2014 – Book #76

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Well this past weekend was certainly a busy weekend. The Terryville Fair was this past weekend and as I am a member of the Terryville Lions Club, who puts on the Fair, it was go, go, go from sun-up to sun-down. For some of the weekend I was helping my Mom in the quilting section, you can see her post on the Fair here: http://joanne94w.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/fair-weekend/

The seventy-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Fatal Fortune by Jayne Castle (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s many pseudonyms). This is the fourth book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/22/14. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This book continues the story of small-business owner Guinevere Jones and her boyfriend Zac Justis. Zac also owns his own business, a security consulting firm. He is hoping to stay away from investigating crimes, but with Gwen as his gal he can’t seem to avoid getting wrapped up in all kinds of trouble.

When Gwen discovers that one of her employees has become the victim of a “protection scam” she decides to figure out the problem herself. Thinking she can complete this investigation on her own, she at first is reticent to involve Zac. She wants to prove to him that she can do this on her own. When people start disappearing and her employee starts being blackmailed though, she knows that its time to call in the big guns.

While trying to go through this investigation, Gwen encounters an old boyfriend, Rick. Rick decides that he wants Gwen back in his life, and he’ll do anything to get her there. Rick’s character was very creepy and unsettling. Zac’s character in this story was shown at a different angle, since most of the time we see his jealous side but in this story we saw how much he trusts Gwen and trusts in their relationship.

Overall this was a good story. I really liked the plot and I thought it was well-paced. I liked that all the stories in the series didn’t really get too deep into things. They were all around 150 pages so they were easy to read and at the same time interesting. I wish there were more in this series. I really like Gwen and Zac!

Link to other posts in the Guinevere Jones series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/guinevere-jones-series/

Link to author website: http://www.krentz-quick.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Fortune-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HQQ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408989907&sr=8-1&keywords=the+fatal+fortune

22Aug2014

2014 – Book #75

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The seventy-fifth book I read in 2014 was The Sinister Touch by Jayne Castle (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s many pseudonyms). This is the third book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/21/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book continues the story of small-business owner Guinevere Jones and her boyfriend Zac Justis. Zac also owns his own business, a security consulting firm. He is hoping to stay away from investigating crimes, but with Gwen as his gal he can’t seem to avoid getting wrapped up in all kinds of trouble.

Gwen has a friendly aquiantance with her window neighbor across the street. He is an artist and though they’ve never met in person, they wave to each other some mornings in passing. Zac doesn’t enjoy this ritual. Zac has been very busy with a prominent client in recent weeks, though, so there’s no one around to tell Gwen not to wave at her artist neighbor. On this one particular morning though she notices something odd with one of his paintings, it looked like someone defaced the painting and sliced it through. Once the artist neighbor sees this too, he holds up a note asking Gwen to meet him downstairs for coffee.

Turns out the artist’s name is Mason. He asks Gwen if she saw who did this to his painting. She didn’t but she decides to ask Zac for advice on what Mason should do. Zac doesn’t like the idea of Mason and Gwen becoming even friendlier. But with his current client trying to pay him for his genes, i feel like he can’t really say much. What follow is a funny story of intrigue and greed. Zac helps figure out who is behind the attacks on Mason, and unfortunately Gwen since she sticks her nose in everything, in the nick of time and saves both of them from being killed (sacrificed).

I liked this story but I don’t think I liked it as much as the first two books in the series. The plot in this story felt more forced than it did in the last two. It was still a good and entertaining story though and I like seeing the progression of Zac and Gwen’s relationship. I also like seeing the different intricacies of Gwen’s sister Carla’s character that are being introduced through each story.

Link to other posts in the Guinevere Jones series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/guinevere-jones-series/

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinister-Touch-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HRQG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sinister+touch

20Aug2014

2014 – Book #74

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Paranormal comedy, Undead series (Betsy Taylor) by rebeccabook17

The seventy-fourth book I read in 2014 was Undead and Unsure by MaryJanice Davidson. This is the twelfth book in her Undead series. I have previously read the other 11 books in the series. I finished this book on 8/20/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This series is about Betsy Taylor, who dies at the young age of 30 and wakes up in the morgue to discover she is a vampire. Turns out she’s not only a vampire but queen of all the vampires. And for someone who in her previous life was employed as an office assistant, the new job title of queen seems pretty daunting.

So in the last book we left off just after Betsy killed Lena Olin, the devil, and also Laura’s (Betsy’s step-sister’s) mom as Laura watches on. Which means Laura is now stuck with the job of ruling over Hell, whether she wants it or not. Which means Laura is royally pissed. Betsy wants to try and make nice with Laura, even though she’s not sorry she killed the devil. Ancient Betsy (Betsy from the future) told present-day Betsy that she never killed the devil in her past, which means that there might be hope that Sinclair (hubby) doesn’t die in the future.

