The Curse Breakers: The Curse Keepers Book II

^^^^^Click the picture to buy the book!^^^^^

We pick up pretty much where book one leaves off and it's basically non-stop action all the way through.

Ellie is mad at Collin, and you can hardly blame her after he lied and manipulated her in book one to get what he wanted. Add to that the fact that the spirits Collin wanted freed are now after Ellie, ready to kill her and take her life force, and her soul, well... the dude's not exactly her favorite person.

People have died, there's a cop who think Ellie knows more than she's saying, Okeus keeps sending her messages, she's out of a regular job, trying to help out her father's widow, and Collin keeps showing up just to do, well, whatever it is he's doing.

The village of Roanoke has reappeared after the events of book one and the little town of Manteo, NC has been inundated with archaeologists, and anthropologists, and sociologists and a bunch of other ists, all of whom need accommodations and some of whom are now staying at Ellie's family's B&B. Among the guests? A sexy British professor who happens to be an expert in the very things that Ellie needs to know to fix things. At least, as much as they can be fixed. 

The two team up, with Collin on the periphery and Ellie learns that there are many different kinds of love and that none of them work without trust. 

I actually did enjoy this book more than the first one. This isn't my usual genre to read, but I was intrigued by the premise and bolstered by the fact that I've enjoyed 99% of Swank's writing so far. As I also got this book as a gift in exchange for an honest review, which this totally is, just makes it better.

The story arcs all move along here and book three is set up for certain. Ellie finds some things she needs, and learns about other things she didn't know were out there. Collin learns that Ellie doesn't give up easily when the people she loves are at stake. David learns that there's nothing like a strong, determined red head to upset your well-ordered world.

The history and the Native American legends and pantheon here are thoroughly researched and Swank makes them sing with life. The whole thing, fictional though it is, is somehow believable. Yet, I still spent a lot of time laughing about how one would explain to a cop that a giant water snake ate... well, you'll see.

If you read The Curse Keepers, then you'll want to read the Curse Breakers. If you haven't read the first book go get it because it's definitely a good read. Frankly, if Heinz hired Swank to write their ketchup labels, I'd read them religiously. She's that good, and so is this story. 

GIVE AWAY! Win a free e-boook of The Curse Keepers!

The lovely, talented, wonderful, fabulous Denise Grover Swank, a terrific author and fun person, is giving me three (yes, my lovelies, THREE!) copies of her book The Curse Keepers, to pass along to you.

Congratulations to Laura and Rebekah, winners of e-copies of The Curse Keepers!  We only had the two entries, and the rest of you really missed out!  Don't forget that The Curse Breakers comes out tomorrow, April 29th!

The Curse Keepers - Denise Grover Swank.

Yes, I'm a huge DGS fan.  We know this.  But really, now, young adults with problems and secrets and lives ahead of them, out to save the world from an old evil? What's not to like? This book has adventure, spirits, romance, demons, breakfast, family, tragedy, history, antiques, tattoos, pawn shops, a diner, birds, a pickup truck, and sex. Really, there's not much more you'd need to tell a great story.

As Curse Keepers, Collin and Ellie are out to save the world. The romance is incidental to this, although it may (or may not) be that their supernatural work has a bearing on their emotions.

A sacred trust, handed down from generation to generation, has Ellie and Collin trying to protect the world from angry spirits and gods that will soon be let loose to wander the earth. They've been locked up a long time and aren't in a real good mood and intend to go around sucking the life force out of all living creatures before they begin to really wreak havoc. It's our heroes' jobs to prevent this.

Throw in some shady dealings on Collin's part, personal tragedy on Ellie's part, and enough dead birds to open a KFC franchise and you've got a really fun, interesting story with a little humor, a little insight into the human condition, and a little bit of romance.

Swank excels at creating realistic worlds where the people are three dimensional and the events are believable even when you know they're not real. There's not much more you can ask from a book.

The research Swank has done here is outstanding. The myths are explained for us, and the background work she has completed really makes the difference; instead of telling us a story with either a made-up mythology or with just a cursory nod to the history of it, we get the whole thing.  These facts and stories and legends really bring the curse to life and make the history seem alive.

Read The Curse Keepers. Be sure to buy The Curse Breakers next.  And send Denise Grover Swank some fan mail; she totally deserves it.

Want to win this book?  Check out my contest!

ALERT: Hard Rock Harlots is ON SALE!!!!

Go get all three books in the Hard Rock Harlots series.   $2.97 gets you all three books, but only on Monday, April 21.

