Wednesday Reads

When you drive to a convention (8-9 hour car ride one-way) and stand in lots of long lines, you tend to get a lot of reading done. Boy, did this weekend up my book count on Goodreads! Here’s what I finished reading this week:

Aug 28: “The Enraged” by Brett Battles. This is the seventh book in the Jonathan Quinn series, a thriller. Blurb on back: The rescue on Duran Island did not go as planned. Jonathan Quinn knows that someone is responsible. That someone decided throwing people Quinn cares about into the line of fire in a cold-hearted act of self-preservation was a good idea. He also knows that this someone has made a serious mistake. Because when Quinn gets mad, the last place anyone should ever be is in his crosshairs. He will not stop until the guilty pay. Sometimes revenge is best served now. After I finished reading the sixth book of this series, I immediately bought this one because I just hate being left hanging like that. Any other author and I might not have bothered, but I love this series and the characters. I would have preferred not to have been played with that way, but it is what it is, I guess. I enjoyed this book just like all the others and glad to see the story come to a satisfying end. I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.

Aug 30: “Conquest of the Heart” by Michele Stegman. This is a historical romance. Blurb from Goodreads: Her people conquered his country. How can they overcome the distrust they feel to find love? Madeline wants a big, brash, never-defeated-in-battle, Norman knight. What she gets, by order of the king, is a wiry Saxon who once studied for the priesthood instead of warfare. But is this gentle man she has fallen in love with entangled in the rebellion now sweeping the land? Ranulf wants to marry the girl next door. What he gets, by order of the king, is a lush, strong Norman woman who just might be a spy reporting his every move. He wants her in every way a man can possibly want a woman. But can he trust his heart to a woman who might have been sent to root out the struggle for freedom his people are engaged in? It had been decades since I’ve read a historical book set in the 1000s, so I got lost a little in the terminology. I liked the characters and romance (even if the hero did have a beard - not crazy about them!). It was a good story and I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

Sep 2: “Sleight of Hand” by CJ Lyons. This is the second book in the Hart & Drake series. Blurb from Goodreads: Two months ago Dr. Cassandra Hart was forced to kill a man. The man who murdered her best friend, almost killed Drake and seriously wounded her. Now she's back at work in her Pittsburgh ER, but nothing seems the same. When she fears that a young boy is being abused by his "perfect" mother, her friends and colleagues worry that she's returned to work too soon, imagining dangers that don't exist. Others accuse her of trying to cover up her own alleged mistakes in the boy's treatment by making a false report of abuse. Drake's facing problems of his own, trying to cope with the aftermath of the night two months ago when his passion for Cassie led to a confrontation with a killer. He's on desk duty, reviewing cold cases, and delves into the homicide case that killed his father seven years ago. But after so long, what good can he do, a cop without a gun? The stakes escalate when Cassie is almost killed and Drake finds evidence that the killer his father was tracking might be planning to strike again--this time targeting a young boy. It had been several months since I read the first book and there wasn’t much to remind me about it in the beginning of this one. When I have trouble remembering who the characters are, that pretty much tells me it’s not memorable. Still, this book helped pass the time pleasurably, but it was also easy to put down. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

Sep 3: “Face to Face” by CJ Lyons. This is the final book in the Hart and Drake series. Blurb from Goodreads: In Hart and Drake, Book #1, NERVES OF STEEL, you met the ER doctor who never gives up… In the second book, SLEIGHT OF HAND, you saw Hart and Drake risk everything to save a child and you knew they were meant to be together. Now, see what happens when they lose it all… Drake hunts a stalker with deadly intentions. Hart fights for justice for one special victim while also fending off her ex and his family as they try to destroy everything she holds dear. Neither realizes the real danger lies with an old enemy whose fury has grown and will not be satisfied with anything less than Hart and Drake’s blood. With the lives of two children at stake, how can they walk away? I read this in one day, while driving home from Atlanta, so it made the trip a lot nicer than it could have been. Still, I thought the characters did some pretty stupid stuff, which kept my rating lower than usual. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

Now that I’m back home, I can spend my time writing more than reading. At least during the day!! Happy reading!

Stacy