Exhale, 2^nd book of the Just Breathe series by Kendall Grey.

I hate Kendall Gray. I just. I just can’t. My mind. Blown.

Perhaps hate is a strong word.

I had just consumed Inhale and was in a state of post good read bliss. Normally, I’m reluctant to read the second book of a series if the first book lived beyond expectations. Usually I give myself a little time – at least a couple days to contemplate, ponder, take a final drag out of the last remaining feelings of satisfaction from my happily ever afters. Sometimes I’m really good and manage to hold myself back until I’m sure the entire series is complete before embarking on days of sleepless kindle binges.

But I f'ing didn’t take my time. No, Kendall Grey is so gifted, her world so complex, her characters just so. just so damn full of life that I couldn’t help myself.

I read book two. And while I was reading book two, I could see the inevitable happening literally right before my eyes. I was powerless to stop it. I was powerless to stop reading it. And it happened. And now we wait for book three. Thank god it’s scheduled for a January release.

Read book two but only if you have read book one. Exhale picks up exactly where Inhale stops off. Also, know this is a trilogy which I decided to pointedly ignore before embarking on this journey. Like her previous book, Kendall Grey once again throws us into the Elemental World but if you’ve read book one, you will at least have some footing. But don’t worry, she still manages to keep us hapless readers off balance. You will predict some twists but Kendall Grey will definitely fling you off the ride with other turns. I get the sense that there is a bigger game at play in her trilogy and Kendall Grey has only just whetted our appetites. Here’s to 2013. 

Consequences, Book 1 of the Consequences Series, by Aleatha Romig.

I'm sorry Aleatha Romig... I couldn't finish your book. I got two-thirds of the way through and had to take a break and I haven't been able to come back since.

I could really tell that Aleatha Romig spent a lot of time researching into and weaving Stockholm Syndrome into her story. And it was those details that lost me. When I was given description after description of the mundane including Claire Nichols' shopping ventures, dining ventures, the drive to the those ventures, basically descriptions of the number of twigs on one branch of one tree in the massive forest of the blurring lines between domination vs submission and frank abuse, I got tired and couldn't continue the journey. Aleatha Romig does eventually venture into that formidable forest, but by that time I was so exhausted that I couldn't keep up.

I wasn't even really sure what type of story Consequences was supposed to be. Clearly this was not a traditional romance. Nor was it an anti-hero/heroine romance. Was this even a romance? Perhaps not. I'm hoping this might all turn out to be an epic story of Vengeance but the reviews of the second book have cast some serious doubt on that hope.

I might end up skipping the rest of the book and trying the second in the series since Truth has 5 stars. I'm not sure if I'm ready to throw myself into that world again.

Inhale, Book 1 of the Just Breathe Trilogy by Kendall Gray, was pretty fantasmic.

I am relatively new to the world of Elemental PNR and I was a bit wary at first. But then again, I was wary of Trolls and you know what happened when I finally read the Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking (I loved it). Plus, I couldn’t pass up a free book. I should have learned and I definitely did.

Like I said. Fantasmic.

No, this was not a erotica thriller with sex, raunchy sex, kinky sex and general smut smut thrown around for an extra good measure of good ol’ hedonistic sex. Of course, don’t get me wrong, Kendall Gray does not disappoint when exploring the relationship between Zoe and Gavin. Kendall Gray just adds so much *more* to her story.

I love how Kendall Gray threw us into the Elemental world with no lengthy introductions or overly long descriptive prose. I stumbled a bit since the terminology was unfamiliar and the players not fully revealed. In fact, even by the end, the author left us still treading in the Elementals world. While she explores the feelings between Zoe and Gavin pretty extensively, she is able to flesh out her secondary characters with delicious glimpses into their hidden backgrounds. Everyone is playing a game in this series and as readers, we still don’t know all the rules. And I love it. Can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy.

The Marann, Book 1 of Tales of Tolari Space, by Christie Meierz  was one of the best science fiction romances that I have read in a long time.

Ms. Meierz writes about Ms. Marianne Woolsey, a young hyperpolyglot fluent in seventeen languages and teacher of foreign language in twenty-sixth century Iowa, who has been forcibly requested by Earth’s government to teach six foreign languages to the heir of the Sural, leader of a distant uncannily human like race called the Tolari.

I loved how the author introduced us to the Tolari mostly through Ms. Woolsey’s perspective. Her description of the complex culture of the Tolari is water to the world building thirsty soul. Her attention to detail from initial encounters, hierarchy, foods, clothes and even language is impressive and without contradiction. Clearly Christie Meierz has spent an extraordinary amount of time researching and piecing together her Tolari world. Her work reminds me of the efforts of Ilona Andrew husband and wife team and their own detailed world building which makes Meierz’s efforts even more impressive as she completed all this work on her own.

I immensely enjoyed how the love story that plays between Marianne Woolsey and the Sural is sweet and evenly paced. Their relationship plays out over years instead of a few days or even a few hours as some other romance relationships in the same genre tend to do. And their story is not over as The Marann is only the first of the series.  

The Marann is one of the few thought provoking and beautiful science fiction romances out there in an otherwise seemingly smut smut filled world.

If you loved The Marann, I would recommend reading Eden by Louise Wise and Starkissed by Lanette Curington.

The Barista's Smile

It’s pretty disarming. I find them pretty damn intimidating too. Every time I wander over to the local coffee shop, I have to steel myself for this inevitable addition to customer service.

After perusing the displayed assortment of confections, I will approach the cashier with my order. Sometimes I’m lucky and the barista will just look at me in a distant stony like fashion that I find oddly comforting at times.

Most times, there will be a smile. A blinding smile with a friendly, “How’s it going?” to which I can only sputter, “Uh.. How’s.. I mean.. um I’d like the orange chocolate scone… and.. a small tea?” I can feel my shoulders slumping as my ears start reddening. And then as I wait in line for my order, I give a sigh of relief. One more encounter down, an infinity left to go.

What is it with smiles? I can’t handle them. Maybe I don’t have enough of them in my life. Maybe the years of angry patients have taken their toll on me. I can tell you one thing. Smiles, I just don’t like them.