Because these blogs 'Kick-Ass'...

Given to me by Larissa

Book Addict

Because Patti helps to feed my need for contemporary romance. And she lists Jamie Fraser as one of her fictional boyfriends, respecting the fact that he is the ultimate romantic hero.

Smexy Books

'Smexy' - need I say more? Mandi introduced me to Tessa Dare, feeds my Blackdagger Brotherhood obsession and has an Edward Cullen ken doll. I repeat, need I say more?

Michelle's Book Blog

'Mailbox Monday' is genius, and totally flies in the face of the 'Boomtown Rats' - 'I don't like Monday's'? Pfft! Clearly the Rats haven't read Michelle's blog. She also let me bad-mouth Laurell K. Hamilton, which I appreciate.

Kindle Vixen

Because she understands that Rachel Caine is genius and knows how fabulous 'Morganville Vampires' is. Her blog layout is purple and divine, and gives me total blog-envy.

Welcome to Larissa's Life

Last, but certainly not least - the person who gave me my 'Kick-Ass' award. Well, I'm giving it right back... because she convinced me to start reading the 'WVMP' Jeri Smith-Ready series, is feeding my Urban Fantasy addiction by writing 'kick-ass' book reviews and understands my 'Weather Warden' obsession. She also started this 'Kick-Ass' award and created one smokin' River Tam button to represent it.

- Accept this award, add the badge above and post about it on your blog with the name (link) of the person who granted it to you.

- Name 5 Blogs you think are Kick-Ass and write why. Don't forget to let them know that you have Awarded them.

'My Favorite Mistake' by Beth KENDRICK

From the BLURB:

FIRST LOVE ISN'T FOREVER... Exhibit A: Faith's little sister, Skye, who muddled through her first divorce at the tender age of twenty-one. Faith has always provided damage control when Skye's love life gets too reminiscent of a daytime drama. But now that Faith has finally found the job, if not the man, of her dreams -- as a culinary writer, currently living la dolce vita in Italy -- she can't just jet back to small-town Minnesota to help her suddenly pregnant little sister heal her broken heart and anemic bank account.

BUT NEVER SAY NEVER! Faith has been putting off this homecoming for years, ever since her dad left her family in the lurch, her mother left her in charge of Skye, and a sub-zero case of cold feet led her to call off the engagement to her high school sweetheart, Flynn. But a return to the amber fields of grain might just be what Faith needs to gain some perspective on her past -- and figure out her future. It's been way too long since her last love...

If you liked the movie ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ this book is for you. Big city girl returns to her small hometown, fooling everyone into thinking she’s got herself figured out when in actuality she’s just as confused as she was 10 years ago. There’s even a high school sweetheart whose heart she stamped on by leaving town like a bat out of hell.

I started out really loving this book. Kendrick is really funny and she imbued the protagonist, Faith, with a biting sarcasm and quick-wit that would put those Gilmore Girls to shame. In summarising her teen-angst relationship with her high school boyfriend Flynn, Faith says they “had more issues than National Geographic”. And there’s plenty more quips where that came from.

Unfortunately, Kendrick doesn’t imbue the male protagonist with the same instant likeability. Flynn came across as very guarded and flat – he didn’t have much of a personality and lots of the chemistry between him and faith was explained by relying on their past romantic history.

At the start of the book Faith has a lot of obstacles in her way;

My foot remained firmly on the brake. “Let’s sum up, shall we? Currently, I have no money, you have no money, I’m on the brink of professional ruin, and I just drove halfway across the United States to the one place I never want to see again, all to face personal and financial humiliation with a man who hates my guts and doesn’t know I’m coming. Is that about right?”

I thought there was plenty of emotional baggage to make the plot interesting and the stakes were high enough to keep the pace moving swiftly. But certain issues get wrapped up too quickly and neatly. Faith’s biggest obstacle was mending bridges with Flynn after breaking his heart 10 years ago- but that was resolved way too easily. After an initial cold shoulder Flynn is practically panting after her. I was hoping for more angst, a little more suspense in the ‘will-they-or-won’t-they?’ stakes.

Kendrick does keep up the funny. But I was more chuckling occasionally than experiencing full-on belly laughs.

All in all this was a good book, but it could have been better if Kendrick had been willing to risk her character’s emotional upheaval and hadn’t made solving so many problems so easy.

