What's on the Reading Radar? #TBR #WishList

Sorry I missed last Saturday's Reading Radar. It's been a bit hectic around here (ALL the edits that I want have a bonfire in the backyard with) and I've been a bit scattered. 

I haven't been reading a lot the last couple of weeks (points to the line above), but there has been a book or two and much adding to the TRB or Wish List. 

Title: All The Prince's Men
Series: 
Author: Samantha MacLeod
Length: 73 pages

Genre: Fantasy / Poly / Gay

Notes: This is waiting for me to read.

Blurb: When Prince Liam returns to his kingdom after five years of training at the magical Academy, he’s only missed one person: Cerdec, the boy who had once been Liam’s closest childhood friend. But Cerdec is now a knight pledged to protect the kingdom, and Liam fears his one-time confidant has forgotten their stolen moments of tenderness.

Newly-sworn knight Cerdec has had no shortage of lovers since Liam left the kingdom, but he’s never felt as close to them as he once felt to the prince. Now that Liam has returned, Cerdec is prepared to serve as his personal guard, even if the position torments him with a longing he’s terrified to voice.

And even if it means he must welcome and protect the foreign princess who has been betrothed to Liam.

* * * *

This steamy, polyamorous fantasy romance is a short stand-alone with a HEA.

Title: Conspiracy of Ravens
Series: Raven Crawford, 1
Author: JC McKenzie
Length: 399 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Notes: Confession: I sometimes buy books because I like the cover (and then later, I hope that I like it). I've been resisting the urge because I have a slew of books that I bought because I like the looks and couldn't get into the story. I've been really good the last year not to do that anymore. Then this one keeps popping up. I love ravens and crows. The blurb sounds intriguing (and I'm envious of the succinctness), but I'm going to have to see if the sample tells me more. 

Blurb: Raven Crawford knows better than to venture into the seductive world of the dark fae or agree to any of their salacious promises. She plans to pay off her debts so she can get on with her life and stay far away from the denizens of the Underworld.

Unfortunately, her numbskull twin steals from the most tempting and lethal fae of them all. Now, Raven must help the Lord of Shadows get back what her idiot brother stole. Her only weapons? Just a little ingenuity and a whole lot of snark. It’s suicide for sure, but she’ll do anything to protect her twin.

Title: Not a Werewolf
Series: Jake and Boo, 1
Author: Madeline Kirby
Length: 219 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy / Psychic / Gay

Notes: I noticed this one at the Rainbow Awards and put it on my TRB list. It sounds really fun, like a cozy mystery, and angst free.

Blurb: When perpetual student Jake Hillebrand starts having strange dreams, no theory is too outlandish - even the possibility that he has become a werewolf. His best friend Don is no help, though – he doesn’t even believe in werewolves!

When the dreams lead Jake and Don to the body of a despised developer dumped along a Houston bayou, the only ones listening to Jake's theories are the dishy Detective Ruben Petreski and Jake's feline visitor, Boo.

In a historic neighborhood under threat from developers, everyone is a suspect, but so far all Jake's new-found psychic abilities seem to be good for is finding kittens and talking to squirrels. He's really going to have to up his game if he wants to escape the killer's attention - and catch Detective Petreski's.

Note: Contains excessive caffeine intake, cats, irritable detectives, lots of carbs, and no werewolves.

Title: Return of the Dwarf King
Series: The Adventures of Finnegan Dragonbender, 1
Author: Charley Case
Length: 233 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Notes: I picked up the sample of this because I'm highly intrigued with a dwarf as the MC and hero. If I like the writing style and the first pages grab me, I'll definitely get it.

Blurb: A broken ship. A missing friend. A whole new world of magical artifacts for the taking. A cosmic vacation for our intrepid treasure hunter.

After years of searching Finn has finally found the motherload. Unfortunately, there’s no way to get it home. And he’s got to meet John Wayne.

Stranded and alone in Denver, Colorado, Finn and his partner Penny (a foot and a half long Faerie Dragon) search for friends and allies in this strange new land.

But something about this place isn’t right. Magic has gone underground, and has anyone seen John Wayne?

Lucky for Finn he’s a Dwarf, and underground is where he does his best work.

Join Finn, Penny and their new friends on an adventure that spans the globe and holds the fate of an entire planet in its twists and turns.

And just maybe a tall Dwarf and a small dragon can find their place in the universe.

Title: Dead Eye
Series: Tiger's Eye Mystery
Author: Alyssa Day
Length: 279 pages

Genre: Cozy Mystery / Urban Fantasy / #read

Notes: This one I did read. It lured me in with, "If you are a Sookie fan... humor..." I have been nostalgic, thinking about rereading the Stackhouse series and thought why not. I enjoyed the story, not as humorous as I was expecting, but I might be a hard sell when it comes to that. I thought they should have called for help earlier than they did, but that is not how the plot rolled. It is a spin-off of a Poseidon series. Never heard of it myself but I thought I would take a look at it. If they are real romancy, then they probably won't be for me.

