Perdition

by Ann Aguirre

Series: Dred Chronicles (#1)

Published by: Tantor Media

August 27th, 2013

Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy

Format: Audiobook

Source: Library Loan

Rating: 4 Stars

WELCOME TO HELL

The prison ship Perdition, a floating city where the Conglomerate’s most dangerous criminals are confined for life, orbits endlessly around a barren asteroid.

Life inside is even more bleak. Hailed as the Dread Queen, inmate Dresdemona “Dred” Devos controls one of Perdition’s six territories, bordered on both sides by would-be kings eager to challenge her claim. Keeping them at bay requires constant vigilance, as well as a steady influx of new recruits to replace the fallen. Survival is a constant battle, and death is the only escape.

Of the newest convicts, only one is worth Dred’s attention. The mercenary Jael, with his deadly gaze and attitude, may be the most dangerous criminal onboard. His combat skill could give her the edge she needs, if he doesn’t betray her first. Unfortunately, that’s what he does best. Winning Jael’s allegiance will be a challenge, but failure could be worse than death…

This was a very interesting read. We have this bunch of criminals that love a good fight but that have banded together to defend their territory in the hopes of having at least a good night's sleep and a meal.

Dred is a great ruler that helps these convicts with their desires for fighting by hosting rivalry matches and other methods that keep the men occupied and out of their heads for a while. When new "fish" come along the different territories vie for the chance to recruit new and able bodies to help defend the territory.

This was a very interesting story because every character, including the main couple, is a criminal.

I liked the story and the characters. I liked the plot and its twists. I think the author did an excellent job with this story and how all of the details fell into place. I do have to say that I did not expect that ending and I can't wait to see what comes next for this lot. I have never rooted so hard for criminals like I've done with this book.

April 22, 2019 No comments

Butterface

by Avery Flynn

Series: The Hartigans (#1)

Published by: Entangled: Amara

July 30th, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: eBook

Source: Free on Amazon

Rating: 5 Stars

It’s true. I’m not what most people would call “pretty” and, well, high school was rough. Fast forward ten years and life is good…

Until a bunch of jerks think it’s hilarious to put the “butterface” (AKA me) on a wedding Kiss Cam with the hottest guy ever—and that old humiliation hits hard.

I recognize him immediately. The sexiest cop in Waterbury and totally out of my league.

But then he kisses me.

And we totally forget the room, the crowd, everything.

Then he tells everyone we’ve been dating for months.

Soon everything starts to feel too real, from adorable fights over “necessary” tools to fix my broken porch to surviving a free-for-all dinner with his six siblings to picking up where our last kiss left off.

But there’s something he’s not telling me about why he’s really hanging around, and I’m pretty sure it has to do with my mob-connected brothers.

Because this is not a make-over story, and Cinderella is only a fairy tale…

I'm doing the romance-opoly challenge and one of the categories we have to read a book that was recommended by one of the hosts of the game. I chose to read the second book in this series. After rolling my dice I thought I had landed on this spot so I started reading that book only to realize at about 2% that I had landed on the wrong spot.

What I read from that second book I really loved and I can't wait to read it. Then I saw that this first book was free for a few days so I decided to read this one until I can start again with the second book.

I have to say that I am not disappointed. I loved this book from beginning to end. I mean, talk about plain Jane.

Gina is a wedding planner who all her life has been called a butterface. She has come to terms with her being a plain Jane but every once in awhile she is reminded of it. One such occasion is the wedding that she has been planning for a cop.

At the wedding reception, there is a kiss cam and she ends up in it with one of the guests who is another cop. This specimen of a man being detective Ford Hartigan.

From there on it is a mix of funny, exasperated moments where I didn't know if I wanted to clobber these characters or sigh in contentment. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series or more from this author.

February 27, 2019 No comments

Love Letters to the Dead

by Ava Dellaira

Published by: Brilliance Audio

April 1, 2014

Genre: Young Adult

Format: Audiobook

Source: Purchased

Rating: 5 Stars

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person.

Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead - to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse - though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven't forgiven?

It's not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was - lovely and amazing and deeply flawed - can she truly start to discover her own path.

In a voice that's as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl's journey through life's challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty.

First of all, I would like to apologize for not putting it in the review of a book last week. But I was dealing with some news story from Puerto Rico, which had me very worried and a little sad. The news was that my mother found another mass that might or might not be cancer. Never in my life have I felt so powerless. I, who reside in the United States, receive news as this one falls apart. She is a survivor of breast cancer and liver cancer for more than 20 years. The good news is that later this week she received more results from the biopsy, and it is not cancer. However she still needs surgery, but despite all for me this is great news.