2.5/5

'Wicked Game: WVMP Radio #1' by Jeri Smith-Ready

From the BLURB:

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they're vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara's first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WMMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station--and the link it provides to their original Life Times--the vampires would "fade," becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover becomes a matter of life and un-death.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as "WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll." In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs' vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around--next to Ciara's complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the "gimmick" enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren't so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher--and the perils graver--than any con game Ciara's ever played....

I really liked this book. I read ‘Wicked Game’ because I loved Smith-Ready’s ‘Aspect of Crow’ trilogy – which is fantasy, so when I discovered she had an Urban Fantasy series I was instantly intrigued.

Smith-Ready has written a very different vampire mythology. It is based in the real world; complete with references to Buffy & Angel, and Ciara has even been known to “scarf those trendy vampire novels like they were heroin-soaked potato chips” (so, a girl after my own heart). Smith-Ready does not glamorize her vampires, just the opposite. She has her vampires designing coping mechanisms for their immortality; they are essentially ‘stuck’ in the decade in which they were turned. Trying to force vampires into the modern age and outside their comfort zones will leave them hollow shells, alive but not living. These vampires also show signs of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder);

As modern life intrudes on a vampire’s carefully constructed reality, he or she may rebel against these feelings of powerlessness. A benign response may take the form of obsessive-compulsive behaviors, which grant the illusion of control.

It’s a very different vampire mythology than I am used to, but utterly fascinating. Vampires are not known to the public, but have been monitored by Government departments for decades. It’s quite sad, really – these vampires are essentially useless to the US Government because of the drawbacks of their immortality, and are therefore a disenfranchised segment of society. They each struggle with their own neurosis, and grapple with their tethers to the past. They struggle to keep jobs, especially jobs that allow them to live in the present but remain connected to their past. That’s why the vampires at the WMMP radio station have the perfect job; they can play all the golden oldies they like and not be suspicious for being immersed in the past.

‘Wicked Game’ does have a love story at its centre. Ciara falls for vampire-DJ Shane (whose specialty is 90’s grunge) pretty much from the get-go. It is a very sweet romance – not only is Ciara overcoming her fear of getting bit, but she’s struggling with Shane’s mental disabilities too.

Both Shane and Ciara are pretty fascinating characters. Ciara has a shady grifter background – more at ease conning people than working for them, and it’s interesting to read her try to ‘play it straight’. Shane is also fascinating; even before he was turned, Shane struggled with depression; he wasn’t miraculously cured when he became a vampire, but had to add ‘OCD’ to his plethora of problems.

I really liked ‘Wicked Game’. Smith-Ready has become a ‘must read’ author for me. I adored her ‘Aspect of Crow’ trilogy, and now I am eager to read the next 2 books in this WVMP series.

5/5

'Aspect of Crow' review

'What happens in London' by Julia Quinn

From the BLURB:

When Olivia Bevelstoke is told that her new neighbor may have killed his fiancÉe, she doesn't believe it for a second, but, still, how can she help spying on him, just to be sure? So she stakes out a spot near her bedroom window, cleverly concealed by curtains, watches, and waits . . . and discovers a most intriguing man, who is definitely up to something.

Sir Harry Valentine works for the boring branch of the War Office, translating documents vital to national security. He's not a spy, but he's had all the training, and when a gorgeous blonde begins to watch him from her window, he is instantly suspicious. But just when he decides that she's nothing more than an annoyingly nosy debutante, he discovers that she might be engaged to a foreign prince, who might be plotting against England. And when Harry is roped into spying on Olivia, he discovers that he might be falling for her himself . . .

This was so darn sweet; my teeth ached after reading (in a good way!).

This is a sequel to Quinn’s 2007 novel ‘The secret diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever’. The protagonist of ‘what happens in London’ was the best friend and sister to the two protagonists in ‘Cheever’ – in that book Olivia came across as quite flighty and ‘dumb blonde’, and I was a little dubious as to how she would hold her own. Quinn deftly addressed the issue of Olivia’s perceived stupidity with a great deal of care and compassion – turning it into an observation of women’s roles in the 1800’s.

