Certified Bed Reader...

Favorite Quote

Mariette said: "Are you married?"
That certainly came out of left field. Hadn't they covered this? In a roundabout way, at least? "No."
"Ever been married?"
"No."
"Then who trained you?"
He blinked. "Come again?"
"You just got up from the table, rinsed your plate and loaded it into the dishwasher. That's learned behavior. It's not normal for your kind."

What a surprise read! I loved so much about this book. The characters are all heart-warming and put a constant smile on my face. It was nice to read a romance with a H/h who didn't play games with each other. Mariette and Jack were perfect for each other. Truly a sweet story, with enough sizzle to keep a girl satisfied.

• 4.5 stars!

Thank you, Tammara Webber, for your fresh voice & for introducing me to a genre I need to read more of!

Easy is anything but an easy book to read. By the end of the first chapter, I felt an emotional-connection and didn't want to put it down. Webber tackles the all-too-real subject of campus rape/acquaintance rape. And while this subject is a driving force beneath the plot, it isn't the entire story. I love how Webber takes Jacqueline's experience and masterfully weaves it into Lucas's past.

I really adored Jacqueline, and her friend, Erin. I found myself reminiscing so much during Easy! The dialogue is just as I'd expect from young adults. Jacqueline and Lucas are both mature, but the mistakes and choices they make are true to their age.

"Oh, J, he's got ink, too. Just when I didn't think he could get any hotter..." - Erin

Not only is Lucas tatted, he has a lip piercing, and he's tall, with the lightest blue-grey eyes ever, longish dark hair, and extremely lickable abs. That's just the in the looks department, ladies. He's also kick-ass protective, smart, kind, caring, an artist, rides a HARLEY, has a great work ethic, cooks, and can spend hours leisurely making-out. The cougar in me was rolling around wanting to play!

I could gush about this book, its characters, and offer an entire list of things I loved about it, but I'd rather you spend your time reading it instead of this review.

I would like to end this review by sharing my favorite quote, which comes at the end of this book and isn't even part of the story. It lies in the acknowledgments section...

"To those who relate to any part of this story - if you haven't told, tell. Even if it's been months, years, decades. Tell someone. We remain silent because we've taken responsibility and/or a shame that was never ours to carry. Forgive yourself for things that were not your fault. Bad decisions, mistaken trust, physical weakness, or too much fear to act do not make an assault on you or someone you care about your fault. Ever."

Very well said, Ms. Webber.

Contemporary New Adult Romance / Young-Adult Mature
• 5 BIG OL' STARS!!!!!

Such a cute little anthology to break up the monotony of everyday life. I read this over the course of two days. The stories are short enough that I could read one in between daily activities! All of the stories are sweet with a dash of sexiness. If you love animals, Love Bites would be perfect for you!

Love Unleashed by Lori Foster: 4 stars
Smookie and the Bandit by Brenda Jackson: 2.5 stars
Molly Wants a Hero by Virna DePaul: 3 stars
Dog Tags by Catherine Mann: 4 stars
Mane Haven by Jules Bennett: 4 stars

Anthology Rating: 3.5 stars

Read with my niece. She says, "Aunt Tammie, tell everyone to read this book 'Like now!'" LOL! You heard the girl -- if you're looking for a fun, fantasy, adventure, then this book is for you.

Hmm, I remember reading this book. Actually, I liked this book. But it should tell you something that I never got around to finishing the series.

• 3.5 stars

This book is a great resource to have in your kitchen. From the correct way to make a pot of beans (I never knew soaking was so important!) to how to make your own pantry staples. I'll never buy boxed Rice-a-Roni, Cream of anything soup, or Prepackaged Oatmeal again! I wouldn't say I've been able to reduce my food bill to $75 a week, but the information is invaluable.

• 4.5 stars

BEWARE: Don't buy this cookbook if you're interested in a healthy-living lifestyle. Ree uses more butter than the Queen of Butter, Paula Deen, and I'm not exaggerating.

A nice mix of southern cooking with a few jazzed up girlie dishes (such as Olive Cheese Loaf) thrown in. The food pictures are vibrant and will make your mouth drool. I also enjoy reading about Ree's family and seeing those pictures, as well.

Favorite Recipes:
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Meatloaf
Chicken Spaghetti
Cornbread

• 3.5 stars

I'm struggling with expressing how I feel about this book in a way that doesn't seem as if I hated it or that it isn't worth your time. The truth is, I enjoyed An Uncommon Sense just fine. Maybe that's the problem I'm having; it was good, but not knock-your-socks off brilliant as I'd hoped.

Grace is a science teacher, therefore I fully expected her to be skeptical of Ash's abilities. That was no surprise. What annoyed me about her is that she seemed to have absolutely no filter between her immediate thoughts and her mouth. And it wasn't a cute personality trait--no matter how it appealed to Ash. To me, I felt like she crossed the line between honest and being just plain rude at times. I, also, didn't get how Grace could go from thinking he was a lunatic to having sex with him so quickly.

