Monthly Archives: October 2015

October 26, 2015 · 5:28 pm

Bearing It All (Highlander’s Beloved, #3) by Vonnie Davis

Bearing It All (Highlander's Beloved, #3)Bearing It All by Vonnie Davis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Title: Bearing It All
Author: Vonnie Davis
Series: Highlander’s Beloved, #3
Pages: 297
Publisher: Loveswept
Date: October 27, 2015

Summary:

In the pine-dense mountains of the Scottish Highlands, shape-shifter Ronan Matheson is running free when a desperate woman parachutes out of the sky, directly onto his furry, powerful chest. Instead of clawing her to death, Ronan’s inner bear longs to keep her safe. Once he’s back in human form, Ronan is amused by the mysterious beauty’s fearless attitude—and tempted by her expertly toned physique. But what could she possibly be doing in this isolated stretch of the Highlands?

French intelligence agent Anisa Brosseau never imagined she’d be on the CIA’s bad side—until she’s framed for treason and forced to flee in a stolen drone. Hiding out in a remote cabin, Anisa just needs some time to clear her name. What she doesn’t need is a brooding, muscle-bound Scot in a skimpy kilt to drive her crazy with lust. But when Anisa’s enemies come knocking on his door, Ronan calls on a secret weapon to protect his turf and the bonny lass he’s come to love.

Review:

I read this book almost two months ago and waited until almost the publication date to review it. Now I remember why? I couldn’t get past the “are you kidding me?” moments in the book.

Anisa parachutes into the mountains of the Scottish Highlands and just happens to land on a bear . . . a shape-shifting bear . . . who just happens to be her mate.

Uh-uh.

Oddly enough, I can accept that. Shape-shifting bears – check. After all, I read about (and love) shape-shifter books all the time. He’s her mate – check. Of course, why else would we have the book?

What I could not get past is the fact they already knew each other from just a few years before . . . and neither one recognized the other! They met in Paris, as adults, and although they didn’t date, they did have several conversations . . . and neither one RECOGNIZED the other!

This is the third book in the series and if you’ve read the others, go ahead and read this one. It had its fun moments. I just couldn’t get past the “really?” parts enough to enjoy it.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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October 8, 2015 · 2:29 pm

All I Want (Animal Magnetism, #7) by Jill Shalvis

All I Want (Animal Magnetism, #7)All I Want by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Title: All I Want
Author: Jill Shalvis
Series: Animal Magnetism, #7
Pages: 304
Publisher: Berkley
Date: October 6, 2015

Summary:

Pilot-for-hire Zoe Stone is happy to call Sunshine, Idaho, her home base. But her quiet life is thrown for a loop when her brother’s friend Parker comes to stay with her for a week. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent is a handsome flirt with a gift for getting under her skin. And the situation only escalates when Parker hires her to fly him around the area while he collects evidence on a suspected smuggler.

Now she has to live and work with the guy. But when they’re in the air, she sees another side of him. He’s driven, focused, and sharp. And while he enjoys giving commentary on her blind dates, she quickly realizes with a shock that it’s Parker who gets her engines going…

Review:

Everyone has those days (weeks?) when they want to read, but nothing appeals. For those times, you need what I call a comfort read. That’s either a book you’ve already read and loved or an author that you KNOW is going to appeal to you. For me, one of those authors is Jill Shalvis.

I’ve only been reading her books for about a year, but she has never disappointed me. Her books have romance, conflict, and humor . . . lots of humor. She is also an animal lover and her animal characters feature prominently in her books.

All I Want, the seventh book in her Animal Magnetism series, is no exception. Zoe has trust issues – serious trust issues. She has been let down by her parents and the men in her life over and over again. Parker has secrets and she refuses to let him into her life because she knows he is hiding something from her. So, of course, they end up sharing a house.

The story is great. The interactions between Zoe and Parker range from hot to hysterical and sometimes both at the same time. But it is the humor in this book that does it for me. Here are just a few examples:

Zoe and her sister Darcy are discussing what she should wear on a blind date. Darcy tells her,

“And for God’s sake, stop taking fashion advice from a dog who rolls in bear poo and thinks he smells good.”

Later Zoe is lonely because both her brother and sister have moved out.

“Sure, she missed bossing them around as she’d been doing since the dawn of time because one, their foreign diplomat parents had never seemed to notice they had children, and two, well, Zoe kind of just loved to boss people around.”

But, my absolute favorite scene in the book involves Oreo, Zoe’s 100-pound Bernese mountain dog and two kittens Parker is fostering. Oreo is afraid of everything, including tiny kittens and this is what happens when they are introduced.

“The tabby stalked underneath a mistrustful Oreo and stopped between the dog’s legs, eyeing the long tail with a curious eye. Then the kitten crouched low, wriggled his butt, and . . . pounced.

