43. His Nightly Obsession by Sadie King

listened on audible

48 pgs. - short story

2022
Adult
Finished 9/17/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.98
My rating:  1

My comments: Poorly written, stupid.

Goodreads synopsis:  I’m a simple fisherman with a dark secret…

Ever since I saw the curvy, troubled Mira, I knew she needed my protection.
I watch her at night, following her every move.
Her dreams become my dreams. Her burdens become my burdens to dispose of.
I’m a fisherman by day, her caretaker by night.
But she must never know what I’ve done to keep her safe, to protect what’s mine…

80. Sovereign by Jeff Hirsch

listened to on Audible, a freebie
narrated by Jesse Einstein (Didn't care for his narration at all)
Unabridged audio (6:03)
2019 Audio Studios
Not in hard copy form, so am estimating 175 pgs.
Mid Grade SciFi
Finished 5/18/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.19 - 2485 ratings
My rating: 1
Setting: A planet far, far away, now

My comments: I did not like this book.  Everything Just seemed ridiculous, every twist and turn, of which there were too many.  And the ending -- Geez!  Plus, I did not care for the reader at all.  This young man drew out each word clearly and succinctly and slowly, enunciating every single consonant, in a somewhat effeminate manner.  I know this shouldn't have bothered me, but it did.  It took me months to get from beginning to end,  I kept deciding to give it up, but went back to it just to see what was going to happen.  Blech.

Goodreads synopsis:  Micah Cole has been in deep space for four years now. While his parents chase their obsession with finding intelligent life deeper and deeper into the universe, Micah can’t help but dream of the friends he’s left behind and counts the days until the family returns to Earth. When a devastating meteor shower nearly destroys the Coles’s ship, Micah is separated from his family and stranded alone on Sovereign—a vast planet of raging rivers and towering forests. If Micah ever wants to see his family or his home again, he’ll have to learn how to survive on this hostile alien world. Armed with only his wits and determination, he’ll have to battle the elements, his own deepest fears, and a strange presence that might just hold the key to his parents’ obsession—and be his ticket back home.

76. Senator's Pet by Avery Rae

#1 Korystus Aliens
listened on Audible Escape
narrated by Meghan Kelly
Unabridged audio (4:11)
2018
206 pg.s
Adult SciFi Steamy
Finished 5/16/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.81 - 134 ratings
My rating:  1

First line/s:  "It'd been nearly a year since we crash-landed on Korystus, a planet populated by beautiful, cruel beings known as Korystis."

My comments:  A whole lot of repetitious nonsense with too many unanswered questions.  HORRIBLE reader, the light, airy, bimbo kind of voice that I hate.

Goodreads synopsis:  Senator Rylos bought me. But he'll never make me his.      
          I'll admit those are strong words for a woman who trembles at his touch. But I can't help it. His kind are as beautiful as they are cruel.
          We crashed onto his planet ten years after we fled Earth. Instead of helping us, they imprisoned us, then sold us off to the highest bidder.
          I was the last human sold. Too much bad behavior. Yet Rylos dared to buy me and call me his pet.
          He might be genetically engineered perfection on the outside, but I won't let him have me, no matter how hard it is to resist him. Because my goal is to escape.
          I keep telling myself it'll be easy. Why does it feel like I'm lying?

53. Pleasure in the Stars by Olivia Myers

listened to audio via Audible Escape
narrated by D Rampling (horrid!!!)
Unabridged audio (1:35)
2015 Soft Kiss books
95 pgs.
Adult SciFi Erotica
Finished 3/19/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.24 - 34 ratings
My rating: 1

First line/s:  "Natalie looked at her work friends, Jackie and Moona, and sighed as she gratefully let her suitcase bounce heavily onto the hotel bed."

My comments:  Probably one of the worst narrators I've ever heard in my life, she absolutely ruined the story - the little bit of the story there was.  Blech!  Whenever she spoke as a female she did it in a squeaky high-pitched falsetto voice, and her male voice was unbelievable horrible as well  Whoever hired her needs to find another occupation!

Goodreads synopsis:  An alien race known for pleasure, would she dare.
          Natalie’s work friends have to drag her along to the planet New Saigon’s Pleasure Love Festival, a ten-day party where races from all planets indulge in love, sex, and pleasure. But the lights, the scents, the sounds—everything is too much for Natalie.
          Concerned that she isn’t having as much fun and relaxing as much as she ought to, her well-meaning friends hire a Katarian escort to give Natalie all the fun they think she’s been missing out on. Can Natalie relax enough to enjoy herself with a Katarian who promises nothing but pleasure…and what happens if he’s offering her more than one night?

