This week I watched as my daughter (my youngest) went into her first day of Kindergarten. Now that both kids are in school, I have some time for myself which means going back to the gym and volunteering at the library again. 

I read more books this week than I did for all of August. Seems Halloween Bingo is the cure for my reading slump. But now I have to review a bunch of books. For non-Halloween Bingo reading, I am working my way through Secondhand Time. For H'ween Bingo reading, her is what I am reading this weekend and into next week:

1. The Siren by Kiera Cass (Fear...Deep square)

2. An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jillian Stone (Darkest London square)

3. A Touch of Midnight by Lara Adrian (Relics and Curiosities square)

4. Black Rose by Nora Roberts (Ghost Story square)

5. Wolves at the Door by Skye Jones (Cryptozoologist square)

6. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (Creepy Carnivals square)

Elle and Jullian  were scheduled to work the most dangerous   part of the Chelsea Physics Garden. Elle looked forward with this with a quiver of fear and a slightly elevated  pulse rate. Time shifted for Elle and she was a child next to her father’s paralyzed body. Her mother’s cry as clear and heartbreaking as it had been eleven years ago. As head gardener Elle knew her father’s death hadn’t been an accident that he knew the difference between Aconitum and Delphinium. Then Jullian got attention back to the present. Then Jullian said “ you saw something”. Elle nodded and said “ In the Covent Garden Station last night. Jullian replied that was the second sighting in a week. Elle was a botanist as was Jullian but he was a new fellow to the Chelsea Physic Garden. There was a kindness in Jullian and Elle was drawn to that. Jullian and Elle hit it off immediately. They were already making plans to someday open a apothecary together. Aconitum Napellus- prince of death- the plant that had killed her father. Then Detective Inspector Durant CID showed up and asked for Elle then told her he was there about the mauling in the Underground the night before. The Detective wanted to discuss the report  Elle had given and asked if there was somewhere they could go to talk Then Elle agreed to meet the Detective at 4 pm at the Cafe that was on the north end of the property. Abelseth who is the Detective was waiting for the train Elle had awoken the beast inside Abelseth. Then Abelseth’s cousin Phelan appeared to him from near the tunnel. Then Abelseth told Phelan that Maccoon had called a conclave and wanted Phelan. There. Phelan said it had been five years and he was out. Abelseth was no longer  duty bound to his pack. Elle was sure she had seen a werewolf. Abelseth was sloppy, out of practice, had partial shifted showed a real loss of control and could have exposed him to the public. Abelseth was on the job less than a month and already he suspected one of the werewolf packs behind the mauling.  An attack on a human was bold and unnerving. Maybe now was the time to see if Dermot Crowley to see if he had any preliminary thoughts. The man had died from the maul with several bites on  him but he was wearing an expensive custom made suit. Elle was twenty five and and got tingles from the Detective , no man had ever made Elle feel that way before. The waitress Lucy had told Abelseth where she and Elel would be clubbing that night and he ended up there and ended up dancing/grinding with Elle. Then Abelseth kissed Elle. Elle ignited a seething feral arousal Abelseth wasn’t  prepared for.  Abelseth had thought Wolf Hunter when he had met Elle. But after tasting Elle in the kiss he knew Wolfen. Abelseth had heard stories of wolf blooded humans. Then as Abelseth, Lucy and Elle were leaving Elle was grabbed  and abducted. Elle had a male pushing her on but he had someone with him. Then. Elle was sure they were in the Underground, Elle had tricked herself into believing she could live a normal life. But a day or two off lycanthrope  suppressant and and they had found her. Then Abelseth showed up in the room Elle was being held in It took time to learn how to ride the currents of time-space. Newbies like Elle thought they were starved for oxygen even though they really weren’t. Abelseth brother - Maccoon had helped rescue Elle and Abelseth. Maccoon  was the leader of the wolf pack - The Lords. Pelham showed up and said the wolves that had grabbed Elle were outlaws most of the packs really didn’t want them. Her mother had warned Elle for years that fully engaged werewolves had extraordinary abilities ; sensory and otherwise. Without her daily fix Elle’s senses were becoming more acute, as her dual nature emerged there would be other issues like strange lycanthrope powers. Abelseth. Uncle told Abelseth to get in his car. Abelseth hadn’t seen his uncle the Earl of Wessex  in five years. yHe told Abelseth the man who had been mauled was Ignatius -Iggy-  unknown chemist entrepreneur. Iggy was the man elle got her suppressant from that hid the wolfen part of Elle.

I really enjoyed this book and it was a quick read. Although I felt it was a little rushed. But I still liked the story a lot. I wished there had been a longer ending also.  But I loved Abelseth and Elle together. Then to find that Elle and Abelseth had actually been promised to each other since she had been born. Was a thrill. Definitely a different and unique werewolf story. I didn’t really care for Abelseth’s brother Maccoon. This kept my attention with no problem. And I didn’t want to put this down. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

A fun romp with two untitled and middle-class characters in late Victorian England. With that being said, the writing and characters are very modern - this is a very wall papery historical romance. However, there is a lot of interesting tidbits on the advancements of crime scene investigations/reconstructions and the art and science behind detective work during the period. There is a nice balance between sex and character/plot development.

