Monthly Reads - April 2013

Hey everyone! How have you been? Sigh, sorry for the lack of posts and reviews! I just don't know where time goes ^_^; It feels like I've been running the whole week: doctor appointment, garage appointment, haircut appointment... Even at work, doing this and that, catching up on things. Bleh... and of course, I cut myself again :( Same thumb, but not the nail this time... so I guess that's something ^_^;

Anyway, I'm so far behind in reviews and so on, but I'm still trying to catch up :) And that's why you get my April recap... in September! Enjoy! :P


1) The Wanderer by Robyn Carr: B


2) The Rising by Kelley Armstrong: B+


3) What She Wants by Sheila Roberts: B-

The blurb of this book caught my attention because it mentions a bunch of guys reading romance novels and their poker night transforming into a bookclub night... LOL, you have to agree it's a little bit intriguing right? :) And the blurb is pretty close to the real story. Our hero, Johnathan Templar, is the resident geek squad of Icicle Falls. He's been in love with Lissa Castle forever, but she never noticed him. Their high school reunion is coming up soon and Johnathan believes it to be his last chance to make an impression... but how? He then stumbles over his sister's romance novels... Why do women read them? The next thing Johnathan knows, he's devouring them one after another and getting ideas. When his poker buddies find the books, they laugh at him at first... but soon, they too need advice as Adam just got kicked out by his wife who thought he took her for granted and Kyle cannot make an impression on the lady of his choice.

I thought What She Wants was a cute book. I mean, it has men reading romance novels for advice and ideas LOL. Personally, I do not know to what extent romance novels could help a guy in real life, but it's still nice to imagine :) What made this book for me was Johnathan. He was such a nice guy and the efforts he put in to catch Lissa's attention was adorable. Also I like that Ms Roberts didn't turn Johnathan into a comedic cliché. What I mean is that he didn't read one novel, get a good idea and immediately tried it out and have it failed on him. Instead, it was more like a study and a long progress. In any case, it was just cute and Lissa is a really lucky gal... Not sure she totally deserves him though. I also liked Adam's storyline because it showed him not to take his wife for granted. I think it's a lesson that everyone has to learn in a marriage. I liked that she had the guts to kick him out, to make him understand where their marriage was heading. Out of the three story, Kyle was the least interesting... I think it's because to a certain extent, he was so superficial, only caring about looks. He overlooked Mindy who was interested in him because she wasn't as hot as his crush, although she was smarter and nicer.

In any case, a cute book... although I think it's more fiction (women's fiction even though it's guys ^_^;) than contemporary romance as there aren't that many interaction between Johnathan and Lissa. It's more focused on Johnathan and his evolution than the romance itself.

4) Lush by Lauren Dane: B

Mary Whaley is a successful and busy caterer who also run a supper club. Through her celebrity friends, she meets Damien Hurley who is part of a really popular band that he started with his brothers out of high school. The two meet, are attracted to each other and try to figure out how to make this relationship work.

Lush was a pretty good book. I really enjoyed Mary and Damien's relationship and liked how their romance evolved, how they took it "slow" and how Damien gave Mary her space and proved himself to be a good bet. I liked that the romance wasn't about the age difference or Damien's celebrity status... They had to figure things out because they were two adults living in different cities with extremely busy schedule, but they made compromises like two mature persons.

What held this book back in my opinion were the secondary characters and the lack of conflict. I found Mary's best friends to be annoying, because I thought they had too much input and were too quick to distrust Damien. One of them said she just wanted Mary to be as happy as she was and to find the man she deserved and that just put me on the edge... It just sounded so condescending in my opinion. It's good to be protective of your friends, to care, but at the same time, you need to be supportive. Sometimes, your friend needs to make her own mistakes and the last thing she wants is you standing by, ready to say "I told you so." What annoyed me as well is that all she had to based herself on was the gossips from the rag sheets. Ugh. The other issue was the lack of conflict. I actually didn't mind the lack of conflict... but because of it, one little issue turned into a huge thing, just so Ms Dane could wrap up the story and give the H/H their happy ending. Based on the rest of the story, I felt this conflict was very forced because Damien had proven himself to Mary and she should have trust him instead of the gossips. For her to react the way she did, it just went against character it seems... and that's too bad because it lessened the enjoyment of the book a bit.


