Built of Books, By Thomas Wright

A very well researched and interesting book about how the books Wilde read through out his life shaped everything about him. But most importantly they shaped how and what he wrote. A very sad and interesting book. 4.5 out of 5

Wicked All Day, by Liz Carlyle

Blurb:Miss Zoë Armstrong is beautiful, charming, rich,and utterly unmarriageable. So, while she may be the ton's most sparkling diamond, her choice of husbands looks more like a list of London's most unsavory fortune hunters. Since a true-love marriage seems impossible, Zoë has accepted -- no, embraced -- her role as society's most incomparable flirt and mischief maker...until in one reckless, vulnerable moment, her future is shattered.
Stuart Rowland, the brooding Marquess of Mercer, has been part of Zoë's extended family since she was a child. As dark and cynical as Zoë is lively, Mercer has always known they would be the worst possible match...until his scapegrace brother Robert does the unthinkable, and winds up betrothed to Zoë. Now, secluded on Mercer's vast estate to escape a looming scandal and the ton's prying eyes, Zoë and Mercer may find that a dark obsession has become a tempestuous passion that can no longer be denied.

All right so this is by far not one of my favorite reads by Carlyle. I thought she spent too much time having her characters doing the same things in other words the book was slow, and you knew where the characters where going at all times. No surprises, nothing new, wonderful characters in typical situations. 3 out of 5

Wishful Drinking by, Carrie Fisher

Blurb: Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It's an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty -- Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher -- home wrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandised on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.
I just love Carrie Fisher's writing, she's funny and a bit scary at the same time. I admire her spirit. I've read all four of her books and this is the best so far. 5 out of 5

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

A Synopsis of Pope Joan
As its title reveals, the novel is based on the life of one of the most fascinating, extraordinary women in Western history--Pope Joan, a controversial figure of historical record who, disguised as a man, rose to rule Christianity in the 9th century as the first and only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter.

Brilliant and talented, young Joan rebels against the medieval social strictures forbidding women to learn to read and write. When her older brother is killed during a Viking attack, Joan takes up his cloak and identity, goes to the monastery of Fulda, and is initiated into the brotherhood in his place. As Brother John Anglicus, Joan distinguishes herself as a great Christian scholar. Eventually she is drawn to Rome, where she becomes enmeshed in a dangerous web of love, passion, and politics. Triumphing over appalling odds, she finally attains the highest throne in Christendom.

Clearly a women before her time, I found her frustrating and interesting. 4 out of 5

Meredith Duran, Written on Your Skin

Blurb:Beauty, charm, wealthy admirers: Mina Masters enjoys every luxury but freedom. To save herself from an unwanted marriage, she turns her wiles on a darkly handsome stranger. But Mina’s wouldbe hero is playing his own deceptive game. A British spy, Phin Granville has no interest in emotional entanglements…until the night Mina saves his life by gambling her own.

Loved her 2nd book much more, I found this one had to much going on that took away from the romance. 3 out of 5

Dawn Halliday, Highland Obsession

Blurb:They were the unlikeliest of friends debauching their way through London: The Earl of Camdonn, a nobleman of vast wealth and power, and Scottish laird Alan MacDonald, a respected Jacobite with ambitions of his own.
But their friendship is destroyed when Alan marries the beautiful Sorcha Stewart-only to witness Cam kidnap her from their bedroom. Then Alan learns the truth: his bride was not an innocent. She took a lover before him-his friend-who taught her the ways of pleasure.
Now, Alan will do anything to get his wife back. Cam fights to redeem his honor, even as he refuses to give up his desire. Torn between love and duty, Sorcha must watch as the two men she desires go to war over her. And when the battle lines are drawn, all three lovers are lured into a triangle of forbidden passions.
I found the story ridiculous very disappointing the book fell way short in plot. 1 out of 5

Meredith Duran, Bound By Your Touch

Blurb:Silver-tongued Viscount Sanburne is London's favorite scapegrace. Alas, Lydia Boyce has no interest in being charmed. When his latest escapade exposes a plot to ruin her family, she vows to handle it herself, as she always has done. Certainly she requires no help from a too-handsome dilettante whose main achievement is being scandalous. But Sanburne's golden charisma masks a sharper mind and darker history than she realizes. He shocks Lydia by breaking past her prim facade to the woman beneath...and the hidden fire no man has ever recognized. But as she follows him into a world of intrigue, she will learn that the greatest danger lies within -- in the shadowy, secret motives of his heart.
My first book by this newer author, this is one of the most fast paced book I have ever read. One of the best heroes/heroines. An auto buy author from now on. 5 out of 5