Green Frog Umbrella

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Clean Out Your E-Reader Challenge Kickoff

 I am very excited about this challenge.  Normally I do monthly challenges on Goodreads, and I hope to fit whatever books I read this month into those, but this is my first blog-type challenge!  So, the goal is just as the title says "clean out your e-reader."  I have some books given to me by authors that I need to read and review, some ePub books from Smashwords, some Netgalley books and the rest will be cleaning up my overloaded Kindle app.  I signed up for 10+ books but chose almost all of the extra books I had in my iPad. (yes there are more)  Here is the list of books that I plan to pick from to read this month... I added pics but it made it look funny... oh well.

The Count of Monte Cristo As Retold By Sherlock Holmes by Holy Ghost Writer (review freebie)





Reverb by J. Cafesin (review freebie)




To Conspire by Sara B. Gauldin (review freebie)


A touch of Ice by L.J. Charles (giveaway from contest)




Mirian by D.S. England (Smashwords freebie)





Resurgence by Johi Jenkins (Smashwords freebie)




Redemption by C.J. Barry (NetGalley)






Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci (NetGalley)





Accidentally in Love with A God by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff (NetGalley)





Every Last Kiss by Courtney Cole (Kindle freebie)




Light of Kaska by Michelle O'Leary (Kindle freebie)




The Reluctant Amazon by Sandy James (Kindle freebie)






Hot Secrets by Lisa Renee Jones (Kindle freebie)






The Light Within Me by Carly Fall (Kindle freebie)






See by Jamie Magee (Kindle freebie)






Awaken by Sarah M. Ross (Kindle freebie)




The Ghost and the Graveyard by Genevieve Jack (Kindle freebie)




Airborne by Constance Sharper (Kindle freebie)







Beyond the Shadows by Laverne Clark (Kindle freebie)




Destiny Divided by Leia Shaw (Kindle freebie)






Capris Fate by Daryl Devore (Kindle freebie)






The White Aura by Felicia Tatum (Kindle freebie)




No Such Thing by Michelle O'Leary (Kindle freebie)






Black Moon by C. L. Bevill (Kindle freebie)





Choice by Jean Booth (Kindle freebie)




Blood Warrior by H. D. Gordon (Kindle freebie)
 


Love Bites (Argeneau Series #2) ★★★★★

Author: Lynsay Sands

     I was looking for something to read the other day and wanted something like the Argeneau series.  When I couldn't find anything similar that I hadn't already read I decided to re-read some of my favorite books from the series.    

     This book is about Etienne Argeneau and Rachel Garrett.  Etienne is the youngest son of Marguerite Argeneau.  He makes video games.  Rachel works at a morgue.  Someone is trying to kill Etienne and he gets sent to the morgue... twice.  As with most of the Argeneau books this one is humorous and fun to read.  I always feel bad for the immortal when they are trying to figure out how to get their lifemate to accept them but it's usually pretty funny along the way.  Especially when Thomas slips them some sweet ecstasy drinks.

My favorite part is when at Lissianna's wedding Etienne tries to impress Rachel by repeating all of the big words he knows because she says she likes intelligent men.  I'd quote it as my favorite but it'd be more of an excerpt since it's like a page long.  My other favorite is when Rachel thinks she must be dreaming and decides to make Etienne star in her "wet" dream.  Hehe

Favorite Quotes:
"You are the most gorgeous corpse I've worked with."
"Really?" Etienne smiled.  No one had ever told him he was a gorgeous corpse before.

"If I had taken the time to imagine what the man I loved looked like and the qualities he would have, you would have been who I dreamed of."


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Cynful (Halle Shifters #2) ★★★★★

Author: Dana Marie Bell

     There is something about Dana Marie Bell's books that just entrances me.  It's like I start reading and next thing I know the whole day is gone.  I can't do anything until I'm done reading the book!  I've come to love all of the characters from the Halle Pumas/Shifters and Pocono's Pack.  This is the best book of either series so far.  I lovvvved it!  The cover is super hot too.

