Kiss of Temptation: A Deadly Angels Book by Sandra Hill Edition: Mass Market Paperback Price: $5.99
The Cover Is Sexy, March 26, 2013 This review is from: Kiss of Temptation: A Deadly Angels Book (Mass Market Paperback) Kiss of Temptation: A Deadly Angels Book by Sandra Hill I am not so sure just what kind of book this is supposed to be. I really wanted to like this book. I knew that after the first one in the series, I just had to give this author a second chance, and I am sorry I tried. I will never get these hours back. I loved the Vikings during the earlier part of Ms Hill's career, I tolerated them from Ms Hill's second part of her career but had started to get annoyed with them. Now in this part of Ms. Hill's career I can definitely say that I have had enough. I mean it is bad enough these are sexist, clueless, horny, teen-ager acting violent men - but now stick the wings of an Angel and the fangs of a Vampire on them, call them vangels and you have a whole new level of cringe-worthy action. There is very little action, very little character building, a LOT of sexual innuendo, some religious theory, some clichéd antagonist's, and the idea of Ivak gleefully and constantly thinking about "near sex" was just repugnant. (Why not just call a `dry hump what it is?) This was not the "sexy, sassy, witty" style of novel I have come to know and love from this author. *ARC supplied by publisher*

		And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake: Rhymes With Love by Elizabeth Boyle Edition: Mass Market Paperback Price: $7.99
Charming, March 26, 2013 This review is from: And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake: Rhymes With Love (Mass Market Paperback) What sounded like a pleasant light read for me, was really nothing like I thought. This is the second book in this series and unfortunately based on this book I most likely will not be reading the first one. But that is just how I feel about this type of book personally. Miss Dale is taken in by a jest, an advertisement the "Mr. Dishforth" did not place, looking for a sensible woman with which he may share dialogue with marriage possibly. Nothing like both characters starting of a relationship, even if it is only by pen - with a huge lie. But then again, if not for the lie there would be no book! Of course neither of these people knew that they were corresponding with their respective hated enemies. Someone with whom their families will never forgive them for if they form the least little tendre for.families have been feuding with. This sounded like a good premiss, but I found the characters to be a bit insipid and with straight and very stiff sticks up tier bums, the mystery to be silly,and the oh so correct language of the day to be a little bit much. *ARC supplied by publisher*

Wolf with Benefits (Pride, #8)
by Shelly Laurenston

5 of 5 stars

Wolf With Benefits –Shelly Laurenston

Although this book is part of a series, I had only read one of the previous books in this series and yet I had no trouble diving right in and becoming engrossed with this story.

I loved this book. It was nothing like I expected and everything I could have hoped for in a read that is meant to make you forget the horrors of your own life for a few hours! This book hit all the perfect buttons –it was funny, light, complex in parts, sexy, mysterious, sexy, and had extremely cute kids that were obnoxious but saved from that point that you want to smack them, by Ms Laurenston’s light pen.

Toni has always taken care of her more brilliant younger sisters and brothers. She really has never had a life of her own. For a while I didn’t like this book because what kinds of parents leave it up to the eldest daughter to raise their 10 kids? Then I realized that these are not ‘people’ as we normally think of them. They are shape-shifting creatures with a completely different outlook (animalistic) on life. Once I got beyond that point this became the perfect read.

The sex was sexy and quite descriptive, but not to the point of vulgarity, just very adult. However while you are inundated with lustful thoughts, the actual sex doesn’t happen until you are well over halfway done with the book.
There is a wonderful little secondary story with Toni’s younger and more evil sister which looks as if it may be an ongoing plot line down the road.

There are so many wonderful secondary and tertiary characters that it appears as if we will be lucky enough to have this an ongoing series for a very long time.

If you like this book, or any of the shape-shifter books by Ms Laurenston, then you really should try her other series which she writes under the name of G. A. Aiken about shape- shifting dragons in medieval times. This Dragon series is as funny and sexy as this one.

		Damocles by S. G. Redling Edition: Paperback Price: $8.97
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Book You Will Re-Read, March 20, 2013 This review is from: Damocles (Paperback)One novel I had read a long time ago "Contact" by Carl Sagan set the standard for me for books from this genre. Of course in that book as well as many others that have followed almost always have us Earthlings making contact on our own planet. This is the first time I have come across a book in which the Earthlings make the first contact and the planet they land on has not ever space traveled. This was a wonderful novel that kept me engrossed the entire way and in fact, I wish it were an even longer book so I could see what happens to everyone. The characters are complex and the author takes pains in proving that though the Dideotans are similar to us, yet in their own subtle ways they are vastly different. We get a good description of the natives but it still boggled my mind, so I never really had a clear picture of them. I did get a feeling that they were more like us than I thought but even though they had a lot of technology, they were still a few rungs below us on the physical evolutionary ladder. It is not until the last couple of chapters that I did have my suspicions confirmed. The book did get a bit bogged down in the complexity of what these two `sides' had to do just to start to communicate and the lack of communication did get a little frustrating for the reader. However, if the author had simplified it in any way I think that the purity of the story would have been compromised and it would not have been such a thought provoking novel. I think if you give this book a chance, it will grab you and not let you go until the very last page.

