Mad, Bad, and Dangerous in Plaid – Suzanne Enoch – 3*

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous in Plaid – Suzanne Enoch – 3*

This book just irritated me. Normally I love Suzanne Enoch's books but this one just missed for me.

Rowena MacLawry had been in love with Lachlan MacTier her whole life. Lachlan felt she was like a little sister until she is no longer obsessed with him and then he must have her.

This irritated me. He fell for her almost instantly after she told him she was no longer interested in him. I could see if there was time from when the pressure was off of him to marry her to when he realized he loved her and needed her but it was probably less than 12 hours.

I think the best part of the book was how her brothers made him prove his worth. Their attitude was you had her, didn't want her, and hurt her now prove you deserve her.

Unleashing – Shelly Laurenston – 3.5*

Unleashing – Shelly Laurenston – 3.5*

Unleashing is the first in a new series by Shelly Laurenston.  It was not what I was expecting.  In fact I didn’t write a review of it until now because I didn’t think I was being fair about it.  The other books under her Laurenston name are much lighter books.  These books are more like her G.A. Aiken dragon books.  All of Laurenston/Aiken books are funny and have interesting characters but her Laurenston books I think of as lighter and less blood and guts though I know her shifters has fights and battles they just didn’t seem as series as this one.  Done with my justification here are my thoughts on Unleashing.

Kera Watson recently left the marines.  While she was taking out the trash she is stabbed in the chest and killed HOWEVER, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has been in love with her for a while and begs Skuld to save her which Skuld does and makes Kera a crow.  Norse gods are each represented by humans and those who have died and come back for their second life.  Kera becomes a crow while Vig is a raven.  All of the groups are supposed to stop the end of the world from coming about.  There is so much that goes on in this book it is hard to write a succinct summary.  Basically Kera is thrust into this new world, she butte heads with her fellow crows, she falls in love with Vig, and is tasked with preventing a Goddess from entering our world and starting the end of times.

I liked the book.  It had the humor that all of her other books have.  One of the detractors is that there are a ton of characters to keep track of.  The reader is given a dump of characters and at times it is hard to keep track of who is who.  Saying that her other series are like that in the later books but I think those books also slowly introduce the additional characters. 

Sorry Charlie – Dana Marie Bell – 2*

Sorry Charlie – Dana Marie Bell – 2*

Sorry Charlie is the third book in the Poconos Pack series.  This is not a stand-alone book.  You not only should read the first two books but also the Halle Puma and the Halle Shifters series.  This book references back to both of these series with events and characters. 

Charlie is the sister to the white lion alpha who is in charge of all shifters.  You meet her in Finding Forgiveness which is book one in the series.  She is wanting a change so she moves to the lodge (for the life of me I can’t remember where they live in the US other than the east coast).  Once there she meets Ted who is her mate.  Fated mates know each other instantly and if they don’t mate right away they start having mate dreams which are highly erotic but will drive the mates crazy.  Ted refuses to mate with Charlie.  He won’t tell her why just nope not happening.  Eventually they work it out and end up mated.  There is not that much to the story which is why it gets a 2 star. 

I am going to start with I think the book is too expensive.  It is a 76 page book and it is $2.66.  I get that authors put time and energy in their books and they deserve to get paid for all of this but that is a lot of money for what amounted to about 20 minutes of reading.  The first two books were longer 95 and 98 pages and that is a more reasonable price to pay for a 100 page book.  I have purchased all of her books and found them enjoyable, some more than others. 

A Promise of Fire – Amanda Bouchet – 3.5* ARC

A Promise of Fire – Amanda Bouchet – 3.5*

A Promise of Fire is a fantasy novel with romance thrown into it.  It is the first book in what will be a trilogy.  It looks like the other two books will be coming out next year. 

Catalia Fisa better known as Cat is discovered at the traveling circus by Griffin.  Griffin has been searching for her sort of.  He was given a dream by Poseidon and he has been searching for someone with her talents since he helped conquer the realm.  She is a Kingmaker which means she can tell when you lie.  Big or little lie she will know which is why Griffin wants her to come and help his sister who is the Alpha.  He tricks her into helping him and when she proves she is who he was looking for he takes her.  He gives her a choice of coming with him or staying and everyone she cares for will be arrested so she goes.  The book is about their journey to the capital where his sister resides and what happens once they are there.  Cat nearly dies a couple of times saving the men she travels with.  This is amusing because she acts like she hates them all the time.  I believe this is just a way for her to keep everyone at arms-length because of what she will face in the future.  What that is we don’t know a lot about because her past is not explained very well.

I liked this book for the most part.  There were times I wanted more information which I am hoping will be in future books, like her past.  Cat keeps a lot of secrets even up to the end of the book.  She ends up engaged to Griffin and he still doesn’t know who her family is and what that means for their future.  I am guessing this will be a bone of contention in the second book.  I also didn’t like that Cat seem to be willing to be with Griffin even though he kidnapped her and was not sorry.  I have read this in other books and think it was better done in those books then this book.  Even with my complaints I still went to see when this follow up books were coming out because I wanted the next one NOW.  This was an ARC and hasn’t come out yet which means the next one won’t be out until next year… curses

ARC copy provided by Net Galley

How to Manage a Marquess – Sally Mackenzie – 3* ARC

How to Manage a Marquess – Sally Mackenzie – 3*

 

How to Manage a Marquess is the second book in the Spinster House series.  This book can stand on its own.  I haven’t read the first book yet and was able to follow along the story just fine without reading the first book.  Miss Anne Davenport is trying to win the spinster house so she can leave her father’s house.  Nate the Marquess of Haywood is trying to keep his cousin safe from a family curse.  Anne tries to get her friend Cat to marry Nate’s cousin so she has less competition for the home.  Nate can’t let this happen since he promised his dying mother he would protect the Duke.

