Monday, October 29, 2012

Review ~ Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh


Goodreads Synopsis ~

Reluctant tabloid photographer Jayne Sullivan is on assignment: find an elusive wood sculptor and get the first pictures of the hottest new superstar in the art world. An anonymous tip sends her to rural Maine, where she is stranded by a snow storm. But instead of the reclusive artist, Jayne finds a sexy, mysterious handyman. An attack on Jayne sets off a violent spree that stirs up terrible memories for Jayne. Is the angry artist trying to protect his privacy? Or is someone else stalking her? She is certain of only one thing. Nothing is what it seems. Both the hot handyman and his hometown have secrets. As if Jayne didn’t have enough of her own.

Reed Kimball is tired of death. Since his wife’s murder five years ago, the former homicide detective just wants to be left alone, far away from the media publicity that nearly destroyed him. But the local police chief wants Reed’s help with the bizarre murder of a college student in which the killer left an ancient Celtic coin under the remains. As if his life isn’t in enough turmoil, Reed is stunned by his attraction to a gorgeous, overly curious photographer. When Jayne is attacked, Reed is torn. His hidden past is far too scandalous to risk exposure. Isolated by the blizzard, Jayne and Reed wish temptation was the only peril that faces them. But Jayne’s assailant isn’t finished with her yet—and his desires are darker that anyone could imagine.

My Review ~ 

What is it about Maine?  It kind of reminds me of Alaska, how all these crazy, violent crimes happen in these rural, hard to reach areas.  I watched Stephen King’s IT last night and that was Maine too!  That whole feeling of being trapped in the middle of nowhere with no way to get help… *shivers*  I hate that feeling, and this book is full of it.  Jayne can’t seem to get anywhere.  I would be stealing the nearest snowmobile and getting the hell out of that town!

Of course, Jayne has suffered violence in the past, so she has trained herself to deal with it.  Really she’s pretty smart.  I envy her that.  I do need to know something though.  What is it with mentally handicapped handy men or inn keepers or whatever?  I’m currently reading Nightwatcher’s and it has a handicapped maintenance man.  I think Midnight Exposure is a compilation of all the scary things I am uncomfortable with and are used to distract us from the obvious villians.  Unless of course they actually ARE the villians, and if that is the case they are not being very original.  I just had to put that out there because it just seemed to be such a coincidence that this characteristic is used in so many books.

I really liked the hero and heroine in this book.  Jayne is the tough, kick-ass lead role and Reed is not the kind of guy that feels threatened by that.  He wants to protect her, but is just as likely to hand her the gun and let her help him protect her.  Their relationship worked very well, I think.  Their relationship kind of progressed in a pretty short time period.

Now, the meat of the story, the crime that is terrorizing this small town with only a chief and a deputy for protection.  That could be why all these creepy things happen in small, out of the way towns, they do not have enough personnel.  Anyway, I had a hard time trying to relate the purpose of Jayne’s character on the story.  The villain spends all this time chasing her down, but there is not a lot of emphasis on the actual motive he has for her.  I mean, I can understand the purpose in a way, but the villain had his plan in place before Jayne stumbled into town, why she became so important to his plan was my question.  The clues eventually start leading in the direction and you have a pretty good idea about three quarter’s through who the bad guy is.  There is, however, a neat little twist at the end that will leave you kind of, I don’t know, puzzled maybe… I don’t know, I was kind of like “where the hell did that come from”.

All in all, not a bad story.  I have spent the time trying to figure out whether it was this book, or my burnout from a read-a-thon that made it drag on the way it did.  Since I do not normally read this genre, except for a select few authors, I don’t really have much to judge it on.   I think I will give it a 3.5 out of 5, for a couple of reasons.  First, I don’t understand the whole playing it up that the innkeeper’s son was slow.  It didn’t tie into the story at all except to pretty much say he was.  Why would you even put that in there if you were not going to use it for some reason.  Also, the ending.  I am still kind of stunned on how the villain comes out.  Don’t let me dissuade you though, I do not regret reading it, I just didn’t “love” it like I do my KarinSlaughter novels.

