Book Minx

Wow am I glad that I didn't start this series with Hunger Like No Other. The story starts out like a bad 80's bodice ripper. First, the heroine, Emma, is chased through the streets of Paris by a crazy man who captures her; then forces her to strip naked and jack him off in the shower. Crazy man turns out to be our hero Lachlain.

Lachlain has been tortured in the catacombs of Paris by vampires for the past 150 years and, as a result, has a healthy dose of hatred for them. This is bad because his fated mate just happens to be half vampire. So, Lachlain spends most of the book sexually assaulting Emma and being an domineering ass-hat, while Emma plays helpless victim and bemoans her weakness. She does eventually come into her own and kicks some ass but it's not until almost the end of the book.

The thing that ticked me off the most about Hunger Like No Other is that after all the crap Lachlain pulls concerning Emma he never atones for it. Yes, he feels bad, but the only thing he does to make up for being such a douche-bag is to buy her presents. "Hi honey, I'm sorry I sexually assaulted you! Here's a fruit basket? We all good?" 

However, even as Lachlain is trying to "make it up" to Emma for his behavoir he's still keeping her captive and getting her drunk so he can have sex with her again because she keeps turning him down. Uh yeah, that's still not consensual. Seriously, Lachlain just wasn't redeemed in my eyes and Emma's change of heart towards him seemed to come out of no where.

This book really managed to annoy me and the only reason why it didn't score lower is because Cole's writing style is pretty fantastic and funny.

I'm usually into gore, but this story is grossing me out and not in a good way. I think it's the combination of the story told from the zombie's perspective and the fact that I'm listening to it instead of reading it. Somehow my gore tolerance is better when I'm reading rather than listening or watching. I'll give this audiobook another hour, but if I'm still not into it I think I'm going to put it down.

This is part of Moning's Highlander series, but it really doesn't have much to do with the other books. Its super short (less than 100 pages) and a rather "meh" read.

Jane, a romance writer, has been dreaming about a Highlander named Aedan since she was a child. One day, Jane randomly receives a tapestry with Aedan's likeness stitched on it. It looks old and priceless so she decides it would be a good idea to take a nap on it. When she wakes up, she's suddenly buck naked in medieval Scotland. Apparently, the Seelie queen has transported her back in time to save Aedan from the Unseelie King. Aedan remembers nothing of his past and it's Jane's job to make him remember before the end of the month or else he has to return to serving the Unseelie king.

My biggest problem with this story is that very little is explained. There were a lot of unanswered questions like: What is with the Seelie queen and the Unseelie king's odd relationship? Why was a tapestry delivered to Jane? Was it a tool the Seelie queen needed to transport her back? And most of all what the hell is with the kitten that appears the moment Jane wakes up in the past? What function does writing about it serve? Is it for the cute factor? A spy for one of the Fae royalty? Is it evil and plotting everyone's downfall? TELL ME.

Aside from those annoyances the love story between Aedan and Jane was... okay. There were no road blocks in their relationship though so it got old pretty quick. Jane worked to get Aedan to remember and Aedan complied. That was about it. They weren't dull characters, just not all that memorable.

I would probably only recommend this to fans of Moning. I think anyone else would probably be bored out of their gourd.

Wow, talk about a huge change in rating from the first book to the second. This one left a rather foul taste in my mouth.

Shade is an incubus demon who was cursed by an angry warlock when he caught Shade diddling his wife. The curse is set to activate when Shade falls in love. When this happens he is doomed to fade into nothing, becoming a kind of tormented ghost. So, Shade has spent his life avoiding any kind of romantic attachments in fear of activating the curse. Which has apparently given him license to be a complete ass.

