6.28.2008

Feast of Fools Review

Feast of Fools is Book Four in the Morganville Vampires Series. Claire Danvers is a sixteen year old college student in the town of Morganville. She lives in The Glass House with her boyfriend Shane, her friend Eve and Eve’s boyfriend Michael who is a newly turned vampire. Vampires and humans both live together in Morganville where being a human can be very dangerous.

A group of vampires have come to town and decided to invade The Glass House and bully the housemates around. One of these vampires is Mr. Bishop, the Founder Amelie’s father. Mr. Bishop is a dangerous vampire and not one to disobey. He is the only known vampire who doesn’t live in Morganville.


There is going to be a ball for the people of Morganville and every vampire must bring a human as their guest. Mr. Bishop is running the ball and if you are invited, you must attend. Nothing good can come from attending this ball but Claire is determined to attend to protect her friends from whatever may happen.

Claire’s friend Myrnin is not mentally well and she is determined to find him the cure to make him sane again. But trusting Myrnin can be deadly especially when his medicine wears off and he becomes crazed. Will Claire make a drastic mistake by putting her life in Myrnin’s hands? Will one of her friends get killed at the ball?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading FEAST OF FOOLS. This was the first book that I’ve read by Rachel Caine and it was fantastic. Even though it is written for Young Adults, the book reads like a regular paranormal that Adults too can enjoy. I was able to understand and enjoy the story without having read the previous books in this series.

The excitement and suspense in FEAST OF FOOLS is thrilling and I was fascinated reading about the town of Morganville. I greatly look forward to reading the next book in this series and catching up with the other books. I highly recommend FEAST OF FOOLS to paranormal readers for a delightful and fun read that you won’t want to put down.

6.27.2008

Contest on Access Romance!!

Contest over on Access Romance to win Jackie Kessler's new book Hotter Than Hell! Hurry over and enter now!

Click here to go to the contest

Oh this ends TODAY!! HURRRYYY!!!

6.26.2008

Below the Surface Review

Briana and Daria Devon are twin sisters who manage a business called Two Mermaids Marine Search and Salvage Shop. Their job involves them doing a lot of scuba diving and investigating the marine life in the ocean. The twin’s latest job is to study the sea grass on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to determine if the water is badly polluted and killing sea life. The sisters are putting together a report with their findings and a negative report can hurt a lot of businesses.

During a routine dive, Briana comes up out of the water to find herself all alone in the middle of the Gulf. Daria had a toothache so she stayed in their boat while Briana dived. But Daria is gone, along with their boat. A bad storm has hit and there are sharks in the water with Briana. Without knowing what else to do, Briana swims to shore. When she gets near the shore, she is unconscious after getting struck by lightning. A man named Cole De Roca comes to Briana’s rescue and becomes her partner in the crusade to find Daria.

What happened to Daria? Why would she abandon her sister all alone in the ocean?

As Briana investigates the disappearance of her twin sister, she finds out that she didn’t know her as well as she thought. Daria hid a lot of secrets from Briana and this devastates her. Could one of Daria’s secrets be the clue to where she has disappeared to?

BELOW THE SURFACE is a well plotted mystery that had me guessing until its exciting conclusion. The story moves along at a leisurely pace until secrets are discovered. The story reads more like a mystery then a thriller as there isn’t any white knuckle suspense but more of a who dun it. The scuba diving scenes were interesting and fun to read about. I found the ending to be satisfying and all of my questions were answered. Overall, this is a nice mystery to curl up with on the beach this summer.

6.25.2008

Say Goodbye Review

Kimberly Quincy is five months pregnant and still working for the FBI as a Special Agent. She’s promised her husband Mac that she will try to be careful but there’s no denying the fact that her job is dangerous. Kimberly receives a call in the middle of the night requesting her presence at the police station.

A prostitute named Delilah Rose wants Kimberly to investigate a case for her. Delilah claims that all of her prostitute friends are going missing and she knows who’s killing them. But something about Delilah’s story is fishy and Kimberly doesn’t trust her. Kimberly says she will look into the case and gives Delilah her personal cell phone number.

Kimberly starts receiving disturbing phone calls that sound like a recording of someone being tortured and murdered. She starts investigating and finds out Delilah knows a lot more then she originally let on.

There is a serial killer on the loose and he’s been threatening Delilah for a number of years. The killer is abducting prostitutes and young boys and disposing of their bodies when he’s finished with them. His name isn’t known, his whereabouts are a mystery and there is no stopping this sadistic pedophile. Will Kimberly be able to catch the scariest killer yet or will she end up another victim in the killer’s web of horror?

