Reading and Reading and Reading

If you've read Carolyn's recent reviews then you know there's been some damned good books on our Kindle. And damn the woman, it's hard to say no when she's raving about titles.

RISE by Karina Bliss is really all that. I wasn't crazy about the first book and if this was a continuation then I wasn't crazy interested. But Carolyn told me to try and I did and wow, that's a damned good story.

One of the best things was that they were all adults. Acted like adults, fucked up like adults and again, acted like adults.

Radiance by Grace Draven. Holy everything that's good and sweet and wonderful. Here's a book that starts great and stays at that same level throughout. The characters understood what was happening to them and therefore didn't blame the other, they got to know each other (one human, one not) and went from friendship to love in a natural progression that was sweet.

Hated the end though and only because it was a cliffhanger.

Just Kids by Patti Smith. I'm an old Patti Smith fan and this is a book about her early life in New York with her lover/muse/best friend Robert Mapplethorpe. If you don't know Mapplethorpe, he was a highly talented, controversial photographer. I had some of his prints years back.

The book describes New York at a time when artists were searching for new expression, when there were patrons for art and well, a real bohemian kind of life. The personal story is a heartbreak: Smith and Mapplethorpe being best friends, lovers, friends again and ultimately each other's heartbreak.

Until the Sun Falls From the Sky and At Peace by Kristen Ashley. These are books 2 and 3 in the Bur series (I think). Until the Sun is a story with a widow and her security guard neighbor. He has a bad history, a mobster keeps killing the men in her life and of course, there's lots of sex and the woman is feisty.

In this one basically the hero tells the mother of 2 how to raise her children and she doesn't slam his head into the sidewalk but rather accepts that he's right and she's wrong. By the way, I would have shot him. (That's a KA thing in every book: the hero tells the heroine how to act and she always knows that he knows best.)(Barf)

At Peace just sucked. Start to finish, bad book.

Got a new Laura Florand, a new Sarah Addison Allen and a few more... might come out later once I get them read.

**Edited to add**

I WISH by Elizabeth Langston. It was a daily deal (I think) at DA and sounded good. Well, I just finished it in one sitting. Oh my, such a good book.

It's YA. A 17 year old girl whose life has fallen apart and she's barely keeping her family together. She gets a genie and her choices for wishes are unlike what anyone would expect.

It's an intriguing story and one that doesn't go where expected. So good. I'd highly recommend it.

Now I'm going to read Trouble in Texas. Hot cowboy on the cover. I am so all over that.

Rise by Karina Bliss

Some years ago I read What the Librarian Did and loved it. Actually, it was the beginning of my love affair with Karina Bliss as well as my love affair with rock star romances. Zander (the hero of this book) was the villain in that book. But, a villain with charisma and readers wanted to hear his story. The challenge was to get him to a point where he'd be considered hero material and Ms Bliss succeeded very well.

What the Librarian Did was a Harlequin SuperRomance but this was was self published by Ms. Bliss.

And OMG, look at that cover! Does that not remind you of Queen??

Here's the blurb:

Rise - The redemption story of a rock star going straight(er) through the love of a good(ish) woman.

Acclaimed literary biographer Elizabeth Winston writes about long-dead heroes.
So bad-boy rock icon Zander Freedman couldn’t possibly tempt her to write his memoir.
Except the man is a mass of fascinating contradictions–manipulative, honest, gifted, charismatic and morally ambiguous.
In short, everything she seeks in a biography subject.
When in her life will she get another chance to work with a living legend? But saying yes to one temptation soon leads to another.
Suddenly she’s having heated fantasies about her subject, fantasies this blue-eyed devil is only too willing to stoke.
She thought self-control was in her DNA; after all, she grew up a minister’s daughter.
She thought wrong.

Rock star Zander Freedman has been an outlier–many would say an outcast–for most of his life.
But there’s no disaster he can’t overcome, from the breakup of his band to the inevitable damage to his reputation.
His Resurrection Tour is shaping up to be his greatest triumph–if his golden voice holds out.
Contracting a respected biographer is simply about creating more buzz. Elizabeth’s integrity is the key to consolidating his legacy as one of rock’s greats.
All the damn woman has to do is write down what he tells her. Not force him to think.
Or encourage the good guy struggling to get out.
And certainly not make him fall in love for the first time in his life.
Turns out he is scared of something: being known. 

I loved this book, everything from the cover to ... everything. It has everything I want; slow burn romance; great sex at the appropriate time; viable reasons for current hangups; and no over-the-top angst, although Zander is an over-the-top character.

The band, Rage, has been his life, his Snoopy blanket. When the band breaks up after brother Devon's collapse (see What the Librarian Did), he's desperate to save it and brings in new band members and uses his own assets to fund the Resurrection World Tour. One secret. His voice may not make it until the end of the tour. Two secrets. But hey, Zander's used to manipulation. He can handle this. Sure he can.

Zander lies a lot, even to himself. He lies about his past, he lies in the present. No one, absolutely no one can find out his true self, his true history, because then he would lose the love he's come to need from his audience. They couldn't love him - no one could love him - Elizabeth wouldn't love him - if they knew his truths. Zander has to realize he deserves love no matter what, that he is lovable no matter his past and Elizabeth is just the lady to teach him.

Elizabeth is one strong lady and didn't fall for any of Zander's crap. Only Zander would hire a biographer and then try to hide important parts of himself from her. Elizabeth takes no shit from him and it's a pure delight reading their dialogue.

I loved this book. I loved it so much I can't even nit pick and lay anything less than perfect before you. A definite reread for me and I believe there's more to come, which makes this a series and I am in heaven!

I strongly recommend this. Strongly!