5) Assassin's Gambit by Amy Raby: C-


6) Wrecked by Shiloh Walker: C

Ugh... I don't know how to summarize the story of this book. Okay, basically, you have Abigale Applegate and Zach Barnes who were child stars on a very popular sitcom when they were teens, but that was years ago. Both of them willingly walked away from Hollywood lifestyle and are happier for it. They have remained best friends throughout the years, although the truth is Zach has been in love with Abby forever. When she gets dumped by her boyfriend because he thinks she's wasting her time not acting, Abby decides she needs an affair. Not a relationship, just sex... and when Zach finds out through the "Wreck" journal he gave her, he volunteers himself - he's not about to let another man get the chance and he hopes that finally, Abby realizes that he's in love with her.

The truth is that Wrecked started out really promisingly. Who doesn't like the best friends to lovers theme? Especially when the set up is great, the premise has potential and best of all, the best friends have tons of chemistry! I really believed in Zach and Abby's friendship, really felt his unrequited feelings for her and had no problem imagining them together... And perhaps that was the issue. Because once Abby and Zach started having sex together, it became boring for me... It was just too obvious that the two should be together and everything that stood in the way was just frustrating ^_^; I was annoyed at Abby for being so oblivious to Zach feelings all this years - I mean, everyone knew! It got even worst when she realized she was in love with him and wondered how it would affect their relationship!! I was also annoyed at Zach for not stepping up, not pushing to the next level. It took forever for him to get Abby to notice him in a different way and now he's going to wait again till she comes around? Right... and instead of sharing his feelings with Abby, he resorted to growling at everyone :( It's just too bad because as I mentioned, the premise was really promising, but it failed to keep me engaged.


7) Love Irresistibly by Julie James: B+


8) The Chocolate Rose by Laura Florand: C+


9) Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts: B-


10) The Good, the Bad and the Witchy by Heather Blake: B-
Upcoming Review.

11) Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan: B

I'm always in the mood for a good romantic suspense; however, nowadays, it's hard to come across RS books that fit the type I want to read... Anyway, I read Ms Brennan before but never really got into her, but I thought I'd give her another chance with this series because it involved the FBI. Our heroine, Lucy Kincaid, went through something horrific 6 years ago, but she survived it... and now, she wants to become a FBI agent. While she's waiting to see if she is accepted, she's volunteering with a victim's rights group and works undercover online to lure sex offenders so they can be caught. Everything is going well... till they don't. One of her attackers was recently released from prison and not long after, found dead. She wasn't aware of the plea bargain and so, her trust is shaken... It doesn't help she's a suspect and the last sex offender she tried to lure didn't show up to her meeting, but did end up dead as well. Not knowing where to go, she turns to Sean Rogan, one of her brother's partners for a security firm.

I've been in the mood for romantic suspense that features investigative work, preferably with cops or FBI agents... and while Love Me to Death didn't totally fit my criteria, it was definitively a good book. The mystery was solid and interesting although at times, it felt like there were too many storylines going on. Personally, I think the one about Lucy's stalker was superfluous. It served to misdirect, but at the end of the day, didn't bring that much to the table. Still, Ms Brennan did a great job at tying everything up together in the end. I liked that Lucy didn't fall in love with the person in charge of the investigation - it's refreshing LOL. And I thought that Sean was an interesting love interest for Lucy. In a way, he's a bit of her opposite, not being afraid to break the rules to get what he wants and ironically, that seems to complement Lucy :P He at least knows how to be normal around her which is what she needs. As for Lucy, she was definitively a solid character. After what she went through, she put back her life together, went to college and is pursuing her vocation - a true survivor. Unfortunately, while I admire her for being a survivor, I also had a lot of difficulty relating to her because of what and how much she went through. It just seems so out there, so unbelievable that I kind of feel disconnected to her tragedy :(

