Tag: contemporary

Books, Reviews, Romance

Winter’s Heat by Cristin Harber

debra

This is the first book in the Titan Series and the first book I have read by this author.

The Blurb: After putting her life on the line to protect classified intelligence, military psychologist Mia Kensington is on a cross-country road trip from hell with an intrusive save-the-day hero. Uninterested in his white knight act, she’d rather take her chances without the ruggedly handsome, cold-blooded operative who boasts an alpha complex and too many guns.

Colby Winters, an elite member of The Titan Group, has a single objective on his black ops mission: recover a document important to national security. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out operation. But now, by any means necessary becomes a survival mantra when he faces off with a stunning woman he can’t leave behind.

When Titan’s safe houses are compromised, Colby stashes Mia at his home, exposing his secret—he’s the adoptive father of an orphaned baby girl. Too soon, danger arrives and Mia lands in the hands of a sadistic cartel king with a taste for torture. As hours bleed into fear-drenched days, Colby races across the globe and through a firestorm of bullets to save the woman he can’t live without.

What worked for me: The action scenes. I thought they were written fairly well. The action scenes were fast-paced and reminded me of what I would expect to see in a special ops story. There were enough in the book to keep me reading.

What didn’t work for me: I felt the book was rushed throughout the story. My first issue involved the whole insta-love thing. Insta-attraction: sure. Insta-love: not so much. The next thing was that if one of my clients told me if they died then I needed to retrieve a package in their place, my response would be “NO”. I would call the police–not go get the package! The other thing that did not work for me was that Colby (because of the whole insta-love thing) wanted to protect Mia (fine), but at the time he had known her not even a full day (even though they had already hooked up after only 4 hours), and he didn’t really know her part fully in the whole special ops escapade that went sour. Yet, he took her to his home to protect her where his infant daughter lived! These three things were too out of the box for me.

I think if perhaps the book had been extended some (only 262 pages), these issues could have been fleshed out more and the book stronger. The story was not bad–it would have been fine–just needed more oomph to it and some additional details, I think.

Happy Reading,

Debra

 

Books, indie author, Out of the Box Blogs, Reviews, scifi, Urban Fantasy

The Pre-Review

Karen

I have a conundrum. I hate pre-reviews. You know the reviews that people put up on books before they are released. The 5 star ratings that say “I CAN’T WAIT!!!” with unicorns and rainbows, but they haven’t actually read the book yet. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. They make me so crazy for these top three reasons:

  1. They dilute any real ARC reviews. If I’m looking at reviews to purchase a book, I can’t trust the rating because who knows how many 5 stars are just people that are excited to get a book. The ARC readers could be rating it 5 stars but now the true average is skewed.
  2. It hurts the authors and publishers. They tend to get alot of likes, so they are at the top. This is a problem because when I’m looking for an actual review, all I find is…OMG when am I going to get this book!!!! and not anything with substance. After awhile I get sick of shifting through them all and sometimes just give up. The sad part is after a book comes out, some of these 5 stars will get changed to lower ratings once the book is read.
  3. They use the likes later for a real review. You see people like those “I can’t wait reviews” because neither can they. And they can build up to a 100 likes in a year. But here is the twisted part, the reviewer can then edit it to a real review and keep the likes automatically becoming a top review, without any work (or sometimes without a good review) because they keep those likes. Then they get more for the actual review, it’s like getting double points, or let’s just call a spade a spade it’s like cheating.

But here is my problem, you have sites like Amazon that “fixed” this problem by just not allowing reviews of any book before its release. Now when I go to review any ARC I receive I can’t put a review on Amazon. I always intend to go back, but you know what they say about good intentions.

So which way is better, let anyone review anytime or only allow reviews once the book is released to stop all the 5 star previews that haven’t read? Les suggested giving the ARC readers a code to allow them to review, but who would we get the code from and would you need  one for every site? I don’t know the solution or which way is better, frankly I see pros and cons in both system but you guys always have the best feedback so I figured I’d put it out there and see what you have to say…

Books, great reads, Out of the Box Blogs, Reviews

Happy Pants Cafe by: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Les

Well just look at the name. I have to admit I love Mimi Jean Pamfiloff books. I read one book and I was done for. I love the way she writes, and the story lines.

Ok, so two reporters are at a wedding of a famous movie star, where no press is allowed. They are both trying to get an exclusive with the bride and things turn into a disaster. Albeit, a hilarious one, but a disaster none the less.

After being kicked out of the wedding, Harper convinces her editor that she has a better story. She is going to find out the story behind the happy pants café, where all these celebrities are meeting their husbands.

She arrives in town and the line is down the street for the café. She then bumps into the Austin (the other reporter from the wedding). They argue and of course things get out of hand. There are arrests, community service, cookies, parties, crazy people, always crazy people, a farm and a sheriff that just wants them gone. People are getting fired and others getting offers, however nothing is as it seems at the Happy Pants Café.

They get into so much trouble together, it is amazing. As per my usual Harper gets on my nerves sometimes. I won’t tell you anymore. You need to read it for yourself. It is hilarious, crazy, and you won’t want to put it down. I think I read this story in one day.

I told you there were some books I wish I had found sooner, and this is one of them.

Give it a chance, you won’t be disappointed.

Peace,

Les

Books, Out of the Box Blogs, Reviews

Ebooks Part II

debra

This is Part II of “My Love/Hate of Ebooks” blog.  I enjoyed the other discussion and I hope to get your thoughts on this part of the “rant” as well.

I love my ebooks.  I like being able to take my reader with me and have a lot of books available.  I am sometimes a mood reader or I want to re-read a favorite book so the reader solves that problem for me.

My problem with ebooks besides the ones outlined in Part I of this article is the pricing of them.  Why are ebooks priced similarly to printed books?  I have even seen on the site I buy ebooks from that some books I have been interested in are a  few pennies higher than the printed book.  This is illogical to me.  I have had someone explain the mechanics of ebooks to me (this person is in the know on this subject).  I also have my own common sense to base this on.  If all that is needed is the master copy of the book, and there are not the customary costs of a printed book (paper, ink, shipping, etc.), then why are they the same or more than a printed book?  I certainly want the author to make what they deserve for the enjoyment they give to us with their stories.  I also want the companies selling the books to make the profits due them.  They keep people employed and this is critical.  It just seems that ebook pricing is out of line with production.

My other problem with ebooks is that for many of them, especially new books or books by well-known authors, they cannot be loaned.  My mother and I would loan books to each other of authors we enjoyed in common.  One of us would buy the book and the other read it also.  I also do this with my aunt and a friend who is reading the same series that I am.  Now, everybody does this.  It is also a way of introducing friends/family to new authors that they have not yet read.  You simply cannot do this with a lot of ebooks.  My question is why not?  What is the difference in doing this and checking out a book at a public library (which I support whole-heartedly).  I will often go to our public library and check out books and place a hold on new releases especially.  I have also oftentimes gotten an ebook downloaded from our public library.  Why is this different from me wanting to share an ebook with a friend.  I realize it is so the publisher can get more sales, but again loaning a book can often open up more sales in the long run if we convert a reader to a new author.

Again, I love ebooks and I realize the industry is forming and some of this may be “growing pains” with a new industry—I just feel the ebook industry has some work to do to improve itself.  These are just a few ramblings about problems I see.

Happy Reading,

Debra