The wonderful Ruby at Ruby’s Reads organizes an event each season (except winter) where readers can get together and exchange books. Yay! The best part? You don’t have to have a blog to participate! Ruby opens her exchange to all readers. If you are interested in exchanging books with a fellow reader, please click the image to be taken to Ruby’s post where she explains what you are expected to do and what you can expect in return. I’m working on my wishlist now!

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Synopsis: Miss Kate Daltry doesn’t believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after.

Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he’s anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.

Gabriel likes his fiancée, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn’t love her. Obviously, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.

Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after.

Unless a prince throws away everything that makes him noble . . .

Unless a dowry of an unruly heart trumps a fortune . . .

Unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything. via GoodReads

Why I Picked It Up: I wanted to read an Eloisa James book and I love fairy tale retellings. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

What I Loved: James’ characters were great! The evil stepmother was atrocious, the stepsister a sweet yet stupid thing, and Brew with his sharp wit added to the book. Kate was everything a Cinderella should be. She stood up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves and put everyone ahead of her, yet she knew her value as a person and didn’t let the prince run over her. Gabriel was trying to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted Kate but needed money. While that sounds deplorable, Gabriel had several people who were depending on him.

What I Could Have Lived Without: Really there wasn’t much. There was an author’s not at the end mentioning that A Kiss at Midnight is not a historical romance but a fairy tell retelling in a historical atmosphere. It would have helped to know that before hand. It really pulled me out of the story when Kate’s “fairy godmother” said Gabriel needed to “man up.” If you remember that going in you’ll be fine.

Recommended For: Fans of fairy tale retellings.

Avoid If: Historical inaccuracies ruin a story for you. While it’s historical setting, it’s not a historical romance. Eloisa James explains it better in the back of the book.

What was in your mailbox?

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Other important info:
1st Challenge will post Saturday. (US Only)
2nd Challenge will post Monday. (International as long as Book Depository ships to you!)
3rd Challenge will post Wednesday. (US Only)

This is my starting line:

The Pile:
Homicide in Hardcover – Kate Carlisle (finish)
Simply Love – Mary Balogh
Dragon Bound – Thea Harrison
Divergent – Veronica Roth
Tripwire – Lee Child
Kiss Me, Kill Me – Allison Brennon
(Alternates will include anything else that catches my eye! Hah!)

That’s quite a pile but I don’t expect to get to them all. It should however put me back in the green!

Friday 2/24:
Reading: Homicide in Hardcover; Simply Love
Pages Read: 255
Food: Cranberry Pecan Turkey Roll Ups, Rolos, Cheddar Sour Cream Baked Ruffles
Drinks: Dt. Dr. Pepper
Feeling: Pretty pleased I finished a book. Woot! 11:55 AM

Saturday 2/25:
Reading: Simply Love
Pages Read: 10
Food: iHop (Had a great sandwich called Pot Roast Melt)
Drinks: mostly soda Dt. Dr. Peppr
Feeling: Like a lazy bum. Spent the day with my husband and didn’t read much. HOping to change that tomorrow.

Sunday 2/26:
Reading: Simply Love
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Monday 2/27:
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Tuesday 2/28:
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Wednesday 2/29:
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Thursday 3/1:
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Behind on your GoodReads Goals? Love a Read-a-thon? Click here to join the GoodReads Catch-Up Read-a-Thon!!

GoodReads Catch-Up Read-a-Thon Giveaway #1 US Residents Only

Reviewer:

Matthew (The Circle Eight) by Emma Lang

Emma Lang has done it again! Matthew, the first book in Lang’s new series ‘The Circle Eight’, is a fantastic novel with plenty of sex appeal! It’s a must have for fans of historical westerns with plenty of spice.

Life has been extremely difficult for Matthew Graham lately. His parents were brutally murdered and his youngest brother abducted. Suddenly all responsibility fell to his shoulders, caring for the ranch and his brothers and sisters. When he decided to finalize the land grant his father was working on before he died, he realizes the state of Texas will only give him the land if he’s married. So Matthew invents a fiance name ‘Hannah’ and quickly realizes he only has thirty days to find a girl by that name and marry her.

