Short and Sweet Book Reviews # 149 - Dark Justice by Jenna Ryan, The Rancher's Christmas Song by RaeAanne Thane, Kris Longknife's Replacement by Mike Shepherd

Dark Justice by Jenna Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amber Kelly is in a world of hurt and it just keeps getting worse. In all of this she does not fall apart but keeps trying to get things right. Gage Morgan is assigned to keep her safe. The fly in the ointment; Rachel, Amber's sister. Both have been in witness protection and Rachel has just given away their location. This is a fast paced action filled story that was a tension filled fun read. The four stars instead of five - that was because one of the bad guys was not taken down and Amber, Gage, and Rachel were not completely safe at the end.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Rancher's Christmas Song by RaeAnne Thayne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You just know that when young twins show up there will be a romance in the air. This time Beckett McKinley's wild twin boys set the stage by making a bargain with Ella Baker. In return for helping them with a special song for their Dad they will teach her how to ride. Of course Beck ends up doing the teaching and finally realizing that Ella is much more than he thought. A great romance that takes place at the Christmas Ranch while introducing a new cast of characters. A great fit for the series.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.


Kris Longknife's Replacement by Mike Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sandy Santiago is the replacement for Kris at Alwa Station and her fun begins at once. This takes the reader on a tour of the space around Alwa, goes to the cat's home on Canopus Station and on to a fight with those terrible aliens who kill all they find and blow themselves up before they will surrender. It is a alright story that is aimed at fans of Kris. I did not like some of the voices used in the story. Sandy was OK Penny's voice was so light and high she sounded like a very young girl not the mature woman she is. Even so it was an interesting listen.

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Short and Sweet Book Reviews # 99 - A Cowboy's Return by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Saga, Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Emissary by Mike Shephers

A Cowboy's Return by Vicki Lewis Thompson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really loved Ryker McGavin. He was a keeper from the beginning. It was hard to see why April Harris would have ever let him go. This latest addition to the McGavin Brothers was a great read. There were some really great new side characters. The Princesses were a scene stealer and the Easter Egg chickens were also cute. April had to take a very honest internal look at how she had reacted and how she had pictured Ryker before they had their HEA. I think this is the best series that Thompson has written to date. Each book can stand alone but start from the first for the most fun.


Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Saga was our Science Fiction Book Club pick for May. This the first time to review a graphic novel and the comments were interesting. Most people liked the story line. All felt that the illustration added a lot to the story. We loved the fact that the child was the one telling the story. There were some favorite moments. The slave child and the hunters reaction to her caught everyone's attention and we all wondered if he ever got her out. So far there are seven graphic novels in the series and I am interested in continuing to read and see what happens next.


Emissary by Mike Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Shepherd has broken away from his long time publisher and is striking out on his own. Emissary is his first full length novel featuring Kris Longknife. Kris has been at her desk job for five years and is really getting tired of the politics. She needs a change and as luck would have it a new and interesting opportunity comes her way. Ron, her Iteeche friend, wants her to go to the Iteeche Empire as the first Ambassador from the human worlds. All is not what it seems and Kris faces more challenges and danger than expected. While there was action I did find the story line a little slow. This just sets the stage for Kris' new adventures. I did not think it was the best book in the series but it is still a must read for series fans.

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Short and Sweet Book Reviews - #53 - Kris Longknife: Bold by Mike Shepherd, Someone to Love by Mary Balogh

My book today come from opposite ends of the spectrum.  Kris Longknife: Bold is Science Fiction/Space Opera.  Someone To Love is Historical Romance.  Both were fun and interesting to read.


Kris Longknife: Bold by Mike Shepherd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wondered if Mike Shepherd was going to get his two female main characters together. For those of you who are following the Kris Longknife series you know that Vicky Petersburg has her own spin-off series. The two have been enemies but on their last meeting they called a truce. Vicky has undergone a big change and is working for the good of others instead of herself. Now Kris has been called to mediate between Vicky and her father. There is someone who does not what that to happen and both women have to watch their backs and try to escape being killed. This is a great wrap up of this part of the series. At the end it looks like this will be the last book but in an afterword Mike Shepherd let us know that Kris will be back but in a brand new story arc. After all Kris has a husband and baby now and that is always a game changer. This can stand-alone but starting at the beginning of the series keeps you up on all the back story.


Someone to Love by Mary Balogh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book in a new series and part of the fun in reading it was trying to guess which of the characters would be featured in their own story and get their own HEA. Anna Snow (Lady Anastasia Westcott) holds up her part the book in great style. She is her own person and will not change just to fit what fashions and relatives want to make her into. Avery Archer, the Duke of Netherby, is a very hard character to know. That fits as he hides his real self behind a protective wall. Not that he is to be ignored. In fact just the opposite. People notice and fear him. When Anna arrives she changes his whole world but not without some problems. A really nice romance with some great side characters. This is also the opportunity to start a series at the very beginning.

