This week I finished reading No Greater Pleasure by Megan Hart. Yes I’ll say it again: Megan is one of my favourite authors. This book however didn’t completely satisfy me. I read the first Order of Solace trilogy and I loved all three stories. No Greater Pleasure involves another Handmaiden and her assignment. Quilla’s assignment is a difficult one, as Gabriel has a very dark past (one tortured hero coming up). However I don’t know what exactly made him a hero. He loves his son, even though he may not be his, which is admirable He stays with his wife because of a vow, even though she is evil, which is also admirable. His marriage raises the question of how he and Quilla will end up together, and that’s what kept me reading, but if he was falling in love with her, I didn’t see it. She did everything for him, to the point that it annoyed me a little, and he didn’t seem to care at all. In fact, he seemed deliberately cruel to her. There is very little sex in the story - not that a story has to have it to be good, but Megan Hart writes excellent erotic romance and this is not erotic. The story is all told from Quilla’s point of view so we don’t get inside Gabriel’s head to know why he fell in love with her, other than she looked after him. The writing is absolutely beautiful, though, and I loved the character of Florentine. The friendship that develops between her and Quilla is much more satisfying than the romance in this story.

Now reading: Night Shadow by Cherry Adair. Teleporting wizards and clones!

Right now I am reading Switch by Megan Hart. Wow! This story is different and of course beautifully written. As you probably all know Megan Hart is one of my favourite authors. Which is why I bought TWO of her books on the weekend :-)

I have to say, I do appreciate it when a favourite author has new releases out regularly!

This week I read Pleasure and Purpose by Megan Hart, one of my favourite authors. This book is actually three stories and it's very different from other books I've read by her. I enjoyed reading her writing from the male POV, which I'm not sure she has done in any of her other books I've read. I also enjoyed the world she created, though I'm not sure what or where it is! The stories were each beautiful and different, with wounded heroes and handmaidens to help them find solace. Each of the handmaiden has a different background, each suited to the man she is sent to, and in the end the handmaidens find what they need, too. I loved it.

Tonight I start a new book: No Matter What by Erin Nicholson.

And I have so many other wonderful books queued up to read, by some of my favourite authors - Maya Banks, Lacey Alexander and I even get a sneak peek at a new Samhain book that's not even released yet...I just need more time!

Today I'm blogging about some of the things I learned about coffee while researching SEXPRESSO NIGHT ( now available from Ellora's Cave) over at Nine Naughty Novelists - come on by!

WHAT I'M READING WEDNESDAY...

I finished The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes. She is one of my favourite authors, but this wasn't my favourite book. Lots of characters and I didn't connect with all of them. It took a while to figure out what was going on - okay it took the whole book, and at the end I felt a little let down. There was one hint (that I caught anyway, maybe others whizzed by me) about it and that wasn't even much. At first, I noticed that the days were going backwards, yet the events weren't. I said that to my husband, and my daughter (aka Miss Smartypants) overheard and said, "It's a countdown". Duh. Of course it's a countdown! Then I got all excited about what we were counting down to. All the characters are moving toward the same one point in time, one day, and I did like the ending for some of them but much of it felt very deus ex machina - I mean, come on? A chunk of ice falling out of the sky? Still, a very entertaining Marian read.

Just started Pleasure and Purpose by Megan Hart, another favourite author!

Is it really Wednesday? (Yawn). I'm so tired. In a fit of late night insomnia I stayed up and finished Laid Bare by Lauren Dane. Very hot book.

I also finished this week Megan Hart's Deeper. Yes, this is a book you have to think about after to know how you feel about it. I liked it. It made me think of a lot of things, which I can't even really talk about much her without giving a whole lot of spoilers. It made me think about how one even can change the shape of our whole life, how life takes unexpected twists and turns, and what would it be like to have a second chance? To find out how different things could have been? Except you can't really go back and time doesn't stand still and there isn't always a happy ending.

This week I finished Taste of Fear by Shannon McKenna. Three great stories in one book, the usual Shannon McKenna intense alpha heroes brought to their knees by a good woman. Sigh.

Just started Deeper by Megan Hart. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when I read her Spice Brief that she is one of my absolute favourite authors! I love how she writes. Her stories are always intensely moving. This story has me totally intrigued and trying to figure out what happened and I suspect I’m going to be shedding some tears before it’s done…

Still working on those research books House of Mondavi and At Home in the Vineyard.

This week I read Instant Gratification by Jill Shalvis. Jill’s one of my favourite authors, but this book was one of the best I’ve read of hers in a while. I got a lump in my throat and teary-eyed reading it! The story between Emma and her father was very touching.

I also read Reason Enough by Megan Hart. It’s a Spice Brief, and I wouldn’t have read it if it wasn’t by Megan Hart, another one of my favourite authors. For me there’s not enough romance in a Spice Brief. The cool thing about this story, though, is that it’s about the same characters from Megan’s book Dirty. I do love checking in on characters after the story ends! They have a lot of hot married sex in this story. (Anyone else notice these characters also appear in Stranger?? :-) Along with another character from Dirty? I was waiting for them to all meet up in Stranger and for poop to hit the fan, but it didn’t happen.)

I started Secret Ties by Opal Carew. I don’t know why I keep reading her books. They are undeniably hot but a little too mechanical for me. But the domination and submission theme got me. We’ll see how it goes.

Also in progress: The House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler.