Rock Chick Renegade by Kristen Ashley (Rock Chick #4)

Gah!  I finally freaking finished this book.  I know that for a lot of the KA addicts out there that Jules and Vance are their favorite Rock Chick couple.  It has been too long to give a good summary so I will just give a short one:

Jules is a social worker at a center for kids without homes, runaways, etc.  She has a few boys that she has taken under her wing.  One of them gets into trouble on the streets and Jules decides she wants vengeance.  That is how she ends up on the Hot Bunch radar with Vance confronting her.  The usual Hot Bunch tactics ensue with Vance pursuing and Jules resisting.  The Rock Chicks try to bring her into the fold and Jules resists.  More drama ensues…that is all I have because I stopped reading it for so long that I can’t give good details until the last 20% but that would give all the spoilers away, so that is all you get. :)

I got annoyed with her emotional Rottweiler turned pug.  I’m pretty sure that people don’t do that and it got old fast.  Jules yes/no feelings for Vance got old too, but in true Hot Bunch fashion Vance didn’t take no for an answer.

I stopped reading this book and actually finished the rest of the series then went on to read about 1,000 other KA books before convincing myself that I can’t leave a wounded soldier behind and picked it back up.  I enjoyed the first 30% and the last 20%, but the middle had a lot of BS filler that I could have done without.

One of my favorite characters was surprising Boo, the kitty.  I loved Jules narrative for what her cat was thinking.  Here is an example and you will see why Boo is the greatest!  (Don’t be confused with the reference to Luke, it’s from the right book):

“Luke was making himself at home and opening a bottle of Fat Tire beer when I arrived.  Boo was asking him who the hell he thought he was and also could he spare a few kitty treats for a poor, abused house cat?”

Favorite Quote:
“You told me I was home to you and I get it.  You’re home to me.  I’ve never had a home.  I like the one I found and I’m not losin’ it.  No matter what.”  -Vance to Jules (and that pretty much sums up the book, Jules keeps trying to pull it away and Vance keeps saying “no”).

The Goblin King by Shona Husk (The Shadowlands #1)

3.5 Stars

There is a prequel to this book (The Summons by Shona Husk) that tells the story of the first meeting of Roan, the Goblin King and Eliza, a then 16-year old girl. I thoroughly enjoyed the prequel but you don’t need to have read it to understand this book.  This book picks up 9 years after the prequel when Eliza calls to the Goblin King for a second time. 

Eliza is about to get married to a man she doesn’t love, a man who has blackmailed her into staying with him.  And when Eliza catches Steve with another women at her birthday party she gets back and Steve by ruining his suits and calls for the Goblin King again.  This time, as warned, he won’t return her from the Shadowlands.  He thinks that the curse that has kept him as the Goblin King for almost two thousand years will be broken if he takes a willing queen.  Only Eliza isn’t willing.  Once she goes back to the Shadowlands she decides she wants to go back home.  There is a lot of that in this book.  To the Shadowlands.  To the Fixed Realm.  No, to the Shadowlands.  And back to the Fixed Realm.  Make up your mind Eliza dear!  

Roan and his brother Dai are trying to fight off the druid who wrongly cursed them, thinking this may also break the curse.  They are the last of the Decangli who were cursed and have to fight off the call to give up their souls and become wholly goblin.  It was a great story line.  I haven't read anything like this...ever.  

I felt like the last half of the book was a lot of nothing.  Roan had given up and was just picking the time when he would die.  Dai, had given up and Eliza didn’t have any sort of plan.  It just felt odd.  They had a few plans and they didn’t work, then it was “…meet me here…” and “…come to dinner…” 

I was also a little put off with the amount of time Eliza spent pushing the goblin part of Roan away.  I can understand the first time she saw the goblin that she wouldn’t want to be near him and that it might take a while to get over that, but it took until their last dinner for her to see past the goblin.  She had told Roan she loved him before this and knew she loved him way before this, but still didn’t want anything to do with his gray skin.  She knew it was still Roan so get over it Eliza!