For a good time, call Letty, Shades, Jinx, Toombs, Rax, and Lola.  

Or, just get their stories.

Click on the picture:

You can find my review of this series here:  Hard Rock Harlots

Hard Rock Harlots series - Kendall Grey

Have you heard of the Hard Rock Harlots book series?  If not, you're missing out.  If you like hot rock, hot guys, and hot sex?  These books are for you.  Be aware that they contain very graphic language and sex, and some sexual activities that you may not consider acceptable, however, since you're not doing them, it's all good, right?

The series starts with Strings, the story of Letty and Shades.  Then there's Beats, the story of Toombs and Jinx and Rax.  Just out is Nocturnes, wherein Rax's story continues.  All three books are fun and entertaining, sexy and downright dirty, and very well written.  Kendall Grey has a voice and she uses it to tell some great stories.

The premise here is that  Cherry Buzz Float, Letty's band, is set to go on tour opening for a bigger band. Things happen and the two become one band, minus a few people.  The hookups begin and relationships are forged and the music plays on and on and on.  What happens is magic, the music is more than just the sum of its parts, and the band is on its way.  The members?  They're on their way, too.

Letty and Shades meet on the eve of their tour, but she doesn't know he's the new lead singer for Killer Dixon, the band Cherry Buzz Float is opening for. They have a hot, hot, HOT night together (whatever you do, don't let your grandma get hold of this book!) and the next day, they meet to begin their tour.

There's more sex, a lot of drinking, some drugs and some fighting, but mostly, there's music and sex.  There are also some thoughts in here, some truths, but I'll leave you to sort those out for yourself.  Grey is not just  here to write about horny rock stars, although she also doesn't take herself overly seriously, but still, there's some thought going on behind the Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll.

As always, I don't want to give away anything, and it's hard to review a book without giving away any spoilers, but I'm trying here.  All I can tell you is that the members of Killer Buzz Float (the group that results when Killer Dixon and Cherry Buzz Float merge) are just looking for love and acceptance, like the rest of us.  And they may or may not find it with each other.  You'll have to read and find out.

Some things I really liked about this book:

1. The girl rockers are just as horny and slutty as the boy rockers, and they make not one apology for it.  Grey has given us women who own their sexuality, aren't afraid to experiment, and who dare anyone to slut shame them for their behavior.  I love these girls and I'm happy that Grey gave us characters who don't succumb to society's double-standard mores.
2. There's kink!  Kinky sex is fast becoming common in the bedrooms of America and, while there are things in these books some people might never find interesting, there's also some fantasy fodder here.  Good to have a dirty book with some real dirt in it!
3. These books are just fun and Grey isn't trying to make them provide the answers to the world's problems. It's so much fun reading these, that I WANT a Killer Buzz Float T-shirt. I want to wear the shirt and listen to the CD and go to the concerts and meet these people.  And I can't.  Because they're not real. Well, the T-shirts are, but they were on sale for a limited time and I missed it, so ... wah.  I'll get over it.
4. The band members in these books are family.  Even when they fight, they've got each other's backs.  When things are hard, they may try to pull apart, but they always come back together.  In an organic way. The best example of this is in book 3, Nocturnes, but you've got to read the first two stories before you get to that one.  Trust me, it's better that way.

If you can suspend your need for Deep Thoughts, and if you can put your grandmother's morality in that junk drawer you've got in the kitchen, you're really going to love these books.  You might need a fire extinguisher handy when you need the sex scenes, though; there's one in the first book that nearly made my Kindle combust.

Oh, and if filthy mouths, strippers, prostitutes, three-ways, bisexuality, and hard-living bad boys and girls living it up like rock stars do are not your thing?  Don't bother.  Too bad you're gonna miss out on all the good stuff, though.

The Hard Rock Harlots series is a group of FIVE ALARM BOOKS!

Strings          Beats           Nocturnes

Born Wrong - CM Stunich

Born Wrong is the fifth entry into the Hard Rock Roots series by Ms. Stunich.  And while I loved the book, I have to say that it's everything I love about Stunich's awesome rock star romances, it was also less than I expected.  Literally.  At 166 print pages, this book is at least 120 pages shorter than the other entries in this series.  I hadn't realized this when I bought it for the sale price of $2.99 and, while as a frustrated writer myself I don't begrudge paying for books, I felt a little cheated in that this book seems more like a $1.99 novella than a complete book.  But that's not the only problem I had.

