I have been reading since I was “knee-high to a grasshopper,” as my mom would say. My earliest memories of books center on the built-in bookshelves that flanked our fireplace in the living room.
I was expecting much better from Christine Feehan than what this book provided. Unfortunately, this book was excruciating to get into and didn't hold my attention until well into the second half.
The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes is a fun, captivating look at the next generation of Holmes and Watson. While some of the repeated names were a little offputting, the story and ch...
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The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes is a fun, captivating look at the next generation of Holmes and Watson. While some of the repeated names were a little offputting, the story and characters more than made up for it.
The third Landover novel has a bumpy start but ends up as an entertaining read. I loved the character growth in Ben and Questor, and spending more time with Miles made me really l...
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The third Landover novel has a bumpy start but ends up as an entertaining read. I loved the character growth in Ben and Questor, and spending more time with Miles made me really like him as a character.
I will freely admit to picking up this book solely due to the beautiful cover. I can see why some people adore this book, but I never fell in love with the characters or their sto...
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I will freely admit to picking up this book solely due to the beautiful cover. I can see why some people adore this book, but I never fell in love with the characters or their stories. There was enough plot resolution at the end of this book that I am ambivalent about what happens in the rest of the trilogy.
I think this book had a massive case of overhyping, and I expected better than what I got. This world is exciting, and an intriguing concept, but the characters fell flat. I can e...
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I think this book had a massive case of overhyping, and I expected better than what I got. This world is exciting, and an intriguing concept, but the characters fell flat. I can easily see it getting better, but this book was not exceptional.
Night Broken is more somber than previous books in the series. Mercy is under a lot more stress, and for the most part, the pack was less than helpful in relieving that stress. A ...
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Night Broken is more somber than previous books in the series. Mercy is under a lot more stress, and for the most part, the pack was less than helpful in relieving that stress. A new addition to the cast looks promising for more hijinks in the future, though.
Steampunk is not one of my usual genres, which led to this book languishing on my shelf for far too long. A unique, beautiful world, memorable characters, and action-packed battles kept me enthralled.
This book is a suspense-filled ride from start to finish. Whether dodging Black Friday shoppers or hunting down the people who took her pack, Mercy is on a mission. It is neat get...
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This book is a suspense-filled ride from start to finish. Whether dodging Black Friday shoppers or hunting down the people who took her pack, Mercy is on a mission. It is neat getting a better look at Mercy's world's politics as she toes the line between human and supernatural.
I’m supposed to be reading my sister-in-law’s newest book right now, but I’m not in the right frame of mind for reading suspense. (Sorry, Suze!) I finally decided to scour my book...
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I’m supposed to be reading my sister-in-law’s newest book right now, but I’m not in the right frame of mind for reading suspense. (Sorry, Suze!) I finally decided to scour my bookshelf for a funny, slightly ridiculous romance and landed on this book. I have to say I pretty much got what I wanted.
On the one side, you have a depressed writer with his quirky family whose favorite word is “no.” He also happens to be a vampire. On the other, there’s his spunky new editor who is determined to get him to do some/any form of publicity for his latest bestseller, a vampire romance novel. When the only response she can get from him is “no,” she decides to drop in on him in person. Let the hijinks ensue.
Lucern is depressed when we first meet him. He rarely leaves the house, doesn’t turn the lights on, and has no food in the cupboards. Well, he does have some blood in the fridge. Sometimes, you need that one person to give you a kick in the pants back to living. It’s nice to watch him come back to life as the book progresses.
Kate knows what her boss and the fans want and how it will help Lucern in his writing career. She is willing to cross borders, come up with excuses, and fall in with his mother’s plans to help him. Kate keeps a level head on her shoulders even when faced with crazy situations like learning her writer is a vampire. The explanation behind how vampires came into being threw me for a loop, but it is a different reason from most vampire novels.
I like the fact that the humor revolves around the circumstances that the characters are in or misunderstandings, rather than the characters acting stupidly. There are ridiculously over the top antics (the raunchy search for condoms comes to mind), but for the most part, it is light-hearted fun. Scenes like a group of vampires being accused of smoking pot out of the back of a van when they’re drinking blood to Lucern realizing he got conned by his mother into attending a convention for romance authors and readers kept me giggling through the book.
This book is an excellent introduction to the Argeneau family. From the matriarch, Marguerite, who is willing to help Kate through a decision she had to make centuries earlier, to crazy siblings like Etienne, who likes to lay in a coffin to help himself think, the Argeneau family is full of delightful characters. I will be picking up more books from this series to see how the rest of the family finds love.
Note: I try to read books in the order they were published. Even though this is listed as book #3, it was the first Argeneau novel published.
