Winter Fae (Northern Wolves #3) by Debra Dunbar

Winter Fae by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is one of those where I'm not certain if I want to rate it 3.5 something or 3.75 something, so I rate it 3.5 for now.

I liked Dunbar's Imp series, really loved that Imp. These side stories fluctuate in my response to them. I think there's just the one I DNF'd (previous story in this specific off-shoot series, though there's one I speed read through (1st in this off-shoot series). While, at the same time, my favorite book I've read by this author, if I recall correctly, is the stand-alone off-shoot from the Imp series that, in turn, lead to the Northern Wolves series. That specific book is why I keep reading more stories in this specific series. I had an issue with the first one because it was just an extension of a secondary coupling in 'Northern Lights' - a coupling that could just as easily have been wrapped up in that book instead of becoming an off-shoot short story. Second story, bah, I can't specifically recall now why I wasn't able to complete it, though there's vague recollection that I despised both main characters. Which leads us to this story here - the Winter Fae one.

Oddly enough, one of the other reasons that I went down this Northern Wolves series was because I had seen a description of Winter Fae and rather wanted to read it. And figured it'd be better to read the others first. Didn't really help, on one level, because I kinda dislike the main male character in this book (a guy who kept whimping, mentally, about how much of a gamer loser he is; and who kept pinching himself, literally, because this 'gorgeous woman' wanted anything to do with him - that personality got old fast, though wasn't specifically on display in previous stories, but he himself was there and not specifically very likable). I liked the female fae, though, so that's good.

If not for the second story in this series, that Rogue one, I'd say that I appear to like the author's female lead stories more than her male lead ones. Since that Rogue one was female lead. But the Imp series is mostly from the Imp's point of view, and . . . well, um, drat my brain is leaking out of my head for some reason so I move on.

Right - story - the male wolf, the pilot previously seen in the series and whose name may or may not be something like 'Dustin', leads off this specific story. While in the process of delivering people around Alaska, he spots what appears to be an overturned truck with an injured person nearby. Naturally, therefore, he lands his seaplane on the snow nearby and hops out to help. And, naturally, he gets shot for his troubles. Normally, being a werewolf, being shot is annoying, not deadly. Except these are those magic bullets seen throughout this series, and there's a good chance the fellas going to die.

Except the wolf, or the man transformed into wolf, drags self to a hidden sanctuary area. The woman who built the place finds the wolf and attempts to heal. Binding both of them together. Later she comes to realize that the wolf/dog (she's not sure what the creature is specifically) was not in fact a canine (or not only that) but also some kind of human. Since she found said man, naked, where she'd left the dog in her dwelling.

I interject to note: good grief that guy thought about his erection a lot (he, naturally, had an erection when the woman found him there).

So - werewolf meet a new creature to this series; though the reason why I wanted to read this book - the woman is a fae. And, as has been stressed, an elf and a fae are not the same thing in this series world. Fae are in there own little place, Aerie, and are largely not encountered by others.

Despite kind of disliking the main male in this story, the story was entertaining to read and passed the time well.

Rating: 3.5something

October 16 2017



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Juneau to Kenai by Debra Dunbar

Juneau to Kenai by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Brent and Kennedy continue their story from the novel 'Northern Lights' in this spin-off short story.

Kennedy continues with her interrupted vacation, hiking an area of Alaska. Brent returns to brooding about being lonely and wishing he could actually do something with Kennedy but she's super important surgeon person based in Seattle, and he's super important alpha werewolf person based in Juneau so they have no future.

Kennedy hikes with a guide, she didn't realize that she'd be the only one in the tour group/party/being lead. Guide freaks out, mildly, when Kennedy pulls her leg off after one of the hikes (she has a fake leg).

Brent gets his shit together, so to speak, and 'goes after' Kennedy.

Meanwhile, and I'm not sure if the romance is supposed to be the main story, or the mystery/thrill thingie, someone is hunting and killing 'things' in Alaska. Brent is warned, but Kennedy went out without that knowledge.

Then Kennedy and her guide get hunted. Kennedy shows she's a lot more than a surgeon - lots tougher than she might look.

The mystery part of the story was . . . okay? While the romance . . . it should have been 'fixed up' in the prior book. There was no real reason to extend things like this.

I do not really recommend this spin-off series (though I did love the book Northern Lights). As this spin off story was kind of vaguely boring, and the story after it ended up being paused/possibly DNF'd before finishing.

Rating: 3.50 (okay, it wasn't actually boring, I just had two paused/dnf'd Dunbar stories before and after this story here and so I'm kind of down on it)

August 15 2017



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Rogue by Debra Dunbar

Rogue by Debra Dunbar




This is the second Dunbar story I'll be pausing (maybe permanently pausing). Not in a row, there was a short story in between.

What's the problem this time? Well, the story is verging on ‘creepy but hot’ territory, but it’s more the weird and inconsistent personality given for the lead character (this being a solo POV effort (at least up to this point in the book). That POV being a female werewolf named Sabrina (and called by Karl, the werebear, as Brina) who is second in command in the same werewolf pack Brent is the alpha of and that Aria hangs out with.

Sabrina is described in a way I’ve seen a werewolf described before – in the Mercy Thompson series. But maybe I’m being unfair to the werewolf in both series. Both are kind of prissy, the kind who prefers applying make-up immediately after shifting back into human, and gets nauseated at the sight of raw food. Keep that in mind, by the way, nauseated reactions.

Let’s move past that – it isn’t a reason that I dislike the werewolf, after all, so let’s move on.

Sabrina, like Brent before her (as in like how Brent was described in the prior story and book in this series, with Northern Lights being that prior book), Sabrina hasn’t exactly had much luck with finding a mate. In her case there’s a problem of dominance. She’s just too dominant to find a mate – the submissive are too submissive, as in she doesn’t want a submissive mate, and the dominants don’t want anything to do with her because she’s higher up the pecking order – and there’s a distance issue for non-pack wolves. (This isn’t the only part where I felt I was in a BDSM book, referring her to all this talk about dominants and submissives).

So she’s horny when she spots a hot guy walk out of the woods. But she’s confused. Because it’s a bear (well, he currently is in human form). Bears have been invited before to the annual BBQ but this is the first time someone actually took them up on it. This is both the prologue and Karl is the bear.

Naturally, Sabrina proceed to spend all night humping Karl the bear.

Then 11 months pass and it’s the start of the actual book (as in past prologue part). Apparently a rogue bear has been killing humans and Sabrina has been tasked to deal with it. A bear will assist her (there’s a back and forth about how bears would normally handle it, but no bears available . . . so Sabrina will handle the issue . . . and will be assisted by a bear . . . a kind of wtf moment early in the book).

Sabrina and Karl then go hunt the rogue.

Sounds interesting, right? Some might find it more interesting, some, like me, might find it less interesting that the entire hunt finds Sabrina alternating with disgust and drooling over Karl, while Karl, in turn, walks everywhere naked with a very large erection. Constantly.

But let’s turn to that disgust as it is one of the reasons I have to pause this book.

Karl, being a thoughtful bear ‘courting’ a wolf, drops a fish out of his mouth (while he is a bear) in front of Sabrina. Sabrina is a wolf at the time. Sabrina acts like that kid in ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ in reacting with disgust, but tentatively takes a few bites to appease the bear (or in the case of the film, the human kid bites the fish the dragon gave them). Do you recall the part where I mentioned that Sabrina is a wolf? Yeah, well, apparently this wolf just hates raw fish and raw food. How . . . confusing. Biting a few bites physically nauseated Sabrina.

Before and after this Sabrina had some observations about Karl that are worded in the same way as Karl presenting her with the fish. Thinking to herself certain thoughts about Karl. Like how there’s these gold flecks in his eyes which show how there’s this darkness behind him. How . . . this that and the other. Just stuff conveyed with disgust and waves of nausea. These thoughts presented in paragraphs and in almost every case the paragraphs would suddenly switch track and close with something like ‘these thoughts oddly turn me on; I’m becoming aroused by his darkness and roughness’.

There’s a way to convey the idea I believe the author is going for, but the author chose an odd way to go about it. She presented a bunch of negatives then suddenly remembered, oops, Sabrina is supposed to be becoming horny about all this, let’s tack on a sentence to show she’s getting aroused. But without modifying any of the prior word choices or sentences. Leaving the reader with the impression that Sabrina is both nauseated and aroused, and possibly aroused by things that disgust her.

