Good day to you! Our day starts with Top 10 Tuesday 😀 This meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and as if I wasn’t a rebel before, now I reached a whole new level, haha! Besides choosing to show you guys my 10 favorite covers within my 2015 reads, I also made it 18 covers because it was IMPOSSIBLE to narrow this down, haha!
Lest’s go:
Venom, from Kristin Middleton
The Gentleman and The Lamplighter, from Summer Devon
Hello again! I’d like to start this post with two warnings: I’ll talk about homosexual books that have explicit sex scenes between two men in this post and I am an extra huge fan of Ava March (which you already know if you follow me for a while or just read this post). If you don’t like this kind of genre or this author, you better stop reading 🙂
This TOP 3 theme is my three favorite authors that write mature romances involving homosexual males. And here they are:
They write together most of the time, but they also release books separately. I’ll talk about them as a team because I think it is only fair, haha! Their stories tend to be dark, be aware – it generally ends with happy endings (haha), but the things that the couple have to go through until there are very heavy. Usually, the plot involves guilt in at least one of the sides of the relationship and the characters use to be broken before they find their true loved ones. My favorite aspects of their work involve that, as well: they can heal through love and their relationships are intense, passionate; there’s not a hint of vulgarity, just pure carnal passion. Honestly, I hate to read vulgar sex scenes (but you already know that after my review for The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, lol). I have to fell at least a boner between the characters to find it nice. Otherwise, I think it’s not necessary to write it down, just mention it and we’re done. Bonnie and Summer have this care, they really capture their readers through the love that they describe.
All of those books are on the 19th century and wonderful ❤ It’s on my 2016 plans to review The Nobleman and The Spy, but I better not to make any promises, haha!
She was my first into this world. I had a special interest in homosexual romances since I’ve read a manga called Gravitation, that was yaoi. Now I think myself as a little naïve, but I didn’t think there was m/m books, as I only knew mangas. So, this one day in 2012, there was I, browsing Goodreads, when I stumbled on her, more precisely in a book called The Tin Star. When I saw what the book was about, I ran to my father and asked him to buy the eBook for me, because I really needed it. After that, I’ve read one after the other and discovered a whole new world.
And didn’t even need to ask you guys, LOL.
So far, I’ve read all the books she has released and am very anxious to the next one, which Langley is currently working on, called Without Secrets. In her portfolio, you can find two different cowboy series (Ranch and Innamorati), a werewolf series (With or Without) and a kind of steapmunk series, set in the future with a Regency Society in each planet (Sci-Regency). Oh, and her series are sequential – you have to read it in the right order to get many parts 🙂 My favorite books from her are The Tin Star, that was my first, His Convenient Husband, With Caution, With Abandon and My Regelence Rake.
Big surprise, right? Haha! I met Ava shortly after Langley and, in the first book, she had me (I made a really big post about our literary meeting here). I also read all her works so far, including her new book that’s coming out March of 2016, Convincing The Secretary (review here!). Ava likes to write collections and I love her for it because I have a hard time with book endings and knowing that it has brothers always calms me down, haha! She currently has six series, four already finished. They are:
His Client (also finished with one book and one short story).
There are also other two single books (From Afar and Beyond Reckless) and a short story (Twas the Night). All of them are written in the Regency Society and are amazing, but even with Ava (by the way, she’s a sweetie!), I pick favorites. They are, in this order: All In With The Duke, Thief, His Client, From Afar, Object of His Desire and Convincing Leopold. I think the most important message on her books is that even powerful people need to love and to be loved; that no one can be happy alone forever. I explain this point better at All In With The Duke’s review, haha!
Oh, she also points out how it’s important for a good relationship to have fluid and honest communication on both ends 🙂
That’s it, guys! Thanks for reading and I hope I have made good suggestions and that you can come to love those authors as I do ❤ Do you read m/m romances too?
Hi, there! Good morning and happy Saturday! As I already mentioned, Saturday is mainly book tag day, so here we go!