52. 1001 Dark Nights: Hidden Ink by Carrie Ann Ryan

Listened to audio through Audible Escape
narrated by Gregory Salinas, okay but not great
Unabridged audio (2:57)
2016 Evil Eye Concepts
124 pgs.
Adult Steamy Romance
Finished 3/16/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.25 - 1519 ratings
My rating: Crappy!  1

My comments: I wasn't even going to review this because I hated it so much, but I want to remind myself to never read this author again.  It's sort of like a blah blah blah blah blah blah, the same sort of stupid stuff over and over and over again.  The premise is great - a woman, recovering from breast cancer and double mastectomies and a man scarred badly from an explosion in the Middle East where everyone died except for him and he carries more internal scars than external scars.  However, it's handled in such an unbelievable manner that it made me cringe.  Maybe it's just the mood I'm in, in the middle of this pandemic, but my eyes are rolling, rolling, rolling.....

Goodreads synopsis:  The Montgomery Ink series continues with the long-awaited romance between the café owner next door and the tattoo artist who's loved her from afar.
          Hailey Monroe knows the world isn't always fair, but she's picked herself up from the ashes once before and if she needs to, she'll do it again. It's been years since she first spotted the tattoo artist with a scowl that made her heart skip a beat, but now she's finally gained the courage to approach him. Only it won't be about what their future could bring, but how to finish healing the scars from her past.
          Sloane Gordon lived through the worst kinds of hell yet the temptation next door sends him to another level. He's kept his distance because he knows what kind of man he is versus what kind of man Hailey needs. When she comes to him with a proposition that sends his mind whirling and his soul shattering, he'll do everything in his power to protect the woman he cares for and the secrets he's been forced to keep.

128. A Demon in My Bed by Sarah Winters

listened to audiobook
narrated  by Logan McAllister
Unabridged audio (9:32)
2017
310 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished 12/18/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.67 - 64 ratings
My rating:  1
Setting:  contemporary eastern Canada

First line/s:  "Verrin growled low in his throat as he paced the cell's cramped confines."

My comments:  This story is based in mythology, set in the current time, it's full of all sorts of creatures - vampires, jins, fallen angels..But the "stars" of the story are a set of five brothers who are all incubuses.  An incubus is "called" to pleasure a female.  Although this is referred to in numerous ways and explored a bit in a few places, the main story - at least 75% of it - is about one of the brothers getting captured and held and the others are trying to rescue him.  The protagonist is a female from PEI?  Newfoundland? (or somewhere like that).  Winters threw in a best friend who was absolutely ridiculous and unneeded.  AND can you believe that after over 2000 years of immortality, one of these incubi/incubes (??) falls in love for the first time?  And to this very blah female?  Ha ha ha ha ha.

Goodreads synopsis:  A missing brother, mercenary demigoddesses and an unknown force pulling fate's strings are just a few of the hurdles facing Verrin when he wakes up in a dungeon one morning. As the son of a renegade Angelic Watcher, he was born ill fated. Being summoned by a plump little sex kitten who was everything he liked in a woman should have been a stroke of luck...
           As a librarian, the most exciting choice Cassidy O'Neill usually has to make is what book to read next. She never expected an antique book to drop a dirty minded sex demon into her bed. Bound to his side until the summoning is fulfilled, Cass is determined not to lose her heart to Verrin - even if he is the sexiest man she's ever met.
          In a world where myths are reality, falling in love is a gamble even immortals hesitate to take. 

122. Paradise Awakening by Jaci Burton

listened to Audio via CHIRP
narrated  by Sarah Puckett
Unabridged audio (4?33)
2003 Elora's Cave, 2019 Audible release
180 pgs.
Adult erotica
Finished 12/11/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.64 - 997 ratings
My rating: 1
Setting:  a far-off resort island....

First line/s:  "Michael Donovan finished unpacking and headed straight to the wet bar in the suite's living room."

My comments: A tropical island where people go for all the erotica they ever imagined.  Two stranger meet, two strangers that are instantly attracted and willing to try anything and everything.  A college literature professor and a California erotic mystery writer, lol.  Nonstop hot and steamy.  Steam is definitely four out of four.  unratable otherwise.  The reader has that slow, horrible valley girl lilst at the end of each word.  Blech!  I listened at a rate of 1.2 , and it didn't bother me quite so much...a ridiculous read.