     If you read the first book from the Halle Shifters series Bear Nessesities then you are familiar with Cyn and Julian.  He's a spirit bear and she's the human friend of Tabby from that book.  Both of them were so much fun to read!  They're hilarious.  As you'll see in my favorite quotes I couldn't stop laughing.  But there were parts that made me cry as well.  This book'll take you through the emotions that's for sure.  

     In this book someone is hunting Cyn and her friends from the tattoo shop.  They can't figure out who it can be and more and more people keep getting hurt.  Soon the Pocono pack is involved and to keep her friends safe Cyn decides to use herself as bait.  Let's just say all hell breaks loose and the person who is hunting them is not who I thought it would be.  So there's a good bit of mystery thrown in there as well.  I really enjoyed this book and everything Julian.  Hubba hubba!  Hot bear shifters anyone?   

Favorite Quotes:

"Dios.  It's like watching two Yorkies fighting over a french fry."

"Oreos are manna of the gods, you evil heathen."

"Aw, you're so cute.  Sort of like a rabid weevil.  With anthrax."

"You want me to find you some honey?  A cookie?  Mabye a small, furry animal?  You could hug it and love it and call it George."

Dream Doctor (Dreams #2) ★★★★☆

Author: J.J. DiBenedetto
Version: Audio
Narrator: Heather Jane Hogan

     I had a couple of preconceived ideas about this book that I am very happy that I was wrong about.  First, I thought since it's Dream Doctor that it was like 8 years after Dream Student.  It's actually only a year and a half after the first book.  Second, when reading the synopsis for the book I thought that there were going to be major relationship problems between Sara and Brian in this
book.  I get tired of falling in love with a couple and then having the author butcher the relationship in the next book.  It just makes me feel sick while reading it.  I'm happy to say I loved this book and have absolutely no complaints!  It has even more of a mystery to it than the last book.

     I think I learned more than I'd ever want to know about medical school in this book.  I love it when books go into the characters careers or in this case schooling.  I can't imagine that the author didn't do any research on this book because it's very thorough.  So in addition to lots of medical school and average day life as a newlywed Sara starts having her dreams again.  Everyone seems to be dreaming about one of her professors dying.  But who is the one actually trying to kill him?  Yay mystery!

     Sara and Brian's love at first sight relationship caught my heart in the first book and it continues in this book.  It's not like boring mushy stuff, just everyday life.  Little jealousy and misunderstandings that always come with newer relationships.  In addition to that they both have overloaded schedules.  I found the mystery intriguing and everything else was icing.  I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

Favorite Quote:

"If she so much as puts a hand on him I'll cut her heart out.  I know how to do it too, I've been reading ahead.  The instructions are right there in Grant's Dissector page 75.  I think I'll mark the page with a post-it note just in case."

   

Finding Forgiveness (Poconos Pack, #1) ★★★★☆

Author: Dana Marie Bell

"Warning: This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, and male/male 
love scenes between two top dogs. Who knew Rock Paper Scissors could be 
such fun?"


     This is only the second m/m book that I've read.  The first was Lover at Last from the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  There was nothing in this book that made me uncomfortable and it made me wonder why I never read any m/m because I know a lot of people who do.  Dana Marie Bell made this book just as entertaining as any of her other books.  The above quote from her website made me laugh because only guys would use rock paper scissors as a precursor to sex.  

     In previous books there's been a big deal made if it's even months before mates get together.  That pales in comparison to the 9 years that  went by before Ben and Dave finally face the facts.  A few silly misunderstandings that could have been cleared up in one conversation kept them apart all that time.  This one is a tear-jerker that's for sure!  I loved it and how fun it was as well.  Ben really annoyed me at the beginning of the book but in a way his behavior is understandable.  Dave was my favorite.  I liked him in Rick and Belle's book as well.

