In the Doctor's Bed by Brenda Jackson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not the usual Brenda Jackson fare but still a solid story. I would like to give it 3.5 stars.....only because with a longer book, the peripheral characters could have been explored more. It was like Lucien and Jaclyn were the only two people in the book and that didn't work for me. Maybe I've gotten too used to the Westmoreland and Madaris clans. Great start to this multi author series.




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Dark Side of Dreaming by Ann Bruce


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have one complaint about this book....where are the other four or five chapters? I felt this book could have been a five it was just longer. A cat burglar comes out of retirement for one last job and it set up by the man she's set to rob. And the man? Sasha Michaels is this rugged Russian guy (I picture one on the Klitchko's) with too much money and time on his hands who wants Cleo find the mate to the statue that she wants to steal from him. Complicated relationship? Yeah. There is also this other guy who has some serious delusions of grandeur who is chasing Cleo and the statue. Really creepy.


As much as I liked this story, it goes back to it not being long enough. I think with some added length this would have been a great caper. The relationship that develops between Cleo and Sasha is wonderful and uber sexy but I just think that there could have been MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! And what about Elena? Is there another story out there for her? I felt as it everything ended too abruptly; so much so that I wanted to shake my Kindle to see if there were more pages. I hope there is more about Cleo and Sasha soon.






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Quick Review: Betrayal's Shadow by K.H. LeMoyne

Betrayal's Shadow by K.H. LeMoyne


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was one of the best in urban fantasy that I have read in a long time. A really long time. It's hard for me to give a book a five star rating; it really has to stand out and above other books that I've read of the genre and even above books in other genres. For a while I have been shying away from urban fantasy books; they just seemed...off. But this book was a wonderful change from what I have been reading. At first I didn't get what the backstory was all about and almost abandoned the book but then Turen (the hero) grabbed my attention. This guy is a Guardian: not quite an angel but not a demon either. His kind is charged with guarding humanity but also with preserving themselves as a society. I didn't feel like I needed to go back and read the Old Testament or Paradise Lost to understand what was going on with this book. I like some history and background to go with my stories but with some in urban fantasy, it's like I spend most of my time trying to figure out what in the hell the author is referring to.


Turen is sacrificing himself to try and redeem his former mentor and best friend, but then finds that he needed some redeeming also. Mia is a freelance writer who finds herself transported in a cave with a really big, silent guy. One thing that I liked about Turen was that he was intelligent and patient. This was no Berserker warrior who thrashes everything in sight; this guy has a purpose and the will to see it through. And even the sex came at the right time in the book. No wham-bam’s in this book. The sex was hot and totally worth the wait. Great book and one that make you want to read all that are available in the series. I found myself plotting in my head to see what happens next.






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Repost: A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James

Eloisa James is amazing. I didn't think that she could have done better than A Duke of Her Own (Duchess in Love series) but she proved that she has chops. Kiss at Midnight is a story based on the Cinderella fairy tale, wicked step-mother, well meaning servants, and a real life prince, to boot. The brilliance in this story comes from both Katherine and Gabriel as they wade through their impossible romance. Katherine is no simpering miss and Gabriel is no self-absorbed dandy (ok, maybe a bit self-absorbed).


The affair starts because Gabriel is made to fulfill obligations to his odd, rag-tag family and Katherine is made to attend a house party because her sister gets herself injured, in the most impossible way, and cannot not attend. The wicked stepmother crafts some crazy scheme to have Katherine take Victoria's (the sister) place. Add in a crazy relatives, a very-knowing majordomo, and a menajerie of abandoned animals and this turns out to be the best historical romance I've read in a long, long time.

Eloisa James hass been a favorite of mine since Potent Pleasures and I continue to be a devoted fan.
 
Update:  James continued the new fairy tales with When Beauty Tames the Beast (2011) and coming soon is The Duke Is Mine (December 2011). Visit http://www.eloisajames.com/ for more information and book list.

Qucik Review: Something About You by Julie James

 So....it took me way too long to get into this book but then it grew on me and I like it. So much so that I immediately began to look for a sequel. The book started out really slow and I couldn't get past all of the FBI/DOJ jargon and I almost gave up.  Then  I picked up on the tension and back story of Camreon Lynde and Jack Pallas---these two needed a cold shower and a room with all the  heat coming off of them.  She's the U.S. Attorney he thinks got him shipped to an FBI outpost in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska and now he's the one responsible to for keeping her alive. They have some real chemistry and it works.
Of course, there is the prerequisite gay male best friend, bossy blond, and African-American partner. Even though I liked this book, I was till waiting for something to happen. I needed for Jack to be a a little something more. Maybe, James' excellent research was too much for the story; I think so. I'm looking forward to A Lot Like Love  (2011) to see what else happens with Cameron and Jack as secondary characters.

#nowreading: Huddle with Me Tonight by Farrah Rochon

Followed by I'll Catch You by Farrah Rochon

Kindle for Libraries

    

    On Wednesday, September 21st, Amazon changed the world of reading again. Not only is the Kindle the most popular reading device in the world but now avid readers can add library books to their Kindle.  Oh! How ridiculously awesome.

Ok, yes.  I am  a nerd and complete bibliophile (sounds naughty, doesn't it?)

     When I bought my Kindle, I immediately experienced some envious feelings for those people who had Nooks, Sony e-readers, etc because with all those devices you could borrow and download library books and Kindle didn't have that.  I  have been on the verge of buying a Nook or Kobo for the sole purpose of being able to use this service; and although I have been using the OverDrive app on my Android phone for several months, it's not a very good alternative when reading lengthy novels.  But alas, the good people at Amazon have made my geeky dreams come true.

    As a voracious reader, I love the feel and smell of turned pages. But I'm also a person who reads several books at a time and it's not very comfortable to lug around three or four books at a time.  I can save my budget by using the local library and have the opportunity to read books that have been in my TBR pile for ages.  Like Crown of Thrones, Things Fall Apart, etc. 
    I know that a lot of people have been reluctant to embrace e-readers and their ilk (myself included) but they are the new revolution in literacy. In this gadget friendly world of ours, e-readers have captured the attentionof former non-readers and has changed them into people who speak "book". The stigma of being a bookworm is no longer---it is now cool to read. WHAT! My 13 year old daughter was one of these such people: she would read as assigned by a teacher. Since getting her a Kindle of her own, a whole new world has been opened up. She is almost never without her Kindle near by. Amazing.
    So, now that I have celebrated a new Kindle breakthrough, I'm off to enjoy one of many Kimani romance novels in my reading queue.