Review: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot by Stephanie Rowe

Sigh, last week has really been a slow reading week for me, but I did manage to read one book! Yes, one book only... well I guess it's better than nothing and at least, I have something to blog about right?

The book I've managed to read is He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot (HLMHLMH) by Stephanie Rowe, the 3rd book in the Immortal Sexy series. I like both previous books, Date Me Baby One More Time (DMBOMT) and Must Love Dragons (MLD)... but I think this one is the best, especially if you like Satan.


He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot by Stephanie Rowe: 4/5
published by Warners Books in May 2007

About a hundred years ago, Satan's demons, the Markku, rebelled against Hell in order to gain their freedom. To punish and exterminate them, Satan created a new race of demons, the Rikva, and this time, made sure they wouldn't have a way to break the energy link between him and the demons, that maintained them alive.

Becca is Satan's right-handed woman, his number 1 Rikva. She's different from other demons as in, although she is Satan's servant, she doesn't obey him completely. Instead, she's able to defy him and most of the time, find loopholes to the orders. However, she's fed up and wants to be free, thus she tries to find a way to do the impossible: break the link between her boss and her.

Nick Rawlings is half-healer, half-Markku. His best friend, Jerome - part of the Council, has asked him to guard the melted Satan Jr... Unfortunately for Nick, someone uses his little sister to blackmail him and she ends up caught in one of Satan's torture tool. As a result, Nick doesn't have a choice, he needs Becca's help to save his sister...

Genre: paranormal romance, comedy, demons, Hell, Satan
Series: Immortal Sexy series, Book 3

Review: It's only been 2 weeks and already, I feel my reviewer's skills are rusty! LOL :) So that synopsis wasn't the best, sorry ^^; All in all, I enjoyed this book, mainly because it was funny and because of Satan... the man is so ridiculously funny. Storyline-wise, it is ridiculous and a bit too much; however, that's the style of this series... so readers know what to expect. All in all, a pretty funny book :D

The Characters - Main characters are Becca and Nick. I thought there would be rivalry between them, after all, Rikva killed Markku, but no. I felt for Becca - she doesn't like her job and Satan can be hard to tolerate, but she cares for him. She understands Satan very well and I think that it's understandable why Satan wants to keep her by his side so much. As for Nick, well he was okay in the overprotective, possessive way. The attraction between Becca and Nick happened really rapidly and actually, I think the timeline of the book was a few days (2 or 3 days)... So what am I saying? That there was a lack of characterization, that the characters were a bit cliche and one-dimensional... but that the storyline and dialogue saved this book.

Oh, and I think one of the most interesting character was Satan :D I wonder how it is for Ms Rowe to have him in her head... must be tiring :D

The Story & Writing Style - Same as in the two previous books. My problem is that everything happens too fast and there's a lot of thing happening... but I was still able to follow. The funniest thing I think is that the one who has evolved the most is actually Satan :D I like how he stood up and decided to "break-up" with Iris... personally, Iris annoys me :P As for writing style, not much to say really.

The Cover - I liked the cover :D Although I have to say, the titles are a bit long ^^;

Am I keeping this book? Yeah.

Anything else? A funny read, without much content, but still funny :D

Another gloomy week-end

Hey ppl, wassup?

You really want to know? Weather is again crap... it's been raining and raining and raining... I'm surprised nothing has flod yet. At this point, I almost wish for snow... (not slush, just white snow). In addition, it's been cold... so all I've been really wanting to do is snuggle in my blankets to stay warm... and then, I fall asleep... must be hibernation hitting me.

So, so, so... what did I read over the week-end? 2 books:

Still Lake by Anne Stuart: 3.5/5

20-something years ago, Thomas Griffin was accused of murdering 3 teenage girls and sent in jail. He knows that he hasn't killed 2 of them, but isn't sure about the third girl... All he remembers is arguing with her because she's been sleeping with another guy and waking up with blood all over him. Luckily for Griffin, he got out on a technility after 5 years. Now a successful lawyer, he wants to know what happened and return to Colby, Vermont.

Sophie is finally going to realize her dreams: opening a bed-and-breakfast in a little and quiet town. Ever since her father died, Sophie has been raising her half-sister, Marty. Now 17 y.o., Marty has been getting in trouble constantly. In addition, Sophie's mother hasn't been well after her battle against breast cancer and Alzheimer. However, the new neighbor might just ruin everything ...

First, I'll say that I did enjoy the book, but I also thought that it didn't go deep enough and I guess, not much happened. I mean, Griffin didn't really investigate the murders... He was almost handed the answer. Actually, he didn't realize who was the killer till the last minute, it was Sohpie's mom who figured it out. I mean, his whole point was to find the killer, but he didn't do much. I can understand his reluctance to go into the town and he got distracted by Sophie, but he could have done much more. If Sophie and Marty hasn't been targeted by the killer, he would've never found out who the killer was.

