Books Read In June 2009

Huh...June was pretty even. Not a ton, but not too few. Let me count 'em up for ya! :)

1. Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews (e-book): This was pretty good. Extremely short, so it was hard to really get behind the two characters, but as always strong characters and great world building. I'd give it a B-

2. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 1 in her Women of the Otherworld series. Introduces us to Elena and I liked it. Wasn't as strong as book 2, but was pretty good all the same. I'd give it a C+

3. Stolen by Kelley Armstrom (MMPB): Book 2. I really liked this one. The storyline was pretty trippy and had a lot of suspense. I'd give it a B+

4. Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 3. Not bad. The one thing that trips me up about Kelley's books is that they're not all about the same character, so it can get just a smidge confusing. Liked it a lot though. Give it a B-

5. Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 4. Was also very good. Same grade as above. B-

6. Broken by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 6. Another Elena book. This was one that was pretty crazy. Super quick storyline, so it went by fast. I give it a B

7. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 5. Total trip. Loved how it went all over the place w/ spirituality. Give it a B.

8. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 7. Liked it a lot. I didn't hate any book in this series, which is extremely surprising. B-

9. Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong (MMPB): Book 8. Again, liked it a lot. B-

10. Witch Heart by Anya Bast (MMPB): Book 3 in her Witch series. Sexy, as per usual. :) C+

11. Witch Fury by Anya Bast (MMPB): Book 4 in her series. Same as above. C+

12-18: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, & Carpe Corpus all by Rachel Caine (MMPB): Her Morganville Vampire series. PHENOMENAL!!! I give the series overall an A-, though I have to say book 6 is the most Whoa out of all of them for me. Cannot wait for book 7.

19. Talk of the Ton by 4 authors (MMPB): It was okay. It's an anthology w/ Eloisa James and three other authors. Overall Grade: C It was just all right. I've definitely read better, especially by Ms. James.

20. Just The Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James (MMPB): Another winner. LOVED IT. I didn't review it (thought I had), but I'd give it about a B.

21. Love At First Flight by Marie Force (MMPB): C+

22. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn (MMPB): Gave it a B. Solid, but always could be better. :)

23. Seduce Me by Anne Rainey (e-book): I like Anne Rainey's books. Hot, sexy, yummy heroes. This is another one. I give it a C+

24. Ascension by Lauren Dane (e-book): Book 1 in her Cherchez Wolf series. Sexy, yummy, almost the EXACT SAME as one of her Cascadia Wolves books, but whatever. Still good. :)

25. Everything Nice by Mari Carr (e-book): Her books are hit or miss for me. This one was more of a miss. Give it a C-.

26. Fire and Rain by Lauren Dane (e-book): Book 2. Okay. The heroine irritated me a bit in this one. Not as good as book 1. Give it a C.

27. Kiss and Kin by Kinsey W. Holley (e-book): Part of the Shifting Dreams series. I liked this one the best of the three.

28. Serengeti Heat by Vivi Andrews (e-book): I'm sorry, this book was just too ridiculous. I give it a D.

29. The Strength of the Pack by Jorrie Spencer (e-book): Eh...was okay, I guess. Not a keeper. C-

30. Taking Chloe by Anne Rainey (e-book): Part of her series (drawing a blank...sorry). Liked it. Wasn't as good as Tasting Candy, but I liked it. Give it a C+

31. The Man of Her Dreams by Robie Madison (e-book): A total DNF for me. Got about two pages in and that was it. Just awful (sorry).

32. Treasure Hunting by JB McDonald (e-book): Had potential to be a great story. The author has a great voice and is very funny, but it was a short story and just felt flat. I give it a C for good effort, but a D for overall storyline.


And that's it! I cannot believe I read this many books. I boggle my own mind!

Scratching My Head

No, I don't have lice! :~P I've got a question. There have been many debates over the reality of sex in romance novels and I've come across one thing in particular that I've been scratching my head over for years.

