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: Evermore by Alyson Noel

Title: Evermore
Author: Alyson Noel
Series: The Immortals #1
Genre: YA
Release Date: September 18, 2009
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Edition: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

Sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom is the sole survivor of a car accident that killed her family. Exiled to sunny California. Ever is haunted by her little sister and by the ability to see people's auras, hear their thoughts and know their entire life story by touching them. She wants to hide from the world, but when a stunningly handsome guy arrives at school, she can't seem to keep away. Falling in love with Damen is dangerous - he's not what he seems. But if Damen is her destiny, how can Ever walk away?

I've heard a lot of things about this series so I was really happy when I got it. Ever is a very conflicted character. She's been through a lot (mainly the death of her parents and little sister on a car accident that she survived) and her way of dealing with it is shutting people out, especially her aunt. All this changes when she meets Damen, the intriguing new guy at school.

I liked Ever's abilities and how they were explained. What I didn't like was how Ever never got curious enough to search for answers or help about her abilities and how she ignored or tried to live like they didn't exist. One thing Ever can do thanks to her powers is talk to her little sister Riley. She probably was my favourite character of the book and I loved her interactions with her sister. At one point Ever was incredibly selfish regarding Riley and that's one of the reasons I didn't completely warmed up to her.

Damen is supposed to be this mysterious, dangerous guy and while at the beginning it's kind of appealing, as the story unfolds all his secrets and lies just pissed me off. Truth be told, I didn't even know what was so special about him.

Then there's the bad guy. On the positive side he/she was completely evil and I've always like those kind of villians. On the negative side, the bad guy was predictable and at times cheesy. He/she acted like a stereotype villian and I just can't understand why no one caught him/her before.

I especially liked Riley, Ever's friend Miles and Ever's abilities. I was expecting more on the mystery area. Even so, this was an interesting first book and I'll definitely check out the second.

Memorable Lines:
"What happened? You run out of white rosebuds?" I ask, flipping through books and papers, as though I've something important to do.
"I would never give you a rosebud," he says, his eyes searching for mine.
But I refuse to meet his gaze, refuse to get sucked into his sadistic little game. I just grab my bag and pretend to search for something inside, cursing under my breath when I find it stuffed full of tulips.
"You're strictly a tulip girl-a red tulip girl."

Next Books:
2. Blue Moon
3. Shadowland
4. Dark Flame
5. Night Star
6. Everlasting (June 7, 2011)

Rating:

Review: Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

Title: Married with Zombies
Author: Jesse Petersen
Series: Living with the Dead #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: February 3, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Edition: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

Meet Sarah and David.
Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.

Meet the Zombies.
Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

Have any of you seen Zombieland? Well, this book reminded me of that movie. David and Sarah's marriage is on the rocks so they're going to therapy to try save it when they're shocked to find their therapist eating her clients. At this point, they both start working together to survive the zombie outbreak.

At the beginning of every chapter there's an advice regarding how to save your marriage during a zombie apocalypse. Those parts were amusing although very short. I liked how Sarah and David got the hang of zombie killing slowly and how they realized that sometimes humans are more dangerous than the zombies. While I liked both David and Sarah, the truth is that I didn't really care much for them.

One of the best parts of the book was seeing David and Sarah trying to fix their problems, the thing is, we don't get much information about how their life was before the zombies and I think that was something important the novel was missing. The main problem I had with the book was that it didn't seem like they had a plan and when they finally make one it doesn't really go anywhere. And the ending was so open ended that it didn't felt like it was a real ending.

In this book there is plenty of zombie killing, a lot of arguments, a cult and many entertaining parts. This novel was short and light, perfect for a quick reading.

Memorable Lines:
“You’re right,” I said as I put the car in gear and inched into the garage.
David let out a snort as he pocketed his game system in his hoodie and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Wow, I hardly ever hear that.”
I swung the car into a space close to the elevator bank and slammed on the brake, purposefully making David catch himself on the dash a second time.
“Nice,” he muttered with a glare in my direction as he got out.
So what I did wasn’t subtle, but I couldn’t help but smile as I followed him across the quiet parking complex to the elevator.

