How to Marry a Cowboy (by Carolyn Brown)

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Contemporary Romance

When Mason’s two little hellions, Lily and Gabby, find Annie Rose on their porch in a wedding dress no less they decide she is their new mother and immediately set about making it so. Overnight Annie Rose goes from being on the run from a violent and abusive ex to being a “mamma-nanny”.

Despite his attraction to her, Mason still holds feelings for his wife who died many years earlier and resists moving beyond a professional relationship with Annie Rose, but with the two little scamps pulling the strings, not even he can resist for long.

 
How to Marry a Cowboy felt like a G Rated, almost church going christian romance for most of the book. It was very much a book I could give to my 87 year old mother and she would really enjoy it. But then everything changed and the sex started. I don’t mind sex, I mean I’ve read more than one Tiffany Reisz book and rated them 5 Stars, but the sex level really didn’t feel right for this book.

I also found some of the set-up for the story a little too easy. For example, she has an accident and her car ends up in a pond fully submerged and never seen again, less than 24 hours later Mason has hired her as a nanny. She is on the run from an abusive ex, who doesn’t really feature in the story at all except as a reason for her to be running.

What I really liked and what saved the book was the characters…especially Lily and Gabby in all their 9 year old mischievous glory.

Screen Shot 2014-03-19 at 7.25.29 pmMany thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

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Better Homes and Hauntings (by Molly Harper)

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Paranormal Romance

Trying to rebuild her business after her former business partner decided to ruin her reputation and send her to the wall, Nina accepts a job away from the city restoring a mansion on an isolated island. Together with a very small team they are restoring the house and gardens which have stood deserted for more than 100 years. But they quickly encounter a malevolence that is haunting the house.

As they work, they begin to uncover a story of murder, betrayal and a curse that has passed down the generations. Now it seems that the ghost has decided to focus all of its fury on Nina.

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Better Homes and Hauntings is such a great book. Molly Harper writes with an intelligence and wit that is refreshing and completely addictive. This book actually has a slow build to the story which I haven’t noticed in her previous books and it took a little commitment, especially in those early chapters, but once I was hooked that was it, I just couldn’t put it down.

 

Screen Shot 2014-03-17 at 5.42.32 pmMany thanks to Pocket Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

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The Source (by J.D. Horn)

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Paranormal Fantasy

When Mercy came into her powers at the end of book one, The Line her almost normal life ended. Now she has gone from being the one with no powers who was routinely dismissed to being at the centre of a seething maelstrom of plots and counter-plots.

When her mother who she thought was dead shows up telling her to trust no-one she doesn’t know where to turn. Together with the one person whose motives she fully understands, Aunt Ginny, she tries to find the truth in a whole haystack of lies.

 

 

The Source is a much better book than The Line. It feels like a more well rounded book, the story feels stronger and all in all it’s more entertaining. It’s not perfect, it felt like it was wandering off in the wilderness in the middle section and there was really too much going on, but taking into account that this is the author’s second novel (the first being The Line) it’s quite an impressive effort.

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The Duke’s Holiday (by Maggie Fenton)

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Regency Romance

The Duke of Montford likes everything to be neatly lined up. A place for everything and everything in it’s place. The one blemish on his ordered ledger is a small unprofitable estate in Yorkshire. An estate which was swindled out of the family 100s of years earlier and will only return to him after the last male descendent of the Honeywell’s, the cads who swindled his family, shuffles off his mortal coil.

When Montford discovers that the aforementioned Honeywell did in fact pass on many years earlier he immediately smells a rat. Someone has been sending him reports from the estate and it’s lack of funds and signing them “A. Honeywell”.

Astrid Honeywell has been managing the estate and the family brewery since she was a child. Unfortunately as a woman she isn’t a legitimate heir and by rights the estate should be returned to the Duke of Montford. After Montford sends his right hand man to investigate she realises her number is up, but she won’t go down without a fight.

