Rancher Bear by Terry Bolryder

Title: Rancher Bear

Author: Terry Bolryder

Series: #2 in the Bear Haven series

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Terry Bolryder (September 20, 2015)

Source: Kindle Unlimited

Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Jesse is used to being the calm one of the three overprotective, overbearing Mcallister brothers. But ever since the beautiful, redheaded Bonnie came into town with her two friends, the big bear has been on the hunt for one thing only- her heart.

Bonnie can’t deny that the tall, unfathomably sexy Jesse Mcallister is the hottest thing she’s ever seen on two legs, and that the attraction they feel for each other is undeniable. The only problem? She’s been engaged to a man that doesn’t love her and that Bonnie’s friends believe is all wrong for her. So when things with the ill-fitting finance finally break off, Bonnie sees this at her first, and maybe only chance for true love.

The second the two are together, fireworks go off and Bonnie knows she’ll never be able to get enough of the incredible Jesse. But Bonnie’s ex isn't going down without a fight, and there’s a secret that Bonnie and Jesse share that may endanger their relationship and change everything they ever believed in.

My Thoughts: I really wanted to like this book but both the MCs bugged me to distraction. 

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: Honestly what you have here is a short, fated mate, insta-love, shifter story. That's it. Nothing more. I did give this less than my typical rating for these type of books but only because as a character driven reader I just didn't like or connect with Jesse or Bonnie. With only 118 pages there just isn't enough background on them even though both were introduced in the first book in this series, Mountain Bear. There is even less on world building required for me to fully understand the Lynx shifter part and why other shifters can't sense cat shifters like they can all other shifters. Apparently, cat shifters can sense other cat shifters but a bear shifter can't sense a cat shifter or even if they are shifters at all. Jesse's lineage is mentioned and then not brought back up until the epilogue but only as side note to the story and not something that I, for one, find rather important especially since the McAllister men are actively seeking out mates that aren't bear shifters.

I also think Bonnie's ex, Seth, is a wasted character. He was written to be one we wouldn't like yet his story had the potential to be quite tragic as it appears LGBTQIA+ shifters either don't exist (in a Don't Ask Don't Tell kind of way as long as they still do their duty to their family and breed the next generation anyway) or the author only writes a queer character to be a throw away. I think Seth had more depth than Jesse and was really underplayed within the book. I keep hoping I'll run across an M/M shifter romance by this author featuring Seth. It wouldn't be the first time an author could take a character not written as hero material and flip it to be an amazing story and a worthy hero. 

In a Nutshell: Even though I really didn't care for this book I will absolutely read the rest of the series and the author's other series as well.

Shelter for Sophie by Susan Stoker

Title: Shelter for Sophie

Author: Susan Stoker

Series: #8 in the Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes series

Genre: Romantic Suspense 

Publisher: Stoker Aces Production LLC (August 15, 2017)

Source: Kindle Freebie

Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: She’s shy, he’s stoic…not the hardest personality traits to overcome, but Sophie Carson and Roman “Chief” Proudfit have their work cut out for them.

Sophie has a crush on the silent-but-studly firefighter next door. She’s been pining away silently while secretly helping the hardworking man by mowing his lawn—which he thinks is being done by her nonexistent husband and/or boyfriend. He’s definitely not big on neighborly chitchat, but with her stutter, that suits Sophie just fine. But now a misunderstanding at a bar has put him even further out of her reach.

Roman’s difficult upbringing on an Indian reservation is a sore spot, so when he thinks Sophie is taking advantage of poor people for medical trials at her workplace, he lets her know exactly what he thinks. But when he discovers he misunderstood, he’s man enough to admit it…and also that he should have opened his eyes to his beautiful, sensitive neighbor sooner.

As the couple gets closer, each helping the other overcome lifelong pains, for the first time in years, Roman has something to live for other than his job. And, as he discovers when Sophie puts herself in danger, something even bigger to lose…

** Shelter for Sophie is the 8th book in the Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.

My Thoughts:  While I didn't fault the actual writing of the book (this being my first Susan Stoker book) I just had issues with the story. The characters were perfect. Sophie was beautiful with white, blond hair and blue eyes and Chief kept mentioning she looked like an angel. She helped underprivileged people, befriended the homeless, and mowed her neighbor's yard. To make her not perfect Stoker gave her a stutter. To make it even more annoying there was so much dialog with her stuttering her s's and m's in every line. Anyway, I really got tired of both the H and h being so perfect. Their relationship was even perfect. The relationship was really quite sweet, so it was startling when Chief dropped the F bomb. It just felt gratuitous, and I certainly wasn't expecting the pretty spicy sex scene with dirty talking. With sweet on sweet the spicy bits were jarring.

One last thing for a book with a Native American main character giving him a nickname of Chief is in bad taste. He's a firefighter but not the fire chief so the nickname makes no sense. Oh, but it must be ok because he said the nickname didn't offend him. Ugh!

