Archive for the ‘Chick-lit’ Category
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
To recap: when I put up a “non-review,” it means I couldn’t finish a book. I’m not going to review it on Epinions or Amazon, and this isn’t going to be a full-on review, but I don’t mind telling you folks here why I decided not to finish it in case that information is useful to you. Just keep in mind that my judgment isn’t based on the entire book. In this case I made it through a little over a hundred pages before I decided it wasn’t worth finishing.
Saylor Oz is a Brooklyn sex therapist who somehow manages to get mixed up in mysteries. Most recently, her roommate’s brother has gone to jail for three murders he didn’t commit—models who were killed and had locks of their hair removed. Saylor is convinced the murders have something to do with an old adult movie called Bad, Bad Babydoll, but no one believes her. So it’s time for her to strike out on her own and solve the case.
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Tags: Allyson Roy, Chick-lit, Humor, mystery, Saylor Oz, serial killer, sex therapist
Posted in Chick-lit, Non-Reviews, Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Monday, February 14th, 2011
Pros: Fun plots & characters; action, humor, and good chemistry; creative
Cons: Still some inconsistencies and character foolishness
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Melina is still delivering packages as a supernatural Messenger. Unfortunately, the mundane recipients of two of her most recent deliveries died soon after under mysterious circumstances. She’s faced with the realization that she was used to kill them, and she can’t just stand back and let it happen. Her investigation soon leads her into a real mess: an old hate crime, voodoo-like poppets, and a police chief who’d like nothing more than to toss her behind bars. Oh, yeah, and all this comes on top of trying to run the dojo she inherited from Mae. Luckily she still has her friends to help her out, including her cop boyfriend Ted, her naive roommate Norah, ER doc and vampire Alex, sexy older witch Meredith, bartender/werewolf Paul, and her own protege: Sophie.
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Tags: Eileen Rendahl, Messenger, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy
Posted in Chick-lit, Horror & Paranormal, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | No Comments »
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Pros: Fun plots and characters; plenty of action, humor, and good chemistry
Cons: A few background details on Messengers and Melina that don’t make sense to me; overused snarky first-person female p.o.v.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Also posted on Epinions.com.
Melina is a Messenger, a go-between in the supernatural world. She has just enough amped-up healing, reflexes, and strength to help her navigate between werewolves, vampires, pixies, imps, gnomes, witches, and deities without getting killed (hopefully). When ninjas steal a package she’s delivering to a vampire, she’d much rather try to get it back than face the other vampire who sent her. Her search leads her to a Taoist temple, where priests are forced to control the kiang shi, Chinese vampires found beneath the temple. The creatures are killing violent gang members, but innocents get caught in the middle—and no one but Melina seems to want to make it their business.
Meanwhile, Officer Ted Goodnight is determined to figure out what’s going on as well, and every clue leads him back to (or has him running into) Melina. Melina’s falling for his sweet nature, but how can she build a relationship with a normal person when she can’t tell him about all the weird and wild things going on?
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Tags: Eileen Rendahl, Messenger, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy, vampires, werewolves
Posted in Chick-lit, Horror & Paranormal, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | No Comments »
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Pros: Fantastic world-building and characters
Cons: Style somewhat stilted; some minor tone confusion; one seeming glaring plot contradiction
Rating: 3 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Maddy inherited her unusual job from her mother: she’s an Agent of Death, and it’s her job to collect souls and take them to the Door, where they head off to… whatever comes next. Unfortunately that job doesn’t come with a salary and it involves entirely too much paperwork, not to mention a particularly crabby supervisor. As if that wasn’t enough, Maddy’s gargoyle guardian Beezle won’t tell her why he doesn’t like Gabriel, the man who wants to be her new tenant. Gabriel is handsome alright, but there’s definitely something strange about him. It probably doesn’t help that as soon as he shows up so do a bunch of demons, all of whom seem to want Maddy dead. But at least she has one thing (besides Beezle) on her side: she’s suddenly started manifesting all sorts of strange powers that no Agent of Death has ever displayed before. Of course, whether those powers will keep her alive or get her killed remains to be seen…
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Tags: Agents of Death, angels, Christina Henry, demons
Posted in Chick-lit, Fantasy, Horror & Paranormal, Humor | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 29th, 2010
Pros: Very original world; neat story
Cons: Overly chatty; too many annoying characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Willow Tate is a graphic novelist who just came up with a new idea for her next book. Vampires and shape-shifters have been done to death, so she’s going to tackle… trolls! She sketches out a few ideas, including a fire engine-red stone-skinned good guy named Fafhrd. Only things take a turn for the weird when she looks out her window and sees chaos, mayhem, and in the middle of it all: a big red troll that grins at her and vanishes. Of course her neighbors only remember seeing a trolley… or was it a train? Maybe a truck? But definitely red. Unfortunately that’s hardly Fafhrd’s last appearance, and soon Willy finds herself taking a trip back home to the Hamptons to look for a missing boy, save the world from an Evil Genius, and find out the truth behind all the weird people that populate her hometown… and her family.
