Aspen Cove is the place where hearts dare to dream and souls go to heal. A less than ideal life has brought two strangers to a crossroads. As a youth, Samantha White dreamed of something better. Caught in a life filled with heartache and poverty, she wanted to escape. Now an adult Samantha seems to have it all. A glamorous career, a ton of money and an unmatched celebrity. From the outside, she's living the dream, but inwardly she's falling apart. It seems she can never stop running. Going incognito is the best way to find peace, until a past she wanted to outrun starts to feel like a perfect fit. Dalton is the dream she never hoped to have and refuses to live without. What happens when the present she left behind, proves a stumbling block to the future she's just beginning. Collins begins and ends with emotion. One Hundred Wishes puts it's best heart forward and step right into the soul. McAllister made a breathing entity out of an already breathtaking journey. Beautiful.

Gingerbread Wishes (Sugar & Spice Bakery...

I really enjoyed this short and clean romance. It was pretty fast moving with a nice ending. Would like to read more of this series. Nice if you don't have time for a long read. I think I received this for free and voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 4.5* because it left me wanting to know more.

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

 

Book two in the Three Wishes Series, and you don't need to have read book one to enjoy the three wishes granted here, but it might help you understand Damien, Guard and James and how their relationship works, or rather, doesn't.

 

Cameron is losing his sight, and wants to have one last week of being looked after when he can enjoy it, before he goes totally blind. Xander has the sort of personality that he NEEDS to look after someone, and when Cameron and Xander are paired for their wish, its a powerful joining.

 

I loved these two. Cameron has plans for when his week is up, but they aren't fully made clear til a way in, and that shocked me, but then once the words were said, I could see the hints laid out for me. Xander and Cameron are PERFECT for each other, Cameron just needs to *quite literally* SEE that just because he can't physically see, his life is not over, there is much he can do, and Xander... well, Xander just wants to be able to look after Cameron, much past this one week.

 

Ben is a writer, fully in control of his life. But just once, just one time, he wants to be totally NOT in control. Guard had informed him his wish wouldn't be granted, it was a little too far out there and they couldn't find anyone to help, so Ben decided just to enjoy the week on the island instead. Until he is taken from the beach, tied to the bed and made to do all sorts of things he never wanted.

 

Oh this one! This was so unexpected! I LOVED this one, even if it was too far out there! Ben does take some time to come to the realization that his fantasy did, really, happen, but til that point, he is truly afraid. But as well as being afraid, he is, deep down, enjoying it. Tip entered into this wish fully expecting to give the client what HE wanted, Tip was still gonna enjoy himself though. What he didn't expect was Ben and how beautifully Ben responded to everything Tip threw at him.

 

Leo is a Dom but wants to learn about being a sub so he can treat his subs in the manner they need. So he books a week at the island and waits. David has lusted after Leo for a very long time and when approached to do this job, and then told WHO he would be topping, David jumped.

 

My least favourite couple, but still I liked their wish. Leo wants to learn but when he finds out its David doing the teaching, he isn't best pleased as he wanted it to be anonymous. I liked how they worked well together.

 

AND!

 

Damien, Guard and James have a little bit, not as much as book one, but its SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. They work some of their problems...issues... can't find the right word but they work some of it out.

 

I need more though. As I said in my review for book one, I ALWAYS need more. I need more wishes, I need one to go horribly, terribly wrong, and I need more of the three men who those wishes out.

 

Please tell me, Mr Michael will there be more??

 

4.5 stars, because I liked all three wishes and Guard, James and Damien get *mostly* together.

 

**same worded review will appear on: Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, BookLikes, Kobo and Barnes and Noble**

 

The Top Ten Tuesday meme is brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.  As per usual, if you guys want to participate and see more bloggers participating in this meme, feel free to follow the link - it's a fun weekly challenge.  I'm enjoying it immensely.

 

So this week has me answering what I would like the Book Genie (book genie?) to grant me.  This sounds like a fun topic.  I'm probably going to go off the top of my head with this one.

 

1. Give me a YA dystopian that doesn't primarily focus on romance.  Because it seems like so many of them do,  I really enjoy dystopians because I like the otherworld and watching characters struggle in the circumstances behind these environments. While there's nothing wrong with a story that chooses to focus on romance in this vein (and let's face it, not having those kind of stories at all would be unfortunate), sometimes it gets a little tiring when it seems to be the only thing a story focuses on, or the story seems to suffer because it's trying so hard to shape a particular "ship".  So what other things can a dystopian story do besides have romance?

 

• have a pulse pounding tale of survival in variant elements or various depravities
• immerse the reader in learning a different culture/society
• have the characters fight for a cause they believe in

 

Heck, I'd be game for all three in one story if it had it, and it'd be awesome if I could learn the plights of the characters and their personalities that much more.   I mean, there are so many things you can do with these kinds of stories, but I think if my searches still come up empty, I think I'll just hope the Book Genie comes through and I can get something that knocks my socks off in this vein.

 

2. I just want more time to read.  I do try to fit reading in whenever I can - between commutes to work, bedtime reading, audiobook reads at the gym and doing chores, but even then, it's still not enough.  Maybe extend the weekend another day?  That would help.

