The Year of Living Shamelessly by Susanna Carr

Katie Kramer is in love with her brother's best friend, Ryder Scott. Not only is he her brother's best friend, he's practically part of the family. Katie is frustrated he doesn't see her as anything else than a little sister, so she makes a New Year's resolution to have a wild affair with Ryder. She changes her look to something sexier, goes on more dates than she would have normally, and flirts with Ryder.

At a Christmas party almost a year later, she hasn't had her wild affair with Ryder and she learns he is leaving the country on New Year's Day to take a job in Saudi Arabia. She can't believe he's leaving and she decides she's going to get together with Ryan before he leaves.

She learns that Ryan is into D/s and convinces a friend to go to a local D/s club. Ryan learns she's gone and goes chasing after her. He tries to convince her that she doesn't really want to be with him but she's not having any of it. They do get together, but he feels guilty (she's his best friend's little sister!) and tries to keep his distance. She pursues him and things are going well until he learns about her New Year's resolution and feels used. It's a race against time to see if Katie can convince Ryan her feelings are real before he's gone forever.

I enjoyed this book. Katie was cute and seems like she'd be a fun friend. Ryan seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Katie's brother was kind of a jerk and I wanted to smack him a few times. There were some funny scenes between Katie and Ryan, especially the one where he explained to her the extent of his D/s involvement. This was a fun read, it would be especially good as the holidays come around.

2010 Series to Start list

I've been reading Romance (historical, contemporary, paranormal, UF) for about a year now and I have discovered so many incredible authors and books. BUT, there are several series floating around out there that I haven't picked up yet.

Up until recently, J.D. Robb's In Death series was one of them. I'm glad I took that challenge, I've read the first two books and enjoyed them.

Here are some other series I'd like to read:

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series

Stephanie Lauren's Cynster books

Josh Lanyon's Jake Riordan series

Rachel Caine - Morganville Vampires and Weather Warden series

Meljean Brooks Demon series

Richelle Mead's Thorn Queen books

Allison Noel's Evermore series

Hmmm...I noticed all but one are paranormal...

What are some of your favorite series? What would you recommend?

Be With Me by Maya Banks

This was my first Maya Banks book. I liked it. I had heard good things about Ms. Banks, but I was leery going into it - the blurb said it was a story about one woman and three best friends....that seemed like a lot of people to me, but Ms. Banks made it work!

Reggie Fallon is a cop. She's also the Mayor's daughter. When she comes across a murder scene the killer is still there and he tries to kill Reggie. He almost succeeds, but back up arrives and he gets away.

When Reggie wakes up in the hospital, her three best friends from childhood are there - Hutch Bishop, Cam Douglas, and Sawyer Pritchard. They'd remained best friends until about a year ago, when one night of passion between the four of them had her running away from them. She couldn't handle the truth of what they had done and had managed to avoid them for the past year.

When they heard she'd been hurt, they brought her back to recuperate in the home they had built for her. They explained what they wanted, a relationship between the four of them, and she fought it. How could that possibly work? What would people say? Hutch, Cam, and Sawyer convinced her to think about it. They all loved her and didn't want to give her up. They knew she loved them too, and they would never make her pick.

Her first day in their home there was a break-in. Then her car exploded right after she'd gotten out of it. And the men's childhood home (they were foster children who lived together with an adoptive mother) was attacked. Were these attacks aimed at her? Or someone close to her?

The guys were very protective of Reggie, and she in turn was protective of them. Watching their relationships with Reggie grow, individually and as a group, was interesting (and steamy!). I will say the killer was not who I thought it was, and the final showdown was good. And when Reggie and the guys had to decide if this relationship was what they all really wanted, their decision-making process was, erm...unique.

This book was hard to put down and I am definitely going to read more books by this author!

Austenland by Shannon Hale

I started reading this book with a bit of hesitation - I had seen a few good reviews, but I had also seen a few bad reviews. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved it! From the dedication (which was fawesome, btw) to the end of the story I was hooked.

Austenland is the story of Jane Hayes, a 30-something unmarried professional with no current boyfriend, is bequeathed a trip to Austenland by her aunt. This is a 3-week immersion vacation into Jane Austen's time. Jane is borderline-obsessed with P&P/Mr. Darcy - she keeps her DVD hidden in a plant because she's embarassed about her obsession! She decides to go and get over her obsession so when she comes home she can get started on a regular Darcy-free life.