In a Nutshell: Ok for a book that I really didn't like I'm not sure why I'm intrigued to carry on with the series. I love me some fire fighters and the skill in the writing sucked me in but make no mistake this book wasn't good.

Bears Behaving Badly by MaryJanice Davidson

 

Title: Bears Behaving Badly

Author: MaryJanice Davidson

Series: #1 in the BeWere My Heart series

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (March 31, 2020)

Source: NetGalley

Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: These social worker bear shifters give the term "mama bear" a whole new meaning! Bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson is back with this brand-new paranormal romance series featuring a foster care system for at-risk shifter babies and teens.

Werebear shifter Annette Garsea is a caseworker for the Interspecies Placement Agency. When a selectively mute and freakishly strong teen werewolf is put in her custody, Annette has to uncover the young girl's secrets if she's to have any hopes of helping her. And not even the growling of a scruffy private investigator can distract her from her mission...

Bear shifter David Auberon appreciates Annette's work with at-risk teen shifters, but he's not sure if her latest charge is so much a vulnerable teen as a predator who should be locked up. All that changes when he, Annette, and her motley band of juveniles find themselves dodging multiple murder attempts and uncovering a trafficking cartel that doesn't just threaten the kids, but risks discovery of the shifters by the wider world of homo sapiens.

My Thoughts: I really really really wanted to love this book. I didn't.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: So, I a long time ago I was in love once. In love with MaryJanice's sense of humor and everything Queen Betsy. Then over the years what was once an amazing love story between a girl and her fictitious besties The Vampire Queen and her consort Sink-Lair became a systematic relationship breakdown. I started to notice Betsy just wasn't who I thought she was. She's not a smart independent strong woman. She's actually quite distracted by shiny things and spends most of her time in her own head with internal rando thoughts. So, you may be asking, what does the Queen Betsy books have to do with the first book in the BeWere My Heart series...technically nothing unless you mistakenly confuse Annette Garsea with Betsy Taylor. 

You'd think a dingbat Vampire Queen wouldn't have anything in common with a professional social worker who takes her charges seriously, right? True story....unless you read this book and see every time Annette opens her mouth to speak, or worse yet witness all of her unsaid thoughts (the many many many internal musings)(in parenthesis)sometimes italicized but mostly occurring in the middle of another person's dialogue. She was freakin' Queen Betsy in a Werebear hybrid body!

The plot itself was fairly interesting....OK not the Annette wanting but not wanting to want David's body plot....which was what I interpreted as the main plot of the book but rather the plot of child shifter trafficking. That plot was actually really interesting but it was a very deep subject matter for such a lighthearted silly book and took a back seat to the sexual attraction between David and Annette.

In a Nutshell: Overall, I'm super disappointed in this book. I was looking for something humorous but better than the Queen Betsy books. I got a Queen Betsy book starring Shifters instead. I'm not sure I'll read the next book...maybe if it's free...even then, maybe not.

Testing the Limits by Kira Sinclair

Title: Testing the Limits

Author: Kira Sinclair

Series: Stand-alone

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Harlequin (January 1, 2014)

Source: NetGalley

Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Wanting him was wrong, but it felt so right…

Social worker Quinn Keller sees the best in people…and the worst. When she rescues a prominent businessman's battered wife, Quinn is targeted by the woman's violent husband. Her only option is to place her safety in the hands of Ranger Jace Hyland—tattooed, scarred, incredibly hot…and the brother of Quinn's deceased fiancé. An entirely different kind of dangerous!

Quinn is the woman Jace has always wanted—and she's strictly hands-off. But keeping her safe means taking her to his small apartment…and his bed. So for one unforgettable night, Jace will give in to the temptation he can no longer resist. One night of forbidden hunger. One night he prays will be enough to satisfy a lifetime of longing….

My Thoughts: Sometimes you really can judge a book by the cover. I've done it and won. Sometimes, like this one, a hot tattooed guy coupled with an intriguing synopsis proves, once again, you shouldn't. 

The Good, The Bad, And Everything Else: I rarely read Harlequin Blaze imprints. Mostly because I find many of them tend to have more sex and less character development and sometimes even less fully developed plots. In this case I should have stuck with my original thought pattern and skipped this one but first let's discuss the characters.

Quinn is a social worker and Jace is an MMA fighter and ex-Army Ranger. Honestly the set up couldn't have been better for me to really love these characters. Unfortunately, they are so consumed by guilt over the loss of Quinn's fiancé who happens to also be Jace's brother. The rehashing over and over about Jace taking on added responsibilities that aren't his cross to bear gets tedious. Also, Quinn's nonchalance attitude over an abusive man's threats to her, directly contradicted her characterization of a strong social worker who gives victims second chances at life. 

