Archive for the ‘2 1/2 Klovers’ Category

NIGHTSHADE SERIES BOOK 1: NIGHTSHADE
Andrea Cremer
ISBN: 978-0142419809
Kindle ASIN: B003YL4ABM
June 2011
Speak/Penguin
Young Adult Fiction
Paranormal Romance/Shape Shifter
Paranormal Romance/Dark Fantasy
Trade Paperback

Everything changed the day she saved the human’s life….

Calla Tor is the alpha wolf of the NIGHTSHADE pack, intended for alpha Ren Laroche of the Bane pack. The day of their joining is drawing near but something has changed, something- or someone- who is making her question all that the Keepers have taught Calla about her role as a Guardian. Who will Calla choose, to follow her destiny with Ren or to follow her heart with Shay Doran, a human? And just why have the Keepers brought Shay to the Mountain School anyway?

I have mixed feelings about NIGHTSHADE. Honestly, I hated the first half of the book, as it reads more like two gangs clashing as their gang leaders direct their every movement. Worse yet, it isn’t until about halfway through the book that I even began to care at all about whether the characters lived or died. Frankly, until then I was ready for the Keepers to find out they were disobeying orders and demote or eliminate them all!

However, about halfway through, NIGHTSHADE suddenly becomes interesting. Just what are the Keepers hiding? As the secrets begin to unveil, NIGHTSHADE becomes a far more intriguing story. Be prepared, though… the ending is a cliffhanger and we are left with more questions than answers. I’m still not sure I actually LIKE any of the characters but I’m curious enough that I’ll probably pick up the second book, if only to see how the cliffhanger ending is resolved.

Courtesy of Amazon Vine

STRANGE NEIGHBORS BOOK 2: THE WEREWOLF UPSTAIRS
Ashlyn Chase
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3662-4 (Mass Market Paperback)
B004ISLNSS (Kindle eBook)
February 1, 2011 (Mass Market Paperback and eBook)
Sourcebooks/Casablanca
Paranormal Romance/Shape Shifter
Romantic Comedy
Mass Market Paperback and eBook

There’s an apartment building in the middle of Boston that tends to house the oddest assortment of tenants, making for some very Strange Neighbors indeed.

Roz Wells, Public Defender, has just moved into her best friend’s old apartment upon her marriage. Roz is looking for a little excitement in her life, since her law career is more than a little lackluster anymore. As soon as she starts to meet her new neighbors, life gets interesting again. Things begin to heat up when she gets involved with sexy neighbor Konrad Wolfensen, until he ends up on her case load for allegedly stealing an industrial freezer, with his bare hands.

Konrad has a few secrets he’d like to keep from his sexy new neighbor. The biggest of these being that he grows furry and likes to howl at the full moons. Then there is his “job” as a security systems consultant and sales person. The closer he grows to Roz, the more his secrets are threatened, especially when he gets caught up in a mysterious theft at the local art museum.

Both Roz and Konrad would like to find new careers together so as they try out many different ideas, nothing quite works out, except the passion deepening between them… until Konrad’s secrets come out. What’s a woman to do when she discovers her lover is The Werewolf Upstairs?

I am sad to say I was very disappointed in The Werewolf Upstairs. For starters, I had no experience with Ashlyn Chase prior to this novel so I had no idea that she was an erotica author. Had I known that, I probably never would have read this book. This novel should have been marketed as erotica instead of romance, due to the very numerous, and extremely explicit love scenes. I find myself skipping entire chapters to get past the sex already and back to the story. Unfortunately more often than not, the plot felt like filler and the sex felt like the focus. This is precisely why I typically do not read erotica. I want a story enhanced by the physical and emotional relationship, not the other way around.

