Moving Blogs...

Hello, everyone!  I know I haven't been posting here and I did a little note a few months ago promising that I would... then never did.  I feel guilty but I've been going through a hard time for the last few years and it's hard to get back into the swing of things.  So, to make a fresh start I'm moving this blog to WordPress. I've been using WordPress for my gaming blog and prefer it way more than Blogger.  I've been using it for my other blog since June of last year and find it so much more user-friendly.  I'm just exporting all of my posts and stuff from here to there.  So please, follow me there if you want and I promise I'll be posting much more often!  Thanks!

Rainy Dayz Reviewz

(Review) Wallbanger ★★☆☆☆

Author: Alice Clayton
Series: Cocktail
Genre: Contemporary Romance
384 pages

The first night after Caroline moves into her fantastic new San Francisco apartment, she realizes she's gaining an intimate knowledge of her new neighbor's nocturnal adventures. Thanks to paper-thin walls and the guy's athletic prowess, she can hear not just his bed banging against the wall but the ecstatic response of what seems (as loud night after loud night goes by) like an endless parade of women. And since Caroline is currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, and her neighbor is clearly lethally attractive to women, she finds her fantasies keep her awake even longer than the noise. So when the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts Simon Parker, her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. The tension between them is as thick as the walls are thin, and the results just as mixed. Suddenly, Caroline is finding she may have discovered a whole new definition of neighborly...

In a delicious mix of silly and steamy, Alice Clayton dishes out a hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight... 

I wanted to love this book.  I really did.  It was third on the list of humorous romance books on Goodreads.  At first, I found it pretty funny.  But after a while it seemed like the author was forcing the funny.  Near the end I was getting fairly annoyed with it.  Especially the "O".  Dear God, if I see that again I'll lose my freaking mind!  Suffice it to say I had to force myself to finish the book and ended up skimming over the last few chapters just to see what happened.

In the beginning I really liked Caroline.  About halfway through she really started to get on my nerves.  Maybe it's because I've been reading so many m/m books but I felt like she was such a girl.  I wanted to tell her to man up and get over it already!  Stop being such a woosie.  Simon, on the other hand I really liked through the whole book.  Although I found the whole "harem" thing a bit extreme and unrealistic.  

My favorite part had to have been the night of the horror movie.  If you're going into this book because of the "hot" part in the description though, you'll be disappointed.  *spoiler*  There isn't any hot until almost the end of the book and then there's just too much at once.  I read the first bit and then skimmed to see what they were saying through the rest of it.  Like any normal humans can have sex that many times?  Give me a break.

I know I make it sound like I totally hated this book.  If I had I wouldn't have finished it.  I did like it for most of the book.  I think it was just too darned long!  I kept checking to see how much longer there was left in the book at around 70% and it was like looking at the time on a clock when you really want to leave somewhere.  It dragged on so slowly.  I had every intention of reading the rest of the books in the Cocktail series but by the end of this first book have changed my mind.  If those books are anything like this one I don't think I can handle it.

Favorite Quotes:

"You know those moments when everything is exactly the way it was meant to be?  When you find yourself and your entire universe aligning in perfect synchronization, and you know you couldn't possibly be more content?  I was inside that very moment, and fully conscious of it."

"It breaks my heart the way young girls pick themselves over, never thinking they're good enough.  You make sure you always remember, you're exactly the way you're supposed to be.  Exactly.  And anyone who says otherwise, well, poppycock!"

 

(Review) Can You Keep a Secret? ★★★★★

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
218 pages

Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her...  

From start to finish this was a hilarious book.  I've been trying to read Christmasy books but truthfully so many of them start out pretty depressing that I have a hard time continuing to read until the happy part happens.  So I was trying to find something else to read and thought of a book I had enjoyed recently called Chez Stinky.  I had started to read the second book in that series Fuzzy Logic and lost interest.  It just wasn't funny like the first one.  Then it hit me!  Look for funny books.  I got on Goodreads and found this list called Humorous Romance Books. Can You Keep a Secret is the top one voted by over 850 readers.  

I set out to find a light hearted funny book and I wasn't disappointed.  If I had to compare it to something I'd say at least at the start it's similar to the Bridget Jones movies.  I haven't read the books so I can't make a comparison to those.   She's a bit silly and as most women are today uncomfortable in her own skin.  She's lied to her boyfriend about pretty much everything and stays with him because everyone says they're the perfect couple.  She's bounced from job to job.  Her cousin has out-staged her in every way and her family treat her like a child because of it.