Returning to the subject of books, this book has been published for several years, more precisely in 2014, and as always was in my TBR. As my mood took me to the point that I was a little melancholy for the news that I received. This book, what can I say about this book ... It is not something that is used to. The point from which it is counted is through letters. Not as always we see that it is a person we are used to. I love him in that aspect to begin with. It is a sad story but at the same time of courage and of many willpower.

It is not easy to be at a point where you just follow by inertia. Where everything seems to be wrong and you have to put a smile on your face even if everything is wrong in your life. Where you have to smile so as not to worry other people. This book is great, it's very emotional. I cried like I did not cry with a book. I highly recommend it and not only because it makes you depressed because you believe me will make you cry, but because it has a story to tell and which we have to learn.

With this been said I want to thank the people who care and show interest in these things. And some last words from the bottom of my heart fuck cancer, my prayers to all that families which are going through this. And for those families that passed and are going through as the story of this book. You can get it for free when you subscribe to audible.

November 26, 2018 No comments

Today we have the blog tour for NEVER LET ME FALL by Abbie Roads. NEVER LET ME FALL is a psychological thriller in the Fatal Dreams Series and available for purchase on all retail outlets!

Never Let Me Fall
by Abbie Roads
Series: Fatal Dreams (#3)
Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca
November 6th
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (via InkSlingerPR)
Rating: 4 Stars

Seeing is believing...

Thomas Brown can't see color, but he can see people's true souls. His abilities allow him to work with criminal investigators and deliver justice to families of the wronged. And he's starting to accept that his life will forever be in black and white... Then he encounters Helena Grayse, and everything changes. She brings vibrant color to his world, and he brings acceptance and belief to hers. But Helena's past is quickly catching up with her, and Thomas is in the crosshairs. As an enemy hidden in plain sight threatens their every move, they'll have to rely on their love to beat the darkness.

First of all, I want to mention that even though this book is the third in a series you can read it as a standalone. Although it is so well crafted that you get curious about the couples on the first two books if you have not read them, which I haven't, which I definitively will.

This is the story of Thoma's Brown, the brother of Evanee who is the heroine of the previous book, and Helena Grayse, a convicted felon.

From the moment this book started the night before Helen's release from jail to that final scene on the porch I was hooked. This story was so convoluted and full of twists and turns that surprised me at every time.

Helen and Thomas have both been thru a lot of trauma from a very young age and that is something that connects them on a level not seen but felt. But there is much more than connecting them and that more than anything is what saves them time and again.

There was just something about the story that left me filling left out. I felt like something was missing, or it was there and I couldn't see it, that didn't let me completely enjoy the story. But whatever it was I guess it was just my problem and I recommend this book to anyone who likes their romance with a sprinkle of paranormal on it.

Disclaimer:

This copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review for an InkSlingerPR blog tour. This does not affect my opinion of it or the content of my review.

EXCERPT

Thomas walked through the granite garden, looking for an open grave. His mother’s grave. Cold air stung his face and seeped in around the collar of his coat. A chill sliced across his shoulder blades—part cold, part dread.

Trees dotted the landscape, their naked branches spearing the clouds. The sky above and the land below shared the bland, gray color he’d come to associate with winter in Ohio. Grass crunched under his feet and looked as desiccated as the bodies planted beneath it. Nothing was more depressing than a cemetery in winter. Would it look more alive with color? Was the sky really blue, while all he saw was gray? Were the gravestones a motley of different types of granite instead of the same dull color? Was there beauty here while all he witnessed was drab and dreary?

It was so frustrating not being able to see what everyone else saw. As if the world had a secret and wouldn’t share it with him. He clenched his hands into fists.

Clng. Clng. Clng. The sound of metal clanging against metal sounded loud as a church bell in the quiet cemetery.

Across the endless sea of gravestones, Thomas spotted a canopy erected to protect the mourners from the elements. The fabric flapped and snapped in the wind. A metal grommet hitting one of the legs made the endless clng, clng, clng noise. The sounds grew in volume, became unnaturally loud. He reached up to cover his ears. But before he could get his hands into place, his vision winked out. Gone. Blackness.

He just stood there. Frozen. Not from fear, but from acceptance. He was blind, and he should be freaking out. But then, blinding himself had been something he’d contemplated in his darkest moments. He’d always thought blindness would grant him an odd sort of relief. No more gray existence, no more seeing the shadow of death. Ignorance really could be bliss, right? The only thing that had kept him from following through was not wanting to be dependent on anyone for anything.

