Author Archives: Dee

Here Kitty, Kitty! by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to admit after reading the first book in the series, I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue…it was good, but not great, but i’m so glad I did…the second book was better than the first and the third the best in the series. This one finishes up the stories of the trio – Sara, Miki and Angie with Angie getting her HEA with her tiget, Nikolai. I felt sorry for Angie because she felt so out of place with her parents, and yet her interactions with Sara and Miki definately proved that you can have family that are not blood.

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Eye of the Red Tsar: A Novel of Suspense by Sam Eastland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Russian history has always been an area that interested me, especially the time around the 1917 revolution and then into rise of Communism. So when I saw a book set around that time period, I was intrigued. Pekkala was once the Special Aide to the Tsar, the only one of his kind. Following the abdication of the Tsar and their subsequent execution, he is exiled to Siberia for the rest of his days, or is he? The novel picks up over a decade following the deaths of the Tsar and his family, when Pekkala is brought back from exile to solve the mystery of the missing Romanov riches.

The mystery was intriguing and while I had a vague idea of the riches, it wasn’t confimed until the end and not in the way that I was expecting. It will be interesting to see what happens in the second book in the series.

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Drawing in the Dust by Zoe Klein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to admit, normally, books that involve religion or religious topics make me go running for the hills. Yet, the overall premise of this one was interesting, more so because of the archeology aspect than the religious aspect. Page Brookstone is a biblical archeologist, and has spent a good portion of her career conducting digs in Israel searching for biblical artifacts. She is approached by a couple who claim that their house is haunted and would like an archeologist to check it out, to her miraculous shock she makes a discovery that could change how the world perceives the events in the bible.

Page was an interesting character. She had some serious issues with the way that she acted at times, mostly because it was behavior you would expect from a teenager and not a woman in her 40’s, but at the same time, she was consistant throughout with her recklessness towards her pursuit of finding the truth. The secondary characters, Ibrahim and his wife (the Palestinian couple who approached her about doing the dig), her best friend, Jordanna (an ancient texts translator) and others contributed to the colorful and intriguing nature of the book.

I’ll definately be looking forward to more books by Rabbi Klein in the future.

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The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs And Men in a Race Against an Epidemic by Gay Salisbury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think most of us have probably seen or heard the story of Balto the dog that saved Nome during the Diptheria epidemic in the 1920’s, but do you know the real story? This is that. An interesting book about the details of the outbreak, how the decision was made to use the sled dogs (although using a plane was considering) and the transit of the men on the sleds through the weather to bring it to safety. I had heard of Balto, but seeing how much else was in the background of the story that I didn’t know about made this a great read. A lot of fascinating information about the history of Alaska, as well as what happened to the people who made up the sled relay after the treatment made it to Nome.

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The Family Affair by James Gainer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

***I won this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway***

I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical starting this book because I wasn’t sure about the whole step-son of the sister as a love interest idea, but the book turned out really good. If you are expecting a typical HEA, however, this book won’t be for you. And yet, I felt like there was closure – but I would love to see more about Jack and Rick in the future (HINT HINT!). My heart-broke for Jack as he went about the process of trying to move on after the death of a loved one and you could see him start to heal, especially after Rick came into the picture. I look forward to seeing what else this author produces in the future.

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Cold Earth by Sarah Moss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was different – its almost hard to describe. A group of 6 strangers (Nina, Ruth, Jim, Catriona, Yanni and Ben) conducting an archeological dig in Greenland when they get world of a possible epidemic that is making people ill at home. The book is told in 6 sections from the perspective of the six people, as the story progresses through their time on the dig. It was interesting as I learnt quite a bit about archeology (I don’t ever want to go on a dig now) and the characters were interesting. <spoiler>The ending left a bit to be desired in that you never really found out what the epidemic was, and that all but one of the made it home (although it wasn’t who I thought it was going to be).</spoiler> I’ll be interested to see what this author writes in the future.

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Warrior by Zoe Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Warrior is one of those books that has been so hyped up on the past year that I was scared to read it for fear of it not living up to the hype. Boy was I wrong. I loved the unique setting (Mongolia) and that Thalia the heroine was the typical TSTL heroine that you see so often in historical romances. My only comment would be that I see this shelved as steampunk on a regular basis and I don’t think that it necessarily falls under that because there aren’t the common elements that you see in steampunk (the derigables and other technological advancements – with the exception of a few inventions used by the blades). I have book 3 on the pile waiting for me, but need to get a hold of book 2.

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Burning Up by Angela Knight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of the four authors who were published in this anthology, I’d only read one prior to this (Nalini Singh), but I will definately be checking out the other three in the future.

Singh continues her psy-changling series with a changling/human pairing – Ria is a half-american-half-chinese who is being stalked by a gang that is trying to take over a section of her town, Emmett is the changling who saved her life. Wow, talk about an explosive combo – i was fanning myself a few times – loved the secondary characters (including the grandmother).

Knight pairs a vampire with a woman with magical abilities in an effort to stop a magical wall from coming down. At first I wasn’t sure about this one, but ended up enjoying it and will be seeking more books out by her in the future.

Kantra continues with her children of the sea series – this one focusing on a woman who is finfolk and how she found her love. I’ve had a book by Kantra sitting on the pile for a while and it has now been elevated slightly higher on the TBR.

Brooks introduced the characters in his Iron Duke series with this prequel. I’ve heard so much hype about this author that I was skeptical about whether I would enjoy the Iron Duke, so I didn’t buy it until trying out the series in this book – wow! this was really my introduction to the steampunk genre and I will def. be seeking out more in the future. I’ve already bought The Iron Duke and look forward to reading it.

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Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I actually finished this book up a couple of weeks ago, but it has taken me that long to process what all was included in it, as well as to be able to write about it. At first I was skeptical about this, I mean, i had watched and loved We Were Soldiers, and wasn’t sure if I wanted to read another book like that, but this surpassed all expectations. It tells the story of a company battling for Matterhorn, a mountain on the border between Vietnam and Laos. You meet 2LT Mellas, a Princeton grad who joined the Marines because it would look good on his resume, not because he actually thought about having to deploy; 1LT Fitch in charge of the company, in a position that normally goes to a CAPT and his wanting to care for his soldiers, but also deal with the higher-ups. There are a host of other characters through-out but I can’t do justice to the vividness of how all these boys, because that is what they truly were, were portrayed. The individuals who were 18 and 19 years old, some of them on 2nd tours in country; the 21 and 22 year olds, sometimes on their 3 and 4th tours – filling roles that normally would be taken by much older and experienced Marines, but those just didn’t exist anymore. And then there was LtCol. Simpson, the officer in charge of the battalion, who seemed to be in it more for the glory and making himself look good than the success of his battalion – a old Marine from previous wars, it was obvious that he shouldn’t have been in charge of the battalion with the mistakes that were being made and the decisions that were forced upon the soldiers – days of no food and water, running out of ammunition because re-supply was unavailable.

There were times while I was reading it, that I reached down to wipe the jungle rot off my hands, his portrayl was that vivid. You felt the pain of the Marines, when their fellow soldiers died, especially the more popular ones. And the undertones of the Civil Rights movement in the US and how it affected the military – the Marines who followed the teachings of the Black Panthers, who would do anything to bring attention to the cause and the senior leadership, several of whom were racist and how they dealt with the Marines. The ending blew my mind as to what happened, then it seemed to start all over again

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