Meanwhile, something weird is going on with Betsy’s roommate Jessica. She’s pregnant. But no one seems to know when she’s due. Or even when she got pregnant. And since she’s just beyond huge, looks like she’s about to pop any day huge, this is more than a little odd. What’s even more odd is that no one seems to be worried about this whole situation. Not even Jess. The only one who seems to be worried is Dr. Taylor (Betsy’s mom).

Overall this was a great book, laugh out loud funny as all the other books in this series are. I loved that this book has snippets from Sinclair’s point of view. And the end of the book was very interesting, there were some very odd revelations about Laura and her relationship with Betsy. I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series, which comes out October 7th!!! I’m considering having an Undead series marathon in October, since I love Halloween and this new book will be the 13th in the series it seems fitting. So stay tuned!

Link to posts on other books in the Undead series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/undead-series-betsy-taylor/

Link to author website: http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Unsure-MaryJanice-Davidson/dp/0425263436/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408568257&sr=8-1

16Aug2014

2014 – Book #73

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fiction, Paranormal comedy, Undead series (Betsy Taylor) by rebeccabook17

The seventy-third book I read in 2014 was Undead and Unstable by MaryJanice Davidson. This is the eleventh book in her Undead series. I have previously read the other 10 books in the series, and this book is a re-read for me. Especially with this series I like to read the previously most recent book when a new book in the series comes out. I finished this book on 8/16/14. I rated this book 4.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This series is about Betsy Taylor, who dies at the young age of 30 and wakes up in the morgue as a vampire. Turns out she’s not only a vampire but queen of all the vampires. And for someone who in her previous life was employed as an office assistant, the new job title of queen seems pretty daunting.

In the last book (Undead and Undermined) Betsy changed the past and created an alternate timeline. So Future Betsy (lovingly referred to in the book as Ancient Me) comes back from the future to see if she can get more things to change so that she doesn’t have such a crappy future. Also Betsy (the current one not the Future one, though it turns out the future one did have a hand in it) finds Marc upstairs in the attic dissecting a cat. Which wouldn’t be so weird except for the fact that Marc committed suicide and died a week beforehand.

Honestly this is probably one of my favorite series. I always end up laughing out loud, Betsy is witty and sarcastic and just hilarious. The series is interesting and each book I find riveting in its own way. I might end up going back to book 1 and rereading the whole thing through, the books are just great no matter how many times I re-read them. Though at this point the series is starting to get a bit confusing with all the back and forth’s and goings-on. I still love it though, just love it! Definitely a great series, I would highly recommend to all readers!

Link to author website: http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Unstable-Queen-Betsy/dp/0515151351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408206659&sr=8-1&keywords=undead+and+unstable

14Aug2014

2014 – Book #72

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Buchanan/Renard/MacKenna series (FBI), Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The seventy-second book I read in 2014 was Fast Track by Julie Garwood. This is book 12 in her Buchanan / Renard / MacKenna series (mostly FBI thrillers). I finished this book on 8/14/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Cordelia Kane and Aiden Madison (Cordelia is best friends with Aiden’s sister Regan, who is the heroine in book 4 in this series – Murder List).

Cordelia’s dad has had his third and final heart attack and he isn’t going to get any better from this one. He makes a deathbed confession to Cordelia and tells her that he’s lied to her for her whole life, her mother isn’t actually dead. She is in fact alive and living in Sydney Australia. He confesses that he waited all this time for her to come back, that he should’ve given up on that dream long ago but couldn’t seem to move on.

Cordelia knows exactly how that feels. She’s been in love with her best friend’s older brother Aiden since she was five years old. Not wanting to follow in her father’s footsteps, she decides to make some big changes to get Aiden out of her life and out of her mind. First thing she needs to do though, is confront the mother who abandoned her so long ago. As she plans to travel to Sydney, Australia, Aiden decides he needs to tag along to keep her safe. He’s just starting to realize that Cordelia is really the one thing that’s been precious to him all along.

Overall I really liked this book. I liked the heroine’s character and to be honest I loved the hero’s character, as bad at communicating as he was. I also liked the connection to characters from previous stories in the series. This was a great read, I couldn’t seem to put it down!

