We all know many, many babies are born 9 months after a major power failure.  

Here are some mighty Romances that take place with the lights out!

My lists are never in any particular order.

1. Beyond Breathless by Kathleen O'Reilly 

2. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith 

3. The Unknown Woman by Laurie Paige

4. Long Time Coming by Rochelle Alers

5. Blame it on the Blackout by Heidi Betts

6. Letting Love Win by Alysia S. Knight

7. Mine Until Morning by Samantha Hunter

8. Viva Las Bad Boys! by HelenKay Dimon

9. Yours 2 Keep by Kay Hooper

10. Butterfly Tattoo  by Deidre Knight

I love this theme. Its dark. They are stuck. All is good.  Be sure to share your favorites!

To vote for the best Blackout Romances, go to my Goodreads list: Lights Out: Power Outages and Blackouts in Romance Novels

We can't let the gentlemen have all the fun and they certainly don't have all the badass talent!

Here are Romance Novel Heroines who are Tattoo Artists...

1. Drawn Together by Lauren Dane- Raven

2. Dedicated Ink by Ranae Rose- Abby 

3. Branded as Trouble by Lorelei James- India Ellison

4. The Harder He Falls by Sidney Bristol- Kellie

5. Bear Necessities by Dana Marie Bell- Tabitha

6. My Misery Muse by Brei Betzold- Devi 

7. Whisper Kiss by  Deborah Cooke- Rox 

8. She's Got It Bad by Sarah Mayberry- Zoe

9. Hers for the Holidays  by Samantha Hunter - Lydia

10. Inked Magic by Jory Strong- Etain 

Do you have a favorite I missed? Let me know!

To vote for the best of the best, go to the Goodreads list: Best MF Romance Novels about Tattoo Artists.

To get even more recs and see some of the best tattoo artists in the world, check out my Pinterest Board: Permeant Ink: Tattoo Artists in Romance Novels. 

Well, here we are at the beginning of May, frankly with all that was going on with me the previous month, I can't believe it's over and the huge project I've been consumed by is soon to be done. Not yet, but soon enough. I worked a lot more hours and had less time to be be at home with my dogs, less time to read naturally, less time to be me and do staff I enjoy or just relax. Hope this month will bring more "light weight" staff for me. 

So I didn't really have time to read (at least not in the beginning of the month when I was tired all the time and couldn't keep my eyes open to read when I got home) but actually most of what I read in the beginning of the month have also been a disappointment so why read when I obviously need the sleeping hours and the books aren't worth the sluggish morning after half a night of reading ;)

I'm still re-listening to all the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. While last month I listened to 5 books, this month I only managed three. I'm almost at the end, I have about a third of the 10th one and then I only have the 11th till I get to read "The King". But I did manage to read the Insider's guide which I had but didn't read before.

Lover Avenged (BDB #7)

Lover Mine (BDB #8)

Lover Unleashed (BDB #9)

The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide

I got to read a small mini series (all the novellas together amount to about 300 pages) that wasn't planned in my April Goals which was "Curio Vignettes" By Cara McKenna (aka Meg Maguire). Highly recommend it! :)

Curio (Curio Vignettes #1)

Coercion (Curio Vignettes #2)

Craving (Curio Vignettes #3)

Confession (Curio Vignettes #4)

Reversal (Curio Vignettes #5)

Exposure(Curio Vignettes #6)

Without further ado here is my April Recap :)

Author of the Month: (Wicked Nights + Beauty Awakened
Angels of the Dark #1, #2) Gena Showalter

I've read Lords of the Underworld a few months ago. It's one of quite few Paranormal Romance I've read which ISN'T about vampires. It's about demons, warriors and immortals. But nevertheless a great read! Gena built an amazing world that feels real (or could be real), interesting characters and now a spin off which started with Zacharel (whom we met in the LotU series) and continues with the rest of the Amy of Disgrace. I loved Zacharel when reading of him and the LotU series and LOVED his personal story. I also really enjoyed the second one in the series of Koldo (a new character). Gena brings into this world interesting and divine motives I really like. I like that the characters are versatile and even though supposed to be utterly good (angels hello!) they are damaged in their way leaving them having to struggle with their past but also present (so they'll actually have a future ..). I planned on reading the last one when it was published (on the 29th of April) but since I was all over Curio I postponed it to the beginning of May (will start reading it today :)).

Favorite Book of the Month: The Country Mouse Collection By 
(Country Mouse + City Mouse) By Amy Lane & Aleksandr Voinov

I started with putting this one in the "fun break" but then moved it to this spot since even though it WAS a total easy going and funny read it was also a great story and my ABSOLUTE favorite of the month. We have two short novellas that together brings us a whole story (I think together they are about 200 pages). The first one deals with the forming of the relationship between the Country Mouse - Owen the easy going from the US coming to a visit in London and the City Mouse - Malcolm the uptight workaholic living in London. The first part had a lot of sex (some of it naughty :P) but it did have a sweet story as well. Owen is an amazing influence on Malcolm and he can read him like an open book, giving him what he needs even if he doesn't know that's what he actually needs! The second one is about them trying to get along as a couple when they have different views towards a lot of things. Mostly about work.. Owen wants a work with meaning, Malcolm wants a job with a status and naturally pays well. Both of them wants that for the other which is what's sweet about it. I wish we could have had another short novella to this one but I guess I'll have to settle with what we got :) 

I should mention that the read was very fluent even though it's written by two authors. This is the first read for my of Amy Lane but Aleksandr Voinov I knew from a preious read - "Unhinge the Universe" (Also Highly recommended!) 

