Three Half Goats Gruff by Kim McDougall

 

3 Star

Kyra Greene is the city's pest control.  She's called in to handle anything weird that needs to be moved outside the city.  On a day when she was hoping to head home early she is notified there are three half goats that need to be removed before they cause too much trouble.  She gets those three plus more.

I read this after all of the other books in the series.  I don't feel it aided in understanding the series better.  This also didn't clear up any of my questions I had with the first book (tomorrows review).  There isn't any world building or character development.  I felt thrown into the story and the only reason I wasn't confused was because I had already read the other books.  Overall, it was cute and it did give some information from the first book.  Don't start with this one but start with book 1.

Prequal to Valkyrie Bestiary Series

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A Favor for a Favor by Helena Hunting

4 Star

Stevie is having a very crappy day.  It's her birthday and she thought she would surprise her boyfriend by coming out earlier than planned.  Instead she's surprised by finding him with another woman.  Her brother hooks her up with a place to stay and her new neighbor is a jerk and she still has to work with her ex.  Bishop thinks is new neighbor is the mistress to his teammate and doesn't want to like her.  That is until he's injured on the ice and needs her help to rehab his injury to get him off the injured list faster.  

This was a very slow burn book.  It takes a while for Stevie and Bishop to officially get together and I enjoyed the ride getting there.  I didn't like Stevie's brother overly much.  He kind of pissed me off through most of the book.  He never bothered to find out if Bishop was serious just assumed he was interested just for revenge against him.  This caused issues and it made me mad.  Overall, I enjoyed the book and will be checking out the next one.

Audio: 4 Star

Loved both narrators.  They handled each character nicely and I will be checking out future books narrated by them.

Book 2 All In

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Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik

4 Star

Caterina is the youngest daughter of House von Hasenberg.  She is the one left out as everyone thinks she needs to be protected.  Her older siblings love her and want to protect her but after her brother's attack she isn't willing to sit idle on the sideline.  When she plans to go to a party to spy her older sister allows it but only if she excepts two new bodyguards.  Alexander Sterling must go with her.  Cat allows it but under protest.  She plans on ignoring him but Alex proves to be more difficult to ignore.  When everything goes to hell on Earth while she's away she's determined to get back on Earth to try and protect her family's holdings and keep those she love safe.  Will she be able to let down her guard enough to allow Alex in?

Where the last book was slow and I was bored this book was the opposite.  I enjoyed this one.  This moved along nicely and I enjoyed seeing Cat and Alex figure things out.  The one big issue that I didn't like was this was the last book in the series and I felt there were too many loose threads by the end.  We find out her parents are dead due to the takeover and her brother and some of the people who take over because of the death a lot of the heads of households.  However, one of the houses who was in on the takeover had some heirs being blamed that weren't part of it and a deal was struck but nothing else came of it.  I wanted to know if Cat was able to keep the two safe.  There were a couple of other things like this that were left without conclusion and it frustrates me since no more books in the series.  It might not bother others but it did me.  Overall, those were small part of the rest of the series and I still enjoyed it.

Book 3   Consortium Rebellion

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The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

3 Star and I feel like I am being generous with that 3

Lady Penny has been left to her own devices to rescue animals and find them a proper home.  When she loses her new parrot to the neighbors house she decides she will just let herself in to bring it home.  What she doesn't plan on is running into the new owner Gabriel.  Gabriel needs her to not have so many animals around so he can sell the house he is remodeling but he needs her to stay so people will want to buy his house for the connection to Lady Penny.  To help keep her he agrees to help rehome all the animals.  He doesn't expect it to take that much time but Lady Penny isn't going to let just anyone take them home.  The more time they spend together the more he doesn't want to let her go.  

The writing was like all of her other books but I was a bit bored with this one.  I also felt like the story was more modern for a historical romance.  Modern issues are thrown in as a big to do.  Penny is weird and not in a cute way and she frustrated me.  The characters also felt more one-dimensional than other books.  We find out more about Penny's pets than about Gabriel's past. He  grew up and was in the work house but that is about all we know about him.  Not what lead to him being there or how he got out of them.  Overall, meh.

Audio: 

Loved listening to Mary Jane Wells.  She did an excellent job giving each character a voice that was distinctly theirs.  She did the best she could with the story she was narrating. I also didn't have any issues listening to the British accent at a faster speed.  She is definitely a narrator that I will be listening to again.

Book 3 Girl Meets Duke

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Mistletoe in Paradise by Jill Shalvis

3 Star

Hannah is forced by her mother to serve her stepfather with divorce papers for Christmas.  What she doesn't plan for is her former boyfriend showing up for a boat ride.  They are stuck together for the near future.  Will they be able to work through past hurts to find their happy?

For a short story this wasn't a bad story but it wasn't my favorite either.  I wanted more backstory for Hannah and James.  It was interesting to see them work through their problems but I think more backstory would have helped me get there faster.  If it had been a longer story the issues I had wouldn't have been there and I would have connected better with the characters.  Overall, it fit into the series but left me wanting more.

Short Story Wildstone

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Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron

4 Star

Opal Yong-ae fought the dragon and is still stuck with him.  She wanted a break from her father not for him to be dead.  She made a deal with the keeper of Detroit to be her attendant, receive training, and to take care of Detroit.  She will need all of her training and all of her allies to save Detroit, Nik, and her father from destruction.  

This is the final book in the series and it was good.  I wasn't a huge fan of the last book but this book made up for it.  Opal finally grew up and was making smart decisions as well as thinking before she leaped.  I loved seeing how it all worked out between her and her dad, her and the city, and her and Nik. Opal finally found a way to work with her dad and by working together they were able to solve some of the other issues.  It wrapped up the story nicely and felt there had been growth in all the characters.  It also left the world open to another story if the author wanted to write another one.

Book 3 DFZ

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The Forever Girl by Jill Shalvis

4 Star

Waze spent her childhood as a foster child.  She had one perfect home that ended in tragedy and she went back into the system before aging out.  Her foster sister never gave up on her and when Cat is engaged to be married Waze is forced to go home again.  There she will have to confront her past in hopes to having her HEA.

I am going to start with this is book 6 in a series but you don't need to have read the rest of the series to enjoy this book.  It is set in the same location and sometimes overlapping characters but nothing you would need to know to understand the story.  Jill Shalvis does an amazing job creating characters and plots that pluck at the heartstrings.  This book is no different.  This book includes two couples getting a happy ending and I really enjoyed the getting there.  I was very vested in finding out how everything was going to work out.  For Cat and her fiancé I didn't want them to have their happy ending.  He was a dick and deserved to be shown the door way sooner than he was.  There was some backstory for all of the people that would have enhanced the story overall but it didn't detract from the story.  Can't wait for the next book. 

Book 6 Wildstone

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