Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost, #1) by Kristen Painter

Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery by Kristen Painter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It’s silly how many works I’ve given 5 stars so far in 2018. I mean, it’s true that I had my first DNF last night, and probably won’t continue the other book that was on my currently reading list, and I’ve been better at just skipping books that were annoying me without DNF’ing them or finishing them but . . . still, my overall rating for this year is something probably close to 4.9 or something weird like that. 99.9% of this has little to do with this here book so let’s get to that.

See, I had thought out what I was going to write, and then I wrote the above first. Right, so. I’m a random reader. Occasionally I ‘know’ what I’ll read five books out, but most of the time I don’t know what I’m reading next. Also there’s random, and then there’s random. As in, there are books I figure I’d probably read very shortly (I’m including in here books I don’t even know exist, but are by authors I read everything they publish), then there are books I had no idea they existed before I just start reading. That’s where this book here falls. I just started to read. I was just going to sample the beginning to see how serious I should take this book. I mean, I’ve picked up a ton of free books lately that I’ve not even put on my list of books owned, and this was one of them. It was offered for free, it looked vaguely interesting – at least enough so to pass the low test for books I get free that I don’t acknowledge getting (in case I later want to read the book and now it’s something like 10 dollars, I’d rather get it for free if I can). So I was just doing a glimpse inside to see if I would even add the book to my owned pile and . . here we are, with the book all read and stuff.

Wow I ramble. You know, if I saw my own review written by a person I didn’t know on a random book I was looking at, there’s probably 99% chance I’d not read it. The review. Heh

So - story - This is a fantasy book and a fantasy world. Well, it’s set on earth, but by ‘fantasy world’, I mean, there’s no hiding who people are. It’s less ‘demons and stuff have come out of the closet’, and more ‘supernatural creatures are both the main point of view and main people inhabiting this book, and the humans don’t even know that the vampire they are taking a picture with is a real vampire’ type of ‘not hiding’.

The main character is Jayne Frost, and her father is Jack Frost who is otherwise known as the Winter King (and yes, Jayne is the Winter Princess). Jack Frost, even though he’s a king and stuff, works for someone else, mostly because he married a particular woman who just so happens to be the sister of Kris Kringle. So Jack is like Kris’s powerful right hand man, or something like that. Kris, of course, being Santa if that Kris Kringle thing isn’t widely known. Which means that Jayne herself is half . . . oops.

Jack Frost is an elf, a winter elf to be exact. It wasn’t exactly noted what the Kringle’s are, but whatever they are, Jayne Frost has both elf magic and Claus magic. She’s half-elf and half-….

Jayne has been floating around the company Santa and Jack run, she’s heir to the Winter Throne, but she hasn’t really found her place yet. She’s currently working on the Naughty/Nice list, but none of that is seen in the book, for the book opens with Jayne being called in to see her dad. He has a new assignment for her involving a specific special town in Georgia (USA, as opposed to the country known as Georgia).

Six employees have, over a two year period of time, just up and quit with just a note. And none of them have returned to the North Pole, and none of their whereabouts are known. So Jack’s sending in his daughter to investigate – undercover as the newest employee at the Santa’s Workshop (there’s a bunch of toy store’s all of the world that they run to test toys and stuff) in Nocturne Falls Georgia. And by undercover, I mean both an assumed name and a special magical bracelet that changes Jayne’s appearance (Jayne’s basically known to every Winter Elf, at least those who have spent any time in the North Pole).

Nocturne Falls itself is special, for, you see, while Santa’s Workshop celebrates Christmas 24/7 365 days a year, Nocturne Falls celebrates Halloween 24/7 365. Which is where the ‘hiding in plain sight’ comes in. As elves, vampires, various kinds of shifters can openly wander in this town, and people will just assume that the person with the pointy ears (elf or fae), or the fangs (vampire or shifter), or extra hairy, is just someone working for the town, not an actual elf, faerie, werewolf, or vampire.

So – that’s the situation. Jayne, under the cover name of ‘Lilibeth Holiday’ (Lilibeth is Jayne Frost’s actual middle name, and Holiday is one of the most common Winter Elf last names) is the newest employee of the Santa’s Workshop toy store in Nocturne Falls investigating the disappearance of six employees.

The book is much more of a mystery than a romance, though something of a modified love triangle does pop up. It’s not a real love triangle, for reasons, but I’m not sure if everyone in the story knows that. Jayne, as Lilibeth, ends up going on ‘just friends’ dates with a guy named Cooper, who is a Summer Elf (and Jayne’s actual long lost ex-boyfriend from college who broke her heart and stuff of that nature), while Lilibeth (Jayne) is also real dating a guy named Greyson (a vampire).

So, great story, good mystery, some romancing, lots of fantasy fun. Oh, and lots of humor sprinkled here and there. Oh! And a very cute cat named Spider. Spider is my favorite character in the book.

Rating: 4.70

January 30 2018



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The Vampire's Mail Order Bride (Nocturne Falls, #1) by Kristen Painter

The Vampire's Mail Order Bride by Kristen Painter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My second book read by the same author on the same day. And, importantly, both first in their series. Why did I not, instead, read book 2 in the series I read earlier today? Because of two reasons: 1) this book here, the Mail Order one, is actually the main series that the other series spun-off of; 2) and I'd already owned this book - free. So, two free books read same day.

Two things to note: This is much more of a romance book than the other book I read today (Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case) - which was more of a mystery with a romance subplot, though this book, the Mail Order one, had mystery elements as well; & a) this book was slightly less humorous than the other book, b) though one of the laughs that erupted was based almost entirely on the fact that I had read that other book today, for, you see, I already had some information about a particular club, and the words that were uttered were funny with that prior knowledge (which is a little weird since this book here came before that other book).

Right, so - a young woman of about 27 works in a diner in Brooklyn. The story opens with her walking home after her shift, babbling to herself (I'm fairly certain this babbling was occurring inside her own brain, but this is NY so . . .), only to suddenly realize that she had left her apron and tips on the counter at her work. So she goes back to retrieve it. Which lead to her being in perfect position to witness, and record, her boss shooting a man. Now, it is true that the diner had a 'mob' vibe about it, and there was this vague overall feeling of the place being a mob hangout (which, strangely, unlike ever other such hangout I've known about in fiction and in real life, lead to the place being always packed - by people wanting to 'check out' the mobsters). And Delaney knew of this reputation, but, until this moment, she hadn't realized it was real.

As Delaney flees the scene, but before she exits the diner, her phone rings. Alerting everyone there that someone else was on the scene. She continues to flee. Ducks into a random open establishment. Which turned out to be a match-making place. Which lead her to steal a file, inform the woman in the file that the man had decided to turn down the offer, and Delaney took her place.

After gathering a few of her belongings and her 28 pound Maine Coon cat, Delaney drives from New York to Nocturne Falls Georgia (where the woman was supposed to go for this 'arranged marriage' type thingie). Unbeknownest to her: 1) the man hadn't actually signed up, it was his grandmother who signed the man up; 2) the man was fabulously wealthy, and handsome; 3) the grandmother, the man, and his brothers are all vampires - and the human woman Delaney was taking the place of, knew that they were vampires (though Delaney doesn't know).

And so human woman escaping the mob, assumes someone else's identity, and turns up at a huge mansion like place and meets . . .well, I've already indicated things but let's move on.

Everything I've relayed was in the opening parts of the book. The book unfolds from here.

I liked this book. I liked the story. I liked the actual chemistry the two people displayed. Still, I just liked the 'things' seen in that other book just slightly more than here. Heck, I even liked the cat in the other book more than the cat in this one (maybe because the cat in the other one seemed to interact with the story more than the one in this book).

Rating: 4.55

January 30 2018



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The False Knight on the Motorway by Arden Ellis

The False Knight on the Motorway by Arden Ellis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Book received from both Netgalley and Less Than Three for an honest review

I had many thoughts while reading this rather exiting story. Two main ideas swirled in my mind: 1) I rather like reading stories set ‘after’ some event has happened and people are living long after ‘now’ (the reader’s present) without a lot of knowledge of what the past was like (see: Larry Niven’s Destiny’s Road (though that one isn’t actually on earth); Jack McDevitt’s Eternity Road; etc.); 2) this story seemed like a continuation, centuries later of several stories I’d read (then, when the boat was mentioned, it seemed like a continuation of a television storyline, but I can’t say more about that specific one without spoilers). Specifically I mean a continuation of a story like Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason’s Ill Wind when an oil tanker crashes, oil is released (lots of it), an almost untested substance is released to ‘eat’ the oil and . . . it does so remarkably well, all over the earth, plunging the world into an apocalyptic setting worse than what would occur with the lack of oil around (since the ‘released substance’ had a tendency to eat things like plastic as well, if I recall correctly). Well, this specific story here, the Knight one, is like that story, 100s of years later.