I really wanted to like this book.  I have read a couple of her other books and liked them.  There is humor in all of them which I love.  This book did have humor but the characters to me were very unlikable.  Anne was whiney and a bit annoying.  While Nate was meddlesome and that just rubbed me the wrong way.  There were times where the book was quite enjoyable but about half the time I wanted to smack them and tell them to get over their issues.  The only time I didn’t feel that way with Anne was when her father announces he is getting married without telling her and then the stepmother’s family volunteers her to take care of her new stepbrothers.  She had every right to get mad at the situation since she was being pushed aside with no consideration.  In addition to this her stepmother’s family send her with her stepbrothers and Nate home.  She is unmarried and has no maid so no chaperone.  As soon as that happened you know they are going to get stuck somewhere which they do.  Even though they are caught alone they don’t marry but somehow her reputation remains intact.  Nate had his own issues.  Up until the end of the book he thought it was a bad idea for his cousin to marry.  He is all the curse the curse.  You can’t do what you want because you will die.  I won’t allow it.  Bah the man is grown and can do whatever he wants even if it kills him.

A couple other things that irritated me were how they addressed Anne and the timeline.  Everyone kept calling her Miss but her father was part of the nobility so I don’t understand why she wasn’t Lady Anne.  At one point in the book it is noted the stepmother is a year younger then she is and Anne is 26.  Her mother passed 10 years ago right after her first season this would make Anne 16 when her mother died.  My understanding is most girls didn’t reach marrying age until they were 17.  Maybe I am wrong and she came out at 16 but it just bothered me. 

Between the behavior of the main characters and some disparity in facts as I believe them to be I couldn’t love this book.  I am going to pick up the first book to see if it is better and I will probably get the third book when it comes out.

ARC copy provided by Net Galley

Ransomed Jewels – Laura Landon – 4*

Ransomed Jewels – Laura Landon – 4*

 

Ransomed Jewels is a historical romance set in 1855 in England.  The Marquess of Huntingdon is a spy for England.  While on a mission in Paris where he and Major Samuel Bennett were tasked with stealing some jewels which were being used to finance war.  Instead of just taking what he was supposed to the Marquess stole a necklace and some papers.  He is killed in front of Major Bennett and with his dying words he says his Marchioness has them.  This sets the Major and a handful of bad men after Lady Claire.  The Major and Lady Claire meet when he interrupts her being assaulted by a Russian.  The major believes she has the necklace and papers through most of their interactions he demands she hand them over.  Through most of the book Sam and Claire bump heads until the conclusion where they end up together.

For the most part I enjoyed this book a lot.  There were some things that rubbed me the wrong way.  One of the big ones is no matter how much Claire’s actions show Sam the kind of person she is he keeps thinking horrible things about her.  He blames her for his friend stealing the jewels, for not giving the Marquess an heir, and then how she resolves the necklace conflict.  It was very frustrating the way most of the men in Claire’s life treated her. 

This next part is a HUGE spoiler so if you don’t want to know stop reading!!!!

 

Claire’s husband never slept with her because he was already married to someone else at the time of their wedding.  He married an actress who his father didn’t like and would disinherit him it came out.  Yes he was in love with this woman and had four children with her and in his own way he was staying true to his wife by not sleeping with Claire but he committed bigamy to keep his father happy.  He guaranteed his first family, heir and wife, would be shunned by society as well as making it almost impossible for Claire to be able to marry someone else.  This plot line really bothered me for a number of reasons.  First and foremost is the father could not disinherit his son of the title.  He could take away the money and land that wasn’t entailed but anything that was entailed would have to go to the son/grandson.  Second he guaranteed Claire would live a loveless marriage without children and once it came out she would not be welcomed by most.  The Marquess basically made his family he loved live in secret to appease his father and was a bastard to the wife he was forced to marry who was also forced to marry him.  Yes he kept her virginity intact but seriously it would not have mattered.

If it wasn’t for that plotline this book would have been a 5 star book for me.  I cruised through it and wanted more but it really really pissed me off.

Demon’s Deadline – Tori Centanni – 3.5*

Demon’s Deadline – Tori Centanni – 3.5*

 

Demon’s Deadline is a YA story about a girl who makes a deal with a demon to live.  Nicolette agrees to be Azmos assistant to live.  As far as this book is concerned all she does is deliver letters to people when Azmos asks her to.  There is another book in the series where her duties could be different.

This book was ok.  It was interesting with its story but some information about the plot should have been more forthcoming then it was.  Example you don’t know who, what, where, when of her deal until about halfway through the book.  Would it have changed the story to do a prologue to show her making the deal.  I don’t think it would think it would have in fact I think it would have enhanced the story and made it more enjoyable.  I also spent most of the book thinking like this was more like the Christian belief of Heaven, Hell, and Demons.  It actually was something else entirely more along the lines of Greek myths but not completely.  Even with these issues the story was interesting and I will probably pick up the second book in the series.