Dream a Little Dream and Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
Why I read these: Dream a little Dream because I liked the blurb. Kiss an Angel because I liked Dream a Little Dream so much.

SEP is a new to me author. Having only read three of her novels I feel like I have been missing on on something really big and great.

Dream a Little Dream was about a widow and her young son coming back to a town that once loved, but now hated her. Her husband was a Televangelist preacher who scammed people out of their money. He confessed his sins on live TV, putting all the blame on her.
When she returns, she begs for a job from Gabe, a man who is the towns most loved son. Gabe is also a widow. He lost his wife and son is a car accident and as much as he falls for (name) he can't bring himself to like her son.
Rachel will do anything and everything for the welfare of her child, even if it means giving up on the man she loves so much.

My feelings are summed up in this series of emails with Holly.

Re: Dream a Little Dream
Holly: I just saw on your sidebar that you read this book. What did you think? It's one of my favorites by her, but it's not for everyone.

Me: Oh, I loved it! I finished it in less than a day.
It reminded me a little bit of Ain't she Sweet? in the sense that she was coming back to a town that hated her.

Even better than the love story I liked how the relationship with her son and Gabe evolved. Some of those parts, as a mother, were hard to read, but I liked how it ended.

Holly: I completely agree about Gabe and her son (remind me what his name is...I'm drawing a blank). That was painful to read at times, but completely understandable from Gabe's perspective. I wanted to be angry with him or hate him for the way he acted, but I couldn't because my heart was breaking for him.

It really grabs you right from the beginning, doesn't it? I loved that Rachel was willing to do whatever it took to support her son, though. Even if it meant being humiliated. I need to re-read. lol

Me: Edward is his name (or Chip, lol)

Have you read Cal and Janet's story? I wonder if it's any good.

There were many emotional parts to DALD. After that teen stole the car with the kids in it, and then got into the accident. eek. Poor Gabe. I mean, poor Rachel for having to go through that fear, but more so for Gabe who had already gone through it once before :(

Holly: That's right! Duh. lol

Yes, I've read all of SEP's books. I didn't care for Cal's story (Nobody's Baby But Mine). I think it's mostly because the storyline isn't one that works for me. That one and Heaven, Texas are my least favorite by her.

There were a lot of emotional parts. The whole book is just an emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish. My heart broke for Rachel when she'd go hungry so Chip could eat. :(

Holly is exactly right. Dream a Little Dream was indeed an emotional roller coaster. I can see myself picking it up for re-reads many times in the future.

After reading Dream a Little Dream I wanted to dive right in to another SEP book, and Kiss an Angel was recommended by both Ames and Holly.
Gosh, I don't know which book I liked better. Both touched me in different ways, they were so good.

In Kiss an Angel, Daisy is forced to go to jail or marry Alex, a man who runs a Circus. She chooses to marry Alex, and they agree that the marriage will last only six months. Alex is a hard hearted man who wont love Daisy, and he refuses to let her believe that they will last longer than the 6 months, no matter how good they are together in bed. Daisy, or Feather head as he calls her, (because of the way her hair is feathered) chips away at the ice covering his heart, and by the end of the book it is he who is begging her for a chance to make things work.
Truly a Happily Ever After.

One of my favourite things about Kiss an Angel is how Daisy grows. She starts off being deathly afraid of animals, but by the end of the book she has a pet tiger and a pet elephant.

I loved both these books. Can't wait to delve into my next SEP!

The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter
Why I read this: Gena Showalter is an auto buy for me, and I thought the first book in the series was great.

I expected great things for The Darkest Kiss. I thought that The Darkest Night was really good, so perhaps my expectations were just too high.

I'm not able to put my finger on what the problem was, but The Darkest Kiss was boring. Thats the only way I can put it. The first few chapters were good, and I thought for sure that it was going to be another great read from a favourite author, but unfortunately it wasn't like that. Something, I'm not sure what, just seemed to fizzle out. There was no desire for me to read on at all. I didn't care about turning the page or finding out what would happen next. I think because nothing was happening. Just a bunch of scenes of the H/H obsessing over each other, fighting and being annoying to the one another as they can be. I guess it was just dragging on too much for me to enjoy.

Th Darkest Kiss was a DNF for me.

Having said that, I still do plan to read the third installment of the series this month.



Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Why I read this: I wanted to try something by this author, and this book caught my eye first.

Loved it! A contemporary read about a small town girl who burned a lot of bridges with friends and family back home. When she came back to the town she grew up in to look for a painting, she found love with someone she hurt in the past.

The conflict was awesome, and I must say that of the two main men in the book, she did not end up with the one I thought she would end up with. You see, I only read a few lines of the back cover blurb before deciding that this sounded like a nice read.

I do have a few issues with the way she was treated though. Some of the people who were mean to her when she came back home where just follwing the leader. They had no reason to be SO bitchy to her. Even though I didn't like how they treated her, it went well with the story. I love the writing style this author has. Very nice flow. B+. I can't wait to read more from this author.



Lover Enshrined by JR Ward
Why I read this: I don't know! But I mean it when I say that this is the last one. Grrrr.

Well, the Lesser POV's are back. That sucked. I did a lot of skimming. I skimmed the Lesser stuff, of course. I also skimmed plenty of Phury's POV. For most of his scenes he was talking to a voice in his head. A voice he calls The Wizard. The Wizard shows up when Phury is high or needs to get high.

Not nearly enough time was spent on the H/H. Much of the book focused on Qhuinn and JM. I'm not surprised though. Ward even said that this book would be a stepping stone for Q and JM. The worst part though, the part that I hate the most is the dialogue. Not only is the speech more annoying that it was before, but now all the Shellans talk like that. Some of it was entertaining-I have to admit that Ward can pull off a good twist (when she isn't killing pregnant women, and turning Shellans into ghosts). There was just too much skimming, and too many wall banging moments to make this book anything other than a C-

I need to re read Dark Lover ASAP. I need to get the horrible taste of the last few books in this series out of my mouth.