Next Books:
2. Flip This Zombie
3. Eat Slay Love (June 2011)

Rating:

Review: Right Hand Magic by Nancy A. Collins

Title: Right Hand Magic
Author: Nancy A. Collins
Series: Golgotham #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: December 7, 2010
Publisher: Roc
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Bought
Blurb:

Like most Manhattanites, aspiring artist Tate can't resist a good rental deal-even if it's in the city's strangest neighborhood, Golgotham, where for centuries werewolves, centaurs, and countless other creatures have roamed the streets.

Her new landlord is a sorcerer name Hexe, who is determined to build his reputation without using dark, left-hand magic. As Tate is drawn into Hexe's fascinating world, they both find that the right hand does not always know what the left hand is doing-and avoiding darkness is no easy trick...

This is the first book of a really interesting new series. Tate moves to a new place in Golgotham, the supernatural neighbourhood where she meets a lof of different creatures and races she only saw and heard about throught TV and magazines. Her landlord is Hexe, a Kymeran who only practices Right Hand Magic, meaning he doesn't lay curses, he mostly lifts them.

The chemistry between Tate and Hexe was one of the best things of the book. They both are from different worlds but at the same time they can relate and understand each other perfectly. There also was a were-cougar in the story. Lukas was a very sweet character. He was running from his pack until he was found by the bad guys. I felt bad for him at times and I really liked seeing his character evolve.

While the worldbuilding was one of the strong points of the novel, most of the time I was really bored reading about the history of a street or what happened to a market. Almost none of the information were are given is important to the story and the truth is that after a while I started skipping those parts.

The main problem I had with the story was that nothing happened during most of the book until the end and there wasn't much action or mystery. You know who the bad guy is since the beginning and you are told that he is evil, but you never really see it. I was very disappointed on that aspect of the book.

All in all, this was a very promising start of a series and while the first book didn't catch my attention at all times I have high hopes for the next one.

Memorable Lines:
"Scratch, this is Miss Tate."
"Humph," Scratch sniffed, clearly unimpressed.
"Pleased to meet you, uh, Scratch."
"As well you should be," the flying cat replied curtly.
"Scratch is my familiar. I'm sure you've heard about such things from books and movies." As the landlord stroked the winged cat's back, Scratch butted his forehead against him, just like any other tabby would. "He is also my rent collector."
"Yeah—I eat the deadbeats!" The familiar grinned.

Rating:

Review: Worth the Trip by Penny McCall

Title: Worth the Trip
Author: Penny McCall
Series: -
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: November 2, 2010
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

For behavioral psychologist Norah MacArthur, relationships and family are stressful and messy. That's why she leads a quiet, clinical, solitary life. That is, until the days leading up to the release of her con artist father from jail. For fifteen years, Julius has managed to conceal the location of his stolen bank loot but now everyone, from two-bit crooks to the Feds, is scrambling to get their hands on it—and Norah is the perfect leverage.

It's a quick leap from ‘control group’ to ‘out of control’—as FBI agent Trip Jones knows all too well. He might like to strangle Norah himself, but he's been sent to protect her. Besides, behind Norah’s psycho-babble and ugly suits there’s something special. Something way more valuable than ill-gotten gains—and just maybe a real life study in love...

This was the first book I've read by Penny McCall, so I didn't know what to expect. What I got was a complicated romance with plenty of action and interesting characters.

Norah is the daughter of a jailed con artist that has tried the best she can to go on with her life on her own. The problem is, her father is being released and now everyone wants to know what happened with the loot her father stole but was never found. I never understood the loyalty Norah felt towards her father, he puts her life in danger, he lies to her, he betrays her, but she never gets mad at him, and that's one of the reasons why I really didn't connect with her. Truth be told, she comes across as a smart woman, but in reality she makes a lot of stupid mistakes and does things that are unnecessary and that I don't understand. In my opinion, she never evolves as a character and she's annoying almost all the time. Those are the main problems I had with her.

