Coffee Time Romance & More: Coffee Thoughts the Book Blog » reginapaul

Wicked City by Tracey H. Kitts

reginapaul — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:01:39 +0000

Tracey H. Kitts wanted to be a writer since she was six years old, and has been writing stories nearly that long. She believes that while everyone has loved, hated, and felt passion and pain, not everyone has the desire to write these things down. She also believes however, that everyone can understand why others such as herself might want to share these things through the written word.

Whew! Wicked City is one very hot and sexy read! Ms. Kitts starts off with a bang and just keeps on going until you read the very last page. I loved it! I especially love how all of the main characters interact with each other, how close the friendships are, and even though they may not be in love with each other, how there is still love there. That, for me, made this story a true keeper. The world building is stellar and in some respects reminds me of the Underworld movies — only this book was even better. The sex of course is positively scalding, but in a really wonderful erotic and emotional way. I will definitely be buying more of this author’s books, and I highly recommend that you do so as well!

Author’s Website

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Reparation in Blood by Ariel Tachna

reginapaul — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:01:14 +0000

Ariel Tachna lives in Ohio with her husband, daughter and two cats. She has traveled all over the world, and especially enjoyed visiting France where she discovered her career and India where she wants to retire someday with her husband. She has been writing since she was twelve, as far as she is concerned she has no intention of ever looking back. She loves wine and horses, and is just as comfortable in a big city as she is down on the farm.

“Reparation in Blood is the final chapter to a truly wonderful series, one that I am almost sorry to see end, though I know Ms. Tachna has many more tales for her readers. The world building in all the books is par excellence, but in this last one, the author truly outdid herself, giving the reader a wonderful look into vampire culture. The suspense, as always, kept me on the edge of my seat and reading long into the night to find out what was going to happen. She also did a fantastic job of tying up all the loose ends, leaving this reader feeling very satisfied. This book cannot be read by itself, you need to read the books in order, but I promise if you do so you will not be able to put them down. All four are on my keeper shelf, and I highly recommend them to one and all!”

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Author’s Website

Call Me Sir by Stormy Glenn

reginapaul — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:43:53 +0000

Stormy Glenn believes there’s only one thing sexier than a man in cowboy boots, and that’s two or three men in cowboy boots! After nearly bankrupting her family with her obsession for buying and reading books, she now creates her own stories and unique worlds. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family both four legged as well as two legged. She writes erotic, paranormal, werewolf, futuristic, contemporary, gay, and Ménage a Trois romances, and is published by Noble Romance Publishing, Siren Publishing, and Torquere Press.

I love the way Ms. Glenn does D/s in this book. She does such a fantastic job of explaining that world and how it works in a real relationship. I just wanted to hug Joey, he has had such a hard time, and it just always amazes me how rotten some parents can be to their kids. Ms. Glenn really gets to the heart of what can happen when families do not accept their gay members, and how hard this can be on the young and gay. I loved Logan and how he just wanted to take care of and love Joey, but also how he loved him enough to give up the D/s lifestyle if it was not something Joey could handle. I’m hoping that there are some other stories later about the secondary characters. Hint, hint, Ms. Glenn! A beautiful story that I am more than happy to recommend, and give my highest rating.

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Author’s Website

To Find and to Keep by Serena Yates

reginapaul — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:48:03 +0000

Serena Yates is a night owl who enjoys writing when everyone else in her world has gone to sleep. She has always loved reading, and wanted to try her hand at writing, that is once she had established her own financial independence first. She has lived and worked in seven different countries and enjoys people’s differences and different cultures, as well as exploring these things in her stories. She enjoys reading, listening to classical music and spending time with her nieces. She also likes learning new languages, and studying science. She lives in the United Kingdom.