Disappointment of the Month: Find Yon in the Dark by A. Meredith Walters

I don't like writing bad reviews but sometimes I feel like "I have to" first because I want to document what I read for myself and second because I would like to have an honest review when I look for a book to read so for me it also means to deliver it myself with my reviews. One other thing, I really try to finish a book even if I don't really like it or have my misgiving about it but this one, I left after almost 50% for me that means the book have REALLY disappointed me (or angered me which will mostly be the case). I think this book had a lot of potential dealing with a rough subject - a teenager suffering from both Mood (Affective) Disorder and a Personality Disorder. I guess it was suppose to show us how the MC struggle with the disorders both with one another and with the world around them (family, friends, kids they go to school with etc) but it was a total miss because the girl - Maggie was A CHILD. I think she behaved like a 12 years old.. (not 16...) there is NO love expressed only an obsession we all read about / witnessed / once had when we were young when it was all about the crush and nothing to do with the person towards it's expressed. Also it's all about forgetting who she is to be HIS girl. I felt that the Maggie couldn't deal with what was going on with her boyfriend since she can't even understand what a real relationship is about. I really wish I'd love it. I do.

I find these kinds of subjects close to heart since I studied Behavioral Science for my B.A. and I worked with different kinds of Disorders for years (granted not with what Clay has, not that it matters..). So yeah, it was a total miss on that account but the most strange thing about this book was that even though it brings such a refreshing and different story all the other details of the book felt like a total and absolute cliche / unoriginal. So as I wrote above, haven't finished this one and cancelled my planned reading for the rest of the series.. 

Discovery of the Month: Curio Vignettes by Cara McKenna
(See links to all reviews above)

I read almost all books published by Meg Maguire (and will finish them all till the end of the year) but this is the first I've read in her other pen name - Cara McKenna. She writes Contemporary Romance under Meg and Erotica under Cara. I don't read a lot of Erotica basically because I'm more into the story than the sex.. ;) But this one gave both the sex AND the story. I loved that we had a story of about 5 months long which means we could feel how the relationship was building (each novella had a short few weeks gap from the previous one) making it more realistic. I loved that we had a man whore (and not the obvious other way around) I loved that what Didier was dealing with wasn't so obvious or I should say stereotypical to prostitutes it had more to do with HOW he lived his life and not about his occupation specifically. I loved that I could relate to both of them even though my life story has NOTHING to do with theirs. For me that's something a great writer can do (and a good one does occasionally or not at all).  Both of them felt real to me, relateable. I also appreciate an author who can write a good novella. That's not an easy thing! But I should say that all of them had their happy ending but it wasn't an absolute and total closure to the story it was mostly having something to look forward to. I would have been totally OK with reading just the first one but naturally was happy to get all 6 of them.    

Fun Break of the Month: One Hot Night (Old Port Nights #1) by Samantha Hunter

This is a short novella that's going to become a series though I'm not sure if it'll be like Curio containing short novellas or a "regular" series with full novels. Anyhow it was a fun read, and was exactly what I needed after all the "misses" I had this month (I mentioned above one I didn't finish but there were two others). I really enjoy reading Samantha, every novella I stumble upon (OK, except for one) is a great an fun read. I really want to get to read her full novels but as you know the "to read" list is always unrealistic..  I won't write another review of the novella here you can click on the name and go to my full review.  

That's it for this month recap! May Goals coming up in a bit! 

This one was EXACTLY what I needed. After all the crazy crazy at work, being sick and mostly feeling tired I found that I lost my ability to sit down and gulp a whole book (OK, most of the time it's half a book..). Adding to that the poor choice of books I have lately and it's really been a while since I sat down and read a book I could enjoy beginning to end. Yeah, I know that this one is 80 pages but that's the fun in novellas, you don't have the time to invest in a "real read" you want a little "time off" you want to have it "all" right now a story with a beginning - plot - end and all in about two hours.

The problem with this fabulous idea is that good novellas are hard to find.. It's hard to write a whole story that can bring us everything a good book has in less than a quarter of the length of a regular novel... after all, there is a need for all those "extra" pages.. Mostly you feel like the novella is missing something or it progresses to damn quickly (shortage of pages anyone?) but you know what, even with all the difficulties some authors can pull it off and Samantha can surly do! 

As I've said something like a million times before, the first thing I read by Samantha was her short novella "Tight Quarters" on Strangers on a Train Bundle and from there on I've been hunting the books written by all 5 authors. With Samantha it's a little more difficult since she wrote so much and I have such a long reading list that I know that it will take me a few years to catch up on all she wrote in the past. I've started up "small" reading her short novellas, and I loved most of them! 

