Review: How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

How is everyone doing? I hope well :) I'm feeling much better, finally! The vertigo is not completely gone, but at least is not constant. However, what makes me feel so happy is that my parents are home!! They've been gone for 2.5 months, on a trip to Vietnam :) Seems like they had lot of fun and I think it did them a world of good :) It's really nice to have them back and a full house now :P

Today, I've decided to review How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf... Thought it'd be nice, since I've been waiting for the sequel :) Enjoy the review!


How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

published by Simon & Schuster in February 2011

Northern Exposure

Even in Grundy, Alaska, it's unusual to find a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on your porch. But when said guy turns into a wolf, recent southern transplant Mo Wenstein has no difficulty identifying the problem. Her surly neighbor Cooper Graham-who has been openly critical of Mo's ability to adapt to life in Alaska-has trouble of his own. Werewolf trouble.

For Cooper, an Alpha in self-imposed exile from his dysfunctional pack, it's love at first sniff when it comes to Mo. But Cooper has an even more pressing concern on his mind. Several people around Grundy have been the victims of wolf attacks, and since Cooper has no memory of what he gets up to while in werewolf form, he's worried that he might be the violent canine in question.

If a wolf cries wolf, it makes sense to listen, yet Mo is convinced that Cooper is not the culprit. Except if he's not responsible, then who is? And when a werewolf falls head over haunches in love with you, what are you supposed to do anyway? The rules of dating just got a whole lot more complicated...

Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Naked Werewolf, Book #1

The Story: After the end of her engagement with a man who was exactly the opposite of what her parents want, Mo figures it's time that she puts some distance between her and her hippy parents... and thus, move as far as possible while staying in the US: Grundy, Alaska.

Getting accustomed to Alaska's weather and being one of the only eligible woman in town takes time... but it's nothing compared to discovering that werewolves do exist for real and that your neighbor is one... and that you're kind of falling for him. However, being with Cooper Graham is complicated. First, there have been sighting of wolves and a few attacks... and Cooper can't rule out it was him. Then, there's his estranged relationship with his family that has been a weight on his shoulder and is not getting any lighter with the attacks. Can this work out?

My Opinion: So I picked How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf because I read Ms Harper's Jane Jameson vampire series last year (already?!?) and really enjoyed it. Ms Harper has a breezy writing style and a wicked sense of humor and I was hoping to enjoy them in her new series :) It's just unfortunate for me that I ran into some little issues as well ^_^;

What I liked about the book was the heroine, Mo :) I liked that Mo was finally taking charge of her life. Mo and her parents - mother in particular - have a difficult relationship. Her parents could be considered as extremist hippies - against meat, against capitalism, against processed sugar, etc. and have never really forgotten Mo for breaking from the mold. That means her mother regularly breaks into her place to throw out all the unhealthy junk she eats and Mo often does things just to be contrary. However, when Mo realizes she was going to marry a guy - not out of love, but because his type was all what her parents despise, it's like a reality check of Mo. Time to live her life for herself and thus the move. I thought it showed Mo's strength, but also her courage. Also, I really like her personality and manner, she was fun and reminded me a lot of Jane, but a bit more level-headed. I guess discovering that the paranormal is real is easier to deal with than turning into a vampire :P

I thought Ms Harper handled Mo's move to Grundy, Alaska pretty well. We got some nice introductions to the little town, some of the important players and to the cold LOL. I think whenever there's a book set in Alaska, the cold is always factored in and it makes it more realistic, because it's really an important element. I liked the little town and the sense of community there was - it felt a bit like back in a western, the pioneer feeling. And I think the pacing contributed to the feeling. Ms Harper took her time getting Mo settled and I enjoyed that part of the story :) Sometimes, authors seem to rush things along to get to "the" story, but not Ms Harper and I appreciated that.