Olivia admits that she has always been beautiful, and because of her beauty nothing has ever been expected of her – other than to act as a pretty China doll on display. And in the scenes when Olivia is out in public it is quite interesting to read her inner monologue versus the social ‘front’ she displays. Underneath her golden locks and porcelain skin, Olivia is a witty young woman entirely self-aware of her shortcomings and perceived perfections. I liked her instantly.

I also liked Sir Harry Valentine right away. He’s a very different leading man than I’m used to reading in regency romances, where rakes and cads are the preferred protagonists. Harry Valentine is a book-smart, quiet gentleman. He has moments of dashing heroics, but all in all he is not the typical Alpha male favored by romance writers – and that made him very refreshing and endearing. He’s sort of the ‘Miranda Cheever’ in this book. Where Miranda was plain looking and book-smart, compared to her dashingly handsome husband Viscount Turner; Harry Valentine is the plain-looking gentleman vying for the affections of the coveted bachelorette, Olivia Bevelstoke. It was a nice mix- up, and a welcome change of pace from the typically aggressive leading man.

The best thing about ‘what happens in London’ is the humor. I had quite a few ‘laugh out loud’ moments while reading this. Quinn makes fun of society belles, Russian princes, lurid gothic novels and much, much more. You don’t often get regency romances doubling as comedic reads – but in ‘what happens in London’ it is a two-for-one deal.

I only have 2 complaints about the book. The first is the lack of Miranda Cheever. I did love the book ‘the secret diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever’ and I appreciated that Olivia made reference to her sister-in-law and brother, but I would have loved them to make a guest appearance.

My second complaint is about the sex scene. There is only one, and it was so lacking in steaminess that I think I would have preferred there to be none at all. It didn’t do anything for me (ha!) and I just didn’t believe the spontaneous setting.

I did love this book, and I look forward to Quinn’s third novel ‘Ten things I love about you’ which is about one of the secondary (and hilarious) characters from ‘what happens in London’.

4.5/5

'It had to be you' by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

From the BLURB:

The windy city isn't quite ready for Phoebe Somerville-the trendy, outrageous and curvaceous New York knockout who has just inherited the Chicago Stars football team. And Phoebe is definitely not prepared for the Stars' head coach Dan Calebow - an Alabama-born former gridiron legend and blond barbarian.

Calebow is everything Phoebe abhors - a sexist, jock tacskmaster with a one-track mind. The beautiful new boss is everything Dan despises - a meddling bimbo whose doesn't know pigskin from a pitcher's mound, So why is he drawn to the shameless sexpot like a heat-seeking missile? And why does Dan's good ol'boy charm leave cosmpolitan Phoebe feeling awkward, tongue-tied and frightened to death?

I really, really didn’t like this book, which is a shame. I actually had really high hopes for this contemporary romance. I liked the idea of a series being based around an American football team; a chance for some great contrasting characters and Alpha men. Not the case.

I really didn’t like the main character, Phoebe. She’s a ‘poor little rich girl’ with some genuinely awful incidents in her past. For one thing, her father was an atrocious parent – wounding her self-confidence from a young age and deeming her “his only failure” in her adulthood. For another, she was raped when she was 18 and never fully recovered. In response to her traumatic first sexual experience, Phoebe uses her sexuality as armor. She is very curvaceous and a proverbial ‘pin-up’ – but she hasn’t had sex in 15 years and at 33-years-old feels like a failure as a woman. She uses her curves as a defense against men – as a way to control them but leave them wanting and never suspecting that she never intended to ‘put out’ despite what her ‘come hither’ eyes were saying.

I can understand that Phillips wanted Phoebe to be a conundrum of a character. She acts like a ‘bimbo’ but underneath she’s really a shy, sensitive young woman who uses her sensuality as a defense against men and hasn’t been sexually active in 15 years.

I don’t understand why Phoebe couldn’t have been a woman who enjoys sex. I see no problem with women owning and flaunting their sexuality – it doesn’t make them ‘sluts’ or ‘bimbos’ – it makes them women who enjoy sex. This book was written in 1994, and I suppose women have undergone a transformation since then – strong, aggressive woman aren’t pariahs thanks to characters like Samantha Jones (‘Sex and the City’) or celebrities like Angelina Jolie who own their sexuality and aren’t afraid to flaunt it. But Phoebe was a lamb in wolf’s clothing, at least by my reckoning. I think she would have been a far more interesting character if she had been the blonde bombshell the media and men made her out to be; instead of the inwardly timid, sexually-oppressed woman she actually was.

