Quote-tastic/Review--not even gonna lie--Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti

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Ooooo Rebecca Zanetti! *grabby hands* I was crazy excited for a new series from Zanetti. The woman can write action and suspense like you wouldn't believe and a new world kicking off with a pretty badass cover and what amounts to a world-wide plague? I'm in!

Quote-tastic/Review--aaaaaaand tug!--Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed ya for one reason or another.

You can add a review or post just a quote. You can post other days of the week too. Totally flexible.

Everyone's welcome to join in. Authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier!

Just grab the button and toss up your post :) No blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section or in a FB post and link it up.

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Woohoo! Kresley Cole! The IAD series was one of the very first I picked up when I got hooked on reading a few years back. Sexy, full of action and freaking hilarious. They've been a good time. I love the characters and how they...get each other. While this one wasn't my favorite of the series it had some great moments. This one had me smirking...

3 stars--Friction by Sawyer Bennett

Crazy hot sex. Lickable hero. More crazy hot sex. Whew! #YoullNeedAFan

The quick of it is that Leary and Reeve are both lawyers and happen to be on opposing sides for a legal battle between a doctor who botched a surgery and his patient who was suing for damages. They may be on opposites sides of the case but the attraction between them is undeniable and before they realize it, well, things get real interesting. And totally NSFW.

Countdown to Christmas-- A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas by Kim Redford

A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas (Smokin’ Hot Cowboys #1) by Kim Redford

A Cowboy. Firefighter. That loves cats.

I'm...I'm just gonna need a minute here. Whew boy! *fans self* lol

A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas was a sweet holiday romance full of spirit, heart and quirky small town charm! I had a good time with this one. It was an easy read as Trey and the citizens of Wildcat Bluff gear up to celebrate Christmas, battle fires threatening their lands and welcome a curious outsider into their midst.

Countdown to Christmas! Unwrapped (Hunk for the Holidays #3) by Katie Lane

Merry Christmas! May your relatives be sane or your eggnog heavily spiked! I lurve me some Katie Lane and am always ready for some of her saucy humor. Add in a little Christmas magic, a rowdy mass of relatives and a hero in for the surprise of his life and Unwrapped turned into fun little taste of the holiday spirit.

The quick of it is that Jac's auntie was a kook and in order to claim her inheritance she's gotta get hitched. Lucky for her the Fates have brought a one night stand from weeks earlier into her life just in time for her to snag her a hubby for the holidays.

3 stars--Down the Rabbit Hole by Robb, Blayney, Fox, McComas and Ryan

Fun, curious and head spinning fun. Down the Rabbit Hole was an entertaining anthology as 5 authors gave Alice in Wonderland their own personal spin.

Robb is one of my favorites so I was all in for giving this antho a go and it was a lot of fun. Each take was unique and interesting. I had favorites--Robb and Ryan and a couple misses as well--Fox and McComas--but all in all it was a twisty fun ride Down the Rabbit Hole.

3 stars--Sleeping with the Enemy (Out of Bounds #4) by Tracy Solheim

Woo! Second chance romance. Enemies to lovers. That just makes the reader girl in me go all...quivery. Sleeping with the Enemy was full of passion, manipulations, long ago misunderstandings and some pretty hot lovin as old flames are brought back together by someone trying to cause trouble for Jay's football team.

The quick of it is that Jay and Bridgett had a thing many years ago when they were barely grown and it ended...disastrously and they went their separate ways, grew up, created new lives and hardened their hearts against love. But now Jay's football team is being sued and they need one helluva lawyer to get them out of the jam. Bridgett just so happens to be one killer lawyer and the sister of one of his players and back into each others lives they're thrown.

Frisk Me (New York's Finest #1) by Lauren Layne

So. This is going to be a weird review because Frisk Me left me feeling very conflicted and split pretty much down the middle on what I thought about it. So in a way I'm going to do two reviews.

But first the quick of it. Luc is a cop in NYC and he's in the spotlight because he's...a hero. He rescued a little girl who fell into the river and saved her life and just happened to get caught on camera doing so and now he's a wee bit famous and being targeted by a national news station and their reporter, Ava, who want to do a 3 hour special on him. And his bosses at the precinct aren't giving him much of a choice. He's gonna chat it up with this reporter and she's gonna follow him around near constantly for a few weeks to get an in depth look at the man behind the badge.

3 stars--Chase the Darkness (Alpha Pack, #7) JD Tyler

I have been loving on the Alpha Pack series the last couple books--yes, yes, I came late to the game lol--and I enjoyed Chase the Darkness to a point. Full of sexy shifters and a strong heroine, a little suspense and hot lovin' and a touching romance that saved two lost souls. There was a lot of good happening here. But I had a decent number of issues too.

