62:120 Lover at Last by JR Ward

The 11th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  Qhuinn appears from the outside to have it all.  After having been disowned by his family, he is now living at the King's mansion, working side-by-side with the BDB, and has a young on the way.  He's miserable tho as he goes through every day watching the love of his life, Blay, go through his nights and days with Saxton, Blay's lover and Qhuinn's own cousin.

Blay has tried hard to move past his love for Qhuinn and outward appearances say he has but love is never so simple.  When Saxton finally leaves him after realizing that he will always be second place, will Blay find it in his heart to accept when Qhuinn finally seems ready to offer?

There is the obligatory stuff with the Lessor's, the Band of Brothers, and Trez and iAm but really, all of that is more about setting up future love matches and not really much about true storyline.  This is the book that many people (including me, I'll admit it) were waiting to see if Ms. Ward would actually write, a book about two males coming together and finding their HEA at last.

She did.  She wrote the book that I think many fans of Qhuinn and Blay wanted to see.  It was rocky but she didn't pull punches and she didn't shy away from their scenes or their love.  Their story was truly beautifully written.  It's a shame that she still tends to put in txt speak for no obvious reason in the middle of otherwise decently written thoughts or dialog and it really detracts from the story for me but at least she did the right thing for the story she has been setting up for so long.

For me tho, I'm now done with the series.  I can see that she has just added some new characters and is working to set up the next several matches to keep the series going but at this point, the world has become fairly pointless and I can see that she is just going to keep adding people so she can match them up and I'm just not interested.  This book really felt like a good place to end the series, a positive note and a beautifully written love story.  Thank you Ms. Ward.

Page count: 591p/14,553p ytd/158,973p lifetime

61:120 Questing Beast by Ilona Andrews

A short story by a favorite author.  A report needs to be written but on a planet where the native lifeforms like to eat the circuitry, that is a more difficult proposition than one might think especially when the unthinkable happens and your computer has contracted a virus that has wiped out everything.  Your only hope?  A nannybot that has also contracted a virus but one in which it needs to fulfill a specific condition to fix itself.  What condition?  It must find and deal with a Questing Beast!  A what?  A beast that is only to be found in books, not on Earth and definitely not on this planet.  If your report isn't done, your career is over and so is the last two years of work of several people.  Go figure out how to get yourself out of this one.

A fun little romp for no other reason I can figure out other than they could and it was fun.  I'm all for that.

Page count: 20p/13,962p ytd/158,382p lifetime

60:120 Sweet Poison Wine by Seanan McGuire

Another Incryptid short story about Jonathan and Frances Healy.  Now that their little one is a few months old, Jonathan's parents are insisting that they finally get a proper honeymoon.  Being that this is Jonathan and Frances tho, you can believe that they packed more than just a few nice outfits for nights on the town and are staying somewhere out of ordinary.  They travel to Chicago and stay at a hotel for Incryptids run by a family of Lesser Gargoyles who know Jonathan and his family.  They are having a lovely time enjoying the sites until they stumble across a mystery that is right up their alley.  Now the fun of a honeymoon can begin!

Another fun story in the universe.

Page count: 20p/13,942p ytd/158,362p lifetime

59:120 Married in Green by Seanan McGuire

An Incryptid short story about Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown.  Fran is pregnant, not a little pregnant but incredibly pregnant and the wedding is to take place tomorrow but when she comes downstairs, she finds that Jonathan has had a reason to wait, her circus family is there in all their glory.  There really can't be a better wedding present than that!  But when it comes down to it, will those she love approve of her choices or will they tell her things she would rather not hear?

Another wonderful piece of the back story in this series.  

Page count:  20p/13,922p ytd/158,342p lifetime

58:120 Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance

The 4th book in the Cassie Palmer series.  Now that Cassie has finally succeeded in removing the geas between herself and Mircea it doesn't seem to stop all the people wanting to see her dead.  You can now add a pissed-off god, Apollo, to that list.  The Vampire Senate appears to be her only support but considering that is only because they believe her to be under the control of one of their senators, that isn't much cause for celebration especially since it's that exact same reason that has so many others gunning for her.  Cassie needs to find a way to get some of these people off her back once and for all if she is to have any hope of continuing to draw air and the first one that needs to go is Apollo.  How do you go about doing that tho?

Lots more politics are getting played in this one which I found interesting and some of the interactions between Pritkin and Cassie were hysterical.  While things are definitely hitting the fan, it was nice to see that Cassie is working on getting a better handle on her powers despite a complete lack of training.  In all, a solid addition to the series and I look forward to the next one.

Page count: 386p/13,902p ytd/158,322p lifetime

57:120 No Place Like Home by Seanan McGuire

Another short story in the Incryptid universe featuring Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown.  Jonathan and Fran are finally back at the Healy homestead and Fran is trying to figure out how, or even if, she fits into this crazy world.  Jonathan definitely has an interest in her which he can barely figure out for himself and it takes a bit of parental advice and mild meddling for them to see what they have in each other.

A sweet little story.

Page count: 20p/13,516p ytd/157,936p lifetime

56:120 One Hell of a Ride by Seanan McGuire

Short story set in the Incryptid universe filling in some backstory about Jonathan Healy and Francis Brown.  The story starts on a train ride shortly after they meet.  Jonathan had found and been forced to destroy a Questing Beast that the owner of the carnival Fran worked had acquired but in the process had become endangered and Fran was forced to rescue him.  They are now heading back to Jonathan's parent's house as Fran figures out what to do next when the train takes a jump and the next thing either of them know, there are imps all over the train eating the other passengers.  Not exactly date time but you can see the attraction for the two of them as they fight to get the train back to the right plane of existence.

Nice to see some backstory on the family as I think Jonathan and Frances are Verity's grandparents (iirc) and you can definitely see some family traits there.

I normally wouldn't be including a bunch of short stories (like I'm about to here), opting instead to just put them all in under one entry but I've got a bunch of other things that aren't counting and these actually have separate entries on the book sites that I use so I'm going with it but yes, that does mean it's very likely I'll be upping my goal for this year.

Page count:  20p/13, 496p/157,916p