Cable Left, Cable Right – Judith Durant – 2* ARC

This is a knitting book that gives different cable patterns.  I had my yarn and needles ready and a couple patterns in mind for this book.  I’m an average knitter.  If you give some really good directs and maybe some YouTube videos I can figure out almost any pattern.  This book didn’t give directions.  The patterns are in charts only.  The book starts off with explaining how to read the charts but the individual patterns it was charts.  I couldn’t figure out the patterns from the chart.  Some of them just looked like a giant X.  Maybe if she had included directions with the chart I would have been able to figure it all out.  The 2 star is for the awesome patterns in the book.  There were some cable patterns I hadn’t seen before but was very disappointed I couldn’t try them.

Hunted by Magic – Jasmine Walt – 4*

Hunted by magic starts right where Bound by Magic ended.  Iannis is missing and the mages are in an uproar.  The mages don’t want Sunaya’s help finding Iannis.  Instead their bright idea is to arrest her and everyone they think might know/are in/have family in the resistance.  Literally almost everyone shifter/human is taken in by the mages.  Sunaya has to escape from town because she is enemy number one.  All she wants is to find him.  In the last book she exchanges what amounts to a soul stone.  A bit of her soul is put into a necklace that he wears and she has one from him.  Only the wearer can remove it.  This is something she was given and told not to tell anyone else because it is basically an exchange of rings for marriages.  Sunaya escapes town with the help of two friends and they track Iannis down with the necklace.  They find just the necklace and the mages who were with him.  They eventually track him down but he has been enchanted and she has to basically seduce him to force him to remember himself.  It was a little creepy.  The woman who enchanted him doesn’t take kindly to losing her powerful new husband and tries to kill Sunaya and Co.  They escape rescue the mages and then rush to the capital for the vote.  There is a lot that happens in this book.  There is problems in the capital and reasons they wanted Iannis out of the way.

This book was much better than the last one but I didn’t feel like there was much movement in the overarching story.  We are no closer to finding out who the big bad is.  Iannis has hinted at Sunaya’s family is but refuses to tell her anything.  It just seemed like one more plot thwarted by Sunaya and Iannis but let’s not tell you anything new.  Now I have to wait for the next book.

02 Bound by Magic – Jasmine Walt – 4*

This is the sequel to Burned by Magic.  It starts right where the first ended.  Sunaya is being trained by Iannis to control her magic.  He is angry because she still insists on being an enforcer, earning her own money, and living in her own home.  He wants her living at the castle focusing on mage training.  She wants her independence and break from Iannis because she is hoping her attraction for him will go away.  She is trying to find the big backer introduced in the last book.  She is also asked to look into the shifters who have been going missing.  This storyline was a lot more obvious who was behind the missing shifters.  There are some little bits you don’t know but the big details you can figure out very quickly.

I liked this story.  There were some issues like her receiving a warning about trouble with the resistance but doesn’t share it with anyone else.  Though if she had we would have an entirely different book 3 so take it or leave it.  You get a little more information about the people and places in this book that helps with the world building and character development.  Overall an enjoyable book but HATED the cliff hanger ending.

01 Burned by Magic – Jasmine Walt – 5*

Sunaya is half shifter half mage in the city of Solantha.  Mages are in control of everything.  Shifters are considered second class citizens and half/half is outlawed.  Sunaya has hidden her magic.  She has two jobs one as an enforcer and when she can’t get enforcer work she bartends.  While working her night job as a bartender her mentor telepathically calls for her.  She arrives minutes before he dies of silver poisoning.  He tells her there are a number of cases of silver poisoning but no one is looking into them.  She calls in her fellow enforcers and let them know what happened.  They blow her off but she is determined to investigate.  While on another case she exposes her magic and is arrested.  During her trial she is told to appeal directly to the chief mage.  Sunaya believes this will give her a chance to escape but instead is taken almost immediately to the chief mage.  The chief mage takes an interest in her and decides to spare her as long as she is receiving mage training.  The chief mage Iannis is determined to train her but she has a lot of bias against mages.  Sunaya is able to open Iannis’ eyes to what is happening in the city and he does make some changes to help shifters and humans. 

