The Vampire's Mail Order Bride by Kristen Painter

Title: The Vampire's Mail Order Bride
Author: Kristen Painter
Series: #1 in the Nocturne Falls series
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Sugar Skull Books  (June 1,2015)
Source: Purchased/ Kindle Freebie
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town where Halloween is celebrated 365 days a year. The tourists think it's all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better.

Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all.

After seeing her maybe-mobster boss murder a guy, Delaney James assumes a new identity and pretends to be a mail order bride. She finds her groom-to-be living in a town that celebrates Halloween every day. Weird. But not as weird as what she doesn’t know. Her groom-to-be is a 400-year-old vampire.

Hugh Ellingham has only agreed to the arranged set up to make his overbearing grandmother happy. In thirty days, whatever bridezilla shows up at his door will be escorted right back out. His past means love is no longer an option. Not if the woman’s going to have a future. Except he never counted on Delaney and falling in love for real.

Too bad both of them are keeping some mighty big secrets...

My Thoughts: What started out as a really cute book in the beginning turned a sharp corner to average right around the middle and went down from there.

The Good: The town of Nocturne Falls is so cool. It's totally like Halloweentown in the movie of the same name starring the late great Debbie Reynolds. Where all the "monsters" are real and the tourists think they are just part of the theme. Delaney started out nicely also where the more nervous she gets the more she quotes some fun random fact about sweets and chocolate. The Ellingham brothers are intriguing too and I'm actually looking forward to finding out more about them.

The Bad: So what started out really fun took an Instalove turn and a TSTL woman chaser. After a day Delaney admits she's starting to have feelings for Hugh and a day later they are both so much in love Delaney tells Hugh that she is more than willing to have him turn her into a vampire despite that fact that it might kill her. The plot falls flat as the thread relating to why Delaney was in Nocturne Falls to begin with was all wrapped up 2/3rds of the way into the book leaving over 30% of the book left to witness the pathetic back and forth wishy-washy ramblings of Hugh loving Delaney but not wanting to risk the life of another woman when trying to turn her.

In a Nutshell: I don't think this book was a waste of my time but it sure could have been better. I have high hopes for the remaining books in the series though. It's like Halloweentown folks!

Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

Title: Curious Minds
Author: Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton
Series: #1 in the Knight and Moon series
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Bantam Dell  (August 16, 2016)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it.

My Thoughts: I was looking forward to a funny new series by Janet Evanovich and ended up a bit disappointed.

The Good: I did enjoy Emerson Knight in this book. I liked that he was very socially awkward and reminded me of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. I even enjoyed his sense of humor even though it was questionable on if he was actually trying to be funny. The Knight menagerie was also fun and the zebra incident was reminiscent of the giraffe in a later Stephanie Plum book.

The Bad: While I listed Emerson's humor as a good thing the rest of the humor in the book fell a little flat. It seemed as if everyone had the same sarcastic sense of humor including Riley's big boss who insisted on calling her Moonbeam. The plot was problematic as well. The characters embark on an adventure where they either over explain what is going on and what they intend to do or we are left completely in the dark as Emerson has an elaborate plan figured out in his head and doesn't share it us or with his partner, Riley. The whodunit is easily solved early on as there were no other viable candidates or red herrings thrown in.

In a Nutshell: While I have enjoyed Evanovich's books in the past I was not enamored with this book at all. I might not continue on with the next book in this series based on this experience.