Light flashed in his dark vision like far-off lightning. His sight blinked back on. Everything was the same. But everything had changed.

He still stood in Sundew Cemetery, but it was as if everything around him had faded into the background and a spotlight gleamed on a woman in front of him.

She stood no more than fifty feet away, a beacon of light, a burning flame that he couldn’t look away from.

Her body was bundled against the cold, her thick, black coat zipped up over her mouth with the hood pulled down over her forehead. The tiny bit of skin he saw was the palest of—his mind searched for the name of the right color—pale peach. Her skin was pale peach. Pale. Peach.

Holy motherfucking son of a bitch.

He saw color. Color. She brought vibrancy to his gray existence. And she carried no shadow of death. Not even a wispy hint. If love at first sight existed, he loved her for these gifts.

At this distance, it should be impossible to see the color of her eyes, but they were gold and shining right at him, locking him in place with their brilliance, their luminescence, and some ethereal quality that made him think of purity and perfection.

Call it instinct, call it pheromones, call it instant visceral attraction—his dick went hard.

“Thomas? Are you all right?” The question he’d been asked too much lately punched him in the head, breaking his attention on her.

Sound clicked back on. He heard the canopy flapping and the metal clanging. Almost as if his body was working in slow motion, he turned his head, absorbing a world that was alive with vitality for the first time. He felt like a kid who’d just learned to name colors. Brown grass. Green canopy. Red scarf.

Audie stood outside the canopy wearing the same getup as last night. Only now Thomas could see the hat and scarf and mittens were bright red.

Thomas raised his hand in a gesture somewhere between wait-a-minute, a wave, and what-the-hell. Audie smiled, his wrinkled face conveying a wordless understanding. That was why Thomas always liked the guy. No explanations, no empty phrases needed. And it didn’t hurt that he looked like Gandalf.

Thomas turned back to the woman, but she no longer stood there. She was walking away, carrying an aura of color with her. The sky above her glowed a sweet, watery shade of blue, the grass under her feet a subtle tan, and the grave she passed was a pinkish granite. Holy shit. It was all so beautiful, but then his gaze locked on the erotic sway of her hips.

Without warning, his mind flashed him images of her in his bed and him being mesmerized by her golden eyes, her matching gilded hair, and all that creamy, warm skin surrounding him, holding him tight. Without ever seeing her face, he knew she would be beautiful, so lovely that it would hurt to gaze anywhere but upon her.

There was the before her part of his life. Now there was the after her part of his life. And he couldn’t let her go. He needed her in every sense of the word—emotionally, physically, sexually. He wanted to be underneath her, on top of her, inside her. He wanted to surround her, swallow her, take her into himself and keep her there. Forever. Always. A-fucking-men.

He ran after her, opening his mouth to shout her name, but… He didn’t know her name. Yet he felt like he should know it. And know her. She was his other piece. She completed him. Healed him. Made up for all his deficiencies.

“Thomas? What are you doing?” Pastor Audie yelled. The concern and worry riding along the old man’s tone was more effective than diving headfirst into one of the granite markers dotting the cemetery.

What was he doing? Chasing after some random woman in the cemetery who obviously had no reaction to him. If she’d felt even an ounce of the connection he had, she wouldn’t be walking away.

He stopped running. But the urge to keep going pushed him forward a few more steps. He grabbed on to a gravestone to keep from following her. His heart rammed against his sternum so hard it threatened to knock him to the ground. It hurt—physically hurt—to watch her walk away, taking color and beauty with her, leaving him alone inside his gray existence once more. It felt like she’d amputated half of his soul, leaving him with the phantom pain of what could have been. A cold heaviness settled over him. He felt as dead as the stone he clung to.

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About Abbie Roads

Abbie Roads loves Snickers Parfaits and acrylic pour painting. It’s her new obsession. The pour painting. Not the parfaits. Though the parfaits would qualify as an obsession too. She spends her days a mental health counselor always looking on the bright side, but at night she likes to write dark and dangerous things—with kissing and sexy times. She loves reading inspirational quotes and stories about serial killers. She is married to her favorite fellow and they have two cranky old rescue dogs that are not spoiled. Not at all. Okay. Maybe a little. Alright, the dogs are terribly spoiled, but they do give lots of cuddles and kisses in return.