I'm a big believer in some sort of reality in my contemporary novels (specifically) when it comes to birth control. I like hearing about heros who grab a condom before getting it on with the heroine, but what about oral sex? Ever since the idea of AIDs and HIV came along, schools have been preaching the importance of safe sex, not just condoms, but other means. Why is it that when a hero (or heroine) goes down on the other, they never use any sort of condom or whatever? I mean, yeah sometimes reading about birth control and safety measures isn't sexy, but truly...I'd really like to know your thoughts.

Obviously I have my own thoughts on this, but has anyone else thought about this or is it just me? Maybe I'm weird, but the thought of going down on a guy w/o anything and then having him use a condom while having actual intercourse kind of defeats the purpose. You're exposed to bad things in one sense, but not the other? Hmmm...

What Happens In London by Julia Quinn

Today I was a bad, bad girl. I spent $ on books. Bad me! *sniffle*

I bought and read What Happens in London and it was lovely. It's one of those books that makes your insides melt (in the best possible way). It was a light treat; kind of like ice cream on a hot day. Sweet and delicious and...well, when I finished it, I finished with a happy sigh.

This is the story of Olivia & Harry. Olivia is the beauty of the Season(s) and is bored with her life. Olivia may be a beauty, but she's also a thinker. Harry is the eldest son of a Baronet and as such, had to do other things to support himself. After 10 years in the military fighting against Bonaparte, he's now working for the War Office translating. See, Harry is super smart and is fluent in multiple languages.

Anyway, Olivia gets some juicy gossip about Harry and decides to spy on him. This is easily achieved because Harry is her next door neighbor and she can see his office from her bedroom.

Hilarity ensues once Harry "confronts" her.

As I stated up above, this is a very light and airy book. It's got some LOL moments and some sweet moments. There's not a lot to think about when it comes to this book. As always, Ms. Quinn specializes in her dialogue and I found myself tipping down numerous corners with the thought that I would use them in this review. However, I find that I've found too many and cannot settle for one.

My only quibble, and it's a minor one, is the "suspense" subplot that pops up at the end of the book and has no real use at all. I found myself scratching my head over that one.

All in all, this was a great book. It wasn't perfect (not enough substance), but it was a great read and a sweet treat.


Overall Rating: B

The Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine (thru book 6)

Okay, let me say this straight up. I LOVE Rachel Caine. I came across her Weather Warden series completely by accident and fell in love with it. I have NO idea why it took me so long to read her YA series. *headdesk*

I was at B&N on Saturday with my friend V and we went into the YA section. They had the whole series sitting on display, so I picked them all up and quite literally inhaled them. So, so good.

Claire is the main protaganist, a 16 year old (almost 17) girl who is in college. She's a bit of a brainiac and she finds herself on the bad side of the most popular girl in school. Now, the book could've gone in the expected direction where Claire becomes a bully back, but this series has some pretty crazy twists and turns.

Romance, betrayal, love, loss, expectation, devastation, etc. etc. It's like a giant soap opera, but with FUN! :)

I love the way that Ms. Caine tweaks things. You expect one thing and something else happens. Each book is full of action and intensity; sometimes not even allowing you to take a breath until the end (and sometimes not even then). I could not put these books down. I read the first 5 on Saturday night and read book 6 yesterday. I cannot recommend them enough.


Overall Rating: A-

Well, This is Disturbing

Your results:
You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt)

An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 85% Deanna Troi 60% Jean-Luc Picard 55% Uhura 45% Will Riker 45% Chekov 40% Data 38% Geordi LaForge 35% Spock 34% James T. Kirk (Captain) 30% Worf 30% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 25% Mr. Scott 20% Mr. Sulu 10% Beverly Crusher 5%

Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable. That doesn't mean your job isn't important but if you were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

Oy...

This is going to be another one of those boring "personal" entries. Yeah, sorry about that. *sigh*

Let me put it this way, I've been so far beyond insanely busy, especially over these last few weeks that I've barely taken the time to read, let alone have anything to review. Actually, it's kind of funny, because I HAVE been reading, but just not as much as usual. It took me almost three weeks to read the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong and it's not because they were bad. That's not it at all. In fact, they were wonderful! I kept thinking "Oh, I've got to review this," but then real life would intrude and I'd forget.