I didn’t actually stop there – after the 20th such description, I mean. No, I actually stopped much later when Sabrina is trying to impress upon a human law enforcer that ‘bad stuff is happening’ while the law enforcer is just all like ‘nooo humans good, shifters bad, and there’s no law against selling bullets’. Basically, what I’m saying is that the story is filled with waves of disgusted arousal, sexualized creatures (Karl literally mentions that he’d do Sabrina in her wolf form), and the non-disgusting parts are . . . both frustrating and boring me. What exactly am I supposed to read? I don’t like Karl, I don’t like Sabrina (and everything is from Sabrina’s point of view), and the story-line, while not ‘crap’, is ‘super boring’.

So I’m, unfortunately, pausing yet another Dunbar story. Possibly forever paused.

Rating: --

August 14 2017




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The Dracula Caper by Simon Hawke

The Dracula Caper by Simon Hawke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've been reading this series, Time Wars, since either the late 1980s, or the early 1990s. I know some of the books I was able to buy new when they first appeared, but most were before my start reading the series. It's an important point because the books became very difficult to find very quickly. They seemed to go out of print almost instantly, and second hand copies were hard to come by. So, while this isn't exactly a long series - I think there are just a total of 12 or 13 books in the series, I've never completed it.

When I spotted that the author had started putting the books up on Kindle, I was excited at the opportunity. Both because I could read the books I hadn't before read and, and this goes back to how hard the books were to find the first time - I could read the books in order. Which I hadn't been able to do - reading them as I found them (I had a really messed up idea about what was going on with this series the first time I read it, since I read it quite out of order).

With that said . . . I've now done two things: 1) finally reached and read a book in the series I hadn't read before (there's at least one more I've already read 'way back when'); and 2) read a book out of order. Now that I've gone to put 'series-next', or move the next book in the series onto that series next bookshelf, I see that I've both accidentally skipped a book, and skipped a book I had not previously read before. At least now I have a greater understanding why certain things were confusing to me when I read this book. The people in the book kept referencing things that I didn't recall having occurred. Well . . . obviously I now know that they were referencing things that had happened in the previous book. Both makes it tougher to read that previous book and/or to move on to book 9.

This specific book involved time travelers from, um, something like the 27th century who have been settling their own conflicts by inserting themselves into the past (if there were two sides to a conflict, which isn't always the case but . . if there were two sides to a conflict, 'judges' would have the two sides insert humans into certain events in the past, like the battle at Gettysburg, and then give 'points' to the results; another group of people guarded against the actions that the 'time wars' (and yes, originally time wars, the series name, referred to this specific issue) from disrupting the time line (as in, if someone accidentally shot General Lee and killed him at the battle of Gettysburg, the time adjustors people would have to instantly insert one of their own people to take on the role of General Lee and live out his life as he had originally (two things of note - this type of example was given in this book here, though the reference was to WWII and Eisenhower; none of the books (at least none of the first 8) take place during the American Civil War)).

Most of the books up to a certain point, not sure when, involved those against the concept of 'polluting' the time line with these time wars. They thought it would destabilize things. So they did some of the things eco-terrorists do - actually create destabilizing events to show how dangerous playing in time actually can be. The adjustors did what I noted in the prior paragraph, but, for the most part, readers watched them 'battling' the time-terrorists. Then things morphed - mostly in an 'all the time terrorists, except for a few, have been 'eliminated' so now we need a new villain' kind of thing. Which is when the Time Wars became more of a Timeline wars - turns out that what the Time War people were doing was causing a very large amount of damage in a parallel universe. Naturally they then, in turn, 'struck back' when they could. Leading to both time lines sending troops to the others time lines to try to destabilize them.

Which leads to this book here. It involves one of the last of the ‘Time Terrorists’ fighting the time war people (though no longer for the prior reasons that had been given; I don’t think there’s even a mention that he had previously been a time terrorists in this book), plus one of the parallel time line people. Plus a ton of ….crap, um, I don’t actually remember what they call themselves any longer. Well, the ‘good guys’ doesn’t work for reasons I’ll mention, I hope, long after this. Well, the time fighters from ‘this book’s time line’ are also included, plus people from the actual time that the ‘battle’ is taking place.

When and where does the battle take place? Early 20th century London (with some side trips to elsewhere). The book opens with . . . well, not really sure how the book opens, it’s been almost a year since I started reading this book. Heh. Well, this book includes both a murder mystery, and a time line battle.

The police, with the consulting help of Arthur Conan Doyle, are investigating some deaths that some newspapers and locals are calling the return of Jack the Ripper. And no, it isn’t something as mundane as that. No, since the reader can see what’s actually happening, it isn’t a spoiler to note that what’s happening is that people that look like werewolves and vampires are running around killing people. One of the vampires happens to go by the name of Count Dracula.

Other ‘famous people of note’ that pop up in this book include: H.G. Wells (who I have a vague recollection popped up in at least one prior book), Bram Stroker, and Oscar Wilde (including his male lover who would later get him in trouble, though that specific fella is more famous connected to Wilde in this manner, than in any other way).

Oh, and the guy who works for the other time line is a Dr. Moreau – readers might recall a book by H.G. Wells with that name in the title.

Right, that’s basically the book. People are trying to destabilize the time line by introducing werewolves and vampires into London. Others are trying to stop them. Which is where I get to that ‘good guy’s part. The ‘good guys’ really seem to be more Doyle, Wells, a Chinese Tong master, and Dr. Moreau than the time fighters. Who are largely shown to be kinda . . . on the evil side. Both the time terrorist and the time fighters/adjustors. I mean, the author literally had one of the time fighters say something like, while talking to Wells about how the soldier would have to kill Dr. Moreau on sight, ‘I’m just following orders’. Then later noting that he can’t alter the orders until consulting with his superiors. And these are the good guys? Heh. The series has constantly had me, as a reader, being kinda disgusted by the ‘good guy’ time adjustors. This is the first time I realized that the author might actually intended for me to find them disgusting. Especially with the amount of time is given to having Wells berate the man and his ideas.

The book was interesting and good. The writing had a tendency to go down odd pathways – there were way too many times that the book would shift to a character and suddenly pages after pages would be given over to meaningless crap about them and what they think. The book became much more enjoyable after I realized what was going on, how to spot when those moments were upon me, and how to safely skip over and/or skim past most of the crap parts.

Rating: 3.50

August 11 2017




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Humanity for Beginners by Faith Mudge

Humanity for Beginners
by Faith Mudge
Pages: 71
Publication Date: February 13 2017
Publisher: Less than Three Press
Series: --

Review
Rating: 5+
Read: February 28 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Less than Three Press in return for an honest review.*

I believe that the most recent werewolf story/book I read I made some comment about how it had been the best, or among the best or . . . well, I've this vague recollection I made a comment like that regarding a werewolf book relatively recently. I've also relatively recently rated two werewolf books close to 3 stars, so I've not exactly gone out of my head regarding werewolf stories.

Why do I mention that? Why do I start off my review that way? Simple. I surprised myself here. I, somewhat randomly, looked at various books/short stories on offer on Netgalley, saw this story here, thought it looked interesting, and read it. And, I have to say, found myself in a warm fuzzy place that actually made me teary-eyed at a few moments (no idea what that's about, maybe my eyes are off). And, not only do I have this vague feeling that I've just read one of the better werewolf stories I've attempted, I also feel as if I've read one of the better lesbian stories. I do not wish to use the word 'best' or 'one of the best' as I seem to be miss-using that phrase/word lately. But . . . something like that.

The story? Something like a slice of life look at a group of women living and working in England. At a bed and breakfast (there was some comment that flew past me without me paying much attention indicating that it was something different than that . . . but I might have misread that). All have some 'issues' they are attempting to get through, pasts to live down. A lot of those issues occurred/developed because of another thing all these women share in common - they are werewolves.

There's Gloria, the 'not-the-alpha' who owns and runs the place, Nadine the chef, Lissa & Louisa who are loners/and or newly bitten (within six months) who are the waitresses (and have been circling each other. Then there's . . . the gardner man. Who is human. And whose name is escaping me for some reason. mmphs. Then there's Eben, another human, who comes calling one night looking for someone.

Lovely story. As mentioned, warm and fuzzy. Fun. Unexpectedly explicit briefly (I had accidentally mixed several book snippets together and forgot this one did have that bit about 'some explicit content'). It probably hit me differently than someone else, especially if they read it after reading my review. Since I wasn't expecting anything and they would be (it's one of those 'went so far and then . . . new scene' type of explicit action).