SAY GOODBYE is a heart pounding, scary, disturbing thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat until its exciting conclusion. The serial killer is absolutely terrifying and any parent’s worst nightmare. He preys on children and has no remorse or conscience for his actions. This book is not for the light hearted, it is raw, gritty, and all too real. I was deeply disgusted at times by some of the scenes in the story, but that is what the author wanted. We should be enraged and angered by the real atrocities that are happening right here, next door to you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it scared me out of my mind. The characters were real and I rooted for them to find the bad guy and put an end to his killing spree. The changing point of views at one point is kind of confusing but I think I have it sorted out. Lisa Gardner likes to make her readers think and she’s definitely done that with this electrifying new thriller. I have been an avid fan of Lisa Gardner’s for some time and she definitely never disappoints and blew me away with this new novel.

Pre order this book on Amazon now
Visit Lisa Gardner's site
Release date: July 15, 2008

6.20.2008

My thoughts on Fearless Fourteen..

I discovered Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series when the eighth book ‘’Hard Eight’’ was released in paperback. I read book eight and nine and then went out and bought books 1-7 to catch up on the series. The books can be read out of order but they’re more fun if you start at the very beginning.

With the release of Janet Evanovich’s 14th book, I was really excited. I loved books 12 and 13 and I was hoping for more Ranger in this story. I know some people like Joe Morelli but for some reason in my opinion his character is kind of bland and boring. Ranger is much sexier and openly flirts with Stephanie all the time. Morelli just doesn’t do it for me.

So when I read on B&N’s forum during a discussion with Janet Evanovich on there that she considers this ‘’Morelli’s Book’’ I was dissapointed. She said that she likes to alternate one book for Morelli, one for Ranger, and back and forth. So does this mean I will only read every other book, only the ones that feature Ranger? No but I just wish Ranger was in every book more. This book was definetely more of a Morelli book with Ranger only having a tiny part in it.

After reading the cover flap, this sounded like a book that involved bank robberies and lots of excitement. Well the robbery already happened and doesn’t play out in the book so there goes that. There is some action but it takes a while for it to happen. The print is large in this book, like all the Plum books are. There are blank pages inbetween chapters making the book even shorter. So even though the book is 310 pages if you take out the blank pages and made this normal sized font, I would say this book is 250 pages at the most. It retails for $27.95 in hardcover which is a lot of money for such a short book. I paid $16 and kind of wish I’d waited for it to land on the discount table for cheaper.

Well I enjoyed this book. This isn’t an official review since I just read this for my own enjoyment so I am just giving my opinion on it. There are funny parts that actually made me laugh but I just didn’t think this one is as good as book 12 or 13. I will be happy when Ranger’s book comes out next year and I am guessing it will be a lot better then this one.

Overall I would grade this book a C+. There is barely any romance and the mystery isn’t that exciting and there’s not much suspense. So that is why a C+.

This series was amazing to me when I first discovered it but I hadn’t read as many books back then as I have now. Now that I have discovered authors like Jackie Kessler (who is now my favorite author), how can I sit here and say Evanovich’s is great? It’s not. The series is a fun thing to discover if you’ve never read her but after 14 books, I am getting dissapointed. There isn’t any big shakeups in the love triangle, and nothing ever changes. So if you are looking for tons of Ranger, you might be dissapointed with this one. There are funny moments so if I were you I’d borrow it from the library or try to get it cheap from Costco or Walmart.

UPDATE:
Janet Evanovich was on B&N.com on the message board to answer fans questions last week. It's rather ''interesting''. LOL Some people got very testy with her. Check it out. You have to read pages 8, 9 and 10 on the forum. OMG the fans went crazy on her! I just got done reading those pages. Too funny. I feel bad though because she hardly ever does chats online and now she won't want to ever again.

6.18.2008

Contest on A Book Blogger's Diary

A Book Blogger's Diary is having a Father's Day Contest on her blog. Check it out!

I REALLY want Don't Tell a Soul by David Rosenfelt. It sounds so good. Check out this summary from Amazon on it.


Tim Wallace’s wife died in a boating accident several months ago. Tim was the only eye witness, and one New Jersey cop is sure he killed her. He didn’t, but even if the police eventually clear his name, he’ll never get over this terrible tragedy.