Something else that lessened my enjoyment of Love Me to Death is that I'm not sure I could qualify this book as the "first" book in a series. It was clear to me while reading Love Me to Death that there was a book somewhere that I haven't read and indeed, after some research, I found out that Love Me to Death was a spin-off continuation of Fear No Evil. Ms Brennan tried to sum it up; however, there were too many undercurrents in the book and I knew I was missing some of Lucy and other secondary characters' backstories. Quite frankly, it sucked :(

***

Balance
Books bought: +12
Books read: -11
TBR pile: +1


Genres
Contemporary Romance - 6
Romantic Suspense/Mystery - 1
Cozy Mystery - 1
Young Adult - 1
Fantasy romance - 1
Women's Fiction - 1

***

Wow, first month of the year that I've "added" books to my TBR pile... but then again, April was such a good release month! I'm actually surprised that I haven't read more books LOL. However, as long as my number of reads hits double digits, I'm happy :)

I think April really showed this year's trend of what I've been reading. For some reasons, I'm really into contemporary romance this year... and when I don't have any contemporary romance books to read, I kind of look for something to read ^_^; I hope I get out of this mood soon.

Overall, April was a good month, although nothing really stood out...

How was yours? Do you even remember? LOL.

Review: Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane

Hi everyone! How was your week-end? I hope it was as good as mine :P The weather was gorgeous and I finally had a productive week-end!! Yay! Let see, I did some cleaning, I finished my TBR read for Wednesday, Breezing Through got a new look and I updated my book spreadsheets :) Not bad, right? What about yours?

As you can see, there was no Hauling Sunday yesterday... Considering the amount of books I've bought recently, it's no surprise really LOL. The good news though is that it gave me time to work on this review :P A good trade-off I think :)

Oh, before I forget! New poll for this week-end's mini-review is on the sidebar! Don't forget to vote!

Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane
published by Berkley in June 2012

The life of Lark Jaansen, hunter in Clan Gennessee, has been shaped by violence and unrest—and it defines her future. Well-trained and resilient, she’s met her militaristic match in Simon Leviathan, a warrior not of this world. Locked in mutual admiration, and a desire so hot it burns, Lark and Simon have something else in common: they love the dark, and as a shadow is cast over their world, they’re each coming into their own.

A mysterious war has been waged among the Others. As witches and humans turn against each other, as faes retreat in fear, and as vampires rise, Lark and Simon discover that an unseen force is behind it. A single, hungry entity older than recorded history has returned to gorge on the magick of his victims. It is the Magister, nothing less than the end of time. Finding it is Lark and Simon’s first hope. Surviving it is their last.

Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Bound by Magick series, Book #2

The Story: War is brewing between the witches and mages - humans who steal witches's magic, and after an attack on their leader, Clan Owen from Seattle has realized how unprepared they are. To bring their hunters, i.e. enforcers, up-to-date, they invite Lark Jaansen, one of Clan Gennessee's hunters' team leaders. Based in Los Angeles where the lifestyle is more frenetic and relations between Others, less amiable, Clan Gennessee has more experience dealing with threats... and Lark has had no qualms utilizing modern weaponry such as guns and security cameras instead of only relying on their magic.

This change of scenery is a welcome distraction for Lark who for the first time in her life, finds herself at odds with her sister, the other hunter's team leader in LA. Their strained relationship is putting the unity of their team at risk and as such, distance is necessary. In Seattle, Lark has found a new place to belong and is making new friends. Among them is Simon Leviathan, most probably the sexiest male specimen Lark has ever seen and a Lycian, kind of a werewolf/shapeshifer from the other side of the Veil. As a third son from a powerful pack and having set out to make his own ways, Simon knows what Lark is going through and admires her.

To their surprise, their friendship turns into something more... even though they are not each other's type and therefore have a lot of doubts as whether or not this relationship will work. However, they don't have much time to figure things out as the threat looming over them is much greater than they anticipated...

My Opinion: Yay, I finally read my first Lauren Dane book! This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, as I've been hearing so much good about Ms Dane's writing and her books, and I have the books in the TBR pile to prove it! LOL. But for some reasons, I just never picked them up to read ^_^; I think deep down, it's my subconscious telling me something. I bought those books because everyone enjoyed her books and I wanted to jump on the bandwagon, but really, they didn't appeal to me ^_^; Heart of Darkness and Chaos Burning are different though because they are about witches and you know how I like witches as characters :) I've yet to read Heart of Darkness, but after Chaos Burning, I definitively will!

