Mini Reviews Monday

A typical day in the life of Charley Davidson involves cheating husbands, missing people, errant wives, philandering business owners, and oh yeah...demons, hell hounds, evil gods, and dead people. Lots and lots of dead people. As a part time Private Investigator and full-time Grim Reaper, Charley has to balance the good, the bad, the undead, and those who want her dead. In this eleventh installment, Charley is learning to make peace with the fact that she is a goddess with all kinds of power and that her own daughter has been born to save the world from total destruction. But the forces of hell are determined to see Charley banished forever to the darkest corners of another dimension. With the son of Satan himself as her husband and world-rocking lover, maybe Charley can find a way to have her happily ever after after all. 

4.5 stars!

I just adore this series, and Lorelei King adds a whole new layer to the awesomeness with her impeccable narration. It's one of those series that's a genuine joy to read, and I'm always eager to get back to it when I'm forced to put it down.

While this book didn't add too much to the overall storyline or do much to push the points of the previous books into the spotlight, it was still incredibly enjoyable, and I flew through it. I was endlessly entertained and amused by Charley and her merry band of misfits, swooned over Reyes, and even teared up a time or two over Charley's cases. 

It leaves with a bit of a cliffhanger, though! Book 12 releases on Halloween of this year!

Vanessa Mazur knows she's doing the right thing. She shouldn't feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary.

But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she's beyond shocked.

For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn't find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He's asking for the unthinkable.

What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?

5 stars!

This was quite possibly the slowest burn romance I've ever read. Ever. 

That said, I really loved it! The characters were well developed and quite likable, the plot had good pacing, there was a good bit of humor and steam when the heat finally hit. It was a pleasure to watch the friendship and romance between Vanessa and Aiden unfold, and once the intensity between them finally  picked up, they felt very solid and well deserved. 

It's not a short book by any means, at around 670 pages, but I was surprisingly not bothered by that. Most contemporaries just can't handle that many pages, but Mariana Zapata has quietly proved to me that she can pull these lengths off. 

She was my nightmare. Every time I closed my eyes, I watched her fall into that inferno. Over and over, I failed to save her.

I hadn’t been able to reach her, and the guilt only burned hotter over time. Four years later, I was the unreachable one.

Heroes aren’t always saints. Sometimes, we’re nothing more than jaded sinners driven by sleepless nights and hearts full of darkness.

And then I met her. She was a dreamer who managed to soothe my scars and heal my wounds.

But, as the flames closed in around us, I feared I wasn’t the right man to save her. That is until I realized she was the one woman I’d burn the world down to protect. 

3 stars!

Aly Martinez is one of my auto-buy authors, and she's written three of my all time favorite books (Fighting Silence, The Fall Up and Retrieval). She's an insanely talented writer and her stories are riveting and intensely emotional. 

Unfortunately, this one just didn't jibe with me, and it's entirely a case of "it's not you, it's me" here. 

While the writing was great and the plot pretty solid, I just wasn't invested in either hero or heroine, and couldn't connect to either one. 

I love a good alpha, but more often than not Jude was too alpha, giving me the unfortunate feel of reading a Kristen Ashely novel...if KA's heroes could speak in complete sentences and use proper grammar. And if the books had a viable plot.... And the heroine at least had some personality.... And the side characters were enjoyable... But I digress.

That said, I couldn't put it down and finished in just over a day. I definitely wouldn't take my word on this one, since nearly everyone else is loving it!

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning returns with the epic conclusion to her pulse-pounding Fever series, where a world thrown into chaos grows more treacherous at every turn. As Mac, Barrons, Ryodan, and Jada struggle to restore control, enemies become allies, right and wrong cease to exist, and the lines between life and death, lust and love, disappear completely.

Black holes loom menacingly over Dublin, threatening to destroy the Earth. Yet the greatest danger is the one MacKayla Lane has unleashed from within: the Sinsar Dubh—a sentient book of unthinkable evil—has possessed her body and will stop at nothing in its insatiable quest for power.

The fate of Man and Fae rests on destroying the book and recovering the long-lost Song of Making, the sole magic that can repair the fragile fabric of the Earth. But to achieve these aims, sidhe-seers, the Nine, Seelie, and Unseelie must form unlikely alliances and make heart-wrenching choices. For Barrons and Jada, this means finding the Seelie Queen who alone can wield the mysterious song, negotiating with a lethal Unseelie prince hell-bent on ruling the Fae courts, and figuring out how to destroy the Sinsar Dubh while keeping Mac alive.

This time, there’s no gain without sacrifice, no pursuit without risk, no victory without irrevocable loss. In the battle for Mac’s soul, every decision exacts a tremendous price.

4 stars...I think?

I don't think I've ever been more conflicted on how to rate a book. Parts of Feversong were amazing, stunning, freaking spellbinding 5 stars. Annnnnd other parts were purple prose, sketchy plot issues (not sure if I can call them plot holes, per say, but it's something along those lines!),unnecessary POVs and outlandish developments 2 stars. As you can imagine, I'm quite conflicted!

