Tag Archives: romance

blood lust covers

Reading Challenge: Blood Lust x 4

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Every once in a while I look at my TBR list just right and discover interesting little tidbits. Sometimes it’s just amusing to me, like I’ll resuffle it to random and several books with blue covers will line up. (OK, maybe really is only amusing to me.) But sometimes it’s something a little more substantial, like the fact that I have four books titled Blood Lust.

Blood LustAnd when that sort of thing happens I can’t help but want to do something with it. Like, maybe, read them all back to back.

I did it last year with Bound By Blood books. I had five of them, so I dedicated a week to a single title and was unreasonably amused by seeing them all line up on my review shelf.

So, I’m doing it again. Over the next week I’ll be reading:

Blood Lust, by Jessica L. Degarmo
Blood Lust, by Jessica Gibson
Blood Lust, by Charity Santiago
Blood Lust, by Zoe Winters

See, it’s kind of fun seeing them all lined up, even two Jessica’s in a row. (Ok, I’m easily amused.)

This is essentially just a, ‘hey this is what I’m doing’ post. But keep tuned. Hopefully I’ll like Blood Lust more than Bound by Blood. Only one way to find out, right?

Served Hot

Book Review of Served Hot (Portland Heat #1), by Annabeth Albert

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Served HotI received a copy of Served Hot, by Annabeth Albert from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
In Portland, Oregon, the only thing hotter than the coffee shops, restaurants, and bakeries are the hard-working men who serve it up—hot, fresh, and ready to go—with no reservations…

Robby is a self-employed barista with a busy coffee cart, a warm smile, and a major crush on one of his customers. David is a handsome finance director who works nearby, eats lunch by himself, and expects nothing but “the usual”—small vanilla latte—from the cute guy in the cart. But when David shows up for his first Portland Pride festival, Robby works up the nerve to take their slow-brewing relationship to the next level.

David, however, is newly out and single, still grieving the loss of his longtime lover, and unsure if he’s ready to date again. Yet with every fresh latte, sweet exchange—and near hook-up—David and Robby go from simmering to steaming to piping hot. The question is: Will someone get burned?

Review:
While the writing here was fine, the story was only OK for me. I thought the romance was very sweet, but the book is basically just Robby over-analysing and agonising over every little detail of his budding relationship with David. Large chunks of time were skipped over, making all that agonising seem rushed and pointless. He always seemed to be wanting more than David was ready to give and it felt needy and selfish.

I did appreciate that Robbie was half-Korean. It’s nice to find a POC as a main character. I was disappointed to see him fulfilling most of the trite ‘gay Asian ‘ stereotypes though, even as the author acknowledged them.

All in all, not a bad book and an easy read. But it’s not particularly deep or moving in any manner.

Shadow Scars

Book Review of Shadow Scars: Rogue Wolf (Haven City #1), by Zoe Perdita

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Shadow ScarI grabbed a copy of Zoe Perdita‘s Shadow Scars from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Conner, a rogue wolf and murder detective, isn’t looking for a lover when he moves to Haven City. He wants to solve crimes and keep to himself – unable to trust anyone since his pack betrayed him six years before. 

But Seth Alwen, his new partner, is different. He excites the wolf’s animal instincts – waking up the passion Conner buried long ago. Seth’s not only beautiful and alluring; he’s also haunted by the death of his former partner. And despite his better judgment, Conner aches to relieve the man of his guilt.

Seth’s a seer, but ever since his old partner died his powers have been on the fritz. 

Enter Conner Sharp, Seth’s sexy and mysterious new partner. While the dark-haired stranger ignites Seth’s desire, he also awakens the seer’s power with every touch. Seth sees their future together – a future rich with lust and danger – but is it a future the enigmatic Conner wants?

As the two men solve a series of murders, their sizzling attraction overflows into the bedroom. Is the overwhelming passion just a fling or is it forever?

Review:
Eh. Ok, but not great. I have nothing particularly good or bad to say about this book. It was just ok. Conner and Seth are fine characters. I liked them ok. The sex was ok. The world was simplistic, but ok. The mystery was ok. It was basically something to hang the romance on and I didn’t think it ended particularly satisfactorily. We were given a pretty pat ‘and then this happened’ wrap up as an ending that left more unexplained and open for the sequel than it explained. But it did conclude.

The writing was also ok. Nothing about it was particularly good, but other than a couple really annoying things (like hips that buckle instead of buck, even when a person is laying supine) and some repetition, nothing about it was bad either. It was all ok. (Could have done with a tad more editing, though.)

This is one of those books you read and forget because it all just feels so insubstantial and flat. But if I found the sequel as a freebie I’d give it a read.