Honestly, I was far more intrigued by the various neighbors in the building, and the ghost in the museum, than I was in Roz and Konrad. I felt a little bit of the love between them, but not really enough to fully become engaged in their story. For all the sex they were having, there just didn’t seem to be much spark between them. I was completely amused by the different characters, especially the phone sex operator witches upstairs. Those two ladies are absolutely hilarious and I would not be opposed to reading their stories. And let’s not forget the multiple shape shifters, the vampire, and the ghost who also live in the building. Put them all together, and they steal the show. Heck they all steal the show every time they put in an appearance, together or alone.

Overall, I am very torn about the Strange Neighbors series. Knowing I was relatively unimpressed with The Werewolf Upstairs, I’m not sure if I will or won’t read additional books in the series. I have book one, Strange Neighbors, already on the book shelf from before reading this installment, but don’t  know if I will get around to reading it or not. I don’t expect I’ll rush to read it, in any case. I do love the residents of the apartment building and would like to get to know them better. However, I have no interest in a book that is more about sex scene after sex scene than story progression. So I don’t know that the appeal of the different personalities will be enough to overcome the rest of it.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2011. All rights reserved.

GARNET LACEY SERIES BOOK 5: HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD
Tate Hallaway
ISBN: 978-0-425-23412-9
Kindle ASIN: B003L784NY
May 2010
Penguin Putnam/Berkley Trade
Paranormal Romance/Vampire
Paranormal Romance/Fantasy
Trade Paperback

Sebastian Von Traum and Garnet Lacey are finally married and are going on their honeymoon… but things are about to go seriously awry. First, they create an “incident” when they refuse to stay on the plane after Garnet spots a Frost Giant on the plane’s wing. Then, they realize they are stuck in Minneapolis with stalkers, gods, goddesses, and Homeland Security. Will Garnet and Sebastian ever get a true honeymoon or will all of the complications derail it permanently?

HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD is the fifth and final book in the Garnet Lacey series and frankly it is past time for this ending. Unfortunately, HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD is neither a stand alone nor does it satisfactorily conclude a series that has suddenly taken a downward spiral after the first three books were so spectacular. The paranormal elements are a better part of the story than in DEAD IF I DO where they seemed more an afterthought to an essentially chick lit book. Still, HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD seems disjointed, to say the least.

Garnet Lacey is a character I thoroughly enjoyed in the first three books. She was quirky and sometimes a bit temperamental thanks to her inner goddess, Lilith.  I’m not sure what happened in the last two books but suddenly she’s like the heroine in the horror movie that you scream at but she still opens the door and goes into the dark cellar. I couldn’t help but sympathize with Sebastian for having to put up with her antics as Garnet sure didn’t act like a happy bride on her honeymoon in this particular book!

Worse yet, the battles between good and evil that have made this series so interesting are practically nonexistent. Even William’s brief appearance couldn’t rescue a plot this full of holes. So many questions are left unresolved- even if it weren’t the last book in the series, I would still feel dissatisfied as the plot seems more rambling than building towards anything. Skip this book and read the first three if you want to see just how good a Garnet Lacey book can be.

BOUND HEARTS BOOK 11: GUILTY PLEASURE
Lora Leigh
ISBN: 978-0312541866
Kindle ASIN: B002UXREGS
January 2010
St. Martin’s Griffin
Erotica/Contemporary
Erotica/Ménage
Trade Paperback

FBI Agent Marty Matthews has been watching Khalid el Hamid-Mustafa for two years at the request of her boss, Vince Deerfield. Deerfield is convinced that Khalid is a terrorist due to his family ties. Marty knows better, however. She knows Khalid is actually an operative for the FBI… and that he is one of the most sexually active men she’s ever met. Khalid is part of an exclusive club Marty has grown up around, one in which members take a third party into their bedrooms. Marty hungers for Khalid, but does he just want to make another sexual conquest out of her? And just what secrets does his past hold?

Let me start off by saying that I’ve jumped into this series midstream so my lack of enthusiasm for GUILTY PLEASURE may stem from not reading the prior books. I certainly enjoyed aspects of it, particularly the intrigues involving Khalid’s past and the potential consequences it could have on his relationship with Marty.

