Recommendations

Circle of Desire, My Books, Odd Observation, Reading, Recommendations, The Circle series

Stories from Dark to Light

Posted on October 13, 2017December 7, 2017 by Carla Swafford, Author

Readers are really benefiting from all of the independent publishing. You like dark romance, you have your choice of how dark. Want a romantic comedy? Yep, you bet your sweet bippy they’re out there. How about erotica? What type? BDSM? Of course, sir. Age play? Yes, Papa. Have a fetish? There’s a book out there for you. Historical or paranormal? Or both? Or everything above? Goodness, yes.

I love all kinds of romances, but I’m still old fashioned about one thing. My heroine or hero (read or write) cannot be married to another when the relationship is starting up or going on. Oh, yes, there are romances out there like that. Crazy, heh?

I love marriages of convenience (historical or contemporary), male – female spy teams, cowboys (historical or contemporary), and reverse roles (like my book Circle of Desire, the heroine was the dangerous assassin). Most of my reading and writing is dark, though I do enjoy reading romantic comedy on occasion. But the hero or heroine cannot be or act stupid. Bad or dumb luck is okay.

As I like to do every once in a while, here are some recommendations.

Lucas: A Cold Fury Hockey Novel By Sawyer Bennett: I do love this series. This book is one of her best. Such an unusual heroine. She has issues I can relate to. A great guy hero. Sweet story. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hot. Just lots of feels.

Alien Slave Master series by Samantha Cayto (The Captain’s Pet, The Rebellious Pet, The Untamed Pet, The Captive Pet, The Inconvenient Pet, The Undercover Pet.) Now be aware, these are not for everyone. So go with caution. Be sure to read the excerpts the on-line booksellers provide. The author did a great job on the emotions, and there was a wide spectrum.

I’m presently listening to the audio of Louise Bay’s The Empire State Series: A Week in New York, Autumn in London, and New Year in Manhattan. Lots of sex, but it doesn’t get monotonous. Good narrators and just an enjoyable story. Ms. Bay continues to make me happy.

I have mixed feelings about the dark romance (audio) Echo: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Bleeding Hearts Book 1) by A. Zavarelli. In one of my earlier recommendations, I mentioned some of her books. (Love Ghost.) This one . . . I liked but it went off in left field a few times. Still I enjoy this author’s unusual characters. I might get the second book’s audio. Still debating.

Her book, The Beast, no. It was too much of everything — too dark — and I read some crazy stuff. If you decide to check it out, be aware the male lead rapes the female. Multiple times. I just can’t call him a hero. Then again that might be your thing. You’ve been warned. I feel this is one of her older books she released after some/a lot success from her newer ones. Then again, what do I know. By the way, I listened to the audio and wasn’t too happy with the narrator.

Speaking of the narrator, for the last two books mentioned, she had a lilt at the end of every sentence. Bug the crap out of me. I guess I’ll stick to reading A. Zavarelli’s books, instead of listening to them.

Audio, Recommendations

Posted on August 17, 2017October 28, 2017 by Carla Swafford, Author

book-signing Lately, I’ve realized how much I miss holding and reading a paperback book. Plus I hate how all of my e-books are all jumbled together. No matter how I set up categories in iBooks or Kindle, I still find myself thumbing through several unfinished books to find a new one. Then I’m not sure if they are unread or an unfinished one. While with a paperback, you can place the new book on a certain shelf or leave it in a shopping bag. Simple. Anyway, I’ve plan to read more paperback books.

Here are some recommendations. You’ll note that I do not recap story lines. So if you want to know more about the book, look it up on Amazon. Easy enough.

Funny how authors will give a title to a book that really does not do justice to the story. One such book is Dirty Daddies by Jade West. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Carla has a kinky side. Well, of course. Have you read what I write? Geez! In this case, the book isn’t like some I’ve read. Behave. Let me look at your e-reader and I’ll see what your kink is. As you can imagine, Dirty Daddies is a hot book, but so much more. It really surprised me by the layers of character development revealed in the story. Yes, it involves two older men (not too old, gross) and a younger woman (offhand, I can’t remember, but I do believe she’s 18. In the US, that’s considered an adult). But the heroes struggle with their desire for someone younger, they recognize the problem she has with low self-esteem, and they don’t want to take advantage, but as the book goes along, the men actually help her. Like I said, it’s hot, but the story is not all sex. There’s character growth for all of them. The book turned out to be a perfect love story. Besides, the romance having two heroes for one heroine (love that), it is an unique story. Just really needs a better title.