So, onto my next thriller, then I am treating myself with the next (next for me) Immortals AfterDark.  Can’t wait!

Have you read Midnight Exposure?  What did you think?

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sunday Post Edition 2


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

In Review~

Good morning all!  It's been a long week.  Not so much reading done this week.  A lot of sleeping though.  Haven't been feeling the best so I've been taking it pretty easy.  I did get to finish Midnight Exposure and the Ugly Duchess.  I have discovered that I should not listen to historical romances on audio.  I also discovered that the Ugly Duchess just wasn't for me.  I'm not going to review it.  The hero and heroine in that book near drove me to drink and think I'm better off not spending too much time thinking about it.  Midnight Exposure might be a better fit to review, so I may do that this weekend.



Coming Up~

So I've gone ahead and started my next two books.  For my audible, I chose Evil At Heart by Chelsea Cain.  I have read the first two in the series, Heartsick and Sweetheart.  Heartsick was a book club read, but it being a series, I have just had to continue on.  At first I wasn't to sure about reading the next one, but I have heard too many times that sometimes book one is not a good indicator of a series, so I went on to book two.  I'm not "in love" with it, but it has me curious, so I'll continue on.
I've also started Nightwatchers by Wendi Corsi Staub.  I've only just started so I really don't have an opinion either way.  I have three more books on my TBR that are for club reads, so I probably should have grabbed one of those instead of the Chelsea Cain books I guess.  I need to learn to read faster!  That TBR pile just keeps rising but it is taking me awhile to get it down.
Let's see if I can set a goal and stick to it!  This week I will review Midnight Exposure.  I haven't been able to read much of my paranormal so my reviews have slowed down.  I will get some of these thrillers added in to switch it up a little bit.  I also have finishing BOTH of these books by mid-week so I can get Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole in.  It is almost like my dessert after some heavy reads!  YUM!


I hope everyone has a good week!  Happy Reading!
Tanya

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Sunday Post Edition 1


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

In Review~
Last weekend was the Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon, and really, I found myself kind of burnt out on reading.  Seriously!  I couldn't believe it either.  I am blaming it on the overdose, but it also could be that I am in the middle of a couple of books that are outside of my normal reading genre.  They are not giving me the motivation to pick up the kindle whenever I have the chance.  

I went to a new F2F book club this week and it was awesome.  I absolutely love meeting new people who share the love of reading like I do.  I also met a new author that writes Paranormal Romance.  I just have to add her to my TBR pile!  A big shout out to Addison Fox!




So my current reads/listens that I'm about halfway through now are The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James and Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh.  Midnight Exposure is actually on Amazon for $3.99 so pick it up if you can.

Coming Up~
I'm hoping to be done with The Ugly Duchess and Midnight Exposure by mid-week.  I might review them even though they are not of the paranormal genre.  They are both F2F book club reads.  The club meeting for Midnight Exposure was last week so I am a bit behind.  Next up in my TBR pile is Nightwatcher by Wendy Corsi Staub.  It is a book club read.  We are picking books by authors who will be in attendance at Readers and 'Ritas next month.  I also want to try and squeeze in The Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole.  I am working my way through her Immortals After Dark series.




I hope everyone has a great week!  Drop me a note and let me know what is on your reading plate for the week!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Read - A - Thon Update 1


Hi Everyone!  It seems that I have outlasted the battery on my Kindle and I decided to give the poor thing a chance to recover before diving back in.  

I was a little late getting started.  I didn't actually sit down to get started until 7:30am.  I read until 9:30 when I had to take my family to get groceries.  I returned at 1 and got started again.  Now it is 5:30 and I have gotten in 6.5 hours in total.  The break near drove me nuts.  I was so wanting to get back to my book!  

Now I will show you the status of my book, but I ask that all viewers please refrain from commenting on how slow a reader I am.


I am off to check on some other participants while this Kindle takes it's break.

Happy Reading Everyone!

24 Hour Read A Thon Hour 1



Ok, Ok, for those of you calling me on it.  It is 7:30 and I am late getting out of the gate.  Wonderful way to start, but for some reason the power keeps going out on my Keurig and it takes water forever to heat up.

