Sunday, November 27, 2011

Review Mania!!!

Hello Beauties,

I made it through the first leg of the holiday season and am prepping for the next half as we speak (or I write and you read, but you get the point). I've been quite the busy bee lately and getting sick during Thanksgiving was a good time to let myself sit back and relax. I even detached my phone from my hand long enough to enjoy some of the books that have been languishing on my TBR list. Because I love you all so much I thought I'd help with you acquiring more for your reading wish lists and do reviews of the books I burned through and few that I've been waiting to tell you all about. They aren't in any particular order except awesomeness;)

Billy London


Said the Demon to Little Miss Eva

Okay, this one is going way back but if I was going to do reviews I had to put it in because it's what inspired me to do my Halloween extravaganza. I loved to be scared but not in that purely jumping out of the bushes and taking me by surprise kind of scared. No I mean the bump in the night that is under your bed kind of scared. Ms. London did such a terrific job of accomplishing this that I had to carry around my cat for protection when I went to pee in the middle of the night. What also made this a stellar horror genre story were the characters. When it all came together toward the end I wept a bit and sighed a sigh of contentment...and still checked under my bed as well.

Put Out the Zombie 
I'm having a fan girl moment if you haven't noticed with Ms. London's lovely little creeper stories. Like the previous story, I read this during my holy month (October) and was awed by how a Zombie could actually be sexy. In the horror genre they are my least favorite because I've never found them that scary. If a clean shot to the head or a good case of explosives can get the job done and get me to safety I'm not getting all that worked up. What I appreciated about this story was this wasn't about Zombie's as I'm familiar. Actually, I felt the "zombie" idea was seamlessly infused into a greater paranormal story line that allowed me to focus once again on the characters. Yes there is a theme here when reading a Billy London book, great characters.



Elle D. Hayes

Wynter's Blossom

In all honesty I really struggled to pick this story up. Even the idea of a red haired character couldn't move me past my fear of reading something that was going to have me doing my ugly cry but I persevered and did it and I couldn't have been happier. One of the romance tropes I detest for creating a strong heroine is excessive victimization. Authors will take a female character and drop her in the dessert after being beaten by a marauding band of outlaws and than have a lightening bolt set her on fire and the whole time have the heroine saying, "Why does this keep happening to me" until she meets the hero and he makes it all better. Ugh...I want to see hardship and I want to see growth but I don't want to have either of those housed exclusively in the heroine or hero's character. Ms. Hayes does a great job of taking a story line that could have had me excessively despondent or excessively pissed but instead left me feeling hopeful. Which I think is the greatest gift a author can give to a reader.

Marteeka Karland

One Night Forever
I like being surprised only if it's fun and I have to say Ms.Karland surprised me in a big way with this one. If you know Marteeka's work you know the woman brings the sizzle, I'm actually blushing right now thinking about some of that sizzle, and while this story had the sizzle factor it also had heart. More specifically heart of a reality that many women can only experience in fantasy. I appreciated how she created a character that was not only given lemons but the entire orchard and helped her build a lemonade conglomeration. It is short, it is sweet and it does have a sexy part that made me blush (I mean it is Marteeka). It did what it needed to do and made me happy, with the way my week was going, that was all I needed.


Nevea Lane


Ronni's Romanian
If I were to get one of those "Get out of jail free" cards and have one night to go buck wild with no repercussions, Nevea Lane would be the person I call up. The stories I've read about some of her ummm...escapades...makes me shake my head and go, "That really can't be possible". It's nice to know that art of story telling crosses over when she's also writing about fiction. This story had family strife, a strong heroine, and my favorite, a foreign Hottie McHottie. If I can picture the hero purring sexy things in my ear with an accent...done. With how crazy my schedule is I cherish fun quick reads such as these.




RW Shannon

Hells Angels
 Okay, I'm going to share something but you guys can't laugh...stories set in Hell or with Demons freak me out. A story with vampires...pfft...or with were creatures...no problem...even zombies, monsters, or creepy crawlies...I've got a handle on it. Hell and Demons, I just hear my grandmother's voice saying something like, "Little girl, you better leave that stuff alone." I was pleasantly surprised that when I gave it a chance Ms. Shannon created a story that had the Demon/Hell element but the mythology of the story kept me in my safe zone and I could focus on the characters. I think that was most unique about it because if you are a person that wants to explore another facet of the paranormal genre but had the voice of your grandmother whispering in your ear give it a try. Oh, and did I mention there was some major hotness in it, because there are three of them, angelic hotness at that.

Nikki Winter


Sweet Allure
This is the next installment in a growing list of laugh out loud funny stories set on ranches in Texas. I like sharp wit and slightly psychotic heroines (crazy funny not just crazy) and once again this story has it. This story was a nice bridge for me into the holiday madness that is inevitable when celebrations have to be split between two families. I giggled and I ahhhed and most of all I'm really thinking Sig Other needs to get a Stetson because...well I kinda want to play cowboy and cowgirl now...smirk.





Drea Riley and Nikki Winter


Talking Dirty
I really dont' know if this needs a review besides, this was hilarious and you should own it. I love inappropriate humor and a good inside joke. Even though this story came out of one of the best inside jokes in the BTP family I don't think a reader that hasn't gotten the back story will miss out. This is also one of my favorite types of stories, a thin line between love and hate, with the cross over happening because of the bam-shig-a-bow-bow. Strong heroine and sexy hero and I was in giggle mania heaven. Can't wait to see what else the twinsies have in store for us.