So what were the issues? Well, the hero, Cooper Graham. I never really warmed up to him and as a result, I never warmed up to the romance either. I just didn't find him interesting ^_^; And that was quite the surprise, because after all, he's the werewolf and I was looking forward to get to know their world. We've glimpsed a little of werewolves in the Jane Jameson series and I was hoping there'd be a bit more links between the two series... Anyway, Cooper being the werewolf, I thought he'd be more interesting, more appealing... but he wasn't. Part of it was the character/man himself. He's  the quiet, silent type that seems very broody and surly. Also, he had quite a lot of baggage that he didn't seem able to handle. I don't know, but to me, it took a little bit away from his manliness. Women look for safety and security with man, or at least, I do, but I never felt like Cooper could provided it to Mo. It seems when things became overwhelming, he ran :( Another reason I might not have warmed to him is because the narration is from Mo's POV, so it skews things a little. It worked in the Jane Jameson series because Jane was turned in a vampire, but in this case, Mo is still human - so the werewolf aspect is not complete. In any case, I had difficulty understanding why Mo would fall for him, besides the fact that sex was hot ^_^;

Aside from the romance, there was a little intrigue with the wolves attacks that was used to introduced Cooper's past. Overall, it was okay - no real surprise there.

My Grade: C-. It might seem pretty tough as a grade, but I guess it's because I had high expectations ^_^; How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf shares a lot of similarity with the Jane Jameson series - great, quirky heroine with a dysfunctional family who discovers that the paranormal exists... And while the Jane Jameson series didn't have a great hero either, it got away because of Jane's tribulations as a vampire, a solid cast of secondary characters and Jane's overall growth throughout the series. As a result, Ms Harper's writing style which borders chick-lit works well. How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf just doesn't seem to have the same edge to it... and therefore, combined with a not so lovable hero and lukewarm romance, suffers :( Hoping however that The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf will be better... and LOL, I can't help but think that the woman on the cover really fits my image of Maggie ^_^;

Hauling Sunday XXXVI

Hey there all!! How are you doing? :) This week has been pretty much up and down for me... so to cheer me up, I went a bit crazy on the book buying yesterday :) I think I deserve it and even if I don't, well who's going to stop me? :) So let see what I bought!

I started off the week with these two:

Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy - This has been on my radar for a while... Actually, pretty much since Hils reviewed it :) I was actually going to get it as an ebook, but then, there was a 20% off coupon at Chapters/Indigo, so why not?

Almost Home by Mariah Stewart - I bought this one based on the blurb. It sounded pretty cute and something right up my alley :) Also, that 20% off coupon didn't hurt LOL.


Then, did you know...

Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne - So I read Texas Glory this week and really, it seems this year is going to be a Lorraine Heath year for me :) I am just enjoying her writing so much :) So what does it have to do with this book? Well did you know that Lorraine Heath also writes YA under the name of Rachel Hawthorne?!? Because I didn't! However, now that I know, I sure am going to try her out! :)


And I bought some e-books. Yes, e-books!! Surprised?

Texas Splendor and An Invitation to Seduction by Lorraine Heath - Yes, I continue by Lorraine Heath's kick :) After reading Texas Glory, I want to read Austin's story :) However, didn't really have the patience to hunt it down, so e-book it is :) After going through Ms Heath's back list, An Invitation to Seduction is the one that caught my attention the most. Seems like the kind of storyline I enjoy :) Also, if I'm going to buy one ebook? Why not two? Didn't hurt there was a 25% off either LOL.

Here Comes the Groom by Karina Bliss - This one came to my attention after reading Holly's review. I made the decision to buy it, but I was hesitating a little bit on format. The problem with category romance is that 1) I don't read much of it and 2) by the time I hear about a good book, they're usually off shelves already ^_^; So I've been thinking about it and decided that from now on, I would buy them in e-book format... that way, I didn't have to go crazy and look for it, plus I get to save a little bit, tiny bit, of space :P

Juggling Baby and Briefcase by Jessica Hart - I was going to buy this one back in October and got wishy-washy and lost the opportunity ^_^; At first, it was okay, but then I read Wendy's review and really kicked myself ^_^; So then, I decided to wait till I'd buy some e-books to get this :)

Demon Kissed and Shadow's Caress by Patti O'Shea - Ms O'Shea is one of my favorite paranormal author. There's just something about her characters and storylines that work for me :P Unfortunately, she's not hugely popular :( And this year, I don't really know if she has a new release with Tor :( However, she's had a few novellas/short stories with Harlequin that I've been meaning to get, but haven't yet, because it was e-book... and so I did yesterday :)


So there you have it, my new books :) I guess it'll be interesting to see if I buy more e-books in the near future or not LOL. What about you? Any interesting purchase?

