A Place for Romance: Paranormal | Fantasy | Futuristic | Contemporary | Historical | Suspense | & Asian Dramas

12.31.2016

Total Reads in Twenty-Sixteen




Well, look at that... The new standard.

Actually, I read far more than 12 books this year. But children's books don't count towards my blog goal, unfortunately. If they did, I'd be back in that one book a day category. More than that, actually.

But those days are far behind me.

And the days of lesson plans and science experiments are here and ahead. And history books... oh the history books.


  1. Mastering the Mistress (BotK 14.5) by Evangeline Anderson (1/07)
  2. Forgotten (BotK #16) by Evangeline Anderson (01/20)
  3. Final Protocol by J.C. Daniels (01/21)
  4. The 100 by Kass Morgan (02/24)
  5. End of the Line by Biana D'Arc (02/25)
  6. Crash & Burn (Cyborg Sizzle #3) by Cynthia Sax (3/9)
  7. Adam (Cyborgs: More Than Machines #6) by Eve Langlais (04/14)
  8. Avion (Cyborgs: More Than Machines #7) by Eve Langlais (04/21)
  9. Switched (BotK #17) by Evangeline Anderson (4/29)
  10. Abducted (Alien Mate Index #1) by Evangeline Anderson (12/07)
  11. Protected (Alien Mate Index #2) by Evangeline Anderson (12/09)
  12. Descended (Alien Mate Index #3) by Evangeline Anderson (12/15)

All Sci-fi!


EDIT:

I found that I actually read THIRTEEN books last year, including The Pirate Captain's Daughter (Book 5.5 of the Mandrake Company) that I finished on May 6th! Woo hoo!

12.15.2016

Descended (Alien Mate Index #3)


Descended
Evangeline Anderson
Alien Mate Index, book three
ebook
Published August 27th 2016 by Smashwords Edition
ISBN 9781311691583

Charlotte Walker is just an intern trying to get through her surgical rotation in one piece when her life takes an abrupt turn for the weird. A seven-foot tall patient with multicolored eyes and golden skin shows up in the ER asking for her. When he tells Charlotte she's supposed to be the Empress of the entire galaxy, she naturally thinks he's high or crazy or both.

He's not.

Kristoff Verrai is the Captain of the Imperial Guard of the Goddess-Empress of the galaxy. For ten cycles he served his old mistress faithfully. Now that she is dead, his only job is to find and protect her new Incarnation until she can ascend the throne.

He doesn't expect to fall in love with her.

But a relationship between them can never be--the Empress must have a Consort with Royal blood and Kristoff is just a commoner.

Can they fight the love growing between them? Or will it overwhelm them?

If only Charlotte wasn't Descended from the most powerful female in the universe, they might have a chance...

I fully intended to take a break from AMI after finishing book two, but then, as it happens, Kristoff - whose name I hate btw - made his first appearance in Protected and ended up being on the right side of awesome... so here we are.

I loved this... up until the very end and that's only because I don't care for it when EA ends the story with girl talk. But everything pertaining to Kristoff and Charlotte was spot on. From K's sworn loyalty and chastity to his Empress to his soul deep vow to remain true to his people's ways and religion. Typically, a woman tearing a man from his honor doesn't hold an appeal but every now and then, as in this case, Charlotte pushes Kristoff to the point where religion is lost and the natural instinct to take his rightful mate prevails. Against all political and philosophical chains. Against all perceptions. After all was done, only the will of the gods - or Goddess - stands. And... yes, death is a price justly paid.

So, yep, spot on with how everything played out.  Kudos to the author.

4 out of 5 stars.

Previously in the series:

12.09.2016

Protected (Alien Mate Index #2)


Protected
Evangeline Anderson
Alien Mate Index, book two
Kindle Edition, 466 pages
Published July 19th 2016 by Evangeline Anderson Books
ASIN B01G97FPCU

Grav N’gol is many things. Murderer…ex-con…Alien half-breed…

And a Protector.

More than just a bodyguard, a Protector chooses a female to ward for life and swears an oath to die for her if necessary.

Enter Leah Roth. The luscious little Earth female is supposed to be just a quick surveillance gig for Grav. He’ll check on her and report back that she’s okay—it should be easy.

Only she’s not okay.

When Grav sees Leah’s abusive husband hurting her, he swings into action. Before he knows it, he has Leah aboard his ship. When he’s given a dangerous and difficult mission, Leah volunteers to come along and help…and somehow Grav can’t say no.

But as much as he feels drawn to the lovely little human, Grav knows it can never be between them. For in his past lurks a bloody and savage secret that would turn even the most forgiving heart against him.

