Review: The King's Ransom

The King's Ransom book 2 by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Obviously, the second book in this series is just as good as the first one. 

Gabriela Rose is asked to help out hr ex-husband Rafers' cousin, who has gotten in big trouble at the bank where he works. It seems that some important art objects that the bank has insured are missing. And since Gabriela can find almost anything, she is on the job.

Once again, Gabriels and Rafer, plus his cousin, are flying all over the world to hunt down three art objects. The first is pretty easy to find; the second, a golden coffin, well, not so much.  And this is a problem because someone else is looking for it also! Tall, dark, and handsome spells trouble for Gabriela!

Now come to find out that this was not a simple theft but something much larger and deadlier.

I love all the crazy secondary and tertiary characters in this book. The different countries are wonderfully described, as is the food in each. I also love that Gabriela can get herself out of trouble, is a kick-butt woman well-versed in guns, knives and martial arts.

She doesn't need a man to save her.

The story ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger (sort of) with a hint of romance with the tall, dark, mysterious stranger.  

If you are thinking that this is going to be like the Stephanie Plum series, I would say that, except for the humor, Gabriela has it all over Stephanie.  

*ARC was supplied by the publisher  Atria Books, the author, and NetGalley.

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SUMMARY: "“Thriller master” ( Mystery and Suspense Magazine ) Janet Evanovich takes readers on a global hunt to track down missing masterpieces in this action-packed and steamy sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller The Recovery Agent .

Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can’t seem to lose her gorgeous-but-infuriating ex-husband Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in trouble…big trouble.

As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world’s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. It seemed like a low-risk, high-reward business move, so he jumped in with both feet. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing and worse, there’s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious crime.

Gabriela knows what she must travel around the world with Rafer to find the missing works of art, keep Harley out of jail, and save both his skin and his bank. Along the way, she’ll encounter corruption, threats, murder, mysterious dark forces behind a global conspiracy to destroy the world’s wealth, and a nefarious villain who will stop at nothing to bring the world to the brink of ruin.

Review: Nash Falls

Nash Falls by David Baldacci
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've read and enjoyed a lot of Baldacci books in the past, but there is something about this book that gives me the feeling that he didn't really write it. Or at least all of it. It took me forever to read it, and it was not a book that "I couldn't put down". It was a book that was easily put-downable!

There are just too many gaps in the plot, too much repetition, and having a cliff hanger just makes me angry. I don't like being taken in by an author who just wants me to buy the next book.

*ARC supplied by the publisher Grand Central Publishing, the author, and NetGalley.

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Summary: "When Walter Nash is recruited by the FBI to help bring down a global crime network his life is turned completely upside down in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.

Nash is an intelligent man, tough but fair-minded. He has a wife and a daughter and a very high-level position at Sybaritic Investments, where his innate skills and dogged tenacity have carried him to the top of the pyramid in his business career. Despite never going on grand adventures, and always working too many hours, he has a happy and upscale life with his family.

However, following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Sybaritic. At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.

Review: Magic Breaks

Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kindle Edition (edit)
Review
Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews ( Finished hard-cover copy ready for publication) Includes short story Magic Tests.

Magic Tests (at the end of the main book) is all about Julie and the fact that she is checking out a new school to go to. This story takes place before the events in Magic Breaks. It is a really wonderful story that shows Julie in all of her magical glory and the fact that her apple did not fall far from the tree, even though she isn't Kate's natural daughter. She is being tested in a most unusual way - by hunting down a missing student.



No Spoilers

Wow…this book is just WOW!

If you have been a fan of the series and have followed the series from the start and if you have followed the Andrews BLOG at all or even the gossip, you will know that this was supposed to have been the last book in the series. This one would have been the final confrontation; the one that ended the sweet anticipation of what will happen when Kate finally confronts her father Roland. Luckily, for us the series has been picked up for more books.

This book starts off very interesting - it has a 'Character List' though not one that includes every character from every book. Mostly they are the characters that will play a huge part in this book. It is very handy to have.

Then we have "From the Journal of Barabas Gillliam" which is invaluable in bringing the reader up-to-date on the series, or you can rather consider it a refresher. Told in a totally different voice than Kate's book (more like Curran's voice), it was a blast to read.

An interesting quote from this journal is the last line---->

"There is a storm gathering on our horizon. We will make a stand, but I wonder if it will matter in the end."