The plot is overshadowed by the sex within the book mostly because the synopsis clearly defines the book as a romantic suspense which is what I expected. The really great beginning fizzled and really made me scratch my head a bit as the suspenseful part failed to be brought up again until the 30% mark. At that point Jace and Quinn decided she'd be safer at Jace's apartment. This seemed a clunky way to get them to "have" to share a bedroom/bed as I really felt Jace, with his Ranger background, should have been able to protect Quinn in her own home without having to relocate to his apartment. Also, on a side note, if a crazy stalker man casually walks into your home to threaten you just to prove he can do as he likes the right response would be shout out to the hot Army Ranger just outside. You know...the one who was there to protect you??? Of course hot Army Ranger guy really couldn't protect Quinn as the bad guy literally kidnapped her in front of him. Um....I've never read a book with a special ops hero (either currently enlisted or retired) who wasn't capable of taking down a bully who only seems to be able to beat on women. What a rip off. I hope he never got tattooed....you know the Ranger brotherhood ones all special ops men tend to have....if he did he'd have to get it removed because he's a disgrace.

Ok I hated the characters. I equally hated the plot...because...what plot? The Quinn and Jace have sex plot? Since this was the only plot that seemed to have enough pages dedicated to it I have to assume this was the main point of the book. If you follow any of my reviews you should know I'm not all about sex just for the sake of it in my romances. Sex does not equal love no matter what some authors want you to believe. Kira Sinclair did not fall completely into this negative trope but since the footwork of the Quinn/Jace I love you parts happened off the page...we don't necessarily see them fall in love. It's just assumed with their history they've always kind of been there even though at the beginning of the book they admit to sharing semi-regular awkward meals together to keep up appearances of the brother and sister-in-law act. Highlight on the awkward part. 

In a Nutshell: What a stink-a-roo for me. I am not sure I'll pick up another Sinclair book even though some reviewers claim there are better books out there by her. I would stick a label on this book to my friends "Read at Your Own Risk" but may ask them to try it out just as an experiment of sorts. I want to know if I'm all alone in my dislike/hatred. Christina Out.

**Early Review** Texas Trouble by Gerry Bartlett

Title: Texas Trouble
Author: Gerry Bartlett
Series: #2 in the Lone Star series
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Lyrical Liaison (June 4, 2019)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Scarlett Hall followed a job and a friend to Texas, but that cost her more than she’d bargained for. Now, wounded but determined to get past one of the worst days of her life, she decides she has to pull herself together. First step: cover up the physical scars left from her ordeal. That’s easy. But the emotional scars are proving harder to handle . . .

Then she meets Ethan Calhoun. This bad boy seems ready to make his own changes and might be just what she needs to start a new chapter in her life. When he offers her a job as manager of his new bar, she decides to go for it. A change of pace and a hot guy who makes her forget her troubles while she’s in his arms are a great cure. But it soon becomes clear that danger will be in Scarlett’s life no matter how many changes she makes. As Scarlett comes face to face with her worst nightmare, it seems happiness was just an illusion. Maybe Texas is just too much trouble . .

My Thoughts: Ugh. This book took me forever to finish and honestly, I found various parts of it a bit ridiculous.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: The chemistry between Scarlett and Ethan was off the charts and their work time together was a nice way to develop the characters and their connection more. Even though Ethan's character sometimes felt too young. There were quite a few "baby brother" comments that just didn't bode well for Ethan's potential Book Boyfriend Roll.

I did feel that I was thrown into an already existing storyline as this book recaps Scarlett's PTSD from an event that happened, I'm assuming, in the first book of the series. I know reading series books out of order can be tricky and normally I would not do this but when I got the opportunity to review a Gerry Bartlett book I was excited. I've been hearing about this author for years and never read one of her books before. Unfortunately reading book 2 before reading the first book was probably not the best idea as this book definitely had a part 2 feel to it. As if this were a continuation of book 1 rather than it's own entity. Everything from the original terror Scarlett had when she was kidnapped in the last book to Scarlett and her brother Rhett's names. Why were they named after Gone With the Wind characters? I have no idea.

The suspense aspect was lacking as well. There was a convoluted feel to the suspense part because there ended up being 2 different sets of "bad guys" with 2 sets of motives/plot lines running simultaneously. None of the baddies really caused me to be on the edge of my seat with worry either. Leroy Simms, who is a cop killing psycho, kept having tender thoughts about his woman running amok in the "I'm going to torture and kill Scarlett" plot thread. I just couldn't find anyone to root for in the book. Yes I root for bad guys just as often as I root for the good ones.

In addition, there was a whole lot of He-man chest beating in the form of "I carry a gun. I just wish I Leroy Simms would make an appearance 'round here. I could use the target practice." type crap. Ugh!!!

In a Nutshell: Overall a rather disappointing romance which makes me a sad panda. I really wanted to like this book. I will give Gerry Bartlett another try but will definitely go with one of the Real Vampire ones and steer clear of these Rom/Susp books. They just aren't for me.

Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley

Title: Death Below Stairs
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Series: #1 in the Kat Holloway series
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Berkley (January 2, 2018)
Source: Library Find
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Victorian class lines are crossed when cook Kat Holloway is drawn into a murder that reaches all the way to the throne.

Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered.