Review: Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is doing well :) I went to the doctor yesterday and got some answers. Turns out I'm suffering from BPPV - Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. The good news - it's not life threatening and there is something that can be done, a maneuver; the bad news - no magic pill to make it go away, highly recurring and basically comes and goes at it pleases :( But at least, I know what it is and so, it's not as scary anymore and I'm actually feeling slightly better.

I was wondering how I got BPPV, because it usually comes with age or head injury/trauma... and I don't recall any head injury. However, my co-worker mentioned the car accident I was in a few years ago and while I didn't feel pain, the impact and all might have made me more at risk for BPPV. Sucks :(


Anyway, life has to go on and as I said, at least, now I know :) For today, I have a buddy review over at Breezing Through. This time, joining me is Leslie and we're buddy reviewing the In Death series' latest installment! Click here to find out how much we enjoyed it :)

Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb
published by Putnam in February 2011

Detective Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a senseless crime-an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. This is Peabody's first case as primary detective-good thing she learned from the master.

But Peabody soon stumbles upon a trickier situation. After a hard workout, she's all alone in the locker room when the gym door clatters open; and-while hiding inside a shower stall trying not to make a sound-she overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. It doesn't take long to realize they're both crooked-guilty not just of corruption but of murder. Now Peabody, Eve, and Eve's husband, Roarke, are trying to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down-knowing all the while that the two are willing to kill to keep their secret.

Review: Blood Stains by Sharon Sala

Decided to take a day off to go to the doctor today. Hopefully, they'll find out something or perhaps, just as usual, it'll all go away once I start doing some tests :P Either way, I think this is the best decision, because I don't know how I feel. Not well, that's for sure... but the rest... Anyway, I just hate it... This past year has been really rough health-wise. Of course, all these are minor-ish, compared to cancer or other diseases... but it just sucks not feeling well :(

Now, let see if I have the strength to write a review :P


Blood Stains by Sharon Sala

published by Mira in February 2011

At the reading of her father's will, Maria Slade receives shocking news—as a four-year-old, she'd witnessed her prostitute mother's murder and been taken into hiding by the well-meaning preacher who'd raised her as his own.

Maria remembers none of that. But now she's determined to flush her mother's killer out of hiding and discover the identity of her birth father. She heads to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she meets Detective Bodie Scott.

Empathizing with this beautiful woman looking to find out who she really is, he opens the decades-old case file. Their investigation leads them down a dangerous path, where no one is what they seem. Where a father does not want to be found. And a murderer has "like mother, like daughter" in mind for Maria.

Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: The Searchers trilogy, Book #1

The Story: At the reading of their father's will, Maria and her two sisters discover they are not their parents' children nor biological sisters, that each of them were taken in by their evangelical preacher father while he was preaching and doing revivals. Each of the sister came to him under different circumstances, delicate situations. At his death, Andrew Slade left a journal for each daughter with all the information he knew in the eventuality they would want to know their pasts and roots.

This brings Maria Slade - Mary Blake at birth - back to Tulsa. It seems that at the age of 4 years old, Maria witnessed the murder of her mother who was an escort. Fearing for Maria's life, her mother entrusted Maria's safety to Andrew who was renting the room next door in the boarding house. While Maria has no memories of her mother or her death, she still wants justice and therefore goes to the police station in order to re-open the case... and that's how she meets Detective Bodie Scott.