I was tagged FOREVER AGO by sweet Rosema, from A Reading Writer, and wanted to also apologize, as she tagged me on August and I only saw it months later and am only doing the tag today 😦 Sorry, I promise it won’t happen ever again ❤ But let’s go to the actual thing!*
A Book That Kept You Up All Night Reading
Stripped with The Vampire [review here!] and I regret nothing ❤
A Book That Made You Scared To Sleep
Shielded Past [review here!]. Really, the psychological catch on this book melted my mind. I shivered without realizing while reading…
A Book That Made You Go To Sleep
The End, last book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Seriously, I dreaded it 😦
A Book That Left You Tossing and Turning All Night in Anticipation of its Release
Viscount’s Wager [review here!], from Ava March ❤ [I bet you thought I was going to mention her in the first question, mwahaha mwahaha! Unfortunately, I’ve read Convincing the Secretary during my day light hours…]
A Book That Has Your Dream Boyfriend
The Vampire Diaries series, in which resides Damon Salvatore 🙂
A Book That Would Be Your Worst Nightmare to Live In
Percy Jackson’s. Judge me all you want, I wouldn’t bear to live as a demigod without being able to read my precious books (and don’t you go Annabeth on me, everyone knows she’s Hermione from Percy Jackson series, haha!)
A Book That Reminds You of Night Time
The Tutor [review here!], from Bonnie Dee. The atmosphere of that house made me feel like it was always night 😦
A Book That Had a Nightmarish Cliffhanger
Sanctum, from Madeleine Roux. Honestly, I didn’t want to believe my eyes when my book was over, haha!
A Book That You Actually Dreamed About
Wow, I don’t know… I mean, I often dream with Damon, but it’s not about the book or the show, so I really don’t know, haha!
A Book Monster that You Would Not Want to Find Under Your Bed
Any of the monsters featured on the Deltora Quest series. OMG, I always had the chills while reading those books D:
just look at this friendly fellow.
That’s it! Thanks for reading ❤ Thanks for the tag and sorry again, Rosema! 😀 I had lots of fun doing this! If you are reading this post and likes tags… TAG, you’re it! Hahaha!
*I preferred to use my last read book for each of those experiences 🙂
Four very busy weeks indeed, haha! And I also would like to say that my Review Policy is finally up!! It took me a while, but it’s beautiful ❤ I hope I can get more reading done this month 🙂
That’s it, guys! That’s my August report, haha! Thanks for reading! What have you been up to this last month?
Hello, everyone! Some days ago, I was nominated for the Liebster Award twice! I’d like to thank so so sooo much to my lovely friend Ellen, from Eveningreads, and to sweet Shannon, from For The Love of Words, for the nomination! You are amazing!!
And here’s the rules for the award:
Thanks again, girls! Let’s go to the answers:
Eveningreads’ questions:
Do you have a favorite Harry Potter book? If yes, which and why?
Yes! I love The Goblet of Fire. All of it. The year, the quests, Voldemort’s trial to kill Harry… Really, this is my favorite book of the series all time, haha!
What is your current read and how is it?
I’m currently reading a book called Shattered Blue, from Laura Bird Horowitz, that I received through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I just start reading chapter 1, I think it’s not fair to say anything good or bad yet, haha!
Your top 5 TBR?
Sigmund Shaw: A Steampunk Adventure, by Mark C. King
Vexed by a Viscount, by Erin Knightley
What Lies Within, by James Morris
Secrets and High Spirits, by Lou Harper
Cemetery Tours, by Jacqueline E. Smith
Top 5 favorite characters of all time?
Damon Salvatore, from The Vampire Diaries
Sherlock Holmes
Addie Hayes, from Chasing Rainbows
Mr. Darcy, from Pride & Prejudice
Snape, from Harry Potter
Can you read and listen to music or are you the silent reader?
I really like to read while listening to music, but I read well in silence too – I prefer to have some kind of background noise, especially during afternoons, because I usually get sleepy, no matter what I’m reading, haha!
6.Which standalone/series do you wish had just one more book?
Omg, there’s so many! But I will go with The Tutor, from Bonnie Dee (review here!). It’s a standalone book and I really wished to see how the characters went with their lives after so many things, haha!
What is your go-to book?
Right now, it’s Chasing Rainbows (review here!), by Linda Oaks. It was a life-changing book and I will re-read it many times, I’m sure!
Who is your most owned author?
Just physical copies, I would say Emily Rodda (18 books). However, counting ebooks + paperbacks, I’d say Ava March, with 22 books.
What is your favorite read of 2015 so far?