Intent on discovering who killed the helpless kitchen maid, Kat turns to the ever-capable Daniel McAdam, who is certainly much more than the charming delivery man he pretends to be. Along with the assistance of Lord Rankin’s unconventional sister-in-law and a mathematical genius, Kat and Daniel discover that the household murder was the barest tip of a plot rife with danger and treason—one that’s a threat to Queen Victoria herself.

My Thoughts: While  much of this book is actually very well written I just wasn't as engaged as I could have been.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything In Between: A mystery set in Victorian times told from a servant's perspective was so great. Jennifer Ashley does a great job of researching her books. The details of Kat's cooking was so amazing I wanted to join the family eating it. Everything Kat prepared was well detailed I was a little surprised I had a hard time connecting with the characters. This is the first book in the series but it reads like book 2. I later found out there was a novella prequel but my library doesn't have it and $2.99 is just too much to pay for a novella, IMHO. I'm not a huge fan of novellas in general but dislike "having" to read one just so I don't feel lost while reading a a first in series? Thumbs down.

The mystery aspect happened about 1/3 into the book and even though Kat was determined to figure out who killed the kitchen maid (who had 3 different names just an FYI) nothing really came about it until the very end. A second mystery cropped up during the course of the book and all investigation ceased on the poor kitchen maid's demise.

The main characters remained a mystery to me even after finishing the book and I'm not even sure I liked any of them. As the book progressed we did get to know some of Kat's background but Daniel is an absolute enigma. Where did he come from? How did they meet and what caused them to be so enamored with each other? What is his real job? Some of these things could have been explained enough for me to determine if Daniel is even a worthy man. Worthy of Kat. Worthy of becoming a book boyfriend...yes this is an important thing. As of now, he isn't. I don't even know if he is a good man except Jennifer Ashley said he was.

In a Nutshell: The good, unfortunately, just didn't outweigh the bad for me in this one. I just don't see myself picking up the second book in this series but will definitely read more from this author.

Fragile by Lisa Unger

Title: Fragile
Author: Lisa Unger
Series: #1 in the Jones Cooper series
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Crown; (July 28, 2010)
Source: Library Find
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Everybody knows everybody in The Hollows, a quaint, charming town outside of New York City. It's a place where neighbors keep an eye on one another's kids, where people say hello in the grocery store, and where high school cliques and antics are never quite forgotten. As a child, Maggie found living under the microscope of small-town life stifling. But as a wife and mother, she has happily returned to The Hollows's insular embrace. As a psychologist, her knowledge of family histories provides powerful insights into her patients' lives. So when the girlfriend of her teenage son, Rick, disappears, Maggie's intuitive gift proves useful to the case--and also dangerous.

The investigation has her husband, Jones, the lead detective on the case, acting strangely.  Rick, already a brooding teenager, becomes even more withdrawn.  In a town where the past is always present, nobody is above suspicion, not even a son in the eyes of his father.

Determined to uncover the truth, Maggie pursues her own leads into Charlene's disappearance and exposes a long-buried town secret--one that could destroy everything she holds dear.

My Thoughts: While the ending was quite good the entire book was bogged down by an excruciatingly slow pace and so many characters it was hard to keep track of them all.

The Good: The last 25% of the book was quite interesting and Unger did a great job of wrapping things up in a very believable way. I actually enjoyed reading how everything was interwoven and discovering everyone's secrets. Of course by the time I got to the 75% mark I opted to skim read the last part to just get through it. This doesn't bode well for any book, IMHO.

The Bad: As mentioned above, the extremely slow pacing of the book made the first half seem overly long and really boring. In addition, Unger added almost two dozen characters, either by mention or by an actual appearance, which  made the first half confusing, not to mention there were no characters who I actually liked. Out of all of them! During the course of the book I thought about stopping the book and adding it to my DNF list several times.

In a Nutshell: Even though the ending was rather good I couldn't get over the first half of the book being so...well, not good. I usually give an author at least 2 tries but I'm seriously thinking of not picking up another Unger again, if this book is a testament to how she writes.

EARLY REVIEW: Christmas at Two Love Lane with Kieran Kramer

Title: Christmas at Two Love Lane
Author: Kieran Kramer
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (October 3, 2017)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: The best gift of all is the one you share with someone else. . .

From the moment he strode through the iron gate and into the offices of Two Love Lane on a crisp December day, it was obvious that Deacon Banks was something different. He wasn’t a Charleston native, not with that adorable Yankee accent. And unlike the usual client at the elegant matchmaking agency, he had no interest in finding a woman to marry—just a few no-strings dates while he was in town.

Macy Frost takes her professional services very seriously—how could she not, when she’s rumored to be a direct descendant of Cupid? Tech entrepreneur Deacon says he’s just trying to make his social-climbing aunt happy by being seen out and about with a few prominent beauties, but Macy insists she can make her client fall in love…for real. And Deacon can’t help but think she might be right. As charming as the palmetto trees and magnificent harbor may be, it’s the beautiful, breath-of-fresh-air Macy who’s become Deacon’s favorite part of the scenery. But can the hopelessly romantic Southern belle stop trying to fix him up and just let Cupid do his work on her own heart?