Summons: A Goblin King Prequel by Shona Husk

This is a very quick read (I actually enjoyed how quick it was!). It occurs before "The Goblin King" which is the first book in the series. I haven't read The Goblin King yet, and at first I thought, "I am not sure I want to read a prequel about the Goblin King and some girl right before I read the first book in the series with him and another girl." Of course, the author thought of that and it is actually the same girl in both books. The prequel is a short story about how The Goblin King first meets Eliza. It was sweet (and very fast), but I got into it immediately. Since (as I said above), I haven't read the first book in the series I can't say whether this book needs to be read before the first book, but it was published first. I suspect it is just for fun and you could follow the first book without it, but its free (and did I say quick?). I look forward to starting The Goblin King. I liked both 16 year old Eliza and The Goblin King.

Blood and Snow: Volumes 1-4 by RaShelle Workman

3.5 Stars

This is a review for the first four novellas in the Blood and Snow series (Blood and Snow, Revenant in Training, The Vampire Christopher and Blood Soaked Promises).  If I had paid $1.99 for each novella I would feel like they weren’t worth that price, but I got all four lended to me.   It would have gotten 4 stars if there weren’t so many typos.  There was an abundance of typos, but enough to jar you out of the story because your mind registered that it was wrong. 
Summary:

Snow White is named after the Disney princess and very clumsy.  She lives next door to her seven best friends.  Very soon Snow finds that she is not a normal high school girl.  She was marked as a young girl to be a revenant.  The vampire queen is the original Snow White that the fairy tale is written about and every thousand years she must inhabit another body.  Snow has been marked (along with many others).  This means she is in the running to have the queen take over her body.  Each girl who is marked, is followed by the one who marked them, their hunter.  And Snow’s hunter is someone she knows and she is having a hard time fighting her attraction for him.  There is a faction who is opposed to the queen and think Snow is the key to over throwing her.  Snow is overwhelmed and doesn’t want any of this.  She doesn’t know who to trust.  She doesn’t want to be a vampire.  She wants to go back to normal with her 7 besties.  There is something weird going on with her step mom, her friend Cindy, her hunter, the necklace and random creatures showing up in her room with cryptic messages.
I would like to finish reading this story.  Unfortunately although these are titled “volumes” there are simply small section of one story and at the end of the fourth volume you are left hanging.  I happen to hate that!  Grrr….

But I liked the characters.  I really like Professor Pops, I loved all the brothers and their relationship with Snow.  I don’t trust Cindy and definitely not the step mom.  I am undecided about Christopher (her hunter).   

Sommersgate House by Kristen Ashley

At times I thought this could have been my favorite of the National Trust property books, and at times I wanted to know where the plot was. 

The bare bones plot: Julia Fairfax is moving to England, moving to Sommersgate House actually to take care of her nephew and nieces.  Julia’s brother, Gavin, died in a car accident with his wife, Tamsin.  In their will they requested that their children be raised by Gavin’s sister, Julia and Tamsin’s brother, Doughlas in Tamsin’s ancestral home, Sommersgate House. 

So Julia moves to Sommersgate.  She moves into a situation that is wrong, wrong, wrong.  The children are silent, all their time is structured.  They hardly see their uncle or their grandmother who both live with them.  When Julia gets there she immediately makes changes to begin to raise the children how she thinks that Gavin would want them raised and Monique (Douglas’s mother) immediately attempts to undermine her changes.  Douglas, however, makes it abundantly clear that he supports Julia. 

Douglas decides very early on that he wants to make Julia his wife and spends a goodly amount of time trying to convince her of this.  Both Douglas and Julia have hurt in their pasts that need healing.  96% of the story revolves around this situation: raising the children and Douglas trying to convince Julia to marry him and Julia going hot and cold.  3% of the story revolves around the ghostly lovers separated for the past 100 years after their brutal murder.  The last 1% is the action that comes at the very end.  We in fact do not even realize that danger is possible except for Nick the bodyguard.  There are no threats, no bombs, no kidnappings, no nasty phone calls…nothing, just poof danger-in-your-face. 