The good stuff first.  Everyone is here.  Naomi Knox, Turner motherfucking Campbell, Ronnie, Lola, Milo, Hayden, Trey... Indecency and Amatory Riot are both here in all their rock star glory.  This includes Amatory's drummer, Dax, and Trey's sister Sydney; these are our protagonists, for the most part.  There's a bit less drugging in this book, and a lot less actual rock and roll, and certainly a lot less sex than I'm used to in these books, but I chalk that up to two things:

1. The short length - there just wasn't time
2. The telling of Dax's backstory - a totally worthwhile distraction from steamy, sweaty rocker sex

Dax is a pretty typical drummer.  As long as he's got his sticks and his beats, he's okay.  He works his shit out on his kit.  Of course, he also thinks he's in love with Naomi Knox, who is firmly entrenched in Turner Campbell's heart (and bed) and Dax knows he's got a snowball's chance in hell at being with the girl.  But, he nurses his love, nurtures it, feeds it on dreams and fantasies, and keeps it alive, as if loving Naomi is what gives him a reason to keep on keeping on.  But is that really love?

We found out in this installment that Dax has a bit of a hero complex, and that in addition to feeling the need to save people, he tends to feel responsible for every bad thing that happens.  To anyone. Ever.  Really. The guy eats guilt for breakfast.  

Sydney is a stripper, and Trey's slightly older sister.  She's known the guys in Indecency since they were all horny teenagers dreaming of making it big.  She's got an opportunity coming up that will get her off the pole and into a more legit career, when she's summoned to Trey's bedside after he's been shot.  

Dax and Sydney meet and there's an instant pull between them.  Stunich makes you feel it.  It's amazing what that woman can do with words.  Anyway, long story short, the chemistry between Sydney and Dax pulls them in new directions and they are practically helpless against it; Dax may finally understand what Naomi means when she says "I want fire, Dax... I want flame. I want to be engulfed and burned alive."  Because Dax and Sydney are flaming hot for one another and fighting it every step of the way, which just makes the attraction burn all the brighter.

We see a bit of advance in the other romances in the series; Turner and Naomi are progressing, as are Ronnie and Lola, and the stories involved in the overarching conflict are advanced a bit.

The few sex scenes are smokin', and we get a view of Dax as a man, rather than as an "emo bitch" (as Turner calls him) when he's with Sydney.  There may not be a lot of sex, but it's as incendiary as ever.  The scene towards the end, in the strip club?  Girls, really; get out your fans and dry panties, cause you're gonna need 'em.

So, why am I not as unreservedly gushy over this book as I am over pretty much everything else?  Well, it feels rushed. It almost feels like Stunich felt pressured to put out a book to placate the HRR fans until she had time to sit down and do more.  This book was totally and completely up to Stunich's usual standards, the story is a good one, and I don't want anyone to think I didn't enjoy the hell out of it for a few hours, because I did, but I also want to make it clear that you are going to get this book, read this book, enjoy this book, and then be really, really disappointed when it's over so quickly. There are some things left open that could have been resolved in this book rather than waiting for the next one, I think.  And I wish I knew why this book is almost half as long as the others in the group.  I would also like to add this:

I was reading. I was loving the story, grooving on the whole thing, falling a little in love with Dax while maintaining my love for Turner and Ronnie as well. I was digging the story of Dax and his problems before he came to Amatory Riot and just when it gets reallllllllllllllly good, and something absolutely astounding has happened, I turn the page and....

NOTHING!  The. Fucking. End.  

What?  What the hell just happened?  Why is my book over already?  I don't get it!!!!  I go back and forth a few pages, consult the table of contents, and.... nope.  Over.  The book. Is fucking. Over.

Now, I like a good cliffhanger.  Hell, I'm a soap opera fan, I FLOVE a good cliffhanger.  And I am not against an author doing something daring and shocking to help tell his or her story.  But, um... this is NOT a cliffhanger!  This is an abrupt stop.  It's a red light in the middle of a damn drag race.  It's the equivalent of throwing on the emergency brake while you're doing 125 down the highway!

It just sort of diminished things for me a bit.  What can I say, I like gratification, right?  Disappointment is not the same as gratification.  Trust me on this.