I felt exactly the opposite about Ash. His patience and understanding in Grace made me want to feel the same. He didn't push her to believe in him. Instead, he allowed her to gradually come to terms with his abilities on her own. He even liked her skepticism, and felt it helped to ground him. Ash was also an amazing dad!

• 2.5 stars

Tara's southern belle routine grated my nerves a little. I'm a Texas girl, and I don't know a single person who says "bless your heart" that much! Aside from this, The Sweetest Thing delivered a fun, sweet, sexy, sassy, and heartwarming story! Ford's laid-back attitude was just what Tara needed in her carefully organized life. When their past suddenly shows up the teenage daughter they gave-up for adoption, they are forced to deal with old feelings that never really died.

• 4 stars!

I heard this is a spin-off of her LOTU series. Wonder if I need to read that series before starting this one? Hmm.. will wait for reviews before I decide.

Emotional, heartfelt, tender, funny, sexy, and addictive! Heavy Issues is one of the biggest surprise reads of the year for me.

Christy Sheridan takes a sabbatical from her job as a computer programmer and leaves L.A. for small town Alden. She needs a change after catching her fiance cheating on her, and constant badgering she's receiving from her mother. While in Alden, she takes a job updating the town's library by bringing it into the 20th century. That's where she meets Cole Bowen, who's company is restoring the building. After six months, she's certain he isn't interested in her; the man goes out of his way to avoid her. It's fine with Christy, though, because the girl is through with relationships.

Cole is anything but uninterested with Christy. The problem is she has complicated written all over her, and Cole Bowen does NOT do complicated women. He's fighting a losing battle with his attraction to her. When he witnesses her drunken vow to move on with her life, he's done fighting the inevitable and moves in with his patented Bowen charm. I was laughing my butt off when he attempted to get her to go out with him! Talk about a misunderstanding! Once they clear things up, Cole manages to strike up a deal with her--he'll give her all the pleasure one girl could want, and in exchange, she pretends to date him during the town's month-long anniversary festivities to keep the marriage-minded Alden women at bay.

Obviously, what begins as a fake relationship transpires into a real one. But here's where the heavy issues really begin. Christy is an addict. Her addiction isn't to drugs or alcohol. No, her drug of choice is food. She has battled the monster, having dropped from 200 lbs down to 130, and is very self-conscious about her body and addiction. Cole is a very dominant man. His sexual desires are raw, rough, and leaves her no chance for modesty. She is so fearful of his rejection that she tells him about her issues with food, explains about the marks and jiggle it has left her body with. Honestly, Christy has a skewed sense of body image--just as any person who has suffered through an eating addiction. Cole listens, tries his best to understand, asks questions, even takes her grocery shopping after his failed attempt at stocking his fridge with food for her. But what I love about Cole is how he refuses to let Christy believe her own lies. He does his damndest to tell her how beautiful she is, how much he desires her, and he doesn't let her hide from him. Not ever!

Cole isn't without his own issues. He has a severe fear of abandonment that is the cause for his warped view of women. It probably doesn't help that Alden is swarming with a pack of greedy bitches looking to bag a Bowen husband. He falls in love with Christy long before he admits it to himself. Cole fights it so much that, after a while, I wanted to knock him in the head! Dude, just give it up. But, ultimately, he needed to work through his mama issues before he could accept what Christy had to offer, and to fully give himself to her.

Ms. Aycart knows how to write not only a scorching hot romance, but an emotional journey to happiness. I'm sure there must be other books that touch of the aftermath of eating disorders, but I've never read one, and I give Ms. Aycart my respect for tackling the taboo subject of compulsive overeating. It's often misunderstood, but I thought she did a remarkable job of getting the emotions and reasons behind it through in the book. One of the most heart-aching scenes was when Cole forced Christy to look at herself--really look--and see what he sees in her.

It was wonderful seeing James & Tate (the H/h from the first book, More than Meets the Ink) again! I really hope we don't have to wait forever before Max, the 3rd Bowen brother, gets his book! Oh, and I want to see Tate's sister, Elle, hook-up with Jack. Please, Ms. Aycart, write faster!!

I was lookin' for something quick & sexy to read this afternoon when I came across Karla's review of Just Gotta Say. After a moment of snickering, I decided to give it a shot. I rarely read menage books, but if the mood (eh-hem) strikes, I'll go for it!