		A Matter of Trust (A Mia Quinn Mystery) by April Henry Edition: Hardcover Price: $14.69
Wow!, March 19, 2013 This review is from: A Matter of Trust (A Mia Quinn Mystery) (Hardcover) A Matter of Trust by Lis Wiehl    "When life is murder, who can you trust? One minute Mia Quinn is in her basement, chatting on the phone with a colleague at the prosecutor’s office. The next minute there’s a gunshot over the line, and Mia listens in horror as her colleague and friend Colleen bleeds to death. Mia’s a natural for heading up the murder investigation, but these days she has all she can do to hold her life together. As a new widow with a pile of debts, a troubled teenaged son, and a four-year-old who wakes up screaming at night, she needs more time with her family, not less—and working Colleen’s case will be especially demanding. But Colleen was her friend, and she needs to keep her job. So she reluctantly teams up with detective Charlie Carlson to investigate Colleen’s death. But the deeper they dig, the more complications unfold—even the unsettling possibility that someone may be coming after her."     Wow - this seems as if it is going to be a series I can really sink my teeth into. I am very surprised that with all of the books that this author has produced that I have not read anything by her yet. I am so glad I have now and I hope her past books live up to this one. With this book, book 1 in this new series, we get to meet Prosecutor Mia Quinn and Detective Charlie Carlson - they seem to be the people we are going to get to know the best as this series progresses. This book opens with Mia on the telephone with her good friend Colleen, another member of the Prosecutors office. They are chatting about life and the tag sale they are going to be having. Suddenly Mia hears a gunshot, a gurgling and Colleen doesn't speak to her again, then life goes to Hell a little more. This was a great, well thought out and well plotted mystery. It really kept me guessing since I truly suspected someone else throughout the entire book, than who really `did it'. The characters come alive and we learn a lot about Mia and her family. We learn a little less about Charlie, but I figure we will be learning more about him as well as some of the others members of the Prosecutors office as the series goes on. The characters that we do meet, are well fleshed out, believable and mostly likeable. I didn't spend a lot of time while reading this thinking that their actions are inane or unbelievable. The novel is set at a pace that keeps you flipping the pages faster and faster, nearly tempted to skip to the back of the book to see who and why did it.

		With This Kiss: Part Two Offered by HarperCollins Publishers Price: $0.99
A Definite Re-Read!, March 19, 2013 This review is from: With This Kiss: Part Two (Kindle Edition) There really is no sense in trying to re-write the synopsis for this part of this novel. The novella is so short that I might spoil it for you. But I will say this - this section of the book was something that I have never read in a historical romance before and I don't think could ever be copied again! This novella is both sexy and romantic. Hot and exciting. You almost feel like this is the end, but it isn't. You still have one more novella to go next week. With This Kiss: Part Two This was an interesting but slightly annoying idea for a book. I don't like cliff-hangers even if I only have to wait one week for the next installment. And a sort of cliff-hanger is what you are going to get with this novelette. They have grown up together, Lady Grace and the Naval officer, Colin Barry (their parents have had their own books). Lady Grace has fallen in love with Colin and when he enlists, she writes him letters and paints him miniatures. Colin comes home and during this leave believes himself to be in love with Graces younger and more beautiful and effervescent sister Lily. This breaks Graces heart and from here things really really go down-hill. At this point anything else I say may be a spoiler so I will just end by saying that of course Colin finally does realize what he has lost -but is it too late? I have loved everything else I have ever read by this author I am happy to say that I loved this excerpt too. The characters have a depth not normally found in a book of this length (yes I know this will eventually be a full length novel). Since I have already taken a peek at the next novella I can tell you that this book follows the romance genre's usual plot lines. If you do not like waiting a week for the next segment, may I suggest waiting until the 26th when all three segments will have been published. It will cost a mere $2.97. With This Kiss: Part One With This Kiss: Part Three

