Author Archives: setaian

Blood Gamble (by Melissa F. Olson)

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Urban Fantasy

When vampire celebrities start performing a show in Las Vegas that puts the entire old world at risk Dashiell sends Scarlett to investigate.

What she discovers is two vampire factions at war and vampires disappearing without a trace. Someone is using the weakness of the Las Vegas vampires to hide their own sinister agenda and Scarlett with the help of a very old cowboy are the only ones who can stop them.

I struggled a little with the Scarlett Bernard books.  They were good, well written urban fantasy but for one reason or another I just didn’t connect with Scarlett in those books and it’s hard to enjoy a book when the main character leaves you feeling nothing. So when I picked up Midnight Curse I wasn’t expecting much –– and I loved it.

I’m not sure why but I’m loving Scarlett in this series.  Blood Gamble is another solid entry in the series.  It’s not perfect, I skipped through all the romance and I think the ending felt a little rushed but there are some truly spectacular urban fantasy moments in this book.

The grieving vampire cowboy –– Best. Character. Ever.

Many thanks to 47North and Netgalley for providing me with this review copy.

Yellow, Orange, Red – What it means. YOR-Guide

Dog Friendly (Books for Lovers of Dogs)

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Atlanta Burns (by Chuck Wendig) Young Adult

Armed with a single-barrelled shotgun and a can of bear mace Atlanta Burns fights bullies, white supremacists, corrupt police and the local criminal underworld.

Her trusty partner is a Dogo Argentino she rescued from a dog fighting ring.

 

 

Beautiful Bad Man (by Ellen O’Connell) Western Romance

After her husband is murdered by a wealthy cattle rancher with designs on her land Norah can do little except wait to join him.

When Cal is sent to get her off the land one way or another he sees something more than a broken and starving woman and switches sides.

Ellen O’Connell writes proper romance but still manages to imbue her books with gritty realism.

 

The Search (by Nora Roberts) Romantic Suspense

After surviving a serial killer, Fiona escaped to a remote island off the coast of Seattle. There she trains Search and Rescue dogs and lives a quiet life.  But the killer she thought she had put behind bars is killing young women again and he’s coming for her.

Honestly, it’s Nora Roberts. It’s derivative. It’s like every other RS she has written. But there are the dogs and it’s worth it just for them.

 

Midnight Curse (by Melissa F. Olson) Urban Fantasy

Scarlett Bernard is a Null, around her vampires, witches, werewolves all revert to human. She is despised in the Old World but she is also uniquely useful as a supernatural problem solver.

Together with her beast of a dog –– some sort of demon hound ––  she investigates a murder which someone is trying to pin on her old room-mate.

 

Dog Crazy (by Meg Donohue) Cute, Quirky Romance

Maggie is a grief counsellor with a whole shopping list of issues not least of which is she’s a recluse who can’t leave her house. She meets Anya, a young woman whose dog has gone missing. Anya is insistent that her dog didn’t run away but was stolen and she somehow convinces Maggie to help her search.

There isn’t much to this book. It’s cute and quirky and it has a big heart. And that’s enough.

 

 

 

 

Accidental Sire (by Molly Harper)

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Paranormal Romance

After being mortally wounded in a freak ultimate frisbee accident, Meagan finds herself the newest vampire at the University of Kentucky. But she’s not just any vampire. Someone has messed with her DNA and made her into some sort of super-vampire. She’s faster and stronger than the average vampire and unfortunately she’s also managed to turn her would be boyfriend on her very first undead day.

With two super vampires and no idea how it happened the head of the vampire council, Jane Jameson steps in and takes them under her wing. They just need to survive scientific curiosity, someone who is up to no good at the University of Kentucky and Jane’s very huggy friends.

The Accidental Sire is an entertaining book, a book that is fun and funny, but I wouldn’t describe it as a good book. It is a little rushed in the first and last chapters and in some ways it feels like it’s “by-the-numbers” Molly Harper.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s good and well worth the effort. It’s not a 5 Star book but it well deserves the 4 Stars I’m giving it.

