Challenge Book Week

Challenge Week Recap

Another week has come and gone *sigh*

Our first Challenge Week is now officially over and we are pleased to say that we were all able to finish our books and actually enjoyed them! Yay!

Now, we realize that Challenge Week probably isn’t that exciting for everyone, but for us it’s a special sort of pleasure being able to say “Nah nah nah nah, I told you so!” Okay, so only Nikyta can say that… and Heather… but the beauty of Challenge Week is that we can force each other to read that one book that’s been sitting on their TBR for months.

This Challenge Week went well because we all enjoyed our books (two of us even loved them!) and hopefully future Challenge Weeks have the same outcome. Anyway, with the rambling now over, here’s a recap on the four books that we were challenged to read:

Nikyta Picked:

The Nothingness of Ben by Brad Boney reviewed by JustJen (4.5 stars)
The Morning Star by M. Chandler reviewed by Heather C (4 stars)
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs reviewed by Susan65 (4 stars)

Voters’ Pick for Nikyta:

Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk (4.5 stars)

We hope you enjoyed our first Challenge Week and if you want to challenge any of us to a book, give us a shout and we’ll definitely consider it!

For now, make sure you vote in our new poll that’ll help decide which book Susan65 has to read next month!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

~The Blogger Girls

Categories: Challenge Book Week, Recaps | Tags: | Leave a comment

Challenge Book Review: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Moon Called
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson #1
Heroes/Heroine: Adam Hauptman, Samuel Cornick, Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson
Genre: M/F Paranormal Urban Fantasy
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Ace Books
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Available at: Penguin, Amazon & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson is a talented Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy’s next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she’s fixing a bus for a vampire. This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy’s connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Challenge Book Week, M/F, Published Before 2010, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Challenge Book Review: Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Widdershins
Author: Jordan L. Hawk
Series: Whyborne & Griffin #1
Heroes: Percival Endicott Whyborne & Griffin Flaherty
Genre: M/M Paranormal Historical
Length: 85k+ words
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: December 3, 2012
Available at: Smashwords, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Some things should stay buried.

Repressed scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne has two skills: reading dead languages and hiding in his office at the Ladysmith Museum. After the tragic death of the friend he secretly loved, he’s ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man.

So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible. Griffin left the Pinkertons following the death of his partner, hoping to start a new life. But the powerful cult which murdered Glenn has taken root in Widdershins, and only the spells in the book can stop them. Spells the intellectual Whyborne doesn’t believe are real.

As the investigation draws the two men closer, Griffin’s rakish charm threatens to shatter Whyborne’s iron control. When the cult resurrects an evil sorcerer who commands terrifying monsters, can Whyborne overcome his fear and learn to trust? Will Griffin let go of his past and risk falling in love? Or will Griffin’s secrets cost Whyborne both his heart and his life? Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Challenge Book Week, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Challenge Book Review: The Morning Star by M. Chandler

Reviewed by Heather C

7459958Title: The Morning Star
Author: M. Chandler
Series: Shadow of the Templar #1
The Heroes: Simon Drake and Jeremy Archer
Genre: M/M Romance / Action
Length: 138 pages
Publisher: Lulu
Release Date: September 29, 2011
Available at: Lulu  
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads  & Booklikes
Blurb: Simon Drake is an up-and-coming young FBI hotshot, an agent with a personal track record so outstanding that it borders on unbelievable. Not yet thirty, he’s already the leader of his own special ops team; a ragtag bunch of talented but nigh-uncontrollable lunatics, it’s true, but under Simon’s inspired leadership they’re a force to be reckoned with, a team with an unparalleled success rate, a team with an almost unblemished record–until now.

Jeremy Archer is the brilliant and unpredictable scion of a long line of international art thieves, simultaneously a phenomenally wealthy English socialite and one of the most infamous criminals in the world. At twenty-seven years old he’s already wanted on nearly every continent for thefts totalling more than ninety-one million dollars, and yet no one has ever come close to catching him–until now. Now? May the best man win. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Challenge Book Week, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

It’s Challenge Time!

So, I bet y’all are very curious for the results of the poll, huh? We had a total of 95 votes and the winner was:

Continue reading

Categories: Challenge Book Week | 6 Comments

Challenge Book Review: The Nothingness of Ben by Brad Boney

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: The Nothingness of Ben
Author: Brad Boney
Heroes: Ben/Travis
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 248 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 23, 2012
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Ben Walsh is well on his way to becoming one of Manhattan’s top litigators, with a gorgeous boyfriend and friends on the A-list. His life is perfect until he gets a phone call that brings it all crashing down: a car accident takes his parents, and now he must return to Austin to raise three teenage brothers he barely knows.

During the funeral, Ben meets Travis Atwood, the redneck neighbor with a huge heart. Their relationship initially runs hot and cold, from contentious to flirtatious, but when the weight of responsibility starts wearing on Ben, he turns to Travis, and the pressure shapes their friendship into something that feels a lot like love. Ben thinks he’s found a way to have his old life, his new life, and Travis too, but love isn’t always easy. Will he learn to recognize that sometimes the worst thing imaginable can lead him to the place he was meant to be? Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Challenge Book Week, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments