June's reading material...

Wow... we're half way through the year, and the days are now getting shorter again... it doesn't seem
two minutes since it was the end of January!

We are enjoying (?!) something of a heatwave at present... last week we had a day where it got to 33c here .. it's a bit cooler now, but really muggy, which leaves me wanting to do nothing but impressions of a wilting damsel forced to lay upon the chaise longue and and read...

Anyway, June was a month of re-reads... for some reason I needed comfort reads and familiar books - though for once I didn't automatically go back to the Falls Chance Ranch series - probably because I'd only re-read them a month or so ago (though I did dip in and out of the short stories).

Leaving re-reads aside, my absolute stand out favourite this month was Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan - an excellent portrayal of characters who suffer from ASD and severe depression, and a minor paraplegic character.  Hard to read in places but so, so worth it.

Honourable mentions to Life, Some Assembly Required by Kaje Harper and The Art of Breathing by T.J. Klune (which I am hopeful will get it's sequel and the final book in the Bear, Otter and the Kid series soon).

I haven't included in the list the 23 DRiTC stories from this year's Love is an Open Road event that I have also read.  I will do a follow up post when I've read a few more to record my favourites.

So the full list...

1. Bear, Otter & The Kid - T.J. Klune (r)
2. Who We Are - T.J. Klune
3. The Art of Breating - T.J. Klune
4. Knight of Ocean Avenue - Tara Lain
5. Carry the Ocean - Heidi Cullinan
6. Murder & Mayhem - Rhys Ford
7. Life, Some Assembly Required - Kaje Harper
8. Inherit the Sky - Ariel Tachna (r)
9. Chase the Stars - Ariel Tachna (r)
10. Outlast the Night - Ariel Tachna (r)
11. Conquer the Flames - Ariel Tachna (r)
12. Cherish the Land - Ariel Tachna
13. My Cowboy Promises - Z.A. Maxfield
14. Saving Faithless Creek - Andrew Grey
15. Caught! - J.L. Merrow (r)
16. Slam! - J.L. Merrow (r)
17. Let it Snow - Heidi Cullinan (r)
18. Sleigh Ride - Heidi Cullinan (r)
19. Strength of the Pack - Kendall Mckenna (r)
20. Strength of the Wolf - Kendall McKenna (r)
21. Strength o the Mate - Kendall Mckenna (r)

May there be books.........

So, May... the start of summer... or in my case the new year... no seriously, the financial year at work ends on 30th April... before that life is, well, hectic is an understatement... add to the the fact that of course I don't have enough stress at work so I needed a writing prompt and story to write in 7 or so weeks...

Which of course means, in May I relax, and do rather more reading than I've managed in recent months.

There was a lot of comfort re-reading as well this month - I needed fluffy... I am all for dark, gritty books, books that make you think, books that frighten... but sometimes sugar is needed

That said, highlight book of the month was the long awaited fourth book in the Deputy Joe series - Requiem in Leather by James Buchanan.  It's been a while since I read the first three books, but just pages in and I am fully immersed back in the story because Joe's voice is so distinctive.  It's really difficult to write in dialect consistently but these books are a masterclass in how to do it. Not just that but the characters four books in are still evolving, and while this story might have been quite light on the mystery side the relationship between Joe and Kabe is changing as this time we learnt more about Kabe.

Other highlights -

Hoarfrost, the 6th Whyborne & Griffin book.  Again, this is a series which gets better - sure I wasn't so keen on Necropolis (which was book 4) but the author keeps the stories fairly fresh by moving the MC's around and expanding on their backstory as well as on their current relationship.

A couple of very good fantasies gave me the escapism I needed - The Courtship of Julian St Albans, though rather on the long side, was a good alternative reality type story - think Regency manners with added magic ... and Burn the Sky by Jaye Mackenna was a very well don full on fantasy with dragon shifters.