My Thoughts: I went into this book with so much excitement. It's a Holiday book! It's by Kieran Kramer! Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: The setting of Charleston is charming but the pace and the setting of the story makes this feel like a small town story. With Charleston being well over 100k people this felt a bit off for me even though I did like it. I love small town romances. I also liked some of the secondary cast of characters. Fran, Deacon's Aunt, was an interesting woman who stole the scenes she was in, and she was in quite a lot of them and George, her HouseBoy/Manservant, was a hoot . Unfortunately, I never really warmed up to Macy, or even her partners, Greer, Ella, and Miss Thing, or really many of the characters. There was very little background on them and very little divulged during the course of the book. What I got from Macy was she was perfect. She giggled. She was a professional (although the last thing wasn't demonstrated but repeated by Macy herself.) Her only imperfection is that she can't seem to let herself fall in love. She's a matchmaker who doesn't believe she can find her true love.

Anyway, I had a hard time getting into this book. It could have been the pacing, which seemed really slow. Or it could be everything was just so sweet. There wasn't any actual conflict. I don't consider Macy's wishy washy woe is me I can't fall in love ways conflict. I missed this aspect and felt the book suffered a bit without it. In addition, there were a couple sex scenes but they all began on page and finished off page. Very little details were included and I actually prefer a little more sizzle in my books.

In a Nutshell: Even though I really adore Kieran Kramer's historical romances I wasn't blown away by this Contemporary Romance and barely even liked it. Even though this book wasn't for me those who like just plain sweet CRs with a low heat levels might enjoy this.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

Title: The Girl With All the Gifts
Author: MR Carey
Series: #1 in the Girl With All the Gifts series
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Orbit (January 14, 2014)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

The Girl with All the Gifts is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman.

My Thoughts: I have a love/hate relationship with this book. There were parts I loved. There were parts I hated. There were parts I wished would just get over with quickly because I was bored....so bored during them. I read this with a friend who said "Hey, let's start a book club" then failed to finish the book and drove 1500 miles to get away from it. Technically it could have been his summer job in Yellowstone that drove him from our area but the coincidences are too great to ignore.

The Good: I absolutely love zombie books. Even when the book doesn't come out and say "I'm a zombie book" I'm pretty much hooked and going to enjoy it on a basic level. There is something about an apocalyptic event turning people to mindless flesh eating monsters that can be terrifying and totally awesome at the same time. So props to Carey for writing a book that I was super excited for and for making the first half of the book amaze-balls! I was in love with the carefully laid out plot and the idea that the children were not exactly children but weren't zombies either. What an freaking fantastical beginning!

What else did I like? Melanie. I adored Melanie. I liked seeing things from her perspective and her ability to understand she wasn't like Miss J or the doctor. I thought her character was amazing and her growth during the book was well thought out. Melanie was the book, in my opinion.

The Bad: The entire middle of the book bored me to tears. I couldn't care less what caused the apocalypse. I hated all the science-y mumbo-jumbo and honestly, I thought Dr. Caldwell's entire part within the book was boring and annoying. She made the book almost unbearable to me. How were we to believe she was working on a cure yet she didn't know any more about the thing causing the apocalypse than we did and kept ooooing and ahhhhing over the weird zombie plants. Not to mention she was TSTL (to stupid to live) and almost got the surviving handful from the base killed multiple times.

In a Nutshell: My experience was this book....I'm loving this book. Love it. Love it. Love it. I'm going to totally tell everyone to read this book! What's going on...what happened to this book?.....zzzzzzzzzz.....wha...what?....Did I miss something? nope...zzzzzzzz.......oh good she's finally gone....Well that's an interesting twist....That's the end? WTF? I don't know how I feel about this. If only my Book Club Buddy, KJ, would have finished this book so I can discuss it with him!!!!!!!

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.

Being Amber by Sylvia Ryan

Title: Being Amber
Author: Sylvia Ryan
Series: #1 in the New Atlanta series
Genre: Romance/Erotica
Publisher: Lyrical Press (March 27, 2013)
Source: Purchased/Kindle Freebie
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Jaci Harmon was born a Sapphire, but after she’s summoned to receive her final designation, the testing reveals she carries a gene slated for eradication. Within a day, she’s sterilized and dumped in the Amber Zone, where the damaged are corralled away from the rest of New Atlanta. Scared and alone, Jaci would rather die than face her future as an Amber.

Born in the Amber Zone, Xander Dimos is a product of a lifetime spent under the oppression of the Repopulation Laws. Decades of suffering have taught the Ambers to make the zone a place where touch, sex, and unconditional acceptance ease the pain of their fate. Jaci has a lot to learn about her new home, and it’s Xander's responsibility to guide her through the differences and the dangers safely.

With the simmering undercurrents of sexual chemistry growing between them, and in the midst of discovering the Gov’s true motives, Jaci and Xander must overcome his secret and accept their love as undeniable...even if the time allotted to share it is short.