I CAN’T CHOOSE! This year, I’ve read some exceptional books, like the complete series of Percy Jackson and the Asylum series books, besides Austenland from Shannon Hale (review here!), Viscount’s Wager by Ava March (review here!), The Tutor from Bonnie Dee and Chasing Rainbows by Linda Oaks. I can’t choose one, sorry, haha!
If you could visit one fictional place, where would it be and why?
The Middle Earth, from Lord of The Rings. I spent so many hours of my childhood pretending I was there that it would feel wrong to choose any other amazing place, haha!
What’s the book you had to put down before you could go on with it?
The Host, by Stephanie Meyer. I really hated it, haha!
Now, For the Love of Words’ questions:
Are you a morning person, or a night person? I’m definitely a night person, I do everything after dusk, haha!
What’s your favorite color of food? Yellow or red/brown, because I love massa and meat, haha!
Most read and reviewed genre? Romance, of all kinds: YA, Historical, Contemporary, Supernatural… Romance ❤
Favorite pastime (besides reading)? Eating, what is very sad, haha! Third thing on my list is sleeping. I’m basically a cat that learned to read.
What’s your dream city? A place in Brazil called Curitiba. I would give anything to live there 🙂
Favorite Olympic sport to watch? I like masculine water sports and volley. I love Brazil’s volley team, both masculine and feminine, and love to see all those worked up guys on bath suits, haha! *blushes*
Do you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert? I’m very extrovert, I talk to pretty much anyone and everything, like the walls.
What’s your favorite television show? Hard one! I watch too many things and never finish one. I would say Vampire Diaries and Suits, as everything seems to be getting cancelled nowadays…
What’s your dream job? Being paid to review books, because that’s pretty much what I do best 🙂
Who’s your favorite artist? (can be either musical or fine arts) I love miss Britney Spears and a band named Epica. If I had to spend the rest of my days listening to only two musical figures, they would be my choice ❤
How long have you had your blog, and what keeps you writing? My blog is a baby! I started it on Blogger in April and moved to WordPress on June, so this blog has only three months! I’m very selfish with my blog: what keeps me writing is my desire to do so. I always read a lot and I love talking about the books I read, but my offline friends couldn’t keep up with my passion, so I unleash it all here and on my bookstagram 🙂
Now, I’ll tell 22 random facts about me because I was nominated twice, it’s only fair 🙂
My favorite flowers are gardenias and hydrangeas – the bluish purple ones especially
I love sweets, especially my mom’s chocolate cake
I mentally date at least one boy from every book I read ;D
My Hogwarts house is Slytherin, according to Pottermore
I love notebooks and I have to control myself to not buy every cute one that crosses my way, haha!
I used to play with my books as a child, pretending they were dolls (and I had so many Barbies…)
My favorite heroine is Wonder Woman ❤
I like to collect movies and tv show seasons in DVD even with Netflix times
I’m really small, Hobbit sized (1,54m = 5’05”)
I have an issue with shoes. I own about 60 pairs and regret nothing, haha!
I wanted to be an Italian opera singer when I was a child
My favorite color is black ❤
I’m too expressive; every time I feel something, you can see it in my face
I’m often mistaken by a high school girl (and I’m 21 lol)
I love to try new kinds of food, specially if it is junk food
I own about 700 books and 800 mangas xD
I can’t eat salad to save my life
I graduate in Journalism school within 5 months and I’m freaking out, haha!
My favorite male actors are Ian Somerhalder, Matt Bomer and Misha Collins ❤
I love porcelain dolls and my favorite one plays The Swan Lake song (my friends always scream in terror when I touch it and the song plays for a bit, ugh *rolls eyes*)
I have a big magnet collection of places around the world
I love Disney and fairy tales ❤
Now my nominations! Sorry I didn’t got to 11, but I’m super new here 😦
And, of course, the girls who nominated me! Shannon and Ellen, thanks! If you girls don’t want to do this again, as you already were nominated, you can pass, haha!
Here’s my questions for the nominated ones!
How did you start to like reading?
Do you prefer reading paperbacks/hardcovers or ebooks?
If you were send to a desert island and could only bring a small non-Hermione bag, what would you put in it?
Do you rate the books you read? If you do, what’s your criterion?
What’s your most loved gender for books? And most hated?
What’s you zodiac sign?
Do you like to eat while reading? If you do, what’s your favorite food to go with a book?
Do you like to read comics/mangas?
If you could move to another country, which would you choose?