From his past and from his true nature Leah must be... Protected at all costs.

Oh no she didn't yes she did put Donald J. Trump in an erotic romance novel.

...Words I never thought I'd utter.

...Words you likely never thought you'd hear. Right?

After reading Sarden's story in book one where we also first get introduced to Grav, I didn't expect to like Grav as much as I did Sarden. As it turns out, I much preferred being in Grav's head. He was, by far, the geekiest of the two.

I needed to stop that shit.

And he's one of those fuckety-fuck-fuck-fuck kinda guys when he speaks, so yes, my corrupted little mind had all sorts of fun with him.

Why is it that I love it when males swear and cuss in books, but find it oh so repugnant in everyday life?

A moment of reflection. Gotta love it.

Although the idea of it is simply adorable, the concept of not being with someone because they're 'too good' for you drives me into madness. I need something more than that to overcome. Thankfully, we're getting that extra oomph in the next installment with Kristoff (bad name, bad bad name) and Charlotte's story.

3 out of 5 stars.

Previously in the series:

12.07.2016

Abducted (Alien Mate Index #1)


Abducted
Evangeline Anderson
Alien Mate Index, book one
Kindle Edition, 485 pages
Published June 11th 2016 by Evangeline Anderson Books
ASIN B01FNPMJ9G

My name is Zoe McKinley. I have a boring life, an awful job, and a boss that throws staplers at my head. What could be worse?

How about being abducted by Aliens?

Being dragged through a mirror, naked and screaming, onto an extraterrestrial ship was bad. Finding out I had been sold to a huge alien male who looks like the Devil was worse. But learning he wanted to trade me to an intergalactic petting zoo was the worst of all!

Now I'm whizzing through the galaxy with a robot butler, a trio of nib-nibs (they're like tiny green monkeys) and one huge, muscular, and very grumpy alien. The clothing they gave me shows all my lady-bits, the food-sim makes banana cream pie that tastes like sauerkraut, and Sarden, my captor, is too hot to stay mad at, even if he is a jerk.

In fact, I think I might be falling for him.

What's a girl to do? It's all in a day's work when you've been... Abducted.

4 out of 5 stars.

4.14.2016

Adam (Cyborgs: More Than Machines #6)


Adam
Eve Langlais
Cyborgs: More Than Machines, book six
ebook, 218 pages
Published March 17th 2015 by Eve Langlais
ISBN 9781927459676

On Earth, when a rebel cyborg leader is drawn into a search for answers, he doesn’t expect things to blow up. And he’s not just talking about his house. Somehow his heart explodes, too, with the last thing he ever expected—love.


Adam survived the great cyborg purge because the military made a mistake, a mistake they lived to regret. They crossed the line when they decided to take away his free will and turn him into a machine. They erroneously thought him a slave they could command. However, their biggest screw up of all was when they didn’t terminate him at the first sign cyborgs were regaining sentience.

As the rebel cyborg leader on Earth, Adam is doing everything he can to rescue others of his kind. Part of his current, undercover mission involves infiltrating a top secret military facility where he comes in contact with a human scientist. A sexy scientist whom he’s ordered to protect.

What should have been an easy job turns into a fight for his life because it’s not just bullets and hit squads he’s got to worry about, but his heart.

How can one fragile female mean so much? It’s almost too much for a rational-minded cyborg to understand. When the choice is given, escape or let her die, he lets his heart decide, and after that, things start to explode—literally.

The Cyborgs: More Than Machines series can be read as stand alone stories, however, for total reader enjoyment and world immersion, it is recommended you read them in order.


I thought this series had ended years ago at book five back in 2014. So imagine my surprise when book *seven* popped up on my recommendations this!

Adam, book six, was honestly my least liked of the series.

3 out of 5 stars.


Previously in this series:

1.20.2016

Forgotten (Brides of the Kindred #16)


Forgotten
Evangeline Anderson
Brides of the Kindred, book sixteen
ebook, 448 pages
Published November 27th 2015 by Smashwords Edition
ISBN 9781311078667

Kate McMillan has a good life and a decent job working at a jewelry store but there’s something wrong. She also has a hole in her memory—a three year gap where she can’t remember a thing. Kate tries to tell herself she’s okay but she knows it isn’t true. Someone is hunting her—a huge man with glowing blue eyes is lingering on the edges of her vision. Every time Kate sees him her pulse races and fear grips her.