I loved this book so much that I bought and read the next two books in the series.  I am now impatiently waiting for the next book.  Sunaya is a strong woman who has pretty much been on her own since her mother’s death when she was young.  She calls BS with everyone but is very loyal to those she loves.  The story has a nice mix of characters who interact well with each other.  There are just enough curves in the plot to be interesting.

01 The Pages of the Mind – Jeffe Kennedy – 4* ARC

This is the first book in a new series by Jeffe Kennedy sort of.  It is more a continuation of the Twelve Kingdoms series because you will not understand what is going on in this book without reading the other three books.  I will say I had read the first two books in the Twelve Kingdoms and hadn’t read the third one when I read this one.  There were some things that were confusing but was able to figure it out without reading The Talon of the Hawk.  This book starts where The Talon of the Hawk ended.  Ursula is High Queen and they are now the Thirteen Kingdoms since the “fall” of the barrier.  The Pages of the Mind centers around Dafne Mailloix who is a librarian.  She spent over 30 years under the harsh reign of the High King.  She learned much as the librarian that is helping the High Queen.  When a neighboring kingdom comes with a force to find out about a barrier that hadn’t fallen but had expanded Dafne is pivotal in the negotiations and is sent with the forces to investigate the barrier shift.  On the journey they stop on an island where she accidentally marries their king. 

I enjoyed this book and not just because I am a librarian.  Dafne ends up in an interesting situation and she runs with it.  She learns the language and culture.  She tries to honor her commitments to her queen and her husband even though they are mutually exclusive things.  Dafne’s husband is also awesome.  Even though Dafne married him he never pushed her for more than she was willing to give.  Even if he would be harmed by not pushing her.  Part of the problems between them came from him not willing to tell her everything she needs to know but they were able to work through their issues.

02 The Tears of the Rose – Jeffe Kennedy – 2*

Ami met her prince charming and married him in the first book of the series.  She was supposed to have her happily ever after but in the last book her husband is killed by her sister.  This book is what happens next. 

I really didn’t like this book at all.  Ami was a whiner who believes just about anything that her father and the priests feed her.  It wasn’t until almost the end of the book she starts standing up for herself and that is due to her wanting to protect her children then standing up for herself.  The other reason I really didn’t like her was even though the love of her life has been killed she starts a new relationship almost immediately with someone else.  Really you loved your husband so very much but within a couple months of his death he’s been replaced by another man.  That is true love there.

01 The Mark of Tala – Jeffe Kennedy – 4*

In the Twelve Kingdoms the High King has three daughters.  The eldest, Ursula who is heir to the throne.  The youngest, Amelia is the beautiful one who is set to marry her prince charming.  Then there is the middle sister who everyone seems to have forgotten, Andromeda.  Andromeda who goes by Andi doesn’t mind being the forgotten princess as she would rather spend time outdoors with her horse.  She is given free reign until one day a mystery man tries to steal her away claiming her as his queen.  Her father is having none of it and decides to go to war over this other kingdom trying to steal one of his daughters.

I enjoyed this book a lot.  There was mysteries Andi had to uncover to find out the truth behind both kingdoms, her father, and her mother.  Once those secrets are revealed she has a choice to make.   I liked the chemistry between the main characters. 

04 A Wild Ride – Vivian Arend – 4*

Nicole Adams is having a secret affair with her brother’s best friend Troy Thompson.  When one of her sister announces she is pregnant she decides to cancel the fun and get serious and Troy is not a man who can do serious.  Troy knows he can do forever with her if she just gives him a chance. 

This book was hard to review.  I liked it a lot but there were things that were left hanging that I wanted answers for.  One of the big issues was everyone loves Troy but thought he was a womanizing flake.  Pretty much everyone in Nicole’s family love him just not with her.  They never give any reason other than he was so good in high school football but never went beyond that.  It just irritated me no one vocalized why he wasn’t good enough.