Do you have any pets?
In which Hogwarts house are you?
That’s it! Thanks again for the award, girls! Thank you for reading this long post and I hope you guys could get to know me better 😀
Hello, everyone! Some days ago, I received a book called The Tutor, from Bonnie Dee, to review. It’s her newest release and I got pretty excited to read it, as I’m a big fan of Bonnie. This work was a standalone solo from Bonnie – she and Summer Devon write many books together, but they also publish alone 🙂 Thanks again, Bonnie Dee!
Let’s head to the story: Graham Cowrie is a poor guy from London that is desperate for a scenario change as the winter approaches and his house is not even remotely close of being prepared to endure extreme weathers. After applying for a position at Yorkshire, as a tutor for two 9-year-old twin boys and making his résumé way prettier than it actually was, Graham reads to the country, hoping only for a roof over his head and food inside his belly.
However, as soon as he lay eyes on Allinson Hall, his future winter home, he’s mortified. The house looked like a depressing asylum and has an awful aura about it. The house staff is also intimidating and far from welcome. Graham soon learns that his employer, Sir Richard Allison, lost his wife about a year ago and that the loss was hard for the children, as the circumstances of Lavinia Allinson death were pretty obscure.
Whitney and Clive Allison, Graham’s charges, prove to be elusive and smart boys, but Graham knew how to deal with children despite his résumé lies and soon wins, at least, their respect. Soon, he learns that the twins are different as day and night, despite being completely devoted to each other. Whitney is easy going and talkative, open to his tutor, while Clive completely muted after their mother’s death, being shy and suspicious all the time. Graham also learns that Sir Richard Allison, their father, is a smoking hot man and a burning desire grows between the two men.
As Graham fights to earn Whit and Clive’s trust and to attract Richard’s attention to physical matters – all the while maintaining his own part in place -, weird accidents start to happen and Graham discovers that not believing something doesn’t mean that it is not there.
Now, let’s go to the analysis! Just wanted to remind that this is my opinion of the book and my impressions while reading it 🙂
This book left me so hangover. It’s a fast read: the book has 184 pages and you can read it on a sitting (it took me two days to finish it because I’m already back to college classes and this is my last semester, so I have to write my dissertation and all, haha!). But, when I finished it, I wasn’t ready for it to be over. Every element of the story was so good… I do have some critics, but, overall, the book is 5 starts worth!
The story narrator is Graham himself and he is a very fun and optimistic character. He’s that kind of person that always seems to notice everything around him and can tell other people’s sentiments just by looking at them. He truly has an inside light that can melt any heart – ask Sir Richard to see if I’m lying 😉
It’s not uncommon for me to have issues with narrator-characters; they usually annoy me with their actions and I get frustrated. This didn’t happen with The Tutor. Graham had me with him since the first sentence. What I really liked about him is that he is no martyr or self-centered: he has his moments just like you and me. Sometimes, he gets cocky and thinks that he’s awesome, other times he loafs himself and his lies. He can be honest even when he lies – how one does that?! He also is very describing, I dreamed with Allinson Hall the other night thanks to him… And it was creepy as hell, haha!
That leads us to the describing part. All the scenarios and characters are vivid in the readers mind. Dee mixes Graham’s thoughts with the book events in such a perfect harmony that it’s easy to feel like you are reading, that it’s not real and happening in front of you. One of the things that I liked more in this section was when Graham describes Richard’s first real and happy smile. My eyes got moist in that scene ❤
In characters matters, overall, I liked how Dee constructed one type of person for each personality and social role without falling into stereotypes. The twins were adorable, each in one kind of way, Richard was a prince of his own, Tom was a sweeting, the staff was cold, resentful and impatient (what was totally understandable, as they worked in a house with death reminders in every corner and wall). I just got a little disappointed with Richard, thanks to his behavior towards his children even after some key events in the book that should have put him into action to connect with his boys. And that’s why he won’t be featured on my vast bookish boyfriends list (but Graham is, haha! And no, it does not matter that they are both gay characters and I’m a girl, lol). I mean, he has a good heart, good actions, but he can’t make a move into two nine year olds? Come on!
