Re-Read Challenge Review: Half way to the Grave

Halfway to the Grave
Jeaniene Frost
Urban Fantasy
Nighthuntress/Book 1
Avon/October 2007
Purchased

From the author's website ~

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She's amazed she doesn't end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn't have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers.

Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

This re-read is due to the fact that I liked this book the first time so why didn't I continue reading the series? I've got the next two books in the the tbr pile, so I don't have a clue as to why I didn't read them. Time is the most likely culprit. Anyway, I decided this would be one series I would finish reading this year - so the re-read is to refresh my memory.

The story starts with Cat and her night job - hunting and killing vampires. Cat is determined to avenge her mother who was raped by a vampire which resulted in Cat's birth. Cat has a dry sense of humor to help cope with her bizarre life. She's looked down on by her mother because of Cat's father and Cat being a half-blood. Cat is driven by guilt and revenge and seduces her vampire victims into thinking they'll get lucky with her then she goes for the kill. She spends her nights trolling the bars, looking for vampires to kill. And her mom knows about it! Yep, good old mom even encourages Cat to kill vamps. I really didn't like her mom. Big, guilty-tripping weight around Cat's neck. And Cat's killing adventures lead her to Bones.

Bones - the only way I could think of him is as a wealthier version of Spike (as in Buffy's Spike). Bones so reminded me of Spike I secretly wondered if Spike's crazy-ass vamp girlfriend Drusilla would show up. I do remember the first read thinking that Bones reminded me of Spike but I don't remember it being so strong. Bones is a very old, very powerful vampire. He takes a liking to Cat, after she tries to kill him. Bones recruits Cat to help him catch his next target. I liked Bones this time through but now I'm wondering if I liked him for him or because he reminded me of Spike.

Cat and Bones begin training and they begin feeling the pull of physical attraction. Cat doesn't want to be attracted to a vampire. That's like the worst thing that could happen to her. Bones, on the other hand, knows what he wants and he can be very underhanded in getting it. I had a few qualms about their relationship. Cat is a virgin but still knows how to play at seductress. It came off as very odd - like she couldn't make up her mind what she wanted to be. Here she'd been killing vampires since she was 16, she's 22 now, and now she's attracted to a vampire. It seemed like Bones is the only one who cared about Cat - but he's an "evil" vampire. Or that's what Cat believed, that all vampires are evil. So Bones throws her a curve when he shows he cares but it could only be that he needs her to get to his target.

Bones training sessions with Cat are meant to be sexy but I found them less than. I don't remember the sexual tension and sex scenes from the first time but this time I was pretty meh about them. I do like the dialogue between Cat and Bones. Usually funny and quick witted with Bones having some great lines. There were times when Cat really showed her youth and her street smarts seemed less than what you would expect. Which was strange when you consider she's been hunting vampires, alone, since she was sixteen. Sometimes her naivety was hard to believe.

The ending is a cliff-hanger which is not doubt one of the reasons why I picked up the second book. This time through I'm not as enthralled as I remember being the first time. It could be that at the time, there was a lot of buzz about the book and I got caught up in it. That's always a possibility. Whatever it was, I do plan to continue with book 2 since I already have it. I hope the character of Cat matures in the next book and Bones becomes less of a Spike reminder and more his own distinct character. I'm curious to see if both Cat and Bones will change and become more solid characters in the next installment.

Rating: B

Review: Visions in Death

Visions in Death
J. D. Robb
Romantic Suspense
In Death/Book 22
Penguin/August 2004

*Spoilers*

From the inside cover ~

The summer of 2059 has been long, hot - and bloody. On one of the city's warmest nights, a call from dispatch sends New York police lieutenant Eve Dallas to Central Park - and into a hellish new investigation. The victim was found on the rocks, just above the still, dark water of the lake. She wore nothing but a red ribbon tied around her neck. Her hands were posed as if in prayer. But it is the eyes - removed with such precision, as if by the careful hand of a surgeon - that have Dallas most alarmed.

As more bodies turn up, each with the same defining scars, Eve is frantic for answers. Against her instincts, she accepts help from a psychic, who offers one vision after another - each with shockingly accurate details of the murders. And when Eve's partner and friend Peabody is badly injured after escaping an attack, the stakes are raised. Are the eyes a symbol? A twisted religions ritual? A souvenir? With the help of her husband, Roarke, Dallas must uncover the killer's motivation before another vision becomes another nightmare.


