Arcada 1: Blacque/Bleu -Review-

Being Gay and in the closet is hard enough in a small town.  Now add a super attraction to the near century old vampire next door, a pushy father who wants grandchildren and you to take over the family, a sister who is in to everything, and oh yeah you just happen to be an alpha werewolf.  That is only the beginning of what is going on with Lukas Blacque. 


Lukas has been in the closet his entire life and had done really well until Bleu stepped into his life and messed with everything he thought he knew.  Lukas thought he had enough in his life to keep him occupied, he had a successful mechanic shop, he was slowly adding on to his tattoo, and the world was running the way his father would have wanted it.  Until the day that his father decides that Lukas is going to take over the pack and needs to be put into training to be Alpha.  Part of this training is to start having children. 

Bleu had been fading for years, just wanting his afterlife to end.  Nothing excited him anymore.  Until he had his chance with Lukas then everything changed.  He had a reason to live again and a reason to fight convention.  However the situation going on behind the love affair means that it will be over before it starts. 

Belinda McBride delivers a very enjoyable romance between two hot paranormal men.  While I know this is not the first in these particular genera it is the one I have enjoyed the most.  I look forward to seeing what else McBride has to share with us about the lives of Arcada. 

Midnight Secrets -Review-

What are you to do when the love of your life leaves for boot camp and doesn't talk to you again for ten years?  This is what happened to one of the Wilde Triplets Savannah.

Having been threatened Savannah needs to take time off from her job as a prosecutor.  She figures that this is the perfect time to go and clean out her old family house and get it ready for sale.  There is only one downside to this plan.  She has to deal with the new Chief of police and her old flame Zack Tanner.

Soon Savannah finds out that there is more to her visit back in Midnight than she had thought.  The murder Suicide of her father and mother 18 years prior may have been a double murder, Someone Wants Savannah dead and Zack seems to think things are not finished between the two of them. 

This book includes high romance with more than a touch of steam mixed with intrigue and small town secrets.  The flow of the story is really great and I look forward to seeing what Ella Grace has to share with us in the next two installments.  Since the girls are triplets I am sure that there will be at least two more books.  I found almost everything to be believable and well done.  Only one issue with the entire book and that was the expectations from boot camp.  As a military wife I know what to expect from a boot camp and daily letters and phone calls are not one of the items I knew to expect.  While it didn't happen in the story there was one point where Zack said that it could have.  That was the only giant issue that I had the whole story. 

I loved the premise behind this book and am very much looking forward to see what Ella Grace has to hold for us in the next books. 

One More Kiss -Review-

One more kiss by Mary Blayney takes the classic romance story and perfects it.  This story is about a handsome yet misunderstood rake with a long history of being involved in scandalous behavior, and a young wealthy woman just coming into her own.  Thrown in twins, a rivalry, a gambling issue, a dog, a murder, and a house party and you have the recipe for a very entertaining book. 

Blayney took the extra steps to ensure that she had a thoroughly entertaining romance story.  While the subjects of this book may be based in a cliché the results are not.  Lord Jess is not what you would expect from a rake and Beatrice is almost as far from a perfect lady as one can get.

There was a bonus in the story, not only one love story occurred but you ended up with four.  With only two of them brought into focus.  While I normally don't like this because I don't like feeling lost or a lot of view point jumping, Blayney managed to do this in a way where it was sweet instead of annoying. 

If you are looking for a good historical romance story than I strongly suggest that you give One More Kiss a try. I found this story completely entertaining and I was very sorry to see it end. 

Out in Blue -Review-

Out In Blue by Sarah Gilman is a story about a Wren an archangel hunted by humanity and Ginger his savior and a human.  The story line in this book had a lot of potential However, the author wanted to make it more than one book and didn't have the space or the time. At least that is the conclusion I came too.  While the first half of the book was really good the second half was overly rushed. 

This is a disappointment since I saw so much potential from the story.  An archangel out on his own fleeing from persecution and betrayal of those he should have been able to trust.  A young woman willing to risk it all to save him even if that means giving up the life she had come to know.  However, the reality did not meet with my expectations.  There was a lot of time jumping done in the last half of the book and while it did tie everything up to a satisfying conclusion there was a lot left unexplained. 

I also had issues with the villain.  Even though there was a good explanation it seemed much too farfetched for me.  I foresee a lot of good stories coming from Sarah Gilman; this was just not one of them at least in my opinion. 

Upsides

The story had a lot of potential and a great premise
 Most of the characters are believable and you can connect to them
You could connect with the love story

Down sides:

Time jumping
Rushed ending
Unfinished ending
issues with the villain

Conclusion: I would not read this book again, but I am willing to give the author another shot. 

Chloe's Vegan Desserts -Review-

When I requested Chloe's Vegan Desserts I was expecting to have to have to substitute flour for gluten free flour.  What I didn't expect is that the book already expected that need and told you how to do it.  With the switch in mind almost every recipe in this book is gluten free.  I loved a lot of the recipes.  Not all of them worked using the gluten free flour but enough did that I was really able to enjoy myself.  Not only that but baking Vegan cuts out a lot of excess fat. 

From Breakfast to Lemon bars to sandwich cookies this book covered most baking needs, and it included some great tips that I had never tried before.  Tips like how to cut your bar to get the best outcome visually. 

The Fudge Recipe was super easy and it tasted really good.  You couldn't tell that it was Vegan at all.  To be honest I didn't get a chance to try a lot of the recipes.  I did however drool over the pictures.  What I did have time to try I loved. 

I was not looking at the book for the Vegan aspect so much.  I was looking for the Gluten free aspect.  A lot of Vegan food tends to be gluten free or can be made gluten free.  This book did not disappoint me at all.  So if you are looking for a great way to cut fat, bake gluten free or just to bake a little healthier I would give this book a try.  I was rather impressed.