But what, exactly, beyond the vague words used above, is this specific story about? It’s a story of knights on a quest, but not in medieval times, not to find the holy grail, but on a quest in a future world, 100s of years from now, when an ‘event’ occurred that dramatically altered ‘our’ world. Some hints are dropped along the way in the story, but I’ll not spoil things here and now.

What’s this quest? Well, first off, the story opens with Ser Wright wandering to a neighboring Lord’s land to retrieve a spy, one Ser Kai. Kind of a straight forward quest – go there, get person, and return home. But this is how the story opens, and how the reader begins to learn about this changed world. A world of knights in armor on horseback, a world with swords. And a world with pistols (see, it’s the future, not the past this story is set). Also a world with ruins all over the place, like cars, and buildings, and the like. But I distracted myself. This first quest leads to Wright picking up another individual, named ‘Silva’, a mercenary. And leading said person back to her Lord.

Which leads to the actual main quest for this story, and the reason why I labeled these journey’s as ‘quests’. For, you see, Kai had been over in the neighboring land as a spy, but not in preparation for an invasion or something like that. But to search and find if a particular ‘facility’ is, in fact, located within that neighboring Lord’s domain. A facility a scholar, here called an ‘Alchemist’, named Preston has discovered in his research. All this being noted to say why they are going on this quest and why this is a ‘quest’. For they are after an almost mythical ‘item’. Like any good quest. Here that ‘mythical item’ is a ‘cure’ for the ‘curse’ that spreads upon the land and consumes things. And scars and marks, and can kill humans.

So that’s what the story is about – two knights (Kai, Wright), a sell-sword (Silva), and an alchemist (Preston) on a quest to find a mythical ‘cure’. Of note: Kai, Wright, and Silva are all women. And all knights or equivalent. And there’s nothing ‘odd’ about that in this world, for a woman to be a military type person. (though before ‘you’ think the world is structured a certain way, as I was beginning to think, there are in fact male knights running around, and Wright’s own lord is male (though Kai’s is female)).

The characters? Nicely created, fully figured. Hmms that might mean something else. Well, they have fully created personalities and . . stuff. But what about romance and the like? Well, I do not wish to reveal everything, since it takes a little bit of time for the people themselves to realize their own thoughts and desires, but there is a romance in this story. Between two women. And sex. Depending on definitions, it’s lightly graphically described.

A riveting, action packed adventure with romance and bits of humor here and there (though the humor came a little late to the story and was somewhat surprising to see suddenly spring up (not in a bad way)). A quite satisfying read.

Rating: 5.00

January 29 2018



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The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister, #1) by Courtney Milan (Author), Rosalyn Landor (Goodreads Author) (Narrator)

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is my first book by this author, and first, in a long time, audio book.

Why did I try this one first, and why audio? Because I kept getting intrigued by that Romance Package on Audible and finally gave in. I figured I'd try either that one book that was in the Urban section first (that I'd spotted a week or more ago), or some relatively random lesbian fiction book. Instead I ended up listening to this one here - because I'd recognized the name of the author, hadn't tried them before, and the narrator, when I heard a sample, was very captivating. I really wanted to hear this book. So I did.

From the audio point of view: There are very view audio books I've enjoyed, very few audio narrators I've liked, but I rather enjoyed Rosalyn Landor work on this book here. There are a lot more of her stuff in the Audible Romance program that I can listen to, so I'll be doing so shortly. Probably not next, but shortly.

Book/story POV: This was a tricky one in a certain way. Listening to an author I'd never read before - trying to make sure I caught everything, making sure I didn't miss anything. This wasn't a humor book, but it was filled with humor. It was an historical fiction from a different period than I normally read - I've read books in this time period before, but mostly USA Civil War books (and no, there was no mention of the war in this book). The book was set, you see, in 1863 - the USA is in the middle of a war, but the English are just being themselves, living, doing stuff in factories and the like. That was an interesting little intersection - a vaguely Regency type book (which would have been set about 50 years before), mixed with lots of people working in factories, and the Duke himself owning one or more factories. But let's move on.

Minerva Lane (not called that during most of the book, see reasons later) is in the area because she lives there. With her two great-aunts. Her father, an unusual twist in these types of books, had died while in prison, and her mother, less of a twist, died long ago. But Minnie wasn't raised by the great-aunts (who, neat little hints dropped, might actually have some kind of 'special' relationship not elaborated upon but mentioned as potentially 'special' (they aren't actually related, and the hinted at point being they might be a lesbian couple - don't worry if you don't want to read something like that - it's only hinted at once, though many times was it mentioned that once the great-aunt dies whose land they live on, the other one would be ejected without a means to live)) immediately. No, she stayed with them here and there, while pops (never called that) was off in Europe and the like. But somewhere along the line he decided to take her with him. Though he was quite poor and a young girl needed things that a young boy wouldn't, so he, pops, dressed Minnie as a boy and called her one. So - Minnie is living in the area because her great-aunts do, and because she's hiding from the 'great scandal' that befell her when she was 12.

The Duke, Robert Blaisdell, is in the area because he is looking into his property and the like. He despises what his father did as Duke, doesn't want to be like him, and wants to 'right' what the father did wrong. Which is how one particular plot-line came about - while in the area, the duke put out flyers under an assumed name basically calling for some radical politics to develop in the area. Much upsetting the local law and local . . . . people in power, and causing people like Minnie to come under greater scrutiny. The duke would do that a lot in the book - accidentally do things that would cause Minnie massive trouble.

The duke and Minnie end up meeting when the Duke was basically hiding in a back room near an open window at a party. He as a cigerette in his hand, but he isn't actually smoking. It's just there in his hand near the window. An excuse. While in there, he hears someone else enter. Whereupon some of the funny stuff I mentioned already unfolded. Like when he realized he had taken too long to reveal that he was in the room, and so he couldn't now pop out and say something like 'I was just looking at the plaster walls'. While this thought process was occurring, the other person is revealed. And he watches her. And finds her . . . not beautiful. And half her face is filled with a scar. But she has 'something' that intrigues him. And this is before . . . well, let's get to that later.

Before one thing or another can happen, the woman is leaping over a sofa, and ending up on her knees behind the curtain near him, though not yet realizing he is there. Whereupon two men enter and talk quite badly about the woman. One of whom is supposedly going to be marrying that woman but talks about her . . . well, badly.

They leave, the woman, Minnie, realizes there's a man in there with her. They talk. And this is the start of the story, and the first time the two meet. Though, and I'll continue this just a tiny bit further, she didn't realize he was a Duke until she is found by her best friend, Lydia, and lead to a room. To be introduced to the visiting Duke. That man she was kneeling near earlier.

And so - the book unfolds. Minnie's trying to live her life. The Duke is putting out radical leaflets. And stuff of a humorous and romantic nature is shown.

Many outstanding side characters in this story, like Sebastian, the nephew of the Duke, Oliver the Duke's brother, Violet the Countess who grew up with them, even the current Duchess (mother of the Duke's), who plays a role normally occupied by someone without honor, redeeming qualities, or anything like that. But who is allowed to be seen to be human. Albeit deeply flawed, but human.

If I recapped the things that unfolded in this book, it would probably read like a soap opera, very melodramatic, and yet it in no real way felt that way. This was a rather deeper book than I expected. Much more fun and entertaining than expected.

And good grief - even the heterosexual sex as entertaining. More because it was boring, then, realizing it was boring, the two participates actually talked to each other and showed each other how to make it not boring. So, that was outstanding.

Well, enough of my babbling. If you haven't read this book yet, do so. Preferably with the lovely voice of Rosalyn Landor whispering the words into your ear.

Rating:
Book Rating: 4.97
Audio Narrator Rating: 5.0

January 28 2018



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Cut to the Chase by Lisa Girolami

Cut to the Chase by Lisa Girolami

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A good solid book involving an A list actress and someone somewhat on the fringes - a woman who puts together photo books based on photographs they've taken on set.

Her latest book, 'her' being the photographer character, is called 'Cut to the Chase'. The book is designed to show pictures from action movies - or, more exactly, photos from action scenes. For various reasons, when she gets the project, there apparently are only two action films currently in production. And it would be hard to put together a book based on two films (apparently, it'd even be hard to put together one based on just three films). But Paige Cornish keeps digging and is told about a film in production that is keeping a somewhat low profile. Potentially because the costars a woman not known for action (an top tier actress, but known for comedy roles, not action). So Paige pulls some strings and adds that film to her project.

That 'not an action actress' would be Avalon Randolph. A woman that Paige has lusted after since she first saw her on the screen. Some unknown time ago.

That's one of the issues I had with the book - I've no real clue how old people are. I've a greater idea of the length of the book - the length of time that the book encapsulates, but not how old the people at the start. I know that the book is roughly three months long because the project that Paige embarks upon has a three month deadline. And starts at the beginning of the book, and is being released at the end of the book. So, three months.

