Baseball Fun and Wednesday Reads

Went to my first Reds game of the season yesterday (probably my only, too—the price of attending can get costly) and Joey Votto is hurt! Boo Hoo! I wanted to see him play. I wore my jersey anyway.

I was pretty sure the Reds were going to lose. They were down 5-0 at the end of 4. And they were playing the Cubs! But in the 5th they scored 1. In the 6th they scored 1 in the 7th they scored 2 (whoo hoo) and in the 8th they tied it up! Now the game was getting exciting (whereas before I had wanted to sleep). Billy Hamilton (my next favorite player after Votto), scored the winning run in the 9th! With the 35 minute rain delay at the beginning, we didn’t get home until 1am and then the hubs didn’t set his alarm, so I didn’t get this posted on time. Oh well, it was a great game (after those miserable first four innings—I know, it’s never a great game if your team loses, huh, and our friends, who are Cubs fans, didn’t think it was such a great game).

Next up: on Friday AND Saturday I’ll be attending Dragons games. Lots of baseball! Love it.

Now onto what I read during the week:

Jul 5: “Hawk” by Patricia A. Rasey, #2 in the Sons of Sangue series, a paranormal romance. Blurb on back: Kaleb “Hawk” Tepes, as president of the Sons of Sangue and descendant of Vlad III, needs to keep his head focused on club business. Trouble is someone wants to divest him of it for a crime he committed against his vampire predecessors. He can’t afford distractions, especially those that come in the form of a five-foot-two sprite named Suzi, who once belonged to his nephew. In a moment of weakness, he makes a snap decision that can only spell trouble. Now faced with the one person who wants him dead, Kaleb must make the ultimate sacrifice or chance losing the only woman he truly desired forever. Suzi Stevens has tried hard to put her past behind her and move forward. The one man she yearns for over all others, believes her to be nothing but cold-hearted. Hearing that someone has tried to behead him, she shelves past prejudices and rushes to his side, needing to see for herself that he’s all right. What she doesn’t count on is Hawk’s demand to take her a s his personal blood donor. Now forced to endure his company, she fears losing her heart for all eternity to the one person who has the power to crush her. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Let me start out and say: Kaleb was an ass through a good portion of this book, but sometimes I think all men are (at one time or another), so I could forgive him. Sexy and suspenseful with some hot, hot, hot vampires. I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.

Jul 8: “Deadly Chemistry” by Teri Anne Stanley, a romantic suspense. Blurb from Goodreads: Former undercover cop Mike Gibson has been lying low, working as a maintenance man to put his troubled younger brother through college. But when a beautiful scientist enlists Mike’s help to repair the damage done to her lab by a group of vandals, Mike finds that his, and his brother's pasts, are about to be brought to light. Laura Kane was happy having a secret crush on the hot maintenance man at Tucker University, but when the drug she was studying is stolen, Laura has a chance to get to know Mike in person. The problem is, he seems to know more about what's going on than any maintenance man should. But then the drug turns up in the wrong hands, and Mike and Laura have to decide if their own chemistry will help, or hinder, the race to save innocent lives. Okay, Goodreads states the character’s name as Laura, but it’s actually Lauren! Oops. This was a fun, light-hearted read, yeah, even for a romantic suspense. From the cute meet, I realized this book was not made to be serious, so I went in and enjoyed the ride. If you’re looking for a quick, fun read, this is your book. Don’t worry about the science-nerdy stuff if that’s not your thing. It’s not really all that nerdy. But if it is your thing, the hot-hero stuff more than makes up for that. J I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

 

Now, let me state up front: I met Patricia Rasey at RAGT and I know Teri Anne Stanley. I was "signing" next to Patricia (well, she was signing and I was just sitting there looking pretty) and we got to talking (she's from Toledo!!). Her books were very popular that day (heck, I bought them, too!). And Teri Anne Stanley is in my OVRWA chapter, so yes, I bought her book because of that. But my "reviews" are for real. I'm super glad I enjoyed these books, or I wouldn't have said ANYTHING at all about them (which should be a major hint when I don't enjoy a book, huh?).

So… Did you get enough sleep last night? I’m thinking I didn’t. J

Happy reading!

Stacy