River Marked, Frost Burned and Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Urban Fantasy

I just finished listening to River Marked and Fair Game and reading Frost Burned.  I am a little late to the series but now I am hooked.  I like Mercy and Adam.  They make a very good pair and both books had a great story line.  However, I have to admit that Anna And Charles are my favorites.

Fair Game is book three in the Alpha and Omega series and the first in the series for me.  I did not realize that there were previous book until I went to the authors web site.  Fair Game does a great job of standing on its own.  Now that I know there are previous books (Cry Wolf and Hunting Ground) I will have to go back and read them.  Just what I needed more for my TBA Pile.

On her web site Patricia Briggs says that Alpha and Omega series “is set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson Series but in a slightly earlier time line.”  That may be true for the first books but Fair Game happens just after River Marked and Frost Burned is right after Fair Game. I found a spoiler when I read Frost Burned before I finished listening to Fair Game.

If you like Urban Fantasy try both of these series.  I don’t think you will be disappointed.

SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop - Update 6/10/13

This is a re-post from the SFR Brigade Blog Site.  I am a part and will have individual prizes just for visiting my blog.  Be sure to visit on June 21th.

The SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop - Update 6/10/13

The hop is fast approaching, so I thought I'd give you all a quick update on progress. I'm delighted to say that, thanks to those participants who have donated so far (and a couple of especially generous donors - thank you!), the prize fund for the hop is already over $250! Woo hoo! So, I'm pleased to announce that the grands prizes will be (at a minimum) as follows:

1st Prize - $150 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice) and an ebook bundle (currently Alien Adoration, Dementional, Wytchfire, Ghost Planet, The Iron Admiral, Games of Command, Keir and Terms & Conditions Apply)

2nd Prize - $50 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice)

3rd Prizes - two $25 Amazon or B&N gift cards (given to separate winners and their choice)

Please share this news as much as possible. As I say, this is currently the MINIMUM prizes that will be offered as there's still time to donate to the blog hop fund. But let's start telling people about it! :)

Musing Mondays June 10, 2013

Musing Mondays (http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/) 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 The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen.  This is the 6th book in the Lady Georgiana mystery series.  For any of you who are not familiar with the series Lady Georgiana Rannoch is 35th in line for the British Throne.  The series is set in the mid-1930's and has both historical and fictional characters.  

This time Lady Georgiana wants to get away from Castle Rannoch at Christmas.  She answers an ad for Christmas Party Hostess in Tiddleton-under-Lovey and gets the job.  Her Mother and Noel Coward are staying in the village, her grandfather is there with her Mother and Darcy O'Mara arrives to make Christmas perfect.  Or it would be perfect if not for all the deaths.  The deaths look like accidents but with one a day everyone wonders if they are murder instead.

The mystery here is really a mystery.  The victims do not seem to have anything in common.  Like Lady Georgiana I was slow to see how they were part of a plan.  I really enjoyed the story and think this is the best book in the series so far.  Look for Georgiana and Darcy to come to an agreement and look for future mysteries for both.

Go to Goodreads for a summary.

Stacking the Shelves, June 8, 2012

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I am adding to my shelves. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what other have on their shelves.

I resisted buying or accepting any books for review but I did not resist going to the library where I collected several books I had been waiting to read.

Summer Nights by Susan Mallery
Calculated in Death by J. D. Robb
The Human Division by John Scalzi
Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
Fuse by Julianna Baggott
Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

And one Audio Book:

The Desert Spear by Peter Brett

A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses by Molly Harper

Paranormal Romance

From Goodreads:

"Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy, Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.
Complication One: Her grandfather was Mr. Wainwright and the artifacts are lost somewhere in what is now Jane Jameson's book shop.
Complication Two: her new neighbor, Jed Trudeau, who keeps turning up half naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn't need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it sounds, especially when he’s got the face of an angel and the abs of a washboard—can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?"

A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses is the first book in a new series.  It is also the first time I have read a Molly Harper book.

It is set in Half-Moon Hollow and is a spin-off of a previous series.  That caused me some problems as I started to read A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses. Much of the world building apparently was done in the previous series, as I did not see much world building for Half-Moon Hollow in the Witch’s Handbook.  .  Instead I was just dropped into the Half-Moon Hollow world and had to find my way through.  It made reading the first part of the book a challenge because the setting and the secondary characters play an important part in the story and I often felt like I was missing something but did not know what. On the plus side the story was powerful enough to overcome that problem.

