(not quite a) Review: Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Warning: Mild spoilers for previous books in the series, but no spoilers for this one. Seriously, you don’t want to know what happens in the book, so avoid spoilers and reviews if possible (including this one, just in case I’m not as good at not telling things as I think I am). 

I have a weird reading history with this series. The first book I read was Night Broken (that’s the eight one, for those who don’t keep track) and as weird a choice as that sounds, I really liked it. I had no idea who any of the characters were, but I was pretty hooked regardless. And yet, I knew the previous books had rape, and I’m tired of the rape-as-rite-of-passage trope that seems so present in UF books, so it took me until last year to sit and read the whole series in order. But it only took me ten days to read them all. That’s how much I loved them. Yes, there’s rape and some unnecessary and surprising sexism, but I couldn’t put it down.

That One Time I Finished a Serial and Liked It: The Kraken King, Parts V-VIII by Meljean Brook

Last month I was over at Dear Author guest reviewing the first half of Meljean Brook’s first serial, The Kranken King, and today I’m guest reviewing the second and final half.

Reading this serial was an interesting, choppy experience. I received surprise ARC’s of the first four installments back in May, but I didn’t get the two final parts until last week. So I did get to read the serial as a serial, but not in the way it was intended (although obviously there’s no right or wrong ways to approach a serial). This didn’t really affect my enjoyment because I really liked each part, so not knowing when or if I would be getting early review copies only increased my anticipation. I’m very happy with the final product, and I feel like it was money well spent (I pre-ordered all the parts months ago), but as much as I loved TKK, I haven’t changed my mind about serials, even though I’m more willing to read them as serials (as opposed to just waiting to read all the parts at once), so I guess there’s that.

I hope you enjoy my vague, gushing, slightly repetitive review. And if you decide to try the book, come back and let me know how you liked it!

An Illustrated Review: Guardian Demon by Meljean Brook

Source: A review copy was provided by the author. 

Warning: One spoiler for the previous books and one somewhat vague spoiler of something that happens in the first chapter of this one.

As you guys know (because I keep telling you), this is my favorite series, and the final book, Guardian Demon, was one of my most anticipated book of, well, ever. So it's a bittersweet moment for me, because as much as I enjoyed the book, saying goodbye to a beloved series is never easy. The good news is that I read the book in May, so I’ve had time to get over the book hangover, and this review won’t be a blubbering mess.

Remember how Nath and I wrote a post filled with theories about the book? Well, it turns out that we suck at guessing, because of all our theories the only one we kind of got right was this one:

Review: Big Boy by Ruthie Knox

Note: I won the Strangers on a Train series in a giveaway, so the book was free, but this wasn't a review request. The other novellas are Thank You for Riding by Meg Maguire, Ticket Home by Serena Bell, Back on Track by Donna Cummings and Tight Quarters by Samantha Hunter.

I read this short novella in one sitting, and when I was done, I went back and read it again. First time I've ever done that. Big Boy wasn't just good in terms of storytelling and overall quality; it also hit all the right buttons and resonated with me as a reader in general and for personal reasons in particular.

Mandy is one of those heroines who inherited an orphan. She loves the toddler, but the situation isn't perfect, and it sure as hell isn't happy. Her life turned into the chaos that comes with a small child. There’s also pain, grief and loneliness. Motherhood wasn't something she wanted and she has to deal with frustration, fear and feelings of inadequacy.

Review: Captive Prince (Volumes One & Two) by S.U. Pacat

This series was featured in Ruthie Knox’s What to Read Wednesday weekly blog post. I was very intrigued, so I bought the first book, read a couple of chapters and went and bought the second book, because that small sample was enough to convince me of its quality. The books ended up being so good, that I’m tempted to just review them in one line saying go read this now. 

