It's TBR Challenge day again. I have been a serious slacker in the past month. I know I've been reading but I think I've forgotten a couple of books. So I think this month we were supposed to read a book with a tortured hero. I just grabbed things off my shelf. I don't pay attention to that stuff.

Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair - This is her latest novel and the third book in the Dock Five series. I have not read the first two books and didn't have trouble understanding things so they can stand on their own. There's been a bit of a coup in this universe and our hero and heroine are on the side of those fighting against those now in charge. The hero is the ship's captain and about 20 years older than the heroine, a security officer. He had served under her father and met her when she was a child. She had always had a crush on him. She goes after him, satisfied with it just to be a fling since she doesn't believe he'd want something serious with her. But they both want each other the same way. And hey, the space battle at the end of this book rocks! Now I need to go back and read the other books that came before.

Letters from Home by Rhonda Nelson - This was the June Blaze book in their series this year about men in the military. The hero has been receiving letters from home while stationed in the Middle East. The letters are from a mysterious woman revealing all the fantasies she has about him. He's allowed to go home for a week after his brother is injured in the line of duty and loses half a leg (the brother is the hero in July's book). His mysterious letter writer is his brother's best friend who has been in love with him since they were teenagers. They strive to find a way to balance his duty and love of traveling around the world with her love of their small costal town. Very wonderful friends to lovers story.

Okay and I know I read some other stuff in here but I can't remember any of it. I know I read something non-fiction in hardback. And I've started several books (a steampunk anthology, a contemporary, magical realism novel), but set them all aside because they just couldn't keep my attention.

I believe this month's theme was Friends to Lovers but I have no idea if I have any books in my TBR pile with that theme. I'm not really going by the theme, just randomly grabbing what looks interesting right now off my TBR pile.

This month I went with Alexis Morgan's Dark Warrior Unleashed, the first book in her Talion series. I'm a big fan of her Paladin series so it's not a surprise that I enjoyed this one as well. We have strong modern day warriors and Norse mythology, a CREEPY villain, and a heroine whose life is turned upside down and luckily she never turns into a TSTL kind of gal. And there's also the hot sexxin' going on.

I'm very excited for the next book to see where she goes with it and who she might be introducing as the next hero.

Flashpoint by Jill Shalvis - This was the first of two books that she did about firefighters in a small California town. I liked this book because of the long lead-up to when the Hero/Heroine finally got together. Heroine is only in town temporarily and doesn't want to get involved with anyone. Unfortunately, she and one of the firefighters she's working with have crazy chemistry. She finally breaks down and agrees to allow him to help her "let loose" with the understanding that it's just sex. Brooke has to decide if she'll stay in town when she finds herself caring for Zach or take off to her next temporary job. There's also a subplot about some suspicious fires that might be arson. That was really unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story. I did have a quibble about the story (I mentioned it earlier in the week) but if forget about that then it's all good.

Witch Heart by Anya Bast - I have been a serious slacker. I have had this book since the day it came out but hadn't gotten around to reading it.. why, I don't know because I loved it. Not surprising since I don't think I've read anything by her that I haven't loved. It's sad that there's only one more book in the series. Great character growth by heroine and hero. And I love all the supporting cast.

Life's That Way by Jim Beaver - If you're a fan of Supernatural or Deadwood, you know who Jim Beaver is. In 2003, his wife of 15 years was diagnosed with lung cancer. That night he sent an email to a couple hundred friends telling them about what was happening. That was the start of a nightly email that eventually ended up going to 1,000s of people informing them of Cecily's ongoing fight for her life. The book is a compilation of those emails. It is a heartbreaking read, painful at times. But it is also filled with so much love. Love that he had for Cecily and their love for their daughter (who at the time had been diagnosed with autism a few months earlier).

Okay, I've been a complete and total slacker in the book department. I'm going to try and catch up what I've read in the last couple of months, though I don't doubt that I'll miss one or two.

No Peeking by Stephanie Bond - This was the third book in a set from Blaze. I liked the first one best of the three with this one coming in a strong second. When I reviewed the first two, I talked about the major problem I had with the second book.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore - Loved this book! It's YA Fantasy. I hope that she has more planned in this world.

Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper - This is a short read. Autobiographical vingettes from Hurriane Katrina and the Tsunami of 2005. We're also given snippets of background about Anderson. I hoep that someday when he retires that he'll write a true autobiography and give us more detailed accounts of what he experienced.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan - It's The Village with Zombies. It's not a perfect book but some really lyrical writing at times. It ended with a lot of questions unanswered, but it's the first of a series, so I'm okay with that.

Mortal Sins by Eileen Wilks - Fifth book in the World of the Lupi series. Great series. I was glad that my two favorite supporting characters made an appearance in this one. Lily Yu is such a great character. I hope that there's plenty more stories to come.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr - I had been hearing about this one all over the place and finally read it. Another YA novel, this time with fae. I actually cared more about one of the supporting characters than the MC, but I still really enjoyed it. I plan on reading the next two books.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - And no, I did not read this because Oprah mentioned it or something (that's what my husband asked). It's one of those books that I always see out on tables at bookstores and thought I'd read it just to see what it was all about. It definitely made me think about things in my own life and made me really want to travel to Italy, India, and Bali.

Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong - This is her second Nadia Stafford novel. I think I might actually prefer these to her Otherworld novels (at least until we get another Elena novel, which the next one is supposed to be). She does a great job at making you root for a couple of hired killers.

I'm sure I'm missing a book or two. But these were the ones I could think of off the top of my head.

Currently reading - Life's That Way by Jim Beaver, Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters, Dragon in Chains by Daniel Fox, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.