.