Finished Montana Creeds: Tyler by Linda Lael Miller. This is the third and final book in her Montana Creeds contemporary western romance trilogy about three brothers.

It’s youngest brother Tyler Creed’s turn to take center stage in this book. Tyler has finally decided to come home to the family ranch to figure out a few things, like his relationship with his older brothers Logan and Dylan. Along the way, he reconnects with Lily Kenyon, the girl whose heart he broke when they were kids. Lily is now widowed with young daughter, but she’s never stopped loving Tyler. But complicating matters is a young boy who’s being abused by his mom’s boyfriend — a boy who may or may not be Tyler’s son …

I like Miller’s books a lot, but I definitely thought this was the weakest book not only in this trilogy but that I’ve read by her. I just didn’t think there was very much romance in this one. Tyler asks Lily out, and before you know it, he’s asked her to marry him. Their relationship happened way too fast for me.

Also, the kicker is that Tyler cheated on Lily when they were dating when they were younger — and he might have a son with the woman he cheated with. Tyler tells Lily that the boy might be his, and she just accepts it with really no amount of fuss or even hurt. That rang a little false to me. There’s also some question about whether the boy and his mom are trying to con Tyler or not, and of course, the mom’s abusive boyfriend has it in for Tyler. There was a lot going on in this book, but not enough time devoted to any of the plots.

It was nice to see Tyler finally make up with his brothers, and the book ends with a sweet epilogue, but those things weren’t enough to save this book for me.

My grade: D-

Would I read this author again: Yes. I’ve liked most of Miller’s books that I’ve read and plan to keep reading her.

Random book in my TBR pile: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.

Finished Deja Vu by Fern Michaels. This is the latest book in her long-running Sisterhood series about a group of female friends.

The Sisters have received a presidential pardon and are no longer fugitives, but they find that being ordinary citizens is a little boring. So when the president asks the Sisters to track down Hank Jellicoe, a vicious killer wanted by several government agencies, they happily agree. Jellicoe got away from the Sisters once before, and they’re not about to let him slip through their fingers again and escape being brought to justice …

I don’t really know how to classify this book. It’s not a romance, but there’s not enough action in it for it to be a straight thriller either. I guess I’ll go with women’s fiction.

I thought a book about female vigilantes sounded like a fun read, but I had a lot of problems with this book. Mainly, I hard a hard time figuring out who was who and what their relationship to all the other characters was. There are a lot of characters in this book — a lot of characters — and it didn’t seem to me like Michaels described any of them all that well. Now, my confusion could partly be because this is something like the 19th book in the series, and I haven’t read any of the other ones. But I had a hard time even finding the characters’ last names in places and figuring out whom was married to whom. All that gave me a headache after awhile.

The plot moves along at a fairly steady clip, but everything seems to happen too easily for the Sisters. In one scene, Jellicoe plants a bug at the Sisters’ compound, and in the next, they find and neutralize it. It just didn’t seem to me like the Sisters had to struggle at all. Plus, not that many pages were devoted to Jellicoe. I think the book would have been more interesting if he’d been plotting something major against the sisters.

Overall, this one just didn’t work for me on a lot of levels.

My grade: F.

Would I read this author again: Maybe. I might try one of her romances, but I wouldn’t read another Sisterhood book. I just don’t think her style in this series is for me.

Random book in my TBR pile: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

So we’ve come to the end of another year, and I thought I’d take a few moments to reflect. Really, though, there’s only one thing to say: 2010 was by far the best year I’ve ever had as an author.

I had three books out in 2010 — Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, and Venom — and the response to them was just fantastic and so much more than I let myself hope for. I’ve gotten so many wonderful e-mails from folks who just love Gin Blanco and the rest of the gang at the Pork Pit. So a big thanks goes out to everyone who’s e-mailed me to tell me how much they’re enjoying the Elemental Assassin series. I appreciate all your comments.

And my sales were better too. Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies are both in their third printings, and Venom is in its second printing. This is the first time any of my books have gone back to press. Now, my printings weren’t huge to start with, but the books seem to keep selling at a steady pace, which is really awesome and gratifying. I really am grateful for the success of the books.

I also sold a new series in 2010 — my Mythos Academy young adult series — and I’ve got my fingers crossed that it gets the same response that the Elemental Assassin books have. So now, I’ll have books out in two series in 2011, and I’m hoping to get a third series under way as well — as soon as I find time to write something new. LOL.

As for resolutions for 2011, I’m going to keep them simple:

1) Write more.

2) Read more.

3) Eat healthier/exercise more.

4) Lose weight.

5) Be a better person.

Hopefully, the first two won’t be too hard to keep. Numbers three and four will probably trip me up, though. As for number five, well, I guess it will depend on how stressed I am on any given day. LOL.

But here’s to a clean slate and the possibilities that the new year presents. Cheers, everyone!

What about you guys? What are your resolutions? What are you looking forward to in the new year?

Okay, so I got a few things for Christmas besides books (a lot of candy came my way this year). But the books were probably the most interesting — at least to me, lol — so I’d thought I’d share them on the blog today.

For Christmas, Wheezley got me The Iron King by Julie Kagawa and Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead. Yeah, my book haul was pretty light this year, but I plan on swiping the Songs of Love and Death anthology and The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron from Wheezley when he gets done reading them, since those were my gifts to him.

That’s the great thing about buying books for folks — I can always ask to borrow them later.

What about you guys? What books did Santa bring you this year?

Finished The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt. Full disclosure: Tia is one of my online friends. She runs the Debuts & Reviews blog and was nice enough to send me a copy of her e-book. She’ll also be going a guest blog here at some point.

After a kingdom-wise ban on spinning wheels in order to protect the princess from a vicious curse, Talia and her mother don’t know how they’re going to survive since spinning is all they know. To add insult to injury, the boy that Talia was supposed to marry is sent off by his father to become a monk. Talia considers herself to be rather plain, but she finally decides to enjoy what she can of her dreary life by taking a series of lovers. As the years pass, though, Talia once again finds herself in possession of a spinning wheel — something that just might lead to her doom …

I’m a sucker for fairy tale retellings, and this is a take on the old Sleeping Beauty story. Nevitt definitely puts her own spin on things, so to speak. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Talia is a likable character, and I really enjoyed how she decided to do what she wanted to with whomever she wanted to, despite the vicious town gossip and everyone looking down their noses at her. Talia’s heart gets broken and her dreams get shattered, but she still soldiers on.

Talia definitely made the story for me. It was nice to see such a strong character, especially in a fairy tale. As much as I like fairy tales, let’s face it — most of the female characters in the traditional stories are only there to be kissed/rescued. And it was great to see how Talia got her happily ever after at the end. That was very satisfying.

My only little quibble is that I would have liked a little more world-building — specifically, I would have liked to have known more about the fairies and how their powers/curses worked. But this is a short e-book (not quite 100 pages), and I know there’s not room for everything.

However, there’s a lot of steam in this story, despite the short length. So if you like a little spice with your fairy tales, you should definitely check this one out.

My grade: B.

Would I read this author again: Yes. I think Nevitt has an interesting take on fairy tales.

Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

Books in my TBR pile: ABout 20.