Gone for Awhile, But Hopefully Not Forgotten

It's been a while -- just a busy month, I expect. Got a bit sidetracked with Labor Day, got a couple of fairly hefty bags of books to read and review, and two knitting projects that are driving me crazy with some deadlines to get those done. Add in the fact that hubby and I are getting ready to be gone for a few weeks in October, with all the pre-preparation for my job that such a trip entails, and the blog has sunk down to the bottom of the "to do" list.

I apologize to followers who may have been checking in--just haven't gotten around to writing anything much.

So what have I been doing?? Well . . . daughter Tracy and I went to a So. California bloggers get-together that was great fun. Hubby just shakes his head.

"How can you find so much to talk about that involves books and for so many hours?"

What can I say? Get a group of gals together in the same room, surrounded by piles of books, mutual love of books, and well . . . the hours just fly by.

And then I have been reading, reading, reading . . . in between knitting, knitting, knitting. I have written some reviews for The Book Binge and made an appearance on Desert Island Keepers but just yesterday I remarked to hubby that I had a "ton" of reviews to write. It reminded me that I hadn't posted anything on this blog either.

So here are some of the books I have been plowing through in the past few days:

Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey. Such a fun book! I was so impressed with the sense of relationship mixed in with family, fun, romance, and rib-tickling humor that this author brought into this story. I had not read anything by this author previously, but I found it to be a wonderful reading experience. I had to get the rest of the series--these characters were just too engaging to be satisfied with

only one book.

The setting of this book is a kick in itself. Romance in the midst of a family camping trip? Way too much togetherness and far too little privacy. Yet they make it work and these two former lovers have some significant challenges in working out their issues.

Prism by Nikki Soarde. This is a MM/F story that brings together three different people, all friends from college years, but whose lives have gone in different directions. Clay and Dax have had an intense attract

ion to one another and they have lived together for a number of years--an "open" relationship that has been compromised a time or two as one or the other of the men has "strayed"into another affair, but they keep coming back to one another. Now their friend Sydney has arrived from Paris, hurting, disillusioned, and newly divorced. Both men are faced with their attraction to her and their latent, long-buried desire to bring her into their relationship as their "third." It is a very erotic, steamy novel that has been around since early 2010 but which is still a great read from Ellora's Cave.

A Forever Kind of Love by Shiloh Walker This is another premier work that illustrates Ms Walker's ab

ility to make characters jump off the page. This story is about loving and loss, about living and dying, about the pain of shattering hearts and grieving over what can never be, about disappointment and betrayal and accepting the truth that those who should have loved just don't. It is not an easy story and was one of those that had me in tears. Walker's ability to make words come alive in the mind and imagination is unsurpassed.

Jace by Sarah McCarty A complicated, engaging story that is a continuation of the Shadow Wranglers series. As I had not read the first two books in the

series I was somewhat lost when encountering ideas and happenings and characters that were carry-overs. That being said, it was a delightful read for anyone who likes paranormal romance and who is a Sarah McCarty fan. It might be characterized as a love-lost-love-found kind of story, but there is far more to it than that. Embracing the tensions that have existed between the vampire community and wolf-shifters, this story also deals with the deep wounds caused by unscrupulous scientists who have imprisoned a wolf-shifter in the attempt to use her as a breeder. Now rescued, Miri and her vampire mate have a lot of baggage to wade through as they seek to find their way back to one another while discovering the location of their lost baby daughter--a child daddy didn't even know existed. Add in the tensions between the two communities and you have a multi-layered story that keeps the curiosity of the reader never quite satisfied. As always, this author manages to make a really good story rise to the level of a great one with characters that are compelling and the knack of bringing fictional characters assume life-like quality. Just a truly terrific story!!

This barely makes a dent in the pile -- lots more books I could talk about, but this is just a smattering of some of the interesting books I have been enjoying. Thought I would give you some in differing categories of romance fiction. Some are more recent than others. But anyone who has been following this blog knows that I like to pull up books that have been around for awhile.

Thanks for stopping by.