     While I did feel that this book could have been a little longer I was happy with the way it ended.  I look forward to the next Poconos Pack book that will be released next month.  Dana Marie Bell is turning out to be one of my favorite authors.  She has a way of making her characters so realistic and funny, it keeps me coming back for more.  Especially after other books continue to disappoint.  I know I can turn to her books and get a happy ending.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Wicked Wind (Solsti Prophecy #1) ★★★★☆

Author: Sharon Kay 

**Book provided by the Author through PNR NaUBA group Author/Reader Exchange**

     I loved this book.  It had so many twists and turns and surprises!  I always try to find something to compare books to for others to make it easier to decide if they'd be interested.  The closest series would have to be the Immortals After Dark... there are immortals, mostly demons... mabye the Demonica series.  It was one of those books that grabs you from the start and you just can't help but be pulled along for the ride.  There's romance, a lot of fighting and quite a bit of surprises along to way.

     We start off with Nicole and her sister Brooke.  They have some pretty awesome powers.  The book is about Nicole.  Happily there'll be a second book with Brooke.  Nicole "can manipulate air currents, make them stronger, change their direction, and cause them to move objects."  In addition to that she's a pretty bad-ass fighter.  She meets up with Gunnar and boy is that a hot meeting!    Gunnar is a Lash demon. (kinda like the demon police)  He's also a bad-ass fighter and has demonfire to boot.  Nicole thought she was just a human freak but Gunnar thinks that she is more.  He takes her to meet with all of his Lash demon buddies.  BTW I love the guys names especially Kai and Rhys.  A house full of hot demon hunks?  Hell yes!  So I don't want to give away more but let's just say there's lots of ups and downs and stuff you'd never guess at happening.  

     I thought Nicole was pretty awesome.  She was totally not conceited even though she had reason to be.  She was very cool and down to earth.  Gunnar was just hotness personified.  Their relationship itself was just hot.  I guess this could be classified as erotica but most erotica doesn't have such a good story-line so I'd hate to do that to it.  But yes, the sex scenes are pretty great.  I love books like this where meeting each other turns both of their worlds upside down.  I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to seeing what happens with Brooke in the second book.  I think this has the potential to be a great series.

     If you like hot demons, hotter sex, paranormal romance, parallel worlds and kick-ass heroines this book is for you!  

Favorite Quote:
"I'm a Lash demon."
"You? A demon?" she sputtered, sitting up fast.  She knew he let her. "But you're not-"
"Not what?"
"Not...hideous. Deformed. Scaly."
"My, you have a way with compliments,"he said dryly.  "That'll keep me going all week, knowing I'm not hideous."


Friday, October 25, 2013

Feature & Follow Friday #1

Welcome to Feature and Follow Friday! This is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee that is aimed to help bloggers grow their audience and make new friends. They feature two bloggers every week.  I decided to feature a blog as well for my first!  Sorry if it looks a bit goofy, I'm used to posting reviews and not much else.  

This week I'm featuring:

  
Since this is my first Feature and Follow I wanted it to be special.  I decided to ask my friend Melissa from Reviews Unleased.  I have known Melissa since 2007, I believe.  We met on an online multi-player game and have been friends since.  It was actually her that introduced me to my favorite book genre: paranormal romance!  She started a Facebook book club Melissa's Book Club almost 3 years ago.  She lists books she thinks sound good and we choose what we want to read.  One of those books was Kiss of Midnight from the Midnight Breed Series by Lara Adrian.  I was like a junkie hooked to a new drug.  I read the whole series in a matter of days.  Then I went on to another series and another and haven't looked back.

  • You introduced me to paranormal romance what is your favorite book genre? Wow, that is honestly a hard one for me. I love Historical Romances, Paranormal, Sci-Fi and fantasy. I really think it just depends on the book for me. Except Mysteries, I've never gotten into that type of book.
  • Your husband Jason and you have a review website I think it'd be great if you told us how you met Jason.  My favorite thing to talk about! Jason and I met online. We ran into each other playing a couple of online games.
    We really got to know each other when I was dj'ing with an online radio station and Jason was interested in Dj'ing also. I helped him get into the station. I guess you could say that we got to know each other over our love of Music and gaming. once wee started talking we became inseperable.
    We decided one fateful day in september 2009 that i would venture out of Ohio and visit him in Pennsylvania. After that visit we knew we could no longer live in seperate states.I moved in with jason in May 2009. Moving in with him was a huge decision, i was leaving my family and everythign I've ever known to move to Pennsylvania. But guess what? Everything worked out perfect and we were married in October 2011. We have now been married 2 wonderful years and I could not be any happier. Jason is without a doubt my Soul Mate.