Not gonna lie, I skimmed a good portion of the POVs that weren't Mac's. I've never been a Dani fan - but I will give props to Moning for taking me from despising her to finding her okay over the course of this story -, and the other view points I found a bit irrelevant, especially once I hit the end.

But back to Mac, and more importantly, Barrons! 

Ahh...Barrons. That man is fine, and will forever rein as one of the kings in my book boyfriends society. There was quite a bit of relationship development between Barrons and Mac in this story, and I freaking reveled in it. A lot of the issues I had with how they were handling themselves and each other post-Shadowfever, and I'm happy to report that they were all resolved. The development that happens in this story left me teary eyed and swooning something fierce. Seriously, I can't put into words how much I adored where they went in this book.

I do wish there were some more sex scenes, though. ;) Especially considering there were paragraphs of moderately graphic sex in the other books!

Despite the sometimes ridiculous turns this book took, I was completely addicted and wrapped up in what was happening. I barely put the book down, and finished the near-600 page novel in about 6 hours. This series is definitely one that grabs your attention and refuses to let go. 

I feel a bit sad that it's over, even though I'm happy overall with how things wrapped up. This is one of my all time favorite series, and it's a bittersweet feeling to have it finished. Huge thank you to KMM for brining this series to such vivid, glorious life! 

Well, that review definitely wasn't mini, haha. Let me know your thoughts on that one if you've read it! 

{Book Review} Reliquary (Reliquary, #1) by Sarah Fine

From Goodreads

Mattie Carver’s engagement party should have marked the start of her own personal fairy tale. But when her fiancé, Ben, is violently abducted the next morning, her desperate quest to find him rips her away from small-town life and reveals a shattering truth: magic is real—and Ben is hooked. It’s not the stuff of storybooks. It’s wildly addictive, capable of producing everything from hellish anguish to sensual ecstasy almost beyond human endurance.

Determined to find out who took Ben and why, Mattie immerses herself in a shadowy underworld and comes face-to-face with the darkly alluring Asa Ward, a rogue magic dealer, infamous hustler…and her missing fiancé’s estranged brother. Asa has the power to sense magic, and he realizes Mattie is a reliquary, someone with the rare ability to carry magic within her own body, undetected. Asa agrees to help find Ben on one condition: Mattie must use her uncommon talent to assist his smuggling operations. Now, from magic-laced Vegas casinos to the netherworld clubs of Bangkok, Mattie is on a rescue mission. With Asa by her side, she’ll face not only the supernatural forces arrayed against her but the all-too-human temptation that she fears she can’t resist.

My Thoughts 

3 "Conflicted and Addicted" Stars

Reliquary is the first book in Sarah Fine's Reliquary trilogy, an adult urban fantasy that blends magic, lies, sex, and action into an addictive guilty pleasure read. The synopsis pretty much covers the premise of this story, so I'm going to jump right in with my thoughts.

At first, I'll admit to being rather unimpressed. While the world was fresh and intriguing, I was a little confused by the different classes of magical powers. There's sniffers, or sensors, that can ferret things out (magic, emotion, ect), conduits (no magic powers, but can funnel magic into objects or people), reliquaries (no magic powers, but can carry and store magic in their bodies), and then there's those naturally gifted with different kinds of magic, such as pain, manipulation, lust, and one or two others. That part I understood, but the names for the natural magic people had me confused, and struggling to remember which was which.

Then there was Mattie herself. Let me tell you, it's been a very long time since I'd read a heroine as naive, sheltered, and downright frustrating as Mattie was for the first 60% or so of this book. She reminded me of Mac during the first two books of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series; the same sheltered, immature, self-pitying and entitled traits that Mac had were prevalent in Mattie, and had me drawing quite the parallel to Fever. Mattie lacked Mac's stronger characteristics, such as confidence, fire, and adaptability, and for the majority of the book she read so damn young. If I didn't know better, I would've pegged her for a YA heroine, rather than an adult of at least 25. 

She did redeem herself a bit at the 60% mark and beyond, and I enjoyed her more so in the second book, so I'm glad to have kept going.

My next issue was with Ben, Mattie's fiancé. What a tool, seriously. He was so damn smarmy that it made my skin crawl. Every time he was on the page, I wanted to smack him upside the head. 

He's addicted to the high that magic brings him, and has used magically infused items of compulsion and lust on Mattie for the course of their relationship. And she wasn't hardly mad about that!!!! 

It sounds like I didn't like this book at all, but that wasn't the case! Let's talk about what I did enjoy.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but there is a love triangle, and I didn't mind it. Me, the queen of anti-love triangles! I thought it was done in a way so as not to be infuriating, and introduced early enough that the reader sort of follows along with Mattie, rather than growing attached to a specific love interest right off the bat. Mattie's chemistry with Asa was intriguing and sexy, and he was the total opposite of Ben. Despite my dislike of Ben, Mattie's commitment to him was admirable, and palpable throughout the book.

Then there was Asa. Initially, I was a little skeptical on him, but as the story wore on, I was more and more interested. He's definitely a bad boy, and I'm a sucker for them. He was ballsy, kind of a dick, talented, and I wanted to know more about him. Plus, he had a Pit Bull he absolutely adored, and there's few things sexier than a man that treats his dog that way. 