I also didn’t like Phillips handling of Phoebe’s confession to Dan about her rape. So much of Phoebe’s persona is based around that event in her life, which colored her entire sexual outlook – but Phillips didn’t write a scene. Instead, she wrote a summary, along the lines of ‘Phoebe told Dan about the rape’. After so much build-up, Phoebe’s confession should have been a cathartic scene of release; but what we get is a one-line summary of the confession. Now that’s just sloppy writing.

Dan Calebow is a terrible leading man. Phillips has written what is quite possibly the worst introduction of a romantic hero in the history of contemporary romance. We first meet Dan on his way home from a black-tie event, as he stops in at a gas station. At this gas station is a 16-year-old girl wearing a short skirt and football jersey – she comes on pretty hard to the infamous Dan Calebow and he agrees to follow her home, since her parents are away. At this point I was feeling pretty much sick to my stomach. I continued to feel queasy as Dan proceeded to have sex with this sixteen-year-old girl, and Phillips details the encounter for three pages or so…. And then it’s revealed that this girl isn’t actually 16, or a stranger to Dan. It’s actually his ex-wife, Valerie, who he divorced last year but still engages in these sexual fantasies with while the two are between partners. Okay, so the good news is the books leading man isn’t actually a pedophilic slime-bag – the bad news is, Phillips introduction of Dan Calebow is so grotesque that it colors his character for the rest of the book. I could never warm up to him. Phillips tried hard to let readers know Dan wasn’t the typical football jock, but failed dismally. I really didn’t appreciate his treatment of Phoebe, for one thing. Even after he’s discovered her sensitive side and learnt of her abusive past sexual history, Dan still refers to Phoebe as “his sweet, smart, gutsy little bimbo”. This book is pretty much one big slap in the feminist face.

The sex scenes aren’t even that hot. They’re actually pretty tame, and I don’t know if that’s because this was written in 1994 and Phillips was being a bit conservative – or if it’s because Phillips just doesn’t excel at writing erotica?

The plot of ‘It had to be you’ is also pretty atrocious. You’d think the plot would be pretty straightforward – football team tries to win the Superbowl. But Phillips (for some reason) felt the need to include a mad gunman in her book as well. A man whose steroid-taking son was kicked off the Stars team and later died in a car accident is stalking Dan Calebow, who he blames for his son’s death. In the last half of the book the gunman kidnaps Phoebe and holds her hostage at the last game of the season, threatening to kill her if Dan doesn’t throw the game. Yeah. It’s as bad as it sounds.

This book is bad. But I have heard good things about the 2nd book in the ‘Chicago Stars’ series called ‘Heaven, Texas’ – so I will give Susan Elizabeth Phillips one more chance.

1/5

'Wicked deeds on a winter's night' by Kresley COLE

From the BLURB:

Her breathless kiss haunts him...

Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed -- until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive.

His slow, hot touch is irresistible...

Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. It's rumored that no one can tempt Bowen's hardened heart, but soon passion burns between them. Though a future together is impossible, she fears he has no intention of letting her go.

No deed is too wicked for her seduction...

If they defeat the evil that surrounds them, can Mari deny Bowen when he demands her body and soul -- or will she risk everything for her fierce protector?

This is Kresley Cole’s third book in her ‘Immortals after dark’ series. We met Bowen MacRieve in the first book ‘A hunger like no other’ as Lachlain’s best friend and cousin still reeling after the death of his mate 180 years ago. Bowen and Mariketa both appeared in the second book ‘No rest for the wicked’ as players in the Hie (Amazing Race-style treasure hunt). ‘Wicked deeds on a winter’s night’ starts out by filling in the story-gaps of the second book by revisiting the Hie. The first half of the novel is set in Guatemala as Bowen, Mariketa and a handful of other Hie-players try to make their way out of the jungle.

Bowen has been a fascinating secondary character for 2 of Cole’s books now, and I was really happy to finally read his story. Before the book even begins you know that Bowen and Mariketa have a lot going against them – mainly Bowen’s still grieving over his dead mate (after 180 years!). So there is a real element of ‘will-they-or-won’t-they?’ because the emotional stakes are so high and seemingly insurmountable.

