Category Archives: Book Review

Catching an Evil Tail by Mary Abshire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

***This review was originally written for The Romance Reviews and can be found at the following website: http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=1505***

A soul-sucking half-demon was recruited to help a werewolf alpha deal with a serial killer, but will she be successful?

Jessie Garrett hides her ability to suck the souls of individuals she kills from her friends. Her vampire boyfriend, Drake, has gone overseas to deal with his ruling council, and her demon hockey player and sometimes former lover Jeremy has shared her secret with a pack of werewolves, who have requested her help to deal with a serial killer werewolf. What is a girl to do?

When I first requested this book, I didn’t realize that it was a second in a series and by the time I realized that, I had already started reading it. It’s always a tricky balance for an author to play, how much from a previous book should be discussed in new ones? Should there be a recap of former events, or just let the actions of the characters speak for themselves? Personally, while reading CATCHING AN EVIL TAIL, I felt a bit lost for the first third of the book and at one time, I even debated giving up and not finishing it. However, I stuck it out and around halfway through, it started improving and the story really came together.

One of the things that I always pay attention to when reading is the development of the characters and do I connect with them. Now, I know I can’t exactly connect with a half-demon (although some of the guys I work with might debate that point on occasion), but with their personality. Do I sympathize with them when stuff goes wrong? Laugh with them at jokes? Etc.

I loved the character of Jeremy, he was such as badass and yet, you felt, or at least I did, that he really did like Jessie (or was doing more than just trying to get into her bed). Jessie was a difficult character to like, but towards the end, I enjoyed her sass and it felt like she came into her own (around the time that she met up with the werewolves). By the end of the book, Jessie was a kick-ass, no-holds barred heroine who didn’t take flak from anyone, even after being attacked on multiple occasions.

The dialogue that occurred between her and Jeremy at times made me chuckle out loud – one scene that I enjoyed was Jessie getting herself drunk at the hotel one night. Jeremy to Jessie (after finding her drunk): "How did you get the bottles?" Jessie back to Jeremy: "I showed him my ass, and he sold them to me." And while Jeremy is trying to put her to bed after the drinking episode (Jessie to Jeremy): "Don’t think you’re sleeping with me. Hell will freeze over before I invite you into my bed." While I don’t remember having word for word conversations like that, I remember having experienced roommates being drunk and some of the words that come out of their mouths were similar and as equally entertaining.

However, there was a veritable cacophony of paranormal creatures making their appearance throughout the book, including but not limited to Jessie (the main character and a half-demon); her boyfriend Drake, a Vampire; Jeremy, a full-blooded demon, ice hockey player and sometimes ex-lover, and the werewolf pack that she agrees to help. On top of that, there are two witches who live in the same complex, and her and her best friend, Dani (they didn’t play a significant role in this novel, but it felt like the author was setting them up for later books); a new warlock at her place of work and her group of friends who are involved in ghost hunting. At times, it felt like the author had just gone through a dictionary of paranormal beings and decided to randomly add another one in. It will be interesting for me to go back and read the first book in the series and see if that helps me to understand any of the characters a bit more, because at times, it felt as though they were not fully fleshed out and were lacking a bit in description.

I would give the book 3 stars, in that it was an entertaining read, but it wasn’t mind-blowing. However, I am going to seek out the previous book in the series and see if that changes my opinion of the overall world building in the series.

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The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is just something about Sarah Addison Allen’s writing that makes you fall in love with reading all over again. In the Peach Keeper, her fourth book, Allen takes us back to North Carolina and to the town of Walls of Water. Paxton Osgood has been working to restore the Blue Bridge Madam, a local inn, to its former glory. Willa Jackson is, while not an outcast, one of the unique characters that show up in small Southern towns. While they grew up together and attended school together, they never truely ran in the same circles until they were grown. Now the two of them develop a friendship that will with stand the test of time.

The cast of supporting characters, Sebastian, the local dentist and once outcast; Colin, Paxton’s twin brother; Rachel, the coffee-ologist (I don’t think this is really a word, but hey it works) and their grandmothers, Agatha and Georgie make for a delightful read.

one of my favorite quotes from the book: all we have is our deep and abiding love for each other. We can’t lose that or we lose ourselves. If we don’t help each other, who will?

i can’t wait to see what Allen writes next, as she rapidly moves onto my auto-buy list.

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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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