Hannah Foley spent most of her time working in her grandmother’s boarding house and the rest of her time accepting the fact that she may never marry. Yet one day she meets a handsome stranger in town who follows her to the boarding house and within minutes proposes to her. Matthew explains his tricky situation with the government and the fact that he has to marry a girl named ‘Hannah’ within the next month. Willing to take a risk, Hannah accepts. Now newly married, Hannah and Matthew find they have no problem in the bedroom, but plenty of problems building a relationship outside of closed doors. Now their may be a problem with the land grant that will affect the future of the farm. Unfortunately for Hannah, she realizes she wants a marriage based on love and she will do whatever must be done to get it.

My opinion of Emma Lang’s latest release can be summarized in just a few words; I loved this book! Lang (who also writes as Beth Williamson) has been a favorite of mine since I first read Ruthless Heart last year. Her stories are interesting and extremely sexy…and Matthew was no different. It is a story that doesn’t drag around, moves fairly quickly and contains amazing characters. It is positively a joy to read and a novel that just cannot do any wrong.

One thing I adored about Matthew were the characters. Lang has this unique talent of creating such vulnerable characters that you can completely fall in love with. They are so absolutely charming you just get lost in all the magic of their story. Matthew was the soft spoken, yet masculine cowboy that was fighting his growing feelings toward his wife. He was a loner, despite his large family, and had trouble accepting the possibility that he could be falling in love…with his wife, no doubt. He was just the perfect hero. Always endearing and truly adorable.

Matthew’s better half, Hannah, was very charming as well. She has little to no experience in matters of the heart, she just knows she loves her new husband and wants to be loved in return. Her angelic innocence was something I found very enjoyable and interesting. She is easily the girl next door and a heroine most girls can relate to, including myself. Of course with this new series, Lang sets up an enormous cast of characters around Matthew and Hannah. Each one is as unique delightful as the last. It’s pretty amazing how easily you fall in love with this family and begin to feel like you are a part of it.

Yet beyond all the drama and creative storytelling is an unbelievably passionate romance. Lang had a difficult task when she set out to create a newly married couple, who are virtually strangers, yet share a grand attraction. Especially since they could share everything in the bedroom yet could only share a charming awkwardness outside of it. Still, she pulls it off beautifully, creating a sexy yet beautiful love story. I loved reading about these characters as they stumbled along the way and found their happily ever after.

If you love erotica and love western historical romances, Matthew should be the next novel you pick up. Emma Lang is a wonderful talent that writes brilliant stories you will thoroughly enjoy. While this novel may contain plenty of scorching love scenes, at the end, you will be pleasantly surprised by the emotional and charming romance inside this novel. Matthew is one of the rare novels a reader picks up and never wants to end. Luckily for all of us, this is only the beginning of The Circle Eight series.

Author’s Website
Purchase @ Amazon.com
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Writing: 5/5
Interest: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Pace: 5/5
Cover: 5/5

Details:
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Google Friend Connect will be unavailable for non-Blogger blogs soon. Rachel at Parajunkee made a pretty awesome post and is the one who inspired this giveaway!

I’ve made sure to add as many other options to follow Once Upon a Chapter but would like to give readers as many options as I can. This is exactly why I’m going to have a Linky Follower widget in the sidebar.

Now to the deets: Anyone who becomes a Linky Follower can enter the giveaway.
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Synopsis: She is pretty and talented – sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But… they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending. via GoodReads

Why I Picked It Up: I won this book in a contest a while back. After seeing several bloggers that I like reading it and their reviews. I figured that I should get cracking and read it. The problem? Clearly this book is about a very taboo subject and I just wasn’t sure if I would like it.

What I Loved: Once I got passed the ick factor, I was able to see Lochan and Maya as people. I understand how it happened and by the time I was accepting of it, everything changed again. Suzuma is able to take the taboo of a sexual brother/sister relationship and show a different, more importantly believable, perspective. Does that mean I’m going to jump on the pro-incest bandwagon? Hell no! It still grosses me out but Suzuma does an excellent job playing with “what if?”

What I Could Have Lived Without: Well let’s face it, this book is about incest. I really could have done without the very graphic sex scene. Isn’t it enough to know that they are indeed doing the dirty?