  • What are your and Jason's favorite books?  Ohhhh My once again this is a hard one to answer.
    Jason Loves Sci-fi Fantasy books. He loves the Lord of the rings series and at the moment is reading the Game of thrones series.
    My favorite book of all time is the Into the wilderness series by Sara Donati, this is a Historical Romance. Right this moment I'm really into the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Is Reading Block Real?

     Right now I should be writing my review on Allegiant.  I'm not because I got halfway through the book and just couldn't read anymore.  I had a hard time getting that far actually.  I joked yesterday that I had "reader's block."  But then I was thinking, this isn't the first new book that this has happened to me with.  I had the same thing happen with the new Lux book Origin.  Except with that book I couldn't get through the first few pages.  I still haven't read it.  I recently reviewed Alice in Zombieland, that took me almost a year from the time I got the book until I read it!  I can understand having kindle freebies collecting dust in my iPad but new books from a series or author that I love?  It's very frustrating!

     I googled reader's block and it brought up a whole long list of results... mostly people complaining that they have it.  What makes no sense to me is that most people seem to just not be able to read any book period.  For me it seems to be only new books.  Is it the anticipation that creates the block?  It seems like perhaps I am so afraid that I will hate the book after I have looked forward to it and spent money on it that I just can't get through it.  I think after this debacle with Allegiant that I will stop pre-ordering new books!  If I can't get myself to read them until the hype is over than it's not worth it.  Now, if it was an Argeneau or Love at Stake or even a list of other books I'm sure I could have read it.  I just don't understand my own mind.

     The number of new books that I have been unable to read until months later seems to be growing.  If there is a ray of sunshine to every cloudy day (even if I am Rainy Dayz hehe) I'd like to find my ray of sunshine here.  Perhaps I'm better off exploring new authors and expanding the genres that I read.  I keep beating myself up over not reading these books, and it's not helping anything.  Luckily I'll have some motivation for that since I'm participating in the clean your e-reader challenge next month.  I've already started working on my list of books.  That should keep me busy for November.  For December I'm thinking of doing nothing but Christmasy type books... we'll see how that goes.
     

Monday, October 21, 2013

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) ★★★★☆


Author: Gena Showalter

  Let me start by saying that Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series is one of my all time favorites.  I'm also a big fan of the spinoff series Angels of the Dark.  I keep meaning to read the Intertwined series but haven't.  The funny part about that is I actually have 2 of the books from that series but not the first so I have never read them!

     I have no idea why it took so long for me to read this book.  I was totally jazzed for it the second I saw it in the bookstore.  Not only was it by one of my favorite authors but it also involved zombies!  I am a huge zombie fan.  I was a little shocked when I read some of the reviews for this book before I started it.  It seems that a lot of people expected it to be based on Alice in Wonderland.  Also, there was quite a bit of critisim over the use of a different kind of zombie.  I have always been a fan of authors who differentiate themselves by choosing to come up with something unique.  Anyone can base something on the regular ole zombies and an apocolipse.  But it takes a lot of forethought into coming up with something new and creative like Gena Showalter did in this book.  I say good for you and go on with your bad self!  It seems to have worked because I have been seeing tons of reviews for the sequel Through the Zombieglass.

     So this book is about Alice.  She loses her whole family in a tragic accident and goes to live with her grandparents.  Can I just say that her grandparents use of slang was absolutely hilarious?  For example when Pops says "get all up in her biznez."  LMAO!  Alice meets her best friend Kat shortly after her family dies.  If you like Anya in Lords of the Underworld then you'll love Kat.  Of course I have to mention Cole as well.  I expected more of a relationship with Cole from some of the reviews.  I'm wondering if it blossoms more in the next book.  I liked Alice and her friends.  Alice blames herself for her family's death.  I blame her parents for not sharing everything with Alice and her sister Emma.  If they wouldn't have waited, if they wouldn't have thought they were too young it might have convinced them and saved them all.