Then there's Trip, the FBI agent asigned to the case. He's arrogant, tricky and smart, and he always puts his job first. He has plenty of issues but the good thing is that he knows he has them and he is willing to eventually work on them. He grows a lot through the book and I like how he never lies to himself or to Norah.

The relationship between Norah and Trip is intense and hot. Both of them have trust issues and I think the happy ending between the two of them was far fetched because their personalities were so different.

Memorable lines:
"If someone comes at you with a gun you won't have time to psychoanalyze them, Norah. Not that you'll need to. Shoot first and ask questions later is a pretty straightforward concept."
"You said the want to use me as leverage, not to kill me."
"Yeah, but after a few seconds of conversation with you they'll probably change their minds."

Rating:

Review: Healer's Choice by Jory Strong

Title: Healer's Choice
Author: Jory Strong
Series: Ghostland World #3
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: September 7, 2010
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Edition: Trade Paperback
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

Born into a world of violence and paid-for sex, Rebekka longs for a family of her own and dreams of freeing those trapped in the shapeshifter brothels of the red zone. A witch's prophecy claims she'll one day use her gift to heal the Weres made outcast by their mixed human-animal forms.

But Rebekka knows that everything comes at a cost. A plea to save five children sends her into the arms of Aryck, a Jaguar enforcer-and into territory controlled by pure Weres. It's a place where humans and outcasts aren't welcomed, where plague threatens and the fate of the Weres hangs in the balance. And where the choices Rebekka and Aryck make are paid for with their hearts...if not their souls.

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. It may be because I didn't read the previous two books of this series, but I think this could be read as a stand alone.
The world the author has created is complicated and harsh. There were a lot of rules that I really didn't understand, creatures and magical beings that aren't really explained, aside from the Weres who are the main focus of this novel, and the abilities of the heroine are not explored until the very end of the book, instead we are told that she is scared of them and that she can do all these incredible things, but we don't really see them, she just keeps doing what she knows how to do. She never steps out of her comfort zone, at least for most of the book.

As for the main characters, Rebekka is a strong although predictable character. She had a difficult childhood and her life didn't really get better as she got older. The thing I liked the most about her was that, even though she was afraid, she fought for what she believed in. I got the sense that some important events happened in the previous book that affected her, but they were never explained in this book, which confused me.
Then there's Aryck, the jaguar were. He is without a doubt an alpha male, but sometimes I wished he would have stood up to his father. I know that this is going to sound contradictory, but what I liked most about him was that he wasn't perfect. He made mistakes but he also tried to fix them.

There were some parts of the book, like Melina's who was the female jaguar that wanted Aryck, that I think were unnecesary. There also were parts narrated by a character named Radek that while they gave some depth to the story, bored me.
In my opinion, the best things of the book were the interactions between the tiger cub Caius and the tiger were Canino and the relationship between Rebekka and Aryck.

This was a promising book but there were times where I skimmed some pages, especially when a character I didn't care about narrated the story. The romance between the main characters is very hot and I loved seeing how they got together in the end. I may read the next book of the series, but it all depends on what the story is about and who is the hero/heroine.


Memorable Lines:

A small hand holding a bouquet of purple flowers appeared in front of Rebekka's face, jerking her from her thoughts. She turned her head slightly and saw the Tiger cub standing on the other side of the log she sat on.
"For making me better," Caius said.
Rebekka took the flowers, holding them close to her nose and inhaling. "Thank you."

Previous Books:
1. Ghostland
2. Spider-Touched

Next Book:
3.5. Angel-Claimed - Primal Anthology (Feb 2011)

Rating:

Review: The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu

Title: The Iron Hunt
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Series: Hunter Kiss #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: May 6, 2010
Publisher: Orbit
Edition: Paperback
Blurb:

During the day, Maxine’s tattoos are her armour and she is invincible. At night they peel from her skin to take on forms of their own, leaving her human and vulnerable, and revealing themselves to be demons sleeping beneath her skin. But these demons are the best friends and bodyguards a woman could have. And Maxine needs bodyguards. She is the last in a line of women with power in their blood, trained to keep the world safe from malignant beings who would do us harm.