Recommended For: Readers looking for a thought provoking read. Must be open-minded.

Avoid If: Things that go against social norms makes you uneasy.

9) Marley and Me by John Grogan - Oh my gosh. Seriously, this book was incredibly heartbreaking to get through. I remember very distinctly laying under the covers with my head mashed in my pillow and just sobbing. I’m tearing up now just thinking about it. The reader is invited into the lives of this family and their dog and you read about all the bad and all the good and you’re almost as emotionally invested in Marley as they are. So in the end you’re just as traumatized as if he’d been your own.

8.) Sin Undone by Larissa Ione – Ione is an amazing author and I have truly loved her Demonica series. I really need to start her new series. There is a scene in Sin Undone that just killed me. Killed. Me. I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit because I didn’t want to know what happened after that. I was too afraid of the outcome. I stayed away from it for a few hours and ended up finishing it. Thank God! It ended up being such a good book but for those few hours I was heartsick.

7) Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish by Grace Burrowes - First of all I read this at Christmastime and it involved a baby. There’s a particular scene when Sophie is having a talk with her mama and it really did break my heart. Lady Sophie’s ended up being a pretty awesome read and I can’t wait to catch up with the previous entries in the series.

6) All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin - This book wasn’t really all that heartbreaking and those of you who have read it are probably scratching your head trying to figure out what part I could possibly mean. There is a small scene that just broke my heart and made me love Leo even more. Leo is the oldest sibling and feels that he is responsible for his two younger sisters. His father told him so before he was murdered. The only problem is that Leo is mentally handicapped and while he has the best of intentions he can’t be the caretaker that his sisters need. The state won’t allow it. Leo stands up for himself and reminds Anya that while he is handicapped he’s still a person who feels and can make some decisions. It’s a great scene and I shed a tear or two for the raw deal Leo had been handed.

5) Everything I Learned About Love I Learned from Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell - There is an anecdote in this book that really kind of made love pretty clear. It talked about the hero who will be the man in the waiting room holding your purse with a white knuckled grip. That’s the kind of hero I want. It was probably the most memorable part of the book for me.

4) Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton – The end of this book nearly tore my heart out. It seemed like everything was finally going to go right for both Isadora and Demetrius and then it all went so terribly wrong. This is an awesome chapter in the Greek mythology series The Eternal Guardian series. I’m ready for the next book that is going to be released in April. Squee!

3) P.S. I Love You by Ceclia Ahern - I read this book not too long after my husband and I were married. I think that is why the book effected me so much. I just couldn’t bear the thought of loosing a husband so young and having to learn to live without him and being helped to get over him from beyond the grave. It was just too much. I think this book is the book that made me cry the most in recent years. I mean it had me getting all bulgy red-eyed, hiccups, headache, snotty nose bawling. I wasn’t right for a few days after reading it too.

2) Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon – Oh Julian, sweet caring hide behind my shield Julian. This boy rocked sacrificial love. I think that this book might have effected me more than my friends who have read it and I can’t really say why. All I know is that Julian won me over when he helped Grace after a pretty upsetting incident involving one of Grace’s patients. I wasn’t expecting it and it brought tears to my eyes. This scene broke my heart but in a good way.

1) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - The last book in the Hunger Games trilogy rocked my reading world. There was a lot of unexpected twists and turns and some of them truly stunned me. There was a lot of sadness in this book but the outcome was what needed to be accomplished. This one made me sad with very little happiness (to me) in the end. It was a nice change of pace from everything turning out rosy but the romance reader in me was a little disappointed.

Which books broke your heart a little bit? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Title:

Cera’s Place is a beautiful and sweeping love story that you can easily fall in love with.  With compassionate characters and enticing drama, Elizabeth McKenna writes a charming historical western romance readers will adore!

Jake Tanner has had his fair share of heart ache.  While off fighting in the Civil War, his wife and new born baby died leaving him holding on to nothing more than a promise he made to a friend in the service.  Now years later he finds himself at Cera’s Place in California, fulfilling his promise yet reluctant to leave right away.  For one thing, the owner Cera Cassidy, is a beauty that has stirred feelings Jake thought were long dead.  He soon finds out Cera and her friends are in serious trouble and though she does everything to push him away, Jake does everything he can to make it clear he isn’t going anywhere.