With Peabody being my favorite secondary character, it's not surprising that this is one of my favorite books in the series. The dynamics of Dallas and Peabody's relationship continues to change and grow and that is very much evident in Visions in Death. The killer is a psycho, the psychic is questionable and Mavis is pregnant. Lots of stuff going on here but at the center for me was Dallas and Peabody. Roarke is here too, of course, but he's not as involved in this case as he has been in some others.

The first murder is gruesome, the second, just as much. Dallas and Peabody are working the case but having very little luck connecting the murders. The psychic who offers her help is welcomed by Peabody but leaves Dallas highly skeptical. No surprise there. I liked seeing Dallas interact with the psychic, trying to keep an open mind but not really putting much stock in any evidence until the psychic tells them things that are not public knowledge. Then Dallas starts to believe, just a little.

Sometimes I'll read fans of the series asking if/when Roarke and Eve will have a child. Robb has said that will be the end of the series if/when they do. (from Robb's FAQ). While I don't want the series to end anytime soon, I do like when Roarke and Eve are so far out of their comfort zone when confronted with even the possible involvement with someone else's child. There is a wonderful scene when Mavis tells Eve and Roarke that she wants them there for the birth. These two very capable people are filled with terror at the thought of being there when the baby is born.

[Mavis to Eve] "No. Labor and delivery coach. You'd back up Leonardo when I have the baby."

Eve choked on the canape' and turned white.

"Take a drink, darling," Roarke said with a laugh in his voice. "Put your head between your knees if you feel dizzy."

"Shut up. Are you talking about . . . like, being there? In the actual place at the actual time? In the same room as. . . it."

Then if that wasn't enough to take in, Roarke's in for a surprise.

"We want Roarke there, too." Mavis sniffed into her cloth.

Eve turned her head, and saw - with pleasure - the rare sight of utter panic on his face. "Not so damn funny now, is it, ace?"

Later, when Roarke and Eve are alone, they try to comfort each other in their terror over Mavis' request.

[Roarke]"They could change their minds. It's still months away, and they could easily change their minds and want this. . . event to be a private one between them."

She looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head. "Private? Private? This is Mavis we're dealing with."

He shut his eyes. "God pity us."

"And it's just going to get . . . more." She pulled away, sprang up. "Before you know it, before you know it she's going to want us to deliver the thing. They'll want to do it here, in our bedroom or something, with cameras - live feed to her fans. And us pulling the thing our of her."

Utter and genuine horror leaped into his eyes. "Stop it, Eve. Stop it now."

They are really one of my favorite couples. The love they share - it's funny and deep and continues to grow. Eve does seem to do more of the growth but Roarke's in there too. He's just more accepting of the changes in his life with Eve now in it.

Roarke's presence is in this one less. He has no relation to the murders through any of his vast holdings and his help is minimal this time around. He is there for Eve when she needs him most. When Peabody is beaten nearly to death, it's Roarke who Eve leans on and Roarke who provides his quiet strength even though he is also hurting for Peabody.

The relationship between Dallas and Peabody continues to evolve and grow. There's a whole bunch of change in Visions, with Dallas trusting, really trusting Peabody with her darkest secret. Dallas has only told a few people about what happened to her when she was a child but because Peabody is not only her partner but her friend, she trusts her. They have come a long way since Peabody first became Dallas' assistant. The scene when Peabody is attacked and what follows are so emotional and vivid.

Peabody's desperate attempt to fight the attacker. McNab's reaction - it killed me. Even though McNab is a cop, a detective, his laid back attitude makes it hard to take him seriously. Plus, the way he gets all geeky with the electronics just detracts from the fact that he does carry a weapon and is a cop. But when he sees Peabody down - that scene totally hit me. Brilliantly written. The love he has for her and his cop instincts, all there for the reader to see and feel.

Then there's Dallas. Her reaction to Peabody being hurt is classic Dallas. She comes into the hospital, demanding to know Peabody's status. Then she sees McNab and the reader sees Dallas the cop but also Eve the concerned friend. I love how Robb wrote this - bringing out all those different emotions in the characters. The raw pain and fear they each feel, not knowing if their friend/colleague will live or die. It's an emotional read that I think advanced not only Dallas and Peabody's relationship but solidified Peabody and McNab.