But ten thousand years after its creation, the prison dimension that kept the worst of these from us is failing, and all the Wardens save Maxine are dead. She must bear the burden of her bloodline and join the last wild hunt against the enemy.

This is the first book of the new series Hunter Kiss in which we have Maxine, the last warrior of her kind, trying to stop the demons from destroying the planet. The world in which the story is set is nothing new to the genre, but Maxine does have some unique characteristics. She has been taugh since childhood to be independent and to not have any long term relationships of any kind but she's lonely and gets tired of following the rules, so she settles in Seattle.

One of the problems I had with the book was that most of the characters where already established, so I didn't really feel a connection with them and I didn't care for them as much as Maxine (especially for Grant). And then there were other characters of which we didn't know anything at all, like Sarai, Jack & Tracker, which was really frustrating.

I loved the idea of the "living tattoos" that make Maxine untouchable at day and then at night they come to life as "her boys", little demons that defend her to the death. They were really cute and funny and at the same time absolutely lethal.
Another think that frustrated me was that it was obvious that there were a lot of kinds of demons, but Maxine didn't really care about that, so that means the reader doesn't get the information either, and not being able to tell which one was which one drove me nuts.

While this book was interesting and in some ways had fresh ideas, sometimes it didn't really go anywhere and even though it has great characters and at the end we do get some sort of closure, I was expecting more from the book, especially more action. I'll have to read the second book to get some sort of final conclusion.


Memorable Lines:

Rex stared at me like I was viler than a splat of diarrhea. ‘You just don’t care, period. You’re still looking for an excuse to kill me, Hunter.’

‘I don’t need an excuse.’ I tugged sharply on my gloves. Mary stared, but I no longer cared if she saw my tattoos.
Rex, despite his bravado, stepped back.


Next Books:
2. Darkness Calls
3. A Wild Light


Rating:


* I received this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Shadowlight by Lynn Viehl

Title: Shadowlight
Author: Lynn Viehl
Series: Kyndred #1 , Darkyn #8
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: October 9, 2009
Edition: Paperback
Blurb:
With just one touch, Jessa Bellamy can see anyone's darkest secret's, thanks to whoever tampered with her genes. What she doesn't know is that a biotech company called GeneHance has discovered her talent, and intends to kill her and harvest her DNA, When GeneHance is poised to strike, Gaven Matthias is forced to take action. After months of tracking Jessa, he abducts her himself so he can protect her in his underground fortress. Matthias tries to explain what she is and how she can protect others like her, but Jessa has a hard time believing the one man whose secrets she cannot read. She senses he's hiding a terrible truth, and yet his touch ignites a passion she's never known. As a monstrous assassin closes in and forces them on the run, Jessa will have to find another way to discover whether Matthais is her greatest ally.... or her deadliest enemy.



This is the first book I read from this author, and I think that I didn't enjoy it as much as I though I would because I didn't read any of her Darkyn books beforehand.

I was a little lost since the beginning. The narrators of the book kept changing through the novel. There were so many points of view that I ended up closing the book so I could sort out the characters and situations. There were some parts that weren't necessary for the story, and only made it slow. Some characters shouldn't even had have parts of the book told from their point of view, and I skiped a lot of those pages. Also, the articles at the beginning of the parts of the book weren't very interesting, and I had to force myself to read them.
That said, I did found the plot to be very interesting and I wanted to know more about the experiments GeneHance did as well as getting to know better the villian of the plot arc.

This book was catalogated as a Paranormal Romance, but I don't think that's an appropriate category for it. While the romance was focused on Jessa and Matthias, there wasn't a lot of development on that front, and they didn't had as much screen time as I expected. There was a lot of secrecy between them, but instead of asking questions, Jessa goes exploring around so she can get away, instead of stopping and thinking of the consequences of her actions as well as the danger she was placing everybody in.

My favourite character was, without a doubt, Rowan. She's independent, sarcastic and she broke my heart a little in some parts of the book. I wasn't really sure if I was going to keep reading this series, but Rowan is the heroine of the next one, so I'll give it a try just to see her have a happy ending.

