Tag: good reads

Books, funny, great reads, Mystery, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance

“The Librarian’s Vampire Assistant” by: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Les

Hello Everyone!

Yes, we all know I love Mimi Jean stories. This one is no different, maybe a smidge more serious, but very entertaining none the less. Okay, here we go…

We have 400 hundred year old vampire Michael here searching for his maker’s killer. He wanders into a library for a moment and meets Miriam. She thinks he is there for a job, and he figures he has some time to spare and goes with it. There is something about her that pulls him to her. She is in trouble, and he decides to help her. By doing so he sends himself down an unfamiliar path he can’t control and isn’t sure he wants to be on.

Miriam is a Liberian. She isn’t all that likable, but then again you don’t know much about her. I feel like I should have gotten more info about her. I know more about Michael’s assistant Lula than the girl is is drawn to and trying to protect.

There is kidnapping, blackmail, and some weird old vampire. This is a mystery, but is still funny, and a little sarcastic. It’s also a bit of a cliffhanger.

I will be reading the second book in this series!

Go check it out!

Peace,

Les

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

“Shelby” by: Katie Murphy

Les

35438429Hey Everyone! I have to say first,  this is a  book that I have waited for since the first little snippet I got to read a year or so ago.  I was intrigued, and wanted more. I got it and it is great! So here we go!! I am excited, aren’t you? Well you should be! Ha!

Enter Shelby, the Secretary of State’s daughter. She is the complete socialite. She has an assistant, stylist, maids, money, and is one of the most unlikable characters I have ever met. Her father calls in a favor with a friend to be her bodyguard. He is Jesse, and he is likable, down to earth and hot! Shelby treats him poorly and tries to play games with him, but then again she plays games with everyone, including her douch-tacular fiancée Jack. She thinks it’s so funny when Jack treats Jesse like the mere paid staff, so like crap.  Okay, so its obvious I do not like a few characters in this story.

Then, you realize Shelby has no real friends, her fiancée is cheating, and when a tragic accident happens she loses everything, except Jesse’s vow to protect her. He continues to do so, and she eventually has an epiphany. She realizes how meaningless her life was. Now there are people trying to kill her and she sees that she needs to actually live life, and do something meaningful. She had to go into hiding and Jesse’s reputation was ruined, because people assumed he was to blame for her being missing. You would think after she changed her behavior and mind I would start to like her. NOPE! NOT AT ALL!

I’ll tell you why I still don’t like her. She is better, but she is still kind of dumb and blind. How can she just dismiss Jesse, or just pull unassuming people into her crazy paparazzi and dangerous world without warning, just because she likes them. To me she is still selfish. She can’t just be herself, like that isn’t good enough.

Okay, we know I won’t give away any spoilers, but I will say that I really did enjoy this book. Anyone who knows me, knows I usually hate the girls, unless they are awesome. This book is written in different point of views, and has a cliffhanger!

WHY KATIE?!?!?! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WITH JESSE!!

Seriously, I may be a little delirious, but go read it! Let me know what you think.

Peace,

Les

 

Books, fantasy, great reads, indie author, Reviews, scifi, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Ferromancer by Becca Andre

Karen

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I really loved this cover so when this book was recommended to me and I found it on KU I thought, why not? Here’s what it’s all about…

Solutions aren’t always black and white—sometimes they come in shades of iron gray.

Captain Bridget “Briar” Rose wants for nothing. Each day is a new adventure, living the life she loves, running cargo on the Ohio & Erie Canal. That is, until her cousin decides to sell the family boat to finance a new business venture. He wants to build locomotives for the railroad—the very industry that could put the entire canal system out of business.

Not one to give up without a fight, Briar does a little snooping into her cousin’s new business partner. When she gets a sneak peek at the locomotive plans, she suspects that the man is either a genius, or a ferromancer—one of the dreaded metal mages of Europe’s industrial revolution.

Determined to reveal her suspicions, Briar takes the plans and heads for the newspaper office in Columbus, stealing the family boat in the process. Kidnapping her cousin’s handsome business partner wasn’t part of the plan, but when he shows up, demanding the return of his property, she can’t let him go. After all, if Briar can prove that the railroad is using ferromancy, she could save more than her boat. She could save her way of life.

I’m going to break this into three parts, the world building, the characters, and the story.

First the world, I really liked it, steampunk for me can be confusing and I don’t like it sometimes, in fact I don’t even know if I would consider this steampunk probably more of a fantasy to be honest. I understood the concept, liked the world and started to follow along pretty quickly. Check.

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The characters. I didn’t like Briar, though she did get better, I dislike lead characters who can break any rules and are almost shocked when they have to face consequences. I also didn’t like the way she treated Grayson for most of the beginning of the book, without and real proof that she should. She stole from him and when he came to get his property she kidnapped him, blaming him! I had a hard time forgiving her. That’s a lie, I never did forgive her, she continued to do as she please to the detriment of others. Speaking of the others, I liked them and really helped me enjoy the book. So the characters where at times great and a times annoying.

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The story. Without giving too much away I found it interesting. I found the end fell a little flat for me but I found the flow wasn’t too fast or slow and I stayed entertained.

Bottom line, I got thus book free with KU (I think it’s $1 if you want to buy it) and I don’t regret it, it was a fun read.

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Books, fantasy, great reads, Reviews, scifi, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Vicious by V.E. Scwab

Karen

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I got this book about 6-8 months ago for $1.99 because I like the author and it sounded cool but for some reason I never read it. Well I have now and I have things to say. Let’s be orderly people! First the blurb:

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

 

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WHY DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS BOOK EARLIER?!?! I only blame myself since I owned it and it still took me months to actually read it. It was amazing! It was complex, confusing and at times downright infuriating but all in a good way. Let us discuss.

This book follows two college roommates that basically make X-Men by following a formula from Flatliners. I know that sounds like I should hate I but I don’t, because the characters are so strong. This book is the definition of antihero, there are moments where you want to cheer for the wrong side, neither side, or you’re not sure if there are even sides.

Then there is the story telling. There is this weird time jumping, which at first I found very disconcerting but the more invested I became I more it just drove the anticipation for me. I’ve read books like that before but I rarely end up being sold on it. I did feel like this book needed a follow up, I just wanted a touch more and when I went online everyone talked about a promised second book but this is from 2013 and VE Schwab has written other series since then. But do not dispare, last week I got a notice about this..

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So this book is not only amazing as a stand alone but it will finally have its sequel. This ones a keeper.