Basically I got a "promotion" at work and it's caused not only my work schedule to change, but also my sleep schedule and my weekends. Instead of working Tuesday-Saturday like I did for 4 1/2 years, I'm now working Monday-Friday. I have to be in bed no later than 10 to allow me to have 8 hours of sleep. I haven't gone to bed by or before 10 for a LONG time. I'm a night owl, so this going to be earlier thing is really bugging me. *sigh*

I read the Chercez Wolf series (so far only 2...boo!) by Lauren Dane and really enjoyed it. The one thing that really bugged me about her Cascadia Wolves series is the fact that the heroines were all supposed to sleep with another man after their mating bond had been created so that they wouldn't go insane. Um...yeah. Still that series was great too. My favorite was Tri-Mates but that was just because it was an unbelievably hot menage book. Oh, yum! :)

See, while I'm writing a paranormal with wolf-shifters as the predominate species, I HATE the "well now we're mated so I have no choice to love you" mentality that is so big in the werewolf books out there. In my world, yeah, they may have the mating bond hanging over their heads, but they wait. They get to know each other. They fall in love with each other as the book goes along. There's no predestiny stuff going on.

I have to share this with you all. It is, without a doubt, one of the sweetest, most creative blogs I've ever come across. One thing I have to tell you, you have to go to the very beginning of the archives and read through. It's basically a story & it's best to be read from the beginning. It's just darling. I blame KB for this, though she blames JM for telling her about it. :)

Anyway, that's about it. I've got to go get ready for bed. *sigh* I hope I can sleep. Night all! Ciao!

Love At First Flight by Marie Force

First off, I have to say it's been awhile since I've actually read the book, but it made enough of an impression on me that I don't have to reread before reviewing. The basic idea is that Michael & Juliana meet at the airport when they're both on their way to see their significant others. After a great conversation, they go on their separate ways.



Michael is engaged to a society miss and Juliana is in a long-term relationship w/ the first guy she's ever dated (10 years). After their conversation, they both realize they're missing something in their relationships and do some soul searching.



Juliana finds out her boyfriend has been considering cheating on her (they were each others firsts) and it really throws her for a loop. Michael realizes that his fiancee is more concerned about their wedding than their relationship. It's much more shallow than he remembers.



Anyway, they split from their respective significant others and end up meeting up again. Dating...sex...more dating...more sex. And Michael is in the midst of a high-profile case (he's an attorney).



They break up (won't go into detail...it's a pretty "big" deal) and then it focuses on Juliana for quite awhile.



Okay, so I'm going to go into my patented Good/Bad List. There were some doozies.





The Good:





For the most part Juliana & Michael were both pretty cool. I like the fact that a relationship doesn't start up UNTIL they've broken up with their signficant others. I HATE stories where cheating is involved.



The Storyline...For the most part. There are a couple aspects of it that drive me nuts.



The Bad:



Okay, first of all, Michael is an attorney. The case he's on is HIGH profile and as we all know, you are NOT supposed to talk about your cases w/ a complete stranger. Right up front, while talking to Juliana (very beginning of book), he tells her what case he's working on. That just struck me as wrong.



The reason why Juliana & Michael broke up. In some ways I can understand it. I mean, she was only in one real relationship in her life for ten years and she had to see it to the end (so to speak). I won't go into major details, but I will say I was disappointed in the execution.



Juliana...for the most I actually liked her until the end. Then I just wanted to smack her upside the head. I think the way she handled things was just ridiculous.



My least favorite romance cliche...the big misunderstanding. Yeah, it was pretty unique, but still came across as pretty contrived.





So, all in all I have to give this book props for being entertaining. I read it the day I got it from Sourcebooks. Is it the best book I've ever read? No, but it was good.







My Rating: C+