Catnapped by R.J. Blain

 

2 Star

Diana comes home to her house a wreck and her cat gone. She will do anything together cat back including making a deal with the devil. She's had dealings with him before so she knows to be careful with her dealings with him. What she wasn't expecting is his matchmaking. Lucifer wants her to work with Darian to track down the kidnappers and maybe fall in love.

I wanted to like this book and I didn’t. There was a good story in here but it just didn't come out. The book was a lot of telling and not a lot of action. Diana is all snarky with everyone including the devil. She seemed more worried about her deal with the devil than her missing cat. The love interest barely made an appearance and that lead to no connection between Diana and Darian. How am I supposed to care about the couple when they are barely together plus she spends more time talking to his parents. about when it got good was the last couple of chapters and then the story was done. I don't know what is going on with this author because when she writes a good story it's awesome but lately it hasn't been the best writing.

Book 14 Magical Romantic Comedies

Amazon

Murder Mittens by R.J. Blain

 

3.5 Star/4 Star

It wasn’t the smartest thing in the world for Harri to decide to become a bounty hunter in her spare time.  She does it to keep her lynx happy as well as make money to remove the scars from her face.  The CDC decides that she needs a handler, so they toss her Sebastian Sumners, the lion she likes to annoy.  Now if only she could keep her overprotective family from finding out about her side hussle her life would be perfect.

This book was ok.  It started off really slowly and about the halfway mark it finally picked up.  The first half of the book was a lot of back and forth between her and her family.  Her family wants to spoil her so with a new car, phone, and whatever else they feel she’s missing.  I’ve noticed in the last couple of R.J. Blain’s books she does a lot of shopping and goes into detail every item purchased and why it was needed.  I don’t care about any of that.  I want the story not a shopping trip.  When the book finally picked up it was a fairly good book, and it reminds me why I started reading her books to begin with.  However, the bigger issue I had was the bad guy she was supposed to be hunting was just kind of oh look he’s here, he’s taken her, and he’s dead, the end.  There was so much build up about how bad this guy was and then it was over and done with before you could even blink.  What was the point of that being the main part of the story?  Overall, this has led me to be unsure what the best rating for the book should be.

Book 17 A Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count)

Amazon

The Flame Game by R.J. Blain

 

3 Star

Bailey and Quinn have had another wedding but this time with all their friends and family.  If only they could live happily ever after.  Instead they will need to track down a corrupt police chief, so he won’t be able to come after Bailey.

If you dig down deep with this story, there is a good story.  However, there is way too much irrelevant things put into the story.  At one point they are shopping and trying on leather jackets.  The jackets have Kevlar in them.  Why I needed to know this I don’t know why but I do.  There were also things that were brought up that they needed to investigate like Bailey’s co-workers from book one but then they never went anywhere with it.  In the last book they adopted two kids and a whole menagerie of animals and other then the pets they weren’t in this book at all.  As this was supposed to be the last book with these two as main characters, I would have liked to see some of the strings tied off.  Bailey’s parents were briefly in the book, but you get any conclusion with them.  Overall, there were some very good parts of the book but needed someone to cut out the parts that weren’t needed to progress the story.

Book 16 A Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count)

A Chip on her Shoulder by R.J. Blain

 

3 Stars

Darlene watches as her brother is transformed into a chipmunk by the mafia over his debt.  She will need to come up with the money her brother is owed or there will be consequences.  When they are left alone by the mafia she goes to the police for help.  When an archangel informs her the only person who can help is Lucifer she is determined to get his help no matter what even if that means taking over Hell to get it.  Lucifer has never met someone who isn’t terrified of him and Darlene keeps telling him no.  He is perplexed and can’t figure out what to do with her.  She won’t bargain and he can’t seem to stay away.  He will have to use his best negotiating skills to get what he wants.

Even though this is book 15 it is a prequel to book five.  The contents of this story leads into Whatever for Hire.  I loved Whatever for Hire (review coming soon).  If you haven’t read Whatever for Hire or any of the other books in the series you can pick this one up and understand what is going on.  This book started off so promising and then about a quarter of the way through it lagged and then finally picked up again for the last quarter.  It seems like the book got bogged down with being cutesy.  The Devil is obsessed with Darlene’s spots and he must pet them and lick them and whatever with them.  It got old really fast and there are pages and pages of them discussing Lucifer’s privilege’s with Darlene’s spots.  There is only so many times I can take having Darlene explain she’s taking over hell for however long she needs it and Lucifer will receive the privilege of using her spots.  Also I finished the book last night and I can’t remember what happened to the bad guy.  Did Darlene get her revenge?  We literally go from her being poisoned by the bad guy and being told exactly what is going to happen to her talking with Lucifer’s father about what is to come for them as a couple.  Nothing is really said about how she was healed or what happened to the mafia people who caused all the drama.  The book is this close to being an awesome book like some of her other’s I’ve like but it doesn’t quite get there.

Book 15 A Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count)

Grave Humor by R.J. Blain

3.5 Stars

Anwen is forced to work in a funeral home due to circumstance beyond her control.  On a good day it she regrets the decision to take a job there.  Particularly when the quest won’t stay quiet and polite.  When Old Man McGregor takes a walk her life changes for the better.  What will Anwen do with a handsome man and an original vampire. 

This book was more like her first book I read.  It was funny and different.  The pacing was better in this book.  It didn’t feel rushed like the last book I read from her.  I loved that we got to learn more about the devil and his brothers.  I am looking forward to the book about the Devils wife. I did get tired of listening to all the reasons why she didn’t finish school and how she needed to find her path.  I didn’t feel this made me not like the book it just slowed the story down a little bit. 