I am going to mention Crash & Burn here - the Cut & Run series were amongst the first books I read in M/M - in fact Cut & Run was the first but when I read it the first three books were out already and I made my way through them quickly.  Until Armed & Dangerous I was really enjoying the series, but books 7 and 8 fell a little short for me.  While there were a lot of loose ends to tie up in the final book, and the storyline did get a bit tangled at times, I did enjoy the grand finale for Ty and Zane - though I've a feeling we've not seen the last of them as minor characters which is kind of a nice feeling - like they are happy there in the background.

Okay, so, the list in full.........

1. A Little Bit Country - S.J. Frost (r)
2. Hoarfrost - Jordan L Hawk
3. Truth & Tenderness - Tere Michaels
4. The Courtship of Julian St Albans - Amy Crook
5. Need for Dale - Sean Michael
6. An Intrepid Trip to Love - Charlie Cochet (r)
7. Healing Hunter's Heart - Charlie Cochet
8. Crash & Burn - Abigail Roux
9. Burn the Sky - Jaye McKenna
10. Down & Dirty - Rhys Ford
11. A Tooth for a Fang - Liv Olteano
12. A Thoreau Affair - Hunter Frost
13. Fire & Water - Andrew Grey
14. Mannies Incorporated - Sean Michael
15. A Home of His Own - Sean Michael
16. And Manny makes Seven - Sean Michael
17. Requiem in Leather - James Buchanan
18. Love Lessons - Heidi Cullinan (r)
19. Fever Pitch - Heidi Cullinan (r)
20. Blind Faith - N.R. Walker (r)
21. Through these Eyes - N.R. Walker
22. Blindsided - N.R. Walker
23. Pride & Perilous - Mark McNease
24. The Blinding Light - Renae Kaye (r)
25. The Pack of the Panther - Tara Lain
26. Shawn's Law - Renae Kaye
27. How to Howl at the Moon - Eli Easton

Next month sees the start of the DRiTC postings - so lots of short stories to come.  I will probably do a post on my favourites but I won't list everyone and those under 20k won't be included on my books read this month list.

Coming Soon.... Reubaltach Cridhe

So, my story for this year's DRiTC event is complete and was submitted (more or less on time).  Yes,
those two totally unpronounceable words - that's the title... it's Gaelic... it means Rebellious Hearts.

It's another historical story, first person narration and I am hopeful that readers like it.  As usual though, I won't be reading any reviews.

It comes in at just over 20,000 words - so the second longest of the five stories I've written for the event.  I am not having a cover made (I couldn't do it myself given I've the artistic talent of a squashed fly biscuit) so will have the standard cover for the event - but that's fine as it will match the previous year's stories.

I was very fortunate to have four beta readers, two friends who predominately read M/M (Kat and Elci) and are fantastic cheerleaders particularly in times of me having one of my "I can't do it" moments.  One highly regarded and rated author in the genre (whose support for my writing over the last four years has been invaluable - thank you Kaje) and my poor friend (Rachel the Witch) who I know from back in the day when we both read and wrote Girls Own fan fic and original stories - I say poor friend because she doesn't read M/M and is "allergic" to romance and very cynical when it comes to a HEA.  She bravely followed me from GO through general YA fantasy and into M/M without thought to her personal safety........ she's also developed a fondness for multicoloured highlighters which use uses to mark my drafts into a veritable rainbow of things for me to review..

As always I am amazed by the fantastic team that organise the event. They are all non professionals in the publishing world, and I think most also have full time jobs and families to balance with running what is now a huge event.  My editor this year got my story back to me very quickly (with thankfully only minor queries and a mass of grammar issues - seriously, I am going to insist that Yorkshire break away and develop their own coma).  I whizzed through the edits - rectifying the random floating body parts - and sent it back.  I am now with the formatting and QA teams.  No release date, I won't know until about 3 days before it comes out, but I am guessing sometime towards the end of June.  I am quite excited, but I am sure I'll get over that........

Intensive treatment......