This book is what other authors have tried to do and failed miserably. When one story ARC ends, they should have been able to slip over to something new but these other authors just could not manage it. The Andrews do manage to do so and do it flawlessly and seamlessly, with style, skill and panache.

That is not to say that this book was utterly perfect. There are some tiny problems that I personally had with some of the story telling. Some parts had been dragged out until I was started to get frustrated. My heart can only take so much! Thanks to the Andrews team deft skill they know just when to add some of Kate’s and Curran’s snarky humor to lighten up an almost overly tense scenes.

While it is true that the main story ARC has reached a finale of sorts, (and not in the way I would have expected or liked, but in a better way) it opens completely new and surprisingly interesting possibilities for the series. This is going to be great! I cannot wait to see what is going to happen in the next few books that the team has been contracted to write!

This book has some very fantastic character growth for many people. Unfortunately there are no deaths of anyone very significant…hint, hint. We do finally get to meet Roland and he is not as I (or Kate or Curran) expected…well at least not totally. He is actually a better character than the one I had imagined. He is someone that I think I will enjoy trying to figure out and reading about in the coming books. Combine Evil with Ward Cleaver and you get Roland…sort of. If you can imagine a Father like this you have Roland!

There is a lot going on in the time the story takes place and it is a much shorter amount of time than you can imagine.

I am so itching to add some real spoilers, but that would just be so wrong of me. ;-)

SPOILERISH------------>

Readers should not be surprised at how this book ends. Kate and Curran had talked about something like this once before in a past book. As a matter of fact, it was Curran who made a suggestion to Kate similar to what happens here.

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Review: The Reluctant Reaper

The Reluctant Reaper by MaryJanice Davidson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my! This is MaryJanice at her finest, in my opinion! I haven't enjoyed a book so much since her first Betsy Taylor Vampire novel.

This is an excellent blend of Underworld Gods and Goddesses, romance, and a huge mystery.

I really hope that there will be another book starring Gray and Amara. I have already put this book on my comfort shelf and will soon be re-reading it to pick up on all the nuances I may have missed.

I'm not going to summarize the book for you since the actual book summary leaves nothing out.

I connected with the characters of Gray and Amara, even though I have very little in common...especially with the "Reaper Lite" as Gray calls Amara. Amara really wants to bypass her family legacy, but tough nuts to that. Destiny calls, Amara steps up, and voila!

*ARC was supplied by the publisher, Blackstone Publishing Inc., the author, and NetGalley/Edelweiss/ATTL.



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SUMMARY: "From bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson comes The Reluctant Reaper, a delightful romantasy—with a twist—featuring Death’s daughter.

What’s a death god to do …

A lot of twentysomethings might look forward to inheriting the family business. Amara Morrigan’s got zero interest in hers. The mantle she stands to assume is currently worn by her father, Death.

Amara’s childhood included helplessly watching as her best friend and her favorite teacher were taken away. She knows her dad didn’t do it on purpose … it was just their time. But Amara refuses to accept the job. It’s bad enough that she can sense when the final moment will be for anybody she meets—including her best (and only) friend, Gray. He knows who she is, and he’s cool with it. And though he’s the funniest, kindest, most understanding guy she’s ever met, she can’t allow him to get any closer (however much she might want to), because his moment is coming all too soon.

But now her father is dying. Ominous portents she can’t ignore pull Amara home to Minot, North Dakota, where Death is comatose—something that shouldn’t be possible. Thank all the gods that Gray refuses to be left behind. Amara’s mother is a mess, and Gray gives her somebody to cook for while the other death gods are gathering.

Alas, there’s not enough lefse in all of North Dakota to fix the situation. With their options waning, Amara agrees to (temporarily!) take up her father’s mantel—but she has to figure things out, and fast, because there is no way she’s doing this forever.

Review: The Twilight Before Christmas: A Novel

The Twilight Before Christmas: A Novel by Christine Feehan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I suppose that this is going to be a re-issue since the original book was written in 2003.

The romance part of this book kind of annoyed me. It was super saccharin sweet, and if I heard Matt say how slender Kate was one more time, I may have plucked my eyeballs out! It was steamy, though, so a lot of readers are going to love that part!

However, the mystery and paranormal aspects were excellent. Having all of this happen during the Christmas season was risky for Ms Feehan, but it worked beautifully.