The plot wasn’t overly complicated and was very obvious, but I’m not the kind of person who gets bothered by that. I don’t mind knowing where the story is going and how it is going to end; I like to see the details. I want to know how things happen. I get annoyed when I can even predict how events will turn in a book, you know? Not the case. I already read some books by Dee in the past to know what to wait of the plot, but not even one scene came out as I imagined. It was always better. But I guess that’s mostly Graham’s fault, as he was a very surprising character and his actions were also never obvious.
One thing that disappointed me in the book were the sex scenes – or the lack of them. As I said, I already read some previous works from Dee (all of them in her partnership with Summer Devon) and I was expecting more. The scenes from the book are good, but they are so few and there were many bedroom subjects to cover and justify the increase of such passages in the plot. Graham and Richard’s first time is very nice, but it’s all the actual sex we get. Everything else is just foreplay or Graham’s fantasies. The funny thing is that a solo work from Summer Devon disappointed me earlier this year for the very same reason: the sex scenes. I know their potential, so I guess Dee and Devon are soul writing mates, haha! They complete each other to make better scenes 😀
The supernatural element of the book, the very heart of the book problem, was a bit bipolar as well. In the beginning and in the middle, it was very good. Made me shiver and look twice at every shadow that I spotted. But, in the end, the problem was solved in a silly way. The answer itself was beautiful and it’s message is awesome, but I don’t know, I felt like it could have been harder. The ghost marketing didn’t matched his product, for say, haha!
Oh, bonus point, haha! I’m that kind of reader that collects quotes. I have a notebook full of them from pretty much all the parts of my life: movies, tv shows, celebrities, books, my friends, my family, my own… It’s a nice quote? I probably will write it down there. And this book had some amazing ones! This is very subjective, I know, but I’ll leave the best ones among the ones that I took note here (I’m sorry, I forgot to mark the pages’ numbers…):
“He would believe my lies only if I believed them myself.”
“What does every boy know and every man forget? That having fun is the prime purpose of life.”
“It was my nature to try to fix things and offer comfort where I could.”
“I was determinate to out-kiss a man I’d ever met (…)”
That’s it, guys! Thanks for reading and thanks again to Bonnie Dee, for sending me this! I loved The Tutor and it was one of my best reads of the year ❤
And I want to also share some news from Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon’s partnerships! They entered the Kindle Scout program with the book The Merchant and the Clergyman (you can read the blurb and chapter one on the page of the program, here).
The cover is beautiful ❤
That means that US residents with an Amazon account can vote on the book for it to be published by Amazon! I sadly couldn’t vote for them, as I live in Brazil, but I’m determinate to spread the world and get this amazing authors published everywhere they see fit. If you could spare a moment, don’t forget to vote! You’ll win a copy of their book if it gets chosen for publishing!
Hello! My awesome friend Ellen, from Eveningreads, tagged me to do the Three Days, Three Quotes tag ! Thanks so much ❤
Here’s the rules:
Rules 1. Thank the person who nominated you. 2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day). 3. Nominate three new bloggers each day. (I just started the blog, so I’ll be nominating only one person per day, okay? Sorry ><)
And here’s our daily quote! Today’s quote is from page 5 from The Tutor, by Bonnie Dee (review coming soon!):
“Play the part. Become the tutor.”
From my Instagram account 🙂
For some reason, this quote made me shiver ❤
And the first victim – I mean, friend, haha! – to be tagged is my bff Rima, from Pardon My Writings!
Thanks for reading and get ready for day 2 tomorrow! ❤
During July, I received my first books to review and got pretty excited! I want to thank all these marvelous authors for the books and give you guys a preview of what’s coming to the blog! Here they are:
Chasing Rainbows, by Linda Oaks – will be started as soon as I finish The Tutor (pretty pretty soon, because I’m devouring it, haha!)
Thank you, everybody! ❤
Also, I have blog good news! Now you can find all my social profiles at the About Annelise page and I’ve inaugurated the Partnerships page! There, it will be listed forever the names of the authors that sent me a book for review and the respective reviews 😀 The page is still under construction, as I am still asking for permissions to write down names on it, but soon it will be oficially on the tracks, haha!
I also would like to thank my 400 friends (the word followers doesn’t sit well for me) at Instagram! I never imagined I could meet so many nice people when I began bookstagramming! Thanks!! *–*
That’s it for now! I also have some mangas I need to review and post here – I already read them, but forgot to do the reviews, shame on me…
![IMG_7512[1]](https://anneliselestrange.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/img_75121.jpg?w=809)
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 