However, the relationship between Marty and Khalid just didn’t work for me. It seemed somewhat forced and at times I was so annoyed with Marty for chasing after him like some sort of stalker. Yes, I know her job had demanded that she watch him in the past but it seemed as if she tried too hard to show she was a big girl and all grown up. Admittedly, her godfather has sheltered her but come on, she’s an FBI agent! On top of that, the chemistry between the three- Khalid, Marty, and Shayne- just didn’t have that sensuous feel I’ve come to expect from a Lora Leigh book.

I also tired of hearing about the relationship between Marty’s godfather, her father, and her mother. For a club that is so exclusive, it seems that everyone knows about the inner workings of it! Again, perhaps I’m missing nuances from prior books but as a stand alone story, I’d suggest borrowing this one from the library or skipping it altogether. Lora Leigh has written much better books.

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TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME
Vivien Dean
ISBN:  978-1-60504-995-3
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
May 4, 2010
Paranormal Romance/Time Travel
eBook

Maddy and Cash are art restoration specialists at a museum, but they are not friends. In fact, they can’t spend more than five minutes in each other’s company without snapping at the other. That all changes when a mysterious painting arrives at the museum addressed to Cash. When they touch it they are mysteriously transported back into 1940′s New York and instead of art restorers, Maddie is a former call girl now dancer at an upscale night club and Cash is the bouncer at the club. They’re engaged, and people keep trying to kill them. The only way to survive and escape to their future is to work together. But Cash has a secret. He’s not a normal man, he’s a wizard and he has powerful enemies after him.

I’m a big fan of time-travel romances and the premise and time period of TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME intrigued me greatly. As I opened the story, it sucked me in and I was looking forward to a great reading experience. Cash and Maddy were witty and engaging and I loved to see how they managed to fumble through the situation that they found themselves in. Even some of the issues that I saw inside TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME didn’t distract from my enjoyment of the story.

Then I reached the middle to end of TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME and entered into an entirely new reading experience. What had been interesting and fun became forced and didn’t match the originality and style of the first half of the novel. Maddie’s character who had seemed witty and funny in the beginning of TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME turned into a stranger to me. Maddie’s life is in danger, she is saved, she gets mad at her savior because he hurt someone before they could kill them, then she’s whining the day after she’s hurt because she’s not at full strength and can’t help everyone with trying to get home. She goes into a snit because she’s severely hurt so she decides to run away on her own, going against everyone else’s well thought out plans to save themselves and get back to their own time. It was hard for me to keep reading after that.

Another major issue that I had with TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME is the historical accuracy. I am so not one to jump into the debate about historical accuracy in romances, but I just couldn’t buy into the time period. TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME takes place in 1940s New York. However, nothing is said about the War? Even if it’s set in the latter half of the 1940s (it’s never stated what year it is), it was still a big part of the cultural mind set. Yet there was no reference to it in TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME at all. To be honest, it felt like the story took place in 1920s New York instead of the 1940s. I know that TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME was supposed to be like an alternate reality but that reality was so bound in fact that I couldn’t suspend disbelief, because something so prevalent in our culture even today was not even thought about.

TWO LIVES IN WALTZ TIME is a promising story with an original premise, but I just needed something more to further engage me into the characters and their dilemma.

PLAY DEAD
Meryl Sawyer
ISBN: 978-0373774531 (Mass Market Paperback)
B0037NB5GU (Kindle eBook)
May 1, 2010 (Mass Market Paperback)
May 1, 2010 (Kindle eBook)
Harlequin Enterprises/HQN Books
Romantic Suspense
eBook and Mass Market Paperback

Coming back from the dead can be… well, it can be the death of you if you aren’t careful…

Surfing entrepreneur heiress Hayley Fordham is on her way to Costa Rica on a project when, unbeknownst to her, someone tries to kill her with a car bomb. Presumed dead by her family, her stepbrother and stepsister already have designs on her inheritance. Hayley’s aunt wants to know who’s behind the bombing so she asks FBI Agent, Ryan Hollister to investigate.