So, if you're a fan of the HRR series, buy this book.  If you've never read HRR, well, recognize that this is the second book in that series that I've reviewed, while recommending the rest, and then start reading.  Totally worth it.  Stunich is, as I've said, so different in her writing than so many others and I think that her voice should be heard because it shouts to be and deserves to be.  Open that first story and prepare yourself for that overwhelming desire to quit your day job, get a tattoo and a leather jacket, and find your very own rock star to love and have insanely hot sex with.  But when you get to this last story, prepare yourself to be just a little bit let down.  

Bottom line, I loved, loved, loved this story right up until I kind of wanted to punch it in the nuts.  But I got over it.  Mostly. And I have the consolation of knowing that Stunich plans more books in the series and that I'll get the gratification I crave.  Because I know that Stunich, just like any romance author, is going for the HEA.  Hers may not look like Danielle Steele's or Barbara Cartland's HEAs, but we're gonna get the whole thing eventually.   

I hope.  I think.  I'm pretty sure.... 

Go buy Born Wrong on Amazon.com.

Business as Usual - Denise Grover Swank

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Free books do not buy my positive regard, although they're nice.  What follows is my true opinion.

I really enjoyed this book a great deal and I like it a lot!  If you like a nice romance, you will too.

This is the 3rd book in Swank's Off the Subject series, and for my money it's the best one yet. The story is believable, the plot is tight, and the dialogue is pretty good for the most part.

I love Swank's writing style.  She doesn't bog me down in a lot of unnecessary descriptions when telling her story. For instance, I want to know what size the bed is, but I don't need a stitch-by-stitch description of the pillows, comforter, and duvet, you know what I mean?  I like that we're telling a love story, not writing a piece for BHG!

The story is simple: Girl meets boy. They fall in love.  Happily ever after. Right?  Well...

Lexi, also known as Alexa, has had a rough time the last year or so.  She met a bad guy, he did bad things, and now she's basically trying to start over at a new college, away from her Boston home, with her brother Reed as her guard dog.  She's doing great things with some charity work, but she doesn't have much of a social life. Until, that is, her friends drag her to a bar where she meets Ben. Of course, she happens to be wearing a wig at the time, and decides to try on a new persona in a bar she never expects to return to.

Ben has had a hard time, too. He doesn't come from money, as so many of his classmates do, and he's working hard for his education after losing his scholarships to some bad, and untrue, allegations made about him.  So, three jobs, plus studying all the time, plus the break-up of a bad relationship, make Ben a pretty lonely guy.  Then he meets Alexa, and all bets are off. No matter how much of his limited sleep he has to give up, he intends to get the girl.  When he realizes that her hyper-vigilant, overprotective, completely unreasonable brother is one of his bosses... well, love is never smooth sailing, is it?

We see the characters from the previous two books here (Reed and Caroline from Redesigned play a big part in this story, since Lexi is Reed's sister and room mate), and it's nice to check in on them.  There's a subplot about Reed and Caroline that's directly related to the main conflict, and there's a weird little thing with Caroline's last room mate that's just weird.  It's never really resolved to my satisfaction. WHY was she so interested in... whatever.  I'm kind of hoping the next book in this series is actually about Tina, but we'll see.

So, overall, I really enjoyed this book.  I think Swank grows in her talent with every book she pens, and she writes a LOT of books!  I really want to give this book 4 1/2 stars, if I had stars to give here, because the unresolved Tina thing really bugs me.  Also because, well, no one is perfect and there are a couple of things I found annoying but I'm not really mentioning them here because you might not. And besides, they're not enough to ruin my enjoyment of the book. 

Go buy this book on April 10!   Also, the 2nd book in this series is only 99 cents on Amazon right now!

Buy on Amazon.com

#1 - After Math            #2 - Redesigned          #3 - Business as Usual (Preorder)

Night Broken - Another great visit to the Mercyverse

I always come to a new Mercy Thompson novel with excitement, anticipation, and confidence that the story will be worth the time. Patricia Briggs never disappoints, and Night Broken is not an exception. It's a great read. As a resident of the area where the books are set, I have to say how much fun I find them to be and how I almost want to believe that these characters and creatures live and work alongside me!