The story starts with Shade waking up in dungeon that he shares with an extremely pissed off female werewolf named Runa. Runa, our heroine, reveals that she had dated Shade for a couple of months and it ended badly. This is where my problem started with the book. It's no spoiler to tell you that Shade cheated on Runa since its talked about in the first couple of chapters. Runa came to Shade's apartment one day to find him in the middle of screwing two women. This definitely set the tone of the story for me. I absolutely cannot stand cheating heroes. Its one of my biggest pet peeves. I muscled through the rest of this book mostly because of how much I had enjoyed the first one. The only reason why this book is getting two stars from me is because I enjoyed the subplots going on. Otherwise, Shade and Runa's relationship just pissed me off. I didn't really like Shade. He cheated on Runa and was plotting to kill her through most of the book to save his own hide. And he did nothing to redeem himself. There was barely even an "I'm sorry" involved. Runa spent a very short time hating him and then she suddenly switched to professing her undying love and devotion. Girl needs to grow a stronger backbone and Shade needs a swift kick to the balls.

Anyway, Wraith's story is next in the series. I'll be picking it up mostly because I had it ordered before I read this one. Hopefully, its closer to being like Pleasure Unbound than this one.

Marjorie M. Liu could write a phone book and I would gobble that stuff up. This is one of those odd series were multiple authors write for it and I don't really have any plans of reading the other books, but this one stands well on its own.

There's a war brewing between vampires, werewolves, and humans. If the war happens humans will have the upper hand. The only way to prevent a massacre is for vampires and werewolves to form an alliance. The problem is, that there are some deep prejudices running between the two races. Despite the mistrust and hatred, the vampire and werewolf clans have decided to start negotiating on a peace treaty. However, several vampire murders threaten to end negotiations when it appears that a werewolf is the one doing the killing. In an attempt to save the peace treaty our heroes, Michael and Keeli, team up to find out who the murderer is.

Keeli is the the granddaughter of the werewolf leader and Michael is the vampires' executioner. This, combined with Michael's past makes him an outcast among his kind. Together they have to solve the mystery, while dealing with hostilities from both the vampire and werewolf clans.

Keeli and Michael's relationship was really interesting to watch progress. I loved that the conflicts of them working together and eventually having a relationship aren't pushed aside. The only thing I didn't like is how quickly they fell in love. It's only a a couple of days before they start declaring their love and that's a pretty huge leap considering how, in their world, that could mean the death of their social standings and possibly their lives.

Other than that this was a really great read. I only wish the ending didn't seem so rushed.

Brigg's Alpha and Omega series is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. The slowly evolving relationship between Anna and Charles is just so touching.

Anna, the heroine, was heavily abused by her previous pack. Even after being rescued by the merrick and his son, Charles, she's extremely leery around other werewolves. This includes Charles, who is her mate. Charles, for his part, is trying his best to make Anna comfortable and to earn her trust. However, a spurt of recent attacks near their home forces them into an investigation and hunt.

I adore that the romantic relationship in this story doesn't hinge on a love triangle and instead focuses on Charles and Anna dealing with their own personal demons. Also, the main plot surrounding mysterious attacks and the couple hunting the perpetrator through the snowy woods was just awesome. If you like Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series you'll love this one.

This is a fun read, if you're in the mood for a corny 80's romance. And when I say 80's, I mean the time period is extremely apparent. I was having some serious flashbacks with all the pop-culture references and picturing all the characters in typical 80's fashion.

Phillip is a stripper with a heart of gold. No, I'm not kidding. The book features Phillip, a blue blood, who has turned to stripping so he can save nature. The land on which Phillip's family home rests is apparently a hotbed for all kinds of furry creatures and he has made it his life's goal to keep that land out of the hands of evil developers. Even if, to do so, he has to shimmy around naked in front of a lot of women. One night, while shimmying, Phillip spots a woman in the crowd who clearly does not want to be there.

Enter Jennifer, the most timid and annoying character ever. Phillip is immediately intrigued and proceeds to ask her out the next day. Jennifer has a stick up her arse at first about dating a stripper but eventually says yes. Hijinks ensue.

This is a just a fun book. You have to do a lot of overlooking in it though. I had to ignore Jennifer for a lot of the book. She was one of the typical uber-sweet and innocent heroines that often get on my nerves.

Phillip was a fun character even if he was a little pathetic in his own right. I mean, come on, he chose to strip because it was the only open avenue to him? Please. The guy's family was rich, that comes with a certain amount of connections. Plus, he has a freakin PhD. You can't tell me that he couldn't get a job somewhere and just ask one of his friends to make sure no one screwed around with his property while he was away. But like I said, this was an entertaining book. And I'll admit it got some bonus points for Phillip having a pet owl named Chaucer.