Unlike some books I've read lately, there's some obvious chemistry between Avalon and Paige. Despite the fact they don't really fit together well. Paige is the more shy, reserved, let's have an evening at home watching B-film horror films; while Avalon is more of the 'let's go places with 800,000 people also there, where the noise is too loud to hear anyone talk, and there's a good chance people with cameras will take our picture' type of woman. They both see something desirable in the other, though, despite their personalities not really matching up well.

That's an interesting dynamic that unfolded in this book. I've read several celebrity books, some may or may no have traveled similar roads as this book here, but this one still seems different than the norm. For many reasons. Not the least of which is the part where one of the characters is shown falling apart over the course of the book; the conflict point is quite reasonable; but then so is the reconciliation. Bah, I'm not really saying why I think the book is different. Other books have had actresses who have found themselves in trouble. This is one of the few where the trouble isn't 'straight A list Actress trouble is trying to hide being a lesbian (or bisexual' for Avalon is already an out A list lesbian, nor is it a 'allowing trouble to act as a smoke-screen to hide something else that might hurt the ability to keep acting (i.e., illness; see: Jae's Hollywood series)'. Instead, here, Avalon actually is a wild bitchy woman on a collusion course with trouble.

It's also interesting to watch Avalon grow. Taking little steps, 'is this the issue?' 'No, you arrogant bitch, you still haven't reached the real issue', to finally actually move from vaguely dislikable character to vaguely . . . redeemable character.

I haven't really mentioned Paige - she also has her POV expressed, but is like-able from beginning to end. But? bah.

Turning to my status updates to draw things to mention: there are at least two sexually graphic scenes that occur in this book, one of which is quite erotic (I've no real idea what I mean by that, neither is fade to black so . . ..).

Rating: 4.45

January 25 2018



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Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole

Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I attempted and failed my first time to read this book. Though, to be fair, it was more of a glance to see if I'd read this one right then and there or something else. So I hadn't really gotten that far before turning to something else. Despite that initial failure, I did find that first attempt to tease me with potential. And, once I actually came back to this book, I found the book addictive, unexpected, and quite good and fun.

It is interesting to read a multi-racial book that contains not a single main character of the pale (underside of a orca - as one woman described her skin in a different book) race. The lead female character, and yes the leads did alternate POV between a lead female and a lead male, is/was a dark skin woman. Not 100% sure what exactly a woman of her background would be termed in 1917 Harlem, but she was called, at least once or thrice, 'Colored'. The man? Why, he also had dark skin. But of a different hue (though the woman was close enough to 'fake it' for years, but that's a story to be found in the book), for he was/is an Indian. At least that's what they would have called him in 1917. Today? Why, they'd call him . . . an Indian. Since he is from India (which, at the time, was controlled by the British). Bengal to be more exact - some small village, though he came to America by way of years in Calcutta, then years on a British ship before leaping off to try his luck in New York.

Bertha Hines, the female lead, owns and operates the Cashmire when the story opens. An entertainment type place, a cabaret type place. A place that serves food, alcohol, and offers up entertainment. And rents rooms to their staff, who, per chance, might use said rooms to offer more services. Bertha, when the story opens (I repeat myself), has two main missions in life - operate her place, and try to help women get the vote - it's coming up as an option for the men to vote on in the next election. She's a strong independent woman, and isn't one to 'play with' any man, especially since they'd try to control her. And stuff.

Amir Chowdhury opens the story being examined by Bertha for a possible position in her kitchen. She needs help in there. Specifically for a dish washer. Amir reluctantly accepts the job, for he needs the money, but it isn't really what he came to America to do. It should be noted somewhere along the way that Amir is quite good at cooking - though that is not immediately made known to anyone since he was hired to be a dish washer and Bertha already had a cook (albeit a heavily pregnant cook).

Amir and Bertha slow burn their way to a romance. Through boss/employee, to trading favors to . . I don't know how to continue this line. The trading favors involves the part where Bertha, as part of her lifting up her workers, is teaching her female staff politics - and Amir gets to be a somewhat hidden student himself in exchange for dance lessons (there's a story there about that as well).

I rather enjoyed and had fun devouring this short novel.

Rating: 4.8

January 24 2018



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Cold Welcome (Vatta's Peace, #1) by Elizabeth Moon

Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is book six of the Vatta series, even though it says it is book one. Or, more accurately, this is the start of a new series, Vatta’s Peace, which continues the 5 book series Vatta’s War. Unlike some series that switch names/start anew, this specific series continues with the same main characters. I can think of, basically, two reasons why the series went from ‘Vatta’s War’ to ‘Vatta’s Peace’, and those two reasons are: the first series had little time in between books – Vatta’s Peace starts ‘years’ (unspecified) later; plus, the second reason, the first book in the Vatta’s Peace series was published slightly less than 10 years after the last book in Vatta’s War. Peace and War? Is that a reason? Well . . . it is somewhat misleading – the Vatta family still faces external conflict and something of a war is continuing. It has been years since ‘major conflict’, but those years occur between the series, not overlap this series here.

As with the prior books in the Vatta multi-series, there are multiple main characters, and multiple points of view in this book here. Just like in the prior series, none of the ‘other side’ are prominent characters, though, just like in the prior series, they occasionally have their thoughts expressed from their point of view. Briefly. The main characters in this go around: Grand Admiral Ky Vatta; CEO (elect) Stella Vatta (smaller role); Rector Grace Vatta (Rector being what someone in the USA would recognize as ‘Defense Minister' ETA: bah. Ever have those days where you think one thing and type another? I meant 'Secretary of Defense' not 'Defense Minister'. pfft. Though many other countries around the world use Defense Minister); Sergeant Major MacRoberts; CEO Rafe something-or-other; and, as mentioned, a few others get turns at the POV wheel.

The story? The story opens with a big giant plot hole, but let’s move beyond that: Ky Vatta has returned to Slotter Key for the first time in many years – because the family business needs her on hand for the changing of the CEO – from Stella’s Mother (Helen I believe), to Stella. Which is vaguely confusing since the prior series seemed to be heading towards Stella taking over the entire enterprise with a very last minute conversation between Grace and Helen wherein Grace basically told Helen to stop being a cry-baby and help with the company (though that did not necessarily mean be CEO or acting CEO). Since I’ve already side-tracked myself, the giant plot hole is the part where Ky did not need to be on hand, physically, for the CEO title to pass from her father to . . . well, the people in between her father and Stella (during the conflict in the prior series, there were basically two CEO’s, one local to Slotter Key, one for the rest of the Universe, because Slotter Key had been cut off, at least communication, from the rest of the universe The prior series ended with a certain fight between the CEO’s for sole CEO title). And then, in-between the two Vatta series, Stella’s mother, Helen, was (and still is) the CEO. Ky was, again, not required to be on hand when Helen took over – and, unlike the prior situation involving Stella and other guy, communication with Slotter Key had been reestablished by the time Helen took over. *shrugs* Eh, whatever. Didn’t need to be on hand before now, has to be on hand now (and yes, I do recall that some company shares were changing hands).

To restart the ‘story’ segment: For the first time in many years, Ky Vatta has returned home. She’s there for the Vatta Enterprise’s changing of the CEO. While in the shuttle-craft from orbit to planet – the shuttle-craft crashes. The book then proceeds to record Ky’s attempts to keep herself and the other shuttle passengers (about 20, 26 people) alive. While also hopping around to other locations and other characters.

The book, unfortunately, was something of a struggle to get through. Though I did – and was relatively happy with everything . . . all the way up to the conclusion. Which kind of pissed me off and made me feel vaguely rage-y. For many reasons. Rage-y enough to desire taking on a goose. And as many, I’m sure, know, Geese are savage stubborn, aggressive, assholes.

Rating: 3.45

January 18 2018



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Not Every River by Robbi McCoy

Not Every River by Robbi McCoy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is my second book by this author that I've read. I prefer the first I read. Mostly because the focus in that book was more on the science fiction/time travel/mystery plot line, and not really much at all on the couple - that was a driving force for the actions of one of the lead characters, but there wasn't much in the way of romance (for reasons).

Here? Well, the main focus was the romance. And, unfortunately, it failed to work for me. For many reasons. Sure, there was a very interesting archaeological story to follow, but it didn't distract from the lack of chemistry seen between the two women.

Rating: 2.92

January 24 2018





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Queen of the Damned (Imp, #9) by Debra Dunbar

Queen of the Damned by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In my most review, prior to this one, I mentioned that the book I was reviewing was both book 6 of an extended series, and book 1 of a new series. Well here we have something vaguely similar. This is both book 9 and book . . . um . . . 23? Let’s see, to get the full enjoyment of this book – since it references a ton of stuff without giving much of a background to that stuff (which I found out, the hard way, when it referenced stuff from the Half Breed series, which I’ve not read), you need to have read at least the first 8 books in the main Imp series; the Nyalla stories (Stolen Souls (novel); Liberation (short story); Far from Center (novel)); the Rafi story (Northern Lights, and, unfortunately, there’s a storyline that pops up in this book here, I mean the Queen one, that is seen unfolding throughout the Northern Wolves short story series that spins off of Northern Lights); that Ten Lows-a leaping short story; No Man’s Land; Three Wishes; and some number for the Half-Breed novels (haven’t read the series, but there’s stuff that popped up that I’m . . . kinda certain is from that series). So, what is that? 13 to 18 novels, depending on how many of the Half-Breeds should be read prior to this book, and something around six short stories.