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Tags: Celia Jerome, Chick-lit, Fantasy, Humor, trolls, urban fantasy, Willow Tate
Posted in Chick-lit, Fantasy, Humor | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Pros: Gorgeous romance, fun characters, fascinating look into the wedding preparation business
Cons: Love seemed to come before the chemistry was truly evident
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review book (uncorrected proof) courtesy of Penguin Group
I didn’t expect to get swept up in Nora Roberts’s “Bride Quartet” series when it started. I’ve never been one of those “perfect wedding” dreamers, so the topic didn’t hold much interest for me. However, Ms. Roberts has brought the wedding business and its attendant ups and downs alive so beautifully that I couldn’t help but be drawn in. Happy Ever After
is the fourth and final book in the series, exploring super-organized Parker’s unlikely fascination with bad-boy mechanic Malcolm.
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Tags: bride quartet, marriage, Nora Roberts, romance
Posted in Chick-lit, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Pros: Warm and funny.
Cons: Heroine’s actions aren’t always well thought through.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Tom O’Brien is an ambitious lawyer, headed towards a partnership at his firm. Unless, of course, his new client Brutus, decides to make life difficult for him. Tom has no idea how the situation will turn out, as law school never taught him how to deal with a canine client. Brutus and his new guardian, Madeleine Cartwright, are struggling to put their life back together after the death of Walter Stoddard, but their lives are shaken up even further when they find out that Walter was a multimillionaire. Suddenly Maddy and Brutus are dodging the press, greedy relatives, and a paternity suit, while Tom finds himself cast into the role of alpha-male. And yet, despite his life having been turned upside-down, he can’t help but keep noticing how cute these two are…
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Tags: animals, contemporary, dog, Kandy Shepherd, lawyer, romance
Posted in Chick-lit, Fiction Books, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
To recap: when I put up a “non-review,” it means I couldn’t finish a book. I’m not going to review it on Epinions or Amazon, and this isn’t going to be a full-on review, but I don’t mind telling you folks here why I decided not to finish it in case that information is useful to you. Just keep in mind that my judgment isn’t based on the entire book.
Sarah McCann is a wedding planner who completely believes in happily-ever-after and the perfect wedding and marriage. Freeman Lafontaine is a swinging bachelor and friend of the groom who thinks marriage as a whole is a mistake, and is determined to save his best friend from making that mistake. The two of them are bound to butt heads as two sweethearts are due to get married in a sexy, hot, sandy locale (Belize). Add in a wedding party full of spicy pairings waiting to happen, and you have the perfect recipe for plenty of hot, steamy sex and guilt-free escapism.
Or at least, that’s what I thought when I picked up Susan Lyons’s Sex On The Beach
.
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Tags: erotica, marriage, romance, Sex on the Beach, Susan Lyons, weddings
Posted in Chick-lit, Non-Reviews, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Pros: Great concept; fun plot twists; enjoyable characters
Cons: Super-strong dialogue patterns; protracted initial distrust; celebrity ghosts; felt like a sequel
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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Tags: Dakota Cassidy, demons, erotica, ghosts, mediums, paranormal, romance
Posted in Chick-lit, Horror & Paranormal, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Pros: Poignant, funny, and sensitive
Cons: Climax came a little fast
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Posted in Chick-lit, Horror & Paranormal, Humor, Romance & Erotica | Permalink | 2 Comments »