In conclusion, this was an interesting book but it had a few flaws that didn't let me get into it.


Memorable Lines:

Rowan left her bike under a tree by the pretty fountain in Price Park, and scanned the area. A couple of people with dogs were walking on the other side of the grounds, but she saw no one else. She checked her watch, and saw it was two minutes to noon.

“You’d better show, Drew,” she muttered, “or I’m going to be pissed at you forever.”

“What else is new?” a voice said from above.

Rowan tilted her head back and saw a man standing in the tree over her bike. “What are you doing up there, you idiot?”

“Maintaining cover, smartass.” He jumped, dropping down twelve feet before landing neatly beside her. “Were you followed?”

“Am I six years old?” she countered.

“No.” He looked her over. “Sixteen, maybe.”


Next Book:
Dreamveil - Kyndred #2 , Darkyn #9


Rating:

Review: Firespell by Chloe Neill

Title: Firespell
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Dark Elite #1
Genre: YA
Release Date: January 5th 2010
Blurb:
As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia’s boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she’ll have to face…



When Lily’s guardians decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia’s. Lily’s ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she’s hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building.



The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout’s a little weird—she keeps disappearing late at night and won’t tell Lily where she’s been. But when a prank leaves Lily trapped in the catacombs beneath the school, Lily finds Scout running from a real monster.



Scout’s a member of a splinter group of rebel teens with unique magical talents, who’ve sworn to protect the city against demons, vampires, and Reapers, magic users who’ve been corrupted by their power. And when Lily finds herself in the line of a firespell, Scout tells her the truth about her secret life, even though Lily has no powers of her own—at least none that she’s discovered yet…




I really liked Lily since the beginning. She's smart, loyal and a little bit reckless. She tries the best she can at her new school, even though things aren't going so well.
At the beginning Scout is a bit of a loner, but she makes fast friends with Lily, even though she's keeping secrets from her. It was really interesting seeing the relationship both girls have with their parents and how they progress, especially the one with Lily and her folks.

We also get introduced to Michael and Jason. They are both the love interests of Scout and Lily respectively. Appart of that, they're part of the same secret group as Scout. The girls have another roomate, Lesley, and I have to say that I felt sorry for her. She tries so hard to make friends with them, but they're always too busy.

The beginning was a little slow, then at the middle of the book we get dumped with a whole lot of information and then all the action happens in the last chapters. I wished all of it could had been better distributed.

The mystery starts in this book and I really hope it keeps going forward in the next one. This was a good start of a promising series.

Memorable Lines:

"Do you have his number?" Scout asked, reaching around for her messenger bag. "I could give it to you."

Veronica practically growled, then turned on her heel and headed for the cafeteria door. Mary Katherine, lip wrinkled in disgust, followed her. Amie looked vaguely apologetic about the outburst, but that didn't stop her from turning tail and following, too.

"Nicely done," I complimented.

"Mmm-hmm," Scout said, straightening in her chair again. "See what I mean? TBD."

I lifted my eyebrows. "TBD?"

"Total brat drama," she said. "TBD is way too much drama for me, especially at seven thirty in the morning."


Next Book:
Hexbound - January 20th 2011


Rating:

Review: Sunrise in A Garden Of Love & Evil by Barbara Monajem

Title: Sunrise in A Garden Of Love & Evil
Author: Barbara Monajem
Series: Bayou Gavotte #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: April 30th 2010
Blurb:

Being irresistible sucks. Ophelia Beliveau learned that at puberty. When her friends grew breasts, she sprouted fangs as well. The effect on boys was even more dangerous.
Ophelia's peril has only increased. As a woman, there's been only one solution, but she can’t avoid men forever. Solitude satisfies no craving, and now her self-imposed exile must end. A vandal has destroyed her garden. A web of blackmail and murder is being woven across town, with Ophelia at its heart. And then there’s Gideon O’Toole, a detective sworn to uncover more secrets than she thirsts to bare…



This is the first book I've read of this author. It's set in a town where vampires , humans with a genetic trait that makes them irresistible to the oposite sex and also drink blood, are hidden and protected in the underground scene.