So, basically, if you haven’t read a Debra Dunbar book before, don’t start with this one – there’s too much you need to read before getting to this one.

So, this story: As is kind of common with the main Imp series, the story follows (for the most part), that Imp – Sam, as she kind of stumbles around from one seemingly random mission to another – each one building off the last one. Meanwhile continuing to be an Angel of Chaos while still mostly thinking of herself as a lowly Imp (despite having the highest demon title due to the Iblis sword)), and still creating chaos while at the same time trying to ‘help’ everyone around her. Also while trying to hump her six billion year old archangel (want age gap? Her lover is six billion, and she’s shy of a 1,000 years). Though he’s still acting all pissy and stuff. For reasons.

Two things to note: 1) I’d forgotten that Sam liked calling her lover Gregory, despite the fact that his name is actually Michael. So there were times wherein I kept wondering ‘who the fuck is this Gregory guy? Oh . . . right, Michael’. 2) There are, roughly, eight trillion editing errors in this book. I didn’t make any notes or highlighted the errors when I came across them, so I can’t actually be certain of a count. They were of the dangling word variety of errors. Both the kind where a random ‘but’ would be hanging out in a sentence without a care in the world (or a connection to the sentence), or a word would be missing. That type of thing bothers me more when I’m already having trouble with keeping my mind on the book – with being vaguely bored with the book. And I liked what I was reading, here, as I normally do – at least for the main Imp series (while waiting for this specific book to be published I started reading everything else – there are at least 2 maybe 3 (or 4) works I DNF’d, and a few I low-rated – though I do not specifically recall editing issues with those works).

Good story, good book. Dangling ending. Well, epilogue part. Might be good to skip the epilogue until the next book pops up, then read epilogue, then read next book. Because of the dangling thing.

Rating: 4.30

January 19 2018 (eeks, 2018? Mmphs, someone born in the year 2000 is now 18 or will be this year? Eeks.)




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Anna And Her Master by Cassie Caine

Anna And Her Master by Cassie Caine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It is interesting the random stories randomly read when randomly. . . . hehehe. Right, sorry.

It is interesting what stories you find yourself reading when you randomly decide to go trolling through your own list of works read and look around to see what else these authors you've read have written. This story here, for example, is the sixth (I believe) story I've read by this author. Though it isn't a new one, in fact it might be one of the earliest (I really should do stuff like look at my own library and at author's pages when I'm writing reviews, but that's boring; much more fun to assume stuff (course then I later go back into my reviews and fix things, but meh)).

The stories I'd read by this author, prior to this one, involved women, young and older, who end up doing some nude modeling (well, four of the stories, vague recollection that another involved a woman whipping another woman, or something like that). So this story here is different than I'm used to from this author.

For, you see, it involves a completely new to BDSM young woman who gets dragged to a Fetish party by her roommate (flatmate) because . . . well, there are reasons. Almost immediately they get separated by events, and almost immediately the main character, Anna, dressed like Little Red Riding Hood (for whatever reason), gets hit on by a man dressed as dracula (is this a BDSM party or a costume party? (insert scene of the two, Anna and Oscar (dracula) watching as a naked woman whips another naked woman bound against the wall, then placing pinchy-thingies onto that woman's nipples . . . right, so is BDSM party).

Everything that happens in this story would, under other circumstances, probably wave large giant red flags in my face, thereby annoying me, and making me want to kill the flags. I'm confusing myself.

Everything about this story, the skittishness of both Cleo and Anna when they spot people 'doing their kinky thing' (though Cleo's aroused, while Anna literally flies the room), the 'commanding' dominant man who dominates the naive young woman (while at the same time constantly checking to see if she's okay, and stuff - that part negates the other part, or, I mean, makes it better), the crazy-ass weirdly possessive flatmate (Cleo), the weirdly clingy boss (Nigel), the heterosexual nature of this story (well, I mean the main characters), etc. etc. etc. (the almost rape).

Let's move to that - there's a rather disturbing scene that unfolds that is quite . . . difficult to read of a rape nature. Not rape-y. Rape, not dubious consent, or any other kind of wiggle words. But rape. So - I warn that that is in this story. There are reasons why I'm still able to rate this story so highly even though it has rape in it; there are reasons but I can't mention them without spoiling things. I'll just note one thing: you know those stories wherein a female character, probably written by a male writer, has their character 'strengthened' by rape? No? Well, it's a trope in fantasy stories, I've mostly steered clear of them myself. The events that unfold in this story are not there to 'strengthen' the female character. (I probably should look up that trope, there is more to it, stuff like making a perfect character . . . um, less perfect? something; still doesn't apply here) (view spoiler)[here it's more revealing prior events; explaining current personalities (hide spoiler)]

One last point: I'm not explaining this story at all well, and am leaving the wrong impression left and right. Like having that 'power play' shelf up there unexplained. Well, that is part of the story. I don't have a Switch shelf, though, or I'd put this on that one as well. For, you see, there is massive power imbalance but it isn't stuck on one side or another. Or something, bah, I'm really not thinking clearly at the moment.

Rating: hmm. I clicked on all five stars, eh? hmms. ..... For the present moment in time, I'll tentatively leave a rating of 4.64 (or .65, I forget if it is 4 or 5 that triggers 'rounding up', an which triggers 'rounding down'; wait, is it 4.74/4.75? or 4.64? bah, whatever rating that is the lowest 5 star rating I can give).

January 18 2018



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Snowdrift and Other Stories by Georgette Heyer

Snowdrift and Other Stories by Georgette Heyer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Received this ARC from Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an honest review

This is a collection of short stories - many of which, if I read the introduction correctly, were published in the 1920s and 1930s. I've previously read most of these short stories. Most, maybe all, through original sources (as in, the original magazines or newspapers the stories appeared in - no I'm not super old, I read copies).

Snowdrift
This is one of those stories I've not previously read.

The story starts off mostly flat, but it picks up to a satisfying conclusion. The story involves a young woman in a carriage hurrying to Bath during a snowstorm. In the carriage are several people, including her maid, and her detested cousin. Both the cousin and the young woman are rushing to Bath to meet their grandfather. The old coot is loaded with cash and has indicated that, despite noting he was going to cut off both of their mothers for marrying the wrong type of men, now believes he might in fact allow some of the money to go to the young woman or Joseph.

As the story proceeds, the snow worsens, lessons, worsens until the carriage runs off the road and flips onto it's side. The fat young cousin proceeds to push himself free and takes off on one of the horses for the nearest town. The young woman has the others in the carriage pull her maid out and both whimper on the side of the road, for different reasons. The maid has a broken leg, the young woman will be beaten to Bath by her fat cousin (and her maid has a broken leg - the young woman isn't heartless).

The sound of horses, the appearance of one of those open type of carriage like thingies. A man asks what's up, and is persuaded to give a lift to the maid and young woman. Along the way he offers up her name and is startled when she doesn't recognize his name ('Never before had Sir Julian Arden announced his identity with so little effect! Indeed, it was seldom that he was put to the trouble of announcing it at all. not only was he the acknowledged leader of Fashion, a crack shot, and a nonpareil amongst whips: he was quite the most eligible bachelor in Society as well.'). And, he finds, she's nothing like the normal type of woman he encounters.

Stuff happens, etc. etc. Interesting enough story. As noted, flat-ish in beginning, picks up in interest, then ends.

The introduction noted that Heyer sometimes expanded short stories into full length books - I do not recognize
this specific story or characters.

I liked the personalities displayed - the dandy who doesn't have to act like a dandy around the young woman, nor does he really get the chance -

When it's mentioned that they continue to Bath in Arden's open carriage - the curricle - he replied that it'd be too cold, but she responds that she'd like it quite well -

'And only think what a deal of expense you may save!'

Sir Julian, who had never in his life considered such a sordid matter, agreed to it meekly . . ..'

Rating: 4.03

January 10 2018

Full Moon
Previously read in 2012; roughly 54 pages in length. My favorite of the previously read short stories collected here.

I probably have a review for this short story somewhere, thought I'd put it here. pfft. No matter, that review was from 2012 . . . drat, going to have to look for it to see what I'd originally rated the story.

Right, so, this story: Interesting reread - a man in his 30s arrives at an Inn - he had been 'summoned' to visit a friend of his sisters but the winding roads have made him late, so he's stopping for dinner and possibly the night at the inn - instead of wandering on and arriving way too late.

