Firestar Released – Lilly Wilson – 2*

I wanted to like this book but I just couldn't. There was a lot of backstory that isn't explained until the story is almost done. The story starts with the main character on this slaver ship. The reader never finds out why she is there she just is there. Important information is dumped in intervals and not throughout the story which made it hard to follow along and understand why characters reacted the way they did. The ending was to pat and even though it is supposed to be part of a series too many things were left hanging.

Shielder – Catherine Spangler – 1*

The book sounding interesting so I picked it up to read and wish I hadn't read it. I had a number of issues with this book. First being the love interest was a major slime. He sleeps with her almost right away after rescuing her and then ignores her for days. The second thing that bothered me was Nessa was a major doormat. She takes any affection from the cast of characters and loves them for every little scrap they give. The final part of the book which caused the most frustrating was the epilogue. Nessa and her now husband head to her home and she is pretty much welcomed with open arms now that she nearly died for them and her husband had fixed her leg and stopped her seizures. Until the main character became perfect and saved the entire race she is not worthy of her families love and affection.

Redheaded Stranger – Amie Stuart – 2*

I wanted to like this book. The writing was there it was the story that irritated me so much I wanted to throw my kindle.

My biggest issues with this book is that Kei married Alex knowing he was on the outs with his family. She knew this and yes she has a right to be very very angry that Alex doesn't follow through with telling his family about her after 3 years of marriage. What she doesn't have a right to do is go around him and try to fix the problem her way. She needed to let him handle his family (any therapist will tell you that). IMHO it seemed like every character in the book was beating up on Alex. He was the only one to do anything wrong and HE must apologize to everyone for his misconduct. I don't know if this is true the author stated there was major conflict at Thanksgiving but never wrote the scene. Maybe what he said to his family justified the anger I don't know the information wasn't there for me to judge. We just have to take it on her word that what he did was so bad he had to atone.

I also didn't like the fact that Kei uses their 9-month old son as leverage to get Alex to do what she wanted. I want you here so I'm taking your son here and you will do what I want or you can go home by yourself.

Above and beyond the problem with the plot the author never really states whether Alex takes the sheriff's position in his hometown. Kei accepts the position but then says he should do it and it is never resolved.

Ransom – Rachel Schurig – 2*

Daisy and Daltrey have been friends since they were 5. The book starts with their first meeting and the jumps ahead to when they are 19. They haven't spoken in over a year because Daisy cut him out. It takes a while to find out why she cut him out which is probably the only reason I continued to read the book.

Spoilers!!!!

Daisy dated a guy from school after Daltrey left for Hollywood. He took compromising photos of her and shared them around school. She was then bullied by pretty much everyone at the school and the school wouldn't do anything to help her. She did something she regretted and is trying to get back from that. With all the drama in her life she didn't want to bring Daltrey down.

My issue with the book is the timeline does not make any sense what so ever. Daltrey and Daisy are the same age. It is said a number of times in the book that they are the same age. Yet it should be his senior year and he leaves for Hollywood when all of Daisy's drama goes down. What happened to school? And what 18 year old has a year of high school left? If only a year has gone by since he left how did Daisy finish high school and get a year of college done all while being in a mental hospital. It seems like there should have been two years between the time Daltrey left and when they see each other. Why couldn't the author have said that two years had gone by. That would have made sense. When something like a timeline doesn't match I can't enjoy the book because I'm trying to figure out how this all works.

I will not be reading anything else by the author.

Hell’s Chapel – Lauren Creed – 3*

I wanted to love this book. It started off really well but by the end it fell flat. You have this all powerful woman who is the niece of Satan and has 5 fathers. Each father is the leader of their species and she gets a little from each of them. Because of this she had just as much good as she does bad plus a ton of power.

What worked for me: it wasn't just Caith having adult relations. Some of Kyle's books that is all they are (nothing wrong with that) but this had a plot to go with the relations. I also liked the fact that Caith kick major behind and she didn't apologise. She's also a bit odd and funny.

