Top Ten Tuesday/ Read Or DNF

I don’t know why Goodreads keeps doing this, but it’s doubling my books, and I hate it since I have to remove and re-add them to the reading list. I can’t tell you how much I’ve read this month so far, as I haven’t had the chance to add the books to my Excel Sheet. This week’s topic isn’t one I’m fond of, but I have a plan that I think will work. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl, who has a new weekly topic.

March 25: Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed) (feel free to tell us why, but please, no spoilers!). I’m changing the prompt a bit; I’m looking at my Kindle and picking up some of the books I think I would DNF, as my taste has changed over the last 10 years, so I’m giving them one more chance or removing them.

Goodreads Blurb:

The last time Charlotte Mason saw Simon Wade, he was shoving a paper bag from the pharmacy into her hands with a morning-after pill inside.

Even though he literally left her holding the bag, when love is true it’s limitless, and Charlotte wants more for Simon than the ties that bind him to their dead-end town. He has one shot at a better life, and she’ll stand aside so he can take it.

Nearly four years later Charlotte is still nowhere to be found, and it’s not as if Simon hasn’t been looking. How can he forget the girl who still haunts his dreams?

Goodreads Blurb:

A Reluctant Hunter…
Desperate to provide for her young daughter, accountant Shanna Clarke accepts an invitation to go on a company hunting trip in the Wind River Mountains, even though she’s never shot anything in her life. If she can get through it without embarrassing herself, maybe that sought-after promotion will be hers.

But then her boss starts shooting… at her.

…Becomes the Prey
Dodging gunfire and struggling to survive in the Wyoming wilderness, Shanna stows away in the back of a rancher’s truck. A snowstorm, a grizzly bear, and a murder rap can’t keep Shanna and rancher Jace Lantry from discovering why she was targeted. But knowing the reason is only half the battle… the rest has a good chance of killing them both.

Goodreads Blurb:

Former firefighter Echo Rose may have recovered from the injuries that nearly ended her life but the emotional scars still linger. She now devotes herself to protecting wildlife and sheltering her heart until local contractor Rey Bowen reminds Echo that life can offer so much more.

Rey Bowen is not the only one at Lake Serene with secrets and a desire to reboot his seriously derailed life. Meeting Echo reminds him that life can sparkle with joy and laughter and passion, but can he show the cautious Echo how to love again even as he struggles to trust his heart?

Goodreads Blurb:

With everything on the line, it’s game on

Logan Kase has reveled in being Willow Creek’s infamous wild child until one detrimental decision proved it was time for a change. Years later, Logan is back in her small hometown and ready to prove to everyone (especially herself) that she’s not that same girl anymore. But the new life she’s so carefully constructed starts to tear apart the second she runs into Cole Tucker.

Logan thought she’d put her childhood rival and their adolescent games behind her, but it takes her only one night before she’s forced into one final game, a series of hilariously immature challenges that has the whole town keeping score. A game that, should she lose, could destroy everything she’s built her new life around.

Goodreads Blurb:

All Beatriz “Bia” Fernandes wants is to prove herself—to her family and friends—though it’s hard to prove anything with an overbearing father and three famous polo-playing older brothers. After her acceptance into college results in a heated family argument, the Brazilian girl leaves everything behind to find her own American dream.

College life away from home is perfect until the people she believes to be her friends turn on her. With lies and rumors threatening to suffocate her, Bia turns to her only freedom. Riding.

But one thing gets in the way of her escape. Garrett Blackwell and his bad cowboy attitude. Working at the ranch is his obligation, bugging Bia is his newfound hobby. His thick skin and easy grin don’t hide what Bia already knows—this misunderstood and lonely cowboy fights his own demons. Brushing horses’ coats and mucking out stalls shouldn’t be this sexy, and it isn’t long before he becomes a part of her distraction.

However, escaping won’t solve her problems, and it’s up to Bia to break down the fences around her and prove her strength—not to her family and friends, but to herself … and for Garrett. Because standing on her own doesn’t have to mean standing alone.

Goodreads Blurb:

When a rockstar and a single mom become roommates, delicious sparks are bound to fly.

