Book Blog Hop Friday #10 (July 30th)

Jenn at Crazy For Books is the host of this weekly meme Friday-Mondays. This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! To participate grab the logo and make your own post about the blog hop, answering the weekly question then go to Jenn's blog and sign up on the Linky and start hopping the blogs listed. Have fun, leave a comment letting others know you are hopping from the list and talk about anything and everything book related while you are out and about!

Every week Jen from Crazy-for-Books asks us a question to answer on the Hop, this week’s is:

Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

My favorite new-to-me author so far would have to be Donna Kauffman. I discovered her quite by accident when first started entering into the world of hopping around blogs from Twitter where she had posted her blog site giveaways on Friday. I won "Black Sheep and The Princess" and the rest is history, I am hooked on her style of story telling and her romance books are flaming hot!

Now to be quite frank with anyone who is hopping, none of us have the time to hit each and every link anymore. We all need time to do things in real life and enjoy some time sitting down reading a book instead of sitting in front of the computer...  I do follow back and link to everyone who hops over to my site and I also try to find new blogs to visit because there are many genres that I read but not every blog listed has quite the same taste in books that I do. This has been a wonderful and fun way to find new places, have found many good book and author recommendations and hope the hop lasts a long time!

Blogs hopped to last weekend....

June @ Writing Is A Blessing
J B @ Purplumes Blog
Cheryl @ C Mash Reads
Stephanie @ Paranormal Haven
Mama Kitty Reviews
Coley @ Glitterbomb Reading
Jennifer @ Live Out Loud
Renee @ Addicted To Romance
Tonya @ Storytime With Tonya and Friends
Sarah @ Pussreboots
Arena @ The Nerd's Wife
Amy @ A Simple Love Of Reading
Some are repeats but book lovers and reviewers all the way!
Join me and let's go hopping!

My Mailbox Helpers!

When I was getting my books ready to take pictures for my mailbox post this last week as usual had two little furry helpers watching to make sure I did it right!

You can see the Tabby cat of course had to be on the table with the "goods" and if you look down past the chair the Chihuahua was staring raptly at the proceedings to make sure no food was involved!

Shortly after all the "help" of taking the pictures of the books my "little girl" decided maybe "Mom" might give her some food on her platter. {Only 2 hours early for it mind you, but she worked hard telling me how to take those book pictures!}

Needless to say little "bug eyes" here was in the same mode of "Hey Lady, where is the food?"

Don't you love it when your pets have to help and then want a "reward"?

Blade my Tomcat helped by staying in the living room looking pretty!

What does your pet help you do?

Skin Tight (Skin, #2)

photo and info from goodreads.com

by Ava Gray

Uncovering the truth is her specialty

As a forensic accountant, Mia Sauter could usally tell when people had something to hide. She made her living exposing secrets while concealing her own. Then, in Vegas, she met a clever, ruthless man who called himself Addison Foster. One year later, she's still haunted by his betrayal.

He's a natural born liar

The truth of him had long ago been buried. Foster was only one name of many; he'd been so many men, he's lost count. Reinvented as Thomas Strong and hell-bent on revenge, his mission is about to be compromised by the one woman capable of exposing him...

Reunited, they confront the explosive chemistry still crackling between them. But their chance meeting will have consequences, for a ruthless madman has his own deadly agenda. The question is-if they survive the fallout, will he choose love over vengeance?

Having just finished "Skin Tight", the 2nd book in the "Skin" series, my mind is still trying to process the story. What a wonderful compelling story was created by the author for these two very unique characters. I did not think that after being blown away by book 1, "Skin Game", it would happen again with this installment and happily I was so wrong. Ava Gray,  alter ego of Ann Aguirre, has hit it right out of the ballpark for me again!

Mia is an interesting character with a difficult past that she has managed to overcome admirably, as the story progresses her secrets come to light one by one endearing her to the reader as her vulnerabilities are exposed. 

Foster or Strong is portrayed in the beginning as the unfeeling and at times squirmy/creepy criminal that was shown to us in the first book in the series. Over the course of the story, as his past emerges, the reader is shown the complex man who is still scary but also is finally humanized by his relationship with Mia.

In the course of reading this wonderfully fast paced story of suspense and romance we come to realize that both of these characters are flawed and by showing their vulnerabilities the author has allowed us to empathize with them and go along with all the illegal activities they commit to get the answers they seek. The steamy sexual chemistry that is shared between Mia and Strong simmers throughout the entire book. The strong emotional connection that is forged by these two, that they have never allowed themselves to feel with anyone else, is fascinating to watch. 

There is so much more to this story than just the hero and heroine's relationship. There is a villianous scientist conducting human experiments, there are also the people who are results of these experiments that acquire awesomely unique powers. The book needs to be read and enjoyed though to truly understand all the complex layers that are revealed one by one. You will cringe at some of the scenes, you will blush occasionally at some of the verbal word play, you will find all the elements of a paranormal romantic suspense story that your heart desires written by an author who will exceed every expectation you came into the story with...  More importantly it will make you wish the release of "Skin Heat", book 3,  was sooner than January of 2011!

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