Can you believe it’s been a few months? Here’s what Julia has been reading, as it says. Hooray for her organization because I don’t know if I could do this. 😀 I’m curious to see what books you all have been devouring!

I’ve continued my somewhat eclectic reading journey the last few months without really planning to. I just pick up whatever seems to suit my mood. Which apparently swings like Tarzan on a vine.

I’ve had a renewed taste for paranormal and urban fantasy. Thanks to twitter I found JC Daniels aka Shiloh Walker. I loved her new book Blade Song (P.S. It’s only $2.99 on kindle right now!), a fast-paced book with a heroine Kit, who will not give up, even when things seem their bleakest, which is my favorite kind of character. I liked Daniels’ take on the were/vamp world, especially since the story is set in my backyard of Winter (Wolf) Haven FL. Ha! The second book in the series is newly released Night Blade is the continuation of Kit’s story.

Blood Smoke and Mirrors by Robyn Bachar is a very different story both in terms of the supernatural world and the atmosphere of the story. Cat (This name occurs way more often in Romancelandia than the real world. I’m not discouraging its use. Sorry. Not sorry.) is confronted with her long-lost no-good dad and the ex who betrayed her. In this magical world, Cat wins her battles as much for being a good person as she does for being clever or powerful. It’s a nice upbeat counterpoint to the serious level of menace from the villains and the epic amount of angst.

How Beauty met the Beast by Jax Garren has a really unique almost steampunk vibe to its world building. Garren brings the heat with another heroine (for me, it’s all about the heroine with PNR/UF) who knows how to get back up when she gets knocked down. I love how this story doesn’t shy away from the ugliness of the ‘beast.’ There is no sugar coating it and the heroine doesn’t magically see the goodness in the hero’s heart. But slowly, bit by bit, Jolie (which is French for pretty) discovers how wonderful Hauk is and as a reader I got to see it all happen on page. I loved that.

In case you think I abandoned my erotic romance reading the last few weeks for swords and sorcery, fear not! I found the naughty wonderfulness of Charlotte Stein. I her latest release Control which was much talked about on twitter. (Which, dude, also just $2.99 for kindle right now!)I loved all its twisty, touching weird characters. What I love about Stein is how she can take characters I have nothing in common with, certainly not our sexual kinks, and yet I love those people so much I want them to have every single one of those things that don’t quite dare want. I absolutely could not turn the last few pages fast enough because I had to know how it was going to end! I was not disappointed.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Rigaud is a hoot of a Pride and Prejudice adaptation. (Heads up – this time it’s the print book that is cheaper, a bargain trade paperback at $6.) I read some chat about this online. I’ve no idea why I picked it up and passed on some other adaptations but I’m glad I read it. Darcy is a rock star and Lizzie the guitarist in an up and coming band. At first I read along, having fun picking out where the stories were the same and what had been changed. But before long, I was reading along for the fun of the story itself. Who hasn’t wanted to go along on a tour with a band? This book had all the fun details of the life of a rock god but I still got to sleep in my own bed at night. The story is long and adheres in clever ways to the overall story of Pride and Prejudice. There were some bits at the end that I didn’t love, but by that point I was too invested in Lizzie and Darcy and their band mates to let that detract too much.

What am I planning on reading next? Sequels galore. Several of the above titles have sequels out that I’m dying to read. Lauren Dane’s upcoming Lush (I LOVED Lush) has been much talked about on twitter and I am counting the days – another rock star romance for me! Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson has been very warmly recommended by a few twitter friends, so that’s got to move up the TBR pile. And last week after finally getting to meet one of my favorite twitter friends Megan Mulry(squee!), I got to hear Ann Patchett (she shook my hand!) talk and got an autographed copy of Bel Canto, so I’m going to reread that. It is NOT a romance. It’s a beautiful, wonderfully written book but not all sunshine and rainbows there, so don’t say I didn’t warn you before that book rips out a little piece of your heart and puts it back in a slightly different place.