I loved the emotion in To Find and To Keep, that more than anything kept me turning pages until the very end. This story is very realistic in showing what can happen when parents do not do their jobs as parents by loving their children unconditionally. The absolute tenderness and care that Daniel shows Ryan from the very beginning is really beautiful and indicative of Ms. Yates’ giftedness as a writer. This is an m/m romance that I am very happy to recommend to both beginning readers of this genre and old pros such as myself. If you never read another m/m romance this year, read this one, you will not be sorry.

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Author’s Website

A Promise Kept by Stormy Glenn

reginapaul — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:00:57 +0000

Stormy Glenn thinks the sexiest thing around is a man in cowboy boots, or two or three men in cowboy boots for that matter. She believes in soul mates, true love, love at first sight and happy endings. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, six teenagers, two lap puppies, two biddy cats, and three fish. When she’s not taking care of her active teenagers, or cleaning up after her puppies, she likes to cuddle in bed with a good book, or work on one of her stories on her laptop.

I discovered Stormy Glenn’s books by accident one night when surfing the internet. As an avid reader of m/m romance, her books looked intriguing so I purchased one and was forever hooked! I am now reading everything this author has written, and can say without a shadow of a doubt she is one of the best authors I have read. A Promise Kept is rife with emotion, true love, and danger; this story will keep you on the edge of your seat. I loved the main characters. The story itself reflects modern times and how difficult it can be for those who are gay to find true love. I highly recommend A Promise Kept and all of Stormy Glenn’s books!

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Author’s Website

Covenant in Blood by Ariel Tachna

reginapaul — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:13:38 +0000

“As with the first book in this series, I started out wondering if I was going to like the story or not, but as I kept reading and the author started dropping clues, I was hooked! Covenant in Blood is every bit as good as Alliance in Blood! The world building is just as incredible, and Ms. Tachna has added even more depth to it, such that I could not put the book down until I’d read the last page. I loved the fact that Alain and Orlando still were key players in this book, and getting to see how their relationship developed was a real treat. The author also does an incredible job of bringing in all the different wizard and vampire pairs and what is going on with them. I was afraid at first that I would get confused about who was who, but as I read I found that was not the case. Of course all the blistering hot m/m sex did not hurt either. I am waiting with bated breath for the next book in this series! Whatever you do, do not miss this series, it is fantastic!”

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Author’s Website

Altered Heart by Kate Steele…

reginapaul — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:11:45 +0000

Kate Steele lives with family in rural Indiana in a century-old farm house. Her family includes those of the winged, and four legged variety as well as people. She often takes breaks from the computer to give a couple of sweet lovebirds attention, as well as walk her two dogs.

For years Kate was an avid romance reader, and since she is possessed of an overly active imagination, she finally decided to try her hand at writing. She has found that just as reading is addictive, so too is writing.

Just to tell you how good this book is, I read it all the way through twice in two days! I loved how the author showed how easy it is for young people to get sucked into prostitution, and why it happens. She wrote Rio with such sensitivity and emotion that as a reader you could not help but understand and even sympathize. I also thought that Mick being so much older than Rio was handled with style as well, Rio needed someone of his maturity. The way Ms. Steele handled the relationship between Rio and his father and how that all worked out was very well done as well. The lovemaking is hotter than hot as always, and a definite selling point for this reader. Put simply, go out and buy this one folks, you will not be sorry!

See the Entire Review

Author’s Website

Mercury’s War by Lora Leigh

reginapaul — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:58:29 +0000

Lora Leigh dreams about her characters, and spends a lot of time trying to get their stories onto her computer before the ideas disappear like smoke. She is thirty-six and a wife and mother, she lives with her family in Kentucky. Her writing life and her family life do their best to at least co-exist with each other, and she claims that a husband who understands late nights where his wife needs to work on difficult scenes is the key to keeping things that way. Her husband’s undestanding of the male psyche and human nature in general help her a lot with her writing, as well as provide some much needed laughter. Of course his romantic ideas help as well and she works tirelessly to put them into effect in her books.