Astrid is completely wrong for Montford. Everything about her is wrong. Her hair is an unruly mess or red tangles. Her eyes are different colours, and not only does she wear a man’s clothing she insists on riding her horse astride. She definitely won’t fit into his ordered life.

But despite driving him crazy at every turn, she is also the first person who has been able to make him come alive –– to enjoy life, to get drunk and to make a fool of himself.

 

The Dukes Holiday is a complete romp. It’s great fun form beginning to end, one of those rare perfect books that I can’t fault in any way.

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The Line (by J.D. Horn)

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Paranormal Fantasy / Urban Fantasy

In a family of powerful witches, Mercy is the one person who has no power. Her twin sister is the golden girl and is expected to take the reins when her Aunt Ginny, the matriarch finally dies. But when Mercy visits a Hoodoo Root Witch who steals power to use in love spells and curses, she finds herself in the middle of some serious complications. Her aunt is brutally murdered and she suspects the death was a part of blood spell performed by the Root witch.

With nobody she can trust she needs to figure out what is going on before the killer decides to take her out.

 

The Line is very good paranormal fantasy reminiscent of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files. Strangely Mercy Taylor is being touted as the next Sookie Stackhouse –– I’m not seeing it but then again I’m not particularly a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books. Personally I think this book is better, certainly more fun.

If I have a criticism, it’s that there was a bit of info-dumping towards the end and because of that the final few chapters started to drag. But I’m still impressed and will be reading book two The Source first chance I get.

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Just one thing (by Holly Jacobs)

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Women’s Fiction

Every monday night, Lexie walks into Sam’s bar. She sits down and orders a beer. Every monday night, Sam puts a beer in front of her and asks, “Just one thing?”

As the weeks and months progress, her story unfolds through small glimpses of happy and sad moments, building to the tragedy that led her to be sitting on her own in a bar, drinking a single beer before trudging the two miles home.

Through the telling of her story, and listening to Sam’s own story, she gradually finds healing and a redemption of a sort.

 

Just One Thing is by no means an easy book. It deals with difficult issues –– sadness, guilt and perhaps even loneliness. The book progresses at a measured pace with clues to what led Lexie to where she is given in stories from her life.

I’m honestly not even sure how to categorise it, I hesitate to call it romance even though it is being marketed as such. It’s probably a little closer to women’s fiction, but with some romantic elements. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think it’s very good and I loved it. It definitely has a soul and it’s heart is in the right place.

Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at 8.51.33 pmMany thanks to Netgalley and Montlake Romance for providing me with this ARC

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Ghouls Rush In (by H.P. Mallory)

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Paranormal Romance

After escaping her domineering husband, Peyton moves into a rundown antebellum home left to her by a distant aunt. Needing to keep herself busy she decides to restore the home to its former glory and manages to get Ryan, a specialist in restoring homes to take on the job.

She soon discovers the home is haunted by Drake, a policeman who died sometime in the early 20th century, and as he visits her in her sleep a story unfolds about a series of brutal murders which terrorised the people of New Orleans in nearly 100 years earlier. And it’s possible that Peyton has inadvertently invited the spirit of the murderer into her home.

She finds herself caught between a ghost who is protecting her from the malevolence that has entered her home and the contractor who is still mourning the loss of his wife.

Ghouls Rush In is quite a surprising book. It wasn’t till page sixty that the ghosts arrived, until then it felt very much like a renovation romance. Even then it seemed liked a fairly cute and harmless ghost story. But at the half way mark it definitely got creepy. There were things going on in this book that had cold shivers running up and down my spine.

 
It’s really very good, and if books about ghosts, spirits and voodoo sound like your thing, this is definitely one of the better ones I’ve read.