The lead characters, Ophelia and Gideon, are attracted to each other from the start, but I felt that the romance was forced. Ophelia treats Gideon badly, and still he keeps coming back to her. I know that she was scared because of something that happened in her past, but at some point, I just didn't care anymore. She's childish, angry at everyone and has trust issues. She also says that she doesn't need anyone's help, but there's always someone cleaning up her messes. I don't know how Gideon could be so in love with her. That's not to say that Gideon was perfect, it's just that at least he didn't burdened everyone with his problems.

The mystery fell short. I felt like it was streched too long and some scenes weren't necesary.
The best things of this book were Constantine, the town's bad-ass that scares almost everyone, and Zelda, Ophelia's niece that's going through the change (into a vampire).
This book starts a promising series, but don't expect anything out of the ordinary.


Memorable Lines:

"Put the gun away, Ophelia." He walked calmly toward her. "It's only me."
"I know who it is." Ophelia's voice broke, and a tear spilled treacherously down her cheek. She let out a scream of rage and fired, kicking up gravel far too close to Gideon's feet. He didn't flinch. He didn't move a goddamn hair. "Don't you get it?" she yelled. "I'm trying to protect you from yourself. I am not safe to be with!"
Gideon echoed her earlier words in biter mockery. "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life. You could at least come up with an intelligent lie."
Ophelia opened her mouth but shut it again. Pissing him off was what she wanted. Still, the disgust in his voice tore into her.
"Don't worry," he said. "I'm out of here, and I won't come back unless you need me."


Next Book:
Tastes of Love & Evil with release date August 24th 2010.


Rating:

Review: The Mark by M. R. Bunderson

The Mark

Blurb: She's had it forever. A tiny mark on her hand. No big deal, right? But when Tori discovers that her ordinary freckle is really some kind of microscopic tattoo, she doesn't know what to think, especially after meeting Eric, a guy she feels strangely connected to--and not just because he has a mark too.


All too soon, Tori and Eric realize that their marks are only the first clue to a mystery that will change everything. And with each new discovery, Tori finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into a world she could never have imagined.


Tori is a normal girl living a normal life when one day she decides to watch her freckle through a microscope. She discovers that the freckle is a mark and when she tries to show it to her best friend she can't see anything.

A few days later Tori goes in a double date and she meets Eric, she feels connected to him, but the first time they touch they "see" a vision of a woman playing with a baby in an incredible place. When Tori realizes that Eric has a mark similar to hers, she knows that something is wrong, and with the help of Eric and the other people who have the mark, they try to uncover the mystery.

At the beggining everyone is trying to figure out why they have a mark and that's a very interesting part of the book , but when they get separated they novel slows down. I felt like the better parts of this book where when everyone was together.
The romance was light and it got frustrating sometimes.

The mystery of the mark was the best part of the book, especially when they start figuring out things and they decide to take charge of the situation. The action mostly happens at the end of the book, but I wished there would have been more of it.
The end felt like a cliffhanger: the mystery was resolved but what happens next? There were too many questions unanswered.

I liked this book a lot, I read it in one sitting and it was a great debut novel, but I wished the romance could have been more solid and the end longer.

Memorable Lines:

"Amanda," I said slowly, pulling away. She sat staring at her hand. "You have the mark too, don't you?" i asked. She didn't answer and I started to get worriend that this was too much for her. I glanced over at Eric and saw that his hand was still resting lightly on her arm. We exchanged a worried look.
Eric cleared his throat to speak, but then she looked up. Her eyes were wild, and she had a look of shock on her face. "This is fantastic!" she exclaimed as a smile slowly spread itself across her face.

Genre: YA

Rating: 1/2

Review: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

The Spellman Files
Spellman Files #1

Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.

Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

I had really high expectations on this book, and at the end it let me down. This novel is told from the perspective of Izzy, but she has so many interactions with so many different characters (and with each of them she told a different story) that I ended up tired. I wanted the book to get focused on one thing instead of telling many short stories.