I haven't read the first book in this series, so I really don't have anything to go on.

ARC supplied by the publisher Simon & Schuster, the author and ATTL/Edelweiss.


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SUMMARY: "A passionate and paranormal novel of love and mystery at Christmastime from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author and “magnificent storyteller” (RT Book Reviews) Christine Feehan.

Kate Drake, a well-traveled bestselling novelist, is one of seven sisters…who just happen to be witches. When she returns to her small coastal hometown before Christmas to attend her sister’s wedding, she decides to settle there permanently after discovering a charming but run-down historic house. She’s determined to open a bookstore there and sets about clearing it out when an earthquake occurs, knocking down part of the wall and revealing a burial crypt.

Intrigued but cautious, she turns to a handsome carpenter but she begins to sense that neither the carpenter nor the law nor any otherworldly power can help her reign in the evil that was released from the crypt. She will have to summon all of her supernatural power—and that of her six sisters—to destroy the sinister force that is casting a dark shadow over her hometown in this novel where “dark suspense and sensual romance coexist…in unlikely but perfect harmony” (Publishers Weekly)."

Review: The Inheritance

The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had to think about this book long and hard before I gave my opinion. It was pretty different than what the Andrewses usually write. Perhaps we can call it a mix of the Kate Daniels series, with a lot of the Innkeeper Chronicles, and a dash of Hidden Legacy thrown in. Without romance. Or a male at all until the end—and then not in a romantic way.

There isn't a lot of backstory, so you are pretty much on your own through most of the book. Some things do get explained later in the novel, and perhaps more will be explained in future novels.

What is the same is that we have a magic user, Ada, who, due to unfortunate circumstances, is left in a breach alone with just a K9 companion. Also with her are a lot of monsters. She miraculously gets a game put in her head, which gives her even more magic and even lets her speak to alien species. Imagine that! She can now use a sword too! The dog is also being changed by this "breach" -or whatever you want to call it.

I will read the next book, but I have to admit that these series are all starting to sound alike. Unfortunately, past series are being forgotten without conclusions for these "new" ideas. Sad.

What I did love about this is we get reintroduced to the Lee's from the Innkeeper series.



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SUMMARY: "We are at war. The interdimensional invasion brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke talents slumbering deep within us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Every day new gates open, leading to breaches filled with monsters and valuable resources. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you were born to be.

Adaline is a Talent. Ten years ago, she had a happy marriage and a job she loved. The invasion shattered both. Now she works for the government, searching the breaches for magic metals and medicine to help Earth repel an interdimensional enemy. Two kids, one cat, bills, benefits, mortgage and school tuition...Risking her life became routine.

She had gone into the dimensional gates hundreds of times. She was always well protected. This time everything goes wrong. Now Ada is trapped in the labyrinth of alien caves unlike any other. Her only companion is a scared German Shepherd named Bear. Together they must uncover the breach's secrets and escape, because Ada promised her children that she will come home.

The future of humanity depends on it.

Review: Blind Date with a Werewolf

Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have never read any of these stories because I don't normally buy anthologies, so all of these stories, 5 in all, came as a surprise to me.

I enjoyed some more than others, although they were very similar---meet date, have a fight with a magical creature, vamp, Fey, etc, and Asil still wants to die until he meets someone new (and magical) and holy heck did he AND his wolf ever fall fast!

Thank goodness, because I was at the point where I thought Ms Briggs should just kill him off. He was really starting to get on my nerves.

I hope that we get another book in this series, and the rest of the pack can meet Ruby and we can see if his wolf has stayed in communication with Asil.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out just who his Concerned Friends were, and it looks like I'm going to have to reread the series so I can figure out just who exactly this person fits in with the rest of the pack.

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SUMMARY: "When the deadly werewolf Asil is gifted five blind dates by some anonymous “friends,” his reclusive life will never be the same, in this enthralling novel in stories from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson series.

Includes two all-new stories as well as three previously published stories.

Dear Asil:

We are worried about you. A werewolf alone is a sad thing, especially at Christmastime. So we have a challenge for you: five dates in three weeks. We have taken the work out of it and connected you with five people from online dating sites. You should also know that we have informed the whole pack and instigated a betting pool. Have fun!

Sincerely,
Your Concerned Friends