Anyway, here is the introductory meme to post:


Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

My Answers:
1)I am reading in Denton, TX USA today.
2)I am looking forward to my first one, Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole.
3)I am looking forward to my Raisinets, but am going to hold them off until this afternoon!
4)I am 38, married with two grown up kids (16 & 19) that just do not understand my reading addiction!
5)I did not participate in the last read-a-thon, this will be my first

Can't wait to get started, will keep you posted on my progress!


Friday, October 12, 2012

Dewey's 24-Hour Read-A-Thon




It's a memorable event guys, I'm doing my first read-a-thon!  This is the Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-Thon.  It's starting in only a few mere hours, at 7am central time.  Earlier than I get up during the week, but  I'm so excited I think I can even manage doing that.  I will probably need to get really serious about my diet after the amount of snacks I have planned.  I will have to sneak in about 2 hours for grocery shopping tomorrow, but I have cleared everything else from the schedule so that I'm all set.  I have already started Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole.  I'm about 4% in, but it is my first read for the day.  After that I have a few in the pile but I think I'm going to go with either Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh or Nightwatcher by Wendy Corsi Staub.  Those are two assigned books for book clubs so I would like to get them read as soon as I can.  I know that there are more Immortals After Dark to come after Kiss of a Demon King, and I don't know if I will be able to hold myself back from buying the next installment.  No.  I have to be firm and at least get Midnight Exposure read.  That book club meeting is this week and I haven't read the other selection either so I have to get up to speed.


I will be taking a few minutes here and there to update my progress here on my blog so make sure to stop by, see how I'm making out and leave a comment here and there with some encouragement.  I will also be making some quick stops along other participant's blogs to leave a little encouragement myself.  This is going to be a lot of fun!
Watch tomorrow morning for my opening post!  Happy Reading!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Review ~ Take It Like a Vamp by Candace Havens

Goodreads Synopsis:  Vampire Nick Christos might have been born in the Middle Ages, but those days seem tame compared to the last eight years spent ruling the Supernatural Council. The only respite in his long days of governing is with his sweet neighbor Casey Meyers. Sure, he’s forced to take a cold shower after every encounter, but no way will he risk anything more with a human. Not with his blood thirsty ex on the prowl and out to ruin Nick’s life.

But when said crazy ex shows up at the ball and flies her freak flag high, Nick has more to worry about than keeping his hands off his neighbor. He’ll have to stay closer than ever if he hopes to keep her alive, but will she want to leave him forever when she learns the truth?

My Review:  This was a read for my bookclub, so it was a book I don't think I would have found on my own.  I do like to read about my vamps and other supernatural characters, but I hadn't heard much buzz on this one.  One big plus to a book club.  

I really liked Casey's character.  She is witty and fun.  She doesn't seem to take herself too seriously.  She's not the perfect Barbie doll and I love that about some heroines.  I like the kick-ass heroines too

Nick is Casey's neighbor and best friend.  He's helped her through some of life's bumps.  Both characters secretly want each other but keep their relationship to friendship, unsure of what the other truly wants, and in Nick's case, what the fallout of his secrets would bring.  He does now want to lose Casey's friendship, and feels he will if she knew what he truly was.

With a little help and encouragement from some friends, Nick decides to take Casey on a "date".  He is in a time crunch to find himself a mate and really needs it to look like he is actively trying.  Problem occurs when an old flame has her eyes set on that "mate" position.  

Casey's life is now in danger and it's up to Nick to protect her and keep her from learning all the truths of his world.

I thought Take it Like a Vamp was a cute, campy, quick read.  Did I already say I liked Casey?  I haven't researched this yet, but would love to see this come up as a series and the next book focus on Linc.  Linc is Nick's best friend.  A hot, protective, hot, (and did I say hot??) character that is not afraid to stick up to his friend and give him some well needed advice.

I gave Take it Like a Vamp a 4 star rating because it was so fun.  You will want to pick it up ASAP on Kindle as it is priced at just $2.99 right now.  Awesome deal!  Click below to download it.  If there is a sequel, I can guarantee I will pick it up.




Comment your thoughts on this book, I would love to hear how you felt about it!
Happy reading mon ami!
Tanya