My Opinion: I really like Ms Sala's writing and some of her books are on my keeper shelf, having really, really touched me and that is why I read Ms Sala books :P Recently though, her books have been okay to good... I've only read Blown Away in her last trilogy, Storm Front, and it was okay. To me, it felt the whole trilogy was a bit off, so that's why I still haven't read the two other books. Instead, I decided to look ahead and wait for this one, which is why I had higher hopes :P Is it making sense? :P

In any case, I ended up enjoying Blood Stains :) The story is pretty straight-forward, Maria goes back to Tulsa to find out about her mother and her murder. She digs around, trying to remember things, goes to the police to re-open the case, meets people from her past... and becomes a target. The problem is that if you are familiar with Ms Sala's work, you are also familiar with this storyline as the author uses it often... very often ^_^; It works; however, it does take away a bit of the suspense. Also, how can these people find mercenaries so easily?

In any case, I think the strength of the book was the characters, from Maria, to Bodie, to Maria's mother's pimp, etc. Ms Sala has a knack at writing characters that you connect with, sympathize with. I really liked Maria, she was strong and level-headed.  After the initial shock of discovering that her father is not her father, her mother was murdered and was a hooker, she went back to find the truth and was solid. Of course, it did bother her that she could not remember some things, but she didn't lose patience, wasn't rude to others. Bodie was great hero material by being a good guy and knowing how to do his job. The romance did happen a bit quickly, but it was okay with me, because Maria and Bodie had chemistry.

My favorite scenes were Maria finding out about her past after visiting her mother's pimp and his sister who used to babysit Maria. You wouldn't think a pimp would be a likable character, but this one was :) He cared about Maria's mother, cared for Maria and after her death, really turned his life around. Also, Maria's mother was a great woman. She was illiterate and did what she could to survive and most important of all, she loved Maria.

My Grade: C+. While Blood Stains didn't wow me, I liked it a lot. It wasn't the emotional read that I know Ms Sala can produce and at times, it felt like the characters were just going through the motion as the storyline was so familiar... Still, in the end, I enjoyed it and that what matters :) Looking forward to Blood Ties :)

Hauling Sunday XXXV

Ouf, another really quiet week, book-wise. On all the other front, it was so busy, sigh ^_^; But it's over and hopefully with it, the stress will go away. However, I think that I need to make some changes in my lifestyle. I need to get in better shape so I can deal with stress better. Can't always get health issues when I get stress :(

Anyway, here's my only purchase of the week :P I got it at a used book sale at the hospital. It's weird, because they don't have enough space to display all the books they have, so on the first day, I didn't see the book. Lucky I went by again on the second day.

Texas Glory by Lorraine Heath - I bought it because it's written by Ms Heath :P Yep, I'm a fan of her writing again LOL. She is known for her western, so that's why I got this book :) Hopefully, I'll enjoy it a lot :)

So what about you? Anything this week?

Review: Harvest Moon by Robyn Carr

Woohoo, I'm back!! Okay, so I actually was never away, LOL... but it feels like it, sigh. It's been a long week, but everything seems to be getting back in place. The presentation is over, yay!! And it went well, so that's a plus :) The faucet was replaced earlier this afternoon, double yay!! So everything seems to be on the right track. The only thing that's still bothering me is the dizziness/vertigo. I have a case of dizziness/vertigo last year when I came back from the RT convention and it went away on its own... At the time, I thought it was due to lack of sleep. This time though, the vertigo is more severe and I really feel nauseous at times :( While I haven't gone to the doctor yet, I've called the health hotline and they told me that vertigo usually goes away on its own. That if it persisted another week or got so bad that I couldn't go to work, then to consult a doctor... So I guess I'll wait and see... hopefully, now that everything is okay, it'll go away. Plan for this week-end is going to rest :)

For me, rest means reading and getting back on track with my blogging :) So here we go, a review! :)


Harvest Moon by Robyn Carr

published by Mira (Harlequin) in February 2011

Rising sous-chef Kelly Matlock's sudden collapse at work is a wake-up call. Disillusioned and burned out, she's retreated to her sister Jillian's house in Virgin River to rest and reevaluate.