So lets get back in business - We have Audra and Scott. She, 43 years old, divorced and working hard to make her new antic shop gain a profit. He, a 34 years old ex-jock who own a hockey bar next door to her shop (also being her landlord since he own the whole building). There are sparks between the two of them the past few years she have been renting the place from him but she never accepts any dating proposal from him, not wanting to get involved with someone that has a different woman every other night, not to mention mixing work with pleasure isn't a good idea... He isn't what she thinks he is though, he is interested in her, not some fantasy girl that he is or was photographed with and he doesn't seem to have the opportunity to show her differently until now - when he helps her out of a miserable situation on a stormy night. A stormy night she is stuck in her shop and later on stuck with him since the storm makes it impossible for her to go back home. Here comes the one hot night!! and after that a disaster that changes everything between them. Audra just sees it as a confirmation that she should have stayed away from Scott, and he is frustrated since there seem to be nothing he could do to fix the situation and bring her back to him. But a solution is found and I loved how this short novella concluded, giving me a taste for more (I guess her best friend will be continuing this series though I haven't seen any mention of what is planned.. series of short novellas? this being a prelude to a series containing whole novels? we'll see..).

I feel like adding something though.. I know that some people want a whole closure - seeing/reading how it all worked out, so when you close the book/kindle you have a truly HEA feeling. Here, and I guess in most novellas it's not like that. You get a closure to the situation, you get an opportunity for the main characters to hit it off, you have an idea about what's in store for both of them financially but it's more of getting the feeling that everything will work out than a real knowledge it does. So keep that in mind :) For me it was enough as it is. 

I really enjoyed putting everything aside and delving into this one. Recommended!

I can't sign off without recommending "Bending Over Backwards" as well. It's longer (about 150 pages) and SO worth the read.  

Before (Burlesque Bombshells, #1) 

Brash(Burlesque Bombshells, #2) 

Blush (Burlesque Bombshells, #3) 

by Nicola Marsh

Actually as I'm writing this down I already finished the first one and wrote it's review. I'm not sure if I'll be reading the following ones since I have an issue with the main heroine.. so I might do a "break" and read other books before I return to the next two, or I might skip them entirely. 

The Edge of Never (The Edge of Never, #1)

The Edge of Always (The Edge of Never #2)

by Redmerski, J.A.

I'm not sure who recommended this series to me. Haven't a clue about it. 

Country Mouse: The Complete Collection

by Aleksandr Voinov and Amy Lane

After reading "Unhinge the Universe" I've been looking for books by Aleksandr Voinov. I think I have more planned by him. 

Find You in the Dark (Find You in the Dark, #1)

Cloud Walking (Find You in the Dark, #1.5)

Light in the Shadows (Find You in the Dark, #2)

Warmth in Ice (Find You in the Dark, #2.5)

by  A. Meredith Walters

I had the first one planned for March but when I realized I'm not going to make it I decided it's better to plan for a time to read a whole series and not just for the first in each new series (if I don't like it and don't want to continue there is always what to read ;))

One Hot Night

By Samantha Hunter

Another one I has planned for the previous month. This is just a short novella that will turn into a series I think, not sure. Samantha is one of the 5 authors of "strangers on a train" and for that I'm looking into her books. This one is quite new. I have another new one scheduled for next month I think. I'm not sure how to pick through her endless list of books so if you have recommendation about specific books you liked by her I'll be glad to hear :)

Wicked Nights (Angels of the Dark, #1)

Beauty Awakened (Angels of the Dark, #2)

By Gena Showalter

I'm actually not sure if I'll get to read the both of them this month considering I "lost a week" with reading only one book.. But anyway since the 3rd one will be released somewhere in the end of April it seemed a good place to put these two. This is a spin-off for Lords of the Underworld series. I really loved Zacharel character in Paris's book (The Darkest Seduction LotU #9) so I can't wait to read his book (the first in the series). I also figured I haven't read a Paranormal Romance for a while.. There were none in March and on February they have been a disappointment mostly.. Finding a new good Paranormal series would be great! 

As I've started on February, I'm re-listening the the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J. R. Ward "preparing" myself for the 12th book "The King" which was released on the 1st of April. I did want to listen to them fast enough to get to the last book in April but I'm being realistic here that it's NOT going to happen. 

Right now I'm listening to "Lover Avenged" (Rehv's book and no. 7 on the series).

I have a few books from March I had to postpone to further months. "If You Stay" (Beautifully Broken #1) by Courtney Cole which I decided to put somewhere I'll have time to read all the series not just the first one (like I wrote in "Find You in the Dark"). "By Degrees" series by Taylor V. Donovan has quite longs books so I had to find a big enough space for them. I'm not sure where I scheduled them at the moment (and things do change so..)

That's it!

Have a great April everyone! :)

January Goals / January Recap

February Goals / February Recap

March Goals / March Recap

Note - I crossed off the ones I'm not planning on reading.