My Thoughts: The Dystopian theme of this book really spoke to me. The world building was interesting and kept my interest throughout the book.

The Good Stuff: In the near future, when an influenza pandemic breaks out killing over 90% of the world's population our governments decided it was imperative they repopulate with only "perfect" specimens. Why is this good? Well, it's not but the world building surrounding this fact was actually really good. The government tests all humans as they become of age and determine if their genetic makeup is good enough to breed. If so they are designated an upper class. However, if they find a defective genetic marker the citizen is sterilized and designated Amber. This idea is truly terrifying. In addition to the Gov looking for potential unwanted genes, if you're IQ is low, you also get the boot to Amber. I have to really hand it to the author, she sucked me in to her world and I enjoyed learning about it. I also liked how she incorporated touching and comforting into the Amber world.

The Bad Stuff: Being an erotic romance there is quite a bit of sex. Now, erotica is not a favorite genre of mine and I don't read much of it but I didn't hate the sexual aspect of this book. However, the first sex scene happens rather quickly after we learn about Jaci's testing and subsequential fall to Amber so it feels completely out of place and it felt like I ran head long into a brick wall. Just a note, Jaci is not involved in the scene. In addition, the scene was a ménages à trois m/f/m and the author makes it a point to say that both men were for the female's pleasure as being gay and having gay sex were against the law. However, this apparently doesn't include sex between two women as this happens later in the book. This inconsistency really bugged me. Jaci's character was also not a great aspect of this book as she pulls several TSTL moments in a world she really knew nothing about.

The Stuff That Could Have Been Better: The mystery surrounding who was killing the fallows (those who were sterilized by the government) could have been fantastic. Unfortunately it took a back seat to an unbelievable romance that happened over an extremely short time. When the murderer was unveiled it was interesting but felt sudden and the reasons behind the murders are never fully explained. In addition, the fact that the Amber Zone is full of genetically unacceptable people and those with lowered IQs it made it seem really weird that the apartment building Jaci was assigned to was full of open door orgies. Where's all the creepy mutants? Wish this would have been explained better.

In a Nutshell: Despite the less than satisfying stuff I really did like the world Sylvia Ryan created and will probably read more in this series.

The Boss's Double Trouble Twins by Raye Morgan

Title: The Boss's Double Trouble Twins
Author: Raye Morgan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Books (November 6, 2007)
Source: Scribd
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Having the boss's twins!The last person Mitch Carver expects to walk into his office is Darcy--the woman who haunted his sleep for months. Despite the attraction, he knows they are just too different. She's happily ever after and he's here today, gone tomorrow.

Darcy Connors can't believe it! It's been hard enough trying to track Mitch down, but now she must tell her new boss that their weekend in Paris has turned into a lifetime commitment...and it's double trouble!

Mitch is about to trade in his playboy past for fatherhood and family!

My Thoughts: A typical category romance from Harlequin that I read for a team challenge I was doing. 

The Good Stuff and the Bad Stuff: While this was a short and sweet book I wish more of it could have involved the twins as the title would suggest. Although they are talked about frequently their actual presence in the book is pretty minimal which is a shame. The plot of the book appears to only be about reuniting two people and the setting could be anywhere. Darcy and Mitch spend a lot of time working but for most of the book I was clueless as to what they did for a living. The setting and the character's backgrounds (mostly Darcy's) could have been elaborated upon a lot more. I would have given this book another star if it weren't for Darcy's character. She puts a lot of expectations on Mitch and gets mad at him all the time because he doesn't express his love for the twins within a day of finding out about them. Completely unreasonable in my eyes which made it difficult for me to be happy for her when everything was wrapped up in a nice bow at the end. Mitch wasn't a whole lot better though. He went from being a wandering soul to professing his love, devotion, and his promise to never leave Texas in a matter of 2 weeks. 

In a Nutshell: My expectations weren't all that high when starting this book but the beginning was good and the ending came quickly. I might read another book by the author if I found a free copy somewhere.

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston

Title: The Unleashing
Author: Shelly Laurenston
Series: #1 in the Call of Crows series
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Kensington (March 31, 2015)
Source: Publisher Via NetGalleyPublic Online Library
Rating: ☕☕1/2
Synopsis:
WINGING IT

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.

In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.

But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

My Thoughts: While I admit to be thoroughly intrigued by the idea behind this book I am not completely in love the with the final result.

The Good: Among the over played vampire and werewolf themed paranormal worlds this was such an an interesting and fresh concept (if one overlooks the fact that this author wrote another book featuring the Crow/Raven world called Hunting Season in 2009). I love mythology and factor in that it is Norse mythology at that I could have seriously loved this book. The book starts out so good. Kera starts the book out with a bang and I just knew I was in for a treat. A truly Kick-Ass heroine, add a dashing hot viking of a man, stir in Norse mythology, throw in some snark and viola! A concoction of fabulousness! Not so much....