I loved that she addressed the same questions I had - What's the point if they're all actors? How far are you supposed to go? Why am I doing this again? It was well-written; each chapter gave a slight overview of a previous boyfriend, from age 4 to the present, which gave you an idea of how Jane's love life got to be where it is.

There was a love triangle, a very good love triangle, and I couldn't decide who I was rooting for, up until almost the very, very end. And what an end it was! A big smile, a sigh, and "awwwww" from me was a great way to close the cover. This one's going on my keeper shelf!

Boys Will Be Boys

That's the title of my SIL's post over at TauntSociety today.

She answered my m/m challenge, and since she's not on the book blog circuit - I wanted to point you in her direction - she managed to find some delicious m/m pics for our viewing pleasure...

GO NOW!!!

Naked In Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)

I had recently decided to give this series a try, then Amy J at The happily ever after... started an In Death Reading Challenge. I decided this was the perfect time to join my first challenge! (Little did I realize there are approximately 35 books in this series!)

This book was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be a contemporary romance about a cop with lots of sexytime. Not at all.

Naked In Death is set in the future with things like flying cars and voice control computers. The rain forest is gone and things like real coffee are indulgences for the rich. Eve Dallas is a tough-as-nails NYPD Lieutenant who investigates homicides. She's called in to investigate the murder of a prostitute (they're legal in the future) who also happens to be the granddaughter of a US Senator. As Eve is investigating all the leads, one of the suspects is a wealthy businessman, Roarke (that's it - one name only). He's immediately intrigued by her and pursues her romantically throughout the case. As more prostitutes are murdered, Eve is getting pressured by the Senator and her superior officers to solve the case. Throughout the storyline, we learn more about Eve's past, which is pretty tragic. Some of the secondary characters made me laugh, such as the male prostitute that kept referring to Eve as "Lieutenant Sugar" and her little old neighbor who's husband died while having pie. The ending was complicated and satisfying. *sigh* I think Roarke may soon be added to my list of Fictional Boyfriends.

I'm glad I decided to take this challenge and have already started on book 2, Glory In Death.

Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks

Danielle from Alpha Reader did a review on this series a few months back. I noticed we had several series we liked in common, so I picked up the first three books in the series. I am so glad I did!


Tempting Danger is the first book in Ms. Wilks' World of the Lupi series, and it was great! I'm not going to get into all the world-building, but it is contemporary and the existance of werewolves is common knowledge. There are also hints of other supernatural beings, but I was unclear if they were common knowledge or "don't ask, don't tell".


The heroine, Lily Yu, is a homocide detective in San Diego, and she's assigned a murder investigation that they think is a werewolf kill. Lily is a Sensitive, meaning she can feel magic when she touches it. Her initial suspect is Rule Turner, a werewolf prince, who has a reputation as a playboy. When she goes to interview him, she gets a funny feeling but ignores it.


As soon as they meet, Rule thinks there's a possibility that Lily is his Chosen. He's not thrilled about it, because she's a cop and cop/werewolf relations are not friendly. As the investigation moves forward, Lily knows Rule is not the killer and she is attracted to him although she tries to fight it. After Rule is framed for another attack, when Lily tries to defend him she is put on suspension, leading her to believe the killer has an in with the police. She contacts the Feds, who have an interst in the case, and they get Rule out of jail. He goes back to her apartment and tells her she is his Chosen, that's why she's been feeling like she does. She doesn't believe it at first but comes to accept it's a possibility but wants to think about it more. They have sex and strengthen the bond - they can't be physically more than a few feet from each other.


Meanwhile they're still investigating the deaths, and Rule's best friend is missing. They're working with the Feds and Rule brings the Lupi into it too. Lily's grandmother is a bigger player in the game than we are led to believe at first.


My review can not do this book justice. It had a kick-ass heroine, a sexy werewolf hero, crooked cops, family betrayals, evil magic, the list goes on and on. The world was believable and I rushed through it in an evening, not wanting to put it down. I loved the ending and can't wait to get more of Lily and Rule!