KindleRomance

Brilliant plot with some interesting twists and engaging characters made this story almost impossible to put down. It also included fascinating details about the financial world. Martin was such an intricate character, and I enjoyed watching him navigate relationships with Francis, Alec, and Josh. There were plenty of steamy scenes between Martin and several other characters, but this definitely wasn’t a typical romance. I still felt it had a romantic edge to it which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I've always hoped this concept would play out, and I'm excited to finally see it in action. I like the idea of renting a book provided the author is getting paid for it. I don't think this is for everybody, but for people who read a lot and across different genres, there are quite a few books to choose from. I added over 30 books to my wishlist that qualify. Everything from m/m romance to Microsoft and Evernote guides. If the selection doesn't grow, then this will probably be one of those plans where I join for a few months, read like crazy, and then drop out for a year until the backlog grows again.

I signed up last night, and I've already read two books through it. I would not have bought these books without making sure the reviews were amazing first. But with the chance to start reading, stop if I didn't like it, and not feel like it was costing me any more money, it was a no-brainer to grab them.  I'll still continue to buy books because I like owning them and reading at my convenience. The selection is also pretty small for the authors that I love. 

I think this could turn into a game changer based on other pieces of information I've read about how the pricing affects what the author is getting paid. It will be interesting to see if authors have their books read by more people through this platform. 

I've seen other places doing this, like Oyster and Scribd, but I haven't been convinced that the authors were getting paid properly. If they aren't getting paid, they aren't going to keep writing. None of these plans will work if authors aren't making a living. Since Amazon seems to be spelling out exactly how the author will be paid, and authors have generally stated that they trust the accuracy of the royalty checks that they get, it appears this is all legit.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is a win-win for everybody.

I couldn't put this story down. The characters were richly developed, and the story was well thought out and enjoyable. Michael is a sex surrogate and nurse, and once I understood his motivations and heard his thoughts, I was in love with him. He was extremely generous down to his core. He saw people for the wonderful and amazing beings that they were and didn't pass judgment on them.

James was an author and, as an avid reader, I loved getting a glimpse behind the scenes of that world. Although his personality was prickly, down deep he was a good person who just desperately needed to move on from his past. Michael and James formed an interesting partnership, and I really thought they worked well together.

There were only a few steamy scenes, but they were utter perfection. The reason behind everything that happened to James made so much sense and solidified the entire story. Although this is the third in the series, the stories are only loosely related. However, the first two were also great stories, and I highly recommend them.

A touching and suspenseful story with two caring people who were fortunate enough to find each other.

After serving 10 years of his life in prison, Cameron can only hope he'll find somebody who will truly love and accept him. Fortunately, Hunter might just be the right man. Now they just have to survive long enough to catch the real criminals.

I really enjoyed this detective story about Hunter Donovan, Assistant State Attorney, trying to take drugs off the street, and Cam Pierce, the man he fell instantly in love with. I loved how the author managed to weave Cam's initial arrest 10 years ago with the current drug and corruption problem taking place. There's also a bit of a mystery trying to determine who is causing trouble within the department.

Cam is such a touching character. Although the last decade has been extremely rough for him, he's still such a sweetheart. He looks for ways to bring beauty to the world with his landscaping. He's so helpful to the elderly couple that own the diner where he works. I thought the author did a wonderful job making sure we adored him, felt his pain, but also saw him as a man who desperately wants to move on with his life. I liked that he had real reasons for doubting that Hunter would stick around, but he never did anything stupid to try to intentionally drive Hunter away. Having served in the Marines, Hunter was a very strong character who wanted to make the world a better place. However, he finally realized that he wasn't finding time to take care of himself.

This slow-burn romance had Hunter and Cam spending quite a bit of time together getting to know each other before moving their relationship to the next level. The steamy scenes were extremely well done. You could really feel the heat between these two. I adored Hunter's dad, and it was nice to see Matt and Julian from the first story since they run the halfway-house that Cam is staying in.

Although it's part of a series, it isn't necessary to read the first story, but I found it very enjoyable and would recommend it.

Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

Troy was a shifter who was on the verge of suicide after spending years unsuccessfully searching for his mate. The beginning of the story, is told by a very depressing Troy, explaining the downfall of his family. Seth was an extremely jubilant person who enjoys every moment life has to offer. His narration focused on the beauty of the world. Troy and Seth formed an interesting pair. I enjoyed watching the two of them together as they slowly moved their relationship forward, and Seth was able to make Troy smile.

Link to free download once available at http://www.mmromancegroup.com.

Samuel Goodwin spends his entire life training to be the best alpha, both mentally and physically, but until he can connect with his pack on an emotional level, he knows he'll never be truly successful. The story is told from his point of view, and with his uniquely quirky personality, it was quite the treat to read. He takes his responsibilities very seriously, and he would do anything to ensure the safety of his pack. Unfortunately, he is missing the other half of his soul and isn't sure where to look for his mate.

Korban Keller, who was absolutely adorable with his sweet and pleasant disposition, is next in line to be the alpha of his pack. Samuel and Korban meet at a young age and run into each other fairly often. Samuel is convinced that Korban couldn't possibly have good intentions and is always leery of everything Korban says. This made for some very interesting interactions between the two of them.

While the first half of the story focused on Samuel and his viewpoint on life, the remainder of the story focuses on his relationship with Korban. Korban brings out the passionate side of Samuel that nobody had ever seen before. For the first time in his life, Samuel understands what it means to truly love and care about somebody. These two alphas made an amazing team, and you can easily envision their future together.

I really enjoyed the action that takes place as the pack alphas fight to gain control. Although this is part of a series, each of the stories can be read on its own. However, I highly recommend each of the three stories. They are each uniquely told, and this is one of my absolute favorite paranormal series.

I love the concept of one true mate, and this story delivered it beautifully.

Interesting murder mystery where somebody in Walter’s family seems to be the guilty party. Joe is investigating the murder which leads to the first of many meetings. I enjoyed the time Walter and Joe spent together getting to know each other in more ways than one.

The website linked in the title is romancepdf.com. They are listing all kinds of romance books, M/F and M/M, from tons of authors - without paying the authors and publisher a dime.

Folks, they are selling PDFs from thousands of authors, for which they do not have license to sell. Be outraged! Spread the word! Get this taken down!!

Find out more here:

http://heidicullinan.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/authors-theres-a-thief-in-your-house-and-heres-how-to-narc-on-them/

Warning!!!  There are links on her post that lead to malicious sites.

I've been way too busy with work. I've barely read anything in the past month that wasn't work related - except for some reviews here when I had a few minutes to spare. Or I was too tired to think straight anymore. Needless to say, when I finally had a chance to read this weekend, I devoured 4 books in a row. All of them were amazing, and now I need to write reviews.

I also managed to catch a movie. I went in expecting it to be mediocre, but the DH wanted to see it, and he sits through more than my fair share of choices. Needless to say, it wasn't great. I fell asleep 4 times. At one point, I woke up and decided that sleeping was more interesting than what was happening on the screen. It's beyond me how they could make Mark Wahlberg unsexy. But they did. He was just too goofy as a dad. At least the popcorn was really good:-D

For those who buy from Kobo, you might find this tip helpful. Original post here.

When Kobo redesigned their website last year, they removed the section from their ebook description pages that specified what format the ebook was available in.

Most of Kobo’e ebooks are available for download in ePub format, so it’s not an issue most of the time. But not all of Kobo’s ebooks are available in ePub, which presents an obvious problem at times, especially for people that don’t use Kobo’s ereaders or apps.

Kobo uses their own proprietary KePub format for most ebooks, and these only work on Kobo apps and devices. If you are not using a Kobo device you can download the ePub version and sideload it, but in some cases there is no ePub option available.

The problem is that in most cases you don’t know that an ePub format ebook is unavailable until after purchasing the ebook and then finding out that there’s no ePub download option.

There is one workaround to avoid this problem that frequent Kobo customers know to use.

The trick is to get a sample of the book that you are planning on getting before buying it. Do this by hitting the “Save Preview” button on an ebook’s description page. Then use a web browser to view your library list at Kobo.