     Zombies!  I do luv me some zombies.  As I mentioned before this book's version of zombies is very different.  They're more like ghosts in a way but not really.  Gosh, describing them is difficult.  The zombies are only seen by some people.  They live on a spiritual plane and they crave basically lifeforce.  Their darkness is drawn to the light in people.  If someone is infected and dies they become one of these zombies. Whew!  I hope I did a good enough job describing them!  I loved the chapter titles.  My favorite was: Hungry... Need Brains... Will Have Yours.

My favorite Quotes:
"It's an endless cycle, like a mouse running inside a barbed wheel, bleeding and dying as those sharp tips dig deeper, with no way to stop the lethal momentum."


Saturday, October 19, 2013

Dream Student (Dreams #1) ★★★★☆


Author: J.J. DiBenedetto

     I can sum my first thoughts on this book up in one word: unfortunate.  Why?  Because it is unfortunate that this book has such a goofy cover and it's unfortunate that it has such a boring name.  Even the series name is unfortunate: Dreams.  I was thinking mabye "dreamwalker" would be better, lol.  I am positive with a new cover and name this series would be much more popular.  The premise is interesting.  Sarah keeps finding herself in other peoples dreams.  She meets a guy at a club that she happened to see a dream that he had of her.  She dreams about a serial killer and has nightmares every night.  The dates at the beginning of each chapter are annoying.  The book spans from 1989-1990.  I thought it was a goal to make a book timeless?  If I was in a bookstore and flipped through a book with old dates on it I wouldn't buy it thinking it was old, but this is not so it's confusing.  I feel it's a shame because I really loved the book.

     I recieved the audio version of this book for review.  It was narrated by Heather Jane Hogan.  I don't think that I have listened to anything narrated by her before.  She had such a soft spoken sweet sounding voice that she put me to sleep 2 nights in a row!  I'm not complaining, that's great news for an insomniac, hehe.  She did a great job with the different voices and I'd listen to other books narrated by her again.

     I like Sarah and I like her roommate Beth.  They're both very believable characters.  The romance with Brian was excellent.  He's a total sweetheart and for once I believe in love at first sight.  As far as the dreams and serial killer part goes I found it really interesting and it made me think of like the Criminal Minds show.  I was shocked to learn from the author that he didn't do any research on serial killers or criminal profiling for this book.  I really thought he had.  I found some of the dreams absolutely hilarious.  The Sean Connery dream is the best!  I'm curious to see what happens in the next book and how much time has gone by.  Especially after that ending!  Luckily I'll be reviewing that book too!  I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation.


Favorite Quotes:

"He looked at me like I was the only woman in the world worth looking at."

Imminent Danger (The Bloodline Revelations #1) ★★★1/2

Author: Ryan J. Alls

**Book provided by author in return for an honest review.**


     I'm not sure where I would classify this book.  I wouldn't really think of it as young adult, most fantasy isn't considered YA, and they are 20 years old.  It's YA if you would consider Rand, Matt and Perrin from the Wheel of Time YA.  It's hard to classify it as fantasy either, it does take place in another world Kismet, but the use of American slang like "cool" confuses that.  I suppose I'll just say it's in a class all its own.  

     The use of proper English in this book takes some getting used to.  I guess I'm just acclimated to using contractions most of the time.  But at the same time the grammar is atrocious.  I don't usually mention this in reviews but it was such a deal-breaker for me with this book.  Things like use instead of used, passed instead of past and site instead of sight I found so often that it messed with my enjoyment of the book.  But as my husband tells me he would never notice those mistakes if he was reading it.  I am just super picky.  For the target age group... they won't even be bothered I'm sure.