I've never read anything by this author. I now desire to dive into their work and hopefully find some more interesting stuff.

Rating: 5+

February 28 2017

Once Bitten by Kate Owen

Once Bitten
by Kate Owen
Pages: ?
Publish Date: February 8 2017
Publisher: Less than Three
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.98
Read: January 26 to February 1 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley and Less than Three in return for a fair review.*

The book had an interesting beginning, quite readable, quite fun then things turned on me. At one point I was vaguely on edge of wondering if this one would end up being a book I'd like to DNF (put on my did not finish shelf for lack of being able to finish the book). That's the reason the book took somewhat longer than normal for me to read - I paused it grumbling.

Then I resumed reading after days of ignoring it and . . . well - I'd say that this book is somewhere within range of being one of the best werewolf books I've read. So, that happened.

The book stars Izzy Konning, lawyer - Federal Prosecutor, and Dr. Emma Douglas, medical doctor. They both have their point of views presented in this book, and are in a committed relationship with each other (to a certain extent). Though one has a secret that accidentally gets revealed at the start of the book.

You see, during a moment of sexual frenzy, it appears that Emma accidentally bit Izzy. Oh, you know, it happens. Izzy kind of laughed about it the next morning when Emma was all sad about the matter. Then Emma showed what was going on. By, you know, turning into a wolf. Strong, sane, mentally well-balanced - upon learning that she has accidentally been turned into a werewolf, freaked out and ran screaming out onto the Dallas streets (well, not literally screaming, more like she went for an unplanned, unorganized jog).

Naturally Izzy immediately ran into two fine young men who looked like 'hoodlums'. They got into an altercation. And things went differently than you might expect (no, not in the 'Izzy turned into a wolf and ate them' way). The two men forced her into a car and abducted her - because they knew she was a wolf - they could smell her - and she was in their territory without permission. But then, that is where she lived (Emma, who belonged to a different 'gang', or pack, had permission).

Strangely, Izzy ends up face to face with one of her targets as a federal prosecutor. A really evil man who was involved in such nice things as human trafficing and the like.

Turns out Julio is also a wolf - the head wolf, for that matter, for one of the two packs in Dallas. He plans to take advantage until he realizes that, by smell, Izzy was deeply connected to the daughter of the head of the other wolf pack in Dallas - and he is going to use this leverage - having the daughter's mate - to his advantage.

Meanwhile, he'll make some money off Izzy by including her in his 'wolf fight club'.

Things proceed from here, both in a manner expected, and in certain ways, unexpected.

As I noted above, this is one of those books that, unexpectedly, turned out better - much better - than I initially thought it would be. Exciting, thrilling, action packed. Wolves, vampires, witches, fae, demons, all represented in the book.

Despite the above, there were a few issues I had here and there - like a few 'scares' that the book was heading in particular directions I didn't want to go (but then didn't, so not an issue). But there were real serious 'problems' I ran across that almost kept me from enjoying the book (and one almost caused me to not finish the book). That one? - The part wherein the dominant wolves 'obviously' are male because . . . . um . . . no clue (females are submissives or omegas). That was a somewhat rage moment for me to move past. Glad I moved past it. By the way, it turns out Izzy is quite dominat so . . . naturally that means her wolf has massive balls . . . and penis (she's a 'morph' - female human, male wolf).

Right, so, I enjoyed the book.

Rating: 4.97

NOTE: the book will be available for purchase February 8th.

February 1 2017

The Midnight Hunt by L.L. Raand

The Midnight Hunt by L.L. Raand

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well that was . . . odd.

Interesting to see a shifter critter that 'allows' females to have power and stuff. A lot of them go in the 'women are bitches' direction. To a certain extent. I've attempted to steer clear of those types of books, so I only really have one example of that - Dead in the Water - in which the women are expected to fuck on demand. And while sex is important in this story (super super important), people still have 'power' to say yes or no.

Good grief the amount of sex and sexual tension running through this book. People were constantly on edge, with super hard engorged clits. Those would be the werewolves. The vampires? Feed off of sex (and blood) themselves so . . . they are also super focused on sex.

Three main 'zones' of POV. Werewolf story line (which included Sylvan (wolf) & Drake (the human medic); Vampire story line (which included Becca (human) and Jody (Vampire); and 'rogue' story line (which focused mostly on 'Rex'.

There was an actual story here, though it's kind of thinish. And it made a certain amount of sense. But . . . I found the Becca/Jody story line to be an intrusion that I mostly didn't need. The things that they brought to the story could have been 'brought' by someone else. (I don't actually recall that they brought anything really, since there was something of a parallel investigation going on - wolves investigating, vampires investigating). To a large extent, Jody and Becca seemed to be there to add another couple who were extremely incapable of allowing themselves to admit that they 'wanted' the other (mostly on Becca's side). *shrugs*

Not sure I'll read the next book in the series. Maybe. Perhaps.

Re: Narrator - narrator was good for this type of story in that she had a kind of angry, intense, on the edge of erupting kind of vibe going on, which fit the story.

Rating: . . . how the heck do I rate this book? um . . . 3 . . . . something. 3.45?

January 11 2017



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Ambereye by Gill McKnight

Ambereye by Gill McKnight

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I almost DNF'd this book right around the time Andre declared that Hope was going to be going on that work trip during Thanksgiving. And smugly stated that 'she wasn't doing anything'/'had no plans'. You know the plans you got Godfrey to pull out of Hope? The plans of cuddling up with her dog and decompressing? Those aren't no plans you fucking smug bastard. Some people need to decompress, and after working for that bitch Jolie, Hope had been really looking forward to resting time you fucking asshole.




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Accidental Ashes by Sara C. Roethle

Accidental Ashes
by Sara C. Roethle
Pages: 192
Date: May 5 2011
Publisher: Self
Series: Xoe Meyers (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.25
Read: January 4-5 2017

Accidental Ashes by Sara C. Roethle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The life and times of Xoe, half-demon, picks up more or less immediately after the end of the last book. And certain plot lines that weren't completed in that one continue in this one (like the one about how the various werewolves in the area need to form a pack or there'd be trouble).

Most of the important characters from the previous book continue to appear in this one (though Xoe remains the most important; and some disappeared here or there); with the addition of a few new-comers - like a fella named Chase. And another named Alexandre and . . well, you get the idea. More people).

It should be noted that the main character is somewhere around 16 to 17 and the author did a fairly good idea of creating character around that age - bearing in mind two things - 1) she's 'different' than the normal 16 year old - literally, since she's half-not-human and there are major implications of that that impact her life; 2) it has been at least 21 or so years since I was a teenager, sooo . . . maybe the main character is 'obviously' acting too young or too old, but - from my long distance perspective, they appear to be about right.

This specific story here picks up from the end of the last - a group of friends have gotten together, some are 'fantasy' creatures, or in some way 'half-creatures', and they continue attempting to just live. They aren't the Scooby bunch, here to solve mysteries and reveal controversies (here thinking back to the original cartoons I saw, not referring to the movies I hadn't seen; though working in the part where the Buffy the vampire slayer group liked using that term for themselves might work - they aren't the chosen one of this generation to vanquish evil . . . etc. etc. . . ). Or, if they are, they haven't been told yet. No, they are just trying to live their odd little lives. Interacting with each other, other outside creatures, and long lost parent types.

A good solid book. Somewhat thin. Both the previous and this book had a kind of comfortable 'fluffy' vibe, which probably says more about myself than the books since several people died horribly in both books. Fluffy deaths. heh.

I liked both books I've read so far in this series. And to think, I only tried this because the first book started with an X and I wanted an X for a challenge. Just a little random tip for authors - include a hook to get readers, could be any random thing - lovely lush covers, grim covers, pun-filled titles, or just having a title that uses a less well-worn letter of the alphabet.

Rating: 4.25

January 5 2017


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Xoe by Sara C. Roethle

Xoe: or Vampires, and Werewolves, and Demons, Oh My! by Sara C. Roethle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A young woman, Xoe, is starting her junior year in high school. She has three obvious friends (as in, she mentions she has a few friends and no more, but is slow in mentioning who they are; in such a way that at first I thought she only was friends with Allison and Lucy, but then her next-door-neighbor Brian got into the mix as well - potentially there are more 'friends' out there).