And missed Oreo’s tail by a mile.

Still Oreo cried.

‘It’s okay,’ Parker said. ‘I promise they’re not going to hurt you –’

Too late. Because Oreo lifted his leg and . . . peed on them.”

And I lost it! I laughed until I cried and that’s the best compliment I can give a book.

Read it! Read the entire series. You won’t regret it.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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October 5, 2015 · 7:04 pm

Redemption Road (Vicious Cycle, #2) by Katie Ashley

Redemption Road (Vicious Cycle, #2)Redemption Road by Katie Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Redemption Road
Author: Katie Ashley
Series: Vicious Cycle, #2
Pages: 336
Publisher: Headline Eternal
Date: October 6, 2015

Summary:

Looking for a walk on the wild side, Annabel Percy, the daughter of a powerful politician, starts dating a biker she knows is completely wrong for her. But she finds herself living a nightmare when she’s kidnapped and transported into a hell on earth she never could have imagined.

Born and bred into the Hells Raiders MC, Nathaniel “Reverend” Malloy lives and dies for his brothers. But when he becomes the unexpected savior of a rival club’s captive, Rev makes it his personal mission to nurse Annabel back to health—and to shelter her from the nightmares that torment her.

Once Annabel heals, she’s stunned to realize she is falling for the seductive man who saved her. Faced with their impossible attraction, can she accept the life he leads, or will Rev walk away from the only life he’s ever known for the woman he was never supposed to love?

Review:

I was lucky enough to receive both of the books in this series at the same time. It begins with Vicious Cycle (see my review here) and continues with Redemption Road. I had a really hard time getting into Vicious Cycle, but I ended up loving it. I was happy that I had the sequel to jump right into.

If anything, I liked Redemption Road even more. Maybe it was because I was already accustomed to the violence, but I think it was because I really liked Rev. He’s just a nicer guy than the other men in the books. Make no mistake, Rev can be just as harsh and physical as the others when it’s needed. However, he is willing to look for an alternative to death and mayhem if possible.

Like the previous book, this one should come with trigger warnings. Horrible things happen to people, but it is not gratuitous. They are necessary to the plot, but it still doesn’t make it easy to read.

I finished Redemption Road in less than a day. It was that good. I’m giving it a solid four star review.

Book three, Last Mile, is due out May 3, 2016. I cannot wait!

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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October 5, 2015 · 5:56 pm

Vicious Cycle (Vicious Cycle, #1) by Katie Ashley

Vicious Cycle (Vicious Cycle, #1)Vicious Cycle by Katie Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Vicious Cycle
Author: Katie Ashley
Series: Vicious Cycle, #1
Pages: 336
Publisher: NAL Trade
Date: June 2, 2015

Summary:

Deacon Malloy’s life is dedicated to the Hell’s Raiders motorcycle club. Tough, hard, and fast with his fists, he serves the group as sergeant at arms. But his devil-may-care approach to life is thrown for a loop when the five-year-old daughter he never knew existed lands on the club steps.

Alexandra Evans is devoted to all her students—but there’s always been something about Willow Malloy that tugs at her heart. There’s an aura of sadness about her, a girl in need of all the love Alexandra can give. When Willow stops coming to school, Alexandra’s search leads to a clubhouse full of bikers…and a father hell-bent on keeping his daughter always within sight.

The moment Deacon sees Alexandra, he has to have her in his bed—and he’s never met a woman yet who couldn’t be persuaded. No matter how attracted she is to Deacon, Alexandra refuses to be just another conquest. But it’s Deacon himself who could be seduced—into a brighter future for himself, his daughter, and the woman he’s falling for against all odds.

Review:

This book was an absolute roller coaster to read and review. I hated it at the start. I didn’t want to keep reading because I didn’t like the male characters and there was far too much violence for my taste.

I kept with it though because not only had I promised to review it, I had promised to review the sequel – Redemption Road.

As I continued reading, I realized the writing was quite good and I was actually enjoying the story. Then something happened that was a trigger for me personally. So, I was back to not wanting to finish it.

I did mention a roller coaster, right?

I persevered and I am so glad I did. I ended up loving the book. Yes, it is violent, some of the women get little to no respect, and the language is rough – very rough.

It doesn’t matter. The violence fit with the the plot and characters. The women (old ladies, and yes that term bothers me) of the bikers were treated like gold, and the language was what I would expect in a biker gang.

I realize I didn’t say much about the actual plot. It’s hard to stay from spoilers with this one, so I’m just going to leave this review as my opinion rather than a discussion of the plot.

What I can say is it went from a “did not finish” (DNF) to a four star review for me. I read the second book in less than a day and liked it just as much. I can’t wait for book three, Last Mile, which will be released May 3, 2016.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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