Great Week for Reading

Tags

CODA, Contemporary Romance, Fool's Gold, Kendal Flynn, kindle, LOOSE CANNON, military romantic suspense, ONLY MINE, PLAYING DIRTY, reading, Romantic Suspense, Sisterhood Diaries, Susan Andersen, Susan Mallery

Wish that was how I was reading MY Kindle....

It was a great week for reading since it’s been too damn hot to do much of anything else.  So, aside from working, the normal family stuff, and attending the wedding of a good friend (and having weather-induced migraines), I’ve been reading.  And, since I know you’re dying to know what I’ve been reading, I’ll tell you.  (Hey, if you’re here, you must care at least a little bit ;P)

Tuesday was release day for two of my favorite authors, Susan Mallery and Susan Andersen.  Both were pre-orders and series books (yeah, yeah, we all know about my addiction).  The first one, ONLY MINE, is the fourth Fool’s Gold book by Susan Mallery (actually fifth if we count the novella Sister of the Bride).  I love Fool’s Gold, and think I’ll have some fun the next few months with the Hendrix triplets.  This book centers on Dakota Hendrix, who is reluctantly acting as liaison to a reality TV crew shooting a dating show in Fool’s Gold, and Finn Anderssen, an Alaskan pilot and incredibly overprotective big brother to his younger twin brothers.  Everything here is character-driven, and some of the same plot devices are used as in some of the other Fool’s Gold books, but I’ll say I still very much enjoy this series and have the others pre-ordered, too.

PLAYING DIRTY is the third of Susan Andersen’s Sisterhood Diaries trilogy.  Set in Seattle, this series is one I was hooked on from the beginning, and dearly love.  What I love the most about this series is the interplay between the three women of the Sisterhood, probably because I can see some of myself and my own girlfriends in each of the three of them.  If you haven’t read the first two, this book can stand alone, but you’re missing out on a lot of fun.  The first one, CUTTING LOOSE centers on Jane, the second, BENDING THE RULES, centers on Poppy, and this one, PLAYING DIRTY, centers on Ava.

Ava was the “fat girl” back in high school and although she is a beautiful, curvy size 12/14 now, the self-esteem issues linger, as well as the betrayal she felt when she found out Cade had slept with her to win a bet.  Now, 13 years later he wants to shoot a documentary in the mansion she inherited with her girlfriends Jane and Poppy, and he needs her and her concierge business to do it.  Yes, yes, we have all read a bunch of contemporary romance, so we know where this is going, but Susan did a wonderful job with it and there was a lot of heat and emotion here.  This was a great end to the series and Susan Andersen remains high on my “gotta buy it” list.

The next book I read was by a debut author, Kendal Flynn.  LOOSE CANNON is the first of a series revolving around a shadowy government agency, CODA (Counterintelligence Defense Agency), an agency so secret it doesn’t officially exist.  Here we have a total kickass heroine in Raeanne Springfield and a badass among badasses in her hero, Alex Dante.

Seven years ago Raeanne left CODA, and entered into civilian life believing she had been jilted by her lover, Alex.  She became a bodyguard to a senator and had a son.  Now, her son is kidnapped by a man she thought was dead, Alex is back in her life and everything goes to hell in a hand-basket real quick.  You know how I feel about spoilers and recaps, so I can’t tell you much more than that.  What I CAN tell you is I could hardly put this one down (I had to go to work and attend a wedding, but still finished it this morning when I started it yesterday).  There were times I wanted to smack Alex, and there are a lot of unanswered questions- I so want the sequel right now!- but this was full of action, heat, intrigue, and emotion.  I actually exchanged some messages with the author yesterday, since I was having so much fun with this book.  Of course, we all know how I feel about romantic suspense, military romantic suspense and spies, so this was right up my alley.

So, now I’d better get some of my own writing done.  I started something that just popped in my head this morning, and I’d like to flesh it out some more.  I have no idea where it came from or if it connects to anything else, but I figure I’d better get it from the paper (I know!  I actually wrote it out longhand!) into the computer.  Wish me luck.