It took several tries to get past the first part of the book, but once I accomplished that, it was well worth the effort. The Argeneaus have a unique brand of crazy, and it is fun...
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It took several tries to get past the first part of the book, but once I accomplished that, it was well worth the effort. The Argeneaus have a unique brand of crazy, and it is fun to watch them bumble, fumble, and rumble with the trouble that comes their way.
Etienne, especially initially, is too carefree about threats to him, and it lands him, Rachel, and the family in a heap of trouble. After she first turns, Rachel’s early interactions feel forced for laughs and don’t fare any better when deja vu strikes. I put down the book several times during this section, but I wanted to finish, and this time I finally got past it.
Etienne and Rachel turn into a cute couple, while the rest of the family poke their noses in to cause chaos in the name of helping, of course. Thomas, in particular, was entertaining as both a troublemaker and a wingman. There was one thing that I expected Etienne to get raked over the coals about, but circumstances intervened.
Events with Pudge did not pan out as I expected. His story is both funny and sad. It also showcased precisely how vulnerable the vampires are and how much power they can wield. There is a fine line that they walk to protect themselves without exposing themselves to more scrutiny.
By the end of the book, I was happy with how everything turned out. Although, I was looking forward to Rachel yelling at Etienne. Oh well, maybe it will crop up in a future book in the series.
Honestly, I am torn about this book. I wavered between three and four stars, but it ultimately came down closer to a three. It feels like an intriguing basis for an urban fantasy ...
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Honestly, I am torn about this book. I wavered between three and four stars, but it ultimately came down closer to a three. It feels like an intriguing basis for an urban fantasy series, but at the same time, the world is not fleshed out. It’s action-packed, but light on details, and some of the known details don’t make much sense. More time on the backstory and less on the action would have made all the difference to me.
By far, my biggest problem with the book is that nothing is fully explained. When was the supernatural war, and what was the aftermath? Was the Task Force formed in response to the war, and how long have Montague and Strong been a team? There are references to all manner of things that just aren’t fleshed out. This lack of detail may be corrected in future books, but it’s not handled in this one.
The two main characters are veteran private detectives, well-known for handling supernatural threats. When we first meet them, they’re tracking a werewolf, and unfortunately, Simon Strong forgot to pack the silver ammo. That just irks me. It doesn’t give me much confidence in a lead character when he is shown to be a buffoon right out of the gate. Fortunately, most of the buffoonery is what spills out of his mouth as he tries to do the right thing. Tristan Montague plays a good straight man to his hijinks and pulls him out of verbal trouble more than once.
This book falls prey to one of the tropes of the urban fantasy genre. Their detective agency is behind on the rent. But at the same time, one job pays the past due rent plus the current rent. Simon buys expensive, tailored suits, and they eat at a restaurant where a filet mignon costs $200. So why were they were late on the rent? Was the werewolf issue an unusual occurrence? How often do these things happen? It makes no sense to me why they would have been behind on the rent.
I think more detail about the world, and Simon’s thought process would have made this a much stronger entry in the urban fantasy genre. As it stands, it’s an action-packed thrill ride without enough substance to make me want to revisit this universe any time soon.
Rincewind is not having a good life. He flunked out as a wizard due to a bet, and now he is stuck playing tour guide to the first tourist on Discworld. Their antics are amusing at...
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Rincewind is not having a good life. He flunked out as a wizard due to a bet, and now he is stuck playing tour guide to the first tourist on Discworld. Their antics are amusing at first but quickly lose their luster. Death is the best part of the book, but I was delighted to see THE END.
Rincewind, Twoflower, and the rest of the zany cast put their all into being neurotic, oblivious, and absurd. The over-the-top hijinks, frantic action, and abrupt scene changes made it hard to follow the story. There were multiple times where I had to re-read a passage to figure out what had just happened, especially later on in the book.
Rincewind certainly has his hands full keeping Twoflower’s exuberant obliviousness in check, but it works well initially. By the end, I felt as worn out as Rincewind with his antics. Their thunder was stolen by the luggage and Death when he made an appearance. The Sapient Pearwood luggage was underappreciated as the best fighter on Discworld, although Rincewind learned a healthy fear of its capabilities. Death was the one character that made me laugh as he just wanted Rincewind to be a good wizard and let him reap his soul.
If you are a fan of books full of sheer insanity, this one is worth checking out. It didn’t jive for me, but I might check out another Discworld book to see if they get any more coherent.
On the one side, you have a depressed writer with his quirky family whose favorite word is “no.” He also happens to be a vampire. On the other, there’s his spunky new editor who is determined to get him to do some/any form of publicity for his latest bestseller, a vampire romance novel. When the only response she can get from him is “no,” she decides to drop in on him in person. Let the hijinks ensue.