			Midnight Blue-Light Special: An Incryptid Novel by Seanan McGuire Edition: Mass Market Paperback Price: $7.99
4 Stars But With a Slight Reservation, March 13, 2013 This review is from: Midnight Blue-Light Special: An Incryptid Novel (Mass Market Paperback) For anyone interested in this book, make sure you have read the first one so you will understand what is going on in this one. Ms. Mcquire does a great job of giving you some background, but it may not be enough to make you appreciate this book. Well a year has passed since we first met our heroine Verity Price. She is a cryptozoologist (yeah I had to look this word up too!) and budding competitive ballroom dancer. She is helping her family fight the good fight against the Covenent, who is looking to wipe the traitorous Price family as well as the cryptid's, off the face of the earth. Why? Well, because long ago the Price's were also members of the Covenet. This is a group of zealots who are looking to rid the world of cryptids, or "things that go bump in the night/monsters" as more commonly known!. But, the Prices long ago lost their belief that the world HAD to be rid of the cryptids and defected. So now, this story begins with Dominic, who is a member of the Covenent but is also in love with Verity, letting Verity know that agents from the Covenent are on their way to New York and something must be done to help the cryptid's of the city. Now mind you, Verity loves Dominic, but can she really trust him? After all, he may be helping her but he hasn't broken away from the Covenent. The conflict between these two is really one of the most emotional aspects of this book and the most interesting thing to watch play out. The character building has been an amazing thing to watch and the world building did not take center stage in this novel as it did in the last one. It was not necessary to keep building the world just yet, since this was going to be a much more personal book. What I noticed and I don't think that many other readers are going to see, is that Ms McGuire has a tendency to repeat herself...a lot. For a while it almost felt as if she was trying to fulfill her word count with all the repeated passages and hyperbole. However, in the end you seem to be able glide right over that and just let the adventure capture you. This caused me to not be as effusive as I was with the first Novel in this series. Ms McGuire did something interesting with this novel. The story is told from Verity's POV, but for a few chapters, one of the cryptid's, tells the story so it is seen through Sarah's eyes.. Sarah is a telepathic Cuckoo who happens to be Verity's `cousin'. This was quite clever and because of what was going on at the time, kept the story from getting stale and repetitive.

				With This Kiss: Part One Offered by HarperCollins Publishers Price: $0.99
4.5 A Definite Re-Read, March 12, 2013 This review is from: With This Kiss: Part One (Kindle Edition) With This Kiss: Part One This was an interesting but slightly annoying idea for a book. I don't like cliff-hangers even if I only have to wait one week for the next installment. And a sort of cliff-hanger is what you are going to get with this novelette. They have grown up together, Lady Grace and the Naval officer, Colin Barry (their parents have had their own books). Lady Grace has fallen in love with Colin and when he enlists, she writes him letters and paints him miniatures. Colin comes home and during this leave believes himself to be in love with Graces younger and more beautiful and effervescent sister Lily. This breaks Graces heart and from here things really really go down-hill. At this point anything else I say may be a spoiler so I will just end by saying that of course Colin finally does realize what he has lost -but is it too late? I have loved everything else I have ever read by this author I am happy to say that I loved this excerpt too. The characters have a depth not normally found in a book of this length (yes I know this will eventually be a full length novel). Since I have already taken a peek at the next novella I can tell you that this book follows the romance genre's usual plot lines. If you do not like waiting a week for the next segment, may I suggest waiting until the 26th when all three segments will have been published. It will cost a mere $2.97. With This Kiss: Part Two With This Kiss: Part Three

				Dying to Tell (A Slaughter Creek Novel) by Rita Herron Edition: Paperback Price: $7.77
A Non-Thrilling/Non-Suspenseful Novel, March 10, 2013 This review is from: Dying to Tell (A Slaughter Creek Novel) (Paperback) Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I thought that this might be an interesting book and since I had never read anything by this author I decided to give it a try. I love mystery/suspense and as an added bonus, this was supposed to be a romance too. Unfortunately, there was nothing mysterious or romantic about this book. The mystery wasn't so much a mystery as it was a seemingly `oh poop' moment when the author couldn't seem to pin this on anyone else logically. Actually, the entire denouement seemed to be something that was just tacked on to end the book. This book is more of an 'I'll tell you ' book rather than an 'I'll show you' book and that can be annoying at the best of times. This book wasn't even close to being interesting enough to hold my attention. I found myself being able to walk away and forget this book for days on end. Then once I got back to reading it I would remember just why I walked away in the first place. The characters are shallow and annoying, the romance was nil, the story was told within the characters heads for the most part, the mystery flat and the suspense was not heart-pounding. The author seemed to have not done her research into police departments since nothing rang true. I also realized that the usage of a woman with multiple personalities as the possible murderer was a bit trite once I got into the book. It made it too easy to blame everything on her instead of a real criminal. Then when you finally do get to the end and see just what was going on...you just have to roll your eyes until they nearly fall out of your head. I can suspend my disbelief for many things; after all, I love speculative fiction. However, with a book like this, I expect everything to be believable to a certain point. Unfortunately, I had to stretch myself too thin to be able to read this and loose myself in it. I really do not believe that "fans of Tami Hoag and Karin Slaughter" will enjoy this novel.

