Tag: fantasy

Books, great reads, Reviews

Fighting Dirty by Lori Foster

debra

Ms. Foster is one of my favorite go-to authors.  I love her writing.  You see her characters as real people that you just can’t help but grow to care about.

We finally have the story for Armie and Rissy and Ms. Foster does not disappoint! Fighting Dirty is the fourth and final installment of her Ultimate Series.  This series follows the lives of several fighters in the SBC, a fictional ultimate fighting company. In many series, I think there is one character that seems to capture the imagination and affection of the readers and all of us wait for that character’s book.  In Ms. Foster’s Ultimate Series that character is Armie.   I, along with a lot of her readers, have been fascinated by Armie from the very beginning. We have seen small snippets of their story throughout the prior books in this series.  He is a character with a dark secret in his past, an uninhibited outlook on physical relationships and he absolutely has a heart of gold towards people he cares about.  He has been in love with Rissy for years, yet he never admitted it and never pursued her due to his belief that he wasn’t the right man for her.  Rissy is the little sister of Cannon Colter (the hero from No Limits), Armie’s best friend who has stood by him through everything—including Armie’s past.  That alone made Rissy off limits for him.  Coupled with the fact that Rissy is a “good girl” in Armie’s book, he knows that they will never have a future.  What he did not count on was Rissy herself and her views on things.  Rissy loves Armie just as he is and accepts him for who he is.  I was glad that Armie shared his secret with Rissy early on and I thought her acceptance of Armie was a well-written scene.  Rissy is a strong female lead and a great match for Armie.  There is also a suspense plotline ranging from a bank robbery where Armie saves everyone to an attack on one of the characters just to keep things  interesting.

I loved this story.  Both Armie and Rissy are great characters and the chemistry between them is smokin’ hot yet there is also a sense of sweetness about them.  You actually root for these characters to make it.  This story also has some nice humor in it.  I also enjoyed seeing the characters from the previous books  in this book. I have always enjoyed Ms. Foster’s dialogue in her stories.  The dialogue is believable and well-written.  I hate to see this series end but am always looking forward to the next series she writes.

I received an ARC of Fighting Dirty in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Reading,

Debra

 

 

Books, great reads, Reviews, scifi, Urban Fantasy

Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

Karen

magic stars 2

I received an ARC of this book from the author…and all I can say is wow! I loved it! I am a fan of the Kate Daniels series so I was actually excited to buy this book come the end of December, but thanks to the Andrews team I got to read it early. So lets talk about it.

Blurb: Derek Gaunt has no family and few friends. Scarred, solitary, he is the lone wolf who separated from his pack. When those close to him are murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through magic-drenched Atlanta.

Soon Julie Olsen joins him and what begins as revenge turns into the race to save the city. Their search puts them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.

Review: I love this world, so for me this was icing on the cake. The awesome part is that it doesn’t have the throw away feel like most novellas do. This had solid world building, so if you’re not familiar with Kate Daniels (If you love UF this series is a must read) then you could still picture the post-shift Atlanta. Also being it Derek’s mind was a refreshing twist, one I didn’t expect, and the moments when he was talking to Julie were right on point for both of their characters. The story was interesting too, not too complicated with the shortness of the book, yet not immediately revealing, making you want to read more. If I could give future writers advice (and I really shouldn’t since I’m not one myself, but think of this purely from a readers standpoint) this is a great example of how, no matter how long your story is, fundamentals are key. This story had a clear beginning, middle and end but still left me with questions, making me hungry for the next book.

Great read and I highly recommend it, though it’s not available yet, mark your calendars for this book. Remember end of December, grab a copy you won’t regret it.

Books, great reads, Reviews

Blood Kiss by JR Ward

Karen

Oh hello there stranger…its been awhile. When Les and I started this blog the conversation literally went like this. Les: “Wanna start a blog?”  Me:”OK” not any real planning. So when we both hit our busy season at work, you all got neglected. Sorry about that, but lets talk books okay?

blood kiss

Whoa. Okay let’s do this properly, blurb, review, and then some randomness. But before we start I have a confession, I love the Warden (not thinking about the Bourbon Kings) and have been a fan for a while. So when she announced a spin off of the BDB I was naturally curious (or excitingly counting down, you decide). Okay now you know mentally how I went into this we can start.