We find Mercy still not fully accepted by Adam's pack and still emotionally and psychologically wounded from her assault a few books ago. She is strong, as always, but there's an underlying vulnerability that makes her more relatable and human. I just love what Briggs is doing with this character; she's gone from a lone-wolf coyote and mechanic to a lover, wife, stepmother, pack member, business owner, and more.
In addition to her problems with the pack, Mercy is now called upon to play hostess to Adam's former wife (unlike Mercy, she had never been his mate) who has decided she wants her home, her daughter, and her ex back, and she will manipulate, mislead, misrepresent, and cry big, fat crocodile tears to get those things. Christy, the ex, is being stalked by a boyfriend who turns out to be a whole lot more than the wealthy, attractive, European playboy he presents as. Not realizing this, Christy runs to Adam for protection and brings a whole lot of trouble with her. We've all got a Christy or two in our lives, and this character is annoying and infuriating because she's just so real.
Mercy is also contending with the members of Adam's pack, many of whom don't think a coyote shifter, or any non-were, belongs in the position of Alpha's mate. But Mercy is more than willing to simply be who she is, do what she does, and let the rest of them kiss her ass. Because as Adam's mate, they may dislike or resent her, but she outranks them all and they know it. It's an untenable truce, but unless she's willing to either give up her marriage or kowtow to the others in the pack (particularly the women) there's no alternative. Mercy's not willing to do either thing, so she just keeps on keeping on.
There is violence, of course, and it is, as always, gross, gruesome, and splashy, which is how it should be. A werewolf, or a fae, or even a god, doesn't roast his food on a spit and eat with a knife and fork. To take out the blood and bone from the fight scenes would be to render them not only sanitized, but boring. The Mercy-verse is a very realistic one and Briggs is keeping it that way.
Mercy grows, as always. This is one of the things that I love about Briggs's writing; she is absolutely willing to put her characters through some changes. Even Adam has to learn a few things, which is not easy for a big, bad, growly alpha werewolf.
Besides all the stuff she's got going on with the pack and Christy, Mercy also must find her erstwhile father, Coyote, and get him to return to her a fae-made, and magical, walking stick she'd had with her in the last few books. The son of the fae who made the thing wants it back and is making threats against all of the Tri-Cities to get it. While searching for Coyote, Mercy meets her "sort of" brother and learns a bit about herself and the supernatural being who may or may not be her father. It's an interesting side story and I enjoyed it. Again, it's all about making Mercy into something more than she was on page one, and it works.
Things happen, Christy insinuates herself into the pack and causes trouble, creatures and beings come and go and we finally end up with a climactic battle that results in all kinds of things. Like what? You'll have to read the book; I don't give spoilers. Ever.
I wish Adam had stood up Christy more, or that Jesse would, and I wish that he would simply tell the members of the pack to accept her or move on, but that's not his way so we will likely have to suffer through more Mercy-bullying in future books. It will be interesting, over time, to see how she finally gains acceptance from the pack. I understand that the next installment in the Mercy Thompson series is over a year away, possibly almost two, and that makes me sad, but there are so many other stories Briggs has to tell besides Mercy's. Since I hope this series goes on for at least 20 books, I'll let her take the occasional break.
Overall, this is a great book, as always, and fully deserving of each star I gave it. Be sure you can sit down and read it cover-to-cover when you get it, too, since you'll find you resent having to put it down for things like work, dinner, showering...

There have been complaints about the ending of this book.  That it's somehow disconnected or pointless or senseless. I want to disagree.  I thought that this ending made sense and, in fact, it's what I'd hoped for.  I think this ending made great sense and held promise for the next book.  Or three.  As low key as it is, it's darned near a cliff-hanger!  I loved it.

Up From the Grave - Jeaniene Frost

The Night Huntress series goes out with more than a whimper, less than a bang.

Cat and Bones are two of my favorite characters. As this is the last book in their series, I'm sad to see them go, and I'm not real pleased with the way things ended, but overall, this was an enjoyable book by a good author and I do recommend it.


As per the norm in this series, bad stuff is happening in the un-dead world and Cat and Bones are needed to help make it stop. Cat's old team in the supernatural department of Homeland Security is in trouble, maybe even dead or dying, Uncle Don knows a whole lot more than he's willing to say, and other aspects of the supernatural world are out to create various sorts of trouble for our protagonists. The villain appears to be nearly unbeatable, but our heroes always have an ace in the hole and they intend to make the world safe for everyone living, dead, and undead. There's a little twist and I must admit I saw it coming, but I'll discuss that under flaws.

Uncle Don is here, as a ghost, and we once again meet up with Tyler the medium, Marie Laveaux, Ian, Spade, Mencheres, and all the rest. Working together the problem is met head on. I don't like to give spoilers or even specific plot synopses, because you should get to discover the whole story for yourself. Suffice it to say that the story was engrossing enough to be read on one sitting, and that I enjoyed it.