The quick of it is that after being captured by the enemy and tortured Micah suffers from PTSD and addiction has gripped his life. He's at an all time low, barely holding it together and becoming more and more of a risk to his team and the dangerous missions they're sent on. Until one night he notices Jacee. A lonely bartender with a big secret and may be the only one who can save his life.

3 stars--Without Restraint (Southern Shield #1) by Angela Knight

So, Without Restraint caught me by surprise pretty much from page one since I don't read blurbs and was expecting scifi-ish something and walked right into an erotic BDSM romantic suspense! Um. Hello, flogger! lol I'm good with that though. I do love a bit of spice. And spice it had! A lot of sensitive issues brandied about as well.

The quick of it is that Frank and Alexis have kind of been hooked up by friends and decided to pursue their mutual kinky interests in BDSM together. Yay kink! There's an undeniable connection between them and one that's thrown into overdrive when tragedy strikes the local police department and they find their lives turned upside down not only with their new relationship but with being faced with a cop killer in their town as well.

Dragon Fall (Black Dragons #1) by Katie MacAlister

 Dragon Fall was a fun revisit into the world of her Dragon Septs and all their growly, quirky, arrogant splendor. The quick of it is that 2 years ago Aoife saw a guy get killed...and then come back from the dead. And she kind of flipped her shit and wound up in a mental hospital until they could get her back to the land of the non-crazy. She's finally been released (woohoo!) and things are going great until... a talking demon dog and a bunch of angry dragons show up front and center. One she's got all kinds of lusty thoughts about and a pack of them that are trying to kill her lustworthy dragon. While it wasn't the perfect read it was a fun little dragony romp as the dragons try to break a curse that's been laid down and prevents the different dragon septs from being anywhere near each other without trying to kill or maim one another. So. 5 things about Dragon Fall.

Hot Alphas Anthology by Lora Leigh, Laurelin McGee, Shiloh Walker, Kate Douglas

Type: Contemporary Romance w/ Light Suspense

Amazon | All Romance | Book Depository | BAM | Goodreads

*noms* I love a sexy alpha so I was all in when I saw Hot Alphas. Plus the fact that Leigh, Walker and Douglas are favorites? <looks around dreamily> Yes, please! Some good loving, a nice variety of set ups and a tiny bit of suspense made for some good reads for the most part.

I totally expected this to be a complete knock out. But it didn't quite make it there. Douglas and Walker came through with stellar reads that were fun and sexy--though Walker's was a previous release, Leigh brought the only real alpha in the bunch and great characters but McGee. Well. The McGee contribution left me truly livid and wicked pissed. It also brought down the rating to a 3 star and a suggestion that if you want to read this one try to get it via the library. For the price and how insulting I felt the McGee read was I'd have a hard time suggesting otherwise...

Married to a Perfect Stranger by Jane Ashford

Mary Fleming and John Bexley are the "white sheep' of their large families, written off as hapless, boring—and thus suitable for each other. But they're no sooner married than John is sent off on a two-year diplomatic mission.

Upon his return, John and Mary find that everything they thought they knew about each other is wrong. They've changed radically during the long separation. They have to start all over. It's surprising, irritating—and somehow very exciting...

Type: Historical Romance
Heat: 2 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5

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Imagine getting married--an arranged one,of course, so really you're basically strangers--then mere weeks later your husband is pulled away on an almost 2 year mission to China. And he's just returned. He's a different man but then...so are you. And now you're having to make a life together.

Yeah. Pretty much, Mary's life has gotten rather...difficult as of late. Especially since her husband is expecting the demure biddable wife he left behind years earlier and instead has found a rather take charge woman who controls things around her and has thoughts and opinions all of her own. And he is...less than pleased about this change. Oh dear!

The King (The Original Sinners #6) by Tiffany Reisz

Cunning. Sex. Pure nerve. Only this unholy threesome can raise him to his rightful place as a ruler of Manhattan's kink kingdom.

Bouncing from bed to bed on the Upper East Side, Kingsley Edge is brilliant, beautiful and utterly debauched. No carnal act or chemical compound can relieve his self-destructive heartache—only Søren, the one person he loves without limit or regret. A man he can never have, but in whose hands Kingsley is reborn to attain even greater heights of sin.

