Rebecca Warren

It took several tries to get past the first part of the book, but once I accomplished that, it was well worth the effort. The Argeneaus have a unique brand of crazy, and it is fun to watch them bumble, fumble, and rumble with the trouble that comes their way.

I'm supposed to be reading my sister-in-law's newest book right now, but I'm not in the right frame of mind for reading suspense. (Sorry, Suze!) I finally decided to scour my bookshelf for a funny, slightly ridiculous romance and landed on this book. I have to say I pretty much got what I wanted.

This book is an excellent start to a series by Karen Chance. I like Cassandra Palmer and the different antics she gets up to as she tries to navigate the various groups that are trying to control her and her powers. I look forward to reading more of the series.

One Hot Scot is a fun, fluffy frolic through the highlands. There isn't a great deal of substance, but it's an entertaining read nonetheless. Julia is a strong-willed woman, and Duncan is a kind, protective man. Whether bantering over a Chessboard or facing down an enemy, these two make a cute pair.

The second Montana Marshalls book picks up right where Knox left off. While Tate takes center stage in his struggle to protect Glo, the woman he’s fallen for, the rest of the siblings also have big parts to play. Some questions are answered but new challenges rise to face the family.

I can’t wait for Ford to see where the family saga goes next.

Night Broken is more somber than previous books in the series. Mercy is under a lot more stress, and for the most part, the pack was less than helpful in relieving that stress. A new addition to the cast looks promising for more hijinks in the future, though.

Change is in the air as Mercy and Adam embark on their married life. It will be eventful if their honeymoon is a sign of what's to come. Far from home, Mercy and Adam find themselves in trouble as the River Devil takes an interest in Mercy. It's a wild ride with plenty of danger and new allies, but I found myself missing the usual gang.

The running theme of the Mercy Thompson books is that there are consequences for everything. While recovering from the end of Iron Kissed, the events of Blood Bound come back to bite Mercy. Quite literally, given that the vampires are gunning for her this time. She's not quite back to the sass level from the first two books, but she's getting there, and I hope her mom (and her pretty pink gun) get more screen time in future books.

While still good, I did not enjoy this book as much as the first two in the series. This entry in the Mercy Thompson series has more angst and less sass than the previous two books. A large part of this heaviness is caused by the weight Mercy is feeling as Zee is accused of murder, and the love triangle she is embroiled in finds a resolution.

The Black Unicorn is a fun, action-packed jaunt through the Magic Kingdom of Landover. The motley crew is back together, and Ben has his hands full fending off the newest and oldest threat to his crown. I loved the addition of Dirk to the crew, and the humor melded well with the more poignant moments.

This book may have been written over thirty years ago, but it holds up well. Ben Holiday's crazy adventure after purchasing the throne of a fantasy kingdom, Landover, shows that some things never change, no matter what world you're in.

This book only took me a few hours to finish and is a light read. If you are looking for a clean romance set in historical Scotland, this book is worth a look.

This is a solid entry in the Dark series. New forms of old enemies emerge, and another ancient finds his lifemate.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

If you are looking for a Gothic, Regency novel like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, Beneath His Silence is worth checking out. The haunting atmosphere is captured perfectly. Unfortunately, the continuing melodrama got to me and moved it down the list of books I would revisit.

Like many anthologies, I found Naked City to be a mixed bag. Of the twenty short stories, I only liked/loved six. As a result, I would have rated this lower, except those six were well worth slogging through the others to read.

After the high of Dark Song, Dark Tarot felt like a let-down. This felt like a reunion book without it truly being a reunion. Too many locations and faces detracted from the leading pair, and I never came to like Adalasia.

The world is an interesting twist on the unexplained magical burst changing the world trope. Magic and unexpected creatures running amok sound cool. It's just a pity that the characters aren't as vibrant. Kai is either fretting about hiding the truth about her abilities or mooning over Nathan. Nathan has an interesting plot reveal, but his personality irked me. That he is quickly willing to turn his back on everything that he's been building in recent years over a possibility that something bad could happen to Kai rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not saying that his final decision was wrong, but some contemplation about any potential fallout would have been nice.

I don't think I'll be looking into any of the books in this series.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book never really drew me in. The plot is straightforward as two people from different classes and with drastically different personalities are thrust together and come to love each other. I found it hard to stay engaged due to an excessive number of adjectives, abrupt time shifts, and disappearing items.

I never really clicked with Charity. She is incredibly naive, impressionable, and helpless, especially after living in a brothel for years. It doesn't take much effort to talk her into doing anything. She never grows a backbone through the entire novella, and that was a letdown.

This novella got better as it went along, but the amount of angst never let it get better than mediocre. Several grammatical errors made me do a double-take, but the 11-year feud between the brothers sunk the story. I did enjoy the Irina storyline and her parallels to Helen.

I despised Fabian for most of this novella. His arrogance and unwillingness to let Alice talk was aggravating. He did get better towards the end of the novella, but the cliff-hanger ending annoyed me.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Abduction of Pretty Penny is the first book by Leonard Goldberg that I have read, and that may be why I struggled with this book since it is the fifth book in the series. While it was readable, I felt that I lacked background information that I should already know from how some characters and situations were introduced.

This one started well but slid downhill rather quickly. Fun and fluff turned into angst and drama. Oliver and Cerian began as a fun couple, but the angst between the two soured my enjoyment of them. Even the ending wasn’t able to save this novella from being mediocre.

I picked up this anthology for the Suzanne Enoch story. Sadly, it was the only one that I truly enjoyed.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was a mixed bag for me. The opening story was engaging, and the authors clearly put a lot of effort into building this vibrant world. Still, lacking background information, crazy tonal shifts, and shoehorned in extraneous details made it very hard to follow all the way through.