A Tempting Taste - Adriana Kraft

Jen and Brett have expended their potential partners. They meet an older couple, Carl and Alice, who ask if they would like to meet friends of theirs, Ned and Elizabeth. Jen and Brett meet and play with both couples. They also are talking online with Dan and his wife. They discover new things about themselves as well as their new playmates.

I enjoyed this book. I liked how Jen and Brett are branching out. They've had a young couple with young children so dates have a way of being cancelled because of family emergencies. They have had an interracial couple. Now they are with older couples and looking at another couple who seem around their ages. I liked that this book showed older couples and how they do not lose their desire for playing and loving. I also liked how it is shown how they find ways to please themselves and others that may not be conventional but it works for them and their play partners. I appreciated that Jen and Brett took a chance with both couples. Looks like they have new friends.

Whitney has become one of my favorite authors in a short amount of time. She delights with sassy characters that tickle the funny bone and melt your heart and makes a point while doing so. Tempting Talk flirts it's way past your defenses with laugh out loud dialogue, captivating characters and tempting storytelling. Jake and Mabel both have something to prove to themselves and the world around them, that may end up costing them more than they could possibly know. Tempting Talk will shake up your emotions in classic Sara Whitney fashion. With humor and heart.

Erik and Josie are a match made of fun. Whitney serves up a delicious blend of sugar and spice that definitely hits the spot. From tempting attraction to heartwarming angst. Tempting Taste leaves it's mark on the funny bone and heart.

Tempting Levi - Jules Barnard

Tempting Levi is an entertaining contemporary romance by Jules Barnard.  Ms. Barnard has provided readers with a well-written book.  The characters are miserable in their jobs and argumentative with other family members.  Levi is left in charge of the family casino.  Emily is his new assistant and the half-sister of his ex.  Levi and Emily's story is loaded with drama, humor, sexy bits and a tidbit of mystery.  I enjoyed reading Tempting Levi and look forward to reading more from Jules Barnard in the future.  Tempting Levi is book 1 of the Cade Brothers Series but can be read as a standalone.  This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

Here is my top 25.  In no particular order (though most of them are series).

1. The Count St. Germain Series by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Yarbro's series is about the Count St Germain, who in her series is a vampire, and his adventures throughout history.  The original five are Hotel Transylvania, The Place, Blood Games, Path of the Eclipse, and Tempting Fate.  Other stand outs in the series, imo, include Blood Roses, Better in the Dark,  and the three Olivia novels.  The series can be read out of order, and the historical period tends to be different per book.

2. The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman

Moonight is completely right about Penman, and this is book is just great.  If you have read Daughter of Time and not this one, something is wrong with you.

3. The Egyptian historical books by Pauline Gedge 

Gedge has written other historical than her ancient Egypt books, but they are the best.  There are two trilogies' (The King's Man and Lord of Two Lands), a duology (House of) and three stand alones.  She has a book about the Roman conquest of Britain.

4. Benjamin January Series by Barbara Hambly

Hambly's long lasting mystery series follows Ben, a freed slave who has trained as a doctor in Paris.  He returns to New Orleans shortly after the purchase where he is only seen as a piano player.

5.The Accursed Kings by Maurice Droun (at least 1-3)

Apparently this series inspired George R R Martin.  It traces the fall of the Valois dynasty.

6.The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

It isn't really the true Hansel and Gretel, but the fairy tale set in WWII Poland.  The best part is what Murphy does with the Stepmother and witch characters.

7. Robert Lawson's Ben and Me as well as Mr Revere and I

Lawson wrote quite a few children's books about animals.  Ben and Me is about Ben Franklin told by a mouse, and Mr Revere and I is the famous ride retold by the mare that Revere rode.

8. The Eleanor of Aquitane novels by Elizabeth Chidwick

It's true that Chadwick seems a bit centered on William the Marshall, but her books about Eleanor are superior.

9. Joplin's Ghost  by Tananrive Due

This is one of those alternate time novels.  Part of the novel concerns Scott Joplin, the other part the girl who has his cursed piano.  Its really, really good.

10. A  Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

This doorstopper is set during the French Revolution/Terror.  You can smell Paris.

11. Wildflowers of Terezin by Robert Elmer

This book is set in Nazi occupied Copenhagen and is about a pastor and a Jewish woman making it though the war and falling in over.

12. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Wein's book is told by two young women who are part of the British SOE group sent into occupied France.  

13. The Three Musketeers by Dumas

I mean, is there a book that has been filmed more?

14. The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie

The story of a girl from the Germanic tribes as they resist Rome.  The ending fight in  the arena is kick ass.

15. The Collaborators by Reginald Hill

This novel follows the lives of several people in Occupied Paris.

16. An Instance at the Fingerpost by Iain Pear

A mystery told in four different points of view.  

17. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Takes the gothic, adds the history and lesbians.

18. The Hound and the Falcon by Judith Tarr

Tarr's series is set during the Crusades and follows a young priest who may be able to do magic.

19. The Terror by Dan Simmons

The basis for the AMC series.  The novel reveals what really happened to the Franklin expedition to find the Northwest passage.  It is a slow book, but that's part of the point.

20. The Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd

Ackroyd's book imagines what might have happened if Charles and Mary Lamb (she killed their mother in a fit of maddness) had met William-Henry Ireland (the men behind the Shakespeare fraud).

21. Cassandra Princess of Troy by Hilary Bailey

Epic retelling of Troy.

22. Segu by Maryse Conde

Set in Africa as Islam and transatlantic slavery invade, the novel chronciles the lives of a family.

23. Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

George's novel set some critics off because she has Henry contend that Kat of A was lying.  But it is told in Henry's pov, so well, duh.  If anyone captured his voice, she did.  I just people would stop putting the book in the history section.

24. The Memory Man by Lisa Appignanesi

One of the best books about WW II.

25. David Ashton's McLevy

This series started as series on BBC radio.  It is based on the real McLevy who patrolled Edinburgh during the reign of Queen Victoria and published his memoirs.  In addition to the radio programs, there are a series of books.  Well worth a read.