Review: Only Mine by Susan Mallery

Title: Only Mine
Author: Susan Mallery
Series: Fool's Gold #4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 26, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Source: NetGalley
Blurb:

You can’t win if you don’t play…

Her town’s lack of men may make headlines, but it isn’t news to Dakota Hendrix. The beautiful blonde has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool’s Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town.

Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers—the perfect contestants—off the show. Despite Dakota’s better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn’t dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, even in the Land of Happy Endings, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV.

I really liked the first three books of this series but this one disappointed me a little.
The next three books deal with the Hendrix triplets; Dakota, Montana and Nevada; and it shows. The first third of the book catches us up on what's been going on on the sisters' lifes and that slowed the novel down. The updates on the other characters, while nice, felt at times overwhelming.

The romance between Dakota, a woman who has always known what she wanted and went after it, and Finn, a man who had to give up his hopes and dreams when a tragic accident killed his parents and made him the sole guardian of his twin brothers, was steamy but predictable.
I got really frustrated with Finn at times. There's being stubborn, there's stupid pride and then there's being a blind fool. He was too much of all of them.

There was a subplot running on this book that dealt with Finn's twin brothers, and to be honest, at times their story was more interesting that the main plot. I wish we could have seen more of Stephen and his love story with Aurelia. Truth be told, I think they deserved a whole book instead of bits and pieces of this one.

The ending was nothing new but nice at the same time. This was a quick read, with an amazing cast of characters but had a predictable romance and was slow at the beginning.
Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to read the next two stories about Dakota's sisters.


Memorable Lines:
He glanced at his brother. "What are you going to do?"
Stephen was quiet for a long time. "I don’t know," he said at last. "Not go to Hollywood."
"You’d like it."
Stephen shook his head. "No. I want something different. I want..."
He didn’t complete the sentence, but then he didn’t have to. Sasha already knew. He and his twin might not share dreams, but they still knew everything about each other. Stephen wanted to find a place to belong, whatever the hell that meant.

Previous Books:
1. Chasing Perfect
2. Almost Perfect
3. Finding Perfect

Next Books:
5. Only Yours (August 30, 2011)
6. Only His (September 27, 2011)

Rating:

Review: Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Title: Blood Magic
Author: Tessa Gratton
Series: Blood Journals #1
Genre: YA
Release Date: July 7, 2011
Publisher: Doubleday Children's
Edition: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

For Nick Pardee and Silla Kennicot, the cemetery is the center of everything.

Nick is a city boy angry at being forced to move back to the nowhere town of Yaleylah, Missouri where he grew up. He can’t help remembering his mom and the blood magic she practiced – memories he’s tried for five years to escape. Silla, though, doesn’t want to forget; her parents’ apparent murder-suicide left her numb and needing answers. When a book of magic spells in her dad’s handwriting appears on her doorstep, she sees her chance to unravel the mystery of their deaths.

Together they plunge into the world of dark magic, but when a hundred-year-old blood witch comes hunting for the bones of Silla’s parents and the spell book, Nick and Silla will have to let go of everything they believe about who they are, the nature of life and death, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood.

One of the things I liked about this book is that it's a stand alone book. Even though there will be a companion novel; the story of Nick and Silla, the protagonists of this book, is finished. I guess there's a chance they appear in The Blood Keeper, the next book, but it probably will be as guest characters.

The story is told from the point of view of both Nick and Silla, who are both discovering their blood magic. I liked both of them and found their pasts very intriguing. The romance that blooms between them is complicated but sweet.
Both Silla and Nick are dealing with things their parents did and it was interesting seeing how it affects them. Reese, Silla's brother, is an important character in the book, but you don't get to know him as well as I would have liked. At the end, he felt like an stranger, even when I was reading from Silla's point of view.

Usually after a chapter in the present, you get to read a journal entry written by a magic user from a hundred years before. Surprisingly, that was one of my favourite parts of the book. The journal entries are exciting and interesting, especially since they tell that person's story through the years and you discover how the blood magic affects in a long term. Also, I found the person who wrote them twisted and amoral. I always like different personalities from the characters in a book.

The novel is fast paced, intriguing, with very interesting and different characters and a little bit scary, especially towards the end. I will definitely read the companion novel.


Next Book:
2. The Blood Keeper (2012)

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (43)

Title: Water to Burn
Author: Katharine Kerr
Series: Nola O'Grady #2
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: August 2, 2011
Publisher: DAW
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Blurb:
No description available.

Review: Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh

Title: Kiss of Snow
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy/Changeling #10
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: May 31, 2011
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness.

Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would've been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf.

Then Sienna changes the rules and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other's secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight…

A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna's darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home…and the alpha who is its heartbeat.

This probably was my most anticipated book of the year. We met Hawke and Sienna in the first book and we saw the sparks fly. These two have been circling their way towards each other for nine books and we finally got their story.

One of the most important things you have to know about the heroine, Sienna, is that she's a fighter. She has been fighting for her life since she was little and training under the Psy Council so when it comes the time to fight for Hawke, she never gives up. I think that was one of the things that made me like her the most.

Hawke is a stubborn, arrogant and controlled changeling. He is the alpha of SnowDancer and is used to people following his orders. Sienna has been pushing his bottons since they met and it all reaches a boiling point in this book.
I was interesting seeing Hawke trying to deal with his emotions, but most importantly, I loved that Hawke finally found that one person he could be completely normal with. Their journey towards that was full of angst, action and most importantly, love.

There is a secondary love story, and that's the one between Lara, SnowDancer's healer, and Walker Lauren, Sienna's uncle. I wasn't expecting it, and honestly, I was hoping that Walker would get his own book, but it worked out in the end. Theirs is a sweet story, with Walker learning to let go and Lara helping him along the way.

We also get glimpses of Kit (baby cat alpha, as Hawke calls him), Judd, Sasha and Lucas. This parts were among my favourite too. I just love getting updates on the lives of previous heroes and heroines, plus getting to know better other characters that I hope get their own book in the future.

All in all, this was a fantastic read with an amazing and long awaited main couple, a lot of action and major series changing events.
I had really high expectations for this book and I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint one bit.


Memorable Lines:
"They‘re not dating, but he‘s very protective of her," Lucas said as Hawke was about to rib him on his sartorial elegance in retaliation for the other man‘s quip, "just so you know."
Hawke didn‘t bother to respond to that—he‘d eat the baby cat alpha for breakfast.

Previous Books:
1. Slave to Sensation
2. Visions of Heat
3. Caressed by Ice
4. Mine to Possess
5. Hostage to Pleasure
6. Branded by Fire
7. Blaze of Memory
8. Bonds of Justice - Review
9. Play of Passion - Review

Next Book:
11. Untitled (June 2012)

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (42)

Title: Hunter's Fall
Author: Shiloh Walker
Series: The Hunters #13
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Blurb:

Nessa lost her memory following a near-death experience. Dominic is a Hunter dealing with his own problems with memory and sanity. When the two are put together to battle the forces of darkness-while trying to restore what they've lost-their all-consuming passion becomes an even greater unknown.