On New Year’s Eve, his two best friends and business partners finally convince him to go out for the first time since Maggie’s death, and at their neighborhood pub just a few minutes before midnight, things in Tim Wallace’s life go from bad to worse. “Can you keep a secret? A really big one?” a drunken stranger asks him. Before Tim can say anything or turn away, the man confesses to a months-old murder, even offering as proof the location of the woman’s body. “Now it’s your problem,” he says and walks away.

When the man turns out to have been telling the truth, Tim’s life and work are put under the microscope again by the cops, and this time they’re not giving up. But neither is Tim, even when things keep getting worse for him, and eventually he realizes he’s the only person who can figure out what’s really going on---even if it kills him.

David Rosenfelt, popular author of six Andy Carpenter mysteries, including the recent hit Play Dead, delivers his first standalone with Don’t Tell a Soul, combining the suspense and great characters of his mystery series with an unputdownable, thrilling read.

Check it out on Amazon here

My Favorite Book and My Favorite Site

One of my favorite books ever is 20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak. It's the funniest book and when I say funny..I mean Laugh Your Ass off funny. Alot of times people say a book is funny and it makes me grin or chuckle a little but this one is REALLY funny. Like so funny that you can't stop laughing. It's so good. I really can't put it into words. I rarely reread books. But this book, I would reread. It's just really fabulous.

Anyway, so the author Karyn Bosnak, has a blog. Her blog is absolutely hilarious too and very entertaining. So entertaining that I just spent the last 2 hours reading all the old posts that I've missed in the last 4 months when I was working. It's really good stuff. Visit her blog here. Read all the older posts too. There's so many. You could sit there for hours reading them. It's an awesome blog. Tons of pictures of herself and her dog dressed up. Just great stuff.

Check out 20 Times a Lady on Amazon

Read a tiny bit of it here

It's 2:30 am and I have to get up early but it was worth it to read all those posts. I have many more to catch up with on her blog. Check it out people!







6.16.2008

Fearless Fourteen

Tomorrow is June 17th. Do you know what that means? No it's not a holiday. No it's not my birthday. It's the date of the release of Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich!!!!!!! I will be at the bookstore tomorrow afternoon, drooling over the display of Fearless Fourteen. I will run into the bookstore like a mad woman worried that all the copies are gone. LOL Then when I get my hands on my copy I will laugh and snort like a crazy person and buy it..and then read it all in one day. Then I will cry and go through despair while waiting another year for her next book.

A Match Made in Hell Review

After a near death experience, Nicki Styx developed a paranormal gift, she is able to see and communicate with ghosts that haven’t yet passed over into the Light. Nicki hasn’t really embraced her gift and isn’t very fond of it. She just wants to be left alone and live her life without ghosts popping up out of nowhere begging for her help. When Nicki isn’t playing Nancy Drew for her ghost friends, she runs a hip vintage clothing store called Handbags and Gladrags with the help of her best friend Evan.

During a typical day at work, a woman enters the shop pleading with Nicki to help her find her daughter who was in a car accident. But Nicki can’t simply call the cops for help because this woman is a ghost. After jumping into her car and following her instinct and directions from the ghost, Nicki comes upon the scene of the car accident. Inside the car is a girl named Kelly, Nicki’s twin sister who she’s never met since they were both given up for adoption as babies.

Nicki has been dating the doctor who saved her life, Joe Bascombe for about a month now. She’s happy with him but the past is about to come back to haunt them both. Nicki’s new found sister is married to Joe but left him to join the Peace Corps a long time ago. Nicki found out about Kelly’s involvement with her new boyfriend in DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY but she wasn’t prepared to have to deal with this situation. What if Joe decides he still loves his wife Kelly and wants to be with her instead? Will Kelly be furious when she finds out that the twin she never knew she had is involved with her husband?

Nicki and Kelly are haunted by several ghosts that will help unravel their family secrets. Who was their mother and why did she give them up? How are all of these ghosts connected to Nicki and Kelly? The sisters must work together to solve the mystery of what really happened in the spooky old house their mother grew up in. Is it really haunted like the locals say or is that just rumors? How will Nicki deal with the realization that the Devil is hell bent on destroying her life?

A Match Made in Hell is a delightful, spooky, paranormal romance, ghost story that readers will truly enjoy. The story moves along at a fast pace with ghosts aplenty around every turn. I’ve read many books where the heroine can speak to ghosts but this one was the best in my opinion. A Match Made in Hell was a joy to read and just the type of book I enjoy. I look forward to Nicki’s next adventure in this exciting new series.

