Shane and Jasmine read like a beautiful tragedy. She yearns for someone to trust, but doesn't know how to listen to her heart. He wants to be both her protector and her salvation, but doesn't know how to break through the walls she's built around her heart. Lopez continues to take on human vulnerabilities with a keen eye and an empowering outcome. Too Dangerous is an open book that speaks for itself. Although, I loved the journey, Lopez and Soakes took my emotions on quite the ride.

Celina is a fantastic contemporary romance by Abbie Zanders.  Ms. Zanders has once again impressed me with her storytelling abilities.  Celina is a well-written book packed with an outstanding cast of characters.  Celina is dating Jamie, but there's no spark.  Jamie is getting nowhere so he asks his brother to meet Celina so he can give Jamie some tips.  Celina and Kyle's story is loaded with drama, humor, sex and misunderstandings.  I enjoyed reading Celina and can't wait for my next book by Abbie Zanders.  Celina is book 1 of the Connelly Cousins Series but can be read as a standalone.  This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

July was a good reading month. I can't remember the last time I finished this many books. I was helped by the vacations and swimming lessons my children participated in. My girls are still on vacation with my in-laws for another week. Hopefully I can get some more reading done before the back to school craziness hurts.

King, Kaiser, Tsar was the most fascinating book I have read in a while. I don't know about everyone else but my public school education only glosses over WWI. Archduke Ferdinand was shot. War started. Nobody listened to Wilson when he said splitting Prussia up was a bad idea. That's about the extent of our education. This book didn't spend a ton of time dealing with WWI specifically but it did give the reader a great deal of insight to the men who helped get us to that point. I highly recommend it even if you don't have an interest in that time period. 

Her Royal Spyness and The Pericles Commission were my fiction favorites. The problem with both of them is the number of books that exist in each series. Of course I needed more books on my TBR. 

But I was out after the female protag was described by a friend to herself:

"on you the colour only makes your skin look creamier and those darn clear grey eyes of yours glow. Seriously, big deal, that you're six foot six, you have a supermodel pout and hair the colour of fire-lit rubies."

Fire-lit rubies? Seriously???

I am out of here.