Before I get to the review, you should know is that this is a work in progress. The third and final book won’t be out until next year, and the second book ends on a cliffhanger. Not only that, but these books tell one story and pretty much read like one long book. I think the only reason why they have been divided into three volumes is because Captive Prince originated as a free online serial. So the books must be read in order, otherwise it will be like randomly opening a book in the middle and starting there.

Review: The Other Side of Us by Sarah Mayberry

Happy New Year! To start the year with a bang I’ve chosen a great book, because the first post of the year should be all about the good books, right? I’m excited to be back, and I’m very happy to see you all.

Source: a review copy was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

I’m running out of original ways to explain why Sarah Mayberry is one of my favorite authors. So I’m going to skip the obvious and go directly to the review.

The Other Side of Us is the story of two people dealing with emotional and physical wounds. Oliver was crushed when he learned that his wife cheated on him throughout their whole marriage, and Mackenzie was crushed, literally, during a car crash. They are struggling with pain and with the fact that the life they had envisioned is over. She deals with it by being cranky and living in a denial that forces her to push her body until it has nothing left to give, while he does it by being sad, depressed and feeling emasculated.  All they want to do is hide and be alone, but life –and their dogs-- have different plans, and they end up meeting and, after terrible first, second and third impressions, falling in love.

Review: The Girl with the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir

This book is almost entirely told from a cat’s POV. If that didn't send you running the other way, you’re probably getting it now, just like I did when I first heard about it. It sounds a bit wacky, and it is, but it’s also funny and unique. 

Max’s human is Melody. He’s worried about her because she keeps bringing men to their home, men that just spend the night and leave. Thus Max does what any cat would do and pees on the men’s clothes so they know that they are not welcome. But he also knows that Melody hasn't been happy since her husband died two years ago. So he decides to take matters into his own hands --or paws-- and goes out in search of a mate for her. What follows is a bit of an oddball romance that includes a mystery, kitty shenanigans, Ellen DeGeneres and cupcakes.

Review: Riveted by Meljean Brook

Source:  we received a copy of the book from the author for review purposes. 

Is no secret that I’m a fan of Meljean Brook. Her characters are compelling, the worlds she creates are complex and reading her books is a wonderful experience. That’s the reason why Riveted was one of my most anticipated books of the year. Now that I’ve read it, I can tell you that the anticipation was deserved.

Annika grew up on an isolated village in Iceland, a very uncommon village. What makes it extraordinary is also the reason why it must remain a secret. So for years its inhabitants have fueled the mystery with legends and stories. But one day Annika’s foolish mistake endangered that secret and her sister, Källa, took the blame. As a result, Källa was exiled and Annika left the village to bring her back.

Review: The Witness by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts is one of the reasons why I love romance novels. She’s definitely the reason why I love Contemporaries, and that’s why her books are always greatly anticipated. However, the past few years have been mediocre at best. The last time I thoroughly enjoyed one of her books was in 2009 when Black Hill was released. So when I started The Witness I was hopeful but apprehensive. I’m happy to say that I fell in love from the moment I read the opening line.

The book opens when our heroine, Elizabeth, is a teenager. Sheltered by a dominant mother who decides everything in her life, from what to eat and wear, to what to study, she’s finally realizing that she wants to be normal. So when her mother leaves her for the weekend, she cuts her hair and goes to the mall to buy new clothes. There, she meets a girl she used go to school with, and because they both have something to gain, decide to team up and go clubbing. Elizabeth is a genius -- she has an eidetic memory, goes to Harvard and pretty much can do anything, so she creates the best fake ID’s ever. Once at the club they meet the owners, who happen to be members of the Russian mafia. They go to their home and once there Elizabeth witnesses the murder of one of them and of her friend. She manages to get help and once the police realize that she’s the main witness, she goes into the protection program. I don’t want to spoil the plot but let’s just say that things don’t work out and she ends up hiding by herself.

Review: Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward

Note: I have many things to say about this book so I’ll skip the part where I explain the plot and go directly to my thoughts. If you haven’t read the books you should probably skip this review (and go read them!) because it won’t make sense to you.