I love hockey books. Since I love hockey, that makes sense, right? As I’m all caught up on Sawyer Bennett’s Carolina’s Cold Fury series, I’m always searching for more. Well, I had almost given up as the others out there were not meeting my standards. Then I came across, Alicia Pace Hunter’s Nickolai’s Noel, and they (the author is a writing team) met my need for more. It’s a short story, but packed with romance and hockey. (Presently, you can find it in Fire On Ice: 4 Hockey Romances.) Their latest hockey romance is Face Off: Emile. They write romantic comedy and not the silly kind. More of the sweet and fun kind. Love their sense of humor. In Face Off, it does have a little bit of sex in it, but not hot like Sawyer’s. I love the time the heroine grabbed the hero’s butt. Sexy and funny at the same time. HA! But I like mixing up my reading of romance, from hot to sweet. And I love reading hockey books where the author really knows what they’re talking about. Yes. I’ve tried reading a couple you could tell the author was writing to the market and nothing else.

Now for audio, I have fallen in love with Louise Bay’s three books set mostly in New York. They don’t have a series name. They’re stand-alones, but one character in each book is connected in some way (sister, brother, friend) to another. So same world. The narrators do a wonderful job. The books are hot, but definitely have a romance storyline. They are King of Wall Street, Park Avenue Prince, and Duke of Manhattan. Talk about some sexy, well-rounded men (and women). You really need to listen or read these books. I plan to check out her other books next.

Presently, I’m listening to Radiance: Wraith Kings, Volume 1 by Grace Draven. It’s different enough to keep me interested ,and the writing is good overall. Though I have to mention, I get aggravated with the author writing a scene where the hero or heroine thinks about something that happened earlier in the day and then being jerked back to that scene. Why not write the scenes in order without the yanking around? It wasn’t like the event happened years and years ago. In that case, you would write the event in a scene mostly as backstory. In small doses, backstory is good if it is helping the reader understand why the hero or heroine is the way he or she is. But a current event of only hours earlier being out of sequence is jarring.

Though I’ve listened to and read or tried to read many more, those are the ones worth mentioning here.

Recommendations, Writing

What the heck…

Posted on May 24, 2017May 24, 2017 by Carla Swafford, Author

Young Couple Sharing Special Moment and Present Lately, I’ve been struggling with my writing time. So much going on in my life. Nothing bad, just a lot of things and several changes. One is that we’re moving this summer out of our home of twenty-four years. Plus the summers are crazy at the day-job. Lots of overtime. And I need to learn to say no with volunteer work, but I love helping people.

I’m not sure when I’ll finish the book I’m working on. Only ten chapters left before I write the two most beautiful words in an author’s work: THE END. Luckily (oddly), no editor is waiting for it, but my agent wants to see it.

Funny, but I rarely talk about my current manuscripts, not because of superstition. It’s because I don’t want to hear someone say, “Oh, that’s like so-and-so’s book.” That always pisses me off. No one writes a book like I write. Yes. I do understand what they’re saying. The book is similar in a key point of the plot, character(s), or location of the other author’s. I can tell you most authors don’t want to hear that. We all think our books are unique. In one way particularly. Our voice. That is, our word choices and rhythm.

But, here I am writing a blog post, and telling you about a book I listened to. Another time suck, but one I love to do it. Side note: this isn’t a review site, but I love books. That’s why I love to read (or listen) and write them. So I figured when I especially enjoy one, I would pass on a little recommendation.

CAKE by J. Bengtsson (Audio)

For the blurb, click on the link above. As many current contemporary romance books, the hero and heroine are 23 years old. The girl is sweet and pretty level-headed. No diva attitude or oversexed heroine. Considering my heroines are very demanding sexually, 51jggA8BjOL._SL300_ that’s saying something about the author’s writing. HA! For it held my attention. And if you’re wondering, the hero wasn’t a horn dog. They were very likable. Great sense of humors for both.

Overall, I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a soft “rock star” book (pun intended). No drug use by main characters, no drinking, or too crazy groupies. Light on the sex. It played with how to have a relationship with a celebrity. How people have certain expectations from those who are famous, including expecting they do not deserve privacy.

A thread in the story included that the hero had a horrible trauma when he was a young, and it comes up throughout the story, but not in a heavy angst-y way. In fact, I thought the author handled very well.

Only negatives were, their families were near to perfect. If you read any of my books, you know my heroes’ and/or heroines’ families were more like real ones. Neurotic, self-centered, demanding, in general, big pains in the butt. Or is it only my family? Hmm.

By the way, it does not end in a cliff hanger though you will think so at first. Good twist. I don’t consider that a spoiler. For I freaking hate cliff hangers. I was getting mad, and so I searched on the review site to see if someone talked about it. There wasn’t one, so I continued on and was very happy with the ending.

I checked out the second book in the Cake series. It’s the middle brother (though the blurb mentioned he’s a younger brother). Looks interesting, but I think I want a hot book next. I can take all the sweetness between the two and their families only so much. Maybe I’m jealous of the couple.