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Read for BL-opoly

133 pages $2.00 added to the bank

UPDATE: A Lesson in Chemistry with Inspector Bruce by Jillian Stone is the winner. 133 pages for a possible $2 to the bank.

June 10th Roll: 7 (6+1)

New Space: BL 32 - Roll 12 sided die and do a task. Rolled a 1 -Let a BL friend choose your book! Post a list of 4 books - first one to comment chooses your next read. 

Here are my four choices:

1. Sweet Disorder (Lively St Lemenston #1) by Rose Lerner (historical romance)

Blurb: Nick Dymond enjoyed the rough-and-tumble military life until a bullet to the leg sent him home to his emotionally distant, politically obsessed family. For months, he’s lived alone with his depression, blockaded in his lodgings.

But with his younger brother desperate to win the local election, Nick has a new set of marching orders: dust off the legendary family charm and maneuver the beautiful Phoebe Sparks into a politically advantageous marriage.

One marriage was enough for Phoebe. Under her town’s by-laws, though, she owns a vote that only a husband can cast. Much as she would love to simply ignore the unappetizing matrimonial candidate pushed at her by the handsome earl’s son, she can’t. Her teenage sister is pregnant, and Phoebe’s last-ditch defense against her sister’s ruin is her vote—and her hand.

Nick and Phoebe soon realize the only match their hearts will accept is the one society will not allow. But as election intrigue turns dark, they’ll have to cast the cruelest vote of all: loyalty…or love.

2. Stranded with a Scotsman by Serenity Woods (contemporary romance)

Blurb: Cori Spencer doesn’t particularly mind being stuck in a refuge hut three feet above the rising tide in the middle of the night. She’s fallen in love with Lindisfarne, the tiny island off the north-east coast of England that’s isolated from the mainland by the sea twice a day. The problem is that she’s not alone. She’s stranded in a ten-by-four-foot wooden box for four hours with Ewan Macbeth, and that’s not going to end well. She’s either going to kill him or kiss him—and she’s not sure which option is the most likely.

Ewan flew back from the States when his sister told him Cori had become engaged to a man she didn’t love just to please her father. The Earl once threw Ewan out when he found him kissing his daughter, prompting her to end their relationship. Ewan’s never forgotten her, and even though he’s certain there can never be anything between them again, he’s damned if he’s going to let her marry a man who doesn’t appreciate her.

With only a bottle of Lindisfarne mead, a crab sandwich, and Angry Birds to keep them company, the two of them end up playing a game of Truth or Dare that forces Cori to accept the truth about her relationship with her fiancé, and Ewan to push her to the very limits to admit her feelings for him.

3. A Lesson in Chemistry with Inspector Bruce by Jillian Stone (historical romance)

Blurb: As readers of The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series already know, Archibald “Archie” Bruce heads up the crime laboratory for Special Branch. Undervalued and overworked, the brilliant young man has no time for a social life—that is, until the heroine's father, a noted chemist in his own right, offers Archie a deal. He will modify a secret latex compound that will transfer fingerprints from the crime scene to the lab. In exchange, Archie must agree to tutor his charming but exasperating daughter, Miss Fiona A. Rose, for the major pharmacy exam.

But as Archie and Fiona attempt to study for the major, they can't help but get involved in a bit of sleuthing. Was the fire in the opium den accidental or deliberately set? Who was behind the lab explosion? Not to mention the strange and haunting memory of a masquerade ball and a very seductive kiss...

Amidst the pop quizzes and danger, Fiona and Archie ultimately find the force of attraction too tempting to resist.

4. Then Came You by Becky Wade (contemporary romance)

Blurb: A leather-bound journal. A single father. A woman in pursuit of freedom.

Garner Bradford, heir to the troubled Bradford Shipping empire, doesn't know much about babies. But he's going to have to learn fast because he's just become a single father to his newborn daughter. As he confesses through his journal entries, he's not entirely sure how to keep a newborn alive, whether or not he'll ever patch together his shattered heart, or how to forgive himself for his mistakes.

Career girl Kathleen Burke is wholly uninterested in settling down. She has big dreams, and none of them include Garner and his small hometown in Washington State. Yet she can't seem to get her handsome boss out of her head or her heart. There's something extraordinarily tempting about his beautifully sad green eyes. . . .

Told through journal entries, phone conversations, and letters, Then Came You is a unique, heart-stirring romance novella by acclaimed author Becky Wade.

Pick me out a good one!

Gracie is a successful copywriter who does edgy ads. Bradley wrote a to do it list at the age of twelve, for things he wanted to do with girls which he found he liked. The list grew as he did. Then Gracie is stuck in an elevator with Bradley and one thing leads to another... Gracie and Bradley are strongly attracted to each other but neither wants anything more then sex. Gracie has some trust issues and at times Bradley does not help her with this.

I enjoyed the story as well as the plot. But something seemed to be lacking for me yet is still worth reading . Just didn’t WOW me as some stories do.The characters were good and i do recommend.

**I received an ARC for this story for an honest review