I never thought I was going to be glad I broke my ankle, but the fact that I had to stay home all day doing basically nothing this week was a blessing, and this book helped me pass the hours pain free! It is insanely good! If I wasn’t completely hooked before, now I totally am.

Lover Reborn is the 10th installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series. I honestly wasn’t too excited about the heroine and the hero, in my opinion Tohrment was too damaged and still in mourning mode and No’one was completely crippled -and I’m not talking about her limp-. But the beauty of this book is that the very thing that made me reluctant in the first place is the thing that today makes me love it so much. There is no instant cure for the pain in Tohrment’s life, nor an easy solution, but you see him working towards a better future and making a lot of mistakes along the way. The same goes for No’One, she has her own issues and we get to see her work on them.

Review: Irregulars (Anthology) by Nicole Kimberling, Josh Lanyon, Astrid Amara and Ginn Hale

Source: We received an e-ARC of the book from the publisher for review purposes.


All four novellas in this anthology take place in a shared world. Said world is pretty much the same we live in but with a huge exception, all sorts of fantastic creatures -from fairies to vampires- are real and living among us. And when I say all sorts of creatures, I mean everything you can think of, and things that you can’t even begin to imagine. Some of these beings have their own worlds and alternate realities, and some live life as humans. All the governments in the world are aware of their existence, but the regular people aren't, so there are different organizations in charge of both keeping it a secret, and implementing the law and regulating them. One of these organizations is NATO Irregulars Affairs Division (NIAD), and each novella involves one Irregular agent trying to solve a crime.

Review: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Last year I read my first Susanna Kearsley book and it ended up being one of my favorites of the year. So I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her backlist. The Winter Sea had a similar plot to The Rose Garden in that they both had historical plots taking place parallel to their present counterparts, but that’s where the similarities end.

On one of my latest reviews I was complaining about unrealistic endings where the characters got everything they wanted, and how I felt that we should get more bittersweet endings where the characters had to make sacrifices. This book is a perfect example of that. I think not everyone would be happy with how things end but to me it was fitting to the circumstances. The ending was both happy and sad, and I was very glad (and weepy!).

Review: The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

The Rose Garden is one of the best books I have read this year. Everything about it is beautiful: the setting, the characters, the romance, and most of all, the writing style. There’s something about Ms. Kearsley’s voice that feels almost magical, I was transported to the places she describes and I felt like I was part of the book.

When Eva’s sister, Katrina, dies, she has the painful task of having to take care of her ashes. After much consideration she decides to bring them to the small town in Cornwall where they used to spend their summers when they were kids.

Review: Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins

I discovered Kristan Higgins’ work recently, and after reading All I ever Wanted I couldn’t stop until I finished all her novels. She is the reason why Contemporary Romance and Chick Lit are two of my favorite subgenres. For this review I chose what I think is one of her best novels: Just One of the Guys. This story has it all: an incredible, amazing, beautiful and funny heroine; a gorgeous hero; a dysfunctional family and the ugliest dog ever.

Just one of the Guys is about Chastity O’Neil, the only daughter among 4 brothers. She comes from a family of firefighters and athletic men so is no wonder that she is a bit of jock. After several years living in a big city she decided to go back to her hometown, Eaton Falls. She got a job in the local paper and is eager to settle down, find a man, a dog and a house.

Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I came across this book when it kept showing up on Amazon’s recommended reads, and I was curious because it had great reviews and the plot was very appealing. But the price was high for a Kindle book and I wasn't familiar with the author, so I was apprehensive about buying it. A couple of weeks ago Dear Author did a review of the book and I saw it like a signal from the Gods, so I bought it high price be damned. I’m so happy I got it because this book is worth its weight in gold.