Lucern is depressed when we first meet him. He rarely leaves the house, doesn’t turn the lights on, and has no food in the cupboards. Well, he does have some blood in the fridge. Sometimes, you need that one person to give you a kick in the pants back to living. It’s nice to watch him come back to life as the book progresses.
Kate knows what her boss and the fans want and how it will help Lucern in his writing career. She is willing to cross borders, come up with excuses, and fall in with his mother’s plans to help him. Kate keeps a level head on her shoulders even when faced with crazy situations like learning her writer is a vampire. The explanation behind how vampires came into being threw me for a loop, but it is a different reason from most vampire novels.
I like the fact that the humor revolves around the circumstances that the characters are in or misunderstandings, rather than the characters acting stupidly. There are ridiculously over the top antics (the raunchy search for condoms comes to mind), but for the most part, it is light-hearted fun. Scenes like a group of vampires being accused of smoking pot out of the back of a van when they’re drinking blood to Lucern realizing he got conned by his mother into attending a convention for romance authors and readers kept me giggling through the book.
This book is an excellent introduction to the Argeneau family. From the matriarch, Marguerite, who is willing to help Kate through a decision she had to make centuries earlier, to crazy siblings like Etienne, who likes to lay in a coffin to help himself think, the Argeneau family is full of delightful characters. I will be picking up more books from this series to see how the rest of the family finds love.
Note: I try to read books in the order they were published. Even though this is listed as book #3, it was the first Argeneau novel published.
Etienne, especially initially, is too carefree about threats to him, and it lands him, Rachel, and the family in a heap of trouble. After she first turns, Rachel’s early interactions feel forced for laughs and don’t fare any better when deja vu strikes. I put down the book several times during this section, but I wanted to finish, and this time I finally got past it.
Etienne and Rachel turn into a cute couple, while the rest of the family poke their noses in to cause chaos in the name of helping, of course. Thomas, in particular, was entertaining as both a troublemaker and a wingman. There was one thing that I expected Etienne to get raked over the coals about, but circumstances intervened.
Events with Pudge did not pan out as I expected. His story is both funny and sad. It also showcased precisely how vulnerable the vampires are and how much power they can wield. There is a fine line that they walk to protect themselves without exposing themselves to more scrutiny.
By the end of the book, I was happy with how everything turned out. Although, I was looking forward to Rachel yelling at Etienne. Oh well, maybe it will crop up in a future book in the series.
By far, my biggest problem with the book is that nothing is fully explained. When was the supernatural war, and what was the aftermath? Was the Task Force formed in response to the war, and how long have Montague and Strong been a team? There are references to all manner of things that just aren’t fleshed out. This lack of detail may be corrected in future books, but it’s not handled in this one.
The two main characters are veteran private detectives, well-known for handling supernatural threats. When we first meet them, they’re tracking a werewolf, and unfortunately, Simon Strong forgot to pack the silver ammo. That just irks me. It doesn’t give me much confidence in a lead character when he is shown to be a buffoon right out of the gate. Fortunately, most of the buffoonery is what spills out of his mouth as he tries to do the right thing. Tristan Montague plays a good straight man to his hijinks and pulls him out of verbal trouble more than once.
This book falls prey to one of the tropes of the urban fantasy genre. Their detective agency is behind on the rent. But at the same time, one job pays the past due rent plus the current rent. Simon buys expensive, tailored suits, and they eat at a restaurant where a filet mignon costs $200. So why were they were late on the rent? Was the werewolf issue an unusual occurrence? How often do these things happen? It makes no sense to me why they would have been behind on the rent.
I think more detail about the world, and Simon’s thought process would have made this a much stronger entry in the urban fantasy genre. As it stands, it’s an action-packed thrill ride without enough substance to make me want to revisit this universe any time soon.
Rincewind, Twoflower, and the rest of the zany cast put their all into being neurotic, oblivious, and absurd. The over-the-top hijinks, frantic action, and abrupt scene changes made it hard to follow the story. There were multiple times where I had to re-read a passage to figure out what had just happened, especially later on in the book.
Rincewind certainly has his hands full keeping Twoflower’s exuberant obliviousness in check, but it works well initially. By the end, I felt as worn out as Rincewind with his antics. Their thunder was stolen by the luggage and Death when he made an appearance. The Sapient Pearwood luggage was underappreciated as the best fighter on Discworld, although Rincewind learned a healthy fear of its capabilities. Death was the one character that made me laugh as he just wanted Rincewind to be a good wizard and let him reap his soul.
If you are a fan of books full of sheer insanity, this one is worth checking out. It didn’t jive for me, but I might check out another Discworld book to see if they get any more coherent.