Lady M reads

So about once or twice a year, I get a kindle unlimited deal. I haven’t had it since last March, but I have a list on Amazon where I throw books in for the next time I get it. I just got a notice for a new deal for 3 months, so I’ll be activating that now, and going crazy reading from that list. I got the coupon code for it about 2 weeks ago, and I was waiting to finish up the arcs I had, and for Christmas vacation to start so I could go to town. There are a few authors I pretty much only read when I have the free or cheap unlimited deals. Meghan Quinn is one, I’m several books behind on her, I’ve yet to read the Locker Room, the Dugout or the Lineup, so those are all probably in the first batch I download. I’m friendly with author Jessie Gussman, and she sends me books when I ask, but since she’s on unlimited, and I’m two books behind, I’m going to catch up that way. I feel guilty asking for free books all the time! I wish I was on her auto arc list so I wouldn’t feel so guilty. Melanie Harlow is an author I’ve heard about, and was recommended to me by a friend, but I haven’t had a chance to dig in yet. That’s another good thing about unlimited, you can try new authors risk free! I’m so cheap, I would never pony up actual cash for an author I don’t already know I like. And honestly, I do so many ARCs, I rarely actually pay for books. I can’t wait to see what new books and authors I’ll discover!

I've read a few books by this author now, and I've yet to be disappointed.   There is so much story going on, it's hard to believe it's just one book. It's told from different perspectives,  more than just the lead male and lead female, but it's not confusing at all.  I really enjoyed that there was so much going on, it kept from having any lull to it,  it was hard to put down.  This book has just about everything you want in a romance. There were some funny parts, along with sweet and sexy, and a little heartbreaking. Although it's fiction, you know there are situations in real life like this, and worse. There was a scene with Wade and Austin that just about broke my heart.  For any mothers out there, I'm sure you will shed a tear or two with some of the scenes between Jess and Chloe.  It's emotional, but balanced, it's not a tear jerker.  There are plenty of warm and fuzzy feelings too, just a well rounded cowboy romance. Its funny because the other book I've read by this author was not a cowboy story!  Usually  I find authors stick to a similar path. Cowboys, small town, military, that kind of thing, but these books were totally different.  Just One of The Groomsmen, it was a small town friends to lovers and it was just as good as this cowboy story, just totally different. Again, I'm no writer, so I have a hard time fully explaining. This last book was fairly long, but it wasn't drawn out. There was a lot of detail, but none of it seemed irrelevant.   Like sometimes I'll read a book and they get too hung up on silly details, like they're trying to fill a word count. But this was not the case at all in this book.  Not to mention getting the different points of view.  At first I wasn't so sure about it, but I really like how it played out. It was almost 2 stories in one.  I have another book of hers that's coming out at the end of January that I'll have to dig into pretty soon.  

I just got this little novella this morning and had such a hard time putting it down! I started it at work, but ran out of time there and finally finished after dinner tonight. It was short but jam packed with goodness! Oh how I love reading about Corrie and Clay, so so much. Their story has been going on for years and it’s just delicious, I’m telling you, as much as I look forward to their happy ending, I love reading little bits and pieces of their story sprinkled through all the other books. This is just so well done I can’t even stand it! This has been one of my favorite series, and really feels like it could go on forever

I just finished her latest that just came out today. Soooooo good! It’s the 8th book in the series, They Started With A Kiss. I’m pretty sure the first book is currently free. She is yet another author I discovered through Hidden Gems, and now am on her direct arc team. I seriously read almost nothing but arcs anymore, but when I look at my list, there’s no one I want to cut out! This is the best book so far in the series, which happens a lot. Once an author gets rolling in a series and gets to know her characters, each book is usually better than the last. Not to say the other books are inferior, but my cheeks seriously hurt from smiling so much through this one. And the sex scene, let me tell you, THIS is what other authors should inspire to write for sex scenes. Beautiful, meaningful, emotional scenes, not just for the act, but for what it means to the relationship. This was a sex scene with a purpose, not just for the sake of having it in the book. It was great, especially after reading so many clean romance lately, it was wonderful to have one so meaningful. Anyway (look at me posting twice in one week! ) this series is definitily one I recommend.