Blurb: For Jack Shepherd, tiger shape-shifter and former soldier, life is heading for a dead end. Dead End, Florida, to be exact. When he learns that he inherited a combination pawn shop/private investigation agency from his favorite uncle, Jack’s first job is to solve his uncle’s murder. Because sometimes it takes a tiger’s eye to see the truth.

Tess Callahan, who owns half a pawn shop in the strangest town in Florida, didn't expect Jack to show up and be so very enticing. And exciting. And annoyingly over-protective. But when yet another dead body shows up on her doorstep, it's time to take action. And if she has to team up with a sexy tiger shape-shifter to do it, well, that's just a bonus.

Welcome to Dead End, Florida, where Bigfoot keeps a winter home. And welcome to the Tiger's Eye Mysteries!

This novel is a paranormal mystery with magic, shape shifters, humor, vampires, a taxidermied alligator, witches, gunshots, bad singing, Crazy Hormonal Town, terrible parking, the FBI, swamp commandos, tigers, special agents, flirting, belly laughs, comedy, humor, and a pawn shop.

Thank you for stopping by and reading!!

Excerpt Reading of Constant #ValespianPact #scifi

Whoot! Just a quick note to let you know that Angel Martinez's Friday Reading is an excerpt for Constant (The Valespian Pact, 3). You'll need to head over to her website to listen. I love it! (so many exclamation points)

Thank you for stopping by and listening!!

What's on the Reading Radar? #WishList #TBR #read

Yay! The first Saturday of the new year. Usually, I have already blogged about what I want to accomplish this year... and I probably will, but I'll save that for next week. 

Today is about Books! And lord have mercy, I've bought quite a few the last couple of weeks bulking up my already leviathan size to-be-read pile. Help! Help! Not really, just kidding... mostly. :D

Title: Sweep with Me
Series: Innkeeper Chronicles, 5
Author(s): Ilona Andrews
Length: please be really long

Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy / Romantic Elements

Notes: This doesn't release until January , but I'm already excited. There isn't a true blurb, which is killing me back their brother, Claus, showed up at the end of Maud's book. *Kermit flail* #preordered

Blurb: There’s no place like home for the holidays…especially at Innkeeper Dina DeMille’s bed and breakfast, which welcomes guests who are literally out of this world!

Title: The Christmas Bones
Series: Jake & Dean Investigations, 1
Author(s): Richard Amos
Length: 224 pages

Genre: Romance / Mystery / Urban Fantasy / Gay / Established Relationship / 

Notes: So, I didn't pay attention to the the part of the blurb in ((0)). I was just happy for a MM UF story. So this starts four years after another series, but this can be read as a standalone. I'm considering starting with the other series, but my reading time has been shortened due to LIFE and it would take me a while to get to this book if I started all the way over there... #TBR


Blurb: Balancing family life with being a kick-ass investigator is hard, especially when the holidays roll up.

Jake Winter and Dean Tseng are solving cases as PIAs (Paranormal Investigation Agents) in Amsterdam, as well as being fathers to their four-year-old daughter. With the festive season in full swing, everything should be calming down to make way for relaxing times with good food and presents delivered by Sinterklaas.
Right?

Since when was life ever that simple?

When a human body is discovered with every one of its bones missing, and creepy anti-supernatural protesters start lurking in the shadows with a sinister agenda, Jake and Dean are about to experience the nasty side of Christmas.

An Urban Fantasy filled with magic, mystery and mayhem

(The Christmas Bones is a sequel novel to the Coldharbour Chronicles series, set four years after the events of the final book. There are references to the previous series, but this story can be enjoyed without having prior knowledge of those books. It features an established MM relationship, and plenty of Urban Fantasy action.)

Title: Love Bites
Series: Thicker Than Water, 1
Author(s): Ann-Katrin Byrde
Length: 289 pages

Genre: Romance / Paranomral / Vampires / Gay / 

Notes: #WishList


Blurb: Other parents give their children toys and party games for their birthday. My dad gave me and my siblings wooden stakes and flash grenades. To protect us from vampires.

From the moment he adopted us, he warned us about the dangers that lurk in the dark. Obviously, I thought he was crazy. Vampires aren’t real, and I was already enduring enough panic attacks without buying into Dad’s insane ideas.

But then I met Talon.

Talon has fascinating scars and a mouth I want to kiss and a body I want to feel--and fangs.

Vampire fangs.

Suddenly, the weapons Dad gave me start looking real useful.

Only I don't want to fight Talon. I want to feel his teeth on my neck. I can't explain it. He makes my knees goes weak. I know it's wrong, but it feels right.

It feels like destiny.

When Talon bites me, I forget everything, even that he is a monster. Even that I shouldn't be falling for him.

Even that his coven wants me dead.

Title: The Bureau. Vol 1
Series: The Bureau 1-3
Author(s): Kim Fielding
Length: 7 hr, 39 min

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Notes: This is not a romance series though each book the MCs become couples. It's on the darker side of things since the Bureau hunts paranormals that break the rules. I'd read the first two books before buying the audio (obviously I like them to buy the audio). The 3rd one, Creature, is my favorite so far. #read


Blurb: This collection contains the first three Bureau novellas:

Corruption

Once a proud demon of the night sky who carried nightmares to humans, Tenrael has spent decades in captivity as the star attraction of a traveling carnival. He exists in miserable servitude to men who plunk down ten dollars to fulfill their dark desires.