Puttering in Jill's garden and cooking with her heirloom vegetables is wonderful, but Virgin River is a far cry from San Francisco. Kelly's starting to feel a little too unmotivated…until she meets Lief Holbrook. The handsome widower looks more like a lumberjack than a sophisticated screenwriter—a combination Kelly finds irresistible. But less appealing is Lief's rebellious stepdaughter, Courtney. She's the reason they moved from L.A., but Courtney's finding plenty of trouble even in Virgin River.

Kelly's never fallen for a guy with such serious baggage, but some things are worth fighting for. Besides, a bratty teenager can't be any worse than a histrionic chef…right?

Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Virgin River series, Book #13

The Story: Kelly Matlock is half in love with her boss/mentor, famous chef Luciano Brazzi. She is devastated when his wife shows up and tells her she's been sent by Luciano to break off things. Kelly is confused and feels betrayed because all this time, the relation was platonic. The collapse at the restaurant due to stress is the last straw for Kelly; she quits and goes to her sister's place to recuperate and think.

There, Kelly meets Virgin River's new resident, Lief Holbrook. Lief is an award-winner screenwriter. He's also a widower who is in charge of his deceased wife's daughter, Courtney. Since the death of her mother, Courtney has been going through a rough patch and getting involved with the wrong crowds. Lief hopes that the move will help and he'll get back the sweet Courtney.

Unexpected to Kelly and Lief, they both develop feelings for each other. However, things are complicated, especially when Courtney is far from accepting a new woman in Lief's life.

My Opinion: Hmmm, I had my doubts on Harvest Moon from the beginning. From reading Wild Man Creek, I was afraid I wouldn't like Kelly's character, because of her relationship with Luciano Brazzi. While I didn't dislike her character as I feared, I still had my fair of issues with Kelly and Harvest Moon.

Let's address the issue of Kelly's relationship and feeling for Luciano. So kudos for Kelly for not crossing the line and having sex with him, although she was very attracted. However, not having sex doesn't mean their relationship was not intimate. So I felt Kelly was quite hypocrite when Luciano's wife showed up and confronted her and the feelings of betrayals she felt towards Luciano. I mean, she talked and texted him several times a day, they had cook-offs, he turned her on... and she admits in Wild Man Creek that if he wasn't married yet, she'd have slept with him already. Really, sex was just a technicality in my opinion. And I know I'm being judgmental. I mean, if it was one-sided love and more innocent, I'd feel sympathy towards Kelly... but it isn't. In the end, it did affect her level of likability I think. I didn't dislike her - which is good, but at the same time,  I didn't love her :(

I think Lief was more likable. Poor man, not only has he lost his wife, but now, he's all confused by his daughter. I give him a lot of credit for being so patient and keep trying and reach out. At the same time though, I thought it was a bit unfortunate that the conflict between Lief and Courtney was based on miscommunication and misunderstanding. At the same time though, can't blame Lief. Hard to communicate with a teenager, especially if she doesn't want to. However, I thought that as a character, he wasn't very interesting. His situation was, but his personality. Like take away Courtney and hmmmm, he's a nice guy, but hmmmm.

The most interesting character and the one I enjoyed reading about the most in Harvest Moon was Courtney. Losing your mother is hard at any age, but during adolescence is worst. Especially when you find yourself with your father doesn't want you and you find yourself with your stepfather. Technically, it shouldn't be a problem because Courtney does love Lief and they used to get along well; however, she thought he didn't want her. Instead, it turns out that Lief was just angry at Courtney's father for rejecting her. Overall though, I think Ms Carr did a great job with Courtney's character and developing it. She really felt like a teenager, being sad about her mother, being rebellious to see if people around her care... but there was a sweet side to her, especially with her friends and dog.

Unfortunately, this all means there was three parties to the romance, not two. Courtney feels threatened by Kelly's presence and because of that, Lief and Kelly have to be careful at what pace their relationship develops. And it's totally understandable and once again, it shows how Lief is considerate... However, add in all the parts with Courtney and I felt the romance was very subdued and was more in the background. I guess though it's better than having too many storylines from previous characters.

