Review: Exotic Indulgence

Exotic IndulgenceExotic Indulgence by Vivian Arend

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The blurb:

There’s something magical about Bandicoot Cove. It’s where Kylie Sullivan’s dream of managing a luxury, five-star resort is about to come true. And it’s where people tend to fall in love. Kylie should know. She’s fallen hard—for three very different men. 

The Review:
Normally I don’t review short-stories, but I decided to make an exception.
This is exactly what the cover says a sizzling short story set in Australia. This is a co-authored story, and it shows a couple of times.  The cut between the scenes feels a bit abrupt, and I didn’t like the tone in some of the scenes.  Nothing gross, it was just a few word choices.   Also, thee relationship between Kylie and her men feels rushed, like they feel have to convince her that they have something more than sex before the resort opens. Still, it is sizzling, short read that it is a great lunch read.
And it is free. You can download it at all major e-bookstores.( Watch out with Booksonboard, though, they charge 0.99 for it)

View all my reviews

Giveaway round up

Alison Kent is giving away books by Emma Holly and Shannon McKenna over at her blog.

Meljean Brooks is giving away copies of Demon Marked
Yasmine Galenorn is giving away ARCs of Courting Darkness here.
Nephele Tempest is giving away a copy of Angel of Darkness here

Lauren Dane is having a week of contests  over at her blog.
Most of the give aways have a deadline either on Friday or on Monday.

Review: Bear Necessites by Dana Marie Bell

Bear Necessities by Dana Marie Bell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The blurb:

To Bear Necessities (Halle Shifters, #1)hold onto his love, he must release his beast. Halle Shifters, Book 1 Once a Bear sets his mind on a mission, it’s best to stay out of his way. Alexander “Bunny” Bunsun is that Bear. Something’s not right with his cousin Chloe, and he’s come to Halle, PA, to sort it out, turn his Harley around and head home to Oregon. Until an enticing scent lures him into the local tattoo shop. There she is. An inked, Southern-drawled she-Wolf with lime-green hair. His perfect mate.
Tabitha Garwood’s rotten day just got worse. Her Outcast status makes her a target for harassment with alarming regularity. And now, in the middle of a root touch-up, looking like a half-melted Skittle, she’s met her destined mate.
The only upside? She finally has a protector in the form of a huge, tattooed, shaved-head Bear who vibrates with carefully restrained power. When Chloe is left for dead and Tabby is threatened, only Alex can keep his growing family safe.
Giving Tabby the loving home she needs, though, could come at a price-Alex must give up the control he’s worked a lifetime to attain. Which means someone could die at the hands-and claws-of his beast.
Warning: This novel contains explicit sex, graphic language, a hunky Bear named Bunny and . . . Yes. I said a Bear named Bunny. I don’t know about you but I’m not brave enough to make fun of it

The Review:
I picked up this book after finishing Blood of the Maple, mainly because I wanted to read Dana Marie Bells Samhain titles. The title of this book caught my attention, were-bears sounded like an unusual twist. In fact, this book was full of unusual twists. There are mates, a standard trope in Paranormal Romance. I loved how both Alexander and Tabby accepted that they were mates, just like that. Which means that their HEA never really in question. That doesn’t mean they have an easy path, far from it. I loved how they slowly started to trust each other, especially Tabby. Tabby has a reason for not trusting people, and I loved how the author handled the solution to that, showing Tabby that she wasn’t alone. ( I am not going into any details, read the book  )
What made me like this book so much, wasn’t the characters, or the plot. No, it was the way all of it worked together to create a story that left me satisfied. And in my mind, there is no bigger praise.

