May TBR Challenge Completed!

The challenge this month was to either read a book from the TBR stack that had something to do with the military/law enforcement/something related to the law in any way OR a book that was originally an e-book. I tried to pick a book that was both (in a way).

** just a note - this was a difficult TBR challenge for me. I started a few different books that I just couldn't finish for a number of reasons. I was SO HAPPY when I remembered I had Gypsy Heart on my computer! (Well I was SO HAPPY when I remembered I had it AND that it completely captivated me as soon as I started reading it!)

The book I chose is called Gypsy Heart by Sasha White and you can buy it here .

Title: Gypsy Heart

Author: Sasha White

Year published: This copy was published this year. It was previously released with a different e-book publisher though. I'm not sure when that was.

Why did you get this book? I met Sasha at a book signing for another author (Vivi Anna) and REALLY enjoyed talking to her. She is such an outgoing person and immediately made me feel at ease (I'd promised to say hi to Vivi Anna even though I'm painfully shy offline and was quite nervous about doing it ... yes I know it's silly but I'm silly LOL) As soon as I could, after meeting her, I bought this story :)

Do you like the cover? YES! It's fantastic. Samhain has lucked out with cover artists for their books!

Did you enjoy the book? I loved it! I made the colossal mistake of starting to read this book at about 11pm about a week ago. I couldn't stop reading it! Sasha created a story that engaged me from the first sentence and made me not want to stop reading until I had no choice (the story was over lol)

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? The author was new to me in that I'd never read any of her books. I'd seen her on the yahoo groups though and had talked to her a bit in them. I'll definitely be reading more by Sasha White. This is a great story.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Well it's an e-book so I can't pass it on even if I wanted to lol It's definitely a keeper though and I'll probably end up buying the print version when it's released.

Anything else? The connection to law enforcement is this - The hero (Gage)is an environmental investigator for Alberta Environment.

If you are a person who loves a fantastic story with well developed characters, you'll really enjoy this book. You do need to keep in mind though that this book is an erotic romance. It contains explicit sex and graphic language. It's definitely not a 'sweet' romance.

My favourite girls

I just had to share this picture. I love the joy that I see here! They're having so much fun together *g*

More on Broken by Kelley Armstrong

...well actually not a whole lot more. I keep trying to write down something about this story and I just can't seem to do it without giving away too many spoilers. I HATE when people give away the good bits (and trust me the whole book is good bits *g*) so I just want to say...read this book BUT only read it after you've read the rest of the series. There is soooooooooooo much going on in this story that I believe it is better enjoyed when read in proper order.

Kelley Armstrong has such an amazing way of creating characters and a story that makes the reader want to never put the book down. You want to stay in the worlds of these people. If you don't believe me, go to Kelley's website. She has a very active discussion board there along with many other goodies for her readers. Just make sure you have plenty of time to explore when you visit there. :)

Last week I read ..... Broken by Kelley Armstrong

From the blurb on Kelley's website ...

When half-demon Xavier calls in the favour Elena owes him, it seems easy enough, steal Jack the Ripper's 'From Hell' letter away from a Toronto collector who had himself stolen it from the Ripper evidence boxes. But nothing in the supernatural world is ever as simple as it seems. Elena accidentally triggers a spell placed on the letter, and opens a dimensional portal into Victorian London, releasing zombies, disease, and maybe a notorious serial killer himself.

You can read the first chapter of this UNBELIEVABLE book at www.kelleyarmstrong.com . Broken is book 6 in a series. All books can be read on their own but are MUCH better read, in my opinion, in order. I'll get back later with more on this book/series :) If you haven't tried Kelley Armstrong though why the hell not? She's an unbelievable author who I'm not ashamed to say I'm (almost) a rabid fan girl with *g*

*sigh*

I've had to put 4 books to the side (one of them for the second time) this week because I'm bored with them.

That's about $40 wasted.

I'll go back to them in a couple of months and hopefully they'll appeal to me then.

What is your brain's pattern?

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is an incubator for good ideas, it just takes a while for them to develop. But when you think of something, watch out! Your thoughts tend to be huge, and they come on quickly - like an explosion. You tend to be quiet around others, unless you're inspired by your next big idea.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Goddess of the Rose

Goddess of the Rose by P.C. Cast
From the back cover...

With the Goddess Summoning series, "mythology has never been so fun"* Now return to this "mythic world of humor and verve:** with a tale that mixes one part Beauty and the Beast with one part Sleeping Beauty - and ten parts steamy romance...
*Romance Reviews Today
**Puglishers Weekly

So basically, Mikki (Mikado) is descended from a long line of women who are high priestesses, in the Realm of the Rose, to the Goddess Hecate. Mikki of course doesn't know of the priestess part (initially) but she does know of the family secret that is used to keep the families roses in award winning blooms every year. A secret she's quite uneasy with as it is something that 'normal' people don't do (mix a bit of blood with the water on a full moon and watering the roses). She takes great pains to hide this family 'recipe' from the world, taking care of her roses and performing this ceremony in secret. She also has never been able to find a man that can hold her interest.

On her way home from yet another horrible attempt at blind dating, she wanders through a park where a play is being rehearsed. When the lead actress can't be found for a sound check the crew convinces her to take the place of that actress...bringing us to the point where she inadvertantly performs a sacred ritual (that only works because of her family bloodline) and wakes the Beast (Guardian of the Realm of the Roses who'd pissed off the Goddess and subsequently turned into a statue until the next priestess could waken him) and is taken to the Realm.

THIS is the point in which I truly started enjoying the story. P.C. Cast has an incredible talent for choosing the perfect words (most of the time *g*) that weave a truly fantastic story. Once I reached this point (which I only reached because I KNEW that it had to get amazing. P.C. Cast couldn't do anything un-amazing...it just took a lot longer in this story than it usually does) I could NOT put the book down.

The book actually started out quite good. I was really enjoying myself and was prepared for another fantastic read ... but then during the date it happened. The Rant. The part of the book where Mikki slammed the idiot blind date dude with words defending the romance novels she loved and he'd deemed 'trashy romance novels'. Yes I agreed with what Mikki said. NO I did NOT want to read about it in the novel I was reading. It totally took me out of the story in a WTF moment of epic proportions.

After I re-read the offending passages with a 'she really wrote that there???' frame of mind I decided to get over it and keep on reading. Thank god Ms. Cast was done with the ranting *g* I was able to re-immerse myself into the world she created and thoroughly loved the rest of the book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books in the romantic fantasy genre (or who would like to try this genre out). Just keep in mind that you'll have to get through a few pages of rant dialogue *s*