Beth and Jennifer are best friends and co-workers. They e-mail each other constantly even though they know that their e-mails are being monitored for inappropriate work behavior (this goes from gossiping to watching porn, basically anything non work related gets flagged). The person in charge of reading the flagged e-mails is Lincoln. He did managed to warn Beth and Jennifer once, but every time he reads one of the e-mails he finds himself more and more involved because you see, he not only likes them, he is starting to feel attracted to Beth. Things get worse once Lincoln realizes that the cute guy Beth keeps talking about is actually him. Now he is in deep trouble because if and when Beth finds out about everything there is no way in hell for him to not look like a creepy jerk. 

Series Review: Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning

This is a review quite different from what we are used to, it’s about a whole series and not just one book. The reason for this is that I waited a looooooooong time to start this series, until it was finished (which is totally what I will do from now on when a series starts getting all the buzz like this one).

Anyway, I love faeries and faeries stories, and if you mix faeries with romance nothing can get in my way until I have my hand on it. Or, to be perfectly honest, the only thing that can get in my way is a cliffhanger ending, which is THE definition of this set of books. My first recommendation: if you are planning to read this series buy all the books first, otherwise the angst is going to kill you. I read the whole five books in four days which means that I didn’t work on my dissertation during those days and my sleep time was full of dark and scary shadows.

Oldie but Goodie Review: Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts

Credit: Zawezome

It’s simply not possible to have a section called Oldie but Goodie without a novel by Nora Roberts. She has written novels on almost any sub-genre and one of her very best -in my opinion- is Carnal Innocence a Romantic Suspense novel.

I think that I enjoyed everything about this novel, the heroine is very likeable, the hero is one of my favourites of all times –I need and exact replica for me, please God!-. Then there is the southern accent, the dialogues are so good that you practically can hear them talking –and I read the novel, it wasn’t an audiobook- . The mystery of the plot was insane and the writing was five-stars. In sum, Carnal Innocence has all the elements to be in our books’ Olympus.

Review: Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

I first read about this book in February when reviews and comments started to show up on the blogosphere. It seemed to me that everyone was talking about it. So when the book finally became available I put it on hold because I wanted to savor it, and also because if it really was as good as everyone was saying, I wanted the gap between this one and the next one in the series to be as short as possible. Well, the book was everything I was expecting and more.

Even though I’ve been hearing about this book for months I didn’t know anything about it besides that the hero was a dragon. I think that part of my enjoyment of the book was due to that. So what I’m going to tell you is that the book is an urban fantasy romance. That Pia, the heroine, is a not-so-regular girl who steals something from Dragos. And that Dragos, our hero, happens to be one of the oldest and most powerful creatures in the world, and is not happy about the theft.

Oldie but Goodie Review: Again by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Credit: Zawezome

This is an oldie but goodie book, but it was a newbie for me. I came upon this book by accident; I was going through my parents’ library and found this one hidden under a pile of dust. I googled the book and since the reviews were great and the description sounded interesting I read it. Once I started it I couldn’t put it down.

The book is set in the world of soap operas. The hero, Alec, is a very famous soap opera star who after having a lot of troubles with his current show gets fired and starts working in another one. The heroine, Jenny, is the head writer of that show. They have an instant connection, he is attracted to her refreshing attitude and she is just plain nice and friendly, so they become fast friends. He is the first one to realize that his feelings have developed into something more, but the problem is that Jenny is in a very serious relationship with one of the show’s actors.

Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell is a 28 year old spinster. She has accepted this role and is quite comfortable in it, or at least she was until one day she overhears her little sister talking about her and saying that she is passive, that she will make a great aunt but she would have made a great mother too. This is a wakeup call for her, she was always passionate and was hoping to find the love of her life, but time went by and nothing. Now she finds herself feeling old, plump and average, and she decides to change that. But she doesn’t get a makeover, nope, she writes a list of the outrageous unladylike things she wants to do. Among those things we have drinking scotch, riding astride and getting her first kiss. Since the kiss is number one on the list she decides to do it with the guy she has secretly admire for the past ten years, Gabriel St. John, Marquis of Ralston, who happens to be a very famous rake.