Charles Grimes is half human, half...something else. For 15 years he's worked for the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, ridding the country of dangerous monsters. When his boss sends him to Kansas to chase a rumor about a captive demon, Charles figures it's just another assignment. Until he meets Tenrael.

Clay White

Someone - or something - is murdering young men in San Francisco. Clay White has been fired from the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, but he's determined to track down the killer. When he comes across a vampire named Marek, Clay assumes he's caught the perp. But the encounter with Marek turns out to be more complicated than Clay expected, and it forces him to deal with his own troubled past and murky psyche.

As Clay discovers, sometimes the truth doesn't come easy - and the monsters are not who we expect.

Creature

Alone in a cell and lacking memories of his past, John has no idea who - or what - he is. Alone on the streets of 1950s Los Angeles, Harry has far too many memories of his painful past and feels simply resignation in facing his empty future.

When Harry is given a chance to achieve his only dream - to become an agent with the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs - all he has to do is prove his worth. Yet nothing has ever come easy for him.

Now he must offer himself and John as bait, enticing a man who wants to conquer death. But first he and John must learn what distinguishes a monster from a man - and what a monster truly wants.

Title: Baston
Series: The Adna Planet Series, 1
Author(s): Amelia Wilson
Length: 1 hr, 40 minutes

Genre: Romantic Elements / Alien Abduction / Action & Adventure / I recognize Graboids when I read them / MFM /

Notes: I was surfing the Audible sales and came across Sca, technically the 2nd book in this series and another short listen, and bough them both. The whole book is told in Baston's POV. I have a hard time saying this is a romance though. It's a short story and the majority of it is the 3 of them escaping from one fire to the land in another one. And I was very okay with that. I'm going to guess that Sca's story furthers their story line. And I have to say, that Cherie was competent, confident, and not cowed in Baston's eyes. #read


Blurb: What do you do when you're kidnapped by an alien race intent on making you their slave? You run away into more danger and hope you survive.

This is a standalone with a happily ever after ending and no cliffhanger. This audiobook also contains several additional bonus stories to enjoy!

Title: Noglion: Freedom
Series: Alien Lovers, 6
Author(s): Olivia Black
Length: 85 pages

Genre: Erotic Romance / Sci-Fi / Alien / MMM / Mpreg / 

Notes: This is an angst free romance between Eric and the brothers Gogrek and Ragnon. (No hanky-panky between Gogrek and Ragnon.) It was a fun read with a fare amount of sex (see the erotic tag) that results with Dennis getting pregnant, which is a big deal for the Noglion.  #read


Blurb: Dennis Osborne has kept his sexuality hidden, afraid of being ostracized. When he’s finally ready to admit the truth, Dennis volunteers to leave Earth. Dennis isn’t only looking for the freedom to be himself; he’s also looking for a mate. When Dennis is sent to Noglion, he’s scared. Did he make the right decision by leaving the only home he’s ever known? Gogrek Vemm is a government official. When Gogrek receives Dennis’s paperwork from the Glecerian ambassador, he knows that Dennis is meant to be his. The human is destined to not only belong to Gogrek, but also to his younger brother, Ragnon. It doesn’t take long for Dennis to learn about Noglion and his mates. Quicker than Dennis thought possible, he adjusts to his new life and falls in love. And then something shocking happens. Dennis becomes pregnant. Soon, jealousy threatens to tear this happy family apart. Luckily for Dennis, he’s got two fiercely protective mates. Olivia Black is a Siren-exclusive author.

Title: Galvanizing Sol
Series: Valos of Sonhadra Novella
Author(s): Amanda Milo, Poppy Rhys
Length: 104 pages

Genre: Romance / Sci-Fi / 

Notes: I did not read the first two books, but now that I've read Sol's, I'm going to go back and read them. I enjoyed the story and really liked that the love interest was a sentient robot. I did have a couple of quibbles near the end with the time frame and Sol's mission vs what he ended up doing, but it was still enjoyable and made me smile a lot.  #read


Blurb: I always lose the women I love...

I'd been assigned to visit Earth's Interstellar Penitentiary System, Concord, where my girls were imprisoned.
Stick to the plan, Sol, I tried to tell myself. That went to hell when the prison ship crashed. Well, a little before then. See, the ship wasn't just holding prisoners--they were being used for experiments.
They were torturing them.
They were torturing my girls.
I consider myself a level-headed man, but when I found that out, I lost my sh*t.
Had we not wrecked, I'd have lost a whole lot more.
I knew they were still alive--they had to be.
Somewhere, on this planet where everything wanted to eat you, were the only two women in the universe that I had left. That I loved.
Until her.

This is a follow-up novella for Alluvial and Tempest. Approx 26K words. There's adult situations, a little violence (maybe a little more than a little), and adult language--after all, this IS DaddySol's story.

Thank you for stopping by and reading!!