So, I've been off BL for a long, long time. A lot has happened, I got pregnant and had a daughter. My mom got sick and passed away. I had to clear out and sell my childhood home and all the contents while trying to balance all of that and my full time job. It's been...something.

 

For a while, not long after my mom died (3 days before Christmas 2016 when my daughter was only 5 months old) I started searching out and reading books that dealt with death and grief. I read a lot of Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking, Blue Nights. I read When Breath Becomes Air and About Alice and A Widow's Story. I started Missing Mom and couldn't go any further because it was too hard and How We Die.

 

The Bright Hour is one of the most beautiful books I've read, ever. I can't possibly describe it except to use it's full title--The Bright Hour: a memoir of living and dying. It is so full of life, all the messiness and happiness and tragedy and humor and it faces death and mortality head on, unflinching. 

 

I recently reread it, now a year and a half since my mother passed, it still has such power and peace. I can't recommend it enough.

Get ready to meet some of the most compelling characters you've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Love, Magic, Adrenaline features everything from werewolves battling for their place in the world to half-breed demons struggling against the darkness within to ancient elemental beings and conflicted fae. Add in a smattering of demigods, vampires and primeval magic forces, and you have the recipe for not just one or two, but ten compelling reads.

Reborn - Dean Murray
Jace, the new arrival at Selene's school, seems perfect, but there's more to him than meets the eye. Jace is part of an ancient war between immortal beings who return to fight again after being killed, and if Selene lets herself fall for him, she'll be sucked into a fight she can't win.

Wings of Shadow - Anna Kyss
When Meghan Kelly, eighteen-years-old and backpacking across England, descends into the century-old stone tunnels of the Underground, she plans on a hot date at a secret nightclub. Instead, she finds herself imprisoned and in a fight for her very survival.

Thrall - Jennifer Quintenz
Braedyn is a high school girl struggling to find her path and falling in love for the first time when she discovers she is a descendant of Lilith - an enticing demon who preys on the souls of mortal men. Now, Braedyn must choose between embracing her Lilitu powers or joining humanity in an ancient war between the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Lilith.

Lichgates - S.M. Boyce
The final page will leave you breathless. Welcome to Ourea: a world of magic, monsters, royalty, betrayal, and a long-lost book of magic. Only the cunning will survive.

Dreamscape - Christie Rich
Orphaned Amelia Blake wants nothing more than to escape into her dreams where a handsome stranger waits for her every night, until the night he comes to take her into his realm—a dark, dangerous place filled with creatures eager to steal human souls. Amelia must learn to trust this strange, enigmatic man before the world falls into never-ending darkness and she loses any chance she has to find love.

Dirty Blood - Heather Hildenbrand
Sometimes family can be the death of you...

17 year-old Tara Godfrey’s normal life is uprooted when she comes face to face with death threats, werewolves, and family secrets in a single night. Her only ally? The hottest, most mysterious werewolf she'll ever meet. And he doesn't like her already.

Memory's Wake - Selina Fenech
A troubled sixteen-year-old is lost and hunted in a land magically isolated from the rest of the world, filled with monsters, fairies, and dangerous secrets. She must find out who she is and why her memories were stolen before she is found by those who want her dead.

Shadow of Time: Dark Dreams - Jen Minkman
When do dreams erupt into reality?
After Hannah, vacationing in Arizona, meets handsome Josh from the Navajo reservation, she experiences disturbingly vivid nightmares about the Navajo nation’s past.

Silent Orchids - Morgan Wylie
Haunted by unfamiliar images and family secrets, 18 year old Kaeleigh has been seeking answers about who she is. She never expects those answers to come in the form of a warrior Faerie, or from a journey to another realm that will forever change her, her life, and the land she's been called to.

Bound by Prophecy - Melissa Wright
Aern's only job is to protect the chosen. Emily just wants her sister back. Together they'll take on destiny.

 

#Anthology, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Romance, #Urban

I'm a bird nerd, so I loved the photographs, and some of the behind-the-scenes info on the documentary. Doesn't compare to the actual footage, of course, so try to catch it on PBS!

Stunning photography. Very little text!

Plentiful Package (Simply Breathtaking, ... A beautiful setting, a beautiful female main character, and…for those who like it…a beautiful male love interest. What more could be asked for? Plentiful Package had a strong delivery in these aspects of the story. I really enjoyed the experience of being in the beautiful scenery the Great Barrier Reef islands hold, as Craig has recreated in her writing. It seems like such piece of paradise.

I also thought that Plentiful Package started out great. The prologue got me thinking one thing, then it jumps to a few years later and I see I was all wrong. This only made me want what I expected to happen even more. I won’t say what that was,exactly, just that it’s a relationship that I wanted to see pan out.

I think that the way the main character, Jenna, was written is another thing I really enjoyed. She’s beautiful, smart, and very dedicated to her job…sometimes too dedicated. These characters provided believable conflict between her, her goals, and other characters (mainly the male ones). I couldn’t predict what the actual outcome of this story was going to be. Would it be the “predictable” one? Was another man going to come into her life and sweep her off her feet? Was her career always going to get in the way of her heart (and libido)?

I know the answer…but you’ll have to read Plentiful Package to find out.

If you’re looking for some great, hot sex scenes…I mean it, they were very well written….you’ve come to the right place. This story is a “plentiful package” of everything that makes for an entertaining erotic read.