I’m not even sure where to begin with my review. First of all, this book was amazing! This is the first book I’ve read from this author, therefore the only book of the series I’ve read. I didn’t realize that it was book 5, the final book of the series until I got to the end. I got a copy through Hidden Gems to read for review, and I don’t know if it even told me that this was part of a series . So being as I had never read anything in the series before, I was surprisingly not lost. The end felt definitely like the end of a series though, and started losing me a little bit with details of I assume books 1 through 4. But it wrapped up in such a beautiful way, kind of like a TV series finale, when everything wraps up happy and perfect and exactly what you wanted. There’s basically three parts to this book, before, during, and after. The during and after kind of blend together, but there’s just so much to the story. It took a while for some important details to unfold, but unlike other books where you just want to get on with it, there were so many other side stories going on that you didn’t get antsy waiting for the reveal. You feel pretty much every emotion while reading, sometimes at the same time. There’s humor, sadness, regret; there are clutch your pearl moments, and several gasps in shock. Its friends to lovers and second chances. It’s half a lifetime all in one book. I hope my review is doing this book justice without giving anything away. It definitely makes me want to go back and read books 1 through 4, but just know if you stumbled across this one, you really don’t need to have read the first four, but I have a feeling it would make the ending all the more sweeter if you did.

I kept saying, I need to post more often. I even set up a reminder on my phone to post once a week. Guess who keeps dismissing the notification? I guess it’s partially my own fault for setting it for a Monday. Too much other stuff to start the week with. I’m going to have to change that, no seriously. And keep trying (and trying) to be more consistent with this.

It’s December so I can officially dive into reading all books Christmas, especially since I will only read them till New Year’s, then it’s time to file them away until next year. I’ve picked up a few new ones I hope to dig into soon. I have a couple more arc promises to finish up, then I get to read whatever I want!

This is just a schmorgasboard of topics, since I can’t keep up any better right now! I’ve read quite a few books since my last post (was it really back in October!?!). I’m in In a Facebook group that’s in a contest with a couple of other reader groups, so I know I’m fairly consistently reading around 5 books a week. So I’ve probably read around 20 in November! I think I mentioned the Laura Burton series I read. She is a new to me author, but I’ve been enjoying her books (Who Wants to Love a Billionaire is out today). There have been another couple of new ones from Kelly Collins, a new Aspen Cove story, and a new spin off series starting with Rescue Me. I love her Aspen Cove series, there’s probably around a dozen books in that series. I’m still working on Jessie Gussman’s Cowboys Don’t series.i think I’m 2 behind, the 2nd is a Christmas story, so I need to get on those. I’ve really enjoyed them, and I’ve listened to quite a few on audio too. I still prefer to read, since I have more time and can get through an ebook faster, but audio books are nice background noise for cleaning the house or time in the car. Thea Dawson is another clean author I’ve been reading. I’m working on As Needed by her right now. I think she has a new series coming next year that this book is connected to. Oh, I picked up a freebie last night by Kait Nolan, another Wishful book is free!

A Lot Like Christmas: A Small Town Southern Romance (Wishful Romance Book 11) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J1L336G/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_ccD5DbSN2266N

I know I had to have read this one already, but reading the description I couldn’t remember. So it will definitely be one I read this month!

Oh, Jennifer Bramseth has a new book coming out next week. Hers is one of the arcs I’ve been working on lately. A Devilish Choice. It’s been such a good series! It’s so smart, and it’s not a romance, but there is some relationship stuff in it, but it’s more of the side story, not the main event.

That’s about all for now. Hopefully I read something really juicy to share with soon. I will have to post a list of all the holiday books or want to read this month. I guess that will be my next post!

I keep saying I’m not ready yet, but I’ve read a couple of Christmas books already. They were arcs, so I kinda had to. I mean, I could have taken a pass, but I went ahead and read them. As much as I hate Christmas starting so early, I started my shopping yesterday and am reading books, so I guess I should stop pretending I’m in denial.

I just finished an arc of Gifted by Ainsley St Claire, and Love Me Darling by Laura Burton. I liked Love Me Darling better between the two, but you’ll enjoy it better if you read the other books in the series first. Gifted was a spin off of the Venture Capitalist series, so there are overlapping characters and back story. She does mention quite a bit from the other series so it will help if you’ve read those other books. I liked the story itself, but I wasn’t too crazy about the sex scenes or how many there were. I think I’ve been reading too many clean books lately. So now I feel like sex scenes have to be really special for me to even care if their in there or not.