As the book progresses I grew to appreciate Emma's personality.  I was totally rooting for her and Jack.  Even knowing everything would work out in the end because duh it's a romance book I still felt her pain when things all went to hell.  I don't think I could have been as brave as Emma was.  I think I would have quit my job out of humiliation and never saw Jack again.  Wouldn't that have been a pity if she did?  I suppose you'll have to read it to find out!  

Can You Keep a Secret reminds us that being ourselves, especially around the people who are important to us, is the most important thing of all.  It's not a paranormal book, there's no exciting enemy or anything.  No steamy sex scenes or big overdeveloped plot.  It's not even part of a series... which usually is a deal breaker for me.  It's just a fun and intriguing book.  Emma, Jack and everyone else in the book are like anyone else out there and I can imagine it all happening in real life.  It was different for me as I don't read many contemporary romances or stand-alone novels but a welcome change to be sure.

Favorite quotes:

"It's like Julie Andrews said.  When the dog bites, when the bee stings ... I simply remember I have a boyfriend - and suddenly things don't seem quite so completely shit."

“I feel all agitated, like one of those snow globes you see resting peacefully on shop counters. I was perfectly happy being an ordinary, dull little Swiss village. But now Jack Harper’s come and shaken me up, and there are snowflakes all over the place, whirling around until I don’t know what I think anymore. And bits of glitter, too. Tiny bits of shiny, secret excitement.”

After 2 Years... I'm Back!

Holy cow.  Two years.  That's insane.  I had no idea it had been that long since I'd posted on this blog. So you're wondering what happened to me eh?  Well, I've had a few pretty rough years to tell you the truth.  In some cases I wasn't reading at all.  Other times I was reading but not keeping track of what I was reading.  In rare cases I was reviewing books but only on Goodreads.  It all just depended on my mood I suppose.  If you want to know more about the whole "mood" thing check out my blog journal Rainy Writes.  If you want to see how I spent most of my non-reading time you can read my Sims stories on my other blog Rainy Gamez.

I'm currently blogging on WordPress for the other two blogs but I decided to keep this one on Blogger because it's the one everyone that used to follow me is familiar with.  If the format gets too annoying I might change my mind about that.

Soooo!  Let's see.  One exciting thing I learned about recently is Bookbub.  Like forever ago I participated in a challenge called Clean Out Your E-Reader.  Ummm yea.  Bookbub filled it back up in the first day.  Free books!  There are discounted books too but I haven't seen anything that made me want to shell out the cash.  The nice part is pretty much all of the books are either stand alone or the first in a series.  There's a liberation in knowing that if I don't like a book 10% in I can just stop reading.  When you read the free books authors give you to review you can't do that.  Or if you paid for it you feel obligated to continue reading because it's a waste of money if you don't.

I suppose I should peek at my "read" shelf on Goodreads and see what I've been reading the last 2 years eh?  I'll start with recent reading and work my way back.  It's starting the holidays so I've read a few Christmas books.  The problem is that all of them seem to start out so darned sad.  The main person always has some terrible thing happening in their lives.  I realize that it works out in the end but it's kind of depressing!  Let's see... before that I was on a major m/m binge.  I was trying to find some books I haven't read and read a m/m novella and loved it so I ended up reading a bunch of them including PsyCop, A Matter of Time, The Plumber's Mate, THIRDS, Cut & Run and The Administration.  I loved them all so much I would have a hard time picking a favorite!

Before my m/m stage I was re-reading some favorites including Half Moon Hollow/Jane Jameson, Dark Ones, Demonica/Lords of Deliverance, Night Huntress/Night Prince and Nightwalkers.  The problem with re-reading books is you can't really register the reading on Goodreads.  Some of them I barely remembered other than the main plot.  It was enjoyable. 

Rewind a year and I was reading Immortal Guardians, Glory St. Clair, Matrix of Destiny, Dragon Lords of Valdier, Kodiak Point, Dark Protectors, Celta's Heartmate's, Midnight Liaisons, Paranormal Dating Agency, Alpha Pack, Accidentals, Garnet Lacey and Outlander.  That year was pretty much all about the audiobooks because I was having a terrible side effect from my meds that prevented me from reading.  I wore myself out with all of those books so once my vision problems were fixed I avoided books for the first half of 2016.

I think I read some erotica in there somewhere too but for some reason I'm weird about putting those books on my read shelves.  Silly, I know.  I also read some of the newer books of favorite series that came out in that time like Argeneau, Half-Moon Hollow, Charley Davidson, Psy-Changling and Love at Stake.  I'm sure there's more but I skipped by everything that wasn't a series of a bunch of books when I was going through my read shelf.