I like a little more action throughout and because of this I can’t love this book as some of KA’s other books.  I want my hero to save the heroine from multiple dangerous situations.

Favorite Quote:

“And, if the last thing you did was give someone you loved a hug or kiss, it would make dealing with whatever happened just that tiny bit better.”

Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale

This is the first book I have read by Shannon Hale.  Indeed, my kindle boasts at least 6 of her books and yet I am just now discovering the wonders within.  It was witty and in fact I laughed out loud at one part to which my husband said simply, “It’s good.” 

Austenland follows the quick narrative of Jane Hayes.  She is obsessed with Dr. Darcy and in fact all things Jane Austen.  She is also ashamed of her Austen obsession.  She has lunch with her Great Aunt Carolyn, and said aunt arranges for Jane to visit Pembrook Park.  At Pembrook Park, visitors completely immerse themselves in 1806 or 1809 or somewhere abouts.  The give up all technology, and dress, act and speak as if they are in fact in 1809.  There are others there, like Jane who are visiting for 3 weeks.  And the rest are actors, paid to give the guests whatever experience they want. 

Jane is embarrassed to be at Pembrook Park.  She eventually goes for the gusto.  There is some feel of not knowing how far the farce goes at times.  The reader (at least this reader) wondered how many people were in on farce. 

For Jane, there are two love interests.  Mr. Nobley, who actually presents as “Mr. Darcy” and Martin/Theodore the gardener who she sneaks off with to have forbidden technology with.  My one complaint with the book was that Jane vacillated between them even until the end!    

I have two favorite quotes for this book for there were parts that were rather profound and parts that made me chuckle:

-“At a very young age, she had learned how to love from Austen.  And according to her immature understanding at the time, in Austen’s world there was no such thing as a fling.  Every romance was intended to lead to marriage, every flirtation just a means to find that partner to cling to forever.”

AND

-“I, uh…”  She stopped to laugh.  “I wasn’t aware until this precise and awkward moment that when startled in a strange place, my instincts would have me pretend to be a ninja.”  Mr. Nobley put the back of his hand to his mouth to cough.  Or was it really a laugh?  No, Mr. Nobley had no sense of humor.  “Excuse me, then, I probably have a secret mission somewhere.”

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Book One in the Lunar Chronicles)



What a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L cover

 5 Wonderful Stars later...

It is clear from the title that this book is a take on the Cinderella story (I will admit I am a sucker for new takes on fairy tales). There is a girl who is pushed down at every turn, and a ball and a prince.

This is a futuristic story set in New Beijing. After the fourth world war, the countries of the world have been consolidated down to only 6 ruling countries. New Beijing is ruled by an Emperor and the story allows us to get to know the Crown Prince, Kai. He is charming and very likeable.

Cinder is a cyborg that has been adopted into a family. For the purpose of this story, a cyborg is a person who has had robotic parts attached to their body in place of missing limbs, etc from accidents. Cyborgs are considered second class citizens. The adopted father died very soon after adopting Cinder and left her the mercies of her evil stepmother and 2 stepsisters (one likeable, one not). Cinder is put to work as a mechanic and has an android Iko for her best friend.

There are moon people in this book! And they are called Lunars. Basically they are humans that traveled to the moon a long time ago but has since changed into another race of beings with powers normal humans don't. Earthens are afraid of them and they have good reason. Their Queen is evil and is coming to New Beijing.

There is a plague spreading over the whole Earth, claiming more lives. Prince Kai must decide whether to save his people (if he can), or himself.

The rest of the story takes us through Cinder's relationships with Prince Kai, a scientist whom you wonder "Is he good or bad", but eventually that becomes clear, her little sister Peony and her desire to flee New Beijing.

It was a super fast read, I read it in 2 days. I would give it 4.5 stars if I could. It didn't make me obsessive after finishing the book, but I am still thinking about the characters and what happens next a week later and I can't wait for the next book with Little Red Riding Hood. Why oh why are they only coming out once a year!