03 Let it Ride – Vivian Arend – 4*

Maggie Ward loses her husband in a car accident.  Clay Thompson has thought of her has more than a friend for a long time but would never do anything about it since he was friends with both of them.  When Maggie’s husband dies he steps up and takes care of her without any demands.  The book takes place over months.

This is one topic that I normally can’t stand.  You lose your spouse and then jump right into another relationship.  However, I think it was handled a little bit better than most in this book.  It takes place over the course of a year and isn’t instantaneous.  Clay and Maggie were cute together and watching their relationship progress from friends to lovers was interesting to read.

02 One Sexy Ride – Vivian Arend – 3.5*

Len Thompson has been in love with his sister’s best friend Janey but she is off limits until he finds out she is about to leave town for good.  He wants to have a no strings affair with her until she leaves.  The problem is he is in love with her and doesn’t want her to leave.

I had issues with this book.  Len was willing to be just friends with Janey forever until he finds out she has plans to leave.  His brilliant plan is to have a fling with her while she is in town and then let her go when she planned to leave town.  I get this all stems from how he lost his mom and what he went through but come on you love this woman and you are willing to let her go because of them.  I just can’t understand that.  Other than this the book was well written and enjoyable to read.

01.5 Baby, Be Mine – Vivian Arend – 4*

Gage Jenick has been friends of the Thompson family forever.  He has noticed Katy Thompson wasn’t just his best friends little sister but she was in a relationship with someone else.  When Katy breaks up with the boyfriend Gage is all in even though he is leaving for a work assignment for two months.  While he is gone Katy is in an accident which causes her to lose some of her memories.  Katy is also pregnant.  She remembers breaking up with her boyfriend but he swears they got back together.  Gage comes back into town and wants to pick up where they left off but Katy doesn’t know who is the father.  She feels she should give both men the opportunity to be involved with her pregnancy. 

This was an interesting idea that could have gone so very wrong but in this case was done very well.  I loved how Gage was all in with Katy no matter what.  He didn’t care if the baby wasn’t his he wanted to be with Katy and the baby.  He supported her even when life made it difficult for him to be involved.

01 Rocky Ride – Vivian Arend – 4*

The eldest Thompson, Mitch, has wanted Constable Anna Coleman in his life and bed for a while.  He speeds to catch her attention and she finally caves and they have a steamy affair but he wants it all not just a few nights.

I liked the interaction between Mitch and Anna.  She was a strong woman who didn’t take crap from anyone.  The big drama in the book is one of Anna’s co-workers thinks Mitch is trash and makes up a story of a promotion to get Mitch out of Anna’s life.  The way they handle the outside forces was interesting. 

Undoing – Shelly Laurenston – 4*

Jace Berisha has never had an easy life.  When she was a child her mother took her from her grandmother and moved Jace into a cult.  When she is 16 she is married to the leader of the group.  It is noted nothing sexual happens until she is 18.  She is the keeper of knowledge for the cult and uses this as an excuse to read everything and learn multiple languages.  When her husband realizes she is not a true believer he kills her.  Skuld comes to her and changes her into a crow.  All of her sister crows think she is just shy and try to pull her out of her shell which leads her to hide from them every chance she can.  The only crows who seem to get her is Kera and Erin and they try to run interference with everyone else.  The goddess they thought they had destroyed in the last book wasn’t actually destroyed and she has only gotten stronger.  The Protectors are trying to find a way to kill her or take her out of commission but all of the books are in Russian and they don’t know anyone who can translate them.  Protector Ski Eriksen wants Jace to translate for them but that would require her to interact with more people.  When a sister crow decides Jace needs a job to socialize more, Jace decides the Protectors is the lesser evil. 

I loved this book so very much.  Jace was a fun character.  She has rages where she sees red when she is fighting and destroy her enemies.  I laughed through a lot of this book.  One of the best scenes was when one of the crows is trying to get Jace to less shy so she needs a job.  Jace not being interested in what this woman wants runs, literally, to the Protectors house and accepts their job offer and is set to run home.  Instead she gets a ride with Ski and part way home she bales out of the car because of his chattering.  That is just how she is.