Rainy Day Reader

     I loved this book.  I'm sad that it is over.  It didn't have a cliffhanger per se but the way it ended left me wanting more!  The closest comparison I have would be the Charley Davidson series, which is one of my favorites.  Grateful wasn't as funny as Charley but there are some similarities there.  I can honestly say that I couldn't guess what would happen next through almost the entire book.  Except the part with the ghost Logan... I figured that one out but thought I was wrong.  Who can argue with a hunky ghost hanging around? 

     The main characters in this book are Grateful and Rick.  There's also the aforementioned ghost Logan and another ghost Prudence.  Then there's Grateful's best friend Michelle.   Grateful has to move into this house because her ex took all of her money.  The house ends up being haunted.  Rick is Grateful's new neighbor who she has an instant connection with but is afraid to end up screwed over by yet another man.  It doesn't help that the ghost Logan has a crush on her either.  Lots of fun!  My favorite parts of the book were with Rick.  I liked Grateful's connection to him and think that in addition to being super hot he's also very sweet.  Michelle was hilarious, especially her concept of the "blonde paradox."

     The Ghost and the Graveyard is the first book in the Knight Games series.  The second book came out this September.  It is called Kick the Candle.  I am looking forward to reading this book and finding out what happens next.  I'm hoping Grateful gets with Rick and they kick lots of ass together.  I liked Genevieve Jack's writing style, it was a fun read and I look forward to reading more of her books.

Favorite Quotes:

"Well that was a relief said no one after seeing a ghost, ever!"

"That's why they call it falling in love.  You fall.  It's an uncontrollable act of gravity that has nothing to do with choice and everything to do with fate."

"What the hell is the blonde paradox?"
"I'm blonde, right?  And sort of look like Barbie.  Well, that attracts men because their caveman brain thinks I'm more fertile.  But then they assume I'm stupid due to societal stereotypes about blondes and ironically become less intelligent in my presence.  It's like my looks are toxic to a healthy relationship."

Author: Daryl Devore
Genre: Paranormal Romance; Erotica
Source: Kindle Freebie
229 pages

 I'm not sure how I managed to pick 2 books in a row where a woman hears a voice in her head.  I just finished Accidentally in Love With... A God before this.  Both books start out with the woman hearing a disembodied voice.  This book takes it a bit further though.  Think Anne Rice's Taltos.  If you haven't read that book before there's like ghost sex in it.  At least in the beginning this was similar.  The sex was very hot throughout the book and the storyline was really good.  It had some extremely funny moments as well.  Yet, for some reason I just feel meh about the book altogether.  I liked it, but did not love it.  I do love the cover though which is why I got the book in the first place.  

     So you might be wondering what is this fate deal anyway?  Well, think closer to a djinn.  Like when someone says: "let the fates decide" there are actually fates that decide for that person.  Thall is one of them.  He is the only fate that is the son of a fate and a human.  He has watched Capri through her whole life and has been fascinated by her.  When she says she'll leave the night up to the fates he decides to put his two cents in about what sex toys she should buy at a convention her friend tricks her into going to.  Capri is a workaholic who has put work before everything in her life.  She's very stubborn and set in her ways.  She stuggles with the fact that Thall isn't real because she wants a real relationship.  Thall makes a deal with the fates to allow him to be with Capri but can she pass their test?

     Overall it was a quirky and steamy read.  I just feel like it was missing something.  I would read another book by this author and I would recommend this book to a friend.

Favorite Quotes:

"I've got sex toys in my hands and a horny voice in my head.  Oh, happy day."

"Lachesis.  I know how to use a coffee maker, but this is just a jar of coffee and a kettle.  Now what?"  A youtube video flashed through his mind.

Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: NetGalley
294 pages

Written by: J. Cafesin
Genres: Psychological Thriller; Romantic Suspense

Author: Lynsay Sands

     I was looking for something to read the other day and wanted something like the Argeneau series.  When I couldn't find anything similar that I hadn't already read I decided to re-read some of my favorite books from the series.    