Little did Ryan expect that when searching Hayley’s home for clues, he’d find “intruder” Hayley in the flesh, and very much alive. Now they need to keep secret the fact Hayley didn’t die if they want to find out who did it. Hayley is not one to sit idly by and Play Dead while others are hard at work so she insists on becoming Ryan’s partner in his investigation. Neither one expected this strange turn of events would result in the greatest risk being to their hearts.

I tried to like Play Dead, I really did, because I have enjoyed other Meryl Sawyer books I have read in the past. Unfortunately, this particular story did not engage my attention at all. It dragged on forever, with not a whole lot happening for much of the book. I kept reading, hoping things would pick up and get my pulse pounding, but that hope never really came to fruition.

I actually found myself more fascinated by Hayley’s elderly Aunt Meg and her own love story with Ryan’s father, than I was by Hayley and Ryan. I never really got behind Hayley as a heroine. She makes herself a martyr for her family’s legacy, bemoaning the fact she has to give up her own dreams to take care of them. While she is meant to be presented as an independent woman throughout the novel, she came across more as stubborn for the sake of being stubborn to me. I liked Ryan as a character, though I wanted to smack him for caving to Hayley’s demands a time or two.

The mystery of who is behind the car bombing in Play Dead is well done, as is the story of who really died in the explosion, but events just took too long to unfold to satisfy my desire for a romantic suspense. In short, this novel is far from Meryl Sawyer’s best and I hope future novels are up to par with what I expect when I see her name on the book cover.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, June 2010. All rights reserved.

BLACK COBRA QUARTET BOOK 2: THE ELUSIVE BRIDE
Stephanie Laurens
ISBN 13: 9780061795152
January 26, 2010
AVON
Historical Romance/Regency
Mass Market Paperback

In the ELUSIVE BRIDE, book 2 of Laurens’ Black Cobra Quartet, we are reintroduced to Emily Ensworth, the young woman who had brought to the quartet of heroes the only evidence ever found which would confirm the identity of the leader of the Black Cobra (BC) cult.    When Emily had delivered the evidence she couldn’t help but notice Major Gareth Hamilton and decided that he just might be the “one” person she could give her heart to.  As Gareth and the other three officers set out on separate journey’s with copies of the evidence (only one man would be bringing the original and irrefutable evidence) Emily decided she would waylay Gareth along his route, and depend on his honor, as an officer and a gentleman, to accompany her on what would be an adventuresome and dangerous journey back to England.

***  The first comment has to be made that the title of this book was way off of how the heroine in this story behaved.  Yes, she would prove to be ‘elusive’ on most of the journey from the BC cultists, but as a bride she was anything but elusive!  Through some tedious journal entries at the beginning of most chapters, the reader is reminded ad nauseum, over and over again, how Emily is sure that Gareth is the “one” but she needs more proof!  She needs a kiss from Gareth, oh so badly to determine if he is the “one”, then she bemoans the fact that he is such a gentleman and won’t take advantage of the many times she manages to catch him alone to offer him chances at kissing, and then ravishment.   This could be seen as comedic but not with the dreaded BC cultists who keep on popping up and ambushing them every which way but Sunday.  They’re supposed to be running for their lives – hello – not exactly the right time to be trying to seduce the man into proving to her mind that he is the “one”.   Sorry, Ms. Laurens but after so many journal entries  I admit to skipping over them entirely.  That said, I do admire some of the ingenious ways Emily was able to convince and help out Gareth and his men in some of their battles both on land and sea – especially when Gareth recognized her tactical efforts were so effective.

Unfortunately, the pace was slow, almost to the point of boring.  It was hard to believe the BC cultists were so dumb as to announce their presence by their black veil attire throughout the better part of the story.  Where is the stealth here?  Why not just wear a sign saying “I’m here around the corner” to warn the good guys, who by the way battled so well, no one ever got wounded or killed in so many of their battles. 