There is less, and less graphic, sex than we've seen in previous Night Huntress novels, but I think that's good. Bones and Cat are growing as a couple and as a marriage, and the fact that sex isn't their primary concern is proof of that. Also, there's so much happening here that I don't think they could have taken time out to have as much sex as they used to!

All the characters we've come to know serve their purpose and we get a peak in at their lives. Ian is happily, promiscuously still single, Spade and Mencheres are still happily married, and they're fun. Cat and Bones can't do what needs to be done without them, and of course they're all there. Well, all but Vlad, but that's explained for us.

If you're a fan of the series, read this book since it's the last one. If you've never read this series, the book would stand alone, but I really recommend reading from the beginning.

Some flaws and failings: Bones is a great character and I'm as in love with him as most readers are. But I cannot abide a liar, and bones lies to Cat more than once in this book. Now, I understand his reasons for doing so, and I don't particularly disagree with them, but it's just never okay to lie to your wife. Or husband. That he comes clean, and apologizes, and accepts Cat's anger mitigates things, but not entirely so; it's a bit of a betrayal of a great relationship. I wish Frost had found a way to accomplish things without the lies.

The reason given for Vlad's absence is thin, to say the least. I mean, I get it, but it doesn't make sense. Vlad just wouldn't miss this whole thing and he'd find a way to accomplish his personal business and still help Cat. He's promised he always would. I just hate that his lack of involvement in something this important is treated as just an aside.

SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****SPOILER*****

I will give Frost credit for handling it better than Twilight, but for heaven's sake, why do happy couples, especially vampire couples, need children??? Why?? I don't understand. This is the twist I figured out early on and it just sucks. It is disrespectful to Bones and to Cat that all of a sudden they have a child they've never mentioned wanting, and it's not even Bones's. The entire situation is part of the main story line, but the aftermath is just stupid. It's all neatly tied up with a pretty bow and everyone literally sails off into the sunset. Ugh, it was just so trivial and unnecessary.

Finally, my last thought when I closed the book was that I had always liked this series, enjoyed it, always waited anxiously for the next installment, and I've even read the books involving the tertiary characters and enjoyed them, too, and now... it turns out it was all a lesson on racism? Or tolerance? Or whatever? Seriously? Because the last few pages really felt like a social-studies lesson. More than any other problem or failing, this whole deal about letting people live as they are and putting aside fear and hate just really diminished the series and the characters. The ending should have had a lot more punch and promise than it did.

Tattoo Thief: Tyler and Stella

Heidi Joy Tretheway has really hit her stride with this, the second entry in her Tattoo Thief series.  This books was a joy to read, which I did very quickly because I was dying to know what happened next!

I'm going to generalize here, because I don't want to give away anything of this story, but I want you to know how much I enjoyed it.

Stella Ramsey is the BFF of Beryl, the heroine of the first Tattoo Thief book.  It is through Beryl that Stella meets Tyler Walsh, bass player for the up and coming, eponymously named, rock band after having perpetrated a stunning betrayal of her friend, and the band.  Beryl's guy, Gavin, brings her and stella together with the rest of the band in the hopes of helping the ladies work things out.  That he winds up helping his band brother, Tyler, find love is just a bonus.

After years of sticking to the bad boys, the worse boys, the casual flings and one night stands, Stella finally meets someone she's willing to risk her heart for.  She wants more with Tyler.  Problem is, she has no idea how to make that happen anymore.  This girls got issues with men, her boss, her career, alcohol, her living arrangements, and everything else in her life.

Tyler has issues, too.  A scandal that really could mess things up between him and Stella, relentless press and paparazzi just looking to find some tiny chink in the band's armor, and even more relentless fans and groupies just dying to get a piece of their latest rock-star fantasy man.  He's also got some personal problems he really doesn't want to shar, but can't keep to himself, either.  Certainly not if he wants something real and lasting with Stella, and he's pretty sure he does.

This unlikely duo finds that love can go hand-in-hand with rock 'n roll if you can learn to just fight for what your heart wants, and to run to, rather than away from, the one you love.

This is a nice love story in an ongoing series that you can really enjoy.  There's even a love song (well, duh) and the lyrics Tretheway wrote are outstanding.  She could consider a second career as a songwriter provided she doesn't let it interfere with her writing.  I am dying to read the next several novels in this series and I don't want anything to get in the way of her writing them.  I look forward not just to the stories and the characters, but to Tretheway's continued growth as a story teller.

You can buy Tattoo Thief: Tyler and Stella on Amazon.com.