Link to author website: http://www.juliegarwood.com/index.asp

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Track-Julie-Garwood/dp/0525954457/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408032916&sr=8-1

13Aug2014

2014 – Book #71

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Rhymes with Love by rebeccabook17

The seventy-first book I read in 2014 was Have You Any Rogues? by Elizabeth Boyle. This is book 2.5 in her Rhymes with Love series (between Book #2 And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake and Book #3 If Wishes were Earls). I finished this book on 8/13/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book (novella) tells the story of Viscount Crispin Dale (cousin to Daphne Dale and mentioned in book #2 of the series) and Lady Henrietta Seldon/Astbury/Michaels/Juniper (sister to Lord Henry from book #2 and aunt to Christopher, Duke of Preston, from book #1).

As we learned in book #2, the Dale and Seldon families have a long standing feud. Crispin Dale tries with all his might to keep Daphne and Henry apart in book #2, even though he himself is in love with a Seldon as well. Crispin comes knocking at Owle Park (the Seldon family home) to demand that something be done, and instead ends up locked in a wine cellar with Henrietta Seldon, where they proceed to re-hash their entire past together and finally reach the conclusion that they love each other very much.

This novella jumped back and forth between past and present. I thought it was very interesting and I loved learning of the back-story to both characters, but at a couple points I got a tad bit confused. In order to help with the confusion, I found it best to create a timeline of events so I could keep track of the sequence. **SPOILER ALERT** This timeline reveals points of what happen in the book so if you don’t want to know what happens then don’t read it!

Overall I really enjoyed this novella. It was a great addition to the series. Also Henrietta and Crispin’s characters were very interesting to learn more about! Would definitely recommend.

Link to reviews on other books in the Rhymes with Love series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/rhymes-with-love/

Link to author website: http://www.elizabethboyle.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Have-You-Any-Rogues-Novella-ebook/dp/B00ECAUBLM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407962730&sr=1-1&keywords=have+you+any+rogues

13Aug2014

2014 – Book #70

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Rhymes with Love by rebeccabook17

The seventieth book I read in 2014 was If Wishes Were Earls by Elizabeth Boyle. This is the third book in her Rhymes With Love series. I finished this book on 8/12/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Harriet Hathaway and the Earl of Roxley. Harriett was introduced in books one and two in this series as she is the third in a close group of friends, the other two were the heroines of books one and two (I read books one and two previous to 2014). The Earl of Roxley grew up in Kempton, near the Hathaways. Since he was an orphan with no relatives besides his aging aunts, he was encouraged to spend time with the Hathaways as they had 5 boys in their family.

Harriett has been in love with Roxley all her life. But Roxley seems to only see her as an annoying kid sister. After a sensual encounter in the garden though, Roxley realizes that Harriett could be the one person who could steal his heart. And two months later they have another encounter that technically ruins Harriett, leaving her with the impression that they will soon marry. However, when Roxley immediately goes to London (apparently to obtain a special license to marry Harriett, which he never tells her so she starts to think that he’s abandoned her) he encounters problems that he learns could end up being life threatening.

Under very nefarious circumstances, Roxley ends up almost betrothed to someone else. And not wanting to draw Harriett into the danger of his current situation, he doesn’t write to her in Kempton to explain. So when she suddenly shows up in London on the same night he is supposed to propose to someone else, he ends up breaking Harriett’s heart. Harriett loves Roxley so no matter how much he might try to keep her out of this, she keeps involving herself in the mess he’s gotten himself into.

Overall I thought this was a very good book. I didn’t want to put it down and couldn’t seem to make myself stop reading it. It was interesting throughout and though Roxley could have prevented a lot of turmoil by just being open and honest with Harriett, the writer did an excellent job portraying both hero and heroine. Their passion lept off the pages and their personalities were fun to read. And the aging aunts were hilarious. Great read, and great addition to the series.

Link to author website: http://www.elizabethboyle.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/If-Wishes-Were-Earls-Rhymes/dp/0062089099/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407933346&sr=8-1

11Aug2014

2014 – Book #68

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-eighth book I read in 2014 was The Witness by Nora Roberts. I finished this book on 8/11/14. I rated this book 4,25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Elizabeth Fitch, prodigy child who at 16 has already been accepted into Harvard medical school. Elizabeth’s controlling mother has decided that Elizabeth will follow in her footsteps and be a neurosurgeon. But Elizabeth’s real passion is computers, and she hopes to someday work for the FBI. One night of rebellion turns Elizabeth’s life around completely, and the few months that follow as she waits in a safe house for a trial to begin turn out to be better than all her years living with her heartless mother. A plot to eliminate her as a witness though leaves her doubting who she can trust, and so she goes on the run for the next twelve years.