A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses has a great story line and wonderful characters.  It is also infused with many surprising twists and turns in the plot.  Nola does not think of herself as a strong person.  Jed is sure he is cursed.  It is fun to watch the changes in both as the story progresses. The tension and character building in the story build as solving problems just lead to more tension and additional problems.  The characters add to the surprises, as not all are what they seem.  A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses is a well-written fun paranormal romance with a great plot.  Pick a copy up and see for yourself.

Pocket Books published A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses andCurses by Molly Harper in 2013.

Dark Star Dawning by Elysa Hendricks

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Science Fiction Romance

From Goodreads:

"Victoria "Tori" Hart doesn't know it, but she's the key to saving the universe. After a childhood of moving from place to place, first with her paranoid, restless mother and then in foster homes, Tori has finally found a home in Hope, Ohio running her antique shop. Then a man who claims she's the answer to the plague that's destroying his world invades her peaceful if boring life. Abducted into space and facing death, Tori tries to escape as she fights against her growing attraction to her kidnapper. But can she fight her inner obligation to save a people she's never known? Reese Taren's emperor has sent him on what Reese considers an insane mission-to find the Heart of Destiny, a mythical object said to have the power to save the Empire from alien invaders. Reese has lost everything in this war-his wife and son, his home, his planet. Now he lives to find a way to destroy the entity that threatens the Empire, even if it is chasing after fantasy objects. His search for the Heart of Destiny leads him to Earth and Tori where he discovers that her very body chemistry is the key to defeating the invader. But as they travel through space toward their enemy, Tori somehow manages to heal his damaged heart. Now Reese is once again faced with losing everything because to save the universe and all of humanity, he must sacrifice Tori ."

My favorite reading area is Science Fiction Romance (SFR) so when Dark Star Dawning showed up on Netgalley I requested a copy.  I have to say this is not one of my favorite stories.

Tori and Reese are the main characters.  Tori lives on Earth and does not know that is not her home world.  Reese is the damaged hero who had to destroy his home world.   The ash is the villain and Toni is the only one who can destroy the ash.  

Since this is a romance it is not the destination but the journey that is important.  This journey has all of the usual ingredients.  There is danger, tension,  a cast of secondary characters and of course romance.  Everything is in place for a great story but while I enjoyed reading Dark Star Dawning it did not catch and keep my attention like I expected.   I think there are two reasons.  The main reason it did not was that so many of the situations have been used and used and used.  The second is that much of the writing is spent in one of the characters heads making it more passive that active.  Pick it up to get your SFR fix but don’t be surprised if it is not one of your favorites.

Imajinn Books published Dark Star Dawning by Elysa Hendricks in 2013.

Stacking the Shelves, June 2, 2013

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I am adding to my shelves. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what other have on their shelves.

I was out of town this week.  I was helping my son who fractured his ankle several weeks ago.   I spent a lot of time in books stores and added several books to my shelf.

Agave Kiss by Ann Aguirre
The Marrying Season by Camdice Camp
The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie
Wild Invitation by Nalini Singh
The Serene Invasion by Eric Brown

The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase

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Historical Romance

From Goodreads:

"Originally appeared in the print anthology Three Weddings and a Kiss.

Gwendolyn Adams is about to propose to an earl. On his deathbed.

Gwendolyn Adams isn't shocked at being asked to save a handsome earl's dying line, even when she learns the prospective bridegroom is seriously ill and possibly insane. She's quite a good nurse, after all, and her family is famous for producing healthy male children. Those stories about his riding the moors half-naked on a pale white horse? Extremely intriguing—especially after she gets her first look at the gorgeous lunatic.

The Earl of Rawnsley wants only to lose what's left of his mind in peace and privacy. But his busybody relatives have saddled him with a surprise bride and orders to sire an heir forthwith. (And they say he's mad?) But with Gwendolyn, his health is returning, and his resistance ... crumbling. Is it possible that love is the finest madness of all?"

The Mad Earl’s Bride is a cute novella.  Dorian and Gwen are both fun characters.  Dorian is sure he is about to die.  Gwen has a lot of medical knowledge, plans take care of him and study what is causing what he thinks is his descent into madness.  I did recognize what his problem was long before it came out in the book but that did not change how much I enjoyed the story.  The two have a fun and interesting journey to their HEA.  

Avon Impulse will publish The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase as a stand alone novella June 4, 2013.