     This book is about Etienne Argeneau and Rachel Garrett.  Etienne is the youngest son of Marguerite Argeneau.  He makes video games.  Rachel works at a morgue.  Someone is trying to kill Etienne and he gets sent to the morgue... twice.  As with most of the Argeneau books this one is humorous and fun to read.  I always feel bad for the immortal when they are trying to figure out how to get their lifemate to accept them but it's usually pretty funny along the way.  Especially when Thomas slips them some sweet ecstasy drinks.

My favorite part is when at Lissianna's wedding Etienne tries to impress Rachel by repeating all of the big words he knows because she says she likes intelligent men.  I'd quote it as my favorite but it'd be more of an excerpt since it's like a page long.  My other favorite is when Rachel thinks she must be dreaming and decides to make Etienne star in her "wet" dream.  Hehe

Favorite Quotes:
"You are the most gorgeous corpse I've worked with."
"Really?" Etienne smiled.  No one had ever told him he was a gorgeous corpse before.

"If I had taken the time to imagine what the man I loved looked like and the qualities he would have, you would have been who I dreamed of."

Author: Dana Marie Bell

"Warning: This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, and male/male 
love scenes between two top dogs. Who knew Rock Paper Scissors could be 
such fun?"

     This is only the second m/m book that I've read.  The first was Lover at Last from the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  There was nothing in this book that made me uncomfortable and it made me wonder why I never read any m/m because I know a lot of people who do.  Dana Marie Bell made this book just as entertaining as any of her other books.  The above quote from her website made me laugh because only guys would use rock paper scissors as a precursor to sex.   

     In previous books there's been a big deal made if it's even months before mates get together.  That pales in comparison to the 9 years that  went by before Ben and Dave finally face the facts.  A few silly misunderstandings that could have been cleared up in one conversation kept them apart all that time.  This one is a tear-jerker that's for sure!  I loved it and how fun it was as well.  Ben really annoyed me at the beginning of the book but in a way his behavior is understandable.  Dave was my favorite.  I liked him in Rick and Belle's book as well.

     While I did feel that this book could have been a little longer I was happy with the way it ended.  I look forward to the next Poconos Pack book that will be released next month.  Dana Marie Bell is turning out to be one of my favorite authors.  She has a way of making her characters so realistic and funny, it keeps me coming back for more.  Especially after other books continue to disappoint.  I know I can turn to her books and get a happy ending.

Author: Dana Marie Bell

     In this book someone is hunting Cyn and her friends from the tattoo shop.  They can't figure out who it can be and more and more people keep getting hurt.  Soon the Pocono pack is involved and to keep her friends safe Cyn decides to use herself as bait.  Let's just say all hell breaks loose and the person who is hunting them is not who I thought it would be.  So there's a good bit of mystery thrown in there as well.  I really enjoyed this book and everything Julian.  Hubba hubba!  Hot bear shifters anyone?   

Author: J.J. DiBenedetto
Version: Audio
Narrator: Heather Jane Hogan

     I had a couple of preconceived ideas about this book that I am very happy that I was wrong about.  First, I thought since it's Dream Doctor that it was like 8 years after Dream Student.  It's actually only a year and a half after the first book.  Second, when reading the synopsis for the book I thought that there were going to be major relationship problems between Sara and Brian in this 
book.  I get tired of falling in love with a couple and then having the author butcher the relationship in the next book.  It just makes me feel sick while reading it.  I'm happy to say I loved this book and have absolutely no complaints!  It has even more of a mystery to it than the last book. 

     I think I learned more than I'd ever want to know about medical school in this book.  I love it when books go into the characters careers or in this case schooling.  I can't imagine that the author didn't do any research on this book because it's very thorough.  So in addition to lots of medical school and average day life as a newlywed Sara starts having her dreams again.  Everyone seems to be dreaming about one of her professors dying.  But who is the one actually trying to kill him?  Yay mystery! 

     Sara and Brian's love at first sight relationship caught my heart in the first book and it continues in this book.  It's not like boring mushy stuff, just everyday life.  Little jealousy and misunderstandings that always come with newer relationships.  In addition to that they both have overloaded schedules.  I found the mystery intriguing and everything else was icing.  I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

Favorite Quote:

"If she so much as puts a hand on him I'll cut her heart out.  I know how to do it too, I've been reading ahead.  The instructions are right there in Grant's Dissector page 75.  I think I'll mark the page with a post-it note just in case."