I have read every single one of the books in this series, and Mercury’s War is the best to date! I absolutely loved it! The action is non-stop and full of surprises. You never know what is going to happen from one minute to the next and when something does happen, you are totally surprised by the outcome. Ms. Leigh does a fantastic job of drawing the reader into the action from the very first page. The world building is absolutely beyond par excellence bar none. The sparks that fly between Ria and Mercury from the very first page are hot enough to start a building on fire, and kept this reader very entertained throughout the book. The sex is so hot and emotional that you wonder how they survived it without going up in flames. I am waiting with baited breath for the next book in this series and will be one of the first in line to get my copy. You do not want to miss this one, or any of the other books in this series for that matter!

See the Entire Review
Lora Leigh’s WebSite

Goodnight…

reginapaul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:57:30 +0000

Well, I think I’m going to call it a night. I had a wonderful time blogging here, and hope that I’ll have the opportunity to do so again soon! It’s midnight on the east coast and I’ll bet most people are gearing down for the night. Hopefully those reading the blog found something fun and or interesting in my posts. Hope everyone has a good night!

Oh, and thanks to those who posted comments.

An Update to Are We Having Fun Yet?

reginapaul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:14:59 +0000

Well…not so much. I don’t think the whole baking soda and vinegar thing really works unless maybe you have an actual open drain. Since we have one of those tubs with the built in drain thingie, it’s really hard to get the baking soda down into the drain. Instead as previously mentioned it just sort of gets stuck in the metal parts rather than going down the drain. I did try this last night too and tried to run a little water down into the drain but that unfortunately just dissolves the baking soda, which sort of defeats the purpose. So…I may be buying drano tomorrow, darn it! I really hate that stuff! I hate the smell and the fact that it’s so bloody dangerous you have to make sure you don’t get any on your skin, and well I just hate it. So…I think I’m going to try and pour some boiling water down that drain and see if I can wash whatever the baking soda and vinegar hopefully at least started breaking down (all that wonderful fizzing action is supposed to do it) and hope for the best because if you haven’t already figured it out, I am not a fan of Drano or any of those other caustic drain uncloggers either! LOL

So, wish me luck I’m off to try it one more time….Let’s hope I survive the dreaded clogged drain.

Oh, and before I forget in case anyone else (who actually has an open drain) wants to try this, here’s what you do.

1. Pour 3/4 of a cup of baking soda down the drain.
2. Pour 1/2 of a cup of vinegar down the drain.
3. Plug the drain so the fizzing action works on the clog and doesn’t bubble up out of the drain into your tub or the shower floor.
4. Wait 30 minutes.
5. Pour boiling water down the drain.
6. Repeat until your clog is gone but supposedly it is supposed to work the first time. I have really long hair which may be part of the problem as well since it’s probably a hair clog.

Some advantages to this are that there is almost no smell, no danger to your skin, it won’t hurt the environment, and it’s cheap to do. All good reasons to try it as far as I’m concerned, now if I could just get that baking soda far enough down the drain….

Self-care…

reginapaul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:57:37 +0000

I really have to struggle sometimes to practice self-care. My tendency is to go and go, and go again until I don’t have any energy reserves. Not a good thing, let me tell you. So, I’ve been working on this self-care thing which requires me to understand and know my limits. Yup, limits, man I hate those things! I love all the fun things I get to do, but working from home makes it a little too easy to keep going when I should maybe….stop for the night. In fact I’ve been known to go until 4:00 am if I’m really working on something. Again, not always a good thing.

But hey, I’ve been working on it, and one of things I’ve been doing is taking breaks when I’m working on projects, and shutting off my computer which is where I do the majority of my work by 10:00 pm. Okay, I don’t always shut it off by then, but I try.