The hunting of the serial killer speeds up after Peabody's attack. The ending doesn't come as a complete surprise but there is a twist that I didn't see coming and may surprise some readers. At this, the 22nd book in the series, Robb continues to write strong, versatile characters that continue to fascinate this reader.

Rating: A

The Hunger Games Mock Trailer...

Loved the book and now, TheHungerJabberJay, a fan of the trilogy has done an amazing job with this trailer. Makes me wish it was for a real movie. I'd go see it! Book 3, Mockingjay, release date is August 24.

I'm Not Here...

Today is my day at Access Romance Reader's Gab. So come on over and see what I'm gabbing about. I'll give you a hint - I'm confessing my deepest, darkest secrets. Okay, not really but I am making a confession about my reading. Stop by and make you're own confessions. :)

Car Buying Rant & Rave

I'm not a fan of car shopping. Sure, if I had an unlimited amount of money to spend it wouldn't be a problem but I like to get my limited amount of money's worth. So this weekend dh & I went car shopping, not fun but definitely not fun in the summer heat. We knew what we wanted, a small compact, low miles, 2-3 years old. We focused on Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas.

By the end of Saturday we had one possible car to buy - a Civic. But, when spending thousands of dollars you want to know that you've done due diligence and are getting the best car at the best price out there. So today we tried another dealer. Their website showed two Civics that fit our criteria. We get there and before we could get out of the car a sales person is out there waiting for us. We give him our list with the info of the two cars we want to see. He invites us inside, telling us he'll look them up and see if they still have them. We have a seat and he starts taking down our information. Not exactly comfortable with this but, okay. We finally head outside to look at some cars. The two cars on our list were both 2008, low miles (13K & 18K) and $17K & $14K. Same exact models, only difference was the miles and price.

The first car he showed us was an Accord, which is bigger than the Civic and had a lot of miles on it. He tells us the previous owner drove it to Flagstaff every day. That's like 1 1/2 hours away. We told him no. Then he showed us a Civic - a 2010 model priced at $22K. No again. Hey, another Civic, also another 2010 model at, yeah $22K. At this point I'm getting irritated. We come in, very specific with what we want and it's like he didn't listen. His manager shows up, asks how we're doing. We tell him what we're looking for. Then I ask the sales guy, "What about the two cars on the list we gave you?" His response, "Ah, here's the gray." Both cars on the list were gray. And yes, this car was a gray Civic but not one on the list. This was a 2007, which would have been fine except it had 36K miles. Too high. My guy drives 90 miles a day to work and back, he can put miles on the car just fine. :)

I ask about the two cars on the list. Where are they? Are they even out here? His response was that he'd go find out. What?! I thought that's what he was doing when we were inside at his desk and he was looking them up on his computer. Ugh! At this point I look at dh and say, I'm getting pissed, I want to go. His response - Okay. LOL He's usually very mellow but I knew he was already irritated when the guy had us inside, taking our information instead of showing us the cars. So I tell the sales guy that we're leaving. He's like, no, don't go, give me a couple minutes and I'll find the cars. Dude - we already gave you more than a couple minutes! We keep walking to our car, the sales manager guy comes out and starts after us, asking us to wait. I'm like, nope, we're done. We get in our car and the manager asks us "Didn't you see anything you liked?" So dh tells him that the guy didn't show us what we asked to see. And we left.

End of rant. Yeah!

We went back to one of the dealers from the day before and talked to Mo again - a nice salesman who wasn't pushy and showed us exactly what we asked to see. He was happy to see us back and after test driving another car, dh decided he liked the one he drove the day before. We started the massive amounts of paperwork and dh now has a new-to-us Civic. And now I'm wanting a newer car. I've got my eye on a red Honda CRV. But that will have to wait a couple of years. At least now I know where to go first!

Review: Instant Temptation

Instant Temptation
Jill Shalvis
Contemporary Romance
Wilder Adventures/Book 3
Kensington/April 2010
Library Book

From the back cover ~

Get Your Pulse Racing

To Harley, the landscape around Wishful, California, is exhilarating, untamed, and more than a little dangerous. The same could be said for T.J. Wilder, who's invited himself along on her trek to study a rare coyote. Harley's career is riding on this trip, and she doesn't need a stubborn, incredibly sexy distraction. But T.J. is a professional guide who knows when to stay back and when to provide invaluable expertise--just like he's done since they were in high school.