I really, really enjoyed Chaos Burning and it's in large part due to Lark, the heroine. She made the book for me :) I loved her quirkiness and joie de vivre, it made her fun to read. And in my opinion, what sets her apart and makes her so interesting is instead of being flaky and ditzy, she was competent and decisive. It was a very lethal and sexy combination and it's really no surprise that Simon fell in love with her :) Outwardly, she might not have been Simon's type - and by the way, I enjoyed reading the descriptions of her outfits LOL, but personality-wise, she fits him perfectly. As for Simon, he was a good hero... I do feel his character wasn't as developed as Lark though, but still, you get a good sense of his person. He's such a good guy and very considerate and caring. I have to say though that I preferred him prior to when he realized he was in love with Lark, that's when his alpha instincts all came out and he became ultra-protective. It's good that Lark didn't take his shit and set him straight, that she could handle him. Still, I felt that from then on, the relationship became a bit uneven. I was more equal, honest and interesting when they were friends and hung out, playing cards and smoking cigars LOL. Still, I did quite enjoy the romance :) I really liked that it wasn't love at first sight or a rushed relationship. Instead, Lark and Simon spent time together, got to know each other and actually became friends, before realizing this was leading to more. It sounds so simple, but it felt refreshing ^_^; I wished Lark and Simon had taken more time once they acknowledged their attraction to each other to transition between friends to lovers. I felt Simon's change in behavior was quite abrupt and too domineering. Obviously, Lark was attracted to Simon, but I don't think she really considered a relationship between the two and then, Simon started pushing her into one and she had no choice. I'd have liked for Lark to have more time to come to term with it. Still at the end of the day, this couple just works because their personalities matched so well :)

As you know, I'm a fan of witch, mage, wizard and sorcerer characters and while they are a few series with them at the center, very often, I find the world building a bit lacking and their abilities, undefined. That's actually why I still haven't read Heart of Darkness yet ^_^; But I'm glad to say it's not the case with Ms Dane's series. I found the world building to be quite interesting and I liked that the witches clans were so structured. I think the key here was to not focus too much on the other supernatural beings as to limit the information dump. I admit there was a few instances where I felt a bit lost, but that was more me starting the series on the second book than the world building. While I think the world building was solid, I still would have liked for the witches powers to be more defined, a short explanation of everything they could do would have been great.

So I loved the characters, enjoyed the romance and liked the world building. That means Chaos Burning should have rated very high... and it did, but not as high as it could. Basically, I felt with so many good elements, the storyline was a bit of a let-down ^_^; On one hand, I liked that the timeline spanned weeks instead of just days, that Lark had time to settle in, meet people and create contacts instead of being thrown in. I liked seeing the witches work with the Others... but on the other hand, I felt the storyline was to passive. I would have enjoyed seeing Lark investigated a bit more, for them to really find clues and the lead up to their discovery. In this case, I felt it was too easy and they were handed the answer. I mean, the villain's thugs were so stupid that Lark really had no problem catching them and then, she just ripped their minds for the answers. So not the best, but it was acceptable. What wasn't was the whole storyline with the Magister, which is supposedly a huge storm that cleanse and by cleanse, read kill all Others and humans. This is a huge threat that concerns everyone, but the way it was written... Readers should have been at the edge of their seat and I wasn't, my feelings weren't invested in it. One of the problem is from the discovery to the dealing of the Magister, it was too quick and unrealistic. One second, you have no idea what the Magister is in essence and the next, you're vanquishing it. In my opinion,Ms Dane should have taken a few books to really developed this threat, make it something big and dreadful instead of squeezing it in the second half of Chaos Burning... and unfortunately, that's why this book lost steam for me.

My Grade: B. Chaos Burning started out really well, it's just too bad it didn't finish as strongly. It remains a very enjoyable read though and I'm definitively going back to read Heart of Darkness now :) And good news, Ms Dane has the third book planned for next February! Yay!