		Undressed (The Manhattanites #1) Price: $7.19
3.5 Stars - This Was Unique and I Liked It, March 9, 2013   This review is from: Undressed (The Manhattanites #1) (Kindle Edition) Undressed by Avery Aster This book is earthy, sexy, filled with wildness that could almost be seen as a tiny bit comic and even at times, downright dirty! I have read and reviewed a lot of erotica over the years, but Ms Aster was able to amaze me with her wild imagination and the antics that Lexi and Prince Massimo were able to get up to. I am still trying to figure out the logistics to one particular scene! Sex aside, Ms Aster wrote a darn good story. I loved getting a look at the inside (no matter how brief) of a fashion show and what the designers have to do to get to that point. The look behind what goes on at some of those exclusive parties was a trip too! The fight scene and Lexi's handling of what went down afterwards was smooth and well thought out by the author. I am glad that Ms Aster didn't have Lexi go over the top anymore than Lexi did...it would have been cartoonish at the very least The writing was strong and vivid, and the characters were fairly well fleshed out for a book of this type, but I sure wish that Ellora's Cave had given Ms Aster a better editor, as I found some editing problems. Occasionally some of the phrases and language would go over my head, but since I don't think a woman of my age is the targeted audience it should cause no problems for the rest of the readers. However, it doesn't matter since I still had a fun few hours reading this and imagining my own Prince.  *ARC SUPPLIED BY PUBLISHER*

		The Heart of a Hero (A SPELLBOUND FALLS ROMANCE) Offered by Penguin Publishing Price: $7.99
A Tiny Bit Off, March 9, 2013 This review is from: The Heart of a Hero (A SPELLBOUND FALLS ROMANCE) (Kindle Edition) “Originally from the ancient mythical island of Atlantis, Nicholas has spent the last year deep in the mountains of Maine, serving as Director of Security for the Nova Mare and Inglenook resorts. Fully embracing his life in the twenty-first century, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to a trouble-prone employee, and is determined to keep her safe. The last thing Julia Campbell needs is a man with a hero complex, especially one as handsome and imposing as Nicholas. All she has to do is keep it together until her younger sister turns eighteen, and then she can focus on her own life. But strange things have been happening at the resort—and it’s Nicholas who keeps coming to her rescue. When Nicholas is suddenly the one in trouble, Julia realizes he’s not quite what he seems—and that she’ll do anything to help the man who’s stolen her heart…  “ I have loved reading Ms. Chapman’s books for years now.  Ever since I found her first series about the time traveling Highlanders.  However, these new trilogies are even more outstanding and The Heart of a Hero is nearly the best yet…yes I said nearly! I felt that there was just something a tiny bit off with this book.  This book is about Nicholas, with no last name! He is a mythical and mystical time traveler (sort of) from the lost Island of Atlantis. He is the head of security at Nova Mare and has been head of security for about a year.  This is where he meets with Julia, a seemingly disaster prone woman \who lives with her abusive father so she can save money to get her younger sister out of this small town and to give her a college education. There are so many wonderful characters in this novel that you can sometimes have a little difficulty keeping some of them straight. But, as you keep reading it all becomes clear and the first few chapters are quite exciting as Nicholas tries to be a hero and save Julia from one of her father’s drunken, violent rampages. My problem is this – the father plays such an important role in these chapters, that it totally surprised me that Julia and Nicholas didn’t have another confrontation with him later in the book just to close that plot line. I have not know Ms. Chapman to have done something like this before.  She will add to the starting issue but never just drop it like this. There are several other plot lines running at the same time.  Of course there is Nicholas’s and Julia’s sort of romance. Then there is one that includes Rana, Titus’s wife and is the basis for Ms. Chapman’s next book out in August (For the Love of Magic).      As usual, all of the characters a written with depth, quirks and the capacity to see the magic all around them.  They have that ability to be strong women, but to know just when to let the loves of their lives take over. The secondary characters really make this a more complete story.  The descriptions of the Maine countryside really makes me want to go back and find my own Spellbound Falls.