If the ebook is available in ePub format, either DRM-free or Adobe DRM, it says what the download options are next to the book’s cover. If the area is blank then there is no ePub available. Note that it won’t have a blue download button available for a sample, but it will say if download options exist.

It was much easier with Kobo’s old website when it showed the format on the book’s description page.

I always love this event. Readers post a picture and a prompt, and then authors volunteer to write a free story based on those two items. I'm not in the mood to figure out how to add these to the database, so here's my quick recap of the few 5 star stories I've read so far. I'm not writing a review for anything less than 4 stars. Stories for this event and prior ones can be found at www.mmromancegroup.com.

Villains (Love’s Landscapes) by Andrea Speed (5 Stars): Extremely enjoyable, action-packed futuristic story. I loved Kaede and his interesting antics in this very cool world.

MM Romance Group Download

The Lonely Drop (Love’s Landscapes) by Vanessa North (5 Stars): A very touching story about two people who mistakenly walked away from each other when they were younger. Now they are trying to reconnect, but both are struggling to take the final step. Excellent writing and dialogue, along with two characters I really cared about, made this a very compelling story.

MM Romance Group Download

Carte Blanche (Love's Landscapes) by Nash Summers (5 Stars): My heart was breaking for Jude who was suffering from severe OCD. At the same time, I was so touched by Devin's actions to help Jude. This story triggered both sad and happy tears.

MM Romance Group Download

NOTE: Some of the stories have already been posted as a file to download. If it wasn't, I used the SendtoKindle Chrome extension to send the text to my Kindle. I then cleaned it up in Calibre, but it wasn't really necessary.

Edited to inlcude links.

I take the time to write a review on a few books, and I can't see it in the dashboard feed. I can see it if I look at my own blog page, but not in the general dashboard. My little movie review showed up. I tried to post it again but it still isn't there. I'm sure tomorrow it will show up multiple times. Ugh. I hate glitches:-(

Update: I didn't enter a "Post Date". Once I fixed that, it appeared in the feed. Strange, but at least I know what to do next time. Thanks Farmwifetwo!

Enjoyable, action-packed popcorn flick. Cruise was good and fit the role nicely. Blunt was also good but they didn't give her enough of a personality. It was the biggest fault in the movie for me.  The "groundhog day" approach was actually done very well. It never got annoying. The aliens were pretty awesome. I didn't see the 3D version, but there was enough action that it might have been worth it.

She vexes me.

http://cnn.it/Sm9qpQ

Gwyneth Paltrow may have given more ammunition to "the enemy."

The actress has come under fire for likening the impact of negative online comments to being in a war, according to an interview she gave to Re/Code. While discussing those trolls who make nasty, anonymous comments online, Paltrow called the effect of their insults "dehumanizing."

"You come across (online comments) about yourself and about your friends, and it's a very dehumanizing thing," Paltrow said, according to the interview. "It's almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it. My hope is, as we get out of it, we'll reach the next level of conscience."

That bit of introspection did not go over well.

I see a lot of movies, and I am usually easy to please. But not so much lately. I've seen four action movies over the past few months and thought I'd share my opinion for those interested. In order by favorites:

Godzilla - Loved it!!! Reminded me of the tv show I used to watch as a kid. Very entertaining and actually got me to shed a tear. Saw it in 3D and it was worth the extra price. Very well done graphics.

X-Men - The action scenes were awesome, but the rest was boring. I can't believe they made the younger version of Patrick Stewart's character into a whimpering, whining sap. Ruined it for me. Jennifer Lawrence and Hugh Jackman were great!

Captain America (latest one - forgot the name) - Enjoyable popcorn flick but not fantastic by any means and not very memorable.

Spiderman - Cheesy humor and boring story. Action was pathetic. Wished I wouldn't have seen it.

I still use GR to check out blurbs and average ratings. I've been concerned about the downfall of their database with the link to Amazon. Amazon has never done a good job of indicating where a book falls in a series. I was still surprised to see a Stephen King book using a Barnes & Noble review instead of a blurb. Sad.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22076.From_a_Buick_8