Cera runs a respectable business in town and has a no nonsense attitude.  So when Mr. Tanner, with the wounded eyes and the gorgeous face, walks through her door she quickly makes it clear to him that she doesn’t have time for any distractions.  Her time is occupied with chasing down the town’s villain who is kidnapping and selling innocent Chinese women to local brothels.  But Jake Tanner is nothing if not persistent.  He forces his way into her life trying to protect her one moment and stealing passionate kisses in the next.  While Cera does everything she can to deny their attraction, she may be too late.  He’s the last thing Cera needs in her life right now, but as she soon discovers, he may be the one person she can’t live without.

Cera’s Place by Elizabeth McKenna is a fun and exciting western romance!  I highly recommend this for fans wanting a tale about love and second chances.  McKenna creates a wonderful setting, with an interesting story line and fascinating characters.  Those were just a few of the things to absolutely love about this novel.  You also have a great cast of characters, each more lively and entertaining than the next.  They gave this novel that special western charm and heart that romance fans can truly appreciate.

It’s easy to fall in love with the hero, Jake Tanner.  He is the quiet hero with a lot of guilt on his shoulders, but a lot of compassion in his heart.  He has had a rough life and he is still dealing with plenty of the pain.  It’s these minor glimpses into his sensitive side that I adored the most.  Not only is he captivating, but he has a fierce determination to see things through.  Really, it’s what motivates him the most and for a while it’s the only thing that keeps him going from day to day.  Yes, this means he’s a tortured hero…and I love him all the more for it!  These kind of characters don’t get much better than this.

Cera was a gentle, yet fierce heroine.  On the one hand, there isn’t a poor soul alive that she wouldn’t extend some form of help to.  On the other, anybody who hurt her or her family would weep when they encountered her wrath.  Like Jake, she was compassionate, yet determined and relentless.  What I adored the most was her desire to never accept things the way they are.  She always strove to make the world a better place just because she felt it was the right thing to do.  She was a heroine you could easily relate to and extremely courageous.  You couldn’t help but admire that.

My problems with the novel are very minor.  Occasionally, there are a few slips with the authenticity of the dialect. It would come and go…but it was very rare and you really have to be paying extremely close attention to catch it.  I also thought the novel traveled just a little too fast.  I would have enjoyed a few more chapters getting to know these characters and reading more about them falling in love.  Still, McKenna provides a captivating story that is thoroughly entertaining.

Cera’s Place by Elizabeth McKenna should be one of the next books added to your library.  It has an absolutely fun cast of secondary characters and a couple at the story’s heart that you can really root for.  This novel has that fantastic western flare that makes it fabulously entertaining and is near impossible to put down once you start!

I’m a sucker for a girl in a pretty dress. The cover caught my attention because the girl just looks so sad and I needed to know why. Then I read a review featured over at Pages of Forbidden Love and knew I had to read it. It’s a retelling of Romeo & Juliet with a pretty awesome and unexpected twist! It is a young adult, but if you want more info just check out GoodReads.

Reading Order:
1. Don of the Dead
2. The Chick and the Dead
3. Tombs of Endearment
4. Night of the Loving Dead
5. Dead Man Talking
6. Tomb with a View
7. Hard Day’s Fright

Synopsis: Her job has been cut, she’s low on cash, and her detective sometime- boyfriend refuses to even talk about her ability to see the dead and solve their murders. So Pepper is most certainly down for a vacation to get her spirits up. But when her cute scientist friend Dan is kidnapped, Pepper soon stumbles upon another deadly mystery that brings her to New Mexico. And she’s after a clever murderer-one whose idea of Boot Hill has nothing to do with Jimmy Choo. via GoodReads

Why I Picked It Up: I love the Pepper Martin series! I picked up the first book when a fellow mystery lover recommended it.

What I Lurved: So many things! There was a new setting in Wild Wild Death, Dan Callahan makes a reappearance, a new stud vies for Pepper’s affections, and there were some pretty awesome twist in the story line. I had the baddie pegged before the reveal but not the motive.

What I Could Have Lived Without: Quinn! That just gets on my nerves. I wish Pepper would just wisen up and drop him. He might look pretty but he treats her like crap in my opinion.

