I’m going to give everyone a break and not start off this post whining about my lack of posting. Instead, we’ll just jump directly to my extremely tardy May Monthly Reads list. Lol.
I read a total of 17 books in May:
1) Skintight by Susan Andersen, C-
2) Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews, A
Review here.
3) Haunted by Kelley Armstrong, C+
4) 
A Lady’s Guide to Improper Behavior by Suzanne Enoch, C-
5) Nothing but Trouble by Rachel Gibson, C
6) C.J.’s Fate by Kay Hooper, C
7) Hunting Fear by Kay Hooper, B-
8) Sense of Evil by Kay Hooper, B
9) Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper, C
10) Touching Evil by Kay Hooper, B+
11) Whisper of Evil by Kay Hooper, B-
12) The Billionaire’s Baby Plan by Allison Leigh, B-
13) Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery, C+
14) Tempt Me by Lucy Monroe, C
15) Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn, B-
16) Silent Scream by Karen Rose, B+
17) Aftershocks by Jill Shalvis, B
The summary:
| LEAST ENJOYABLE | Skintight by Susan Andersen was the least enjoyable book this past month. I’m not a fan of the step-mother and step-son coupling, and combined with the heroine being a topless dancer and the hero a professional gambler, I had quite a few misgivings going into reading the story. I don’t have anything against the hero and heroine’s occupations but the disconnection with their profession that combined with the lack of character development I couldn’t like the characters. I also found little substance in the “attraction” between Jax and Treena, and the secret that drives the plot.
| MOST ENJOYABLE | Hands down Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews is the most enjoyable and memorable of the May readings. The 4th installment in the Kate Daniels series is all that I anticipated plus much, much more. Never had an author given so much in one book – a treasure troves of plot, characters, friendship and relationships development.
| HONORABLE MENTION | David was the hero on many a sidelines in the past several of Karen Rose’s releases. In his story, readers find out what and why David appears to be the ideal man. Below the surface, David was a man on a mission driven by internal suffering. Guilt can wring all kinds of reactions from a person and in Silent Scream guilt is prevalent in many people and many things go right and wrong. The action and romance are all there but the intensity that was so prominent in past books was not quite matched in this book.
| SIDE NOTE | I did a lot of glomming and alternating books between Kay Hooper and Kelley Armstrong in the past several months. In May, it was mainly Kay Hooper. The Evil and Fear books are paranormal mysteries that are deep on mind gaming and the use of sixth sense. Though the extrasensory perceptions are heavily utilized Ms. Hooper explains the mechanics of the mind and its associated energies in a ways that is comprehensible.
Seeing that her earlier books are being reissued I checked out C.J.’s Fate which is classic romance involving fate, friends, and the powers of impulsiveness, persuasion, and instant attraction. While I enjoyed getting acquainted with Ms. Hooper’s starting voice the characters and romance, though simple and sweet, is a bit cheesy for me.
For May, total number of books:
• purchased = 31,
• read from new purchases = 8,
• read from previous TBR pile = 9,
• addition to TBR pile = 21 23.
ETA: correction to # of addition to TBR pile.
nath
June 25, 2010
Okay, so much to say, hope I wont’ forget anything.
First of, bummer that you didn’t enjoy Skintight 😦 I feel responsible now. However, you should read Just for Kicks 🙂 I really enjoyed that one!
LOL, funny how we pretty much agree on the grades for most of the books… the Rachel Gibson, Julia Quinn…
I’m glad you’re enjoying the Kay Hoopers 😀 It does seem I enjoyed them a little bit more though. Especially Hunting Fear 😀 Hey, you didn’t read Chill of Fear – Quentin’s book? and yes, Kay Hooper’s older category romances were cheesy… but most of them were published in the 1980s, so I expect that a little bit.
I liked how you break down your count 🙂 I think I’m going to do the same this month 🙂
Tabitha
June 27, 2010
Nath – I tried with Skintight but unfortunately I just couldn’t connect with the characters. I’ll see if I’ll like Just for Kicks better. Thanks for reminding to read the book or else it’ll stay buried in the boxes. Lol.
Yeah, lately, Gibson and Quinn’s books are just so-so reads for me. SIGH.
No no, I do enjoy Kay Hoopers SCU books. It’s just some of the things go over my head…*cough* beyond my level of understanding. Lol!
Hilcia
June 29, 2010
Well no question that Magic Bleeds was the winner for the month! But, I see that Mallery is still ranking average for you? I wanted to try this new series… hmm.
I have Aftershock by Shalvis, but haven’t read it yet, must get to it… glad to see that B. 🙂
(PS: My internet service is now WORKING fully! YAY! Now I can blog hop!)