During the school day a new student intrudes into their little circle (that being Lucy, Allison and Xoe - but not Brian). A young man named Dan. Allison and Lucy find him attractive and give off signs of lusting after him. Allison, the bolder of the lot, wanders over, grabs Dan, and drags him back to their table (I should have mentioned somewhere along the line that this is all happening at lunch time - well first meeting). Xoe, though, finds Dan to be super creepy. What with his constant staring. And general . . . creepiness.

Allison invites Dan to come along on the groups shopping trip, though now it's morphed into movies. Dan goes along. His creepiness rises higher when Xoe wanders off to get some popcorn, and he confronts her. Grabbing her arm roughly and glaring at her, demanding to know 'her game' (or whatever he said). She's confused and annoyed - especially as it's been Dan doing all the staring all the past week and stuff.

Group outing continues. Eventually the group head to eat food - Lucy and Dan traveling in one car, Allison and Xoe in another. Which is important to note. For reasons. Eventually the night ends. everyone goes home, sleeps, goes to school, stares moodily at each other and are very emo and stuff. heh, no. When Dan dropped Lucy off at her place he scratched her arm. More like clawed it. And his hand looked like a wolf's paw. Lucy, naturally, is freaking out.

One thing leads to another and both Lucy and Xoe, independently of each other, come to the belief that werewolves are involved (with Lucy believing that Dan is one, and Xoe assuming that since werewolves are fictional, that Dan believes that he is a werewolf and stuff).

The point is driven home, though, along the way that things are weird. For various others come out of the woodwork. Vampires, werewolves, and demons. I'm suddenly being vague, I know, on purpose.

Interesting story. The level of maturity and 'plodding along' works when you consider everyone is around 16/17 years of age. Would work less well if everyone was older. So . . that young adult thingie works to it's own advantage. Or something like that.

Curious how the rest of the series unfolds.

Rating: 3.8

December 31 2016



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Howl for the Holidays by Bridget Essex

Howl for the Holidays
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 63
Date: December 13 2016
Publisher: Rose and Star Press
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.70
Read: December 14 2016

Some deep emotions were released in this book. Quite interesting, really. Though they were the kind wherein I felt a somewhat deep dislike of the main and only point of view character. I did not like her actions.

Essex normally mixes up different types of people. And from a surface look, it seems as if she broke that specific trait here with this story. For the two main characters are both werewolves. We do not have knights meeting up/hooking up with librarians (or radio personalities); we do not have those looking for love suddenly finding it in a place they didn't even know existed (humans finding werewolves); nor guardian angels with humans, or vampires with . . . actually, I've not read any of the vampire ones so I do not know what's going on in those books. No, here we have two werewolves.

Except. The easiest (potentially) way to look at this story is to look at it through a particular mirror. A mirror I have to hide behind spoilers. This is not two female werewolves who love each other. Think of one of them as being transgender. And fearing the reaction of the other. And feeling confusion, feeling fear, feeling self-hatred of themselves - for they are in the wrong body. Here that 'wrong body' is 'werewolf' and right body is 'human', instead of 'male/female/other'. Seeing the story through that light provides an interesting twist. One that I've seen played with by this author before. Though the previous 'playing' involved setting up a 'coming out' type of 'LGBT' story, but having, instead of a LGBT person (well, still Lesbian, but the coming out isn't the lesbian part), you have a 'other' - in the form of a werewolf (I've forgotten which specific story this occurred in, might be the 'Christmas Wolf' one).

It is an interesting story, though not one I had expected. I had some vague idea of what the story was going to be about, but a lot more of it was captured within a flash back. Unfortunate that. Though, due to the nature of the story, the flashback was needed.

Rating: 3.70

December 14 2016

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless by Gail Carriger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the second time I have read this book. First time I read this book was almost exactly 7 years ago.

Of note: of those people directly meet (as opposed to only mentioned), the only people from the prequel series who turn up in this book would be that Lord Akeldama (that vampire guy who lives for information). And Countess something or other - Westminster hive queen. The Hisselpenny family also turned up in the prequel series, but not specifically Ivy - Alexa Tarabotti's friend.

The Queen of England was mentioned in prequel series but was not meet (she was meet in this book). Maccon, who for some reason was referred to as 'Lord Conall Maccon', despite being an Earl, was mentioned in prequel but not meet. Dewan & potonte(sp?) meet in prequel but only mentioned in this book.

Genevieve Lefoux, the woman (girl) who liked dressing like a man (boy) in the prequel series and has a spinoff FF book, is not seen or mentioned in this book.

Of note 2: To those reading this series chronologically - the prequel series involves characters ranging in age from early to late teens plus side characters who are adults. There is a bit of romancing but at a different level than in this book (the difference between slight touches and outright naked humping (which happens once or thrice in this book here)).

Also, I suppose it should be noted, the prequel series seems to have had a larger Steampunk vibe than this book here (which, apart from actual scientists running around, and mention of 'machines' and mechanical things, has a much more of a Urban Fantasy vibe).

Right. There was humor, mysterious actions, fantastic creatures and a bit of eroticism in this book. An enjoyable book. And I believe that there was sufficient distance from my prior reading to be able to fully enjoy this book without running into one of the issues I have with rereading - being annoyed by repetition (or already knowing, with great detail, what will happen).

Rating: 4.63

November 23 2016



View all my reviews

Wildling Rider by Helena Maeve

Wildling Rider
by Helena Maeve
Pages: Unknown
Date: November 9 2016
Publisher: Less than Three
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.25
Read: November 1 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Less than Three in return for a fair review.*

Four reasons why I wanted to read this story. 1) Read this author before in a short story collection and liked what I saw (to the score of 4.65); 2) was curious about seeing this author in longer form; 3) had been interested in reading some form of biker story for a while now, and the ones I’d circled in the past seemed to have too much of a ‘male jackass’ vibe drifting off the pages; 4) it’s a lesbian story set in Scotland with bikers, werewolves and a mystery, what more could I ask for?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe a character who I wouldn’t want to strangle with my bare hands might have been nice. From beginning to end, Abigail – the main character (and only POV), annoyed the hell out of me. Judgmental, nosey, bitchy, stubborn, a little too close to the ‘airhead’ her ex called her at one point (though she, the ex, had also included things that implied bubbly – Abigail was far from bubbly/happy go lucky/pleasant to be around. Far.) The little too close has to do with observable intelligence levels. Which isn’t exactly horrible in and of itself for a character – I mean for a character to be somewhat dim – might even make an interesting book. Here it just annoyed me.

I need to interject one thing here though, somewhat out of order – you know that ‘too stupid to live’ concept that pops up in fiction? TSTL? I do not believe I’ve ever seen a character described that way who wasn’t female, but let’s not dwell on that – point being that the character is, as the words suggest – way too stupid to live, yet they do. Well, to be fair to this character here – Abigail – while there were a few moments that edged in that direction, she never tipped that way completely. No, she kept getting injured, hurt, etc., mostly through the fault of others and not because of her own stupidity. Either she was with someone who would normally be able to protect her, but couldn't, or she got hurt after that someone abandoned them (like, what the heck was up with her ex-girlfriend basically charging off and abandoning her in the woods? Right, sorry, getting ahead of myself there). Just mean to point out that my ‘lacking in certain level of intelligence’ (a phrase I never used until now) doesn’t mean that she’s ‘too stupid to live’ stereotype character.

Story started off similarly to that other story I’ve read by Maeve – as in right in the middle of the story. I think I used the word ‘story’ too much in the previous sentence, you’d think I could have come up with a different word, at some point, other than story. Hehe. *shakes self* Right, sorry. Point – previous story I had read was in Less than Dead and started off with a man battling hoards of zombies while listening to classical music (and telling his man-servant to change the song every once in a while). Never did learn exactly what was going on, but you don’t really need to in a zombie story. That didn’t really work this time around, unfortunately. Started off annoyed that I didn’t know what was going on, and didn’t get much better (the annoyance, I figured out what was going on – most of it – before the end of the story).

Right, so, this is set in Scotland. A woman is poking her nose into ‘things’ and asking questions people do not wish to answer (interject here – near the beginning Abigail says something like ‘—my good old RP accent was, for the first time in my life, a source of derision.’ RP accent? What the bloody hell is an RP accent? It’s not a posh accent, because she made fun of/mocked Georgia for having that. So. RP. “Received Pronunciation, often abbreviated to RP, is an accent of spoken English. Unlike other UK accents, it’s identified not so much with a particular region as with a particular social group, although it has connections with the accent of Southern England. RP is associated with educated speakers and formal speech”. So says Google. And, what? Seriously? The first time in her life a source of derision? Guess my vague impression that I had picked up along the way that ‘experts’ are derided in England at the moment was just that, an impression, a wrong one at that (ah, but does an expert specifically have an RP accent? Just because there is that ‘associated with educated speakers and formal speech’ part? *shrugs. No idea. Shesh this is a long aside. I do not even remember what paragraph I am in now.)

*pretends previous paragraph doesn’t exist*

Right, so, book is set in Scotland. A woman from London famous for making videos of fashion is poking her nose in a small village in Scotland. Apparently she heard that a woman went missing. So she took a train five hours up (I think) to look around. She admits that people go missing all the time in London. But – she just knows no one cares about this ‘Candice Sharpe’ person, and therefore she needs to go up there and look around. Except she actually knew another woman who had gone missing. And that’s the real reason she’s up there. Except that person went missing before she was born. See, confusing.

Well, there is this woman named Abigail and she’s poking around this Scottish village with her ex-girlfriend who is both a biker and a werewolf (the local biker gang are werewolves; or – the local werewolves ride motorcycles). The story is set in that type of universe. One with bikers. Also, werewolves. And vampires. And witches. And people who have been born again (not that way). Though only werewolves and those who have been reincarnated actually pop up in this specific story here.

My review is confused because I’m quite off my game at the moment. The fact that the book itself is also confusing is just a coincidence.

Characters –
Abigail - 30 something woman from London who is poking around in Scotland for a missing woman. Speaks with an RP accent. Has been described by one ex-girlfriend as being a bubbly airhead.

Kayla - Abigail’s biker ex-girlfriend who is also a werewolf and lives in the same town Abigail is wandering around in softly calling out the name ‘Candice’ to see if Candice turns up.

Candice Sharpe - a woman who has gone missing who Abigail thinks no one cares about. Is described as both a junkie and a groupie (groupie of the werewolf bikers).

Georgia - a woman Kayla claims is Candice’s friend. Though Abigail scoffs at the idea. Since Georgia is just so gosh darn posh. Too posh to be friends with trash like Candice. Or something like that (did I mention yet that Abigail is judgemental?).

Jensen - head of the Wildlings – the biker motorcycle club that Abigail’s ex-girlfriend, Kayla, is a member of.

Nettie Jensen - Jensen’s long dead mother. Knew Swedish.

Plot - English woman wanders Scotland looking for a missing Scottish woman who she doesn’t know, nor had ever heard of before that woman went missing. The town is very tight lipped and strongly suggestive to Abigail that she should make a hasty departure. Backed up by gunfire. That English woman has some connections with the people found in the town that would not normally be expected, definitely not expected if this wasn’t a fantasy. Motorcycles are ridden. Driven. On roads. On paths. Over rocks. Whereupon they flip through the air and land on riders. Much stuff occurs.

Overall - interesting story. Wish I hadn’t been somewhat confused in the beginning. And/or that I didn’t come to basically dislike 99.9% of the people involved.

Rating: 3.25

November 1 2016

Everafter by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam

Everafter
by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam
Pages: 230
Date: October 1 2009
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Everafter (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 14 to 15 2016
My first book with this duo, and 3rd book overall with Stark at the controls (and zeroth with Tam as a solo author).

Hmm. I came here to write about something that I was going to take a certain issue with. But I can’t now. As the issue involved pre-knowledge I thought gleaned from the book description. I guess I got the information from the reviews? No matter – the point I was going to make is that I learned a certain something before beginning the book and this ‘certain something’ distracted me for a certain length of the book. I knew going in several things. (1) the book was split in half, with one main character taking half, and the other taking over the second half of the book; and – don’t read this one unless you’ve read the book (at least from personal experience having this information prior to reading was a distraction) - (2) the one who isn’t a vampire turns into a werepanther. I spent a little too much time in the beginning parts of the book drumming my fingers, waiting for this to occur – that, as I’ve indicated, distracted me from what was going on.

Okay then – this book goes a certain direction I’ve seen several times, though it is, in its way, a less populated path. This is more science fantasy than out and out fantasy; and, to a certain extent, if the creatures involved didn’t reside so deeply in horror or fantasy, I’d probably just call this science fiction. Because, while fantasy creatures are involved, there is a very science-fiction-y explanation for the critters.

I’ve forgotten now what exactly was said, but one is a virus (shifters), while the other is a . . . bacteria? I’ve forgotten now. Ah yes, bacteria (vampires). The explanation for what’s occurring with shifters isn’t as detailed, I absorbed the information that a virus was involved; while the explanation for vampires was quite medical jargon-y. See, there’s this bacteria that invades the body – it attacks a person’s red blood cells, goes inside of them, and explodes them – feeding off the blood. If the infected person gets blood from others, then they can continue to live – potentially forever, though they’ll become more and more similar in nature to the pop culture version of vampires (well, the kind that gets annoyed at the sun, because of the exploding and stuff); while if they ‘feed’ off of a ‘true love’ (not sure ‘true’ was actually there) then they’ll ‘keep their soul’ (see, this whole ‘soul’, ‘true love’, etc. is all magically bullshit, so, fantasy, so not science fiction) – therefore they can continue going outside in sunlight – though the impact of the sun’s rays is still stronger on them than on ‘regular’ humans. (note: I didn’t really think about it until I wrote this paragraph, but, technically, they could be getting this ‘outside blood’ through transfusions of one kind or another – but that’s never even mentioned – probably because of the discussion that occurred when a glass of blood was offered – it would sustain, but isn’t as ‘good’ as getting it directly from the source (more magic-y bullshit).

All of this to say (not really, but it was one of the points): no, this isn’t science fiction, and so a person is left with ‘horror’, ‘fantasy’, ‘science fantasy’ (and then which subgenre it falls into below that). There is a horror element – something of a ‘boogy-man’ ‘rogue’ vampire is going viciously attacking people and turning them into vampires; both of the lead characters have horrifying nightmares, etc. This has some of the elements of horror, but I would not necessarily put it in horror. There are ‘paranormal creatures’ so fantasy, right? But then there’s all that medical jargon, and explanations and . . . stuff . . .. Let’s just go with Science Fantasy and move on, eh?

So, picture this – it’s a Tuesday, there’s this young woman with a very special night planned. The apartment is decorated just so. Preparations for a lovely meal are in the works. A very special ring has been secured. And the love of that young woman’s life will show up in about 15 to 30 minutes. But! Champagne! Valentine ‘Val’ Darrow hurries out to acquire some. She’s distracted by happy thoughts. She vaguely spots a creepy looking dude smoking nearby as she’s heading into a liquor store. She dumps a pile of coins and paper onto the store counter and informs them that she wishes the best champagne that pile of money will secure her. She exits. Still distracted. Walks down the street. All aglow with what the night will bring. Thoughts of this and that and . . . are those footsteps behind her? Are they getting closer? Val moves quicker. The footsteps behind her move quicker. She spots a well lighted area ahead of her – that’s her goal. Running now. Almost there. Pushed into an alley and savagely beaten, knifed, then loaded into a car and driven to Canal Street and dumped (by the way, this takes place in New York; did I not mention that yet?). And so the book begins – seemingly starting with two becoming one, but diverted by a creature out of horror.

The book then proceeds to follow Val as she attempts to figure out what happened to her, and what this means to her. She learns a few things, dodges a few things, and spends an inordinate amount of time hunting her killer. See, there’s this mystery angle going on in this book as well. Meanwhile her girlfriend/lover/almost fiancée follows along for the ride.

Until roughly the mid-point when the story shifts and it’s now Alexa Newland in control of things (or, in other words, things shift to her point of view). It’s difficult to go much into her territory as it’d probably all be spoiler-y. I’ll just leave it as I liked Alexa’s point of view more than Val’s, though I also needed Val’s because if I had just had Alexa’s – Val’s whimpery/depressing/etc. attitude was easier to take, somewhat, with the further knowledge gleaned from being in Val’s head.

Long and short of it – good enjoyable book. I’ve seen at least one review indicating that the next book is even better than this one, and I was interested in reading that one any way; but I think it might be a little while before I tackle it. So – I recommend this book. Especially to those who like fantasy, and science basis’s for fantasy creatures (like might be found in Mira Grants Parasitology series).

March 17 2016

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Fire Touched
by Patricia Briggs
Pages: 352
Date: March 8 2016
Publisher: Ace
Series: Mercy Thompson (9th in series)

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: March 11 to 13 2016
Except for short stories, and short story collections, oh and all but one graphic novel, I have read everything published by Briggs (as far as I know – so many authors turn out to have written, or write under other names that I can’t ever really know if I’ve read everything a specific author has published). This is around 23 books. Including this book here. I think.

I had this specific book here on my ‘to read’ shelf since I learned of its existence. However many years before publication that might have been. I bought the book the day of publication. But then . . . I kind of was vaguely reluctant to actually go ahead and read it. Simple-ish reason – I’ve, for the most part, loved the books I’ve read by Briggs, and didn’t want to find out that she’s another author who I would need to move into a ‘no longer read’ column. Not because I suspected anything like that might occur, just that a lot of the authors who I loved from the era I started reading Briggs, have slowly fallen out of my reading rotation. So, I was reluctant to start the book.

Well, I hadn’t anything to worry about. It was kind of interesting, in its way, to read the book – and see a certain higher level craftsmanship in evidence – after reading and liking books by others of either lesser writing skills, or imagination.

*shrugs* - why am I doing another rambling review as opposed to any of my more organized reviews? Because the book came out on the 6th of March and there are already 506 other reviews on GoodReads. And 3,172 ratings. Anything I say will just drop into the sea and sink beneath the waves of others.

So I do a somewhat minimal review: 1) interesting to return to Briggs; 2) writes a high quality story; 3) enjoyable read; 4) brings to mind the difference between Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (maybe in my own mind) – they might both deal with the same subjects, have the same ‘out there’ creatures, etc., but one seems vaguely obsessed with sex & romance (PNR), while the other might mention it, but only in passing (UF), or, at least, isn't the main point of the book. I’ve had this thought before, but this is one of the few times I’ve actually jumped back and forth between a PNR book and a UF book. Well, I didn’t read them at the same time; I mean read them back to back. Hmms. Well, I’d been thinking of more ‘Fashionably Dead Down Under’ (no this book 1) is not set in Australia; 2) involve someone who’s ‘down there’ is ‘dead’; 3) involve anything ‘down under’. I’m not actually sure why it has the title it has – yes, the main character goes to Hell, but there’s a huge point made that Hell isn’t ‘under’, heaven isn’t ‘up there’, but all three are just on different planes of the same location) & ‘Fire Touched’, but there’s a bunch of books in between. Okay, I’ll pretend I meant ‘Fire Touched’ and ‘Hell on Heels’. That one is even more obsessed with sex than ‘Fashionably Dead Down Under’ so there’s that.

So, yeah, I read this book, it was high quality; there’s no inherent need to recommend or not recommend since it’s the ninth in a series. A series that has an interconnected ‘other’ series that currently has 4 books in it. All of which occurred before this book here. So that means that there are 12 books in the combined series that occurred before this book here. And the books are connected, one thing leading to another, characters growing, relationships expanding/contracting. You can’t start with this book here, basically is what I’m driving at. So I can’t recommend it for that reason. All I can say is that if you’ve read the other books in both series before this one, then yes, I recommend this book here.

March 14 2016

Raised by Wolves by Bridget Essex

Raised by Wolves
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 167
Date: January 27 2016
Publisher: Rose and Star Press
Series: N/A

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 18 2016

This is my 12th work by this author.

Essex tends to write about 3 or 4 things. (1) Most common, at least in what I’ve read, maybe not in everything written, would be works involving werewolves; (2) works involving knights; (3) works involving something else (i.e., angels); and (4) contemporary lesbian romance. That’s going by what I’ve read. Then there’s that 5 work series involving vampires that I haven’t read. I don’t recall if vampires have popped up in the works I’ve read by her. Well, a book titled ‘Raised by Wolves’ and involving a werewolf would fall directly in line with the above, right? Well yes and no.

The book does, in fact, involve a werewolf. The book, though, is somewhat different from the norm. At least in that, as far as I recall, the main focus of the book involves the actual werewolf. One of Essex’s common themes involves lesbian woman who dream of fantasy, of a shining knight coming to be their knight, of werewolves, and the like. Well that turns up in this book as well. The difference is the main character. In the other works, the main character is that lesbian woman dreamer. Here the main character is the werewolf. And the dreamer is the other woman in the relationship. This may or may not be a switch – recall, if you will, my mentioning of the 5 book vampire series (and that I’ve not read everything else written by this author), and that I don’t know what the dynamic is in those works. So, it’s just a switch in perspective from what I’ve read.

So. Becca Swift was raised by wolves. I was going to say ‘I don’t know why, but that made me think of stories of children being raised by wolves, like the she-wolf who raised Romulus and Remus (the brothers who, legend says, built Rome)’ but then I recalled why I was vaguely surprised that the main woman of the story was the werewolf instead of the non-wolf -> because of what I wrote in the prior paragraph. The main tends to be the dreamer, not the dream. Or, um, something like that.

Becca Swift is 33 and enjoys her life. Even if it involves living in a crappy apartment with a menial retail job. And her lack of lifelong companions. She likes her life set up that way. The problem is, though, that her mother rather dislikes basically everything about how Becca is living her life (except for the lesbian thing, she seems okay with that). Easy enough solution, right? Cut the bitch out of your life. Except, of course, (1) that love thing; (2) family; (3) mama Swift is the pack alpha with all that entails with being alpha. So, for many reasons, she can’t cut the bitch out of her life (what, a female dog is a bitch, is a female wolf not a bitch? Not sure, don’t particularly want to look it up now).

And so, after another session with her mother, during which mama Swift took every opportunity to loudly and verbally abuse her daughter, Becca is pissed and trying to kill a punching back. In comes beloved family member and cousin Rob. Stuff occurs; point though is that Rob points her towards a particular book store and a particular new worker at said book store. A way to clear her mind, or something like that.

And so, with reluctance, Becca pulls on her leathers and hops on her motorcycle and . . . wait, sorry, I just kind of expected this to be the next thing to occur. No, she gets on the bus. She’s too poor to have a motorcycle, I assume.

Becca makes it to that bookstore, sniffs out (literally) where the new worker is in the store, is enchanted and Becca meets the long legged blonde haired Loren. They appear to be taken with each other.

And so the two most important people in the story have met. Becca and Loren. Now it’s just a case of whether or not it’ll just be a one-night stand, or more. Oh, and the part wherein Becca’s a werewolf. And Loren’s a human.

It’s a neat story. I actually got quite into it. I was having fun, enjoying myself and then I kind of stopped. During one particular scene I realized the story was going to go a particular direction I didn’t want it to go, and I was right. It went that direction. And then the book abruptly ended after that. Still, I enjoyed the book so . . ..

Oh, and for those keeping track, there’s plenty of graphic sex that occurs.

February 19 2016

Dead in the Water by Hailey Edwards

Dead in the Water
by Hailey Edwards
Pages: 186
Date: January 30 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: Gemini (1st in series; 6th in shared universe)

Review
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0
Read: February 14 to 15 2016

My sixth book by this author. Before this book, my average rating for this author was 3.90. After this book, my average rating for this author is 3.67.

This is both the sixth book I've read by this author and the sixth book set in the same universe. Only four of those, though, had the same main character - that being those books in the Black Dog series (and involving Thierry). Well, Thierry was in this book as well, and . . . I don't recall if she has a cameo in Mai's book. She only has a cameo in this book though.

No, this time the main character is Camille Ellis. A Gemini. Other than something about twins, and something about being able to detect what other people are, and a limited time ability to shift into other things, I've no real idea what a Gemini is supposed to be.

The story here isn't really super bad or anything. No, I rated it the way I rated it for the same reason I rated the first book in the Black Dog series 3 stars. The main male was super creepy, and the male-female dynamic in that book was very off putting on so many levels. This is the same in this one. I kind of liked Thierry in that book, though, while I don't really like Camille Ellis. Then the later books in the Black Dog series pushed Shaw, the creepy guy in that Thierry series, into something of a larger than a cameo role but barely role, and I was able to push down the nausea he generated in me. Unfortunately, I don't think this series here will follow the same path.

