2014 – Book #88

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fiction, Paranormal comedy, Reading Challenges, Spooky series reading challenge by rebeccabook17

As part of my October spooky series reading challenge, the eighty-eighth book I read in 2014 was Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson. This is the first book in her Undead series about vampire queen Betsy Taylor. This is the series I will be focusing on this month for my Spooky Series reading challenge for the month of October. I finished this book on 10/4/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This series is about Betsy Taylor, who wakes up one day to find herself naked on a slab in the morgue. She had been hit by a car and when she wakes up she is, surprise!, a vampire.

Since she doesn’t recall being bitten by a vampire, though she does recall being hit by a Pontiac, why she is waking up as a vampire is a mystery to her. She decides not to think about it too much at first though and lets her friends and family know that she is alive (well, sort of). She is met with mixed reactions, from relief and elation to denial and fear. After letting her family know she is ok, she meets up with a bunch of other vampires, and the leader guy tells her that she must pledge her allegiance to him. Betsy finds this amusing, she just wants to continue her life as she knows it, she definitely does not want to get involved in vamp politics.

Unfortunately this is something she can’t seem to avoid, since yummy Sinclair seems to think she’s some foretold Queen from the Book of the Dead. Sinclair and the current leader Nostro don’t get along. Betsy agrees that Nostro seems like a complete jerk, though she doesn’t find the arrogant Sinclair to be much of an improvement, but she doesn’t understand why we can’t all just get along.

Overall, obviously I love this book or else I wouldn’t be re-reading the whole series. I can’t say enough good things about this book and this series. I always end up laughing out loud. Betsy is such an unlikely heroine. She is vain, sarcastic, and childish but she somehow seems to figure thing out as she goes and blunders her way through. And despite all her screw-ups she still maintains her circle of close friends and family, who all love her even though she is completely self-absorbed. Awesome books, fun and interesting plots, and I love re-reading the earlier books and picking up on different nuances that stand out based on my knowledge from the later books.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Unwed-MaryJanice-Davidson-ebook/dp/B002YKOXGG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412546723&sr=8-1&keywords=undead+and+unwed

27Sep2014

2014 – Book #86

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Harmony, Paranormal romance, Rainshadow by rebeccabook17

The eighty-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle. This is the fifteenth book in her Harmony series and the third book in her Rainshadow series. I finished this book on 9/27/14. I rated this book 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Sedona Snow (descendant of Arizona Snow from one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s earlier novels) who was the victim of kidnapping and a subsequent awful medical experiment. After she escapes the mad scientist’s lab in the catacombs, she retreats to the island of Rainshadow to try and start over.

Cyrus Jones is the new Guild boss of the newly formed ghost hunter Guild on Rainshadow. While he is exciting to take on this new challenge, he is also there to check up on Sedona Snow. Jones is also a member of the Jones from the Arcane society. Cyrus was sent by Arcane to see if the “formula” worked on Sedona and she has developed some kind of second talent as her ancestor had also done. Multi-talents can sometimes become unstable and dangerous but Cyrus finds Sedona to be not only stable but extremely intriguing.

There’s a lot of other stuff going on in this story, all of which adds to the intrigue of the plot. I do have to say though that if you haven’t read the other Harmony books (or at least one) then this novel might be kind of hard to understand. Harmony is another planet. Apparently at some point in the future a “curtain” will open up between Earth and Harmony. Some people traveled over to Harmony to colonize it and then all of a sudden the curtain closes. The colonists on Harmony are stranded and all of a sudden when the curtain closes all their technology stops working. Also after living on Harmony for awhile amongst the Alien’s psi-strong tunnels, all the citizens of Harmony start to develop natural powers. Most citizens have low-level powers and all citizens need tuned amber to rez their talents, but Sedona and Cyrus are off the charts talents.

Overall I thought this was a really good book. I like this series a lot because its creative and interesting and completely out of the box. Who would ever think of this other planet where everyone has powers and there are underground tunnels that you get lost in unless you have tuned amber on you? Crazy. I would never think of that on my own. So, good book. Nothing outstandingly exciting but overall solid plot, well-paced, and interesting.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Zone-Rainshadow-Jayne-Castle/dp/0515154725/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411829348&sr=8-2&keywords=hot+zone

18Sep2014

2014 – Book #84

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Highland Pleasures (Mackenzie family) series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

The eighty-fourth book I read in 2014 was Scandal and the Duchess by Jennifer Ashley. This is book 6.5 in the Highland Pleasures/Mackenzie family series. I rated this book 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5. I finished this book on 9/17/14 (my birthday! :-)). This book tells the story of Steven McBride, brother to Ainsley McBride from book #3 in the series and Elliot McBride from book #5 in the series. Steven is home on leave from the military and spends his first night home getting sloshed in a bar. When he tries to head back to his lodgings, he can’t seem to remember exactly where he’s booked a room for this trip. While trying to figure it out he stumbles (literally) into Rose Barclay, young widow of the Duke of Southdown.

