May Best of the Bookshelf

Summer is starting.  What does this mean? BEACH READS!  I know I"m looking forward to some serious time lounging next to the pool with a book in my hands.  Our local water park opens this weekend and I intend to be there for three days straight.




Angel is reading My Reckless Surrender by Anna Campbell.

I love, love, love this author – even though I rarely read historical romance any more. Her characters are always out of the box and powerfully motivated! I can’t help but be drawn into her impossible situations where love triumphs when you least expect it. In Reckless Surrender, widow Diana Carrick ached to own the house where her family has always worked, but it will soon pass into the hands of rogue Earl Tarquin Vale. Imagine her surprise when she offers her body to him, and he turns her down! What kind of rogue is that? Her desperate plans force her to tempt him in other ways, leading to all manner of naughty exchanges and unconventional circumstances. But it is ultimately her secret motivations that might cost them their love. Reading Reckless Surrender will lead you down a fascinating path with a surprise ending!

Smarty Pants is reading Redemption of a Hollywood Starlet by Kimberly Lang
 

I know what you're thinking - this book isn't out until June. But lucky me scored a copy at the Romantic Times conference and I couldn't wait to find out how the Marshall Brothers trilogy would end. If you read the first two - The Privileged & the Damned and the Power & the Glory, then you've probably been waiting impatiently for the youngest brother Finn to have his shot at love. Readers won't be disappointed as he finds it on the front page of the tabloid news with Hollywood bad girl Caitlyn Reese.

Playground Monitor is reading A Deeper Darkness by J.T. Ellison

As a medical examiner, Samantha Owens knows her job is to make a certain sense of death with crisp methodology and precision instruments. 

But the day the Tennessee floods took her husband and children, the light vanished from Sam's life. She has been pulled into a suffocating grief no amount of workaholic ardor can penetrate—until she receives a peculiar call from Washington, D.C.

On the other end of the line is an old boyfriend's mother, asking Sam to do a second autopsy on her son. Eddie Donovan is officially the victim of a vicious carjacking, but under Sam's sharp eye the forensics tell a darker story. The ex-Ranger was murdered, though not for his car.
Forced to confront the burning memories and feelings about yet another loved one killed brutally, Sam loses herself in the mystery contained within Donovan's old notes. It leads her to the untouchable Xander, a soldier off-grid since his return from Afghanistan, and then to a series of brutal crimes stretching from that harsh mountainous war zone to this nation's capital. The tale told between the lines makes it clear that nobody's hands are clean, and that making sense of murder sometimes means putting yourself in the crosshairs of death.

One of my fave TV shows is about a medical examiner and this heroine is an ME too. The book involves the recent floods in Nashville. And J.T. Ellison will be our luncheon speaker next year. Sounds like a winning combination of reasons to read this book!

Problem Child is reading Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

There’s an awful lot of hype about this book, but I’ve heard mixed reviews.  One person I know is convinced I’ll hate it, but wants me to read it anyway because she hates it and wants someone on her side in the fight. Another friend loved it and is convinced I’ll love it too.  Throw in the number of people who love it and think I’ll hate it or vice-versa, and you can see why I’ve put it on my TBR pile.  There’s obviously something there that’s attracting and polarizing people, so I’m curious.  Plus, most people assume I’ve read it and are then surprised when I can’t carry on a conversation about it.  So, I’ve gotta see for myself what’s going on.

Instigator is reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I've been waiting for the release of the second book in the Divergent series for what feels like forever.  It released at a dangerous time - when I had my own deadline to worry about - and I knew the moment I started it I wouldn't be able to think about anything but tearing through the pages.  And I was right!  Insurgent is a face paced read that hooked me from the first page and just wouldn't let go.  But the secret to this series success is in the main character Beatrice Prior.  She's what every person wishes they could be - strong, honorable, selfless - while still managing to struggle with the same issues we all do - love, loss, self-understanding.  Her struggle to find her place in the world is interesting to watch and something everyone can relate to.

So, what are you reading this month? 

P.S.  I'm blogging about baby cougars at the Blaze blog today. Stop by! www.blazeauthors.com