So - at some point, I believe maybe when she was about 7 or 8, Cam watched her twin sister Lori drown. She's felt incredibly guilty ever since then and is super down on herself. And to increase the level of pain and guilt, she spends her time investigating drowning victims. This brings us to this book here. Apparently there's this person going around killing fae and or magical people. There's a good chance this person doing the kill is also fae.

The first body Cam visits in this book, though not the first death, Cam runs across a guy named Cord Graeson - who is the beta in the Warg clan in the region the dead body was found. Oh, and Cord is also the brother of the dead person and desires to find the murderer. Because of politics, Cam is forced to allow Cord to be involved in the investigation.

One - Warg is what any other fantasy series would call a werewolf. Two - aren't warg's the name of pets Klingon's have? Wait, no, they have Targs, not wargs. Though the targ in Star Trek III was named Warrigul. Which is not a warg but . . . um. Right.

I was having a certain amount of trouble with this book before Cord Graeson kidnapped Cam so once that happened; I just wanted the book to be over. Following Cam around? While she constantly belittled herself? And was involved with the weirdly evil Marshalls (a fellow agent gets into trouble, it takes them a good long while to get off their asses to actually help this fellow agent, okay, so she was a contractor not a fellow agent, so?)? Yeah, that was kind of annoying. Then the kidnapping occurred.

Books like this one here remind me of why I don't like reading MF romance books. Inevitably we end up with a brooding man-child who dominates women and screams things like a two year old ‘mine mine mine’. Happened in the first book in the Dog series I read. Happened here. Happens in way too many other MF romance books I read. Seriously, is that the only thing men can be described as? Man-childs? And I’m supposed to go weak in the knees over it? Well, Cam seemed weak in the knees at times, while bitching about being kidnapped. So . . . supposedly I am supposed to be drooling over the man-child Cord. Oh, and that ‘but he was in grief’? He wasn’t himself? He spread his grief around his werewolf clan so he could operate on finding the killer.

That whole warg thing pissed me off. There’s a female warg Cam meets. She’s kind of bubbly. And kind of cowers around male wargs. And smiles when one calls her over. Though the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. No, her eyes tell a different story. As she is forced, because of pack dynamics, to fuck that male warg. Right there in the open.

One of the reasons I was able to get over a vaguely similar nausea inducing man in Black Dog was because 1) the man didn’t really matter in the series (I’m overplaying his lack of importance, but whatever); 2) the woman was super powerful. Well, this time the man seems to matter, and this time the woman is a super weak ass liability.

This book ends in a cliff-hanger. And you know what? I did not in the least care. I was ready for the book to end 30 pages before it ended in the way it did. Still, there’s a reasonably good chance I’ll try the second book in this specific series here. Mostly on the off chance the author follows the patterns she set down in her other series in this universe. As in, super nausea inducing man introduced, turns out to be less important than expected, woman stronger than expected, etc.

Too bad the Mai series didn’t continue, though. Unlike Thierry and Cam, I always liked Mai. Even if she spends all of her time man-hunting, I still always liked her. And following her story.

Well, it’s probably time to stop babbling now. I’ll just leave with this thought here – I fucking hate Cord Graeson.

February 16 2016

Big, Bad Wolf AND Wolf Heart by Bridget Essex

Big, Bad Wolf
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 152
Date: February 1 2014
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 4.0
Read: October 19 2015

This is a weird mixture of psychological terror, fantasy, romance, thriller, etc.

A woman grows up on a mountain with her grandmother. No mention is made of her parents. At least, I don't recall mention. And yes, that kept popping up in my mind, the - where the heck are the parents? question. She lives semi-wild and without much in the way of fear. Until, some event or series of barely remembered events changed her. These are remembrances of a woman grown, though, since the book is about the woman as a woman.

A woman who spends a good amount of time fearing wolves. Which is natural, since she spends seemingly every night dreaming nightmarish dreams about wolves. Wolves with blood dripping down their lips.

Somewhat magically, an unknown woman turns up in this small town. She's apparently gorgeous. And zeroed in on getting to know Megan better. On a personal and physical level. Her name is Kara. Which Megan calls exotic or something like that. Seriously? Exotic? I went to school with two people named Kara, and a third might have lived in my neighborhood, but of a different age group. Exotic? Hmms.

There were certain vaguely strange things like that that pop up. Like a gorgeous woman suddenly turning up in a town with, apparently, two lesbians. And she just happens to be one herself. And has a deep interest in the librarian (Megan, who works as a librarian). Then there's the incredibly weird living situation Kara eventually reveals but I won't go beyond this to detail.

Wolf Heart
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 70
Date: October 1 2015
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: October 19 2015

I’ve read two stories back to back which are both completely different, and oddly similar. Well, certain elements are similar. I suppose that the only similarities involve: both involve lesbians, involve werewolves, both are drenched in sex, and both involve people who do not know that the other woman is a werewolf. One is written tightly, competently; the other seems to have a word or two wrong every sentence or every other sentence. It even mixes up people’s names here and there.

Here’s where I could show how much better one is over the other by saying something like ‘the less well written one was a better story’ or something like that. And that got reinforced by my reading both stories back to back. Fortunately or unfortunately that isn’t the case. The one written incompetently is in fact the lesser of the two stories. This one here, Wolf Heart, is the competently written story.

The story involves a woman going on vacation for the first time in two years. Needing rest and relaxation. She had a dream of being happy and content walking through a forest, the one her family owns a cabin in, so she takes her vacation there. Alone.

Immediately on arrival she checks in with the park ranger to say she’s there. Barbara, the park ranger, is super bitchy and growls at her that she shouldn’t be there. Abby, the main character, grunts at her and ignores the words. Or tries to ignore. They kind of frightened her.

In the darkening, gloomy, forest area, Abby drives up to her cabin and, instead of immediately carrying her things in; she turns and heads to the public shower and bathroom building. While showering, she hears the door open and close. She peaks around the shower curtain and sees . . . a wolf.

Essex seems to be fixated on the ‘normal human woman bumps into werewolf women, they fall in love, but there’s this initial ‘werewolves aren’t real’ moment that most be overcome’ storyline. It keeps coming up over and over again. Yeah, in real life, if I saw someone morphing/shifting between shapes, I’d probably freak out and flee. But still, it gets tiresome to read the exact same scenario play out over and over again. Woman sees wolf, wolf becomes a woman. Human woman falls into either lust or love with the woman. Woman shifts to wolf.

I probably could have taken that a lot better if it wasn’t an often reoccurring story-line by Essex. And even though it is, I still probably could have ‘taken it’ if Abby, in this story, didn’t keep disbelieving her eyes and constantly saying things, to herself ‘how is that even possible?’ (as a side note, one of those things I feel the need to note but not explain – if someone finds that two women have exited a building, disrobed, and left everything behind, and one had looked like she had some form of weapon before going outside – take a few moments to check to see if there was, in fact, some kind of weapon. Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t, but take a few moments. Then grab it, if it exists, and the flashlight. Abby in this story just gawked at the clothing and jewelry, and only grabbed the flashlight when she went further outside).

I’m tempted to give a lower rating because of that ‘but . . . but werewolves aren’t real!’ which also included a ‘wolves aren’t in this park!’ element. But I don’t. Because it was a good story. Pumped my adrenaline, it did. I just wish I could actually read a full story some day, instead of all these tastes, something that moved past ‘werewolves aren’t real! . . . well, maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but I kind of like you . . .’ and got to the ‘pass me the salt, please’ stage (as in a couple stage).

Falling for Summer AND A Wolf for Valentine's Day AND Wolf Queen by Bridget Essex

Falling for Summer
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 70
Date: June 8 2015
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 4.75 out of 5.0
Read: June 23 2015

I don't actually recall if the other main characters in the stories I've read by Essex are as unstable emotionally as they have been in the two stories I've read today, but I've a vague recollection that it is something of a theme (one was a lonely woman, waiting for her knight in shining armor, other was a woman in a bad relationship, tired of being taken for granted). Not so much unstable, just overly emotional. Maybe. Well, the one in Wolf Queen was. And the one in this one is. Though both have their reasons for their unstableness. I'm not sure unstableness is a word.

So, Amanda has returned to her home town after 20 years. To punish herself. It's been twenty years since her sister died. When the sister was ten, and Amanda was 17. For a while Amanda had monthly nightmares. Recently it's been weekly. She blames herself deeply for the issue. So, naturally, she's overly emotional.