Author: Sharon Kay 

**Book provided by the Author through PNR NaUBA group Author/Reader Exchange**

     I loved this book.  It had so many twists and turns and surprises!  I always try to find something to compare books to for others to make it easier to decide if they'd be interested.  The closest series would have to be the Immortals After Dark... there are immortals, mostly demons... mabye the Demonica series.  It was one of those books that grabs you from the start and you just can't help but be pulled along for the ride.  There's romance, a lot of fighting and quite a bit of surprises along to way.

     We start off with Nicole and her sister Brooke.  They have some pretty awesome powers.  The book is about Nicole.  Happily there'll be a second book with Brooke.  Nicole "can manipulate air currents, make them stronger, change their direction, and cause them to move objects."  In addition to that she's a pretty bad-ass fighter.  She meets up with Gunnar and boy is that ahot meeting!    Gunnar is a Lash demon. (kinda like the demon police)  He's also a bad-ass fighter and has demonfire to boot.  Nicole thought she was just a human freak but Gunnar thinks that she is more.  He takes her to meet with all of his Lash demon buddies.  BTW I love the guys names especially Kai and Rhys.  A house full of hot demon hunks?  Hell yes!  So I don't want to give away more but let's just say there's lots of ups and downs and stuff you'd never guess at happening.  

     I thought Nicole was pretty awesome.  She was totally not conceited even though she had reason to be.  She was very cool and down to earth.  Gunnar was just hotness personified.  Their relationship itself was just hot.  I guess this could be classified as erotica but most erotica doesn't have such a good story-line so I'd hate to do that to it.  But yes, the sex scenes are pretty great.  I love books like this where meeting each other turns both of their worlds upside down.  I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to seeing what happens with Brooke in the second book.  I think this has the potential to be a great series.

     If you like hot demons, hotter sex, paranormal romance, parallel worlds and kick-ass heroines this book is for you!  

Favorite Quote:
"I'm a Lash demon."
"You? A demon?" she sputtered, sitting up fast.  She knew he let her. "But you're not-"
"Not what?"
"Not...hideous. Deformed. Scaly."
"My, you have a way with compliments,"he said dryly.  "That'll keep me going all week, knowing I'm not hideous."

Okay help me out here people.  Am I doing something wrong or do we really have to go through each thread in each of our groups and turn on notifications to see new posts?  Cuz that doesn't make much sense.  If the moderator or another member starts a new thread we'll never know about it unless we go to the group page and notice it then turn on the notifications.  Soooo confused.

     Right now I should be writing my review on Allegiant.  I'm not because I got halfway through the book and just couldn't read anymore.  I had a hard time getting that far actually.  I joked yesterday that I had "reader's block."  But then I was thinking, this isn't the first new book that this has happened to me with.  I had the same thing happen with the new Lux book Origin.  Except with that book I couldn't get through the first few pages.  I still haven't read it.  I recently reviewed Alice in Zombieland, that took me almost a year from the time I got the book until I read it!  I can understand having kindle freebies collecting dust in my iPad but new books from a series or author that I love?  It's very frustrating!

     I googled reader's block and it brought up a whole long list of results... mostly people complaining that they have it.  What makes no sense to me is that most people seem to just not be able to read any book period.  For me it seems to be only new books.  Is it the anticipation that creates the block?  It seems like perhaps I am so afraid that I will hate the book after I have looked forward to it and spent money on it that I just can't get through it.  I think after this debacle with Allegiant that I will stop pre-ordering new books!  If I can't get myself to read them until the hype is over than it's not worth it.  Now, if it was an Argeneau or Love at Stake or even a list of other books I'm sure I could have read it.  I just don't understand my own mind.