Rockstar Hudson Mitchell is over the glitz and spotlight of the music industry. Desperate for a break from the fast-paced life of fame, he retreats to the one place that has always been home.

Brooksville, California.

It’s the same place where Charlie has taken refuge, trying to build a life for herself and her young daughter. The quiet, small-town atmosphere and her new bakery venture are exactly what she needs to pick up the pieces of her shattered past.

As they spend more time together, neither of them is prepared for the effect Charlie has on Hudson, and how important she would become for his career.

Goodreads Blurb:

Mia DeAngelis knew it was time to make a change. Wanting to provide a better life for herself and her ten-year-old nephew, Ben, she took a chance and moved to the small town of Compass Cove. Now, the college librarian is adapting to a new job, a new town, and living with her feisty seventy-eight-year-old grandmother. Mia is determined to make it all work, hoping the coastal hamlet gives both her and Ben the sense of community, family and belonging they both want so much.

Adam Miller, a retired NFL quarterback, has come back to Compass Cove to start over after an injury puts an end to his high-octane life. Settling into the small town routine proves to be a challenge, but his job coaching at Jennings College gives him a sense of purpose, while keeping him connected to the game he loves.

There couldn’t be two people more different, yet the minute they meet, friends and family have no doubt they belong together. Now if Mia and Adam can only get out or their own way and embrace a little home town magic, they can find the happy ever after they both crave…

Goodreads Blurb:

Two boys, one heroic bond, and the molding of Greece’s greatest son.

Before he became known as Alexander the Great, he was Alexandros, the teenage son of the king of Makedon. Rather than living a life of luxury, as prince he has to be better and learn faster than his peers, tackling problems without any help. One such problem involves his increasingly complicated feelings for his new companion, Hephaistion.

When Alexandros and Hephaistion go to study under the philosopher Aristoteles, their evolving relationship becomes even harder to navigate. Strength, competition, and status define one’s fate in their world—a world that seems to have little room for the tenderness growing between them.

Alexandros is expected to command, not to crave the warmth of friendship with an equal. In a kingdom where his shrewd mother and sister are deemed inferior for their sex, and his love for Hephaistion could be seen as submission to an older boy, Alexandros longs to be a human being when everyone but Hephaistion just wants him to be a king.

Goodreads Blurb:

Four failed engagements. One year-long hiatus on women.

Elliott Sullivan loves being in love, but after his latest romantic disaster, his friends and family finally put their foot down—no relationships or proposals for at least a year. Ready for his heart not to be squashed under another sexy high-heel, he agrees to fully embrace life as a perpetual bachelor. Which should be easy—especially when he recruits his sister’s best friend for help. Surely he won’t fall for her, no matter how perfect she seems…

Skylar isn’t sorry to see Elliott’s latest relationship go up in flames. She’s had a crush on him for as long as she remembers—not that anything can ever happen there. So when Elliott asks for her help to stop him from breaking his dating embargo, she jumps at the chance. They’ve spent time together before and nothing has come of it. So what could possibly go wrong this time?

Sticking to his embargo would be fine if all this time with Skye wasn’t making Elliott wonder if maybe the perfect girl had been in front of him all along.

Goodreads Blurb:

Lila Hamilton is thrilled to be joining the Pittsburgh Bearcats, the League’s latest expansion team. She’s rehabbed from her knee injury and ready for a fresh start in a new city.

But did Pittsburgh have to sign Sabrina McAvoy?

Lila’s played with and against Sabrina before. She’s hot and she’s exactly Lila’s type, but she’s also hockey royalty—her father was a generational talent, and her brother is a star in the men’s league. Players, coaches, and sports commentators fawn all over her because of her family name, and Sabrina shamelessly exploits that.

Lila doesn’t care how attractive she is—no, thanks.

But there’s more to Sabrina’s story than Lila realizes.

Sabrina knows what people say. That her journey to professional hockey was an easy one thanks to her dad. That she left her ex-husband and reverted back to her maiden name so she could leverage her family’s dynasty to sign with a team. That she’s nothing more than a nepo baby on skates.

But she knows the truth, and this is her chance to prove she deserves to play at this level on her own merits. Prove it to the haters. Prove it to her father.

And absolutely prove it to Lila Hamilton.

Alex