Rone is a Wulven Kindred—feared and shunned even by others of the Kindred race. For the Wulven carry a Beast inside them that will kill anyone unlucky enough to be near when it emerges. Only a female who has tamed a male Wulven’s Beast is immune from this danger. Rone once had such a mate—before she was snatched away.

For months he’s been searching for his missing bride but when he finally locates Kate, he finds that she has forgotten him completely. Not only that, but his mere presence engenders a panic response in the woman who once loved him. Their bond has been broken and Kate doesn’t know him. Worse, his Beast no longer acknowledges her as his mated female. Rone doesn’t blame Kate for thinking he is dangerous—he is and always will be unless she can tame his Beast.

But in order to tame the Beast, Kate must take a terrible risk…one that may end in her death. Will she be able to control her fear and face the danger that lives inside her mate or will Rone remain forever…Forgotten?

3 out of 5 stars

Previously in the series:

1.07.2016

Mastering the Mistress (Brides of the Kindred #14.5)


Mastering the Mistress
Evangeline Anderson
Brides of the Kindred, book fourteen.five
Kindle Edition, 120 pages
Published September 25th 2015 by Evangeline Anderson Books


Solar M'Tex is a Havoc--a race of males who have sworn never to bond themselves to a female. So the idea of serving or loving any woman, no matter how beautiful, is foreign to him. But when he gets captured and sold at the Flesh Bazaar, he has no say in who buys him. Before he knows it he is the exclusive property of Kaylee, a lush little female from Yonnie Six who wants her own personal body slave.

Kaylee is new to Yonnie Six high society. She didn't even know she needed a body slave until her new friend Lyla told her. But when Lyla talks her into buying the huge, muscular Havoc, she doesn't know what to do with him--or have any idea how she's going to master him.

Soon they're in Kaylee's new dungeon with all the equipment a Mistress could need to tame a new slave. Kaylee does her best but when Solar gets free of his restraints, the tables are turned. Will she escape from the male she dared to try and master...or will Solar end up Mastering the Mistress?

Mastering the Mistress is a Brides of the Kindred novella
Set in the Kindred universe, this novella tells the story of what happened to Solar, Thrace's best friend and first mate who was also captured and sold as a slave.

3 out of 5 stars

Previously in the series:

1.01.2016

Stack | Sort | Purge


WELCOME, TWENTY-SIXTEEN !



We all have one: an ever growing To Be Read list. Or pile. Or pit. Near the end of 2015, I had well over a hundred books on mine. A mild number compared to some others out there. But well, since I'm not the reader I used to be, it was rather evident that something needed to be done or those poor, beloved treasures would remain there, ever collecting both dust and shame. So I stacked them up, sorted them out, and purged my ashamed self of those books I just don't see myself ever getting to. My free time has become rather limited and the direction of my interests and imagination is no longer on a few of the genres I'd collected.

Below are the books that were cut from my TBR.


  1. Assassin's Honor by Monica Burns
  2. Bear Necessities by Dana Marie Bell
  3. Hard Evidence by Pamela Clare
  4. Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson
  5. Tarnished Knight by Shiloh Walker
  6. Legacy Found by NJ Walters
  7. The Covenant by Evangeline Anderson
  8. Hidden in the Dark by Carly Fall
  9. Force of Nature by Kathi S Barton
  10. Force of the Dark Wolf by Kathi S Barton
  11. Gift of Magic by Lynn Kurland
  12. Dreamspinner by Lynn Kurland
  13. Hot in Handcuffs by Sylvia Day
  14. Mark of the Witch by Maggie Shayne
  15. Darkness Awakened by Elle Chardou
  16. The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra R Clarke
  17. Teasing the Wildcat by Mina Carter
  18. Taming the Wildcat by Mina Carter
  19. Seduced by Him by Elle Spencer
  20. The Threshold Child by Callie Kanno
  21. Aiden's Charity by Lora Leigh
  22. For the Love of a Greek God by Rosanna Leo
  23. Her Knight's Quest by Alexis Morgan
  24. Sing for the Undead by PJ Schnyder
  25. Legal Heat by Sarah Castille
  26. Finder's Keeper by Vivi Andrews
  27. Stripper by Anitra McLeod
  28. Runner by Anitra McLeod
  29. Overlord by Anitra McLeod


Still pending a decision

  1. Chain of Illusions by Boone Brux
  2. Death Defying by Nina Croft
  3. Dawnkeepers by Jessica Anderson
  4. Skykeepers by Jessica Anderson
  5. Demonkeepers by Jessica Anderson
  6. Blood Spells by Jessica Anderson
  7. Storm Kissed by Jessica Anderson
  8. Magic Unchained by Jessica Anderson