You see!  I have been reading or listening to books in some form off and on over the last two years.  I just haven't kept up with the blog.  I think it started with the fact that I couldn't for most of 2015 because of that weird side effect and then I just didn't feel like it after I hadn't in so long.  Reviewing books is different than just reading them.  I'll highlight parts I want to remember to mention or quotes I want to use.  I'm usually writing the review in my head as I read and in some cases I might go as far as to start typing the review out as I read so I don't forget everything.  I don't have the luxury of just going on to the next book of a series when I finish the one before it.  I have to stop and write up the review first.  As much as I love it, it can be sort of a drag.  But, I miss it!  So look forward to hearing more from me soon.  I'm hoping to do 1-4 reviews a month to get back into the swing of it.  I've missed you all!  Comment and let me know what you've been reading.  I love to discover new books!

(Review) 6th Grave on the Edge ★★☆☆☆

Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Charley Davidson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
352 pages



Few things in life can come between a grim reaper and her coffee, but the sexy, sultry son of Satan is one of them. Now that Reyes Farrow has asked for her hand, Charley Davidson feels it's time to learn more about his past, but Reyes is reluctant to open up. When the official FBI file of his childhood abduction lands in her lap, Charley decides to go behind her mysterious beau’s back and conduct her own investigation. Because what could go wrong?
Unfortunately, another case has fallen into her lap—one with dangerous implications. Some very insistent men want Charley to hunt down a witness who is scheduled to testify against their boss, a major player in the local crime syndicate. If Charley doesn't come up with an address in 48 hours, the people closest to her will start to disappear.

Add to that a desperate man in search of the soul he lost in a card game, a dogged mother determined to find the ghost of her son, and a beautiful, young Deaf boy haunted by his new ability to see the departed as clearly as he sees the living, and Charley has her hands full. The fact that Reyes has caught on to her latest venture only adds fuel to the inferno that he is. Good thing for Charley she's used to multi-tasking and always up for a challenge…especially when that challenge comes in the form of Reyes Farrow.

Charley Davidson is back in Sixth Grave on the Edge, the sexy and suspenseful sixth installment of the New York Times bestselling series by Darynda Jones.


First of all let me say I started reading this book in May. I read approximately 30% of it before I hit a wall and just couldn't go any further. I tried picking it up again several times over the months but it just couldn't catch my interest. Finally I decided enough is enough this is one of my favorite book series and I'm going to read it darnit! There were good parts that I read really fast and then other parts where I had to put the book down again and again. I'm just so sick of Charley getting herself into trouble. She has no value to her own life and just rushes into everything headfirst without thinking. I know it's been that way in all the books but seriously it's getting old.


I really don't know what I could say about this book that isn't already in the description. Even though the new book Seventh Grave and No Body is out I don't know when I'll get around to reading it. I read the description and it sounds like it starts up right where this one left off. I'm just not in the mood for more of that.

(Review) Hunted ★★★★★

Author: Kevin Hearne
Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles
Genre: Urban Fantasy
384 pages



For a two-thousand-year-old Druid, Atticus O’Sullivan is a pretty fast runner. Good thing, because he’s being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt—Artemis and Diana—for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is . . . run like hell.

Crashing the pantheon marathon is the Norse god Loki. Killing Atticus is the only loose end he needs to tie up before unleashing Ragnarok—AKA the Apocalypse. Atticus and Granuaile have to outfox the Olympians and contain the god of mischief if they want to go on living—and still have a world to live in.


Yet another great book in the Iron Druid Chronicles series. I am reviewing the audiobook version which is narrated by Luke Daniels yet again. He does such a great job and tops my list of favorite narrators. So much happens in this book I have no idea where to begin. The book starts up exactly where the last book Trapped ended. With Artemis and Diana hunting down Atticus looking for Baccus and the Morrigan defending him. This leads to the Morrigan telling Atticus the only path he can take that she has forseen he would live. Atticus, Granuaile and Oberon have to run the whole way there because once again the paths are blocked to them.


They are hunted by dark elves, vampires and all kinds of different creatures in addition to Artemis and Diana. There was one part around the middle that had me bawling. And if I've said it once I'll say it a hundred times the best books are the ones that make you laugh and make you cry. The books that draw you so close to the characters and their struggles that you feel what they feel. Kevin Hearne does a wonderful job of this. Especially in Hunted. Hunted is the 6th book in the Iron Druid Chronicles. If you like mythology, lots of action and tons of humor you should really check out Hounded which is the first book in the series. You won't regret it.

(Review) Trapped ★★★★★

Author: Kevin Hearne
Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles
Genre: Urban Fantasy
290 pages



After twelve years of secret training, Atticus O’Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth and double the number of Druids in the world. But on the eve of the ritual, the world that thought he was dead abruptly discovers that he’s still alive, and they would much rather he return to the grave.