What didn't work: the ending at all. I believe another reviewer said it depressed them and I agree whole heartedly. She defeats the bad guy but loses everything. Not cool. I read books to find an escape and I want a glimmer of happy life and you don't get this with this book. I also felt the plot needed some fleshing out. She has instalove with Sam but he isn't quite ready to fall so they date. By date I mean they go on one epic bad date where his ex shows up and causes drama. She comes back later and drama again. It felt like she was meant to be the red hering bad guy but there also seemed to be a point to her and it's never addressed.

Over all I loved the humor and the kick butt females. I will still buy and read the next one BUT it will probably sit on my tbr stack until I get around to it.

Maid for the Rock Star – Demelza Carlton – 1*

The main guy was the biggest piece of scum ever. He was all about using inappropriate terms for her body from the very moment he met her. He was demanding and when Audra didn't cave and a new maid came into the picture he slept with her and thought Audra sent the new maid as a gift. I loved Audra until she slept with him. She was reaching for her dreams and doing what she could to help (sort of enable) her family.

Finding Margo – Susanne O’Leary – 1*

This was a book with a bunch of characters who have no redeeming qualities. The main character Margo is married to world's biggest jacka@@. Her verbally abuses her until she has enough and leaves him at a gas station. She hitches a ride into Paris with a horse trainer who was probably the only awesome character in the whole book. When she gets to Paris she plans to stay with supposed friends. I say supposed because they are jerks to her and take her husband's side even though they are supposedly friends. Instead of confronting them or her husband for that matter she just takes off again. She acts like a spoiled child who when she isn't given permission (she's 37) to do something instead of being an adult and saying I'm out of here she waits until the "adults" aren't looking and she runs off. Grow up already.

Spoiler

She ends up having an affair with a Frenchmen who is the watered down version of her husband gets pregnant. When she is a couple months into her pregnancy she FINALLY confronts her husband who is still at a conference (who knew conferences lasted months) where she finds out he's been lying to her (she can't have a baby and an affair) and says she is done with him. Couldn't you have done this BEFORE months had gone by. It was just a bad book. There wasn't one redeemable character you could latch onto and hope they succeeded.

Reed – Anna Hackett – 4*

I would rate this a firm 4. The story was interesting and the characters were developed and interesting.

Natalya was an interesting character. I liked that she called Reed out on his behavior towards her. She was also very smart and was trying to find ways to fight the enemy with her strengths. She wasn't afraid to put herself out there. I also felt her reaction to finding out about the big twist was pretty much how all of us would react.

Reed was definitely an alpha male. He was very protective of Natalya. However, one of my issues with Reed was when Natalya needed his support the most he waffled. He soon makes up for that but it still was a disappointment.

While I read this one I wanted them to resolve all the problems and have a HEA but there are more books in the series and I cannot wait for the next one.

Marcus 3.5
Cruz 4
Gabe 3.5
Reed 4

Gabe – Anna Hackett – 3.5*

This is the 3rd installment in the series. I enjoyed this book but not as much as the second book. I felt there were more issues with this story line then the other two books. I would give it a 3/3.5

The reason for the 3/3.5 was I really didn't like the Emerson or some of the things Gabe was doing.

Gabe was trying to work through his grief of losing his twin brother but breaking into Emerson's room for adult relations just doesn't sit well with me. It was completely consensual but it was the fact that it was more of a wham bam thank you mam. He wouldn't really acknowledge there relationship outside the bedroom. He also kept putting his entire team and risk. Not so much a criticism on Gabe's part but more so with the Marcus. Why wouldn't they have put him on desk duty or something when he continued to disobey orders.

Emerson just irritated me. She was a workaholic which was fine with what they were going through. My issue was in the second book she was held for an hour with the enemy where she was beaten. In this book she continues to have flashbacks to what happened but it is never explained what she went through. She also puts up with a lot of Gabe's hot and cold behavior without even blinking. It is what it is. When she finally stands up for her self after he dumped her, he says oh wait I'm not done with you and she caves and takes him back. She even caves with her patients. There was one person who was rescued in the last book who refused to be examined and she was ok if you don't want to make sure you're OK it's fine. I don't know many people who could just opt out of a follow-up visit to make sure they are ok.