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Kris Longknife: Unrelenting (Kris Longknife #13) by Mike Shepherd

Science Fiction/Space Opera

From Goodreads:

In the New York Times bestselling Kris Longknife novels, “fans of the Honor Harrington escapades will welcome the adventures of another strong female in outer space starring in a thrill-a-page military space opera” (Alternative Worlds).

The aliens attacking the planetary system of Alwa are an enemy unlike any Admiral Kris Longknife has ever encountered before. She doesn’t know who they are, only that they worship a being known as the Enlightened One and are unafraid to sacrifice themselves against her fleet.

But Kris faces more than just the fanatical behavior of an alien armada. A saboteur has infiltrated the military’s medical facility and unleashed an epidemic that has spread throughout the fleet without warning.

Seventy-two career military women are down with something not even the aliens could do to them—including Admiral Kris Longknife.

Once again Kris is behind the eight ball.  The aliens are converging to wipe out life on Alwa and it is up to Kris to stop them.

Unrelenting is mostly a battle driven book.  Not just one battle either.  There are several before Alwa is safe for the moment.  Most of the characters from the previous book return.  Don’t look for a lot of character development.  Do look for a lot of action.

There is a bit of a shocker.  We see it in the first sentence in the book.

  “Admiral Kris Longknife bent over the toilet and explosively lost her breakfast.”  

What else could it be but morning sickness?  Oh!  She is supposed to have a birth control implant.  Since she is not the only one with an unexpected pregnancy it seems there is a problem.

Uurelenting could be read as a stand-alone but is best if you have read the other 12 books.

ACE published Kris Longknife: Unrelenting by Mike Shepherd in 2015.

Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife #12) by Mike Shepherd

Science Fiction/Space Opera

From Goodreads:

There’s no rest for a Longknife—even if you’re a newlywed. Vice Admiral Kris Longknife’s honeymoon gets cancelled when she hears that the space raider’s home world may have been discovered. Finding where the raiders came from could be the key to saving humanity. If only uncovering their secrets was that easy…

As Kris returns home, she ends up tangling with a mutinous crew determined to take off on their own. The dissident group leads Kris straight into a new mess—a system filled with strange, deadly enemies poised to wipe another sentient civilization out of existence. Kris and her squadron are ready to prevent total annihilation, but the mutineers have other plans.

Once again Shepherd has put Kris in more than one dangerous situation.  You would think this would get old but each time there is a new twist and Kris and crew have to find a way to keep everyone alive and ready for the next challenge.

I love the characters in the Longknife series.  Nelly the computer keeps everyone in line even as she develops a more human personality.  Kris and Jack are very much newlyweds.  Their sex life is portrayed the old fashion way.  You know it is going to happen and then you know it has happened but you don’t have to witness the event.  Thank you Mike Shepherd.  There is a new alien race and this is one I really love.  They are descended from felines and women rule the world.  For cat lovers like me they are a big hit.

Some things are solved; some things are still hanging so there will be more of Kris and her crew.  According to the note at the end of the book Kris Longknife: Relentless is already being written.

I love the series the next book will go on pre-0rder as have all the rest.

ACE published Kris Longknife:Tenacious by Mike Shepherd in 2014.

Kris Longknife: Defender by Mike Shepherd

Space Opera/Science Fiction

What Goodreads says:

"Kris Longknife is back in the good graces of the brass—and to demonstrate that, they've promoted her to Admiral. Now her mission is to find the home base of the space pirates who are plaguing the fringes of the galaxy.
But no mission is ever simple when your name is Longknife. And this time the complications range from the military to the personal, as Kris finds herself—reluctantly—having to make some command decisions about her future."

This is book #11 in the series and again Kris is facing a lot of danger.  All of the usual characters are back and the adventure is never ending.  The big difference is that there is romance in the air.  Kris is at the other side of the galaxy and her great grandmother takes a hand in getting Kris and Jack some time alone.  It is about time.

The entire book is a lead up to a big battle and I though that Mike Shepherd was going to leave us hanging.  Instead he surprised me.  Just as I though there were not enough pages left to for the two forces to meet he fought a quick and swift space battle that solved one problem but left more to come.

Kris Longknife: Defender is a good addition to the series.  It can be read as a stand-along but read them all.  You will be in for a great adventure if you do.

If you read my Musing Monday post you saw where I found the Dauntless with Jack Campbell as the Captain.  Is this a game authors play?  Maybe putting another Science Fiction author and his book title in the middle of a book is a way to see if anyone notices.

ACE published Kris Longknife: Defender by Mike Shepherd in 2013.

Musing Mondays November 11,2013

Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading and asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
 • Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
 • What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
 • Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I just finished Kris Longknife: Defender by Mike Shepherd.  This is a Space Opera series I have followed from the beginning.  Somewhere in the middle of the book there is a list of space ships and their captains.  In a sentence all it's own is Jack Campbell, 
Captain of the Dauntless.  That really caught my attention.  Why?  Because Jack Campbell has his own Space Opera series and the first book is Dauntless.  I don't think that this was just an accident; another author's name and the title of the first book in his series.  I think this is something planned.  It makes me wonder if somewhere in Jack Campbell's books there may be a space ship named for a book in the Kris Longknife's series with a Captain named Mike Shepherd.