6.14.2008

Contest on Wendy's Blog!!!

Awesome contest going on over at Wendy's blog! It ends on June 17th so hurry over and enter! She's giving away two books: Grimspace by Ann Aguirre and Fallen by Erin McCarthy!!

The Touch of Twilight Review

Imagine that every aspect of your life was recorded and put into a comic book for the entire world to see. Well this is Joanna Archer’s reality. Joanna is a superhero trying to protect the world from evil people called Shadows, but she is half Shadow herself. She works as an Agent of Light as the Archer of her group. Joanna is mourning the loss of her relationship with Ben since having to assume the identity of her deceased sister Olivia.

A doppleganger is after Joanna and wants to steal her identity. It’s starting to resemble her and little by little it is becoming Joanna. The Tulpa, Joanna’s father, has a solution for her to defeat the doppelganger but this would require Joanna joining the Shadows, the bad guys, and that’s not going to happen.

In the meantime Regan, a Shadow Agent, is enjoying taunting Joanna with the knowledge that she possesses. She knows a lot of Joanna’s secrets and won’t think twice about putting Joanna in danger by telling the wrong people. Regan has moved in on Ben, a mortal that Joanna loves but had to leave behind when she assumed the identity of Olivia. Regan doesn’t love Ben and is just doing this to torture Joanna and ruin her life.

With a new identity that Ben wouldn’t recognize as Joanna, she has no choice but to play things her way. Joanna hits Regan where it hurts and won’t stop until one of them is dead. Will Joanna’s Shadow side takeover and cause drastic mistakes that will forever turn her in the eyes of everyone she loves? Feelings are developing between Joanna and her fellow troop member Hunter, but Joanna’s feelings for Ben won’t let her fully move on. Will Joanna say no to a second chance at love because of the man she’s left behind?

The Touch of Twilight is an exciting urban fantasy with lots of suspense and action. The world that Vicki Pettersson has created within the pages of this book is amazing, breathtaking and extremely original and different from anything else out there in the genre. The attention to detail and characterization is superb and I was left extremely satisfied after closing the last page of The Touch of Twilight. I highly recommend this book to paranormal and urban fantasy readers who want to lose themselves in a book that will take them away into another world.

6.09.2008

Accidentally Dead Review

Accidentally Dead
Book 2 in the Accidental Series
By Dakota Cassidy
July 1, 2008



Nina Blackman was first introduced to readers in The Accidental Werewolf as Marty’s new friend and Bobbie Sue Cosmetics salesgirl. When Marty was bitten and turned into a werewolf, Nina was by her side every step of the way. Now Nina is back with her own story in ACCIDENTALLY DEAD.

After realizing color wheels are not her thing, Nina quit Bobbie Sue Cosmetics to work as a dental assistant. Unfortunately, on Nina’s first day of work she is bitten by a patient while he is under anesthesia. The next morning when Nina wakes up with fangs, she panics and calls her paranormal friend Marty because she’s sure she will have all the answers to her problem.

After a little investigating, Nina, along with Marty and their friend Wanda, go in search of the man who bit Nina. After stealing his address from the files at the dentist office, they arrive at a castle of a gorgeous man named Greg Statleon.

Greg is a vampire, almost 500 years old and smoking hot. But Nina isn’t listening to her loins; she’s listening to the screaming voice in her head who wants to murder this man who turned her into a vampire. She doesn’t want to drink blood and refuses to accept the news that there is no cure, no solution, this is it.

Along with her friends Marty and Wanda, they search Wikipedia and paranormal romance novels for the answers on how one turns back into a human after turning into a vampire. Nina learns that if she can find the original sire of Greg, then she can ask this person to turn her back. But Greg refuses to help Nina find the sire and she is left to her own devices to solve this problem.

Nina is convinced that Greg turned her so he can complete his mission of ruling the world with vampires. Greg has a lot of secrets and Nina doesn’t trust him one bit. Can Nina accept her new status as a vampire and drink blood and live for eternity or will she continue to look for a cure to turn her human again? Will Nina’s loud mouth and abrasiveness turn Greg off and forever ruin Nina’s chances at finding true love?

ACCIDENTALLY DEAD is a hilarious, chick lit, paranormal romance, that had me hooked from the first sentence. It was fun to read a paranormal where the characters start off human and then turn into werewolves, vampires, etc. I love Nina’s feistiness and how she refuses to accept her fate even though she has fangs and craves blood. Nina is the type of friend you would want by your side when times get hard and she would fight for you or die trying.