And Harley, as usual, is torn between throttling him and giving in to the raw attraction that's been smoldering all these years. T.J. knows how proud and capable Harley is, but he's damned sure not letting her put herself at risk when there are illegal hunters in the area. She needs him, with the same soul-stirring urgency that he's always craved her. And here, in this beautiful place days from civilization, he'll finally have a chance to prove it--over and over again. . .

I liked what little we saw of TJ in the two previous books so I have been looking forward to reading his story. Harley is also a character that we got a glimpse of before and I liked the idea of Harley and TJ together. It turns out they worked really good together.

Harley is one of those characters I could see myself being friends with if she existed in RL. She's easy to get to know and like. She does have some blind spots when it comes to her family. Her parents are good parents, they love their two daughters, but they're not exactly responsible when it comes to money and bills. They have come to rely on Harley to help them out. Same thing with Harley's sister, Skye. I don't have a problem with helping family and friends out now and then but with Harley it got to be a habit that was seriously affecting her life in the form of her bills not getting paid. This and Harley having a crush on TJ for years and not telling him are her two weakest traits. But I did like her in spite of those things.

TJ is the oldest of the Wilder brothers. I think the word remote describes him well. He's not cold but he keeps to himself, which is fairly easy since he's gone so much. TJ has a tragedy in his past that he hasn't gotten over. It's clouding his perception of what's really important to him - namely Harley. There were times that, like TJ's brothers, I just wanted to bash him over the head. Don't you just love it when characters make you want to do bodily harm to them? LOL Aside from the whole head bashing thing, I really, really, liked TJ. He's a bit gruff but he has this incredible soft side that you see when he's with his family and Harley. He knows there's chemistry between them, he doesn't deny it, but he's convinced himself that he doesn't do long term relationships. He's just not around enough. Of course his logic if flawed because he could be around more if he wanted to. Run away TJ, run away.

TJ's not the only one who's running away. Harley has been working hard and now it's payoff time. She's going for a permanent job in Colorado. She's convinced herself it's what she wants and what would be best for her. Then she spends some time alone with TJ in the wild and is drawn by the beauty of the outdoors. And the hot, sexy guide that is TJ. :) Harley's always loved being outside but doesn't see herself making a living at it.

Harley + TJ = lots of outdoor sex, indoor sex and pretty much anywhere they could find some alone time. Shalvis knows how to write it hot and adds in a bit of humor. The romance is sweet, funny and heartbreaking. I love these two together! They fit so well, everyone knew it, even Harley and TJ but Harley wanted long term and TJ didn't. It takes a swift kick in the pants for both of them to realize what they really want. It was fun seeing how they got to that nearly elusive HEA, traveling over all those bumps along the way.

I have to mention the other members of the Wilder family. First, there's TJ's two younger brothers - Stone and Cam. Loved the teasing, joking, playfulness of the three brothers. They may give each other a hard time but it's all done in love. Tough love a lot of the time but the love is still there. Then there's Annie and Nick. Annie is the aunt of the three boys who took them in a helped raise them when she was very young. Nick is a good friend to the brothers and Annie's husband. They're a cute couple. It's definitely a family story with the main focus on the romance. A really good end to the Wilder brothers.

Rating: A-

ETA: My reviews for books 1 & 2

Instant Attraction
Instant Gratification

TBR Challenge Review: Shadowlight

Shadowlight
Lynn Viehl
Paranormal Romance
Kyndred/Book 1
Onyx/October 2009
Purchased

From the back cover ~

With just one touch, Jessa Bellamy can see anyone's darkest secrets, thanks to whoever tampered with her genes. What she doesn't know is that a biotech company called GenHance has discovered her talent and intends to kill her and harvest her priceless DNA.Gaven Matthias is forced to abduct Jessa himself so he can protect her, but Jessa has a hard time believing the one man whose secrets she can-t read. As a monstrous assassin closes in and forces them to run, Jessa will have to find another way to discover if Matthias is her greatest ally-or her deadliest enemy.