Goodreads synopsis:  Serena Graham is looking forward to the vacation of a lifetime-a week at Paradise Resort, a Caribbean hideaway where she'll be able to indulge her every sexual fantasy with complete abandon and total anonymity. For the next week, she's Sexy Siren Serena and she'll do whatever she wants-with whomever she wants.
          Michael Donovan planned a week at Paradise Resort to research his next erotic crime novel, as well as indulge in some hot sex with his fashion model girlfriend. But when he finds his now ex-girlfriend has other plans, he's resigned to research without recreation. That is, until Serena shows up at his door claiming he's occupying her room.
          After a little negotiating, Michael and Serena become roommates, and Serena boldly asks Michael to be her lover for the week. How can he pass up the opportunity to mix a little pleasure with business? But despite their vow to keep their relationship strictly physical, they find much more than passion in paradise.

41. Maneuver by Chelle Bliss

(Men of Ink: Southside #1)
listened on Audible
read by Erin Mallon and Lance Greenfield
Unabridged audio (5:29)
2018 self published?
Audio only
Adult Romance
Finished 4/30/19
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 3054 ratings
My rating:  1/Crappy

My comments:  What a ridiculously silly piece of sexy fluff.  There is so much better out there!  Probably the un-believable story I have ever read.  The female reader was abominable, the ending to all of her words were long and drawn out tna just horrible to listen to.  Horrible.

Goodreads synopsis:  This isn’t how fairy tales typically begin, but it’s where mine starts…
     No money, no phone, and abandoned on the streets of Chicago.
     With my baby in my arms, I wander into a bar in a shady neighborhood and ask to use their phone.
     When my father turns us away and completely disowns me, the bar owner, and total hottie, offers us a place to stay…no strings attached.
     I’m leery at first.    

     Hot alpha guy.

     Down on her luck single mother.
     I mean, who wouldn’t be wary?
     Lucio Gallo isn’t like most men, though. He’s fiercely protective, loyal, and did I mention he’s covered in nothing but muscle?
     Above all else, he’s everything I need but never knew I wanted.

64. Untamed by Madeline Dyer

Untamed #1
read on my iPhone
2017, Ineja Press
358 pgs.
YA Dystopian
Finished 10/26/2017
Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 135 ratings
My rating:   1 Blech
Setting: Dystopian otherworld

First line/s:  " ' Your mother's gone.' "

My comments:  I'm so glad I'm finally done with this book.  Repetitious and boring are my first two thought when connecting adjectives to it.  Lousy world building.  No surprises, huge forays into the dream world, it seems like the same scenes were rewritten over and over with slightly different changes or additions.  Not my cuppa tea at all.  Surprised I finished it, actually.  Not at all recommended.

Goodreads synopsis: As one of the last Untamed humans left in the world, Seven’s life has always been controlled by tight rules. Stay away from the Enhanced. Don’t question your leader. And, most importantly, never switch sides--because once you’re Enhanced there’s no going back. Even if you have become the perfect human being.
          But after a disastrous raid on an Enhanced city, Seven soon finds herself in her enemy’s power. Realizing it’s only a matter of time before she too develops a taste for the chemical augmenters responsible for the erosion of humanity, Seven knows she must act quickly if she’s to escape and save her family from the same fate.
          Yet, as one of the most powerful Seers that the Untamed and Enhanced have ever known, Seven quickly discovers that she alone holds the key to the survival of only one race. But things aren’t clear-cut anymore, and with Seven now questioning the very beliefs she was raised on, she knows she has an important choice to make. One that has two very different outcomes.
          Seven must choose wisely whose side she joins, for the War of Humanity is underway, and Death never takes kindly to traitors.

40. The Lost Causes by Lisa Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz

read on my iPhone, my first netgalley read
2017 (Sept 5) Kids Can Press
344 pgs.
YA Fantasy/SciFi
Finished 7/15/17
Goodreads rating:  3.89 - 37 ratings
My rating: 1 / A waste of time
Setting:  contemporary US

First line/s:  "The Cedar Springs High campus looked Photoshopped that morning."