     When I first read the synopsis of this book I thought it was going to be something like Ender's Game.  I was wrong about that.  I'm sure it will make you laugh but my best comparison is Hunger Games meets Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire meets Pokemon.  Yes, I did say Pokemon.  Why?  Because they shout out their attacks and unfortunately what pops into my head was Pokemon battles!  But they have Trials to the death instead of battles.  The audience at the Trials make no sense.  They're horrified by a severed arm but cheer at decapitation?  Jude has it right when he says: "Barbaric.  That's someone's child or friend."  But hey the funerals were beautiful!

     When reading the synopsis you also get the impression that the book is about Eli alone.  There are several other viewpoints.  There is Jude, Jed, Bishop and Fox.  I like Jude and Jed.  Eli is clueless.  One look from a pretty girl and he forgets everyone.  Even when he's matched up against his friend Zane in the Trials he is clueless considering he is now an opponent.  Sia who he likes is like a walking contradiction.  I like you but I don't want you near me, he's barely spoken to her but forgets everyone else because of her?  I loved Jude.  If this book was all Jude I would have finished it in a couple days.  I lost interest because of Eli.

     The story takes place in a village where the people worship the three gods.  It starts when Jude and Eli are old enough to go to the academy to train to become agents and work for their government.  It seems that anyone that is of the three bloodlines goes to academy.  The bloodlines are combat specialist, weapons master and magi.  The combat specialist is the coolest in my opinion.  They can inject themselves with a vial and become an animal.  In his battle Jude becomes a huge spider.  Did I mention I have arachnophobia?  Talk about heebie jeebies!  The combat specialists can summon any weapon that they have ever held, including a barrage of arrows.  Very cool.  Eli is a weapons master.  Magi are kind of confusing.  I guess it would be like a mage type character.  Sia is a magi.  There's also Pang.  He is an outsider and he uses blood magic.  Kinda creepy.

     The fight scenes were awesome and very gory.  The romance between Eli and Sia was exasperating.  Everything involving Jude or Jed was great.  Fox and Bishop annoyed me but you don't have much of their viewpoint so that's good.  Altogether this book made me laugh and it made me cry.  It made me like one character so much I swore I would throw the book across the room if they died.  Any book that can make you feel so strongly is a good book.  It would have been a 4 star book if it wasn't for the grammar.  

Favorite Quotes:

"Only fools do not fear the inevitable domination of wooden dummies." -Pang

"Trust me.  I have been a predator for a few years now.  I know what looks appetizing and what doesn't" -Jed
  

     
    
     




Friday, October 18, 2013

The Sea of Tranquility ★★★★★


Author: Katja Millay

     I really have no idea where to start with the review for this book.  I suppose the best way to start is to say I absolutely loved it.  This book was recommended to me by my friend Melissa.  It is one of our current reads for Melissa's Book Club.  I am so glad that she picked this book!  I'm more of a paranormal junkie so this is not a book that I would have picked up to read myself.  I've decided that I need to broaden my horizons and after the awesome reviews for this book I decided it would be perfect.

     The book is about Nastya.  She was a victim of random violence that resulted in her being so traumatized that after remembering what happened to her she no longer speaks.  Her injuries include the mutilation of her hand.  This results in her no longer being able to play piano which is a big deal because she was a piano prodigy.  She is not your typical teenager throwing acting out.  I found myself totally entranced with her.  I felt her pain so thoughly that this book had me crying quite a bit.

     Other characters in this book are Josh and Drew.  Josh has recently been emancipated and lives alone.  All of his family has died one by one since he was eight leaving him now alone.  When Nastya shows up in his garage one night he doesn't know what to think.  She continues showing up and they build a friendship that buds into one of the best and most realistic romances I've ever read.  Drew is Josh's best friend and builds a friendship with Nastya as well.  He is tired of his player persona and uses Nastya to keep girls away.