The Bad: As a romance I thought it fell flat. I think the book focused on Kera getting used to her new life rather than a substantial romance. They had quite a bit of sex but romance, not so sure about that.  I really think that there was enough conflict surrounding Kera that spreading her romance over the course of several books would have made for a stronger sense of commitment between the H/h. 

Speaking of her new life as a Crow...ugh! The crows reminded me of a bunch of bubble brained sorority girls rather than the intelligent adults they were supposed to be. Their sink or swim mentality on welcoming a new sister was seriously flawed and didn't endear them to me at all.

Let's talk characters! There is an extraordinary amount of characters in this book. I know in a first book there is an introduction phase where the author tries to establish their world and characters. However, it's important to not overwhelm the reader with dozens of people to remember. In this book, not only do we have to keep track of their first names but their last names too because the author will refer to them by first and then a paragraph later by their last name. This is further complicated by changing POVs throughout the book. It was sometimes difficult to know whose point of view we were now reading from one paragraph to another.

In a Nut Shell: Very little is ultimately resolved at the end of the book but I'm not sure I'm wanting to read another. I hate when a book has so much potential and fails so miserably. 

A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

Title: A Hidden Fire
Author: Elizabeth Hunter
Series: Elemental Mysteries #1
Genre: PNR
Publisher: E. Hunter; 2 edition (October 13, 2011)
Source: Purchased
Rating: ☕☕1/2

"No secret stays hidden forever."

A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mystery he'd abandoned years before. He never expected a young librarian could hold the key to the search, nor could he have expected the danger she would attract. Now he and Beatrice De Novo will follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, through the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation they never could have predicted.

My Thoughts: Oh where do I start? Did I love it. That's a big NO. Did I hate it. Not really. My feelings are right up the middle on whether I liked this book or not yet I found so much of the book annoying.

The Good, The Bad and the Other Stuff: Although this book is more than readable, the author's writing is not very polished. Granted this is her first book and some leeway should be given but in my opinion a book that fails to pull me in emotionally is not as good as one that does. The amazing part of  third person narrative is that we get to see our characters from the inside out. We read about their thoughts, their emotions and their actions which in turn lets us connect and identify with the heroine but often the hero too. Unfortunately the author didn't utilize this tool effectively. So much time is spent on the characters talking that we rarely saw the actual thought process behind it, making the emotional response of the character feeling disjointed and unnatural. The usage of an exclamation point doesn't come across as well as the description of a character's anger in many cases. In addition, I prefer to draw my own conclusion on how I feel about a character but many times I felt Hunter told me how I should view Beatrice. 

"She cocked her head to the side in an adorable gesture."

Adorable? To whom, exactly? If this were written as Gio thoughts it might have come across better to me. As it's written the reader is told that Beatrice (and her head cocking) is adorable. Personally, I find it adorable when a toddler cocks their head. I love when my dog does it. I'm not sure it's as adorable when a 22 year old does it.

Another issue I had was all the eye rolling, winking, and smirking going on in the book. Oh, the SMIRKING! Beatrice and Giovanni smirked. They smirked a lot. They smirked at each other. They smirked with others. They were the smirkiest smirkers to ever smirk. I only mention this because the repetition was extremely noticeable and brought my enjoyment level down even more.

Now before I go blowing a review into epic proportions I'm going to quickly mention these other things I found to be a negative within the book. The immaturity of the heroine. The mystery that really wasn't. The smarmy villain who apparently tortures people with boredom instead of scary vampiry things. The slllllooooooooowwwwww pace of the book that suddenly got interesting only to climax into nothing but another 40 pages of sllllllllllloooooooooowwwwwww boring stuff. A sudden declaration of Beatrice being a financial stock brokering genius 2/3 of the way through the book because the last chapter needed a financial stock brokering genius. A hero who treated the heroine like a child and said things like "Don't be naive." to the her on more than one occasion. No HEA or hot monkey sex. I could live without that last one if I felt the characters were more connected. Sure they had some hot kissing going on but where's the passion? Another example of the author telling us there is passion but not necessarily showing us. 

Now don't be fooled by all that. It wasn't a horrible book. The good stuff was actually really good. Despite me not connecting with Beatrice I did get a good sense of Giovanni. He wasn't immediately interested in claiming Beatrice for his mate or whatever she'd be because of her age which was such a good thing for me. Especially since I thought she wasn't a mature heroine to begin with. Elizabeth Hunter's vampires being tied to an element was a nice twist. Plus the secondary characters of Carwyn and Casper were really great. I actually found myself enjoying Carwyn more than the actual hero of the book. 

In a Nutshell: Even though I didn't enjoy this book as much as others did and rated it accordingly I think it's worth a read through and perhaps continuing on to book 2 also. With more experience I think Elizabeth Hunter could pen a phenomenal book so don't write her off just yet. I haven't.