While at the inn he encounters a man drinking heavily. And learns that the man, Tom, is about to elope with someone who he had known since childhood and had made some kind of marriage pact. Though currently he's drinking heavily because of that elopement - the young woman indicated that her papa was forcing her to marry some old man and Tom felt obligated to mention elopement. And now finds himself waiting for the carriage to arrive so he can go pick her up.

Naturally, after drinking so much, he slumps over asleep and the man who had stopped at the Inn, Lord Stayely, who is something around 34 or 35, goes in Tom's place. No - no - not to elope with the young woman, but to inform her about Tom's . . . illness.

Good story. Liked it. Believe I liked it more the first time I read it, but then the jokes were fresh that time. The interaction between the Lord and the young woman was interest, humorous, like the first read. Don't recall if I found the interaction between the papa and the Lord to be humorous, but did find it humorous this read.

Rating: 4.33

January 10 2018

Pistols for Two

While well written for what it is, it isn't what I was looking to read. Nor thought I'd be reading. This is by no means a romance. Heck, there weren't even any women in it (okay, there is but she has no lines, and is just the cause for the story, not a participant).

Two hot-headed young friends, somewhere below the age of 21 I believe, lust after the same woman. There is, in fact, 'stuff' about the woman in the story, but it is of the 'ugly duckling to swan' type of thing, not actual real participation by the woman in the story. The two young friends spent much time together, fishing, hunting, stuff. Then a woman popped up who they had not wanted anything to do with until she returned from growing up to appear . . . beddable - and the two young men compete to win her. For she is, you see, an object.

One thing leads to another, and the vast majority of the story consists of setting up a duel, having a duel, and the aftermath.

No idea how to rate this story. As noted, well written. But not what I wanted to read. So.....

Rating: 3.3

January 10 2018

A Clandestine Affair

A young woman begs her guardian - shockingly a woman (and her sister at that) - to allow her to marry her 'love'. The guardian was leaning to accepting the marriage, until she learned that the fella in question has a guardian himself and that man is against the marriage.

Later we learn that the two guardians had a past - and much of the conflict is based on that.

This is another of those high-speed chasing eloping people short stories. Though there's two twists here, neither of which I, of course, will mention.

One neat thing about this story? Okay, two neat things. There's a teenage girl involved in this romance, like normal, but her intended is roughly her own age - give or take . . . 5 or so years. Though, more importantly, the main character is the 'elderly' woman of 37 (something around 37) and she also has a romance in this story with a man roughly her own age (okay, I don't really know his age but he wasn't described as needing to use a cane or a 'Bath Chair' so he can't be too much older than the woman).

Quite refreshing - even today - to read a romance that involves someone 'as old as' 37.

Rating: 3.83

Read: January 10 2018; Reviewed: January 11 2018

Bath Miss

A man of about 30 something is tasked with the mission of bringing a 'Bath Miss' from the school-room, so to speak, in Bath to London. The first thing the young woman of 19 does is change from school room clothing to 'adult female' clothing. With a huge hat.

The woman is shown to be bubbly and quite naïve. The main is shown as . . . vaguely icky - since he decides, without consulting her, that he (view spoiler)[will be marrying her. I don't mean that he's decided that she'd make a good wife, or that he's decided to pursue her. I mean he's going to go to get a marriage license and marry her. (hide spoiler)] I strike out 'vaguely'. There's a disturbing vibe about the entire story.

Rating: 3.42

Read: January 10 2018; Reviewed: January 11 2018

Pink Domino

Another 'young woman courting a young man shockingly near her own age' story, like the Affair one above, though here the main character is a man and this adds in the 'lovely' trope of having the lusted after object being . . . well, an object instead of a human (um, he is lusting after a woman, I mean he's treating her as an object) that has no will of her own. He decided he wanted her so . . that's that.

Rating: 3.78

Read: January 10 2018; Reviewed: January 11 2018

A Husband for Fanny
Previously read in 2012; roughly 39 pages in length.

A mother, Clarissa Wingham, attempts to help her 17 year old daughter, Fanny, have a season and a chance to 'catch a husband'. Clarissa has her eyes on the 40 year old Lord Harleston for her 17 year old daughter.

To Have the Honour

A man comes back from the wars to find that he is head of the household and his father left the family in debt. Plus - 'for reasons', he wasn't told the true state of the family's finances for months because everyone assumed (mother, siblings, creditors), that 'of course' he was going to marry Hetty. Which he finds revolting. Until he doesn't find it revolting any longer.

Heyer seemed to really love matching up first cousins in romances. Not all the time, but enough times for me to make the comment. Accurate to the Regency era? Eh, maybe, who knows. Limited number of 'good families' about, I'm sure. Major problem surfaced in this particular story, though - Heyer went too far down this road.

Hetty and . . . . Viscount guy lived as brother and sister (not from babies, but at some point Hetty moved in while they were young, and then they lived as brother and sister) and both either see the other that way, and/or say they do. So this moves from first cousin romance to sibling romance. Heck, the Viscount's mother kept saying over and over again that she saw Hetty as her daughter, so it's not like it was just in the eyes of the two youngsters. It was a reoccurring theme in the story - they lived, loved, and saw each other as brother and sister.

Unlike with the Lannisters, everyone seems quite happy with the incestal relationship here (the Viscount was revolted by his mother hiding the finances, and um assuming Hetty and he would marry, and forcing her and stuff; not revolted by the idea of marrying Hetty).

Rating: 2

January 12 2018

Night at the Inn

Unexpectedly, and oddly enough, this story was more of a gothic horror/mystery than a romance. Though there is a man and a woman to 'make eyes' at each other in the story - still not a romance story.

The story consists of telling about three people who stayed at a particular Inn at the same time - an inn not the norm - isn't the first place someone would go to stay the night. And the ominous dangerous things that occur the night the three spend at that Inn.

Rating: 3.65

January 14 2018

The Duel

As I put in my notes - yet another duel story; though here there's a bit more romance than the other story, since the woman character actually has lines and is a much larger part in this story. Also, as kind of expected, this is yet another story involving a much older man and a much younger woman - this time the woman hasn't even been 'out' yet.

On the other hand - entertaining story. Not much humor, but there's at least one real laugh that occurs - near the end. Nothing to go out of your way to track down to read, but also not a story to go out of your way to skip.

Rating: 4.15

January 14 2018

Hazard

There's very little that can be said about this story that would not be spoilery. What can be stated is what sets up the story - the story opens with a half-brother offering up his sister when he runs out of money during a game of chance that involves dice. The person who he is playing against accepts this bet. Though, it probably should be noted, every other person in the room is horrified by the bet.

Let's see, other things I wrote down as I read: 'she was mad/he was drunk'; there's a little scene near the end that, I suppose, is intended to be humorous and possibly 'redeem' the people involved in this story, though it doesn't work for either issue.

Rating: 1.75

January 16 2018

Pursuit
Previously read in 2012; roughly 10 pages in length.

A tale of people fleeing/eloping, and others chasing. And the romance that could/can occur in such a setting. Specifically between a governess and an Earl.

Runaway Match
Previously read in 2012 (found in a 1937 magazine put-up online - Australian Women's Weekly); Roughly 4 pages in length.

Two 18 year-olds attempt to escape an arranged/forced marriage (specifically between the female of the pair to another man than the one she flees with) by fleeing and eloping.

Incident on the Bath Road
Previously read in 2012; roughly 4 pages in length.

Two men head to Bath - separately and unknown to each other. One, an Earl, spots the other broken down on the side of the road. The Earl stops and helps the person he finds stranded on the side of the road.


Stories:

Snowdrift: 4.03
Full Moon: 4.33 (reread rating, original rating 5 stars) 9.33/2=4.665
Pistols for Two: 3.3
A Clandestine Affair: 3.83
Bath Miss: 3.42
Pink Domino: 3.78
A Husband for Fanny: n/a (already read) - 4 stars
To Have the Honour: 2
Night at the Inn: 3.65
The Duel: 4.15
Hazard: 1.75
Pursuit: n/a - previously read - 4 stars
Runaway Match: n/a - previously read - 4 stars
Incident on the Bath Road: n/a - previously read - 3 stars
overall: 3.541071429 (3.4 without including previously read stories, 3.5 if including them)

Overall a good collection of stories, though I was surprised 'so many' of them were just snippets instead of full short stories (there's a difference between a snippet and a short story), and how many of the stories were not, in fact, romances. I kind of went into it expecting romances.

January 16 2018



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Hearts Like Hers (Seven Shores, #2) by Melissa Brayden

Hearts Like Hers by Melissa Brayden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book received from both Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review

For ‘reasons’, some of which are based on spotting various ratings pop up in my feed (but without reading the reviews attached), I both went into this book, and spent the majority of the book thinking that I’d likely rate this somewhere near 4 stars. Not that I always rate the same way as others (that’s a laugh, considering the number of books I can’t even finish while others praise them, and the number of books I praise and others give two stars too, it might be closer to ‘it’s a toss-up if I rate the book the same way as someone else’). Just the rating slipped into my subconscious. But somewhere near the end, I realized . . . well, let’s move on to the review.