Kingsley's plan to open the ultimate BDSM club—a dungeon playground for New York's A-list—becomes his obsession. His expertise in domination can't subdue the one man who wants to stop him. The enigmatic Reverend Fuller won't rest until King's dream is destroyed, and so the battle lines are set; it's one man's sacred mission against another's…

Type: Erotica, BDSM
Heat:4 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5

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Hrms. You know how you sometimes go into a book expecting one thing and wind up, in a way, getting something else entirely? That was The King for me. I've finally read Tiffany Reisz! I know, I know! I am WAY late on that game and reading out of order *hangs head* but it worked out okay I think. I wasn't blown away by it but it was entertaining.

• It's an interesting book. I'll give it that. But it wasn't quite as much as I expected or hoped for after hearing how amazing Reisz's writing is and how the erotica she writes is like art and beautifully written. It just felt average to me and very much felt like a set up book with flash backs on top of flash backs chronicling how the main characters of the series met and their present day lives came about.

Hungry Like the Wolf (SWAT #1) by Paige Tyler

The Dallas SWAT team is hiding one helluva secret . . . they're a pack of wolf shifters.

The team of elite sharpshooters is ultra-secretive—and also the darlings of Dallas. This doesn't sit well with investigative journalist Mackenzie Stone. They must be hiding something . . . and she's determined to find out what.

Keeping Mac at a distance proves impossible for SWAT team commander Gage Dixon. She's smart, sexy, and makes him feel alive for the first time in years. But she's getting dangerously close to the truth—and perilously close to his heart...

Type: Paranormal Romance
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5 (was real close to a 4.5 until the end)

Amazon | All Romance | Book Depository | BAM | Goodreads

There were so many fantastic shiver-worthy things about Hungry like the Wolf. I was freaking LOVING this read. I mean, hello, a SWAT team made of werewolves! Loves! But there was one big issue kept this book from knocking it out for me and oh made me so angry. And that was...the heroine which was a shame because it was a killer start to one helluva exciting series other than her.

Alright the quick of it is that the Dallas SWAT team has a major secret, you know, being they're all wolves and such. And now a reporter is poking around trying to uncover the secret behind the SWAT team--she's sure they're on drugs or something--and exposing them for what they are even though they do an amazing job and everyone adores them. If she can break a story on them it'll make her career! Hrms.

Rescue Me (Second Chance Ranch #2) by Catherine Mann

Detective AJ Parker left undercover work in Atlanta to join a small-town Tennessee police force, hoping for an easier workload and the solitude of his cabin. But the scars left by AJ’s previous work are more difficult to escape than he thought…

Mary Hannah Gallo works with the Second Chance Ranch Animal Rescue to train therapy dogs for traumatized patients. It isn’t easy, but her life is under control—until she meets the broodingly sensual AJ, who rattles her composure all the way to her toes.

After an assignment confiscating dogs from a backyard breeder reveals a dangerous drug operation, AJ must work with sexy perfectionist Mary Hannah to train an abused rescue dog—a dog now named Holly. While Holly proves to these two very different people that opposites can, in fact, attract, she also knows more than a few explosive secrets that could heal—or divide—the entire town.

Type: Contemporary Romance
Heat: 2.5 out of 5 (very limited)
Rating: 3 out of 5

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Rescue babes, a sexy cop and a likable heroine. All things I adore in my reads. And I did enjoy Rescue Me even though it didn't blow me away entirely as Mary Hannah and AJ both work on a meth house bust in different ways. He's there with the police force and she's there with the animal rescue to get animals out of the house.

The characters--I liked both AJ and Mary Hannah. They'd hooked up a little while back on a one night stand then realized they were going to be neighbors of a sort. I always love that storyline. They were a little awkward but still sweet as they worked through that. They could be a little touchy and over reactive now and again but I liked them. Especially how much they each cared about what they did--he's a cop, she's a therapist that specializes in therapy animals-- and the people and animals around them as well.

Forbidden to Love the Duke (The Fenwick Sisters Affairs #1) by Jillian Hunter

Lady Ivy Fenwick is desperate. Since her father’s fatal duel, she and her sisters have sold off every valuable possession to make ends meet. With the manor stripped bare, Ivy has one last resort: Apply as governess to the Duke of Ellsworth’s wards.

James should have known better than to hire the desirable lady who had fallen on hard times—and who tempts him at every turn. As her employer, he tries valiantly to remain noble and not let a kiss they shared as strangers years ago entice him. Yet the more he learns of Ivy’s secrets, the more he wants her. And when another suitor proves aggressive, James is confronted with a challenge: Surrender Ivy or fight for the woman he’s come to love against all odds, knowing that it takes a scoundrel to trump a scoundrel.