 

Darkness Watching by Emma L Adams

Synopsis: Eighteen-year-old Ashlyn is one interview away from her future when she first sees the demons. She thinks she's losing her mind, but the truth is far more frightening: she can see into the Darkworld, the home of spirits- and the darkness is staring back. Desperate to escape the demons, Ash accepts a place at a university in the small town of Blackstone, in the middle of nowhere - little knowing that it isn't coincidence that led her there but the pull of the Venantium, the sorcerers who maintain the barrier keeping demons from crossing from the Darkworld into our own world. All-night parties, new friendships and a life without rules or limits are all part of the package of student life - but demons still stalk Ash, and their interest in her has attracted the attention of every sorcerer in the area. Ash is soon caught between her new life and a group of other students with a connection to the Darkworld, who could offer the answers she's looking for. The demons want something from her, and someone is determined to kill her before she can find out what it is. In a world where darkness lurks beneath the surface, not everyone is what they appear to be...

My Thoughts: A book with some really good ideas but bogged down with a slow pace, tedious dialogue and poor world building.

What Worked:  Ms. Adams' idea of a girl going into her last year of high school all of a sudden starts seeing demons had great potential. As did her constant feeling of coldness overtaking her. I thought the character of the Fortune Teller was interesting and I wished she had more parts within the book. Unfortunately this is about the extent of the positives.

What Didn't Work: The incredibly slow pace of the book had me setting the book aside more than a half dozen times for something more exciting. When Ash started seeing Demons, the author grabbed my attention but quickly lost it when I realized Ash just thinks she is crazy and just lives with it. Thankfully the author fast forwards to Ash starting at the university. Yet despite her seeing more demons and something called a shadow fox the pacing never really picks up. Instead, we are bombarded with uninspired dialogue and sketchy world building. Ugh, the world building! After finishing this book I'm still not exactly sure who or what Ash is, what she can do and why, if the Venantium is good or bad, how her "game society" friends were as knowledgeable as they are about sorcery (did they go to a special sorcery school? did their parents spend evenings and weekends teaching them to throw fireballs? etc), why Ash suddenly started seeing demons that she couldn't accept but within minutes fully accepts that she can do magic, why why why?

World building aside the characters also suffered. For the most part all characters were interchangeable (minus the bad guy which was very predictable by the way). Since finishing the book I can honestly say that not even one of those characters stuck with me. I can't even remember most of their names.

Listed as a YA and a New Adult book it hovers between the two without committing to either. The University setting pushed it a bit beyond YA yet the characters were quite immature in their "love interest" drama which felt more junior high to me. Although this book does not contain any sexual encounters, sex is mentioned and the characters randomly spit out a curse word every so often (except when I'd expect them to....like when a demon like creature jumps out of  a shadow and tries to kill them). There were other things that I felt contributed to this book just not working but I'll end the Cons with that.

In a Nutshell: This wasn't a bad book but it wasn't that great either. I, for one, will not continue on with the series. There are far too many great books waiting to be discovered for me to setting with another mediocre one.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Synopsis: She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would changed course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.
Her father was right. The monsters are real.
To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

My Thoughts: What started out as a really decent paranormal YA ended with a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of suppositions on my part.

What Worked: Gena Showalter's idea of 'Ghost' zombies is unusual and interesting. They are essentially soul eaters that infect the living. She wrote the idea very well and I never had any question as to their existence. It made sense and it was exciting but then it got muddled.

What Didn't Work: Although her zombie concept was great and well explained it appears that the readers of the series have to wait to see every other question answered as Ali, herself, figures them out. We don't know why some people can see the ghost-zombies and some can't. We have no idea how they have special abilities to fight them either. Alice is often reading a journal but we have no idea where it came from or who wrote it. We find there are beings called Watchers but don't know exactly what they are or how they came to exist either. So a biiiiiiiig minus in the world building column.

Also, some of the characters come across extremely immature. Ali's new friend Kat has secrets that are just silly to keep. It's not like she secretly killed her algebra teacher or anything. She also is pretty obnoxious which Ali just loves about her but she actually comes across as annoying. The two of them have a couple of friends who bail at the first sign of trouble and apparently come back with open arms when the coast is clear and yet, they still are friends. It's weird.

The relationship between Ali and Cole is pretty explosive too. Their chemistry is pretty intense and reading about her wrapping her legs around his waist as they kissed made me a bit uncomfortable because they seem so young. I know teenagers do make out (and more) but I thought this aspect of the book seemed out of place and a little more advanced than the rest of the book portrayed the kids. They did talk about sex a few times which could be seen as mature but as I mentioned it just didn't fit. By the way, one discussion about sex between Kat and Ali was just weird and I'm not sure why it was included except to bring Kat's untruths to our notice.

What REALLY Didn't Work: The title is Alice in Zombieland which leads readers to believe this just might be an Alice in Wonderland retelling. Not so much. There are some basic things, like our heroine being very blond and named Alice and she keeps seeing a white rabbit (in the form of a big puffy cloud) but the idea of Alice in Wonderland is more figurative and not literal. This will be a big turn off for those who would love a retelling.

In a Nutshell: Not what I expected based on the title. Because of this and the lack of explanation of a whole lot of concepts this book was a disappointment and I'm not sure I'll even pick up the next book.