Not one of Kenyon's better installments in the Dark-Hunter series. For once I didn't think that the two main characters were a good match for each other.

Susan used to be a hot-shot journalist who accidentally destroyed her career after she was given false information. Now she's working as a tabloid reporter and her most recent assignment is to investigate the cat-man of Seattle. The cat-man of Seattle turns out to be the dark-hunter/were-cat, Ravyn. After unintentionally saving Ravyn's life, Susan finds her world turned upside down. 

I didn't leave the book feeling like Ravyn and Susan were a good match. Susan was an excellent character, she was strong willed and intelligent. She also had a very fleshed-out background that explained some of her actions and feelings throughout the story. However, Ravyn fell flat. This is pretty unusual for Kenyon, as her heroes are typically the best part of the books. While I understood Ravyn's motives, I just did not feel attached to him and couldn't quite figure out why Susan was so attracted.

All in all, this story fell flat for me. The plot was a bit lack luster and the climax just fizzled out. Also, I really did not like the scenes with Ash and Artemis humpin. Seriously. Did we really need all of those? I got that Ash couldn't get away after the first scene detailing it. I didn't need it to be pounded into my head every couple of chapters. Aside from those complaints, I still enjoyed Kenyon's writing and will continue reading the rest of the series.

I picked this one up because I had been hearing so many good things about it. However, I could not get into this book. The story begins with Maddie, the heroine, just getting out of an abusive relationship and being fired from her job. On top of that, her mother has just died. Said mother left her and her estranged sisters in care of a dilapidated inn. Maddie immediately latches onto the idea of fixing-up the inn and reopening it, but there's the problem of not having the money to do the necessary repairs and the fact that her sisters all want to sell it.

While there is a lot of time spent talking about fixing the inn and arguing about selling it, it's not really the important part of the plot. In fact, the majority of that time felt like filler or a plot device used for the unveiling of the "big deception" that was the climax. In fact, I can't for the life of me remember what the sisters decided to do with it at the end. Did they decide to fix it or do something else with the land? No idea.

The main story revolves around Maddie's relationship with local good guy, Jax. I will admit that Jax was one of the highlights of this story. His character was interesting and I enjoyed his relationship with the locals. However, the development of his relationship with Maddie was too instant for me. She had just gotten out of an abusive relationship, lost her mother, and lost her job. Yet almost the second she steps foot into town her and Jax have their hands all over each other and its the focus of most of her thoughts. But okay, I could've handled this if Maddie was an interesting character. Unfortunately, she fell flat. One of my biggest pet peeves in books are heroines who are so sweet and sacrificing that they would make Snow White look evil. And that's the vibe I got from Maddie. There were no edges to her personality and it really detracted from her character.

The other large issue I had with was how contrived the relationship between the sisters was. All of them have hardly spoken for years and there was clearly a lot of animosity between them during those years; yet within an hour of being together they all seemed like BFFs. This, combined with how much time the author spent on establishing each of them, made it painfully obvious that Shalvis had plans on writing sequels for each and was just setting that up.

Despite all my gripes with the book, I did enjoy the setting a lot. The small East coast town in the middle of winter was really lovely. However, I highly doubt that I'll be continuing with this series.

Wonderful start to a series! The tone of this book reminded me of a cross between the early Anita Blake series(the first book is: Guilty Pleasures) and Patricia Briggs' Alpha & Omega series (Cry Wolf).

Someone is trying to frame werewolf Rule Turner and homicide cop Lily Yu gets put as the lead detective on the case. However, things get complicated when Lily finds out she's Turner's chosen mate.

Wilks does an interesting take on the fate mate trope. Turner and Lily do not automatically fall in love, in fact Lily tends to feel trapped by the mate bond. Especially since there's a lot about it that she doesn't understand. So, like in Briggs' series, there's a lot of trust to be built and the romance is very slow burning, which I really enjoyed.