As for the love story, well it happened pretty fast. Sophie and Griffin are attracted to each other and they don't really know why, they don't really like each other and they are constantly fighting, but they keep going back for more. What I dislike is that it seemed they didn't have time to get to know each other. In addition, Sophie annoyed me a tiny bit... She was very fast to jump to conclusion and think bad of Griffin, even not knowing that he was accused of the murders in the past. I mean, if she knew he was a possible murderer, what would she have done? Does she treat everyone the same way? I hope not.

The only interesting secondary character was Sophie's mom, Grace. I thought that Marty's story was a bit dull... I mean, I've read better teenager love story as side story in books.

So conclusion, I think that the book would have been better... but it was still enjoyable.

Must Love Dragons by Stephanie Rowe: 4.25/5

Theresa Nichols is a dragon, a real one: scales, tail and fire breath and all. She's been a dragon for the past 200 years, unable to change into human form. In addition, she's the assistant guardian of the Goblet of Eternal Youth (Mona) and must protect it at every cost. So ever since she and Justine had relocated to New York, Theresa has been hiding, depending on Justine for food. The problem is that Justine is gone on a honeymoon and is starving. In addition, Zeke - her cybersex partner- has been wanting to see her and has given her an ultimatum... Either she shows up for their date or he'll move on. So what is a dragon to do in that kind of situation?

Zeke Siccardi is an EX- dragon slayer, big emphasis on the EX. 180 years ago, he was the one who plotted the Cleansing in which most dragons were eliminated. However, the Cleansing was also a reality check for him and it changed him... so he's been trying to suppress his slayer instincts, take a non-violence path, become a vegetarian and etc. Now, Zeke specializes in finding missing person and he's been given the task to find Theresa Nichols. He has found a Theresa Nichols, now all he has to do is confirm that it's the right one.

This novel is as crazy as the previous one, but I thought it was better. I think I enjoyed it more. I really liked Theresa and Zeke's characters... I guess I found that Justine and Derek were a bit dull. Also, there was a lot of Becca in this book and she's really awesome. So let see, let me try to be a bit coherent here. In order to go on a date with Zeke, Theresa makes a deal with Satan... Of course, in exchange, Satan demands Mona. By having Mona and not using her, Satan wants to prove to Iris, previous Guardian, that he loves her. Back to Theresa, she has an old enemy after her life as well as Zeke's old team of slayers. The writing is basically all over the place, but you don't have a boring moment at all. If you liked Date me, Baby, One more Time, you'll probably enjoy this one as well.

The next book will be Becca's.


I've also started reading Venetia by Georgette Heyer, but I'm having a bit of a hard time because of the way it's written - not used to it.

By the way:

GOOD LUCK KRISTIE ON YOUR FIRST DAY AT YOUR NEW JOB

Hope everything goes well, the job is good and the co-workers, nice.

Let us know how it goes :D

Review: Date Me, Baby, One More Time by Stephanie Rowe

Yes, I got my hands on Date me, Baby, One more Time :D Finally. So here's my review:

Date Me, Baby, One More Time by Stephanie Rowe: 4/5

There's been quite a lot of reviews about this book, so I'm going to try to keep the story/synopsis short. Basically, Dereck Lavalle believes that all the men of his family are cursed and that they are to die on the day they turn 31 y.o. and from his ancestor journal, the only way he finds to end the curse is to behead the Guardian of Desdemona's temptation goblet and drink from the goblet. Although no one believes him, it doesn't matter since he doesn't have time to argue: he and his fraternal twin turn 31 y.o. in one week.

Meanwhile, Justine Bennett is the Guardian and the goblet is presently an expresso machine. For the past 200 years, she's been on probation for her job which comes with a thick book of rules - complete devotion to Mona (the goblet), no sex, no distraction, etc. She lives in NY with her roomate and successor, Theresa Nichols. The ick is that Theresa is actually an eleven foot dragon.

Basically, Dereck finds Justine and they fall in love/lust so they are trying to find loopholes so they don't have to kill each other... or loopholes that would explain why they let the other lives so long. The story is complicated by Satan who wants Iris, Justine's mother, to become Queen of Hell, position that she doesn't want to occupied, so Justine is pressure to do her job.

Okay, so the book was a great read as the grading indicates: light and hilarious, since it's so unrealistic, you don't care if it doesn't make sense anymore. What I actually like is that you get some paranormal, but no vampires, werewolves or witches... so the book is quite refreshing. Of course, they were a few things that bug me and by the end, I thought that Iris and her relationship to Satan was annoying. Does the woman loves him or not? and if yes, why doesn't she accept staying with him? however, it's still highly entertaining. My only regret is I believe I would have enjoyed the book better if I could have read it in one sitting, which I did not, because of lab work, watching House M.D. and the thunderstorm yesterday night. Try reading when the power goes out every 10 minutes for about 5 min. Really annoying. So I'll probably re-read the book in a few months.