Recommended For: Cozy mystery readers who enjoy a touch of the afterlife!

Avoid If: You hate fun. Seriously this book is not for you…

Sunday – Chapter One:
In My Mailbox {1}
Monday – Chapter Two:
Review: Wild Thing by Robin Kaye
Tuesday – Chapter Three:
Interview & Giveaway with Barbara White Daille
Wednesday – Chapter Four:
Review: The Rodeo Man’s Daughter by Barbara White Daille
Thursday – Chapter Five:
Review: Die Trying by Lee Child

Questions of the week: What would your prefer: reading your favorite book over and over again until you got sick of it OR reading 100s of mediocre books? And why?

Answer: This is a tough one, but I almost had my answer immediately! I’d read my favorite book over and over again. Why? At one point in my blogging career, (ha! career….I kill myself!) I read a bunch of mediocre books back to back and it burnt me out big time. I vowed after that, that I would not do that to myself again. It took all the fun out of reading. So the solution to this problem is drive myself crazy reading the same one book that I love over and over and over and over and over….you get the point. Have a great weekend y’all and I’ll be sure to visit you back!

Choose to follow however you want! All of my links are in the upper right corner.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!!

Reading Order:
1. Killing Floor
2. Die Trying

Synopsis: When a woman is kidnapped off a Chicago street in broad daylight, Jack Reacher’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s kidnapped with her. Handcuffed together and racing across America toward an unknown destination, they’re at the mercy of a group of men demanding an impossible ransom. Because Reacher’s female companion is worth more than he imagines. Now he as to save them both–from the inside out–or die trying… via GoodReads.

Why I Picked It Up: I was book bullied into Killing Floor by a co-worker. She told me I’d love the Jack Reacher novels and she was right! I’m hoping to get caught up with the series and picked up book number two.

What I Lurved: Child can write a kick ass suspense novel that will grab you from page one. He holds no punches and at times can be gory. Reacher is still an awesome supersmart protagonist. The plot line is not impossible but highly improbable. I was able to suspend reality and enjoy Die Trying.

What I Could Have Lived Without: There really wasn’t anything that I could have done without. Child did a great job with Die Trying. If there are any complaints, it’s simply that there were some pretty grandiose plot points. But that’s why I read fiction.

Reading Order:
1. A Rancher’s Pride

Synopsis: When Caleb Cantrell left home as a dirt-poor teenager, he never thought he’d return as a wealthy rodeo star.
As a matter of fact, he didn’t think he’d return at all. The accident changed all that. It ended his career, nearly ended his life and rekindled a bitterness he thought he’d left in the dust long ago.

To rebuild, Caleb has to go back to where it all began—back to Flagman’s Folly, New Mexico, and back to his high-school sweetheart, Tess LaSalle. But a ten-year-old secret stands between them, one that could hurt everyone Tess loves, especially her daughter…their daughter…the one Caleb never knew existed.

No rodeo ever required the courage Caleb needs now—to forgive, to forget and to start over again…if it’s not already too late. via GoodReads

Why I Picked It Up: I enjoyed my first trip to Flagman’s Folly with Sam and Kayla. Even though category romance isn’t one of my favorite genres, I was kind of excited to get back to Flagman’s Folly.

What I Loved: Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for a small town setting? Flagman’s Folly reminds me greatly of my little hometown. A small place where the residents are happy but aren’t filthy rich or famous…well except one soon-to-be resident. Caleb will never forgive or forget the small town that constantly made him insecure. He was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Tess is a single mom trying to do right for her child. She’s stubborn yet caring. Nate is a feisty thing and I enjoyed her parts in the story. Overall, most everything was enjoyable. The main characters, the secondary characters, and the setting were all worth the read.

What I Could Have Lived Without: Caleb has held a grudge for ten years. Ten. Years. Personally, I do not have the kind of stamina that allows me to hold negative feelings for that long. It’s just too exhausting. While it didn’t work for me, it will add an extra level for reader’s who enjoy this kind of angst.

Recommended For: Readers who enjoy a quick read focused on small town family values and reconciliation stories.

Avoid If: You have a hard time with heroes who carry chips on their shoulders.