My comments:  This was my first netgalley read, and they'll probably never let me read another one.  I'm so sad to say I didn't enjoy this book at all.  It took me forever to finish. And I almost didn't.  I really wanted to like it and I feel terrible giving it a bad review, but I must be honest.  It was ridiculous.  Nothing was believable in even the tiniest way, I found myself rolling my eyes over and over again. For so many reasons.  Stupid bad guys that did stupid things and still got away with them even though there were all sorts of (smart?) people investigating.  Using kids in the laid-back way they did. Having FBI agents totally unsupervised.  Uninteresting things going on and on and on and interesting things just mentioned quickly and done.  Boring writing, characters I didn't care about or that didn't seem based in reality.  I could go on, but would give away more spoilers.  Perhaps I feel this way because my usual genre is police procedurals and crime investigations and this is so far-fetched compared to them that you can't even compare them.

Goodreads synopsis: They're the kids that no one knows --- or no one wants to know. The rich depressive, the OCD chick, the hypochondriac, the drug abuser, the athlete with anger management issues. All chosen for intensive group therapy because they're out of other options. They're lost causes, the therapist tells them. She promises this support group will help them heal. 
          There's only one problem. She's not a therapist. And that water she offers? It contains a dangerous serum that gives each of the kids a psychic power. 
         Suddenly, they can think clearly, speak to ghosts, see the past, even move objects with their mind. Their earlier problems have vanished, but their new freedom comes with a price. 
Sabrina, Gabby, Z, Justin and Andrew are to help the FBI solve the grisly murder that has rocked their small town. Their new powers will help them uncover clues and follow leads that have eluded the authorities. Their outsider status gives them the perfect cover. 
          But the same traits that make them top investigators also make them vulnerable. As they close in on the murderer, they expose a much larger conspiracy that puts them directly in harm's way and makes them wonder who --- if anyone --- they can trust.

MOVIE - Table 19

PG-13

Limited release 3/3/17

Viewed Friday, March 10, 2017
IMBd: 5.8/10

RT Critic:  23  Audience:  42
Critic's Consensus:  Table 19 is marginally more entertaining than actually sitting with a table full of strangers at a wedding -- although most screenings won't come with an open bar, which makes it a wash.

Cag: 1/Didn’t like it

Directed by Jeffrey Blitz

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Anna Kendrick, Lisa Kudrow, June Squibb

My comments:  What an incredible disappointment and waste of good talent.  What I thought would be a fun, funny movie was neither.  Everything fell flat.  I love Anna Kendrick, but this whole thing was just one big mess.  Not even funny.  Not funny at all.  Even what was supposed to be funny was not.  And although it seemed to be billed as a comedy, nope.  Yuck.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Ex-maid of honor Eloise- having been relieved of her duties after being unceremoniously dumped by the best man via text - decides to hold her head up high and attend her oldest friend's wedding anyway. She finds herself seated at the 'random' table in the back of the ballroom with a disparate group of strangers, most of whom should have known to just send regrets. As everyone's secrets are revealed, Eloise learns a thing or two from the denizens of Table 19. Friendships - and even a little romance - can happen under the most unlikely circumstances.

71. Till the Sun Breaks Down - Tom Leveen

Deviant Aeon Book 1
read on my iPhone
2015 for Kindle
130 pgs.
genre/audience
Finished 12/10ish/2015
Goodreads rating: 4.00 (only four ratings)
My rating: 1
Setting: Phoenix and LA sometime in the future

First line/s: "Phoenix nights are as warm as the recently dead."

My comments:  Just let's leave it that I won't be reading book 2..... I read this for a book group read (anything by Tom Leveen, who is a Phoenix author coming to the Festival of Books in March).Not a good fit for me, I guess!

Goodreads synopsis:  Malikai awoke in the desert with nothing but a name and a sword, lacking any memory whatsoever of his identity or past. Discovering that his inhuman strength and reflexes made him a Deviant in the eyes of human society -- a monster who must be identified, cataloged, and registered, or else done away with -- he hid himself in an abandoned farm outside Phoenix. 
          But driven by an unnamed and voiceless force within himself, he fights to bring justice to the criminals of Phoenix, a once vibrant city now fallen into ruin. 
          When his zealous quest accidentally ruins one father’s pursuit of his kidnapped daughter, Malikai vows to find the girl and return her safely home. This promise takes him to the shining beacon of Los Angeles, where he uncovers a gang of human traffickers operating below the city streets. But this bloody job does more than expose the evil men do for profit -- it exposes the truth of his own origin and the penalty he has yet to pay...