Having no other choice, Atticus, his trusted Irish wolfhound, Oberon, and Granuaile travel to the base of Mount Olympus, where the Roman god Bacchus is anxious to take his sworn revenge—but he’ll have to get in line behind an ancient vampire, a band of dark elves, and an old god of mischief, who all seem to have KILL THE DRUID at the top of their to-do lists.




This review is of the audiobook version of Trapped. Once again Luke Daniels does a wonderful job narrating for The Iron Druid series. I especially love his voice for Oberon, the Irish wolfhound. So much happened in Trapped that I'm having a hard time thinking where to start. Like the synopsis says Granuaile has completed her druid training and only has the binding to the earth left before she is a full druid. This is the tattooing process that takes 3 months to complete. The problem is that something is blocking Atticus from traveling to anywhere in Europe except for Greece. This brings up a bigger problem because now that everyone knows that Atticus and Granuaile are alive Atticus has a big target on his back. They have to travel to several different places to complete the tattoos and even once they are complete their problems only get worse. There's a lot of action and humor as always. Even a bit of romance. If you've gotten this far into the series you'll trust me when I say this was most likely my favorite book so far. I'll say no more because I don't want to give anything away.


Favorite Quotes:

"In battle, as in charity, it is better to give than to receive."

"Falling in love is like that: you always feel like a dumbass at some point, even if you know it's coming- it's unavoidable."

"When in doubt blame the dark elves."

Feature & Follow Friday #18

This is a weekly meme hosted by:Alison Can Read and Parajunkee that is aimed to help bloggers grow their audience and make new friends. They feature two bloggers every week and have a question for everyone to answer.

This week's question:
What books would you give to newbies in your favorite genre? (Ex. I’m a newbie to high fantasy and EVERYONE said to ease into it with the Throne of Glass series!) via Take Me Away…



I have over 500 books on my paranormal romance shelf on Goodreads.

Paranormal Romance:
(I have no idea why the titles are skewing to the right I can't fix it sorry it looks so weird)

The Dark-Hunter Series-

The Demonica Series-

The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series-

The Psy-Changeling Series-

The Immortals After Dark Series-

The Lords of the Underworld Series-

(Review) How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying) ★★★☆☆

Author: Kerrelyn Sparks
Series: Love at Stake
Genre: Paranormal Romance
374 pages



Vampire Zoltan Czakvar is on the hunt for the truth about his father's death. He's been searching for a very long time—since 1241, in fact. And he is not about to give up, even when he's attacked by a woman with striking blue eyes and a hell of a right hook!

Neona is also on the hunt. She's looking for a mate, and she thinks muscled Zoltan will work just fine. After all, men are good for only one thing. Soon, though, she realizes there's more to this handsome vampire than just sexual prowess. But she's keeping a secret from Zoltan, something so big that it will rock the vampire world.

Can their newfound love survive . . . even if their passion means the destruction of her world?



I have to admit it took me awhile to get through this book. I actually started it months ago and quit reading and just started back last week. It's a lot different than any of the other Love at Stake books. It has it's funny moments but it's a lot more serious than I'm used to from Kerrelyn Sparks. So much was revealed near the end of the book and there were so many loose ends that I expect the story to pick up with the next book right where it left off in this one.


I never paid much attention to Zoltan in the previous books. He's a vampire that lives as a count in Transylvania. That's about all I can remember of him. How to Seduce a Vampire goes into his past and his character. I really got to like him. He's just an all around nice guy. He meets Neona while investigating the murder of his father. Neona had to grow on me. She's like a warrior princess, literally. She lives in the jungle with a group of warrior women. I didn't know what to think of her at first. She's not your usual Love at Stake heroine. But by the end I liked her too.


It's hard to do a review of this book because so many things happen and there are so many secrets that I don't want to ruin for anyone reading this. Let me just say that if you have a hard time getting into it at the beginning like I did it does get better and it gets really good about halfway through. It's worth the read if anything just to keep up with the series because there's no way you could skip this book.

Top Ten Tuesday #7

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they will post a new Top Ten list for everyone to answer.

This week's question: Top Ten Characters I'd really want to be for Halloween.  This one was really easy to come up with 10!  I put the first book in each series even if the character I would want to be isn't in the first book to make it easier for anyone interested in the series.  Here they are in no particular order:

1. Mercy Thompson

2. Cat

3. Charley Davidson

4. Kate Daniels

5. Granuaile

6. Jane Jameson

7. Bryn Davis

8.  Nix

9. Simi

10. Alice