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November 07, 2018 No comments

Read and Gone

by Allison Brook

Series: The Hunted Library Mystery (#2)

Published by: Crooked Lane Books

September 11th, 2018

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Format: eARC

Source: Publisher (Netgalley)

Rating: 4 Stars

Seven-million dollars' worth of missing gems bring Carrie Singleton's long-lost and larcenous dad back into her life and it's up to Carrie to clear his name.

A devoted dad is as precious as diamonds, but Carrie Singleton wouldn't know since her dad Jim's been on the lam most of her life. In an unusual family reunion, she finds Jim breaking into her cottage in the middle of the night. The fun really starts when he begs her to help him recover his half of a seven-million-dollar gem heist he pulled off with the local jeweler, Benton Parr. When she refuses, Jim takes off again.

Carrie finds her father again behind bars for the recent murder of Benton Parr. Who made the connection? Unbeknownst to her, Carrie's boyfriend Dylan, an insurance investigator, has been searching for the gems. Determined to find the jewels herself, she starts examining every facet of Parr's life. She turns up a treasure trove of suspects, one of whom bashes her on the head as she's searching the victim's country cabin.

Retreating to the quiet confines of the library where she works, Carrie watches as Smokey Joe, the resident cat, paws at a hole in the wall. Is he after the library's ghost Evelyn, or something shinier?

The book takes place a few weeks after the first one and this time Carrie is helping her dad clear his name. From the moment Jim reenters Carrie's life it goes downhill for her happiness and well being.

There are many revelations that sent her on a roller coaster of emotions that makes you want to get in the book and smack her upside the head. I found myself engrossed into the story and wanting to know everything quickly. The speculations this lady comes up with have you mistrusting everyone and their cat but at the same time makes you wonder why she's working as head of P and E at the library and not as a detective.

I am intrigued by Evelyn and all her fashion stuff. I love uncle Bosco and aunt Harriet and Smokey Joe too! Such an adorable cat and smart to boot.

The only thing that I found not liking was the fact that at the end of book one Carrie and Dylan were starting to get involved and in this one, they are an item. I feel like I missed something (just the romantic reader in me I guess). Although I am happy that we get to learn a little bit more about Dylan and his work.

I am seriously falling in love with this characters. I can't wait to read more and get to know this characters better.

Disclaimer:

This copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of it or the content of my review.

Reading Order & Buy Link

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October 13, 2018 No comments

Branded Captive

by Addison Cain

Series: Wren’s Song Book (#1)

Published by: Author

July 16th, 2018

Genre: Fantasy

Format: eARC

Source: Publisher (via Hidden Gems Books)

Rating: 5 Stars

Wren can't sing like a bird. She can't speak at all.
The Alpha kingpin and his pack didn't buy the Omega to hear it talk.

Disclaimer:

This copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of it or the content of my review.

OMG! I couldn't stop reading this book and sadly for me, it ended to fast. Left me wanting more and more. This story is a perfect naughty story -if you can read between lines- you will understand. It’s about Wren and no one, not two but 3 alphas. But here is the interesting part, dear Ms. Cain you just spin completely the concept about Omega for me. Wren is an Omega! This review has spoilers, now you are warned it’s up to you if you want to continue reading otherwise you can jump right away to the last paragraph for my opinion -Don’t say later I didn't give enough and fair warnings.

Wren was sold to an Alpha by her father and then he rejected her, marking her as defective, and she was cast to Warrens, a wasteland where death and despair exist. She is a scavenger and trades for what she needs for herself and the two boys, Alec and Mikael. But when the boys are missing, she knew she has to go into the tunnels and find them. Wren will sell herself to protect Alec and Mikael, but in the process, she will discover more about herself too, and in spite of it all, she finds pleasure in submission.

About this 3 sexy, hot and steamy Alphas. There is Caspian the leader, the second Kieran and their third in command Toby -Maintenance please come clean my keyboard for drool all over it-. Like good brothers they share everything including their taste for woman -I am talking about Wren here-. Can I ask Santa this 3 for me, please? *more drool*

For those who don't like to read spoilers but can't resist and can't help themselves on reading them anyhow, please raise your hand *I have mine up*; What are your thoughts? Wants to read it?. For those who follow my warning and jump to this paragraph this story is a darkest sexual fantasy that you will be enjoying. This author was a genius!! She get's a slow clap from me -I think I've been watching too much of Grey's Anatomy- Very well develop and everything fit perfectly. This book is a must read and will not disappoint you! That is a promise from me. I can't wait to read the second book!