One of my favorite authors that I’ve been reading for years got her start writing on this topic and still writes on it for that matter, her name is Jennifer Louden. If you’ve never read her books, I recommend her, particularly if like me you have to sort of struggle to practice self-care. My two most favorite of her books are The Woman’s Comfort book which has all sorts of cool ideas for practicing self-care many of which are artistic, so if you have a crafty or artistic bent this is a great book to get some ideas from. Her other book that I absolutely love is The Life Organizer: A Woman’s Guide to a Mindful Year which is a kind of day planner of questions that you can answer that help you to practice being good to yourself and keep your life in order. I like it because it’s a good way to stop, slow down and sort of think about where you’re going instead of rushing around trying to figure it out while you’re feeling frazzled which is sometimes how I end up trying to do things.

Anyway, here it is ten years after I read that first book The Woman’s Comfort Book and I’m still working on this self-care thingie, but since that is kind of what life is about, I guess I’ll be doing this for some time to come. LOL

My favorite authors…

reginapaul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:26:05 +0000

I have so many new favorite authors now that I’m a reviewer it’s not even funny! In fact sometimes it feels as though I’m adding someone weekly! LOL

Here’s my list of favorite authors and why:

Evangeline Anderson-She has to be one of my all time top favorite authors mainly because she writes quite a bit of science fiction erotic romance which is one of my favorite genres, but also because she writes such beautiful intense love scenes. If there is anyone I want to be able to imitate when it comes to love scenes, it’s Evangeline.

Christine Feehan-I admire Christine alot because of her productivity. But that’s not the only reason, I’m absolutely in love with her Dark Series and the characters in that world. Where she came up with the idea heaven only knows but these books are so different than your standard vampire romances that I’ve even been willing to buy the hardbacks and that’s saying alot! I never buy hardbacks.

Robin D. Owens-I was soooooo happy when it became apparent that Robin was going to write several books that feature Celta and all those lovely telepathic animals! This is a great series that has everything you could ever want in a romance, fantasy, a tad bit of science fiction, creative world building, oh, and did I mention the talking animals? LOL Seriously though, if you’ve never read these, I highly recommend them, they rock!

Kate Steele-I have to admit I haven’t read any of Kate Steele’s hetero romance books, but I LOVE her gay romances, they practically sizzle! I can’t decide which ones I like the most since I haven’t read one yet that I didn’t like, but I’m especially fond of the werewolf ones. The way she is able to create different worlds for different werewolves is very cool. Of course I also love the way the couples are so loving towards each other too, that is a definite plus with her books. Then there is her Maleri series another winner as far as I’m concerned, and I’m hoping there are more of those coming. She has hinted that there might be, and I’ll certainly be first in line!

JL Langley-I have probably read every one of JL Langley’s books at least 5 times and that is all the way through! Along with Kate Steele, and Evangeline Anderson, she is my all time favorite gay romance author. Like Kate and Evangeline, she can spin worlds and stories like nobody’s business. I will read anything by this author and I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in the Regency Sci-fi series The Englor Affair, November can’t get here soon enough for me!

I of course have a ton of other favorites but these are five authors that I buy their books on a regular basis without fail. I highly recommend all of them, and encourage any and all to check them out!

Why I like reviewing….

reginapaul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:18:33 +0000

There are a couple of reasons I enjoy reviewing books so much. One of the main ones is the opportunity to communicate with some of my favorite authors. One of the interesting things I discovered while doing this is that no matter how famous an author is, they are just people too. We don’t often think of them that way, but it’s true. Just like us, they have their ups, downs, insecurities and so on. When we’re just readers we don’t really see that, but when as a reviewer you get to communicate with an author, and it is one of the things that becomes obvious fairly quickly.

Another reason I like to review, is the opportunity to hone my writing skills. Since I write for a living, both as a fiction and non-fiction writer, any opportunity to increase my skill level is welcome. I like to think I’ve become rather good at writing reviews, but every once in a while even after nearly three years doing this, I get a review back from one of our editors. Yup, even I occasionally have to make some corrections, whether they be grammar, or sentence structure, or even just how something is worded.

These are just a couple of the reasons I enjoy reviewing so much, there are others of course but these two are the ones that make it all worthwhile.