I’m sure I’ll have a few more on my list in the next 2 months!

I just finished this book, it doesn’t come out quite yet but I wanted to talk about it while it was still fresh. I’m about to gush hard on this book. It doesn’t come out until November 13th, so be ready. This is actually booked four in the series, but I have not read any other ones in the series to my knowledge because none of the characters or the backstory seemed familiar to me. It really didn’t matter, because I loved it. I literally laughed out loud – like snort laughed a couple of times- it was all fantastic. I mean, the author uses the term monkey sex more than once. How can you go wrong? Even the sex scene is good – it’s meaningful not just for the sake of having a sex scene. I hate when it’s too generic and robotic just insert part A into slot B. And means nothing but sex. There are some great lines in it throughout. I’ve started with this book actually, trying to highlight things that make me laugh, things I like, things I want to remember, because inevitably I forget. Sidetrack, I recently read a book where they made a comment about how this fixes everything like Windex does in that Greek movie. And for the life of me I cannot remember what book it was in, because of course I did not highlight it and have no clue now. Anyway, back to this one it was so good, not just funny but sweet and I even got misty. I really can’t say enough good about this book, or this author. I think this is only the second book of hers I’ve read, I just discovered her recently so I, when I have time, will have to go back and try and catch up on some of her other books.

I have to admit, I’ve been reading a lot more clean romance stories lately. I don’t know why, I guess I came across a few here and there, but I seem to be drawn to them more lately. I think, for the most part, what I’ve found are better written stories because there aren’t sex scenes and swearing that float them through. Hidden Gems introduced me to Jessie Gussman, and from there, I joined her email list and have really enjoyed her books. I may have come across some clean Facebook groups from her, I’m not sure. But I’ve been listening to several books from Lorena Hoopes as well. Both of these authors write clean, with religious aspects to them. Some more religious than others, sometimes it’s just a mention of praying, or going to church, others, it’s waiting to have sex until after marriage, and some flat out talk about being believers and getting a little more preachy. I’m not a fan of preachy, but I have liked the stories enough to keep going. Lorana Hoopes is more preachy than Jessie Gussman, if that makes a difference to you as as reader. From fb I’ve found quite a few other authors that I’ve been reading. Then there are some like Nancy Stopper that write not so clean romance under one name, then clean under another (Allie Kincaid). Which I find interesting, because I have come across other authors that write both under one name. Of course as I sit here writing this out, I’m blank on some of the other clean authors I’ve enjoyed. Marika Ray I believe is also one who has a clean series that were really good.

I did just finish Laura Burton and her Love Me series (Love Me Crazy, Sweetie, Dreamy, Darling.) Dreamy was a little out there, I guess it was considered mildly paranormal, which I NEVER read, but since I was reading the whole series on this, I went for it. Not a waste of time, but definitely unusual reading material for me. It was interesting because the first 3 books were not related at all, but the 4th tied it all together. The 4th was my favorite of the series, but they were all enjoyable. Definitely one of those you really should read in order.

Clean/Christian romance are for some, the only thing they read, but I’m sure I’m sure a lot of traditional romance readers usually shy away from them. But I encourage you to check one out, you might be surprised on how much you enjoy the stories.

I’m really and truly not ready for Christmas stories yet, since it’s still October, but this was another NetGalley book I picked up.

I really enjoyed the story overall but I have a couple of things to point out that are a little negative. First the positives. Since I read this in October, I’m glad it wasn’t overly Christmasy. Yes it took place over the holiday, but it wasn’t the main theme of the book. Second, I liked the slow pace of it. You got to know the characters, some of their background and why they were the way they were. This definitely had a feel to the second book of a series, with Cody’s brother being the first book, which does sound interesting. But it’s done in a way you don’t feel lost not having read it before, so that’s a plus. The negatives, the point of view seemed to change at random, in the middle of chapters with no warning. Too many times it took me a minute, confused when it changed from Lexi to Cody or vice versa. Also, there was an editing error (or two) the biggest 2 I noticed were in the 2nd sex scene. Lexi’s bra was removed twice, and there was a bit about condoms that didn’t make sense. Those weren’t major issues with the overall story, so I tried to not let them bug me too much. I don’t know if those things were corrected after I got my advanced copy or not, so it may be a non issue now anyway. I still need to check out any other books by this author, it was good enough that I would happily read more.