Almost forgot, the narrators did a great job. Once again, I was so happy to come across a male narrator who didn’t make a woman sound whiny.

Audio, Reading, Recommendations

My Latest Recommendations

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Carla Swafford, Author

Woman Reading a Diary As I mentioned before, I listen to audio books on my drive to the day job and back. Well, actually anywhere that takes tens minutes or more, such as trips to Nashville (Go Preds!), luncheons, conferences, and writers’ meetings.

This week, I enjoyed Shadow Music: A Novel by Julie Garwood. A story set in the Middle Ages (King John). In the range of my favorite time period. Plus, it reminds me of why I love Ms. Garwood’s books. The story is captivating, lightly sexy, charming, and well-written. A note about the story: some people may think the heroine is too accommodating to the hero’s dictatorial attitude. But I think it’s perfect for the time period. Besides, the heroine knows when to pick her battles. She’s a sweetheart. The hero gives in when she explains her reasoning. A great balance. Makes you fall in love with both of them.

The icing on the cake is the narrator. Davina Porter is massively talented. I love her Scottish accents. If her name sounds familiar, she was/is the narrator for the Outlander series. Her narration got me through the first three books of that series and thoroughly made me a happy girl with this book.

In April, I listened to Maya Banks’ The Enforcers series: Mastered, Dominated, and Kept. I will say I would have enjoyed this series better if I had read them. The narrator had an awesome voice, but the female voices and nuances were off.

When it comes to reading, I’ve gone through about six books since my last recommendation with a few DNFs. Only one is worth mentioning, and I’m not finished with it yet. Not that it’s great, it’s kept me reading. The writing is rich with wonderful detail. That can be a catch-22. It can drag down the story. The title is The Warrior’s Game by Denise Doming. Another one set during the King John’s reign. I guess I’m stuck in that era.

Happy reading!

Reading, Recommendations

What Have I Been Reading?

Posted on March 28, 2017October 28, 2017 by Carla Swafford, Author

If you’re wondering how I find time to read, what with a full-time demanding job, and writing a novel at the same time. That doesn’t include attending my writing groups’ (two beloved RWA chapters) meetings. On top of all that, I’m a hockey fan, and I watch every game my team plays (GO PREDATORS!), and go to games when I can. And even more important is my family who I love most of all and deserve my attention.

But I’m a book-aholic. So I find time.

How you ask? Well, I read between hockey periods, during commercials, before turning in for the night, at doctor appointments, sitting out in the parking lot before walking into work, during lunches, while cooking or/and eating. E-books are great when it comes to finishing one book, you can immediately start a new one. Feed that addiction. Plus I listen to audio books. (All of that and writing!)

Now for the recent books I’ve read. Just a reminder, I only mention the ones I enjoyed.

A couple of the books by Zavarelli surprised me with her unusual heroines and unique plot choices. I’m rarely surprised and ended up enjoying them, especially Ghost.
Boston Underworld series by A. Zavarelli
Crow
Reaper
Ghost
Saint

I guess I’m on a criminal kick. Enjoyed the first one that came in this set.
Romanian Mob Chronicles (series) Books 1- 3 by Kaye Blue
Keep

Here’s one from an old original favorite author, and it’s been several years since I read one of her books. This one I enjoyed because the heroine was hated by so many people, including the hero, but she persevered and won over the hero and many others.
Make Me Love You by Johanna Lindsey

Many others books, I kind of enjoyed, but not enough to recommend here. Some, I couldn’t finish. When I don’t finish a book, it is often because I became bored with the plot or characters or both. Rarely, does it have anything to do with the quality of writing. Amazon’s Look Inside feature helps me check that out before I purchase.

Here are the audio books I enjoyed recently.
Roman: Cold Fury Hockey Series Book 7 by Sawyer Bennett
A Rouge By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean
Three, Two, One (A Dark Suspense) 321 by J.A. Huss
The Darkest Night: The Lords of The Underworld Book 1 by Gena Showalter
The Duchess War: The Brothers Sinister Book 1 by Courtney Milan

One series I’d listened to on and off over the last three months or so is Sylvia Day’s Crossfire. I have to say she did a wonderful job layering the personalities of the hero and heroine. She did hook me into listening to all five books. Heck, I couldn’t get further than Outlander’s Voyager. So that has to mean something. But by book three (even after breaking it up with other authors’ books), I became tired of hearing how beautiful they thought each other were. I really wish she had condensed them into three books. If so, they probably would have been one of those I listened to over and over again.

I do need to stay away from series that have the same main hero and heroine throughout. I have a tendency of getting fed up with the characters and story. Totally my hangup there.