Many thanks to Pocket Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Yellow, Orange, Red – What it means. YOR-Guide

The Alabaster Hip (by Maggie Fenton)

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Regency Romance

On a mission to rescue his daughters from a fate worse than death — the West Barming School for Recalcitrant Young Ladies — Viscount Marlowe stumbles into the room of Minerva Jones and is discovered there on top of her with his hands in places his hands have no right to be.

His next encounter with her is when his carriage sends her flying into a muddy ditch as he and his daughters are making haste to return home to London.

His daughters rather like Miss Jones and are unimpressed with Marlowe. Minerva who was dismissed from her employment after the Viscount fell on her isn’t all that impressed either.

Killing two birds with one stone, Marlowe employs Minerva as the governess for his two girls. As the months go by she finds herself more and more attracted to Marlowe but the daughter of a sailor has no place in the life of a Viscount.

The Alabaster Hip is a complete hoot. I can’t think of a single bad thing to say about this book. It’s a laugh out loud funny historical romance with characters you can’t help but love. Maggie Fenton writes women you wish you knew.

Position in Series: Book 3

Book 1 –– The Dukes Holiday
Book 2 –– Virtuous Scoundrel
Book 3 –– The Alabaster Hip

 

Yellow, Orange, Red –– What it means: YOR-Guide

Many thanks to Kindle Press and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

 

 

 

The Last in Love (by Terri Osburn)

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Contemporary Romance 

Life has given Abby a whole truckload of lemons. She lost her husband, is alone and lonely while all her friends have found love, she’s lost her job and to top it all off her kitchen has been gutted after a fire. Things just aren’t going well.

Justin has returned to Ardent Springs after a development he was involved with went south and he was left holding the can. He’s just killing time in Ardent Springs and working as a volunteer firefighter.  When he attends Abby’s kitchen fire he suddenly sees his second chance. He left Ardent Springs years earlier after Abby chose someone else. This time he’s determined to be the one she chooses.

There is something special about Contemporary Romance. Alfred Hitchcock once quipped that, “A good story is life with all the boring bits taken out.”  He was right and for me that’s the attraction of CR.  It’s not about explosions, bigger and badder villains, or finding the most gruesome ways to kill someone. It’s life. An idealised version of life but life none-the-less.

And The Last in Love is all of that. It’s a good story, well told. It’s positive and life affirming. It’s everything I want from CR and truthfully it’s everything I want from reading.  Returning to Alfred Hitchcock he also said, “A good movie isn’t a slice of life, it’s a slice of cake”, and that’s this book. It’s a giant slice of the best cake ever made.

Many thanks to Montlake Romance and Netgalley for providing me with this review copy. 

Yellow, Orange, Red –– What it means.YOR-Guide

North to You (by Tif Marcelo)

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Contemporary Romance

In the cut-throat world of street food, it’s not just about serving great food, it’s also about having a great spot, loyal customers and impressing the food critics. Camille owns Luciana’s, a popular but not famous food truck in the Bay Area of San Francisco.

She has loyal customers, a good spot and it’s only a matter of time before the critics start to pay attention. Then she refuses to serve a rowdy customer who just so happens to be a local sporting hero and overnight she finds herself no longer welcome in her prime location and on the receiving end of a social media backlash.

With little choice she moves out of the Bay Area and into the suburbs and sets up on the Great Highway overlooking Ocean Beach. But she finds a whole new set of problems. A local restaurant doesn’t appreciate her presence and is making life difficult for her.

With a month off before he deploys to Iraq, Drew has returned home to patch up his relationship with his dad. Then he runs into Camille, his high school crush at the Bay to Breakers and he jumps at the chance to rekindle the old spark. Unfortunately things are never that simple, his father owns the restaurant that is causing Camille problems and he finds himself having to choose between his family and Camille.

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North to You is just great. It’s original and buzzes along with an electricity I don’t often come across. It’s not perfect, I think the whole Lois not knowing Clark Kent is Superman was a little overplayed but what the hell! It’s a debut and honestly it’s so much fun that I don’t really care.

This is a book I will be thinking about for weeks and maybe even months. 5 Stars!

Many thanks to Pocket Books and Netgalley for providing me with this review copy. 

Yellow, Orange, Red –– What it means. YOR-Guide

My Kind of You (by Tracy Brogan)

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Contemporary Romance

Twelve years ago, Emily left Wenniway Island. She ran off with her summer romance, and burned all her bridges on the way. Now divorced and with a twelve year old daughter she is flat broke and back on the island. Her grandmother has offered her a lifeline, a job renovating one of her cottages and turning it into high end tourist accomodation.

Ryan is a project developer who finds himself on Wenniway Island when his recently widowered father takes up with a woman. A woman he is convinced is a gold-digger. When he meets Emily there is an immediate attraction but his home is Sacramento and her home is San Antonio. And as they get to know each other the complications just keep piling up.

Contemporary Romance is very much a safe place for me. But in the sub-genre that is CR there is both good and bad. Tracy Brogan is well and truly in the good camp. Her stories are about family, relationships, love and home. She always delivers exactly what I want from CR.
Many thanks to Montlake Romance and Netgalley for providing me with this review copy.

Yellow, Orange, Red –– What it means. YOR-Guide

Cold Reign (by Faith Hunter)

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Urban Fantasy

’twas a dark and stormy night…

…and the European Vamps have arrive.

As the Enforcer for Leo Pellisier, New Orleans’ master vampire, it’s left to Jane to plug every supernatural hole in the dike. She and her team find themselves called from one crisis to another as revenants rise and attack the people of the city while a supernatural storm beats down on New Orleans causing riots in the streets.

Jane is struggling to keep up as the European Vampires launch one attack after another and all the while they are circling ever closer to their end game.

This book is a runaway train. It crashes along at a frenetic pace and leaves you gasping for a breath by the end. It’s brash and in your face and one of the best books in the series to date. 5 Stars.

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Yellow, Orange, Red –– What it means.  YOR-Guide

 

Bend (by Nancy J. Hedin)

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Young Adult / LGBT

As a young gay woman living in a deeply conservative and religious community, Lorraine’s main goal in life is to graduate from school and go to college. And the further from Bend, Minnesota the better. Then Charity arrives in town. She’s the daughter of Bend’s most conservative preacher and like Lorraine, gay.

But along with Charity comes family upheaval. A long hidden secret and a family crisis threaten to destroy more than just Lorraine’s dreams of college.

I love this book. It’s whimsical, innocent, perhaps even a fairy tale but it also tackles some very dark issues. It’s the very best that Young Adult fiction can be.

Yellow, Orange, Red, what it means. YOR-Guide

Many thanks to Anglerfish Press for providing me with this Review Copy.

The Summer Seaside Kitchen (by Jenny Colgan)

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Women’s Fiction / Romance

As she was growing up, Flora dreamed of escaping her life as a farmer’s daughter in a small village on Mure Island. Then when her mother died she railed against her well meaning neighbors and burnt all her bridges along the way. She left the island and moved to the city.

Three years later she is working as a paralegal for a prestigious law firm in London.

But life in the city is anything but perfect. Her job is a grind, her coworkers are hard and don’t get her and she is secretly in love with a senior partner who treats women like disposable commodities.

Then Joel, the senior partner, takes on a new client who is building a resort on Mure Island and wants to stop a wind farm spoiling his views. Flora is sent home to try and bring the locals on board but in returning she is crashing into her past. Her grief for her mother. Her father who is barely holding onto the farm and her brothers who are bitter that she left.

After discovering her mother’s journal, a hand written recipe book, she starts cooking and in doing so begins to heal the wounds of the past.

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The Summer Seaside Kitchen is one of those rare books that heals the heart. It’s a gentle love story about broken people who somehow manage to patch things up and move forward. Everything about this book is 5 Stars.

Many thanks to Hachette Australia and Netgalley for providing me with this review copy.

Screen Shot 2015-11-01 at 10.26.54 PMYellow, Orange, Red, What it means.  YOR-Guide