Blurb: Paradise, blooded daughter of the king’s First Advisor, is ready to break free from the restrictive life of an aristocratic female. Her strategy? Join the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training center program and learn to fight for herself, think for herself…be herself. It’s a good plan, until everything goes wrong. The schooling is unfathomably difficult, the other recruits feel more like enemies than allies, and it’s very clear that the Brother in charge, Butch O’Neal, a.k.a. the Dhestroyer, is having serious problems in his own life.

And that’s before she falls in love with a fellow classmate. Craeg, a common civilian, is nothing her father would ever want for her, but everything she could ask for in a male. As an act of violence threatens to tear apart the entire program, and the erotic pull between them grows irresistible, Paradise is tested in ways she never anticipated—and left wondering whether she’s strong enough to claim her own power…on the field, and off.

The Review: I really liked this book. I didn’t fall over dead because of its awesomeness, but part of that I think was me. It’s important to understand that only half of the book is about Craeg and Paradise, the other half is a revisit on Butch and Marissa’s relationship. I devoured every page that Craeg, Paradise or any of the recruit were on. I found their relationship well crafted, interesting, and frankly hot, hot, hot. And the whole training aspect of this book, awesome. I’m eager to hear more from Peyton, Axe, Novo and Boone. It’s nice to get a little fresh blood in this series.

My favorite part is that this book reminded me why I love JR Ward. It was scorching right from go, the story didn’t feel one dimensional, and I laughed out loud more than once. I was reading at stop lights at one point I was so engaged. So why not a 5 star review? I think this was because I never really fell in love with the Butch and Marissa thing making me wish sometimes that the book was just about Craeg and Paradise. I didn’t want them to have to share a book. It’s not necessarily that I have anything against revisits, I love The King and can’t wait for The Beast, I just found them a bit boring compared to the rest of the book. This is why I feel like that’s just my problem, I tried to originally skip Butch’s book and go straight to V’s (which you can’t, you really have to read Butch’s book first) so I’ve always been a little rushed with them. If you like Butch and Marissa, then you’ll love this book. Even if you don’t, like me, you’ll still find the rest of the story engaging.

Overall I have to say this was a blow out of the water bounce back for Ward, it reminded me why I love her so. I have stopped buying the books after #9 but this is a purchase for me. And it makes me want to reread the series, which is always a good thing. This is a must read for any Warden fan but even if you don’t know JR Ward (sorry what rock have you been sleeping under?) you should still give this read a go.

Books, indie author, Out of the Box Blogs

Do $$$ Effect How We Rate?

Karen

I just finished Time Heist by Anthony Vicino. It’s been on my TBR for awhile, and I got it on sale for $0.99 so it was a steal. I like Anthony’s writing, sometimes a bit overelaborate, I’ll give you an example at one point the helicopter thingy (not his words) is crashing and the windshield cracks. This is what Tom the main character thinks Asphyxiation on account of too much air felt too paradoxical a way to die. Though, in the end, I suppose breathing eventually does us all. I was thinking what would have summed it up better? Oh shit. But that’s me, not a writer. And there are times when the clarity of Anthony’s writing is just stunning to me. Tom is addicted to a drug called Quick Sliver. There is a moment when he is detoxing in the middle of the, well everything honestly, and he really doesn’t have time for it (yeah that’s a pun, time) so his partner gives him a hit. It’s then he thinks this...I pitied the living. The dead were my idols. This drug was my god. I read that and thought Anthony you talented s.o.b.

But that’s not what I’m really talking about, what I do want to know is this, I gave this book 4 stars because for $1 it was quite good. In fact if I liked the ending I would have given it 5 stars and written glowing reviews to high heaven everywhere I could think of. But what if the book cost $7 or $8? Now if the ending was different I would have gone with 4 stars, but if not 2-3 stars. And that got me thinking, should my reviews have price factored in? Is that fair, especially if your dealing with a published author who has no control over the price? I do it because I think I was always raised that, the more you pay for it, the higher standard it must adhere to. But is this a proper additude to have in my book reviewing? I’m feel like it’s almost unconscious for me but I’m curious to hear others thoughts on the matter.