     The number of new books that I have been unable to read until months later seems to be growing.  If there is a ray of sunshine to every cloudy day (even if I am Rainy Dayz hehe) I'd like to find my ray of sunshine here.  Perhaps I'm better off exploring new authors and expanding the genres that I read.  I keep beating myself up over not reading these books, and it's not helping anything.  Luckily I'll have some motivation for that since I'm participating in the clean your e-reader challenge next month.  I've already started working on my list of books.  That should keep me busy for November.  For December I'm thinking of doing nothing but Christmasy type books... we'll see how that goes.
     

After waiting what seems like forever for this book I can't get past 45%! I've heard of writer's block... I guess I have reader's block. *pout* I was really looking forward to reading it too.

Author: Gena Showalter

  Let me start by saying that Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series is one of my all time favorites.  I'm also a big fan of the spinoff series Angels of the Dark.  I keep meaning to read the Intertwined series but haven't.  The funny part about that is I actually have 2 of the books from that series but not the first so I have never read them!

     I have no idea why it took so long for me to read this book.  I was totally jazzed for it the second I saw it in the bookstore.  Not only was it by one of my favorite authors but it also involved zombies!  I am a huge zombie fan.  I was a little shocked when I read some of the reviews for this book before I started it.  It seems that a lot of people expected it to be based on Alice in Wonderland.  Also, there was quite a bit of critisim over the use of a different kind of zombie.  I have always been a fan of authors who differentiate themselves by choosing to come up with something unique.  Anyone can base something on the regular ole zombies and an apocolipse.  But it takes a lot of forethought into coming up with something new and creative like Gena Showalter did in this book.  I say good for you and go on with your bad self!  It seems to have worked because I have been seeing tons of reviews for the sequel Through the Zombieglass. 

     So this book is about Alice.  She loses her whole family in a tragic accident and goes to live with her grandparents.  Can I just say that her grandparents use of slang was absolutely hilarious?  For example when Pops says "get all up in her biznez."  LMAO!  Alice meets her best friend Kat shortly after her family dies.  If you like Anya in Lords of the Underworld then you'll love Kat.  Of course I have to mention Cole as well.  I expected more of a relationship with Cole from some of the reviews.  I'm wondering if it blossoms more in the next book.  I liked Alice and her friends.  Alice blames herself for her family's death.  I blame her parents for not sharing everything with Alice and her sister Emma.  If they wouldn't have waited, if they wouldn't have thought they were too young it might have convinced them and saved them all. 

     Zombies!  I do luv me some zombies.  As I mentioned before this book's version of zombies is very different.  They're more like ghosts in a way but not really.  Gosh, describing them is difficult.  The zombies are only seen by some people.  They live on a spiritual plane and they crave basically lifeforce.  Their darkness is drawn to the light in people.  If someone is infected and dies they become one of these zombies. Whew!  I hope I did a good enough job describing them!  I loved the chapter titles.  My favorite was: Hungry... Need Brains... Will Have Yours. 

My favorite Quotes:
"It's an endless cycle, like a mouse running inside a barbed wheel, bleeding and dying as those sharp tips dig deeper, with no way to stop the lethal momentum."

Author: J.J. DiBenedetto

     I can sum my first thoughts on this book up in one word: unfortunate.  Why?  Because it is unfortunate that this book has such a goofy cover and it's unfortunate that it has such a boring name.  Even the series name is unfortunate: Dreams.  I was thinking mabye "dreamwalker" would be better, lol.  I am positive with a new cover and name this series would bemuch more popular.  The premise is interesting.  Sarah keeps finding herself in other peoples dreams.  She meets a guy at a club that she happened to see a dream that he had of her.  She dreams about a serial killer and has nightmares every night.  The dates at the beginning of each chapter are annoying.  The book spans from 1989-1990.  I thought it was a goal to make a book timeless?  If I was in a bookstore and flipped through a book with old dates on it I wouldn't buy it thinking it was old, but this is not so it's confusing.  I feel it's a shame because I really loved the book.

     I recieved the audio version of this book for review.  It was narrated by Heather Jane Hogan.  I don't think that I have listened to anything narrated by her before.  She had such a soft spoken sweet sounding voice that she put me to sleep 2 nights in a row!  I'm not complaining, that's great news for an insomniac, hehe.  She did a great job with the different voices and I'd listen to other books narrated by her again.