I also loved the grittiness of the Lupi world. Like in Hamilton's series, the supernatural community is integrated within the human world, but there's a lot of conflict and prejudice between the two. This book takes place at a crossroads where its no longer legal to brand shifters or shoot them on sight, but there's still not many laws that protect them and people still largely fear anything not human. Its an interesting set-up for the rest of the novels and I can't wait to continue reading about Lily and Rule.

Confession, I love the movie Labyrinth in unnatural and fan-girlish ways. So anything with goblins that sounds like it could remotely remind me of the movie, I will give a shot. And that is why I picked up The Goblin King. Was the book anything like Labyrinth? No... well except for the part about the Goblin King granting wishes and abducting a woman, but that's about as far as the similarities go.

Centuries ago, King Roan was cursed by a Druid who believed that Roan had sold out their country. The curse banished Roan and all his men to the Shadowlands where their souls would slowly wither until they turned into goblins. Only Roan and his brother, Dai, have managed to survive the curse but each of them feels that their days are numbered.

In the "Fixed Realm" (aka: modern day reality) Eliza is blackmailed into an engagement with a sociopath. After getting drunk off her ass at her birthday party she remembers an old fairytale her mother used to tell her about the Goblin King and calls him. Roan answers the call and promptly decides to kidnap Eliza. A lot of back and forth between the Shadowlands and the Fixed Realm ensue.

It was so refreshing to see mythology outside of vampires, werewolves, and fae used in a paranormal romance. Husk was not afraid to make her goblins ugly and terrifying looking.

Additionally, Roan and his brother Dai were pretty great characters. However, Dai definitely stole the show for me. The only big problem I had was that Eliza fell a little flat as a character. She had the potential to be really interesting and to grow by getting herself out of the shitty relationship she was in but instead Roan ended up fixing it for her. It also annoyed me that Eliza never took initiative throughout the book. Events happened to her and all around her but she never did  anything by herself under her own motivation. Something would happen and she would just sort of go with the flow. I would've liked to have seen her take control of her life rather than always getting saved by Roan.

I have to admit, I went into this novel with rather low expectations and am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the story. However, I'm unsure if I'll continue reading the series.

Attachments is set in the year 1999 amidst all the Y2K craziness. During this time, technology was taking off and most companies began scrambling to find ways to monitor their employees' computer activity. Fear of slacking off at work and using company time for illicit internet viewing made many employers hire IT people to monitor the worker's online activity.

Lincoln is one of those IT people. His job consists of basically three things; reading red flagged e-mails, fixing occasional computer problems, and being bored out of his mind. He hates his job. The late hours and reading other people's e-mails makes him feel like a voyeuristic troll. Despite his aversion to the job, he can't help but enjoy reading the red flagged e-mail exchanges between employees Jennifer and Beth.

Attachments alternates between Lincoln's story and the e-mails between Beth and Jennifer. Lincoln eventually develops a crush on Beth despite never having seen her and eventually travels out of the basement to figure out who she is.

All in all, this is a pretty sweet story. I was a little leery at first since the plot sounded like it could easily venture into creepy stalker territory but luckily, it managed to avoid that. Lincoln's interest in Beth felt like a crush you'd get on an oblivious co-worker and I thought him reading Beth and Jennifer's e-mails was handled really well.

Lincoln was definitely the highlight of the book for me. Still reeling from his break-up with his longtime girlfriend, Lincoln took the job in the IT department thinking of it as something temporary until he figured out what to do with his life. Incredibly shy, Lincoln has a hard time branching out and meeting new people. He has his small group of friends and family, but otherwise isolates himself from the rest of the world. Throughout the novel, we get to see him build up his confidence and find direction in life.

In contrast to Lincoln, Beth is outgoing and doing a job she loves. However, we only get to know Beth through her e-mails with Jennifer and this started to annoy me as the story progressed. While I enjoyed the e-mails, I wanted to know more about Beth and Jennifer than what you could get through their correspondence. Both of their characters were great and I got sucked into their individual stories. So, I would have liked to have seen a couple of chapters from their points of view interspersed throughout the novel.