One of the big plot twists in this book I figured out in the last book so it wasn't a great surprise when it came up in this book. This didn't make me give up the series but it was close.

Marcus 3.5
Cruz 4
Gabe 3.5

Cruz – Anna Hackett – 4*

This is the second in a series. I gave the first a 3.5 due to backstory and character development. With this book you had more backstory and character development. I enjoyed this one more than Marcus.

Santha was an amazing character. She kicks butt. My one big criticism of her is she goes off half cocked when she needs to stop and think before doing. Cruz is a good balance for her because he tries to get her to stop and think before doing.

My one big criticism is there parts of the book that were very predictable. One part of the book I guessed would happen as soon as the backstory was told. I was also able to guess some of the plot points in future books.

Marcus 3.5

Marcus – Anna Hackett – 3.5

I picked this book up for free. I've been in a rut of reading and I just want to read one style of books. To try and get out of this I picked this one up.

This book was enjoyable and I would give this a 3.5. I laughed and cried over the antics the characters got up to and I wanted the next book when I finished. To me this means it is a good book. I want to know that the characters are going to get there HEA.

The two issue I had was there was not a lot of back story or character development. I wanted more information on the who/what/where/when of the alien invasion.

Uncaged Love: Boxed Set – JJ Knight – 2*

I purchased this book because an author I liked recommended it and it had all 4 and 5 stars. I should have gone to the individual books and I would never have gotten the book. It was an interesting story but it just didn't work for me. I didn't like how hot and cold Cole was and Jo kept taking him back no matter what happened. There was miscommunications between the two that could have easily been cleared up if Cole had just been honest with Jo. Issues were resolved in unrealistic ways.

Spoiler

Her mother abandoned her when she was a new born and is reintroduced to Jo when she is 20. Jo doesn't want to talk to her but is encouraged to by Cole and his family. Within days of meeting her she is calling her Mama. After everything she went through in her life I don't believe she would be calling her Mama that fast. Willing to include her in her life yes but a loving mother/daughter relationship no.

The final nail in this book was the short story at the end. Jo goes to Vegas to buy her wedding dress and Cole meets up with her there. While at a fight they are put on the jumbotron and she freaks out. Instead of comforting her, Cole tells her she signed up for this and to basically suck it up. She throws the ring at him and storm out. She heads to the helicopter to take her home and while in the air Cole chases after her in another helicopter to apologize which she quickly accepts and all is well between them.

End Spoiler

The two scenes mentioned above is the big reason why I will not be reading anything else by this author no matter who recommends it.

Pillars of the World (Tir Alainn Trilogy) – Anne Bishop – 4*

A bit of a backstory. I am a huge fan of Anne Bishop's Others series. It was the first series I read by her and looked forward to reading her other books. I started with her Black Jewels series and read the trilogy. After reading those I needed a break. When I started this series I was dreading this book would be like the Black Jewels. It was and it wasn't.

I started this book and put it down so many times. I finally said I was just going to push through it and be done. About half way through the book is when it was no longer a chore and it became a book I didn't want to put down.

Anne Bishop does an amazing job with the world building and the character building. I think this is why the first half of the book was so hard for me because she was setting the world and characters. Once that was all set it was diving into the story and the story was amazing.

One of the things that irritated me was the switching between characters because this is more of epic story with no real main character it was difficult to keep track of everyone and where we were in the plot. Once you get who everyone is it makes more sense.

Overall, I loved the book enough to go and buy the second book.

A Dark Lure – Loreth Anne White – 3*

I so wanted to give this book a higher rating. I loved this book and would have given it a higher rating if not for the end.

What I liked:
The book is told from different people's perspectives which normally would bother me but in this book it worked.
There was some predictability for me but not so much that by the 25% mark I had it all figured. It was more like the 50% where all the main plot points for me were figured. This didn't bother me because there was still the issue of how things were going to be resolved.

What I hated:
The reason for the 3 star is because the book just ends. I don't know if there will be a series and things will be wrapped up in a later book. It didn't look like it but it irritates me that there were things not concluded.

Overall, I don't feel it was a bad book. I would definitely read it again. The book just needed an epilogue like 6 months down the road to show where everything was at.