View all my reviews

Review: Death’s Daughter by Karen Chance

Death's Mistress (Dorina Basarab, #2)Death’s Mistress by Karen Chance

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The blurb:
Dorina Basarab is a dhampir-half-human, half-vampire. Back home in Brooklyn after the demise of her insane Uncle Dracula, Dory’s hoping her life is about to calm down. But soon Dory realizes someone is killing vampire Senate members, and if she can’t stop the murderer, her friends may be next… 

Review:
I got this book from the library, but if I had bought this book, I would have been very disappointed. The world was intresting, with a lot of different factions. I liked the characters. But, the plot. The book took place under a couple of days, which meant the plot had to be fast paced. The problem is that in the first half, it was too fast paced. I often felt confused over were the scene took place, and why she was there. It got better in second half, where everything felt more connected.

There were several times that I almost put down this book, but I read on.

Why? Because it had so much potential. But, in the end, this isn’t a keeper, at least not to me.

View all my reviews

Upcoming themes

I am sorry for the silence, but I have been busy. ( And the only day I had time, Blogger wasn’t cooperating.)  Anyway, I have made the scheme for upcoming themes.

September: Small town USA
October: Paranormal
November: Public Domain books
December: Holidays

Also, I plan to be part of more bloghops in the future 🙂

Book round up

Books I have recently finished:
Pack of Lies by Laura Anne Gilman ( This time I might even review it )

The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen( A library book. Good!) 
 The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

Heart Journey by Robin D Owens
Blood of the Maple by Dana Marie Bell ( Intresting twist take on vampires)

What I plan to read next:

Cipher ( I won an ARC on Twitter. So I am happy :D)
 Cirklen ( A Swedish YA urban fantasy novel, called the next Twillight, sold to 14 countries)
Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep
Line of Scrimmage by Marie Force
Death’s Mistress by Karen Chance

 

Winners!

The Winner of Dragon Bound and Storm’s Heart is….. Ash!

The Winner of the Giftcard is… 25kati!

Congrats to both of you!

Review: Kiss at Your Own Risk by Stephanie Rowe

Kiss at Your Own RiskKiss at Your Own Risk by Stephanie Rowe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The blurb:

Trinity Harpswell is a cursed Black Widow-death and mayhem are all part of the job description. If she can manage to go just one more week without accidentally killing someone, she’ll break this killer curse and put her Black Widow days behind her. When sexy Blaine Underhill III shows up at her door and asks for her help rescuing his friend from the clutches of Death’s evil grandma, Trinity gets pulled into a daring high stakes adventure. As Blaine and Trinity join forces to take down a series of underworld assassins, they may just learn that love is the deadliest game of all.

The review:
Stephanie Rowe has been on my Authors-to-check out list for years, so when Sourcebooks offered this one for free, I snagged it up.
And I am glad I did. This book starts with action, and it doesn’t slow down. But the reason I loved this book was the characters. The characters were a mix of good sides, and bad sides. Their goals were grounded in their pasts. In a way, all the goals made sense, even though their methods might be frowned upon. Both Blaine and Tracy were a bit homicidal, but they fit. In fact, I loved how Blaine saw Tracy’s homicidal tendencies as a sign of love.
I am really glad that I picked up this book, and I’ll definitely pick up the next book in the series.

View all my reviews

Review: Spying in High Heels by Gemma Halliday

Spying in High Heels (High Heels Mysteries, #1)Spying in High Heels by Gemma Halliday

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Buy at: Smashwords

The blurb:

L.A. shoe designer Maddie Springer lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears — along with $20 million in embezzled funds — and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by LAPD s sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300-pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her
The Review:
This is the first book in the High Heels series. I have to confess that I downloaded it when Dorchester offered it for free a year ago.
It languished on my laptop, unread, until I decided to load on to my Sony and read it on my holiday in Turkey. I am glad I did, since after what happened in Oslo, I needed something light and funny. I read it on the plane trip back, and it hooked me from the start. What hooked me wasn’t the plot. No, it was the characters and how they reacted. They got worried, they made reckless decisions. But what made this book was Maddie. She was a bundle of witty determination. I loved how she continued to search after her missing boyfriend, no matter what Ramirez told her. I also loved how she did the right thing at the end, which is NOT marrying her boyfriend. The end took my by surprise, I had someone else pegged as the murderer.

View all my reviews