This is the second book in Brayden’s second official series (which I say because there are non-series books that occasionally have characters from other books appear), Seven Shores. I’d seen the series as being linked by Seven Shores – the apartment complex in Venice California (an independent city from 1905, when it emerged as a seaside resort town, to 1926, when it merged with Los Angeles). The second book in the series involved mid-thirties Autumn Primm, friend of the three women who live in Seven Shores, and owner of the Cat’s Pajamas, a nearby coffee shop, and a resident of some house some distance away. So, how could Autumn be the star of the second book in this series? Well, strangely enough, that specific connection to Seven Shores apartment complex is in fact continued in this here book through the other lead character of this book, firefighter Kate Carpenter, of Slumberton Oregon.

Characters
There are two main point of views, and two main characters (there is at least one occasion when we get the inside thoughts of a third character, briefly and strangely inserted (there’s one occasion when suddenly Hadley’s feelings are so extreme she feels like her head is going to explode – that’s it, that’s her entire POV insertion into the book, and I don’t think it was by itself in the sentence it appeared in)). Those two main characters being Autumn Primm, and Kate Carpenter.

Autumn is 32 and a single child of Vicky (her mother told her to call her Vicky shortly after beginning school, maybe in the second grade) who has spent her adult life living in the greater Los Angeles area, learning everything there is to know about coffee, getting the seed money to open her own coffee place, and running said place of coffee.

Kate Carpenter is 34 and a firefighter who befriended two kids who lived down the street from her in her small town of Slumberton Oregon – and the place is as quiet and sleepy as the town name implies. The book opens shortly after Kate had rescued those same two children from a fire and is suffering a sort of post-traumatic stress over it (not sure if it reaches PTSD level) – especially the part where she lives in a small town and everyone knows the story and everyone talks about how much of a hero she is near or to her face – which she disputes, the hero part, for reasons. Shortly after the book opens, Kate throws some stuff into her truck and drives down to California so ‘she can breathe’.

For those curious, yes, all of the women who were friends in the first book reappear in this book here. Plus Taylor, the love interest in book one, also reappears with her significant other Isobel. So, to fill this out a little more, we have: 'the Seven Shores friends': Isabel Chase, star of Eyes Like Those (&, through her, Taylor Andrews) and television writer; Gia Malone, star professional surfer and relatively younger than the rest of the gang (I think), and star of ‘coming soon’ Sparks Like Ours; Hadley ?, fashion . . . person; and Autumn Primm – coffee shop owner.

Story: As noted: Kate is feeling stress from a recent fire she was involved with in Oregon, and has taken some time off from work to spend time in California and breath. Said time off spent renting an apartment in a specific complex known as ‘Seven Shores’. Meanwhile the other lead character, Autumn, is dealing with a certain amount of depression – a certain amount of low self-esteem brought on both by her rotten bitchy horrible shrew of a mother and her hideous ex-girlfriend who may or may not have cheated on her (it’s never actually stated bluntly, nor even implied, though it sure seemed like Olivia had cheated with Betsey-the-gym-trainer). Shaken by the news that her ex is getting married, Autumn has decided to ‘live’ more – which includes: being open to dating and the acknowledgement that she wants to stick a baby inside of her, and then have that baby pop out so she could be a mother to said baby.

Kate and Autumn meet well. Date. Both know that it’s temporary. Both develop ‘something’. An ‘issue’ occurs and there’s trouble in relationship paradise. I’m being purposefully vague – how detailed should I be? It’s a romance, it’s by Brayden, of course there’s going to be a brief ‘issue’ that breaks the people apart for a short time. And stuff.

Positives: 1) I rather like the personalities shown here, at least, or I mean specifically Autumn and Kate’s. 2) Kate’s described as being near perfect (calm, collected, gorgeous, etc. etc.) but there are enough ‘there’ to move out of ‘fantasy dream girl’ to ‘human’. 3) both main characters have enough page time to ‘show themselves’ and allow the reader to learn something about them. 4) three seconds after I push the submit button, I’m sure I’ll think of 100s more to insert.

Negatives: 1) I realize why he is in the book, I think, but I found Kate’s brother vaguely off-putting; 2) I realize why she’s in the book, again I think, but I found Vicky, Autumn’s domineering, self-centered, bitchy mother was . . . super annoying; 3) I’ve no idea why that whole section involving Autumn attending her ex-girlfriend’s wedding was needed – as a ‘jump start to finding that extra, or ‘more’ in life’, Olivia’s wedding invitation and some ‘stuff’ along those lines would work; having one of the Seven Shores women go along as a friend, Hadley, was good since it allowed more page time to a character who is supposedly a good friend but not really fully developed yet – but, and this is important, despite there being something like a seven hour drive there and back, and the wedding itself, and everything, the whole experience seemed to go by way too fast for any actual ‘character development’ to be seen. 4) see 4 in the positives section.


Overall: Somewhere along the way, despite my vague feeling I might be reading a 4 star book, something occurred – I don’t mean something specific – that made me realize that this book was actually better than I was allowing myself to see it be. I lost that last sentence. Pfft. As for a specific incident – there was one specific incident that caused something that I don’t think had happened before for me with a Brayden book – a slight momentary blurry vision due to watery eyes. The happy kind of blurry-ness.

I liked the book. I liked the characters. I liked the romance and the story. There was even bits of humor tossed in there here and there – nothing on the level of a Robin Alexander book, but humor –

”So, what else is new?” she asked her kitchen, which she was apparently talking to now.

Plus, in addition to some humorous talking to yourself moments, there were a few humorous because of situation moments – like when Autumn and Hadley got drunk that one night.

Right, so, liked the book.

Rating: 4.68

January 9 2018


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Love at Cooper's Creek by Missouri Vaun

Book received from both Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review

This book has two main point of view/main characters. Shaw Daily, and Kate Elkins.

Shaw Daily is five feet ten inches, 38, has short hair, and is constantly confused by others on whether they are looking at a man or woman. She is also an executive vice president over international marketing and sales. The book opens with Shaw on a business trip to Japan but, during a meeting, she has something like a panic attack and has to exit before the meeting was over. Before she was supposed to return, she finds herself back in the San Francisco airport having reached a specific decision – she’s going to take some time off and return to the place she considers home – Cooper’s Creek North Carolina (even though she and her mother seemed to be constantly on the move and rarely actually lived in Cooper’s Creek – it’s actually those occasions when Shaw was dumped with the grandparents in Cooper’s Creek that Shaw is remembering as home, not her time with her mother). On the family front: Shaw is alone now, she never knew her father, her mother is dead, and her grandparents passed long ago. On the friend front . . . I’m not sure it’d be fair to say she has none, because we never actually see Shaw in her ‘normal’ life, just ‘off finding herself’, though it is possible her boss is her friend. She’s friendly enough, though, since there’s mention of her being friends with Miriam, Kate’s sister, back when the two were growing up (though, as a show of this being her past not present – Shaw didn’t even know Miriam’s children status); and Shaw . . . continues whatever odd relationship/friendship she has with Jimmy (he looks over her place (well her grandparent’s old place that Shaw now owns), but you can tell the closeness by how Jimmy didn’t even know Shaw would be around the first time they bumped into each other in Cooper’s Creek.

Kate Elkins is 34 and an elementary school teacher. The book opens with her disengaging from her current life – living in her apartment, being a teacher, to take a year off to take care of her mother who had recently suffered a stroke and is suffering from a certain frailty and memory loss, a certain dementia. Kate, unlike Shaw, has several living relatives – in addition to her mother, there’s her sister Miriam and her husband Greg, and their children. On the friend font, a large cast of people were seen eating with Kate after the school year ended, and it was implied that they were all friends with Kate. Most aren’t actually seen much in this story, though. Her ex-girlfriend Karen, though, was spotted along the way.

One of the problems of reading a lot of books by the same author was experienced, somewhat briefly, in this book here. And that’s the part wherein one of the main characters physical aspects, as described in the book, seemed to match up with another prominent and important character in the author’s inventory of characters. There was enough there from the beginning for me to know that this wasn’t a repeat of a character, or that character under a different name. Still, the knowledge of that other character was impacting my interpretation of this current character. All because of physical description – the short hair, men’s cut clothing, being confused for a man, etc. Mind, it wasn’t just one story I’d previously encountered this character, but 12 previous works – and a still on-going series. Of course I’m thinking of Jane of Jane’s world – though, as quickly experienced, while there are some similarities in appearance and personality, Jane and Shaw are by no means the same or, really, similar characters (beyond just the fact that Jane likes dressing causally, seems shorter than Shaw, and less confident, etc. than Shaw).