My favourite parts of the book where the ones that included Rae, Izzy's 14 year old sister, and the ones that happened in the bar. Milo, the bartender, is a saint (he has to hear all the complaints from Izzy and Rae).

The mystery that is set at the beggining of the book is resolved in around 10 pages. Let's just say that the rest of the book is how they got into that situation in the first place.
This book is a light read, a little crazy and don't expect too much mystery in it even though Izzy and her family are all PI.


Memorable Lines:

Isabel, Age 8
"Isabel, did you sneak into your brother's room last night and cut his hair?"
"No," I say.
Long pause.
"Are you sure? Maybe you need some time to refresh your memory."
Albert takes a seat across the table and looks me straight in the eye. I quickly look down but try to mantain my ground.
"I don't know anything about a haircut," I say.
Albert places a pair of safety scissors on the table.
"Do these look familiar?"
"Those could be anyone's."
"But we found them in your bedroom."
"I was framed."
In fact, I was grounded for a week.


Rating:

ARC Review: Hell Fire by Ann Aguirre

Hell Fire
Corine Solomon #2

As a handler, Corine Solomon can touch any object and know its history. It's too bad she can't seem to forget her own. With her ex-boyfriend Chance in tow-lending his own supernatural brand of luck-Corine journeys back home to Kilmer, Georgia, in order to discover the truth behind her mother's death and the origins of "gift".

But while trying to uncover the secrets in her past, Corine and Chance find that something is rotten in the state of Georgia. Inside Kilmer's borders there are signs of a dark curse affecting the town and all its residents-and it can only be satisfied with death...


At the start of this book we have Corine and Chance on their way to Kilmer to find out what happened to Corine's mother. When they arrive, they notice that it seems like nothing has changed in the little town, and that is very weird ( they don't even have ATM machines!). Soon they discover that Chance's "luck" doesn't work there, and neither do cell phones or internet. It looks like they are stuck in town without any help from the outside.

When someone tries to kill Corine and the sheriff arrests Chance for the strange death of the library caretaker, it seems like things couldn't get worse but then Jesse Saldana comes into town to try to help them. What is the secret the town is keeping? And are they willing to risk their lives to find out?

I found this book a little slow and sometimes I wished the mystery could advance faster. The relationship between Corine and Chance was a big plot point, but I didn't like how Corine ended up playing with both Chance and Jesse. I know she had to choose, but I would have prefered if she had done it without yanking the chains of both of them. Also, I didn't like how she didn't take into consideration Chance's feelings. It seemed like only hers mattered.
I loved Shannon, the new character that was introduced in this book. Also loved Butch, the little chihuahua, he's very funny and I liked his danger detector abilities.

In short, this novel felt like a transition book to me. It ties up looses ends but I didn't feel like it made the series go forward. I liked Blue Diablo better, and I can't wait to see if in Shady Lady we finally get to know what happened to Montoya and what kind of retribution he's seeking.



Rating: 1/2

Review: Fade to Black by Leslie Parrish

Fade to Black
Black CATs #1

After transferring out of violent crimes and onto the FBI's Cyber Action Team, Special Agent Dean Taggert is shocked to encounter a case far more vicious than any he's ever seen. A cold and calculating predator dubbed "The Reaper" is auctioning off murder in the cyber world and is about to kill again-unless Dean and beautiful sheriff Stacey Rhodes can stop him.

Dean Taggert joined the CATs (Cyber Action Team) to get a shared custody of his son from his ex-wife. He thought it wouldn't be so violent as his last job. He was wrong. A man called "The Reaper" kills his victims, tapes the act and then shows it on the web to a select few. When the team gets an ID of the victim, they go to her home town and then they meet sheriff Stacey Rhodes. She was a cop in the city, but something went wrong in a case and she decided to get back home and replace her father as sheriff. When she finds out that the girl that went missing 18 months ago and that everyone thought had skipped town was instead murdered, she teams up with the CAT's and especially with Taggert to bring the killer to justice.