 

3. I'd like to collect at least 2-3 different editions of a favorite book from other countries.  Because sometimes the cover of a book in another country is so much prettier than the one you end up getting in your home country.  Plus, I personally find it interesting to see how a book may translate linguistically in another language compared to my own.

 

I'm still trying to decide on that favorite book though.  I might try Daphne Du Maurier's "Rebecca" first.

 

4. Don't necessarily ask for a private library as big as Belle's from Beauty and the Beast (though that would be nice), but I would like my own nice little reading nook.   Because I already spend hours on Tumblr browsing through spaces I wish I could have as my own. Like this:

 

 

5.  More motivation to finish writing the book reviews I started a long time ago, but never finished.  It's because I get sidetracked by so many other books I want to read and a day turns into a week...a week turns into a month...you get the idea.

 

6. Send my blessing of coffee cake to all of my favorite writers. (Or perhaps their choice of something sweet.  It'd be my token of appreciation.  But I'm guessing for authors who aren't from my respective time, someone's going to have to take the cake via the TARDIS.  Now I wonder who I can recruit for that...? ;) )

 

7. Just get rid of all the comparison marketing that I see publishers use surrounding new books. Let the book's accolades and distinctions stand on their own and proudly.  (If I have to hear a thriller referred to as the next "Gone Girl" or "Girl on the Train" one more time...Oy vey.  Unfortunately, I've seen an example of this far too recently in my reading pursuits.)

 

8. Longer stamina in staying awake.  Because if I'm reading books into the wee hours of the morning (like I will be doing tonight after penning this post), I'll need all the energy that I can get.  Non-caffeine fueled preferably.

 

9. To throw a book-themed party for myself and my bookish friends.  Because that would be fun. It'd be like a birthday party and a slumber party all in one.  Bookish treats, prizes, games, and a read-along.  I've never had the chance to do something like that, but I think I know one person who did it and loved it.

 

10.  Just to be able to share the bookish love I have with others.  Self explanatory.

 

Cheers, and until next entry,

Rose

2.5 actually... I have mixed feelings about this author. The idea of fantasy and whimsy appeals to me greatly, but her portrayal of various characters and things often falls short in ways that irritate me in small amounts. I call it the death by a thousand paper cuts. In this case, it's more like 365 (page count).

The paper cuts in this one nearly severed an artery within the first 3 pages (that's 3 cuts when you think about it). First off, we have a h who is ruminating that the nicest thing her ex did was give her daughter her looks. Uh... If he's an ex, would you really want THAT much of a visual reminder? I mean; nobody would *ever* say "she looks so much like your douchebag ex..." as a complement there. Then this "delightful" child of 9 is demanding her attention (she works at home), and she remembers the last time the kid was this insistent was when she demanded art lessons at age *5*. A 5-y-o. Demanding art lessons. OoooKay... I have a friend who is a terrific sculptor. Her dad is rather famous so she got to help him. I'm pretty sure she would never have demanded lessons lest she be condemned to cleaning stalls or something for her impertinence.

Kid is being somewhat casual in her address of an adult. Mom corrects her. "Mom, stop being a teacher!!" Me=> "How about I be a parent instead. Go to your room. Now. Lest I forget myself and mash your smart mouth". So the kid is insistent and demanding/begging to be allowed to participate in an activity. The mom listens carefully to discover that her friend/neighbor/tenant/babysitter wants the kid to participate in a seance... Say WHAT?!?! Oh I don't think so. In fact, I'd be laying down laws about said person's influence, possibly suggesting she start looking for alternative lodging.

So ok, I have no tolerance for "kinder, gentler parenting" that allows bratlings to run amok. I also have little tolerance for parents who expect kids to monitor themselves (the kid and her math studying)

So somehow I manage to survive the first chapter without losing a limb. It does get better but boy could I understand why a lot of readers hate reading dated contemporary romances. This one was set in the late '90s, and seemed dated or at least inaccurate even then. The h (too busy working to parent, and for all her bad experiences, still TSTL at times) works on computers, and her business does, among other things, streamlining data storage (from zillions of floppies apparently) to CDs. Because apparently nobody used backup drives yet. Or even hard drives for anything other than the operating system. And zip disks apparently didn't exist either. Wow. Just...wow. You know, am pretty sure early versions of the Cloud were being pushed by a few outfits at the time. Am also pretty sure even AOHell had switched to cds (because prior to that, I used to cover up the hole that kept their floppies from being rewritten and reformat them for my own use. Hah!)

The H had issues. He was also a bit...ok, a lot...arrogant, demanding, etc. Like a small child except he was a 6'+ man (guess in a way, that's par for the course) with magical powers. At least 'til he helped the kid with her math (that her mom was too busy to help her with) and used magic to do so. Then the h lost it and made a wish in a fit of anger - for him to be without his powers for 2 weeks. I didn't really blame her for that, to be honest, because I could see her point. What I had issues with was the fact that she expected the kid to voluntarily go work on math. I haven't seen a kid yet who would go work on homework (over summer break no less) voluntarily (well, except me maybe, but I was bored and besides, I was good at math and liked it).

Eventually, they work out their issues, she manages to free him from servitude (two ways to summon a djinni - he/she/it is bound in servitude, or...you know their true name), he severs his remaining ties to his homeland, and HEA.

Oh, and I managed to staunch the flow of blood before I bled out.