Are we having fun yet?

reginapaul — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:34:43 +0000

I’ve been having one of those days today. Freelance clients galore, which is always good since that means $$$$ to pay the bills, but then I overslept, couldn’t find my password for the blog here, oh, and I can’t get my shower drain unclogged. Ever have one of those days? I’m having one today! But I still do try to keep my sense of humor since right now that feels like about all I have going for me today. *snicker* As to the shower drain, I’ve been trying to not use as many chemical based products so I’m trying the whole vinegar and baking soda thing. Have you ever tried to put baking soda down one of those drains that has the built in plug? Ugh! I ended up trying to shove it down the drain with my fingers and it got clogged on the workings before it ever got to the drain. Because of that, I have no idea how successful that little venture is going to be, it might be Drano here I come again if it winds up being more trouble than it’s worth. LOL

Reclaiming Love by V.L. McElfresh…

reginapaul — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:22:40 +0000

V.L. McElfresh has wanted to be a writer since she was eight years old, and has always loved working with the written word in one form or another. She has written ten novels to date, as well as numerous short stories and poems, all of which she keeps on her computer, even if they were only for a class project. Not an organized person by nature, she describes her work area as “organized chaos,” and feels that is better than uncluttered sterility. Next to writing, music is her second love. She loves all kinds of music and plays both the oboe and guitar.

Reclaiming Love will tug at your heartstrings and make you want to cheer for this couple. Ms. McElfresh gives the reader a bird’s-eye-view of the aftermath of abuse. While some of the scenes are violent, they drive home with factual information about abuse and what must be done to survive it. This book grabs you by the throat and does not let go until you have read the last page. I did not want it to end. The love between Connor and Kevin, both highly honorable men is palpable. I adored how Connor allowed Kevin to be in control at all times so he could heal. The sex is fireworks hot, and beautifully illustrated word wise. I cannot recommend this book enough, it is a keeper!

See the Review

V. L. Mcelfresh’s Web Site

Alliance in Blood by Ariel Tachna

reginapaul — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:47:57 +0000

Alliance in Blood kept me turning pages long into the night. I read it in one sitting! The emotions between Alain and Orlando are so vividly written that this reader felt as though she were feeling them right along with the characters. The world building in this book is extraordinary, and very well crafted, not to mention extremely imaginative. This is a vampire, not to mention a gay romance unlike all others, and it is truly unique. All of the characters, both the main ones as well as the secondary ones, are well developed, giving the reader a deep look into all the personalities involved such that this reader felt as though she knew them by the end of the book. I am very much looking forward to the second and third book in this series as I am waiting with baited breath to find out both what happens with their war, and the other partnerships as well as Alain and Orlando. I highly recommend this book to one and all!

Read The Review

Ariel Tachna’s Web Site

Judi Lynne & Aidan’s Chance

reginapaul — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:33:58 +0000

Coffee Time Romance always likes to take time to appreciate the dedication and devotion of our authors. This month the staff at Coffee Time Romance has choosen Judi Lynne and her book Aidan’s Chance as the recipient of the CTRR Award for September 2007.

Judi has always been a writer. She began writing at the age of twelve. She still possesses her first children’s book that she wrote in hope that she can get it published. She continued writing through high school and college, but it was not until she was a secondary honors English teacher when a class challenged her to write a novel did she begin thinking of writing as a career.

Aidan’s Chance is a grand historical love story! I loved Kaitlin’s spunk and sass as it made the story so much fun to read. Aidan as the thick-headed male had me roaring with laughter in places as he tried to get Kaitlin to do as he wished. Instead she mostly did exactly as she pleased. Kylee, Aidan’s daughter, is precious, and Kaitlin’s loving care of her makes for great reading. The author does an excellent job of drawing the suspense out. I found I could not stop reading until I had reached the final page. The lovemaking is beautifully intense and very natural, adding to the emotional value of this story. I eagerly await another book from this author, and highly recommend her! Regina, Review of Aidan’s Chance

Judi Lynne’s Web Site