Type: Historical Romance
Heat: 2.5 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5

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Second chance romance, a little taboo romance of a Duke and his governess, quirky family members and a little mystery and intrigue. Forbidden to Love the Duke...was a charming start to the Fenwick Sisters Affairs.

• I liked the set up. These two met briefly years ago but then life happened and it wasn't until 5 years later when their paths crossed again when she was in need of a position and he was desperate for a governess for his niece and nephew.

• I loved the characters. Lady Ivy and her sisters are spunky, tough broads who have survived scandal and heartache and stuck together no matter what was thrown at them. And James is one sexy Duke. He's back from war and just wanting to cut loose and have some nekkid time with his Mistress but lands himself with the

Untouched (Florence, Arizona #1) by Lauren Hawkeye

Alexa Kendrick has no recollection of the car accident that left her scarred and sent her life careening wildly off course. When the half-sister she thought she’d never meet shows up at her door with an invitation to a new life, Alexa finds herself in Florence, Arizona, a town notorious for being populated with more prison inmates than actual citizens…a town that has done its best to hide its own dark secret.

After Ellie is called out of town, she leaves her sister with the keys to her flower shop and Alexa finds herself swapping lives with her sibling: running Ellie’s business, living in the house left to them both by their absentee father…and forging a smoldering relationship with sexy-as-sin penitentiary officer, Nate Fury—a man with his own demons.

But arranging flowers by day and tangling with the only man who has ever seen her real self by night isn’t enough to silence the mysterious panic that fuels Alexa’s dark dreams. When Nate brings home a book written by an inmate, one describing an unspeakable crime, the shackles binding Alexa’s own lost memories begin to shatter. And as the devastating truth comes to light, she realizes that Nate holds the key to unlocking her past, as well as her heart.

Type: Contemporary Romance, Novella
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5

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Untouched was a curious little read as Alexa--who has been in a horrible car accident and lost her memory--discovers a sister she never knew existed and while on a trip to get to know her sister finds herself undeniably pulled towards a dreamy prison guard and discovering that there are secrets from her past that have been hidden from her by those she loves.

Rogue Spy (Spymasters #5) by Joanna Bourne

Ten years ago he was a boy, given the name Thomas Paxton and sent by Revolutionary France to infiltrate the British Intelligence Service. Now his sense of honor brings him back to London, alone and unarmed, to confess. But instead of facing the gallows, he’s given one last impossible assignment to prove his loyalty.

Lovely, lying, former French spy Camille Leyland is dragged from her safe rural obscurity by threats and blackmail. Dusting off her spy skills, she sets out to track down a ruthless French fanatic and rescue the innocent victim he’s holding—only to find an old colleague already on the case. Pax.

Old friendship turns to new love, and as Pax and Camille’s dark secrets loom up from the past, Pax is left with a choice—go rogue from the Service or lose Camille forever…

Type: Historical Romance
Heat: 2.5 out of 5-- very limited
Rating: 3 out of 5

Amazon | All Romance | Book Depository | BAM | Goodreads

So, Rogue Spy has landed me in a bit of a waffle. And I'm so not a waffler. Usually I'm either firmly in the "oh I loved it!" category or..."dude...back away slowly" category. This one...wafflin'. It's one of those books that was enjoyable but that I didn't really love. And at barely over 300 pages took me a whopping 5 days to read. Something I can read in a day and a half usually. There were parts I really liked but others that just dragged on for me. Nothing that I hated or really disliked though...so you can see my problem, right? Anywho. Here goes...

• The set up was fantastic. Two spies that trained together as children running into each other a decade later when having issues with the same man. Someone that's blackmailing her over her real identity. And someone that he was sure was dead and needed to stay that way. I mean. How could you NOT love that?

Afternoon Delight by Anne Calhoun

Sarah McCall, food truck co-owner and recent Manhattan transplant, savors each moment of her new job—whether it’s refining the truck's menu, learning the city, or spending afternoons in bed with the hot paramedic who's fast becoming her favorite customer.

Tim Cannon spends his days sprinting from one emergency to the next. He eats like he works—at top speed—somewhere along the line he lost his ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures. Hooking up with Sarah is just another way to cope with the stress of his job, until their afternoon trysts coax Tim into enjoying everything he's avoided. Can Tim learn to balance his job saving lives with the everyday delights that make life worth living? If anyone can teach him, it’s Sarah.

Type: Erotica, Novella
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5
Cover: meh not sure what that has to do with the book

Amazon | All Romance | Goodreads

Well. I liked it. *nods* I did. Afternoon Delight was a quickie read with a hefty does of steam as paramedic Tim stumbles across a food truck and it's captivating cook one afternoon and the two immediately hit it off and start a...competition of sorts.