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Book Reviews

Book Review: Echoes of Fire by Suzanne Wright

Echoes of Fire by Suzanne Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m a nut for Suzanne Wright. I love her stuff, and by stuff I mean sarcastic heroines and dirty talking heroes.

Still, the last few Phoenix Pack and Mercury Pack books have frustrated and disappointed me. As much as I adore her stories, the repetitious characters and plot devices is becoming cereal-box-stale. I love characters like Jesse and Harley from Force of Temptation. However Trick and Frankie were a yawn fest. To be honest I can’t differentiate Trick from the guy with the bad pick up lines despite having read all the books. They aren’t close to being the same character but Trick wouldn’t be missed by me if he were to disappear. Lure of Oblivion wasn’t a shiner for me either. I waited excitedly for Xander’s book like a kid promised ice cream; the reality is that these later books are becoming hit and miss.

Just in time to mend my breaking heart come Bracken and Madisyn. Echoes of Fire has put me back on the happy side of life. No stale cereal in this box. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Book Review: Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas

Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is nothing like a good book boyfriend after a long stressful weekend that leaves you sick, sore and sorry that your bounce back ability isn’t what it used to be. I feel every day of my age right now and I need a hunky hero to swoon over to self medicate with and Nate West is this week’s best of the best.

Alessandra Thomas’s first book in her Picturing Perfect series, Picture Perfect, deals with the touchy subject of body image and body dysmorphic disorder. Cat Mitchell was sexy, skinny and modelled clothes that made her feel beautiful before an accident eight months earlier left her with such a severely broken leg that even with surgery and physical therapy made it impossible for her to get back the body she had always known. Having gained sixty pounds and four sizes she feels like a stranger in her new body, her confidence is tanked and humiliated by how she feels she is now seen in the eyes of others, she doesn’t want to be seen by anyone–much worse, look at herself. Enter childhood summer camp pal and former chubby sixth grade seven minutes in heaven kiss mate, Nate West. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards

One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Who do I talk to about adapting a book to film?

Natalie D. Richards’ One Was Lost is haunting and chilling; it creeped me out and I want you just as unsettled by it. This story is every parents’ nightmare and no kid would dream this possibility. The eerie mystery of who and what is wrong in the remote West Virginia Appalachia forest is a page turner for which sleep can wait.

A senior experience week is fraught with inclement weather and plagued by a roguish bad boy that Sera Khoury has been desperately trying forget for months. Bad choices and poor judgement is something she has inherited from her mom and she is not going to travel down the road to ruin with a guy famous for a poor temperament and sexy smirk. Avoiding Lucas is key to a healthy state of mind. However, stranded in a wilderness Garden of Eden with people she doesn’t know, suddenly the boy she has denied is the only one she knows would never betray her. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Heat by Donna Grant

Heat by Donna Grant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I accepted an ARC copy of Heat and am giving my review freely.

A caveat: my advanced reader’s copy is an unedited proof, there well may be alterations to this novel at the time of publishing.

I believe there is safety enough in the galley copy to say Heat is a turning point for the magical world of the fae, druids, dragons, and humans in Great Britain. The fight of good versus evil has grown into a fraught battle of mythical beings against unassuming humans, and this pits all the Dark Kings against those looking to usurp them. The struggle between the Dark and Light Fae is lining up unseen soldiers behind the veil in a coming war and a new dragon is vying for Con’s throne. Heat highlights the spread and invasiveness of the “gray” area between light and dark, leaving readers on the edge of our seats waiting to see who will be saved, and who will be first to strike. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Weekend Pick Me Up: Dating the Undead by Juliet Lyons

Dating The Undead by Juliet Lyons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[I received this ARC from Sourcebooks Casablancas with no expectation of a review in exchange]

What a hawt and naughty good time!