The story: Kate has had a crush on Shaw for years – ever since both were kids, though she’d never before been able to act on it – for reasons, including the age difference and the part where Shaw had been more of Miriam’s friend than Kate’s. Now, though, both are in their thirties and literally live right next door to each other – though there’s a hill and stream between them. Still, it’s hard to act on these old feelings when Kate doesn’t believe she is in any position to get into any kind of relationship - as she has to take care of her ill mother; plus, Kate is unsure of how long Shaw will even be around. Despite desires one way or another, or maybe I should say because of desires, a relationship begins between Shaw and Kate, though Shaw upfront noted that she doesn’t know how long she’ll be around, and isn’t the best at relationships (I’m wording this a lot worse than Shaw did, mmphs, the point is that Kate and Shaw enter a relationship with both having their eyes wide open).

Family is a big part of this book – both Kate’s, and, surprisingly, Shaw’s. For, recall, Kate’s mother has certain ‘issues’ with memory – and people have a tendency to take a glance at Shaw and see a man. Well, fairly early on, Kate’s mother took her first look, I believe, at Shaw and called her ‘Charlie’. Confused and intrigued, Shaw spends part of the book investigating this mystery – is Charlie related to her? Are they actually that similar in appearance?

Good solid interesting story. I might be getting emotional as I get up there in age, as this is another of those books that forced me to ‘feel’ things.

On the sex front: occurred, is graphically detailed.

On the characters front: I liked both main characters, and, somewhat abnormal for me, liked the side-family characters. I will note, though, that the two main characters are more developed, more solid, than the others.

I feel like making some comment like ‘unexpectedly, this author sits fifth on my list of authors ranked by total number of works read’, but bah, I do not really have anywhere to go with a comment like that one.

Rating: 4.65

January 13 2018

The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody

The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the third book by Colette Moody that I’ve reread – and each of Moody’s three books improved on rereading. Like this one here, the pirate one, I found to have a lot more detail in it that I had recalled. I believe I might have initially read this one too quickly – still enjoyed it on first read, but read it too quickly.

Right, so – the action takes place in various locations in or near the Caribbean Sea. Florida (St. Augustine), Cuba, Jamaica (Kingston, Port Royal (which is actually just across a stretch of water from Kingston)), Bahamas, Santo Domingo (in what is now the Dominican Republic). And the Berry Islands (just north of Bahamas). Action took place during a few months in 1702.

And that action? A pirate ship, the Original Sin is attacked by a military ship and the captain is injured. With the doctor killed in the same action, the crew (and daughter Gayle Malvern, who takes over as acting captain) need to find a doctor. A few are tasked with heading to the nearby coast of Florida to find the lucky fella. Instead they find Celia Pierce, who just happened to be visiting her doctor fiancée – that fella was in the backroom but is quite the coward and hid while the pirates were there. Since Celia is a seamstress, and the doctor apparently is in some other town, the pirates ‘make-do’ with the seamstress.

Dark haired Celia and fiery haired Gayle go to work on Captain Mad Malvern, and the rest of the injured crew. Then start sailing around – dropping Captain pops at a particular tavern where the ex-ship doctor is currently residing. Ex-doctor will tend to injured captain, while the ship bounces around the region. First mission: retrieve a captured sister of another doctor – a doctor who had been following her from England and is willing to work aboard the pirate ship if they go get his sister. And then more fun and exciting things occur as Celia and Gayle take a cruise around a very small portion of the Caribbean (months apart in sailing time, but just a tiny bit of the Caribbean Sea).

There’s much humor, action, romance, and graphic depictions of sex to be found within the pages. Quite fun all around. And the humor was not just reserved for the ‘good characters’ – like, for example, a few bits dribbled out of others. Like right in the beginning with the feckless doctor who talks about his attempts to woo women in Spanish Florida when he himself only knows English (‘luckily’ for him, there’s a British fella there who married a Spanish woman and had an offspring – that being Celia, making her half British and half Spanish).

It was astoundingly difficult to woo a lady who thought he was either trying to purchase a chicken or a few tomatoes from her, or ask her for directions.

And while there’s no real romance between Celia and Philip (the doctor), there’s much humor to be found in their interactions. Like when Philip calls Celia his cabbage. And she calls him on it – and he is so dim it takes him a while to understand she’s being sarcastic.

”I find you attractive as well, my cabbage.”

She fought her natural urge to grimace at his unpleasant metaphor. “Cabbage? Might you compare me to a vegetable with a slightly more palatable smell?”

His brow furrowed. “My little . . . mushroom?”

“You would liken me to a fungus?” Celia laughed. “Such wooing, sir. You might make my heart burst within my breast.”

Phillip eyed her with belated suspicion. “Are you mocking me?”

“I? Your devoted mushroom dares not,” Celia replied insincerely. “Were I perhaps a potato or a leek, however, I would be brimming with mockery. They, sir, are victuals of the trickiest sort and are not to be trusted.”

But the humor is not just limited to Phillips and people talking around him (which is good, since he isn’t the main character and is rarely in the book). The humor with Celia by herself, or between Celia and Gayle is also quite good. Like when Celia, after waking up hung-over, asked what happened the night before between herself and Gayle . . .

”Did we…” She jumbled her fingers chaotically together in some sort of peculiar, yet demonstrative hand gesture.

“Milk an animal of some kind?”

Right, so, many more moments of humor – better in context, I’m sure, than randomly strewn about my review here.

As mentioned – this is the third book I’ve reread by Moody – and all three improved with rereading. ‘Parties in Congress’ rose from 4.5 (since bumped to 5) stars to 6 stars (and top tier) on reread; while ‘The Seduction of Moxie’ moved from 4.5 stars up to 4.25 stars. Wait. Mmphs. Okay, so now that I actually look at the ratings, they did not actually all improve on rereading. Mmphs. Probably due to all the vomiting, diarrhea, and nastiness* in Seduction that knocked it down a little (* yes, instead of firing your agent – poison him). This book here, ‘Sublime’, was rated 4.75 on first read and 5+ on second read (which rearranges the order of ‘favorite Moody books’ – had been 1) Sublime, 2) Parties; 3) Seduction; and is now 1) Parties; 2) Sublime; 3) Seduction.

Rating: 5+

January 12 2018



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Erased by Robbi McCoy

Erased by Robbi McCoy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Unfortunately, for reasons I won’t go into, I haven’t been very good at putting together reviews for works so far in 2018. So . . . another longish delayed review.

This work here is a Science Fiction Mystery with many twists and turns and thrills and chills. Chills rhymes with thrills, otherwise not sure if it applies here.

The book starts off as a police thriller/mystery involving a married police officer off on a chase – lead by a relatively secretive/rarely revealing information FBI agent. The police officer, Dani Barsetti, is racing towards a suspected bombing location – under the direction of her passenger, FBI Agent . . . I’d like to say . . . Bryan something? Dani keeps trying to get more information from the agent. The agent grimaces as Dani speeds along, weaving through traffic, and constantly glancing at his wrist watch.

They arrive – they are in enough time to keep anyone from being killed, but not in enough time to stop the bomb from blowing up. …

I’d like to pause here to make note of one specific problem I had with the entire scenario – just what is the logic behind what was going on? A particular building is targeted – specifically a particular part of that building – later learned that the eco-terrorist is being targeted by a time traveler (which I have to note as I can’t really say anything about the book if I don’t note certain things, plus the time traveling part is in the description). (view spoiler)[there’s kind of a complicated plot about why and where the bomb goes off. My major problem with everything is . . . a specific something or other was being targeted ((view spoiler)[a particular type of beans, Chinese beans – and one of the pieces of evidence for a future issue is a report a scientist conducted on said ‘limited-in-number’ beans – it could be said that the bomb was to keep those beans from that scientist, since that is what happened – she no longer had access and so can no longer make the report that was picked up by a future scientist as a possible thingie-jingle ((view spoiler)[cure for a deadly disease (hide spoiler)]) – except . . . the future still knew about the beans and their potential after the scientist was kept from making the report so . . . it wasn’t to stop her making the report that the beans were destroyed but . . . just to destroy the beans? Um, but, um. Yes, they, the beans, are endangered in that time line at that exact moment in time, but the time travelers literally can travel anywhere in time – centuries, millennium, millions of years (one of the scientists keeps begging to go back to get a dinosaur) – so . . . they could go anywhere in time that those beans exist and get some – they don’t literally need those specific beans (well, that type of bean, but not specifically the beans in that specific building – there’s a potential medical cure found from the beans, but not specifically because of the beans in the building, but those beans in general). So what was the point of blowing up those beans? Anyone? (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]).

Spoilers made me lose track of what I was attempting to write. *thinks*.

Right, so, in the middle of chasing the eco-terrorist, the fella is spotted running upstairs – the cops are in pursuit. They are alerted to the whereabouts of this fella by the FBI Agent. Shots are fired – heard. Dani is the first to arrive on the scene on the top of the building – she sees the Agent slumped over, potentially dead. She spots the evil guy running away. She tries to chase the guy but he disappears on her. While checking to see if the agent is dead or not, she touches a ‘lipstick like item tube’ and . . . wakes up something like 200 years in the future.