If you have seen any of the same let everyone know in the comments section.

Teaser Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: 

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

My Teaser this week is from   Furious,  Kris Longknife # 10 by Mike Shepherd.
I finished the book yesterday and loved it.  It is a little different from previous books as there are no big space battles.  Kris and Jack do finally get together, at least for a little while.  It is a bridge novel between book 9 and what will be book 10 so hold on for more action.

Page 67 - "The Yellow Comet of the Comet lines.  Her captain, Sam Tidings, owes you.  You rescued his daughter."  

Here is the Goodreads summary:

Having used unorthodox methods to save a world—and every sentient being on it—Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife is wanted across the galaxy for crimes against humanity. For her own safety, she’s been assigned to a backwater planet where her Fast Patrol Squadron 127 enforces immigration control and smuggler interdiction.

But Kris is a Longknife, and nothing can stop her from getting back to the center of things—not when all hell is breaking loose. Now she’s on the run, hunted by both military and civilian authorities—and since the civilian authorities happen to be her immediate family, Kris soon finds herself homeless, broke, and on trial for her life on an alien world. 

Waiting on Wednesday, October 17, 2012

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I am waiting on Kris Longknife:  Furious by Mike Shepard due out October 30, 2012.  Furious is the latest (#10) in the Kris Longknife series and I have it on pre-order from Amazon.  

Goodreads doesn't have anything about the book so this is from Amazon:
 

Having used unorthodox methods to save a world—and every sentient being on it—Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife is wanted across the galaxy for crimes against humanity. For her own safety, she’s been assigned to a backwater planet where her Fast Patrol Squadron 127 enforces immigration control and smuggler interdiction.

But Kris is a Longknife, and nothing can stop her from getting back to the center of things—not when all hell is breaking loose. Now she’s on the run, hunted by both military and civilian authorities—and since the civilian authorities happen to be her immediate family, Kris soon finds herself homeless, broke, and on trial for her life on an alien world…

Kris Longknife: Daring by Mike Shepherd

Military Science Fiction

Kris Longknife: Daring is the 7^th book in this series.  I was attending a panel where Mike Shepherd was talking about the Kris Longknife series.  He said that he decided to write a series with a female protagonist after his granddaughter was born.  He wanted her to have books with main characters she could identify with. 

The Kris Longknife series certainly meets the requirement for a strong female main character.  In Daring Kris is sent off to try to find the aliens that are destroying the Iteeche scouts.  She wants to go with a small swift scouting group; one that can look, run and report back.  What she gets is a mix of vessels from different groups.  When they meet up with an alien starship that fires without warning Kris must fight to have any chance of returning. 

Look for non-stop action, unexpected consequences and a cliffhanger ending.  Kris Longknife: Daring is a good addition to the series.  This is another one where it would be better to start at the beginning.  While there is some back-story in Daring Kris has some issues that can only be explained and understood if you read the books in the following order:

Kris Longknife: Mutineer

Kris Longknife: Deserter

Kris Longknife: Defiant

Kris Longknife: Resolute

Kris Longknife: Audacious

Kris Longknife: Intrepid

Kris Longknife: Undaunted

Kris Longknife: Redoubtable

Kris Longknife: Furious is in the works and is the next book in the series.

ACE published Kris Longknife: Daring by Mike Shepherd in 2011.

Kris Longknife: Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd

Military Science Fiction

Kris is back for her eighth book and the she is still a trouble magnet.  On the rim looking for pirates Kris and her crew end up in freeing a planet full of starving people.  It would not be a problem if the planet were not in Peterwald space.  As a result Kris is again meeting and joining forces with her new BBF, Vicky Peterwald.  The Iteeche problem from Undaunted, book seven, is still around but it looks like Daring, book nine, due out in November of 2011 will be the one to deal with that problem.

Full of danger, trouble and adventure Redoubtable is a good addition to the Kris Longknife series.  Look for more of the same in the future.

ACE published Kris Longknife: Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd in 2010. 

I purchased Kris Longknife: Redoubtable from Borders.

Kris Longknife Series by Mike Shepherd

Space Opera

In a panel I attended at World Con in Denver Mike Shepherd said that he wrote the Kris Longknife series because he wanted his granddaughter to have books with a strong female character. Kris certainly fills that role. She is another one of those damn Longknifes. In the universe where Kris lives humans are rearranging their political alliances. The Longknife family has taken the leadership of the planets in a new alliance. As an officer in the space force and a junior member of a political dynasty, Kris must wear a variety of hats. Wherever Kris is sent trouble follows and trouble brings fast paced adventure. The books are filled with action, snappy dialogue, and wonderful characters. Read the book in order. All are a fun read.

ACE books publish the series. The titles are:

Kris Longknife: Mutineer
Kris Longknife: Deserter
Kris Longknife: Defiant
Kris Longknife: Resolute
Kris Longknife: Audacious
Kris Longknife: Intrepid