This month I picked a book that I bought when it first came out last fall. It hasn't been on the pile for that long but it's one that I wanted to get to soon since the second book just came out. I enjoyed Viehl's Darkyn vampire series so I was intrigued by her spin-off series about human's with special powers. This month's suggested challenge theme was "unusual professions or not your usual setting". I think this could fit that. The hero's profession is not something he could put on a resumé - I'd say it falls in the unusual category. :)

The story has a few flashbacks, which I'm not a fan of, but they do add to the plot and explain character motivation. I didn't find it too distracting, so I was okay with them. Little bits and pieces are unveiled to the reader as the story progresses. Sometimes this worked but sometimes it left me wishing I had some confirmation on what I thought was going on.

Jessa Bellamy runs a company specializing in background checks. She has a unique ability she utilizes in her work. It's that ability that GenHance wants and will do anything to get. Jessa finds herself running from an enemy, saved by a man who wants her to trust him. She only knows what he tells her but her instincts are telling her to trust him. Jessa is smart and a survivor. I liked how she didn't hide in the corner but used her brain, trying to outwit Matthias. She's thrown into stressful situations, her life in danger but she didn't completely panic, although she had her moments but she's allowed. She didn't resort to tears but used logic and reason when dealing with Matthias.

Gaven Matthias is hard man to describe. He's not a typical 21st century alpha hero. He doesn't play games but is very serious. Sometimes I wasn't sure if he knew how to be playful. English is not his native language so it was fun to see him try to understand the some of the slang that came his way. He's a very focused man - focused on his mission even when Jessa proves to be a distraction. He wasn't an easy man to know. He doesn't open to Jessa easily, telling her very little about himself.

The romance between Jessa and Matthias was just okay. I never felt I completely connected with either one of them. I liked certain things about each of them but it was from a distance for the most part. I do wish their backgrounds had been revealed sooner and that Jessa and Matthias could have moved on from there. I found I liked the internal dialogue of the villain and the action scenes more than the romance.

An added bonus is the appearance of my favorite couple from Viehl's Darkyn series - Lucan and Samantha. They show up to extradite a convict and start investigation the horrible murders because of the brutality and the possibility that the murderer might be Darkyn.

So, while I wasn't blown away, Shadowlight proved to be a decent start to the series. The second book, Dreamveil, is about the secondary character Rowan. She's intriguing - I'm not sure what to make of her so I'll be reading her book to find out more. Curious to see her story unfold.

Rating: B

Review: Texas Tangle

Texas Tangle
Leah Braemel
Contemporary Erotic Romance (m/f/m)
Carina Press/June 2010
Ebook from Publisher/NetGalley

From the Publisher's Website ~

Thanks to her cheating ex-husband and her thieving brother, all horse breeder Nikki Kimball has left is a bruised heart, an overdrawn bank account and an empty home. When sex-on-legs Dillon Barnett and his brooding foster-brother Brett Anderson start showing more than just neighborly attention, Nikki is intrigued...and a little gun-shy.

Dillon and Brett have a history; back in high school, the two friends fought a bitter battle over Nikki. Now, ten years later, Brett still longs to be the man in Nikki's life, but he's determined to stand back and let Dillon win Nikki's heart.

Society says Nikki must choose between the two men she loves. Is Nikki strong enough to break all the rules in order to find happiness?

Nikki Kimball has been on the receiving end of a heck of a lot of bad luck lately. She finally divorced her loser husband and now her lazy ass brother, Phil, is keeping her couch warm. She's a hard working rancher that's nearing exhaustion. When she comes home to find she's been robbed, she's thankful to have the friendship of Dillon Barnett and Brett Anderson. Until it's safe to go home, Nikki stays at Dillon's house so they can keep an eye on her.

Right off, I liked Nikki. She's open with her feelings and you pretty much know where you stand with her. She has made some poor decisions. The first one was in the form of her ex-husband. She married him when she found herself in circumstances that took over her life and left her with nowhere to turn except to her loser ex. Then she got rid of him and took on her druggie brother. One thing I will say for Nikki is that she's loyal and doesn't like to give up. But she does have a limit to how much she will put up with and she finally reaches that limit.

Dillon has wanted Nikki for years. He's happy that they're friends but he wants more and has a plan to take things to the next level. You can see right off that Dillon genuinely cares for Nikki, that it's not all about the sex. They've been friends for a long time so they have that history to build on. I liked Dillon and even the fact that he used whatever means possible to win Nikki over. He wasn't devious, just relentless.