If I wasn’t such a fan of Laurens earlier works, i.e. the Cynsters and the Bastion Club – I would probably not pick up another of her novels, but I do know this author’s capabilities and only hope that she gets her groove back soon.  While I love seeing how many of the Cynsters and Daziel and his group are getting on, Laurens has to stop using them to prop up her weaker plots.  This author is capable of much better writing than this book indicates.  Borrow from the library or pass on it.

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

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NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW
L.A. Witt
ISBN:  978-1-60928-033-8
Samhain Publishing Ltd
May 11, 2010
Erotica/GLBT
eBook

When Zach Owens goes out for the evening with his boyfriend, the last thing he expects is to be confronted by another man, Nathan, who states Zach’s boyfriend Jack is actually Nathan’s boyfriend and that the two had been dating for over four years. When Zach and Nathan get together to discuss Jack’s betrayal, chemistry flares up between the two and they make love and a relationship ensues. What started out as revenge against their cheating ex is quickly turning into something more. Yet, Nathan and Zach find it hard to continue a relationship that had a rocky foundation. When Jack comes back into the picture and attempts to drive a wedge between them they discover the only way to have a future is to get rid of the mistrust, lies, and betrayal between them. Maybe it’s a little too late.

NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW has an exciting premise. Is it possible to sustain a relationship that began in the wrong way? I looked forward to reading it and NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW was truly a well-written novel. However, having said that I had a hard time connecting with the characters. By this I mean that I felt that I was sitting in the audience watching a play instead of being involved in the reading experience. It’s a weird feeling to describe.

At first I wondered if it was because NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW was only told in Zach’s point of view, but I honestly don’t think it was that. For me I think it was the fact that the relationship between Zach and Nathan wasn’t built up enough beyond the sex and even that seemed one-sided. The reasoning for this was explained near the end of the book, but I wished more of the conflict was spread throughout the book instead of just the end. I also found it hard to believe that Nathan and Zach could’ve fallen for Jack in the first place or that they would’ve fallen for his later manipulations. While NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW didn’t work for me, you might be different as it was well-written.

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SWEET TEMPTATION
Becca Dale
ISBN: B003GXEO00
The Wild Rose Press
April 2010
Short Erotica/Contemporary
eBook

Darcy is used to being considered the fat one inside her beautiful family. She never feels comfortable around them. That changes once she attends a family party to welcome home her brother’s Marine unit and she meets Marc. To Marc she is beautiful and with his help she begins to believe in herself and her own self worth.

SWEET TEMPTATION has an excellent premise. I love that the heroine is not the traditional romance heroine that is usually seen in romance novels (i.e., a woman with a fuller figure). As I started SWEET TEMPTATION I really wanted to love the novel. I didn’t. The situation appeared to be a little too generic. By this I mean, the bigger sister who is mistreated by her beautiful, skinny mother and siblings who degrade and don’t appreciate her. I didn’t connect emotionally to the hero and heroine. I didn’t get a good insight into her feelings and emotions or the hero’s.

I also had a hard time believing the situation, not that that Marc would be interested in Darcy, but that they would slip off during a family get together and not be missed. I especially found this hard to believe because her sisters were interested in him. That I was bothered by this fact seemed weird to me, because I’ve definitely read stories that had a more erotic situation. It went back to the fact that I didn’t get more of a connection into Darcy, how she felt, thought, about what was going on to make me suspend disbelief. Darcy had such deep seated beliefs about her family and her worth that she could lose them all in a few short pages didn’t seem realistic to me.

Despite all the flaws there were a couple shining points in SWEET TEMPTATION. There was a beautiful passage where Darcy is describing how Mark touched her was different from the way other men had touched her. I was really moved by that. I also loved how in the end that Darcy began to stand up for herself.