So, this overally emotional woman arrives at Lake George to mourn her sister Tiffany, and punish herself. Arrives to find a woman slide out of the water and grin at her. Then realizes and or remembers that Summer, the name of the woman, was one of Tiffany's friends. So she's abrupt and rude to Summer. And bitchy.

hmms. I guess this is the sex one. Read two stories by Essex today. Both released this month. The other lacked graphic sexual activities. Unless I just missed them somehow. heh. This one isn't lacking said graphic activites.

hehe. Oops. Accidentaly started laughing during the sex scene. Then continued, maybe, because I had started laughing. "Summer tastes of exactly that: summer. She tastes of green grasses . . ." and that's when I started laughing. She tastes like grass. Like . . . grass. hehehehehehe. How'd the rest of the sentence go? Don't know yet. Haven't been able to read it yet. hehehehe. Moooo. 'ooh, you taste . . taste like *licks, gobbles* ooh, like like grass, lovely grass . . ..' Bah. I be insane.

Bah. Another long drawn out story about how being gay in a small town was just not done and . . blah blah blah. mmphs. I just read that. I don't need to read it again. Even if it is true to life, I don't need to keep reading it over and over again.

Well, this time the story lasted up to 90% of the Kindle file (last time it got up to 87%). You know, there's at least one problem with stories like these. They are short, this one's 70 pages, and if I actually like it and the couple I'm kind of stuck. Because that's that. Tortured by their emotions, breaking through them and . . . poof. The end. Would be nice to see them in the happy times, but I guess that's not in the cards.

Like, I've been looking for the supposed sequel to A Knight to Remember for ages now. There is no indication of a sequel for A Wolf for the Holidays, but I've been hoping for one for a while now as well. As I said, that's the problem with these stories. They are so bloody short and then that's it. Ah well.

ETA: oh. I just noticed that the second book in that Knight series already was published. And . . . is another of those series wherein the characters are replaced with a different set. I sad now.

Wolf Queen
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 56
Date: June 19 2015
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 23 2015

Amber works for a gay newspaper in Chicago named "Proud and Windy". There's basically three other people working there, and one's a bird. The kind with feathers. She's 25 and has lived in Chicago for seven years. After fleeing her gay hating (apparently) little town in not-Chicago Illinois (specifically Kankakee Illinois). Her mother's dead, she has a sister, and she was raised by her minimum-wage working father who loved her, but whose love is conditional on not learning that she was this evil fithly gay person. That she was. So, at 18, she was going to move to Chicago. With the woman of her dreams, Stevie.

Except Stevie didn't turn up.

Well, as I said, it's seven years later. Amber's given an assignment to interview the new owner of Howl, renamed Wolf Queen. Who, it turns out, is someone Amber hasn't seen in seven years. That Stevie person who disappeared on her.

I'd already overloaded the first paragraph or I'd have put there that the newspaper that Amber works for is, as the owner of the place calls it (well, Amber's boss, maybe he isn't the owner) - mostly used for it's personels section. And is only in operation because of the advertisements. Oh, and Howl has promissed to put a full page advertisement in, which is one reason Amber's given said assignment to interview the owner.

Ah, stories that start off in "modern times" then suddenly jump elsewhere. Like this one. In which, suddenly, after being shocked into not being able to move or talk by bumping into the new owner of Howl/Wolf Queen - Stevie, we are lead back to Kankakee. Not even as quick a trip as back to that night seven years ago when she was going to leave the town. No, all the way back to when she was ten and saw Stevie for the first time and knew that one was the one for her.

It's vaguely weird when you read about love at first sight. Especially when the people involved are both ten years old. But, meh. heh. Then it's weird to learn that the deeper kind of love wasn't realized until 16. Strange, that. Realized as in, realized loved them that way.

Hmms. And this short story is only 87% of the Kindle file. And . . . just kinda . . ended. What the hell? That's the story? There's no bloody story. Two women were apart for seven years and found each other again. The end. mmphs.

A Wolf for Valentine's Day
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 101
Date: March 3 2015
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 23 2015

My fifth Essex story. And I'm confused. The main character doesn't seem to be a bundle of emotion. Overly emotional. Or whatever. I kid.

So. Single woman. Is given a gift certificate for a week at a yoga retreat. For Valentine's day (I assume the week around it). Sorry, I should have said a "singles yoga retreat" or "yoga singles retreat."

Ah, there we go. Finally dug up the name. Trish. The woman's name is Trisha 'Trish' Dalton. (Sister's name is Jackie, but that's less important).

Trish doesn't want to go but as the gift is given on Christmas day, she has a lot of time to turn it down. So, she ignores it. Until it comes time to go on the retreat and she can't get out of it now. So . . . she goes. 'It'd be stupid not to go.' (p. 13).

-- notes as reading -- she lives in Florida. Retreat is in Boulder Colorado. She doesn't exactly have much in the way of winter gear. Realizes this at last minute - - -

'Okay, so I think I should send my sister more than just a thank you card as I race after the tall chauffeur.' (p. 20). - note: you, apparently, got the "elite package", I assume that being able to leisurely follow your chauffeur is part of eliteness. Don't run after your driver. mmphs. heh.

-- more notes -- the gorgeous woman who walks like wolf is named Kennedy Butler; “'So, what brings you to our retreat weekend?'” (p. 28). - wait, I thought it was a retreat week? I confused.; okay, they said weekend again. She arrived on a Monday.

A retreat weekend that starts on a Monday? I actually went back to the beginning to see if they ever said week; other than stuff about being too busy for a week, and schedule cleared for a week, and see you next week, I don't see that the retreat is actually a week. But, what weekend starts on a Monday? I'm annoyed that I just got pulled out of this story to spend twenty minutes trying to figure out week/weekend issue. mmphs.

'Kitted out like this, I look a little bit like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.' (p. 47). - hehe, see, I can find humor in stuff. *nods* - -

'The electricity that has been crackling all over my skin roars through me like a bolt of lightning as we kiss each other now. I shudder against Kennedy as the electric kiss devours the both of us in waves of need. This is not a simple little kiss. This is energy, this is want and desire as our lips merge, as our tongues entwine, hers sneaking into my mouth even as I smile against her, breathing out in a hiss of want.' (p. 64).

'Like she knows what's inside of me, what makes me.... me.' (p. 65). - hmms, that's beautifully put.

hmms. Well. That's kind of embarrassing. Well, I haven't actually said the embarrassing thing yet. And I'm not sure I want to. I'm fairly certain that I don't want to. Course now I'm vaguely curious as to what some reader might think I might mean. hehe. So I'll just blurt it out, since it isn't really anything that should be embarrassing. This story might be the best one I've ever read. I've said that once before, I believe. But, even taking that once before into consideration, I still make the comment. It was a beautiful story. I feel vaguely at peace, content, and happy to have read this story. I'm not 100% sure I can write coherently at the moment, but that's okay. A perfect beginning middle and end.

And this time I'm not completely saddened by the knowledge that I'm highly unlikely to meet these characters again. I'm just happy to have been able to see this glimpse into their lives. Though, if they did suddenly turn up again, I'm almost completely positive that I'd gobble it up. The story.

Hmms. My third Essex of the day. And two of them end up being five star reads. And one of those two feels more than five plus somehow or another. This one. Then the third one which was a 3 star, but I still liked it. Heck, it was the first one I read today, so if I'd disliked it, I'd not have continued reading Essex.

(oh, and I never did found out if it was a weekend or a week retreat, as the story ended before I could find that out)

A Wolf for the Holidays by Bridget Essex

A Wolf for the Holidays
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 97
Date: November 22 2014
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Read: January 14 2015

A woman is once again stood-up by her girlfriend.  For the sixth time in six months, this girlfriend either forgets, arrives hours late, or sends a text message hours afterwards to indicate that they won't make dinner.  This time, it's Christmas Eve, and Mandy's made a special meal. She loves cooking. She loves showing her love through food.  But her girlfriend fails to arrive in time.  Then finally arrives hours late.  With a massive wolf.  As a present.  She doesn't apologize for missing dinner. No, she demands to know where it is.  Mandy finally gets up the courage to break up with her girlfriend.

Girlfriend leaves. Mandy looks down at the massive wolf with the intelligent eyes.  Looks around her tiny studio apartment.  Knows she can't keep the wolf.  Goes to sleep.  Wakes up to see a naked woman rummaging through her dresser looking for clothing.  Also, the wolf is missing.

Neat little story of unexpected occurrences, and unexpected love.