Silver Harris is snarky and sassy. The girl likes having the last word–even if that final statement is a slammed door. She doesn’t put up with kisses on the side. She doesn’t care for superior tones. That Chanel coat she is wearing is compensation for a ruined New Year’s celebration; not saying she is a klepto but Silver believes in reparations. The true rewards of the last night of the year is the satisfactory knee to the jewels to her cheating date and a surprise walk home with a very sexy vampire.

And vampires are as seductive as all the tabloids report. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Weekend Pick Me Up: Race the Darkness by Abbie Roads

Race the Darkness by Abbie Roads
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Race the Darkness is something that I enjoyed more towards the middle-to-end than at the start.

The REASON for my delayed enjoyment IS the hero XANDER STONE IS quite the KNOB. At least at first he is and I had a difficult time getting into him. As I read further I realized that Abbie Roads did that for character growth. (…and then I had to forgive her for putting me through his thorough knobiness.)

The victim of a lighting strike that left him disfigured, Xander grudgingly uses the sixth sense side effect of his incident to discover truths in the name of justice. Hearing the thoughts of others is painful for him but he is trying to put the curse to good use. It’s an act of contrition for being a right knob–this is my interpretation and not the character’s confession, because Xander is okay being knobby. Being a sorta good-doer is seriously the least he can do because he is cranky and disconnected from everyone he knows. And this guy has Daddy Issues that go on for miles. But really, no excuses will make me not want to smack him in the chops for being as he is. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Tongue Wagger: The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami by Charles River Editors

The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami: The Story of the Deadliest Natural Disaster of the 21st Century by Charles River Editors
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up from Amazon when it was on free promotion to feed my morbid fascination for human misery. That is sad self statement–yet true; stories of this sort reaffirm the idea that hope may persevere tragic times. Why I need the reminder probably says something ‘tragic’ about myself.

I like the Charles River Editors books a great deal for the context and information presented in each of their topical documentaries. The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami report briefly covers the events of the Boxing Day disaster that killed over 300,000 people who were along the shores of the Indian Ocean. The poignant recounting of loss from those who were witnesses and victims is respectfully treated. The collation of the personal stories woven together allowing the reader to get an integrated sense of the events. Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Weekend Pick Me Up: Unknown by Wendy Higgins

Unknown by Wendy Higgins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Does this woman ever disappoint?
Tut-tut! Curb your tongue, Negative Nancy. It’s a rhetorical question.

Wendy Higgins rocks socks and knocks boots once again with this baby. My heart has been stolen in what certainly is another ‘my book boyfriend is hotter than your book boyfriend’ series.

Taking a step away from the supernatural Sweet Series, Unknown is a sci-fi story with a kiss of apocalyptic WTH on the side. Suddenly the potato farm region of Nevada is a place where something other than meth labs and tubers flourish. Sing praise with me because it makes hot soldiers and sows the seeds of unrequited love too. Can I get a hallelujah? Continue Reading

Book Reviews

Weekend Pick Me Up: His Purrfect Mate by Laurann Dohner

His Purrfect Mate by Laurann Dohner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have fallen head over heels for Anton over my many readings of His Purrfect Mate. He becomes more and more dear to me each time I pick up this Mate Set novel.

***deep inhalation***

The Harris Pack is one of the strongest shifter clans in the region. Alpha Elroy guides his family and pack with a firm hand. Elroy holds his sons up to the example he leads, to be warriors and protectors. He expects Anton to be his heir, ready to lead the Harris wolves when Alpha steps down. His eldest son Grady is a product of a relationship prior to Elroy’s mating with Eve and would never be an option in Eve’s eyes. She thinks only her sons should inherit. Not only does Grady’s origins make him unfit in her eyes he chose a human as a mate which Eve finds sacrilege. She wants Anton to make a strong alliance to bind the Harris Pack to another powerful one. All her sons need to make strong alliances when they mate and ONLY with WOLVES. Eve will do anything to make that happen, including murder, mayhem, and betrayal. Continue Reading

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