September 04, 2018 No comments

Accidentally Married to...a Vampire?

by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Series: Accidentally Yours (#2)

Published by: Forever

March 5th 2013

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

Rating: 3 Stars

THE DETERMINED VAMPIRE: Niccolo DiConti has faithfully served as leader of Her Majesty’s army for over a millennium, but he’d rather sunbathe in the Sahara than spend another grueling day under his demented queen’s command. However, no one has ever left her side and lived to tell. So when a powerful goddess prophesies he will meet his salvation—a human woman he must turn into a vampire with her consent—he eagerly rises to the challenge. After all, how hard could it be to seduce a human female into taking the immortal plunge? Harder than he thinks. Because his mate won’t be born for another three centuries, and when he wakes up in the goddess’ tomb, not only is his life a mess, but his destined female isn’t about to settle for a coldhearted vampire. Can he win her over before it’s too late? Not if his enemies have anything to do with it.

AN UNWILLING BRIDE: On the night Helena Strauss meets the fierce, devastatingly handsome vampire who saves her life in the jungles of Mexico, she knows her world will be forever changed. Because an attraction this mind blowing only comes along once in a lifetime—or existence. And when he claims she is his one true mate, destined to be his for all eternity, it’s a fairytale come true. So what if her knight in shining armor is a vampire? Nobody’s perfect. But discovering the powerful, overbearing immortal doesn’t “do love”? Deal breaker. Helena will flee and set out to accomplish the impossiblexsever the otherworldly bond between them. And it turns out, Helena is just the leverage Niccolo’s enemies need to break the mighty warrior and wipe out his people.

This book was one surprise after another. It was really painful to watch Niccolo try to stay true to the prophecy and not give in to his "male urges", specialy when Helena didn't make it easy. I like the story's plot and the background story of the characters.

I was not expecting a lot of the things that happened on the story (e. i. Reyna and Andrus) and was surprise with the ending.

Cimil is bonkers and I can't wait to read her story. Half the things she says are crazy babbling but make me laugh so much that I don't care! And I look forward to see what is to come for the future as the series progress.

June 06, 2018 No comments

A Most Scandalous Proposal

by Ashlyn MacNamara

Series: A Most Series (#1)

Published by: Tantor Media Inc.

February 26th, 2013

Genre: Historical Romance

Format: Audiobook

Source: Library Loan

Rating: 4 Stars

After watching her beloved sister Sophia pine over the ton’s Golden Boy for years, Miss Julia St. Claire has foresworn love and put herself firmly on the shelf. Unfortunately, her social-climbing mother and debt-ridden father have other ideas, and jump at the chance to marry Julia off to the newly-named Earl of Clivesden…the man of Sophia’s dreams.

Since resigning his Cavalry commission, Benedict Revelstoke has spent his time in London avoiding the marriage mart. But when he discovers that the Earl of Clivesden has set Julia in his sights, Benedict tries to protect his childhood best friend from the man’s advances—only to discover more than friendship driving his desire to defend her. He surprises them both with the force of his feelings, but when she refuses him and her father announces her betrothal, he fears he’s lost her forever—until Julia approaches him with a shocking scheme that will ruin her for all respectable society…

…and lead them into an exquisite world of forbidden pleasures.

I liked so many things about this book but since it was an audiobook let me start with that. I loved Veida Dehmlow and how she did the different character voices. I also thought as soon as she started narrating that she had the perfect voice for this type of books. She sounds like she lived in the times the books are set in. I just loved everything about that and I will definitively add her to my very short list of narrators I like.

Next, I'll mention that I loved the fact that we had the main story of Julia and Benedict and then we get a "short story" integrated into the main tale about Sophia and Highgate. I like this fact because I didn't want Sophia to suffer because of not having the man of her dreams.

Lastly, I'll talk about Benedict and Julia's story. I find that a book that is friends to lovers has to be well crafted because more often than not the authors start the book with the friendship going strong and as it transitions to something more either the friendship is gone or the friendship is too strong and you can't see the characters as something else but friends. This book didn't have that problem and I was able to see Benedict and Julia's friendship blossom and become something more at the same time the friendship was there on the background although not overwhelming the romance.

I was also a bit sad that Julia and Sophia's mother was such a vain person although we see throughout the book that she's not a bad person, just a victim of the circumstances of her birth and what the Ton thought was a proper lady and such.

I will be reading the next installment of this series for sure.

