July’s Favorite Reads

My favorite reads from July:

Mainstream:

Title: All Summer Long by Susan Mallery
Fool’s Gold Series Book Nine
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Harlequin HQN
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 384 pages

Summary:

Former underwear model turned entrepreneur Clay Stryker has loved, tragically lost and vowed that he’ll never risk his heart again. After making his fortune, the youngest of the rugged Stryker brothers returns to Fool’s Gold, California, to put down roots on a ranch of his own. But he’s frustrated to discover that even in his hometown, people see him only for his world-famous…assets.

Firefighter Chantal (Charlie) Dixon grew up an ugly duckling beside her delicately beautiful mother, a feeling reinforced long ago by a man who left soul-deep scars. Now she has good friends, a solid job and the itch to start a family—yet she can’t move toward the future while she’s haunted by painful memories.

Clay finds an unexpected ally, and unexpected temptation, in tomboyish Charlie, the only person who sees beyond his dazzling good looks to the real man beneath. But when Charlie comes to him with an indecent proposal, will they be able to overcome their pasts and find a love that lasts beyond one incredible summer?

Read my review HERE.


M/M:

Title: Second Time Lucky by Ethan Day
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 274 pages/Word Length: 80,000+

Summary:

Second chances aren’t easy to come by but for Luke Landon and Owen West, sometimes the best things really do come back to you.

Luke Landon and Owen West already had a once upon a time. They burned hot back in college yet still managed to lose their way. It’s been fifteen years since they drifted apart and while a lot has since changed, they’ve discovered that some things still feel the same. While one calls it fate, the other dumb luck, second chances aren’t easy to come by. Putting the ignorance of youth and life’s baggage aside, they just might find that sometimes the best things really do come back to you.

Read my review HERE.


Erotic:

Title: Storm Bound by Alice Gaines
A Cabin Fever Novella
Publisher: HarperCollins
Imprint: Avon Books
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance, Ménage
Length: 124 pages

Summary:

Stranded on a steamy tropical island, . . . these three will create their own heat . . .

Christie Lovejoy is normally all business. But when a hurricane bears down on the exclusive resort she’s sharing with two sexy businessmen, it’s time to throw caution to the tropical winds. How often do you find two gorgeous men with the hots for you . . . and the willingness to share?

Wolf Martin and Jon Carlson have been friends for years, and their taste in women has never overlapped . . . until now. Wolf, Jon, and Christie use the luxurious resort to take the kind of sensual journey that only total isolation will allow. But when the storm recedes, will they be ready to leave their island paradise?

Read my review HERE.


Mystery:

Title: The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane
Forensic Instincts Book Two
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HarlequinMIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery
Length: 392 pages

Summary:

The man she loved is gone forever. The child she lives for could be next.

Each day is a struggle for Amanda Gleason’s newborn son as he battles a rare immune deficiency. Justin’s best chance for a cure lies with his father, who was brutally murdered before Amanda even realized she carried his child.

Or was he?

One emailed photo changes everything, planting a seed of doubt that Amanda latches on to for dear life: a recent photo of a man who looks exactly like Paul. Could Justin’s father be alive? The mother in her is desperate to find out. But tracking down a ghost when every second counts is not for amateurs.

Forensic Instincts is the one team up for the challenge.

A behaviorist. A former navy SEAL. A techno-wizard. An intuitive. A retired FBI agent. A human-scent-evidence dog. Together they achieve the impossible, pushing ethical and legal boundaries whenever the ends justify the means.

The manhunt is on for the elusive father. Yet the further FI digs into his past, the more questions are raised about whether the man Amanda fell in love with ever really existed at all.

Dark secrets. Carefully crafted lies. From the congressional halls of Washington, D.C., to exclusive Hamptons manors, there are ruthless people who would stop at nothing to make Forensic Instincts forget about the man Amanda desperately needs to find.

Little do they realize that once Forensic Instincts takes the case, nothing will stop them from uncovering the shocking truth that transcends The Line Between Here and Gone.

Read my review HERE.


Historical:

Title: The Woman at the Light by Joanna Brady
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Imprint: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Historical, Romance
Length: 346 pages

Summary:

One afternoon in 1839, Emily Lowry’s husband vanishes from Wreckers’ Cay, an isolated island off the coast of Key West where he tends to the lighthouse. As days stretch into months, Emily has no choice but take charge of Wrecker’s Cay and her husband’s duties tending the light to support her three children–and a fourth on the way. Unexpected help arrives when a runaway slave named Andrew washes up on their beach. At first, Emily is intensely wary of this strange, charming man, whose very presence there is highly illegal. But Andrew proves himself an enormous help and soon wins the hearts of the Lowry family. And–far from the outside world and society’s rules–his place in Emily’s life, as steadfast now as the light, will forever change their futures. When Emily’s family is ripped apart once again, she faces untold hardships that test her love and determination and show how the passionate love of a defiant, determined woman can overcome any obstacle.

Read my review HERE.


Inspirational:

Title: My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Imprint: Bethany House Publishers
Genre: Contemporary, Christian, Inspirational, Romance
Length: 352 pages

Summary:

Kate Donovan is burned out on work, worn down by her dating relationships, and in need of an adventure. When her grandmother asks her to accompany her to Redbud, Pennsylvania, to restore the grand old house she grew up in, Kate jumps at the chance.

Upon her arrival in Redbud, Kate meets Matt Jarreau, the man hired to renovate the house. Kate can’t help being attracted to him, drawn by both his good looks and something else she can’t quite put her finger on. He’s clearly wounded–hiding from people, from God, and from his past. Yet Kate sets her stubborn heart on bringing him out of the dark and back into the light… whether he likes it or not.

When the stilted, uncomfortable interactions between Kate and Matt slowly shift into something more, is God finally answering the longing of her heart? Or will Kate be required to give up more than she ever dreamed?

Read my review HERE.


Favorite Non-Reviewed Book:

Title: Cherry Pie by Samantha Kane
Publisher: Loose Id
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 41,388 words

Summary:

John Ford packed up his life a year ago and moved from LA to small Mercury, North Carolina after the death of his long-term partner. He’s been living in a kind of suspended animation, fixing up the old house he bought there, reclusive and alone. Until the day Connor Meecham appears.

Conn Meecham has returned home, only to find it isn’t his anymore. Someone else owns his mother’s house now. But Conn needs that house to find the man he left behind more than eight years ago–before the drugs, before prison, before his life derailed. Lonely, desperate, lost, Conn finds in John a kindred soul.

Mercury is a dying town. But John sets out to change that when he learns what it means to Conn. Through home improvements, sex, old friends, sex, misunderstandings, sex, and homemade cherry pie, John and Conn may finally discover that where they are now can be heaven on earth if they want it to be.

Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.


1 Comment

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One Response to July’s Favorite Reads

  1. Timitra

    All sound like really great books.