All in all, this was a pretty fast and light read. I would recommend it to people who enjoyed Bridget Jones's Diary, Meg Cabot's non-young adult books, or Jennifer Crusie's writing.

The Fairy Godmother is set in a place where a powerful magical force called “The Tradition” forces people to live out fairy-tales. What this means is that anyone whose circumstances resemble that of an already existing fairytale, "The Tradition" intervenes and makes it so that their lives turn out like the original tales (Brother's Grimm version, not Disney). For some people that’s good, because it ensures a happily ever after. However, for others it's a death sentence.

When The Tradition saw Elena Klovis with her wicked stepmother and step sisters, it decided that she’d be her kingdoms Cinderella. Except The Tradition doesn’t always check to make sure everything is in place for the fairytale to work, because Elena’s prince charming is only 11. Thus, she's screwed.

I loved Elena. She’s smart, witty, and knows what she’s doing. She doesn’t sit around and bemoan her bad luck when things go wrong in her life. Instead, she sets out to change what’s wrong. So, when her step-mother decides to head off to greener pastures, Elena sees it as her chance to finally escape. Unfortunately, The Tradition is still working on Elena and this does not go with the Cinderella lifestyle it has picked out for her. Just when Elena’s almost given up hope, a old lady shows up revealing herself to be Elena’s fairy godmother who offers Elena a chance to take over the job. Elena doesn’t want to go back to her old life, so accepts almost point blank.

I really enjoyed the world Lackey built here and, as usual, her leading heroine was fantastic. Watching Elena learn to manipulate The Tradition to help people was a lot of fun and I loved all the classic fairytale aspects peppered throughout the story.

However, it felt like everything was resolved a bit too easily in the end, but that’s really my only complaint, because the rest of this book was great. I will look forward to the rest of the series.

My main worry when starting Goddess of Spring was that it was going to take one of my favorite Greek myths and just decimate it. While it did fluff a lot of things up to fit it into the romance genre, I was pretty pleased with the overall story.

Lina is a baker who has fallen on hard times. To save her bakery, Lina makes a deal with Demeter to switch bodies with her daughter, Persephone, and spend time in the Underworld with Hades.

I enjoyed that Lina is not the young inexperienced heroine you often see and that she had a confidence in her abilities. She also has a weird connection to animals. Typically, the Snow White "all the animals are my friends" trope doesn't work for me but I actually enjoyed it here. Mostly because I could understand why Cast gave Lina the ability. Lina is in a goddess’s body with “special powers” for 75% of the book and so she needed to have at least one ability to do something that was all her own so she wouldn’t fall into Persephone's shadow.

The only real problem I had with the book is that Cast loves her pop culture references, this can really get on my nerves and yank me out of the story. For instance, throughout the book there were a bunch of Batman references in connection with Hades that drove me insane. I really did not like having images of Hades as Batman shoved down my throat. Especially since when I think Batman, I think Adam West in his brightly colored uniform.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Excellent start to the series! I had been holding off on reading this book (despite hearing all the hype about it) because I'm not all that big into historical romances anymore. However, Firelight managed to stay away from most of the tropes that annoy the shit out of me in that genre. This, in large part, is due to the book being primarily a paranormal.

The story starts off with your average Beauty and the Beast set-up: a woman is forced to marry/live with the Beast due to her father being an idiot. But I give Callihan kudos for not making Miranda a misty eyed doormat or the Beast, Archer, a giant ass-hat. In fact, Callihan gives Miranda one hell of a backbone and some kick ass powers to go with it. I loved how pro-active Miranda was about her relationship with Archer and the mystery of who is going around killing people. I also adored that Miranda isn't a virgin. That was so refreshing to see.

*Rating is only for the Shelly Laurenston story*

Loved this short story! I think this is now one of my favorites by Laurenston. Set in the 1970's and centered around Dee-Ann's (Big Bad Beast) parents, Eggie and Darla, this was a really fun romp. It was great to see a different perspective of one of the most feared characters in the series. Eggie was really endearing in his awkwardness around Darla and I only wish that the story was longer so we could've spent more time with this couple.