I have a new gig...

Hey everyone, I have some news.  I'll be reviewing at Dear Author a couple of times a month.  My first DA review is up today.  The Au Pair Affair wasn't a huge success for me unfortunately.  Go here to see why.

I'll still be reviewing here and for AudioGals and Speaking of Audiobooks as well as the occasional ARRA review (hence why there will only be a couple of DA reviews a month). I'm a busy girl!

It Had To Be You by Jill Shalvis

Why I read it:  I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.  

What it's about: (from Goodreads) Ali Winters is not having a good day. Her boyfriend left her, everyone in town thinks she's a thief, and now she's about to be kicked out of her home. Her only shot at keeping a roof over her head and clearing her name is to beg for help from a police detective who's as sexy as he is stern....

After a high-profile case goes wrong, Luke Hanover returns to his hometown for some peace and quiet. Instead he finds a bombshell brunette in a heap of trouble. As he helps Ali put her world back together, the pieces of Luke's own life finally seem to fall into place. Is this the start of a sizzling fling? Or are Luke and Ali on the brink of something big in a little town called Lucky Harbor?

What worked for me (and what didn't: There is something to be said for a reliably good read. My reading mojo was a little down when I picked this book up but I knew that this would be a fun sexy read.  Jill Shalvis books are always that for me.  Some are more successful than others, but even the "average" ones are good and the comfort I can take in knowing that I'm going to have a good experience when I open a Jill Shalvis book cannot be underestimated.  

Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh, narrated by Angela Dawe

Why I listened to it:  A friend loaned me a copy to listen to while I was waiting for my print copy to arrive from the Book Depository.  I felt the need to get in quick to avoid spoilers.

What it's about: (from Goodreads) A dangerous, volatile rebel, hands stained bloodred.
A woman whose very existence has been erased.
A love story so dark, it may shatter the world itself.
A deadly price that must be paid.
The day of reckoning is here.

Warning:  Spoilers as to heroine's identity - if you don't want to know look away now.

What worked for me (and what didn't): I liked this one but I think it may have worked better for me in print.  Nalini Singh has a number of writing tics - in particular, she repetition of certain words - in this book it was "obsidian" "adamantine" and "entombed".  She also phrases things a little strangely sometimes - eg "in the bed that was her own" - and both of those things are easier to skip over in print than on audio, where I cannot skim.  In fact, Angela Dawe's narration style tends to emphasise these tics if anything.

Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Why I read it:  I bought this New Adult book a little while back and finally decided to open it up and see what was inside.

What it's about: (from Goodreads)  Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.

Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.

But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

What worked for me (and what didn't): This is a hard book to say much about because the plot hangs on one thing and it's either going to work for you or it won't.  I think, overall, it was too melodramatic for me.  I liked Trent and Kacey together but the big reveal cast a whole new light on what had gone before and it left me feeling a bit strange.

Breathe by Kirsten Ashley

Why I read it:  I bought this one a while back and I decided to finish the series (so far) as a little reading treat.

What it's about: (from Goodreads)  In order to protect a father he does not respect, in Lady Luck, we learned that good cop Chace Keaton went bad, sacrificing his career and his future. But when the local police department's secrets are revealed and the wife he's forced to marry is murdered, Chace finds himself the town of Carnal's hero. Knowing how deep in the mud he was forced to sink, Chace feels he'll never get clean. The quiet, content future he envisioned of the love a good woman with whom he could build a family was now beyond his reach. The only thing he can do is find his wife's murderer.

But he isn't the only one looking.

While searching for new leads, he runs into Faye Goodknight, the town's quiet, shy, pretty librarian. Chace has long since had his eye on what could possibly be the town's last remaining virgin but he has also long since given up hope he could make her his. Faye is pure and clean and Chace refuses to dirty her with his sordid past.

Pure and clean Faye may be, but when the shy librarian is forced to go head to head with the man who she's had a crush on since he hit her hometown, Chace finds Faye is full of surprises. And he doesn't know what to do with her.

What worked for me (and what didn't):  To be honest it took me a little while to get into this one.  I felt my reading mojo was missing initially and I was getting too distracted by Twitter.  But, by about 1/3 in, I felt I had hit my straps and things were looking up. By the end, I had mixed feelings. I enjoyed the romance but the subplot involving the Elite was too opaque for me and the parts involving the children mixed with so much cheese as to render me lactose intolerant.