When the deaths start escalating and the killer decides to auction the method in which he will kill his next victim, the stakes get raised, and Stacey and Dean will try harder than ever to catch a killer, especially when they realize that he lives in the little town and nobody had ever notice nothing out of the otdinary.

I really didn't have any expectations when I started this book. It was entertaining but sometimes I wished it would go faster. The relationship between Stacey and Dean was one of the high points of this novel. It was very well handled and also beliveable. Both of them have things to overcome to be able to be together and close the case.

I knew who the killer was at the middle of the book, so it wasn't really surprising. It took me time to get into the story, and I had to force myself to keep reading until the story sped up. It was an ok debut book, and I'll probably read the next one, but it's not on my high priority list, which means that I'll read it when I don't have anything more interesting in my TBR pile.

Memorable Quote:

"Sheriff Rhodes?" he asked, his tone gentle. "Can you identify the woman on the photographs?"
She swalloded visibly, then nodded once. "It's Lisa Zimmerman"
"You're sure?"
"Even if I didn't recognize her face inmediately, I'd know her by that bumblebee tattoo on her shoulder. She was a finalist in a statewide spelling bee in elementary school. She had that put on a couple years ago, I guess to remind herself that she'd once accomplished something." She pushed the pictures away, the tips of her nails touching the very edges, as if she couldn't bear any more contact with them. " So she's dead?"
"We haven't found her body," Wyatt explained. The man sounded cooly profesional, as always, but also quietly subdued in respect of the sheriff's obvious dismay. "But yes, there seems to be no doubt the woman in these pictures is dead."


Rating:

Review: To Die For by Linda Howard

To Die For by Linda Howard
Blair Mallory #1

Blair Mallory lives the good life. She’s pretty, confident, and the owner of a thriving up-scale fitness center. But in the shadow of success, a troubled member of the club develops a strange fixation on Blair, imitating her style and dress. Matters take a darker turn when the look-alike is shot dead–and Blair witnesses the horror.


As the media speculates on the tawdry details of the homicide and pushes Blair into the harsh spotlight, she locks horns with police lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth. He wants to lead an investigation without interference, while Blair is determined to probe the dead woman’s life on her own. But when someone begins to menace Blair with mounting threats, Wyatt takes notice: Was this murder indeed a lethal case of mistaken identity–and was Blair the intended victim?


Blair Mallory is the owner of the gym "Great Bods". One night, while she's closing, she hears a shot and witness the murder of a member of the gym. When the police arrive, they question her but decide that she wasn't the killer, but before she can leave Wyatt Bloodsworth appears. He is a police lieutenant and also a former "boyfriend" of Blair's. At this point the book was good, but then it starts going down hill.

They start fighting the first time they see each other and they never stop for the rest of the story. Wyatt doesn't want Blair to leave town, but she does anyway when she realizes that the killer may go after her when she is named a witness of the crime. She goes to the beach and ignores all calls, but the day after she arrives there Wyatt appears telling her that she shouln't have left and the next thing you know, they are having sex. This is very frustrating because Wyatt, after being on 2 dates with Blair 2 years before, decides not to call her back, and then when she witness the murder he discovers that she is the woman of his life. After 2 years without any contact?! Does that mean that if she hand't been in any danger he wouldn't have found out that she was his perfect woman?

Anyway, they come back to their town and someone tries to kill Blair but instead injures her. The ambulance takes her to the hospital and there they treat her, and Wyatt "convinces" Blair to stay with him until the murdered has been catched.

The characters on this book set my nerves on edge. Blair complains about everything, the plants, the car, how is unfair that Wyatt doesn't want to stop to have sex with her, ... Wyatt is selfish and a jerk. When you find out why he left Blair you will want to hit him.

There are good things in this book, like Blair's mother and the scene with the chief of police.
The mystery is a let down. I knew who the killer was since the beginning. If you read this book, don't expect action or suspense. This is a romantic comedy with a touch of mystery.
This book was a little disapointing since I was expecting a romantic thriller.
I would recommend this book to people who want a funny, light and entertaining book.


Rating: