What Am I Reading?

Raid by Kristen Ashley...just in case you were wondering...I'm loving it. I got it yesterday from Amazon although she said it wasn't going to be released until February 28...so in conclusion: Yes I am excited that I got the book 2 days earlier than expected and Yes it is everything I dreamed it would be (so far).  I'll keep you posted.  The cover is cool too (that is why it is so huge).  I do like a cool cover.

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh (Psy Changeling Series #1)

4.5 stars

This is the first book in this series.  It is quite an extensive series.  I think there is something like twelve books out now with novellas in between!  I can’t believe I never read this series…and then I look at the cover.  It’s just so hideous!  It kinda makes me want to vomit.  Note to whoever designs book covers: don’t make them hideous and stop putting half naked guys on them…it’s embarrassing. 

The premise of the book is like many others.  Guy meets girl and is intrigued and pursues her, much to her own discomfort.  However, all the details are what make this book into something you haven’t read before.  This being the first book I’ve read I am sure that I will get some things wrong or miss out.  There are humans (which I am not sure we even meet one human in here…maybe Lucas’s receptionist?), Changelings (which are shifters, not what the fae leave you when they steal your baby), and then the Psy.  The Psy are a race that are very focused on things of the mind.  They have undergone something called “Silence” which appears to be a conditioning program to eliminate all things emotional from their repertoire. 

The main characters are Lucas Hunter who is the alpha for a clan of leopards with some serious emotional baggage.  He is about to enter into the first ever business arrangement between Psy and Changelings.  His Psy contact is Sascha Duncan.  Sascha is the daughter of a Psy council member (the council is the governing body).  Sascha is a cardinal (a very powerful Psy), but has basically failed as she has no unique power as all cardinal’s do.  To throw more gasoline on the fire, the Changelings are searching for a serial killer that dwells amongst the Psy and are using Sascha to get information. 

I really enjoyed the book.  Sometimes I read so many indie books that I forget what a good editor does to the book!  The characters were great too.  Neither of them annoyed me and while I knew the ending I didn’t know how the author was going to get there. 

Gerard's Beauty by Marie Hall (Kingdom Series #2)

4 Stars

This is the second novella in this series with five planned.  The first was about the mad hatter and his Alice.  I absolutely loved that one.  This one is about a character called Gerard Caron who is a part of the story of Beauty and the Beast but due to his dealings with a malicious fairy, his part has been erased from the story.

He is a bit of a man whore which gets him into a bit of trouble with that same malicious fairy and he is on a month probation in which he must get his mate, Betty Hart to fall in love with him.  I really like Betty Hart, she is a librarian and has a mind of her own. 

Favorite quote (this one sounds weird, but there was a lot of banter back and forth between Gerard and Betty which turned into loving banter and I am a sucker for loving banter ):

“You talk too much, harpy.”

Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall

5 stars

This was a super quick read (I think it is listed at 129 pages), but (or maybe it’s not a “but”, but an “and”) I absolutely loved it.  Since seeing Tim Burton’s re-make of Alice in Wonderland (which the author gives a nod to), I’ve wanted the Mad Hatter to have a happily ever after.  This first book is free (right now), and I was absolutely pleasantly surprised. 

The book starts off by introducing the series through a fairy godmother (Danika) to “bad boys” which includes Mad Hatter, Hook, the Big Bad Wolf, Gerard (I don’t know who he is) and…someone else…there are five of them.  Something bad will happen (not quite sure what, perhaps we find out later) if those five “bad boys”.  It’s a genie!  That is the fifth guy.  His name is Jinni. 

Ok so this book is the Mad Hatter’s.  He can change Wonderland with a thought and his moods.  He is slowly going mad and loves to quote Edgar Alan Poe.  I loved reading about Wonderland. 

Favorite quote:
"He means nonoe of what he says and only half of what he doesn't."

READ IT! 

Creed by Kristen Ashley (Unfinished Heroes #2)

3.5 stars

This is the second book in the Unfinished Heroes series.  As the author says, this series is a little different than her other series in that it is about the “anti-hero”.  Knight is a much better anti-hero than Sylvie as he is basically a pimp (although that word is never used).  Sylvie works for Knight sometimes so I guess that is where her “anti-hero-ness” comes in.   Oh, and this series has more of the smexy stuff than her other series and by that I mean it is more graphic and…hmmm how to say this…more adventurous?  We will go with that…more adventurous.  This story is about Sylvie and Creed.  They were childhood sweethearts and were torn apart right when it should have gotten good for them. 

Throughout the story we get snippets of how Sylvie and Creed started.  I actually think those snippets were my favorite part of the entire book.  Usually, I hate when authors do that and I can’t wait to get through passages like that, but I could. not. wait. to read those sections.  We get to see when Sylvie and Creed meet when she is six and he is eleven and get to read about most of the major events in their young lives. 