Brett has had a thing for Nikki for years. They got a little hot and heavy one night 10 years ago in high school, then Nikki married the loser and Brett left for college. Now that Nikki seems to be within reach Brett has been making himself available to her. Nikki sees him as only a good friend. When it becomes obvious that things have gone farther than friendship between Dillon and Nikki, Brett decides to keep his distance and tries to bow out gracefully. He doesn't want to take a chance at loosing his adoptive family. But Dillon has other plans.

I liked how Dillon, Nikki and Brett talked about what would happen if they lived openly in a committed ménage. They talked about not only how it would affect them, their livelihoods and their position in the community but also how their families would react. Since Nikki isn't close to her family it was mainly Dillon and Brett's family they were concerned with. I was a little surprised at how well Dillon and Brett's family, specifically their mom, took the news. It's not always easy to pull off a committed ménage. Often one of the trio tends to feel like an extra - the one that was almost an afterthought. With Dillon, Nikki and Brett, in the end it doesn't feel like that at all. They feel complete, with no one being more important than the other.

Rating: B+

Review: Pieces of Sky

Pieces of Sky
Kaki Warner
Western Historical Romance
(New Mexico Territory/1869)
Blood Rose Trilogy/Book 1
Berkley Trade/January 2010
Library Book

From the back cover ~

On a stagecoach traveling through New Mexico Territory, Jessica Thornton is a long way from the cool mists and lush gardens of her native England. An authoress and milliner, she carries the weight of a scandalous secret-a horrible shame that has brought her to the West on a desperate search for the only family she can trust: her brother.

No one prepared Jessica for the heat and the hardships. And no one prepared her for a man like Brady Wilkins. For, despite the rancher's rough-hewn appearance and her own misgivings, Jessica must put her life in his hands after their stagecoach crashes. And she begins to see the man behind the callused hands and caustic wit. A man strong enough to carve out a home in the wilderness, brave enough to fight for his own, and passionate enough to restore her faith in herself-and in her heart.

This book got some good buzz when it first came out and since I like westerns I knew it would make it into my reading pile. At times it's a very gritty, realistic view of life on America's western frontier. Even thought it takes place shortly after the end of the American Civil War there is little influence from the aftermath of the war. It certainly would have had a different feel to it had it taken place "back east". The majority of the story is set in and around the ranch RosaRoja. This huge ranch belongs to the Wilkins family comprising of three brothers - Brady, Hank and Jack. And yes, all three will have a book, Hank's story, Open Country, is out now. But this is Brady's story. He's the oldest and the one that everyone looks up to. He takes on all the responsibilities of the ranch and the people who live there.

The story opens with Brady Wilkins and a soon-to-be dead horse. What better way to open a western than with a cowboy and his horse? I just wish the horse didn't have to die but it does give a realistic view of how harsh the west was, and still is. Brady must make his way to the nearest Overland stage stop on foot. It's there he meets an English lady complete with umbrella. Once he gets his breath back, Brady finds Jessica an oddity that fascinates him. She obviously doesn't belong in the rugged environment of the territory but here she is and Brady finds he enjoys poking at her oh so proper views of manners and behavior. She makes him laugh which is always a good start to a relationship.

Jessica Thornton is running away. She does have a destination in mind - her brother. She only has to find him which is proving to be far more difficult than she anticipated. Jessica comes from a proper, if quiet, English background. With her parents dead, her sister and her sister's children are her only family. A horrendous and devastating ordeal happens and Jessica must run. When she runs into Brady Wilkins it's another shock among many that she has had since arriving in 'the Colonies" as she refers to the United States. Jessica is a classic Englishwoman with set preconceived ideas of America and the colonials who inhabit it. What I did like was that she didn't suddenly become "Pioneer woman" and take immediately to life on the ranch. It was a learning experience for Jessica that started with Brady and continued with his brothers and ranch family. Jessica doesn't always do the right thing either but she doesn't have any major TSTL moments so that was in her favor.

Jessica and Brady together, while not the perfect couple, fit in a jagged sort of way. Neither made what I could call a stellar first impression on the other but they did that odd mating dance that so many do when opposites attract. The story takes place over many months, a year maybe, so there is time for that relationship to grow and become more than the physical attraction that each feel for the other. One main problem they had was seeing past their differences in terms of where they come from and where they belong. Brady was far from an English gentleman and Jessica, while she did well on the ranch, Brady still saw as an English lady. I liked how the author showed this side of them, the whole not thinking they will measure up to the other's expectations. That no matter what they do, it wouldn't be enough. This was more on Brady's part than Jessica's. Brady even pulled a major alpha male moment that pissed me off. Yeah, I get why he did it - he thought he was doing the right thing but still, I thought Brady should have had more faith in Jessica.