June 03, 2018 No comments

Love Means...No Shame

by Andrew Grey

Series: Farm (#1)

Published by: Dreamspinner Press

September 14th, 2009

Genre: GLBTQ Romance

Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

Rating: 2 Stars

Geoff is in the city, living the gay life to the hilt, when his father's death convinces him to return to the family farm. Discovering a young Amish man asleep in his barn, Geoff learns that Eli is spending a year away from the community before accepting baptism into the church. Despite their mutual attraction, Geoff is determined not to become involved with him, but Eli has discovered that Geoff shares his feelings and begins to court him, neatly capturing first Geoff's attention and then his heart.

Their budding relationship is threatened by closed-minded, gossipy relatives and the society at large, a whole new world to Eli, and he must decide whether to return to the community, his family, and the world and future he knows or to stay with Geoff and have faith in the power of love.

I started this book loving the story but as it went on I started to lose enthusiasm. I liked that it was told on 3rd person POV and that it got us started with a little background story in Goeff. I loved the fact that it wasn't insta love (nothing wrong with that but most books have it) and that it took many months for the characters to act on their attraction.

I started to lose hope in this book when it took too long for them to act on their attraction. They had meaningful kisses, explosive kisses even, that were orgasmic as the author described them and then...nothing. No heavy petting, no rubbing, nothing. It took until after 60% of the book for something to actually happen and then it was just once or twice and then the book was done.

Also, there was the fact that the author kept writing that Eli "vibrated". It always made me think of BOB. Seriously just say he shivered or something. He's not a cat!

I liked the story and I found some interesting things in it but please I need more sexy times and less blah blah time thank you very much.

May 22, 2018 No comments

Death Overdue

by Allison Brook

Series: The Hunted Library Mysteries (#1)

Published by: Blackstone Audio

October 10th, 2017

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Format: Audiobook

Source: Loan from Library

Rating: 4 Stars

Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut until she's offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death fifteen years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies.

The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in and Carrie feels responsible for having surged forward with the program despite pushback from her director. Driven by guilt, Carrie's determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it's the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.

From beginning to end this book was a masterpiece in the mystery of who the killer was and it had me guessing at every turn who it might have been. I really liked Carrie and her aunt and uncle. I really felt the family bond and even when her uncle Bosco might have pulled some strings she was an excellent choice for the library position.

It was really funny every time Evelyn (if I'm not confusing the ghost name here (which I think I am)) popped in to say hi. I also found myself wanting to know more about Dylan, the gracious landlord. That sure was a very mysterious character.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read more of this genre. This is just the second Cozy Mystery book I've read and I can say that I like it better than the plain ol' mystery books. Plus I really liked the narrator which is good since I have trouble finding narrators I like.

April 28, 2018 No comments

Lure of the Dragon

by Anna Lowe

Series: Aloha Shifters: Jewels of the Heart (#1)

Published by: Twin Moon Press
April 18th, 2017
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Free (Amazon)
Rating: 3 Stars

Good dragons? Bad dragons? Twenty-four hours ago, private chef Tessa Byrne didn’t know about the terrifying world of shifters. Now she knows too much, like the fact that a ruthless dragon lord is determined to claim her — forever. Tessa flees to Maui, where sunny skies, swaying palms, and a handsome stranger conspire to play tricks with her heart. Can she truly trust Kai Llewellyn and his band of battle-hardened shapeshifters to save her from a gruesome fate?

"Don’t trust a human, and never, ever fall in love with one." Those are lessons Kai learned the hard way. But Tessa is different. Her emerald eyes mirror the mysterious pendant she wears, and her flaming red hair makes his heart race. Is his inner dragon just greedy for a new kind of treasure, or is Tessa his destined mate?

I struggled a bit with this book. I have been reading it for about 6 months and just now finished it. I liked the plot of the story but there was something in the writing style that didn’t let me got into it.

Tessa is running for her life after discovering that there are more things in this world than humans. She is a private chef and was contracted to prepared dinner for a wealthy man that got obsessed with her as soon as he saw her and locked her up after transforming into a dragon in front of her. She is helped by another shifter and sent to Maui for protection.

Needless to say her protectors are shifters too and one of them (Kai) is her mate. What they don’t know and learn piece by piece is why Morgan was so obsessed with her.

A lot of times the chemistry between the main couple wasn’t there for me. There were a lot of thing that were rushed and others left in the air (or maybe they are there but as I wasn’t to into the story I didn’t find them).

I did like one of the other characters and I might try the second book just to see it it was just me that was not in the right mindset or not.

January 07, 2018 No comments