There is quite a bit of action in this book too – plenty of fights and near misses, and all set in an exotic (and dangerous) location. Cole is great at the edge-of-you-seat stuff and there’s plenty in ‘Wicked deeds’.

I was a bit conflicted about the character of Mariketa. She has an interesting background and history, and is made even more fascinating by the fact that she is the witches’ future leader. Except for the small problem of having no control over her powers and being an ‘underachiever’ (or as she calls herself, an ‘overfailer’). My problem was her similarities to Emmaline Troy (from ‘A hunger like no other’) – both are half fey (Emma is fey/vampire while Mariketa is fey/witch) and both women are contending with Alpha males who resent their attraction to the females. I felt like I’d read this story before between Emma and Lachlain.

Nevertheless, if there is one thing Kresley Cole excels at it’s steamy romance. Her sex scenes are fabulously sensual and her men are always yummy Alpha’s. Bowen is a great character – funny, cheeky, flirtatious but ultimately cautious about getting his heart broken again. Together Bowen and Mariketa make a great, funny couple;

She inwardly shook herself. “MacRieve, when I settle down it’s going to be with a male that has - oh, I don’t know - a sense of humor, or of modesty. How about a lack of scathing hatred toward witches? Maybe a zest for life? Too much to ask that he’s born in the same millennium?”

I love this series, it’s one guaranteed to please. Because the timelines between books are so close it can be a bit difficult to pick up where the action last left off – but Cole’s speedy pace means there’s never a dull moment.

3.5/5

'The Forest of Hands & Teeth' by Carrie RYAN

From the BLURB:

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future - between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

This is one of the best novels I have read all year. I loved it so much I ended up reading it in about 3 hours – I simply could not put it down.

‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ (best title ever, by the way!) picks up where so many zombie movies leave off. ‘Dawn of the Dead’ and ’28 Days Later’ all concentrate on the beginning of a zombie pandemic – the moment when everything falls apart and survivors are left to wonder at this strange new world. ‘Forest’ takes a different route – examining the aftermath of a zombie plague, years after the fact.

The main protagonist, Mary, has grown up on her mother’s stories of the ocean and buildings that reach the sky. But she has never known anything beyond the boundaries of her small village. Think M. Night Shymalan’s ‘The Village’ – as a community of people live within the confines of a tall fence that keeps the ‘Unconsecrated’ (zombies) out. These people have reverted back to past times – where the governing body is the church (The Sisterhood) and the village’s inhabitants are encouraged to marry and continue the human race.

Even as the Unconsecrated infected the living and the pressure of the Return began to build, They were busy constructing fences. Infinitely long fences. Whether the fences were to keep the Unconsecrated out or the living in we no longer know. But the end result was our village, an enclave of hundreds of survivors in the middle of a vast Forest of Unconsecrated.

Carrie Ryan has created an utterly fascinating paradigm of the world as we know it – only in a zombie aftermath. Survivors of the infection rely on simple truths and customs in their bid to go on living in a world so fraught with death and destruction. Ryan has imbued ‘The Sisterhood’ with a religious zeal that is eerie and compelling;

Remember where we came from, Mary. Where we all came from. Not the Garden of Eden, but the ashes of the Return. We are the survivors.

When we first meet Mary she is in a difficult position – the brother of the man she loves has asked for her hand in marriage, and she has little choice but to accept him. At the same time her mother’s madness sees her breaching the boundary fence in search of her Unconsecrated husband. On the one hand, being thrown into Mary’s turmoil from the get-go raises the stakes and kick-starts the book with a fast pace. But it would have been nice to have had a lull in which we could have observed Mary’s life before her upheaval.

‘Forest’ has a very sweet but complicated romance at its centre. Mary is torn between Harry who wants to marry her, and his brother Travis whom she loves. It is a very complex romantic triangle – and readers will be hard pressed to choose between Harry and Travis. Once again, it would have been nice if there were a pause in the frantic pace to observe Mary’s interactions with her two beaus – instead the action stays helter-skelter throughout.

Ryan does write action scenes extremely well. They have an exhilarating, cinematic quality that will leave you breathless. ‘Forest’ definitely has potential for movie adaptation.

I love, love, loved this book! And I was very pleased to discover that Ryan has a 2nd book in the works, set in the same universe but dealing with different characters. ‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ comes out March 2010 and I will definitely be buying it.

5/5