There were a few surprise bits of information about Asa that I did not see coming, and I was happy to be a bit blindsided by them. It definitely added some bold layers to his character.

The process of getting magic from an object into a reliquary was absolutely fascinating, and doubly so when it was Mattie and Asa together. Their chemistry during those scenes was off the charts, and the give and take of control was delightfully kinky and unexpected. It's not for everyone, but my dirty hussy mind was quite happy about that flying of the freak flag.

I personally think this would make an awesome TV series, haha. 

Like I said, it really started to pick up at the halfway point, and I couldn't put it down. I devoured this and the next book (4 star read) in the space of a day and a half, and I can't wait till the release of book 3 in December.  

Overall, I'd recommend this book if you're looking for a darkish, sexy, and guilty pleasure read. It's also a good one if you want urban fantasy that's still very much grounded in the real world.

{Book Review} The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry

Goodreads

From Goodreads

I was warned about Tristan Cole.

“Stay away from him,” people said.
“He’s cruel.”
“He’s cold.”
“He’s damaged.”

It’s easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster.

But I couldn’t do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him because it also lived inside of me.

We were both empty.
We were both looking for something else. Something more.
We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays.

Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe. 

My Review

4 "I Am So Conflicted" Stars

Elizabeth knows what it's like to struggle to breathe. After losing her husband and soulmate, she fled to her mother's home to escape all the memories. A year passes, and together with her young daughter, she's back in her hometown. Everything is exactly how she remembers, with the exception of a viciously closed off man moving in to the house next to hers. 

The town gossips are quick to warn her about this beautiful, scornful man. 

They all warned me about Tristan, begging me to stay away. 'He's an asshole, he's wild, and she's broken, Liz.', they would say. 'He's nothing but the ugly scars of his yesterdays.', they swore.

Tristan struggles every day to take just one more breath. He lost is wife and best friend, along with his son, in a horrific car accident. With the two most important people in his life ripped away from him, he's beyond damaged. He is hateful, he is bitter, and he is lost.

The two share dozens of interactions, fueled by Tristan's cruelty and Elizabeth's heated confusion. Reluctant sexual tension crackles around the couple, and soon they start using each other.

Using each other to forget.

Using each other to remember.

I saw the broken parts that somehow matched by own. 

This was my second Brittainy Cherry book (the first being Loving Mr. Daniels), and everyone and their mother raved about it when it came out in late September of 2015. Because I am incredibly lazy with new releases, save for a select few authors, I only got around to picking it up a week ago. Oops.

I blew through this book in less than a day, and was left feeling more than a little conflicted, especially when it came time to rate it.

Let's get to it.



The first half of this book was absolutely amazing. It was so, so emotional, so intense, and I connected so strongly with both Elizabeth and Tristan that their emotions felt like my own. I loved the side characters, and I really enjoyed the author's more minimally descriptive writing style.
 It was ugly cry heartbreaking, but with surprising bits of humor woven in that made me laugh out loud. It was a really nice balance, and worked flawlessly for the story and characters.



She undressed me and made love to her past.
(that is just gorgeous <3)



Elizabeth and Tristan's chemistry soon turns into a sexual relationship. They use each other in the most basic, primal way, each envisioning their dead spouse in the place of the person in front of them.  There was absolutely zero love, or even much affection between the two to begin with, and I loved the refreshing lack of insta-love. Their raw yearning and all consuming love and grief they had for their spouses brought tears to my eyes, and painted the most potent picture of tragedy and loss. It was incredibly well crafted, easily enthralling the reader with the characters' heartbreak.


"I'll help. I'll help you hold onto him. I'll help you remember."


I was sure I had a 5 star read on my hands for that first 50%, certain I was going to reread this story, and being confident that it'd wind up on my Top 2016 List.

And then I swiped to the next page on my Kindle, and it all started going downhill.

One of my favorite things about the first half was the straightforward, fairly drama free (well, as drama free as you can get while fucking someone and picturing your dead husband/wife...) story. Boy, did it make up for that in the second half.



"Show me the shadows that keep you up at night. Kiss me with your darkness."



So. Much. Drama. One thing after the other happened in the second half, each one more farfetched than the next. It completely took away from the beautiful slow burn of the first half of the book. Everything in the second half was rushed, forced, improbable, the secondary characters became obvious and juvenile (this is an adult book), and two of the big "revelations" were easy to spot. The book took an overused plot twist, one I saw coming from miles away.

The writing stayed consistently pretty and emotional, and I still read it with feverish fervor. The first half was a solid 5 stars, and the second a 3. I'd recommend it just for the beautiful first half!

I saw the broken parts that somehow matched by own. 

STATS

Rating: ...4 stars??
Genre: Adult, contemporary romance
Series: Elements, #1
POV: 1st person, alternating perspective
Steam/sexual content: Some semi-graphic sex, moderately steamy
Warnings: Tissues needed!
Length: 308 pages
Published: September 25th, 2015