 

Book 14 Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count)

Promo: R.J. Blain Magical Romantic Comedies(with a body count)

Most days, Anwen regrets working at a funeral home. With the residents no longer inclined to stay in their coffins where they belong, she’s got her hands full making sure everyone follows the rules:

In the funeral home, there is no screaming, no murdering, no mutilation, no possessions, no kidnappings, no resurrections, and no cursing of any type. Be quiet and stay polite.

The day Old Man McGregor decides to take a walk and disturbs her peace, Anwen learns there’s a lot more to the basement in the funeral home than a vampire and a handsome gentleman on ice.

If she’s not careful, she’ll learn first-hand why ‘eternally yours’ is the most potent of threats.

Warning: this novel contains romance, humor, bodies, shenanigans, and mythological puppies. Proceed with caution.

Amazon

Barnes and Nobel

Kobo

Apple Books

Double Trouble by R.J. Blain

3 Stars

Recovering addict, Layla is in trouble again.  In and out of prison her entire life she’s caught stealing a cupcake.  She’s afraid this is her one-way ticket straight to prison.  Instead she is given ninety days of community service and her entire file reviewed.  Her community service job is simple keep two unicorns out of trouble.  One who wants to take over the world and the other just wants her.

The description doesn’t really explain the book.  I think R.J. Blain was planning out a different story but about halfway through the book it went off track and never really came back.  In fact the first half of the book was excellent and I wish the whole book had been like this.  The first half was setting the scene for Layla being neglected and abused by people in authority.  You learn about what history was and is confirmed by an angel.  It is a tragic up bringing that Layla is just resigned to her life being this way.  It was awesome that the people were interested in finding out why her life had turned out.  I would have been more interested in seeing how it all went down but about halfway mark instead of continuing the story it veered to OMG this poor girl has been neglected for so long let’s go shopping.  We stayed there forever until about the last chapter. Then it was rush to explain everything.  I am still confused as to what happened to her and by who did it.  Plus there was a character introduced who then kind of just disappeared.  The writing was good but it just was so frustrating to veer into this weird shopping trip.  Plus in the description it talks about the unicorns bringing trouble but the only trouble that happened was because of Layla not the unicorns.  It was still worth reading if you’ve read the rest of the series it just wasn’t my favorite.

Book 13 of Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count)

Burn Baby Burn by R.J. Blain

4.5 Stars

Bailey and Chief Quinn are back and the Calamity Queen is up to her normal shenanigans.  Needing a break from marital bliss and their sexcapades Bailey plots with Tiffany (Perkett) Perkins to send their husbands on a treasure hunt road trip final destination Vegas.  Things go astray with a string of new rabies cases and a missing cop.  New family is found and old family is punished.

I loved this book.  It had the humor from the first book and Bailey and Quinn are awesome.  It starts a couple months after their other book ended.  They’ve been married for a couple months and still in the honeymoon stage.  The story continues nicely from the last one.  There isn’t any lag in the story.  There were some interesting conclusions to some plot points from their last book.  The half-point loss was for skipping between perspectives.  At times it frustrated me but I still loved the book.

Audio Book:

3 Stars

My review for the Nicole Blessing is the same as the last.  I am sure she is a great narrator but the accents with the high speed of listening makes it difficult to listen too.  It isn’t the same with other narrators just some of them.  I didn’t hate her and I did complete the audio book but it did diminish my enjoyment of the book.

Book 12 of Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count) but you just need to have read book 1 to read.

Playing with Fire by R.J. Blain

5 Stars

Bailey is known as the Calamity Queen.  Where she goes trouble follows.  Her day job as a barista brings her into contact with all magical beings, while her side job has her cleaning up after them for the CDC. Years ago she was called on by Chief Samuel Quinn to find his wife.  She found her in the park with another man which led to the breakup of their marriage.  Today she is once again entangled with Quinn. To make things more interesting Quinn’s ex is back for revenge. 

This book was so good.  I laughed and cried at various points in this book.  I was rooting for Bailey throughout the book and at several times wanted to kill her parents.  Bailey’s attitude in the book was snarky but vulnerable.  While Quinn was tight laced until it came to Bailey then all bets were off.  I loved them together as well as the route they took to get together.  Can’t wait for more books in the series.

Audio Book:

3 Star

Courtney Holly did a pretty good job narrating the story.  I had some issues with her tempo and tone but that has more to do with the fact that I listen to the book and 1.5 speed.  It made some of the voices distorted and made some of it more difficult to listen to.  That is entirely a me issue and not a bad book/narrator. 

Book 1 in Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count)

Promo: Grave Humor by R.J. Blain

In the last year I discovered a new author, R.J. Blain.  Her main series is Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count).  I blew through them so fast and now I wait impatiently for the new one to come out.  She has other series and books that are awesome and I will be reviewing them soon.

The newest book the Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count) will be coming out May 12.  Here is the blurb for the book:

Most days, Anwen regrets working at a funeral home. With the residents no longer inclined to stay in their coffins where they belong, she’s got her hands full making sure everyone follows the rules:

In the funeral home, there is no screaming, no murdering, no mutilation, no possessions, no kidnappings, no resurrections, and no cursing of any type. Be quiet and stay polite.

The day Old Man McGregor decides to take a walk and disturbs her peace, Anwen learns there’s a lot more to the basement in the funeral home than a vampire and a handsome gentleman on ice.

If she’s not careful, she’ll learn first-hand why ‘eternally yours’ is the most potent of threats.

Warning: this novel contains romance, humor, bodies, shenanigans, and mythological puppies. Proceed with caution.

Here are the links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2RE88rN

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grave-humor-r-…/1133374336…

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/grave-humor-3

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/grave-humor/id1479114815