So, if you've followed this blog for a while you might recall about 3 years ago I pulled a teeny tiny hang nail on a toe of my right foot.... and 24 hours later ended up seriously ill with cellulitis... my doctors gave me antibotics but the swelling in my leg caused by the infection never went down, and it was eventually decided that I'd probably got lymphodaema....I got a referral to a specialist lymphodaema nurse who is part of the McMillan Nursing Service (as lympodaema is most commonly associated with post surgery for cancer).

Anyway.... fast forward three years and I am at my wits end.... in that time I've seen my nursing specialist only a handful of times (not her fault, the service is a charity, and the lymphoaedma service is very poorly funded, with only one specialist for the whole of the county).  My own doctors is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.... seriously, one time I went to the doctors three times in one week and saw three different doctors none of which were my own.

For three years I have battled on my own, with only a pair of bondage stockings (okay, pressure garments) which I wasn't told should have been replaced ever 3 - 4 months.  But I couldn't wear them anyway as I had a sore patch on my leg.......

I was starting to get horribly depressed about my leg.... the main feeling being I'd like to take a chain saw to it at the knee and get rid of the thing totally - seriously it's like having an elephant's leg attached to my knee.... anyway, with some prompting from my counsellor (who had other evil ideas about me looking at it for 10 minutes a day and thinking about how I feel about it...... seriously with the chainsaw...) I phoned the specialist nurse with a plea for help....... she was off sick and I saw a stand in who didn't know what to do with me..... but thought she might no someone else who might......

As a result, I had a referral to the leg clinic.... I first went back at the end of April..... and they ummed and ahhed over my leg... then suggested I could take 4 weeks off work and go into a nursing home on bed rest with my leg elevated...... when I pointed out to them, hello full time job, 4 dogs, 2 cats, no one else at home, get a grip... they agreed to try something else.....

So, yesterday I pottered along after work for my first session of wrapping.... the idea being basically to squeeze the hell out of my leg till the fluid has no option but to bugger off elsewhere...

What they do is put on a layer of padded bandages, then another layer, then another... then top it all off with conforming bandages...... essentially it's like having a plaster cast on the lower half of my leg (my toes poke out - I may paint my nails)... but the cast is soft and I can walk on it, and drive, and basically carry on as normal (except for the whole point and laugh thing by small children who don't understand and whose parents are too fucking numb to tell them that it's rude to stare/point/laugh)

Today I had the first wrapping taken off, and the leg has shrunk quite a bit, but the bandage slipped so when today's went on... it's gone on lots tighter and higher, I can only just bend my knee.  But hopefully it will work.  If they squeeze enough out on Friday when they take off the wrap then they will measure me for more bondage stockings - only these will be higher strength and will be replaced more frequently.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I am feeling all over the place at the moment.... I want to be treated to help my leg, but wish to hell this had been addressed three years ago when it all kicked off.  It's not something I will ever recover from - I will live with lymphodaema for the rest of my life - but hopefully we can get it all to a manageable level....

April's reading selection

This happens a lot when I am reading!

This month has been taken up quite a bit with writing rather than reading as the Love Landscapes
story is due by 1st May (well it should be I've a short extension to finish up my edits as my four wonderful beta readers have sent me a shed load of comments to consider)

I also had to ban myself from reading anything good... or save it for a reward, which I did...... in fact at one stage I decided that to push myself into writing I was only allowed to read het erotica.... I ended up writing my story in a little under two weeks..... it's just about 20k words so not the longest in the world, and unexpectedly in first person POV - though that did cause a little dilemma, I asked my research assistants to give me a "blow by blow" *snicker* account of someone going down on them so I could get the right reactions for my narrator when it happens for the first time to him........ apparently, all those long winded and descriptive paragraphs you read about how it feels are wrong... because all three of my assistants said, "it starts with a sort of "oh wow" and then your brain goes off line"....

Anyway back to the books.....

