Wednesday Reads

I’m home! Long trip and now I have laundry and mail to sort. Fun stuff! Haha! Here’s what I read during the last week:

Oct 18: “Danger Close” by Lindsay McKenna. This is a military romance. Blurb from Goodreads: Placing women in ground combat is only a test for Congress, but for volunteer Corporal Cathy Fremont it's life...and probably death. In the exotic jungles of Thailand, she's trapped in a hotbed of deception and abuse because the enemy she can't escape is on her side of the battle line. One risk she doesn't need is an alliance with a marine, but trusting intense Captain Jim Boland might be her only chance of survival.
Caught in the crosshairs of danger and political intrigue, Jim must sacrifice his hidden agenda to protect the woman who reawakens the passion inside him. But deadly corruption is closer than they think, and may destroy them both. I am not the intended audience for this book, but it was a freebie and I wanted to give it a try. I liked the romance very much and cared for the characters, but the head hopping really got on my nerves and the military stuff kind of dragged it down for me (I guess I had enough of the military when I was IN it!). So for MY benefit only, I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads. Don’t let that sway you, though. If you like military romance, you’ll probably feel differently about this book than I do.

Oct 21: “Secrets of a Mayan Moon” by Paty Jager. This is the first book of the Isabella Mumphrey series, a romantic action-adventure. Blurb from Goodreads: Child prodigy and now Doctor of Anthropology, Isabella Mumphrey, is about to lose her job at the university. In the world of publish or perish, her mentor’s request for her assistance on a dig is just the opportunity she’s been seeking. If she can decipher an ancient stone table—and she can—she’ll keep her department. She heads to Guatemala, but drug trafficking bad guys, artifact thieves, and her infatuation for her handsome guide wreak havoc on her scholarly intentions. DEA agent Tino Kosta, is out to avenge the deaths of his family. He’s deep undercover as a jaguar tracker and sometimes jungle guide, but the appearance of a beautiful, brainy anthropologist heats his Latin blood taking him on a dangerous detour that could leave them both casualties of the jungle. I don’t know if I ever read an action-adventure and I enjoyed the story in this one. I just wish I fell in love with the hero. For some reason he wasn’t believable to me, which was a shame. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads (although it’s more like 3.5).

Oct 22: “How I Met My Husband: The Real-Life Love Stories of 25 Romance Authors” by Michele Stegman (and others). I’m not going to dispense with the blurb, since the title pretty much says it all. These were originally on a blog and Michele put it in book form, which is free on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Some cute stories and each author also has an excerpt from their book (which I mostly skimmed over). This doesn’t show on Goodreads, but if it did I’d give it 3 stars.

Seems Lyrical Press’s blog has been quiet since the 18th. If I see any more activity regarding Celebrate Paranormal Month, then I’ll start posting the links again.

I feel like I have to get caught up on so much stuff since I've been away. Like exercising. Yep, didn’t do ANY of that and I’m not really looking forward to going back to the gym. But go back I must. We’ll see how I do.

Happy reading!

Stacy