Complicated time travel physics are mentioned. Stuff like how time travel can work, grandmother paradox, etc. etc. Long and short – because of quantum physics reasons, a person can’t be in two places at the same time (wait, doesn’t quantum physics mean, right, let’s forget about that right now) …. Let’s try that again. Long story short – for reasons, a person can’t be in more than one place at the same time. Meaning – once Dani time traveled to the future, she got erased from the past and got the . . . ‘time era stamp’ onto her . . . DNA. Um, something like that. As said, confusing. No matter – point is that for reasons – Dani is no longer ‘known’ by anyone in the past. Her mother won’t recognize her; her wife? No idea who this ‘Dani’ person is now. But! Because that eco-terrorist is still running around out there, the future people offer Dani the chance to go back in time . . . for two weeks (here I got kind of pissed off, I’d been thinking that she’d have a chance to try to reestablish something with the wife-no-longer-wife-because-doesn’t-know-you-exist; but . . . two weeks? Bah) and murder the eco-terrorist (because catching him and . . . doing anything at all else but murder him would . . . um . . . let him win? Something like that).

Why Dani instead of some hired assassin? That’s directly dealt with in the book.

So – Dani is teleported back to her own time period and goes about doing two things with differing levels of interest/enthusiasm – investigate eco-terrorist; wander around and bump into people who knew her before she poofed from time, and continuously get frustrated that they don’t know who she might be. Because, well ‘reasons’, but mostly because she doesn’t believe the people that she really was teleported through time.

Despite some of the things I have or haven’t stated – I rather enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those who like: 1) time travel; 2) science fiction; 3) mysteries; 4) potentially doomed relationships? . . something like that.

OH! Almost forgot to mention – out of all the books in the world, out of all the possible genres/story-lines/etc.etc., you’d think this would be solo point of view, or, potentially, . . . I forget what it’s called – when it’s 3rd person or whatever. But no – both the wife, Gemma, and Dani have nearly equal times at the Point of View control. Weird, eh?

Rating: 4.25

January 9 2018



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Embracing the Dawn by Jeannie Levig

Embracing the Dawn by Jeannie Levig

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the first book I’ve read by this author. And third book I’ve rated five stars this year. And one of those three books was a short story I’d previously read. And second book in a row I’ve rated 5 stars (I’ve already read two short stories since I read this book which I did not rate 5 stars, the short stories I mean, so this isn’t a new trend where everything I read is 5 star quality).

This is one of those rare books that do not focus on characters from their teens or 20s wandering around being all . . . I’ve no idea where I’m going with this sentence. This is not one of those . . crap. This is one of those relatively rare books wherein the major characters are not teens or in their 20s, or even, for that matter, in their 30s. No, this is one of those books where the main characters are 40+. And they need to be – for all the life experience they’ve packed into their characters.

Right, so – the book opens with two women waking up after a one-night stand. One is E. J. Bastien, 50-something, and a regional director for a chain store (or, as the book description puts it ‘a business executive’). E.J. is not one of those types of women who only do relationships (neither woman fits that profile), in fact, for the most part she never does relationships (with women) – she’s a one night at a time type of woman.

The other woman in this book, Jinx Tanner, is a 40-something dog washer and ex-con. Three years ago she exited from prison (I was going to say ‘federal prison’ but I forget if ‘federal’ was part of the phrase or not). She had been inside the prison for 25 years (which reminds me that she’s 45, I think E.J. is closer to something like 52). And while Jinx has had ‘relationships’ in the past, they were the . . . non-normal kind, and, to complicate matters further, she hasn’t been with anyone in a sexual way for the past 10 years. She did have a relationship in prison but . . . well, you know prison relationships (yes? No? eh, I’m trying to be vague while giving details).

Neither woman expects to see the other again (back to ‘this book opened with two women waking up in bed’) but both really enjoyed their time with the other, and if they were different people, they might have tried for more. But they aren’t – for one: they don’t even live in the same city. For, you see, both are ‘there’ (wherever ‘there’ is), because E.J.’s son is marrying a nice young woman from a rich family (E.J. and her husband, or ex-husband I should say, are also rich). Unbeknownst to either woman prior to getting into bed together: that young woman? Jinx’s niece. Course the happy little afterglow immediately evaporated when this is learned by E.J., who proceeds to have a panic attack (though is calmed down from it). For, you see, E.J. is not out to her family, and . . . there are reasons she can’t be out. (one of the weird things about this book – every time I wanted to yell at it, at E.J. . . . someone yelled what I wanted to yell at E.J. and her stupid reasoning, mmphs, heh).

Jinx, by the way, is the black sheep of the family – she’s not been in regular contact with any of them for . . . oh . . . something like 28 years. Since she ran away from home. Though her best friend, her sister, ‘separated’ from her, emotionally, about 5 or six years before that – though Jinx hasn’t a clue what happened to change Andi’s personality ((view spoiler)[it is only revealed just what caused the change very late in the book . . . and the explanation was . . . not so much stupid, since that kind of thing can happen, especially when young children are involved but . . . leagues below what got built up in my mind – I mean, Andi acted as if she loathed Jinx with every fiber of her being. And Jinx had no clue why. (view spoiler)[it got to the point, especially considering some of the words Andi used when mentioning pops, that I expected to find out that Jinx’s father had raped Andi when she was about 12, and – because of reasons – she took out her horror and anger on Jinx, her step-sister (they had the same father though so . . . ) . . yeah, no, that’s not it. That’s not the big reveal. (view spoiler)[the big reveal? Andi was too frightened of her mother to go against her, and the mother loathed Jinx . . . except Nora (it was Nora right?) loathed Jinx to the extreme for years before Andi’s personality changed, it wasn’t a secret, and nothing really seems to have happened at age 12 that increased the loathing (except words about how Nora was going to start treating Andi like Jinx if she didn’t get away from her, stop being her friend (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]).

Got distracted by spoilers.

Right, so – both E.J. and Jinx know they can’t be together . . . differing reasons, but have a good time together. Then ignore the other’s existence at the wedding. Weeks go by. Both have these feelings. E.J. finally breaks down and goes to the same club she picked Jinx at the first time – to try to find her (there are reasons more than ‘wants some sexual action’ but that’s important to). It’s kind of a dump, a dive bar – but that’s the kind of place E.J. looks going anyway so . . . . but the clientele, at least one of them, puts on the super mean face. But let’s not reveal every plot point – long and short – E.J. and Jinx hook up again . . . and then E.J. leaves again. Because.

This is one of those angsty, drama-filled, super complicated (relationship/family-wise) type of stories I do not look for to read. Not that I specifically hate them when I stumble across them, obviously, but I’m not really an angsty reading type of person. But . . . works here.

There’s several interesting dynamics at play here. More than I’ll mention. But, for one example of what I mean, there’s several shelves I like using. Yet ‘rich/poor’ isn’t clicked. Nor is ‘cultural clash (or however I worded that shelf)’. Why? Because both women have had stages in their lives when they had money – lots and lots of money; and stages where they were poor . . . ish. One a lot more than the other. And my brain just stopped working so I can’t recall the other examples I was going to give.

Jinx has two lesbian friends who play big roles in this book – Sparkle and Reggie. And several neighbors who she interacts with – like the next-door gangster teenager, and his sister, and their mother. Though the young man is the only one who has much in the way of lines in the book. On the family side we get Tiffany, Jinx’s niece, and Andrea, Jinx’s sister. On E.J.’s side we get her assistant and her non-assistant friend Taylor. Man these people’s names fled from my mind. Well, Sparkle and . . . the assistant’s name did. Had to look hard to find Sparkle. I think I’ll skip trying to locate the assistant’s name, though both she and Taylor play important roles in the book. On the family side we get Jacob and Mandy – E.J.’s children. Somewhere along the way (I know where, I’m being vague) we get Pete the puppy dog.

I liked both main characters, oh and both had points of view. One, E.J., is the kind I’d probably hate otherwise, though. Especially her constant running away and ‘I don’t do relationships’, and her ‘It’s all for Jacob!!!!!’ (as for why she can’t come out as a lesbian, there’re reasons ((view spoiler)[there was an incident when Jacob was about 10, which lead him to say, when he was about 14, that he hates gays (hide spoiler)])).

Lots of feelings, humor, stuff going on in this book which I enjoyed. Re: humor: for reasons, Jinx was constantly telling joke’s – partially because that helped calm E.J. at times, partially because . . . um . . she’s a joke teller? There was another thing I was going to mention, lost it. The jokes are on a certain level, on purpose, like so – (using, as an example, one of the less elaborate jokes for room sake)

Why can’t you hear a psychiatrist using the bathroom? Because the P is silent.

- eh, stupid, but works in context.

Let’s see . . . there was sex, it was graphic . . . what else to note . . what else . . . eh, I liked the book. Yay me.

Rating: 4.69

January 10 2018



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