 

Screen Shot 2014-03-17 at 5.42.32 pmMany thanks to Montlake Romance and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

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Avoiding Alpha (by Aileen Erin)

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Young Adult

Tessa who is both a witch and a werewolf is not having a very good day. Her best friend Meredith was cursed years earlier, a curse which trapped her werewolf and prevented her from shifting. Now she has suddenly fallen violently ill and as her life is slipping away, it is left to Tessa to save her. But saving her might only be possible if she makes a deal with the devil, the witch who cast the spell and is leader of a powerful coven of witches.

 

Avoiding Alpha is such a great book. It sits somewhere between a long novella and a short novel, but despite its length (or lack of it) it packs in a whole bunch of story. Aileen Erin has managed to deliver a book which sets the scene and introduces characters who will take the stage in Alpha Divided (due out in October),  but she has also given us a book which stands on its own merits. It never drags and is entertaining to the last page turn.

Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at 8.51.33 pmMany thanks to Ink Monster and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

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The Best Medicine (by Tracy Brogan)

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Contemporary Romance

When Evelyn turns 35 she smashes right into the ticking time bomb that is her womb. With the help of her two closest friends and aided by a list of attributes the perfect guy should have she begins her quest to find Mr Right. But the dating world is turning out to not be all moonlight and roses.

When Tyler lands in the Emergency Department after an accident on a stolen Jet-ski Evelyn feels an immediate twinge in the pants department –– but on her perfect match meter he rates an absolute zero and adding to his dismal prospects, he’s 10 years younger than her. But the pants will want what the pants will want.

 
The Best Medicine is pretty damned classy contemporary romance. Those of us who read a lot of the genre can recognise a trope from a mile away, but Tracy Brogan has delivered a surprisingly refreshing story about two people from different worlds who are attracted to each other despite their differences. It’s an entertaining and upbeat story, and a great book to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 6.08.18 pmMany thanks to Montlake Romance and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

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Dreams of Gods and Monsters (by Laini Taylor)

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Young Adult / Fantasy

(this review may contain minor spoilers for Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

The Seraphim (angels) and the Chimaera (monsters) have battled for dominance in Eretz for more than 1000 years. After a forbidden love between Akiva (a Seraphim warrior) and Karou (a chimaera woman) is discovered, both are sentenced to death. But Akiva escapes and when his love is killed he embarks on a path of revenge. Using the knowledge he gained from Karou he sets into motion a plan which will finish the Chimaera forever.

 

 

Days of Blood and Starlight

The Chimaera have been destroyed. Their resurrectionist who was the only one who stood between them and defeat has been killed.

But what follows war isn’t peace but genocide. The Seraph set about killing the fleeing chimaera, defenceless civilians.  When Akiva discovers that Karou survived he is wracked with guilt over what he has done. With a small band of Misbegotten Seraph warriors he sets about righting a wrong and protecting the fleeing refugees.

 

Dreams of Gods and Monsters

The last of the Chimaera find themselves allied with a group of Seraph warriors, the Misbegotten.  But mistrust and enmity follow them with every step.  If they are to have any hope of standing against the Seraph armies arrayed against them they will need to learn to trust –– but 1000 years of mistrust is difficult to overcome.

Akiva and Karou also need to overcome the mistrust that has replaced their love because of what Akiva did. But they need to find that love if their audacious plane to defeat their enemies and usher in an age of peace is to succeed.

This series is difficult to review. I finished it well over a week ago and the words have simply eluded me.  Honestly this entire series is so beautiful that anything I say just won’t be enough.

I’m a bit of a collector of tattoos on Pinterest, and every now and then I see a tattoo that just makes me shake my head and think, ‘are people really that dumb’.  One which immediately springs to mind is the guy who was tattooed with an F-14 Tomcat with “Iceman” underneath…I just thought to myself ‘you idiot’.

Well, I was thinking to myself, if you are going to tattoo yourself with words, they might as well be beautiful words.  I’ve seen quite a few tattoos inspired by this series, mostly on women, and every time I just think to myself, ‘well done, that’s cool’.  And that’s about all there is to it, these books are so wonderful that they deserve to be tattooed onto people’s skin, so let me leave you with this.

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