Favourite reads this month were three that were someway above four stars for me - Cherish & Blessed by Tere Michaels is two stories that have previously been published in her Faith & Fidelity Series that I'd not read as standalone books.  I am glad I caught up with this series before the 6th book is published. Axel's Pup which is a well written BDSM/paranormal book with a very intersting take on wolf society and finally Restless Spirits by Jordan L Hawk which is a paranormal historical with ghost hunters and as usual with this author some very well written female minor characters.

So the whole list.....

1. Cherished & Blessed - Tere Michaels
2. In Your Eyes - Cardeno C.
3. A Clean Break - Keira Andrews
4. A Way Home - Keira Andrews
5. Axel's Pup - Kim Dare
6. Mark Cooper vs America - Lisa Henry & J.A Rock (r)
7. Brandon Mills vs the V card - Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock (r)
8. Morning Report - Sue Brown (r)
9. Complete Faith - Sue Brown (r)
10. Papa's Boy - Sue Brown (r)
11. Her Dom, her doctor & her daddy - Emily Tilton (m/f pure smut)
12. Out of the Rain - Hollis Shiloh
13. Training Lady Townesend - Annabel Joseph (m/f)
14. To Tame a Countess - Annabel Joseph (m/f)
15. My Naughty Minette - Annabel Joseph (m/f)
16. Under a Duke's Hand - Annabel Joseph (m/f)
17. Restless Spirits - Jordan L Hawk
18. Silver Bullet - Rolf & Ranger (r)
19. all the Falls Chance Ranch short stories - Rolf & Ranger (r)
20. Culpeper's Complete Herbal - Nicholas Culpeper (research)

Writing tunes......

I am in the midst of writing my DRiTC story for the Love's Landscapes event... and as usual have been listening to a lot of music as I write.

Two songs though have stuck in my head during this process, both for very different reasons, and I thought I'd share them here...

The first, well, the first line of the song is something that one of my characters does...

(yeah, I know there had to be a Frightened Rabbit track involved)

The second is a very old favourite that has always resonated for this particular pacifist...

Mad March Reading

Not much was done in the way of reading in March... mainly because I was up to my eyeballs in research for my DRiTC project (which I mapped out - freaked myself out over then had to scale back massively after I wrote 5K and scrapped it in a hissy fit)

Stand out book for me this month was Heat Trap - the third of the Plumbers Mate books by J.L. Merrow.  Followed by another third in a series -  Scrap by Josephine Myles. I also enjoyed the cowboy historical - End of The Trail by Jane Elliot (though this one definitely won't be for everyone as there is some M/F sex in it.

So - the full list

Monsters Under the Bed - Susan Laine
No Enemy But Time - Angel Martinez
Bayne & Lucas - Kayci Morgan (PIFM book)
Dear Mr President - Adam Fitzroy
End of the Trail - Jane Elliot
Blood in the Water - Tami Veldura
Bromance to Romance - Elizabeth Daniels
Until the Bitter End - L.L. Bucknor
Murder 101 - Faye Kellerman (non M/M)
Heat Trap - J.L. Merrow
Scrap - Josephine Myles
Splintered - SJD Peterson
Not Just a Kiss - Jennah Scott
With Abandon - J.L. Langley (r)
More than Just A Good Book - Sloan Parker
This Too - Isla James
Assassins Love - Sammy Goode
Falls Chance Ranch - Rolf & Ranger (r)
Three Traders - Rolf & Ranger (r)
Mustang Hill - Rolf & Ranger (r)

Why yes, I did end the month with some comfort re-reads.... and I've started April the same way.

So far I've managed to stick well to the only 1 book purchase a month rule (though I had 2 new books this month because I forgot I'd ordered Scrap back before Christmas).  However, that's kind of all fallen apart as I got $25 ARe voucher from a friend for my birthday.......... I also picked up some freebies for Earth Month and on Amazon...... which means that I am currently at 272 on the Kindle..... which is hardly much of a dint in the just over 300 I started the year with..... I have a horrible feeling I am going to end up with more books on the Kindle come New Year's Eve this year than I started the year with.......