Scandal seems to find Rose wherever she goes, even if most of the supposed scandals are complete falsities made up by the members of the press. When Steven collapses into Rose in the street, she takes him home thinking him a poor homeless veteran. She lets him sleep it off in her guest room and then brings him some breakfast. In return for her kindness, Steven decides to help Rose in her unfortunate situation. It seems that the new Duke (that inherited the title when Rose’s husband died) is contesting the marriage and refuses to pay Rose a widow’s settlement or let her stay in any of the estate’s houses. Steven decides to help her and hires a lawyer to argue her case and also stands up to Albert for her.

Overall I like this book (really more of a short story). I liked the characters a lot, Rose was very compassionate and Steven very alpha male. The plot was interesting if fast paced as one would expect in a novella. I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next book in the series, Rules for a Proper Governess, due to come out on October 7.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Scandal-Duchess-Mackenzies-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00DGZKJ5C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411046652&sr=1-1&keywords=scandal+and+the+duchess

7Sep2014

2014 – Book #79

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fairy Tales series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

The seventy-ninth book I read in 2014 was When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James. This is the second book in the Fairy Tales series by this author. I finished this book on 9/6/14. I rated this book 4.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Linnet Thrynne and a man aptly named “the Beast” in polite society, Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant.

Linnet finds herself in an interesting situation. Due to an unfortunate encounter with Prince Augustus at a party, she is now ruined even though all she did was kiss him. Her mother’s reputation proceeds her though and so in society’s mind she is just as ruined as if she were caught in bed with the prince. Linnet’s father and aunt try to think of a way out of this sticky situation. So they set her up with a duke that needs an already impregnated wife-to-be for his son who is thought to be incapable of getting it up. So Linnet travels to Wales and meets the most surly, insensitive creature she has ever encountered.

And obviously she falls in love with him. Linnet is a raving beauty. Men follow her around just to see her smile at them. So when she finally meets someone who is seemingly impervious to her charms (Piers) it is refreshing to not have to deal with a slobbering fool. Thinking him incapable of lustful desires, she relaxes with Piers and an odd friendship of sorts forms. Obviously Piers isn’t really incapable though, otherwise this would be a very unusual romance novel.

Just when things are developing between Piers and Linnet though, a scarlet fever epidemic breaks out in the castle. Piers knows he must send Linnet away in order to protect her. What he doesn’t know though is that she’s already contracted the fever before he sends her away. Linnet ends up in some inn in the middle of nowhere deliriously sick with no one to take care of her. Piers finally realizes somehow that he had to go after Linnet and save her.

Overall I thought this was a really good book. I really liked Linnet’s character and how intelligent she was. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales (mostly due to the MASSIVE library in the Beast’s house and how much of a reader Belle is. Probably also because my husband can be slightly beast-like at times.) and this story was a great version of this story. So in light of that, here’s to hoping all us readers get our own dream library.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Tamed-Beast-Fairy-Tales/dp/0062021273/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1410051384&sr=8-1-spell

26Aug2014

2014 – Book #77

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Brides of Bliss County, Contemporary romance by rebeccabook17

The seventy-seventh book I read in 2014 was The Marriage Pact by Linda Lael Miller. This is the first book in her Brides of Bliss County series. I finished this book on 8/25/14. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Hadleigh Stevens and Tripp Galloway. Tripp was Hadleigh’s brother Will’s best friend, and she tagged along a lot with them while she was growing up. When Will died in the war oversees, Tripp promised Will that he would take care of Hadleigh and watch over her. So when, at eighteen, Hadleigh decides she’s going to get married. Tripp does a background check on the guy and realizes that Hadleigh is making a humongous mistake and decides to come home just in time to stop the wedding.

Hadleigh admits to herself that she secretly wanted Tripp to put a stop to her wedding. What she didn’t want is for him to then turn around and tell her that he got married himself and didn’t tell anybody. Feeling betrayed and hurt, Hadleigh then doesn’t talk to Tripp for the next ten years. During those ten years she gets a college degree and becomes a successful business woman / quilter. When Tripp finally comes home to take over the ranch for his sick Dad, he decides that it is far past time to make things right with Hadleigh. She doesn’t happen to agree however.

Hadleigh knows that she’s been in love with Tripp pretty much all her life. She doesn’t want to let him back into her life only to have him break her heart again, especially since it took ten years to piece back together the last time. But her best friends are pushing her to take the chance. The three girls made a marriage pact to work together to each find the right husband for them.

Overall I thought this book was ok. I liked the underlying story of friendship between the three girlfriends, and the charm bracelet thing they did to commemorate each of them finding true love was cute. I just had trouble buying into the idea that Hadleigh was able to cut Tripp off from her life so completely for 10 years. I mean, that takes a lot of hate and it sounds just exhausting. I feel like they could’ve maybe reconciled sooner. Other than that the book was good: entertaining, light and sweet.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Pact-Linda-Lael-Miller/dp/0373778708/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1409058417&sr=8-1

25Aug2014

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