Elizabeth (now calling herself Abigail Lowery) settles in a small town in the Ozarks, thinking that in this quiet town she can finally find a semblance of safety and peace. But what she finds is that the Chief of police in this small town of Bickford is an extremely annoying man. He seems to be always butting into her business, and for a woman who just wants to be left in peace this can be extremely trying. Abigail comes to find though that Brooks can’t be avoided, and as they grow closer she discovers that he may be the one person she can trust with her secret. Brooks also has to deal with multiple different side stories in his role as town police chief. The addition of the side stories make it so that there is never a dull moment in this book.

Overall I very much liked this book. Even though it was a longer book for me (488 pages), I even thought that there could have been more added to the end. I felt like the ending was cut off a little too quick, I wanted to find out what happened with the bad guys. I absolutely loved the heroine in this story though, she was utterly fascinating. I would highly recommend this book, it was a great, interesting read and I was hooked throughout the whole story!

Link to author website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Nora-Roberts/dp/0425264769/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1407786512

7Aug2014

2014 – Book #67

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cynster family series, Danvers family series, Governess Brides series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

The sixty-seventh book I read in 2014 was Hero, Come Back. This is an anthology of books written by 3 romance authors, and all 3 stories are set in the 1830’s in England. I finished this book on 8/6/14.

Lost and Found by Stephanie Laurens is a story connected to the Cynster family series written by this author. I rated this story 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This story is about Reggie Carmathean (best friend to Amanda and Amelia Cynster from 2 books in the Cynster series) and Anne Ashford (sister to Luc, Penelope, and Portia, all of whom have their own books in the Cynster or Barnaby Adair series). This story was brief (only about 75 pages) and therefore was fast-paced, especially compared to Laurens’ other work. The story itself was good though and i thought it was a good addition to the overall series.

The Third Suitor by Christina Dodd is a story connected to her Governess Brides series, which I have not yet read but hope to now in the future. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This story is about Lady Jessie Macmillian and Harry Chamberlain. Jessie’s father has set her up with three suitors and told her that she must choose one to marry. Unfortunately she is repulsed by all of them, and enlists the help of Harry Chamberlain, another resident of the inn she is staying in, to help her hide so that her suitors can not force any more of their kissed on her. This was a very good story, I thought the heroine had a great strength of character. I would’ve liked to delve a little more into Harry’s psyche but you can only go so far with a short story. I look forward to reading more in this series in the future!

A Matchmaker’s Bargain by Elizabeth Boyle is a story connected to her Danvers familly series. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This story is about James Reyburn and Miss Amanda Preston. Amanda has run away from home and after getting caught in a storm manages to unwittingly enter herself into a bargain with a matchmaker. Apparently its against the law to leave the town of Bramley Hollow until this bargain has been fulfilled, and since Amanda was only passing through on her way to Brighton this is especially unfortunate for her. James Reyburn tries to help her escape but when his mother gets involved in planning a betrothal ball for Amanda, he realizes that it will take a great deal of stealth to get Amanda out of town without getting arrested. This was an entertaining story, though I thought both the hero and heroine could have used a tad bit more confidence. Overall very good story though, I might read the rest of the series as well!

Link to author website – Stephanie Laurens: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/

Link to author website – Christina Dodd: http://christinadodd.com/

Link to author website – Elizabeth Boyle: http://www.elizabethboyle.com/

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Come-Back-Stephanie-Laurens/dp/0060564504/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407376775&sr=8-1

4Aug2014

2014 – Book #66

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Chilling Deception by Jayne Castle. This is the second book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/4/14. I rated this book 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5.This book continues the story of Guinevere Jones and her investigator boyfriend Zac Justis. Gwen is concerned about her current client, Mr. Vandyke, and his current stress level. She convinces Zac to offer his security services on Mr. Vandyke’s upcoming buisness trip to the San Juan islands.

Zac is not thrilled about being a bodyguard to Gwen’s client. Especially when it means being at Mr. Vandyke’s beck and call and not getting any alone time with Gwen. Gwen was hoping to get some alone time this weekend as well, but not for exactly the same reasons as Zac. Gwen was hoping that she might be able to talk to Zac this weekend about their relationship status. But things seem to keep getting in the way.

Overall I thought this was a good story. It was a quick read at only about 165 pages and the plot was interesting and well-paced. The climax was riveting and well done, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. As I said in my post on the first story in the series though, the hero in these stories is a little too heavy-handed for me. He was almost mean in this story, calling the heroine names and stuff. I’m excited to read the next in the series!

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chilling-Deception-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HV9E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407191209&sr=8-1&keywords=the+chilling+deception