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House Backer – Natsume Isaku
Azumi meets his new arrogant housekeeper Wakui, who is tougher than any maid he has ever had before!
<3<3<3!!!
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House Backer – Natsume Isaku
Azumi meets his new arrogant housekeeper Wakui, who is tougher than any maid he has ever had before!
<3<3<3!!!
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Introducing Mr. Winterbourne – Joanna Chambers
Lysander Winterbourne appears to lead a charmed life. Handsome, amiable, and a renowned sportsman, he is the darling of London society. As far as Adam Freeman is concerned though, Lysander is just another spoiled aristocrat.
A wealthy mill owner, Adam has no time for the frivolous world of the ton, but when his younger brother becomes engaged to Althea Winterbourne, he reluctantly agrees to be introduced to society–with the Winterbourne clan’s golden boy as his guide.
Resigning himself to a few days of boredom, Adam is surprised to learn that there is much more to Lysander than his perfect surface. But will Adam have the courage to introduce Lysander Winterbourne to his own secret self?
I rarely buy into one-day love affairs but I’m sold on Lysander and Adam’s men-about-Town romance. Joanna Chamber’s novellete is short but fully-fleshed out. It introduces Lysander Winterbourne of the illustrious Winterbourne family, a typical upper class clan that’s high on the instep but short on the money. Lysander’s sister Althea is set to marry Simon Freeman, a man of commerce who has political ambitions. Lysander was
askedcommanded to squire around Adam, the older Freeman brother and the one who holds the purse strings. Even though both found each other attractive, it was good that Joanna Chambers did not exaggerate the insta-lust levels as some authors are wont to do but instead kept it palpable but gentlemanly.This!
Freeman lifted his half-full glass and drained it. He set it down with a decisive click, took a deep breath and said firmly, “I am not looking for a wife, Winterbourne.”
Just that.
A dozen questions teemed in Lysander’s mind. What did Freeman mean? Merely that he was a confirmed bachelor? Or was there something more to his confession? Could it be that Freeman was like Lysander? That he was more interested in his own sex than the fairer variety? Lysander’s heart began to race at the thought, and his mouth grew dry. He thought of Freeman lunging at him with his blade, his muscular body taut and lean, expression concentrated, and …Lysander wanted him.
The wanting was like hunger, a yearning that went beyond mere desire, toppling over into pure need.
And it was that, finally, that made Lysander speak, that made him put caution to one side and utter the truth, or one truth anyway.
“I am not looking for a wife either.”That and the dance. And bonding over fencing.
The story is nice, enjoyable pretty straight forward and while not exactly the kind that will blow your mind, it’s enough to tide you over until the next good book. In fact, it felt like a beginning a series. If JC makes a series out of this I would be glad to read the rest of it.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Go Places
Artist: The New Pornographers
Album: Challengers(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39706695-introducing-mr-winterbourne)
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[spotify id=”spotify%3Atrack%3A1rj7ppFYWy9Aby8nPqOq0s&view=coverart” width=”540″ height=”620″ /]Soundtrack to Introducing Mr. Winterbourne by Joanna Chambers
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We sometimes try to impress people we just met by not trying to impress them.
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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpOLeINVIM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=375]
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Ashitagari Mono Mania – Shinozaki Mai
Higuchi Yuuya has been adopted by the son of the woman who caused an accident that killed his parents, Saeki Tooru. Both agree to live as a ‘family.’ As time flies by, both have developed feelings that can’t be explained.
To Love Passionately: I don’t see what the fuss is about. They’re not even blood relations
Melting Point Secret: Now that’s more like it…
Sentimental Evening Pureness: Makes no sense
(source: http://www.rocaca.com)
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Ashitagari Mono Mania – Shinozaki Mai
Higuchi Yuuya has been adopted by the son of the woman who caused an accident that killed his parents, Saeki Tooru. Both agree to live as a ‘family.’ As time flies by, both have developed feelings that can’t be explained.
To Love Passionately: I don’t see what the fuss is about. They’re not even blood relations
Melting Point Secret: Now that’s more like it…
Sentimental Evening Pureness: Makes no sense
(source: http://www.rocaca.com)
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Hemovore – Jordan Castillo Price
Mark Hansen thought working as artist’s assistant would be glamorous, especially if that artist was a vampire. Black tie events, witty repartee, gracing the pages of the local style section…. Didn’t happen. Not even once.
Jonathan Varga is an enigma. True, he’s quiet, generous, and scrupulously polite. But he has zero social life, refuses to be interviewed or photographed, and insists he can only consume feline blood.
Why supermarket blood won’t suffice, Mark hasn’t asked. He’s rarely at a loss for words—he can dish an insult and follow it with a snap as quick as you can say “Miss Thang.” But one look at Jonathan’s black-as-sin gypsy eyes, and Mark’s objections drain away.
So he endures the perpetual grind of their routine: Jonathan hiding in his studio, swiping black paint onto black canvases. Mark hurling insults while he buffs the office to a shine with antiviral wipes. Each of them avoiding the other in a careful choreography…until a blurb in Art in America unleashes a chain of harrowing events.
As secrets from Jonathan’s past are brought to light, it becomes clear that all his precautions weren’t nearly enough.
When I finished listening to Hemovore, I didn’t know what to make of it. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I realized there were a lot of things I liked and the ending (Sweet, the novellete at the end the audiobook) was what really made it. It was perfect. My favorite part was that cake tasting scene with Mona. Expect tears.
I’m really digging JCP’s take on vampires. While vampirism as a virus is not new, rather than making it as an convenient excuse for people to turn into bloodsucking monsters, here, it was treated like the deadly virus it is. Every precaution was taken to avoid contamination. Stringent sterilization measures, safety gloves, disinfectant wipes, everything. The world building is also outstanding. The alternate contemporary universe vividly portrayed the dichotomy of the V+ and V- cases.
I also liked Jonathan’s black on black paintings. Some artist should do that in real life and have the images be visible under black light or UV light. That sort of thing would be really cool or then again, it would be really pretentious.
Stories that involved journeys, traveling, quests or running away tend to be a drag for me because it always feels like I would never see the end of it but here, the pacing was just right. I liked how JCP kept the suspense tight.
It helps that there were a lot going on from meeting the V+ help group to the pathetic but creepy rat man and finally that showdown with Lazlo.
I’m a bit on the fence about the romance at the beginning. It seemed to start out as one-sided but gradually won me over especially at the end though it never reached squee-inducing levels. Most times I enjoyed Mark’s sass and oh so gay references but sometimes, just sometimes he could be such a drama queen. Jonathan’s Bela Lugosi accent is, at times, hard to take seriously not because the narrator, Joel Leslie, was bad at it (his delivery was spot on as usual) but because I have heard it used as a bad joke too many times. Nonetheless Mark and Jonathan turned out to be a cute power couple. These two fought so hard to be together they deserve all the happiness they can get
So while it didn’t really blow me away, I’m glad to say my first Jordan Castillo Price novel was a win.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: The Blood is Love
Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Album:Lullabies to Paralyze(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33978361-hemovore)
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[spotify id=”spotify%3Atrack%3A6CWIowhlEQaIZWgNhj93dx&view=coverart” width=”540″ height=”620″ /]Soundtrack to Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price