There are many hardships that both Brady and Jessica face, one in the form of an old enemy of Brady's. This part of the story was done, classic western rancher vs. outlaw. There were also Brady's two brothers that I found interesting. Hank, the middle brother is portrayed as the big, strong, silent type. Liked him a bunch and have requested his book from the library. Jack, the youngest and most volatile of the three, got on my nerves. Good thing his book is third because he has some growing up to do. I really didn't care for his immaturity and found myself wishing he would follow through with his desire to leave the ranch.

There is a secondary story line related to the old enemy that adds a bit of drama to the overall story but I'm really not sure where it's going or if it's going anywhere. What I liked most was the western feel to the story and Brady. Yep, another book where the hero made the story for me. I did like Jessica but she felt a bit faded when compared to Brady. I like that she brought out this playful side of a very serious man. You got the impression that didn't have much time to be less than serious so when Jessica came along and made him laugh, it was like seeing another side to him. But she still came off as a fairly typical Englishwoman transplanted to the American west.

Overall, a good, solid read with a wonderful hero and a love story that left me satisfied and wanting to read more from this author.

Rating: B+

Pieces of Sky
Open Country
Chasing the Sun (January 2011)

Cars, Purses and Vampire Love?

It's a lazy Saturday here. It's hot as, well, the desert in the summer. :) I've been searching for cars online (dh needs a new-used car) and they all started to look the same, probably because I was looking at the same type of cars. Anyway, I'm still searching but it will probably be either another Corolla or a Honda Civic. He drives about 85-90 miles a day to work and back so he needs a car with good gas mileage. His only requests are A/C and cruise control. He's easy to please. :)

I decided to take a break from looking at cars and started looking at purses and wallets. Found this purse and this one. And this wallet. I have two Fossil purses and wallet that I love! I started using backpack style purses when the boys were babies. A lot easier to keep out of the way when you're trying to shop with two little ones, a double stroller, toys and diaper bag in tow. Now that they're older, I've been looking at other styles. One thing that is a must is an outside pocket for my keys. I hate digging around for my keys.

Then got bored with that and went looking at e-books. I started at B&N and sorted by lowest price. I did find Susan Grant's Star trilogy(Star King, Star Prince, Star Princess) for $1.71 each which is a great price, except that I have those on the tbr pile. Then I hit the jackpot!

Some say the vampire craze is dying off. I say No Way! Not when there are still amazing vampire stories like The Cat The Canary and The Vampire to tell. And the cover - it speaks to me in ways you can not imagine.

From L&L Dreamspell Website ~

Sex, Murder, and a Crazy Cat Show.... Synchronicity--a Dangerous Love Connection....

Sexy celebrity author Andrew Augustine's book promotional tour was almost over. His last stop--Houston, Texas--the Gladstone Hotel's Mind and Body Conference. No ordinary man--Andrew was an immortal vampire--constantly on the prowl, always seeking a replacement for his long lost soul mate Samantha.

Devastated from yet another break-up, Valerie Stevenson thought she'd never find her 'Mr. Right.' Hopping into her blue sports car with her award winning Selkirk Rex cat, she headed for the Fall Frolic cat show at Houston's Gladstone Hotel. No idea she was driving into her future--with danger around every curve.

In the middle of everything, Chester the cat took center stage--at the cat show, a jewel heist--even in Valerie's secret relationship with a tall dark handsome mystery man. Playing around with a vampire was like playing with fire. Would Valerie's reckless desire lead to her own destruction?

I actually like the blurb - it sounds like it could be a decent read but that cover - OMG! It looks like a DIY cover with Jim Carey sportin' fake fangs. But... if you do like the cover - guess what? There's merchandise! T-shirts, hats, mugs, bags, even a bib. And a thong. Yep, tempting, I know. :)

I did buy an e-book, no, not the one above. I got Jade Tiger by Jenn Reese. It sounds good - different, which I like.

So, how's your weekend going? Any good reads lately?