Although one of the storyline was interesting - Jack and Denny. I was wondering how Ms Carr would wrap up this one, because from the beginning, it seemed a little bit too obvious. I'm happy with how Ms Carr resolved the storyline, although the twist wasn't that surprising. I do hope that Denny will get his own book in the future.

My Grade: C-. I think the problem with Harvest Moon is that nothing really grabbed my attention like in Wild Man Creek. The characters were all quite nice, but a bit bland and so was the romance. I found myself more interested in Courtney's parts than Lief and Kelly's ^_^; which saved this book from being an okay book. I admit I'm a bit disappointed by Harvest Moon, especially after a winner like Wild Man Creek, but I'm still going to continue with this series. I just hope the next characters are more appealing :)

Women of the Otherworld series and Canadian Book Pricing...

Sigh. I'm really frustrated and tired :( Tell me, why is it that everything always happens at the same time?!? Why?  As if my presentation was not enough work, my co-worker's great-grandmother is at the hospital and that means we don't know how long my co-worker will be absent. Then, they've been doing some work on the building where I work since November (yes, yes, why do it during the winter?!?) and it hasn't been fun. Because of that, they've been having difficulties controlling the temperature and that means we've got extremely cold and warm temperatures, our pipes have frozen and burst, dust, etc. Now, I'm being told I have to clear the windows (they've been boarded up by the way, so no sunlight since October) so they can start working on it. So I have to clean up the area around which is not much, but where am I going to put all that stuff, no idea.

The worst though? The kitchen faucet at home :( We've noticed some problems with it on Wednesday... it was working for hot and cold water, but not warm (I have the kind of faucet with only one valve, so it swings from left to right) and if we opened too much, it leaked. I figured we could live with it for a while before getting someone to repair it... but I was wrong. Yesterday, it stopped working completely as in we couldn't shut the water anymore... Called a plumber who didn't want to come (fine!), then tried to change the faucet ourselves and seriously, I have no idea how it's been attached, but it doesn't look like I can fix it myself (not fine!). Arrghhh. So right now, I'm trying to track down the man who did the renovations on our kitchen recently and I'm crossing my fingers it can be resolved soon.

Okay, thanks for reading my rants. Enough about it though because I actually have real book news.

Let's start with the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. This is one of my favorite series - although I still haven't read Waking the Witch ^_^; Anyway, in her most recent newsletter, Ms Armstrong has announced that Women of the Otherworld series is going on hiatus. All the details are here, but the gist of it is that she was considering ending the series after Book #13 - which would also end Savannha's trilogy, but still had more stories to tell. However, she didn't want to reach the point where she or the readers were sick of the characters. So what Ms Armstrong has elected to do is writing those stories as novellas or perhaps coming up with a full-length novel or two eventually in the future. However, for now, the series is going on hiatus.

I don't exactly know how I feel about this news. Women of the Otherworld series is one of my favorite UF series and hearing that it goes on hiatus, my initial reaction was: Oh NOOOO! But then, hiatus is better than permanent end, right? Also, I've always wondered how Ms Armstrong would end this series... The difficulty of Women of the Otherworld series is the number of characters... They are so many and at different age/stage of life. I mean, personally, did I want to see Cassandra die? No, not really. Did I want to see Jamie grow older than Jeremy? Not particularly. Personally, I don't think Ms Armstrong could wrap up everything in a neat, nice bow. Well okay, she could, but would it be really realistic? Nope. So I think Ms Armstrong chose the best option. I'm also happy to hear that she's going to compile all her short stories from different anthologies and include new material :) If there was one complaint I had about this series in the past few years is that it was really spread around and that not all novellas were accessible. So yeah, overall, I guess I'm happy :)

The other news I have concerns the Canadian readers... Prices of books are finally coming down!! Woohoo!!  It seems that starting late April, some publishers have finally adjusted the price, given that the CDN$ is on par (even higher) than US$. Avon books will be 10$ instead of 10.99$ and Berkley books, 8.99$ instead of 9.99$. Okay, it's not much, granted, but it's better than nothing right? Other publishers have already started a while back (Grand Central Publishing, New American Library)... In any case, I hope it's there to stay :)

So that's it for today :)