Callie witnesses her roomies & best buds, Noah and Jack, getting hot & heavy. After a week of being unable to erase that delicious memory from her mind, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with a bag full of toys, and ready to take advantage of her empty apartment while the guys are at a game, she gets down to business. Lucky for her, the Goddess must've been granting wishes that day, because her three roomies come home early. I just about died when Lucas, Jack, and Noah barged in during Callie's private playtime! The guys thought she was in trouble, and after they got an eye-full of what she was doing, she really was a sinful amount of trouble!

The nice thing about this sexy lil' novella is the sweet lil' romance. Callie may have lust in her eyes for all 3 of her boys, but she loves just one--Lucas. And he loves her. I liked how the night forces them to admit their feelings. Oh boy were Jack & Noah hot together, too!

Just Gotta Say made me think of one of those late-night Cinesmutmax movies specifically aimed at lonely women sitting at home wishing she had a big, strapping man (or in this case 3 men) to cater to her every fantastical whim. Not that I would know this from experience. *shaking head* No, not at all! This is merely a read for the sake of fantasy, but there's quite a bit of emotion packed into the short number of pages.

• 4 wet panties...umm...I meant stars! ;-)

The heart was forever inexperienced.

When I sacrifice sleep by staying up until 3 a.m. to finish a book, you'd better believe it's a good one! I just couldn't put Noah down. I had to find out if Noah & Roni would get their HEA! It didn't matter that I knew they would, I needed to know how it happened before my head hit the pillow.

The Heroine
Veronica/Roni broke my heart. At the start of Noah, she is struggling with severe depression, has gained 40 lbs, and her unhappiness bleeds onto the pages. Roni put her life on hold two years ago to care for her cancer-stricken mother. After her mother lost the battle, Roni hasn't been able to overcome the grief and start living again.

The Hero
Noah spent his youth as a foster kid. His friends are his family, and he's loyal to them. Noah's dreams of being a boxer are sidelined when he hurts his shoulder during a match. For now, he's trying to get Jack, his friend & owner of 5th Street Gym, to give him a shot as a personal trainer.

I loved...
seeing the friendship between Noah & Roni grow. They both really needed & valued each other as friends, but there's a simmering physically attraction that was constantly beneath the surface. Roni won't go there with Noah, though. She's trying to get her life back on track, but most importantly, Noah is only 20. With an 8 year age gap, Roni isn't willing to put her heart on the line with a guy who, no doubt, lives for easy sex.

I loved even more...
how Noah sets out to prove to Roni he's the man for her. Ms. Reyes does a fabulous job keeping him real to his age. Noah's life experiences have made him more mature, dependable, and the guy has so much love just waiting for someone. There were so many moments in this book, when Noah would do something for Roni and I'd get this big, goofy grin on my face. They really were perfect for each other.

What made me cringe...
was Roni holding out for too long. Once Noah implemented "Operation Make Her See That We're Meant for Each Other", things started really heating up. It felt like she was waiting for him to mess up. Noah just took it in stride, didn't push her, but didn't back away from how he was feeling. He showed her, day-after-day, how much she meant to him. Then, she sees something and judges him guilty without asking him for the facts. That annoyed me. He deserved better than that after how patient he'd been with her.

In the end...
Noah gets his girl, and I was blown away by their story!

• 4 stars; highly recommended!

Zane and Jessie are the perfect example of soulmates. Their immediate connection was hindered by Zane's engagement, giving plenty of opportunity for sexual tension that I was pleased to see neither acted on until he was a free man. I really liked both the H/h! The suspense played out nicely, too. A tidy little epilogue rounded out this sexy cowboy romance.

• 3.5 stars

I can divide this book into two parts: the first half, which was a solid 5 stars, and the second half, which took a nosedive to 3 stars.

What I Loved
♥ Slade's smart-mouth is a hoot!
♥ The chemistry between Slade & Trisha.
♥ A surprise that will rock the New Species world.
♥ The action while Slade & Trisha are on-the-run in the woods.
♥ Meeting Valiant!

What Made Me Cringe
- Trisha wasn't the heroine I thought she'd be.
- I hated how Slade leaves Trisha and didn't feel like it was true to the alpha-ways of the New Species.
- Didn't enjoy all the secrecy after Trisha is taken to Reservation. I felt she needed to be more upfront with him because he deserved to know immediately what was going on she was pregnant no matter how hurt she was!

All-in-all, Slade moved the storyline along even if I didn't fully enjoy the relationship between the H/h. It was still a good book, and I wouldn't skip it!

• 4 stars

If you go into this collection with the idea that they're just sexy cowboy stories, perfect for bedtime, then you should be okay.

Cowboy Up and Back in the Saddle were the better of the 3 stories. Both stories were fun and interesting. The other, Rough Rider, just peeved me off. The heroine was whiny, ridiculous, and I wish I'd stopped reading that story halfway through.

• Cowboy Up: 3 stars
• Rough Rider: 1 star
• Back in the Saddle: 3 stars

Collection Rating: 2.5 stars