Anyway, they were separated when they were young and it was tragic for both of them, and by that I don’t mean that their little hearts were broken (although they most certainly were), I mean that they were both abused/tortured is terrible ways.  Neither has known what the other went through and they haven’t seen each other for sixteen years.   That is pretty much the beginning of the book. 

Those are my favorite parts of the book.  I loved reading about little Sylvie and little Creed.  I think my absolute favorite is when Creed realizes he likes Sylvie but she is still too young to be with him.  And I loved hearing about the tragedy that took them apart.  That sounds weird  because they were both seriously abused and almost killed, but I liked that it wasn’t some stupid “I thought they would be better off without me and so I left”.  It was well thought out most people would react the way that Sylvie and Creed did. 

What I didn’t like about the book was the rest of the storyline.  There was a little drama at the beginning with Knight needing some help and a little at the end with Hawk Delgado (from Mystery Man, whom for the record I love, love, love).  Besides that, nothing much happens and it is all about Creed and Sylvie working through their demons and I am sorry but it was b-o-r-i-n-g!  I actually skimmed a couple pages and I NEVER do that. 

The other thing I didn’t like was that Sylvie was too much of a KA man character.  She dressed like a guy and talked like a commando.  Yuck.  But I get that it was part of what happened to her to make her hard, I just didn’t like that she spoke like every other KA hero.  You with me? (That is a joke.  That is Sylvie’s phrase in this book.)

As I said in a previous post, I pretty much read this one to get to the next one.  Raid is supposed to be out February 28^th and I am getting a little worried that it won’t be released then…but I guess I can’t complain because it popped up on my radar unexpectedly.  There is a couple free chapters on the author’s website. 

Favorite quote:
"You feed your cat once a day?" he asked and I stopped opposite the bar and planted my hands on my hips.  "Yeah," I answered.  "She says two," Creed informed me.  Shit.  He spoke cat.  This was not good.  Gun knew all my secrets.

P.S. don't google "Creed" images.  It is not PG...or PG 13...or R.  In fact, it is probably XXX.  Now that I said that you are probably all going to do that, but I am telling you…just don’t. You can’t un-see that.

What Am I Reading Next?

Creed by Kristen Ashley...

This is the second book in her "Unfinished Heroes" series.  The first book wasn't my favorite and so you may wonder why I would read the second book...I'll tell you.  I read an excerpt from her website for an upcoming book titled "Raid" and I was hooked instantly and can't wait to get my grubby little hands on it.  What does this have to do with anything you ask?  I'll tell you...Raid is book 3 in the "Unfinished Heroes" series, so I have to read book 2 before I can read book 3!  Those are the rules.  I didn't make them, I just follow them.  Sylvie is definitely not the normal Kristen Ashley heroine.  She is petite (KA usually writes her heroines as blond with big boobs and a big bootie and long legs) and she is crass (as in super crass).  Ok...review to follow.

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega #3)

5 big ‘ole stars

I just love anything Patricia Briggs writes.  It’s just awesome.  This is the third installment in this series (which is a spin off series from the author’s Mercy Thompson series, so start there if you need to start at the beginning).  From what I could gather, it picks up about one year after “Hunting Ground” ended.  The werewolves are out to the public and need to be on their best behavior.  Because of this, Bran is more strict than usual, which means that Charles is sent out often to kill those wolves bringing bad publicity to them.  This is taking its toll on Charles and he is pulling away from Anna to protect her from these consequences.

Bran sends Anna and Charles to help the FBI with a serial killer case in the hopes of 1. providing some good publicity for the werewolves by helping to catch a bad guy with their superhero powers and 2. giving Charles a break from all the killing.  They quickly discover that besides the three recent werewolf killings by this serial killer, that the killer has been murdering and torturing the fae for decades.  When a prominent fae, Beauclaire, finds that his daughter has been taken by this killer, he joins the hunt as well. 

Anna and Charles are having a hard time during this book and at times that is hard to read.  I think one of my favorite scenes was on the island that was so full of black magic that it was affecting Anna and she was telling Charles that she wasn’t good enough and she would just leave and Charles had to get in her face and the resulting nookie.  I didn’t like Leslie as much as I was supposed to.  I didn’t dislike her, but she didn’t do much for the story line (except her card).  I really enjoyed meeting Isaac (the Boston Alpha), he was smart and knew how to handle Charles almost as well as Anna.  Beauclaire did a sneak attack on me.  It wasn’t until the last 10% that I realized that I loved him. 

The next Mercy Thompson book comes out in 2 weeks and I am pretty sure that you should read this book before Frost Burned is released because the ending is a game changer for the series.  Of course, I am sure that the author will explain it to you in Frost Burned, but you should live it for yourself in Fair Game because it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Favorite Quote: (there were a couple but I finally ended on this one, it sums up the book well)

“Never accept the blame for what evil people do.  We are all responsible for our own actions.”

 –Anna Cornick