ACCIDENTALLY DEAD had me laughing the whole time and was so much fun to read. I adore books that make me smile and laugh and this one definitely did that for me. Overall, this was an entertaining story that has earned a spot on my keeper shelf. I can’t wait for the next book in this series!!

Pre order Accidentally Dead now at Amazon or Barnes and Noble!
Visit Dakota Cassidy's website
Read Chapter 1 here

6.04.2008

Murder Talks Turkey Review

Gertie Johnson and her best friend Cora Mae investigate crimes for their own business called the Trouble Buster Investigative Company. Their current case is following a man named Tony whose wife suspects him of cheating on her. While on line to cash a check at the Stonely Credit Union, Gertie witnesses a robbery. The suspect has a black ski mask on but most importantly he is wearing bright orange sneakers.

The robber is shot by someone on the roof who is not part of law enforcement. After police arrive at the scene they discover the robber has a bag full of Monopoly money, instead of real cash.

Why would the robber fill his bag up with play money? Was this a real robbery or an elaborate heist with more players involved?

While Gertie is working her cheating husband case, she gets into all kinds of trouble with law enforcement, specifically the new Sherriff in town. Gertie’s son Blaze is recovering from meningitis and his mind has been playing tricks on him. Sometimes he is lucid but at other times he thinks he’s a POW with people attacking him. As if Gertie didn’t have her hands full with her son, she also has to take care of her mother in law Grandma Johnson.

Gertie gets mixed up with the law and is on the lam from the cops. Since she was the sole witness of the robber's shooting they are starting to think she orchestrated the whole scenario to rob the bank. One thing after another piles up and Gertie is starting to look awfully guilty in the eyes of the law. Will Gertie and her friends be able to find the bad guys behind the bank robbery gone wrong or will Gertie serve some time in the slammer?

MURDER TALKS TURKEY is a hilarious light hearted mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was very entertained by Gertie and all of her amusing antics. The mystery was nicely plotted and fun to solve along with Gertie and her friends. The chapters are short and this makes the story move along at a quick pace. I would recommend MURDER TALKS TURKEY to cozy mystery fans that enjoy a good laugh with their story.

6.03.2008

Hotter Than Hell Review

Daunuan is The Prince of Lust and an Incubus with all the sexy charm he needs to make women melt. Daun’s job is to seduce evil people into sleeping with him and calling out his name so he can suck out their soul and bring it to hell. Daun was happy with the Succubus Jezebel, until she left her job in Hell, took on a mortal form and fell in love with a human. Jezebel wants Daun out of her life so she can live her happily ever after with her boyfriend Paul, so Daun is trying to move on and leave his former Succubus in his past.

The King of Lust offers Daun a task to complete with a reward for his hard work. The King wants Daun to befriend a woman named Virginia Reed, seduce her, and bring her soul to Hell. If Daun completes the mission successfully, he will be promoted to The First Principal of Lust which is second in line to the King. Unfortunately, Virginia resembles Jezebel and is an innocent marked for Heaven. Will Daun be able to seduce and steal the soul of an innocent woman or will his feelings get in the way of his job?

Meanwhile, demons are getting in the way of Daun’s mission and it’s starting to feel like they’re trying to sabotage him! Daun is trying to keep his identity as an Incubus a secret from Virginia, but all these demons popping up and trying to kill him in front of her is making it kind of hard. Daun just needs Virginia to willingly kiss him and then his magic will do the rest. But getting a kiss from her is going to be hard because she is living in a world of pain and misery and the last thing she wants to do is move on with a new man in her life. Daun doesn’t have a lot of time to seduce and kill Virginia and if he fails The King of Lust might kill him. Will Daun complete his mission and be promoted or will he fall in love and be killed for not doing his job properly?

Hotter Than Hell sizzles with fascinating mythology, sexy erotica, heart felt romance, nail biting suspense, a touch of magic, and lots of action and excitement. The writing in this story is an intense roller coaster ride of emotions. Daun’s feelings are reflected vividly with this story. He misses his Succubus Jezebel so much that he can’t help but visit her in different host’s bodies. She doesn’t know it’s him and he misses their connection together. But Daun just needs one more glimpse of her, one more touch. I found his obsession with Jezebel very interesting. At first it seemed like love but near the end of the story, it was definitely bordering on obsession. Hotter Than Hell blew me away and I absolutely loved this book. Jackie Kessler writes the kind of stories that grab you by the throat and doesn’t let you go until the last page is read.