     I like Sarah and I like her roommate Beth.  They're both very believable characters.  The romance with Brian was excellent.  He's a total sweetheart and for once I believe in love at first sight.  As far as the dreams and serial killer part goes I found it really interesting and it made me think of like the Criminal Minds show.  I was shocked to learn from the author that he didn't do any research on serial killers or criminal profiling for this book.  I really thought he had.  I found some of the dreams absolutely hilarious.  The Sean Connery dream is the best!  I'm curious to see what happens in the next book and how much time has gone by.  Especially after that ending!  Luckily I'll be reviewing that book too!  I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation. 


Favorite Quotes:

"He looked at me like I was the only woman in the world worth looking at."

Author: Ryan J. Alls

**Book provided by author in return for an honest review.**

     I'm not sure where I would classify this book.  I wouldn't really think of it as young adult, most fantasy isn't considered YA, and they are 20 years old.  It's YA if you would consider Rand, Matt and Perrin from the Wheel of Time YA.  It's hard to classify it as fantasy either, it does take place in another world Kismet, but the use of American slang like "cool" confuses that.  I suppose I'll just say it's in a class all its own.  

     The use of proper English in this book takes some getting used to.  I guess I'm just acclimated to using contractions most of the time.  But at the same time the grammar is atrocious.  I don't usually mention this in reviews but it was such a deal-breaker for me with this book.  Things like use instead of used, passed instead of past and site instead of sight I found so often that it messed with my enjoyment of the book.  But as my husband tells me he would never notice those mistakes if he was reading it.  I am just super picky.  For the target age group... they won't even be bothered I'm sure.

     When I first read the synopsis of this book I thought it was going to be something like Ender's Game.  I was wrong about that.  I'm sure it will make you laugh but my best comparison is Hunger Games meets Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire meets Pokemon.  Yes, I did say Pokemon.  Why?  Because they shout out their attacks and unfortunately what pops into my head was Pokemon battles!  But they have Trials to the death instead of battles.  The audience at the Trials make no sense.  They're horrified by a severed arm but cheer at decapitation?  Jude has it right when he says: "Barbaric.  That's someone's child or friend."  But hey the funerals were beautiful!

     When reading the synopsis you also get the impression that the book is about Eli alone.  There are several other viewpoints.  There is Jude, Jed, Bishop and Fox.  I like Jude and Jed.  Eli is clueless.  One look from a pretty girl and he forgets everyone.  Even when he's matched up against his friend Zane in the Trials he is clueless considering he is now an opponent.  Sia who he likes is like a walking contradiction.  I like you but I don't want you near me, he's barely spoken to her but forgets everyone else because of her?  I loved Jude.  If this book was all Jude I would have finished it in a couple days.  I lost interest because of Eli.

     The story takes place in a village where the people worship the three gods.  It starts when Jude and Eli are old enough to go to the academy to train to become agents and work for their government.  It seems that anyone that is of the three bloodlines goes to academy.  The bloodlines are combat specialist, weapons master and magi.  The combat specialist is the coolest in my opinion.  They can inject themselves with a vial and become an animal.  In his battle Jude becomes a huge spider.  Did I mention I have arachnophobia?  Talk about heebie jeebies!  The combat specialists can summon any weapon that they have ever held, including a barrage of arrows.  Very cool.  Eli is a weapons master.  Magi are kind of confusing.  I guess it would be like a mage type character.  Sia is a magi.  There's also Pang.  He is an outsider and he uses blood magic.  Kinda creepy.

     The fight scenes were awesome and very gory.  The romance between Eli and Sia was exasperating.  Everything involving Jude or Jed was great.  Fox and Bishop annoyed me but you don't have much of their viewpoint so that's good.  Altogether this book made me laugh and it made me cry.  It made me like one character so much I swore I would throw the book across the room if they died.  Any book that can make you feel so strongly is a good book.  It would have been a 4 star book if it wasn't for the grammar.  

Favorite Quotes:

"Only fools do not fear the inevitable domination of wooden dummies." -Pang

"Trust me.  I have been a predator for a few years now.  I know what looks appetizing and what doesn't" -Jed