     I can't say enough about how much I loved this book.  It made me feel so much joy and sorrow.  When I finished reading it I felt wrung out.  Lately as soon as I finish a book I'm on to the next.  This book affected me so much I just sat and stared into space after finishing it.  Wow what a read!  Katja Millay is an author to watch that's for sure.  I'm so glad I took a chance on reading something out of my normal genres.  I will have a hard time picking favorite quotes from this book that's for sure!

Favorite Quotes:

"I have one of Josh Bennett's secrets now.  He gave it to me.  I wish I could give it back."

"I couldn't really be so self-destructive as to fall in love with any girl, much less a girl who is cracked in a thousand places and who will leave me as soon as she's put back together again.  But I guess the ability to think rationally has left me because I don't deny it at all."

A Quick Bite (Argeneau #1) ★★★★★


Author: Lynsay Sands

     I am a huge fan of the Argeneau series.  I love the uniqueness of Lynsay Sand's version of vampires.  I have this thing for authors that use different ways of depicting vampirism.  The Argeneau series is fun and always easy to read.  As many of the books that I have read it hasn't gotten old yet.  It is one of the few series that I usually purchase the day that it comes out.  That's saying a lot if you ask me.  So if I'm such a huge fan why on earth am I reviewing book 1?  Because I felt like reading something like the Argeneau series and after failing to find something recommended that I haven't read already I decided hell I'll just re-read this one!

     What shocked me almost from the start is that I barely remember this book.  I originally read it almost exactly 2 years ago.  This story is about Lissianna and Greg.  It's sort of an introduction to the Argeneau.  There are some things not included in this book that must have evolved some to the series in later books.  It features my favorite matchmaker Marguerite Argeneau.  She is the mother of Lissianna and she kidnaps Greg to help Lissi with her phobia.  Lissi is a vampire that faints and the sight of blood.  Just that premise lets you see how comical these books are.  But they are also very romantic as well.  It was really fun reading about characters from later books such as Thomas, Mirabeau and Jean Louis.

     Although this is a good introduction to the Argeneau's I wouldn't rate it as my favorite book in the series.  I would have to say that award would go to Marguerite's book.  It's still a great book and I love Lissi and Greg.  So if you like vamp books and are looking for something different than this might be for you!  Just keep in mind it is meant to be humorous.  I get sick of reading reviews for this series giving it a hard time.  If you like the Love at Stake series you will love the Argeneau.

Favorite Quote:

Have you ever noticed how when you're happy, time seems to pass by fast, while when you're miserable it goes real slow?  Life would have been a blink with you whether it lasted a millennium or a month. ”

Only in My Dreams (Halle Pumas #5) ★★★★★

Author: Dana Marie Belle

     A few months ago one of my Goodreads groups read Bear Necessities.  At the time I didn't realize that the Halle Shifters series was a spinoff from the Halle Pumas.  In Bear Necessities there is a big confusion with Chloe's cousins over who her mate is.  They assume that it is Gabe the sheriff.  I now understand that sooo much better now that I've read this book.

     Let me just start off saying that Gabe is an idiot in this book.  It also doesn't make Chloe look very good either.  What happens is that shortly after Gabe and Sarah realize that they are mates Gabe has to leave for like 8 months.  Instead of mating Sarah before leaving he thinks it would be better to wait until he gets home.  Then he quits calling her because he doesn't want to disappoint her by not being able to share with her where he is and when he will be back.  Instead he asks Chloe to befriend Sarah and keep her spirits up.  Chloe lets Gabe think that this is what she's doing when instead she uses her friendship with Gabe to make it appear as if they are dating.  She does this because she is jealous of Sarah's relationship with Jim, Chloe's mate.  


     A lot of the reviews that I read for this book were negative because of Chloe and Gabe.  I gave this book 5 stars because of the intense feelings that it elicited in me.  Seriously, I was shaking at one point I felt Sarah's pain so thoroughly.  Any book that can you make that level of emotion deserves 5 stars in my opinion.  Another favorite part of this book were all of the Orlando hotspots mentioned.  I live close to Orlando and it was really cool reading about places like The Rainforest Cafe that I have visited.  

Steel Beauty (Halle Pumas #4) ★★★★☆

 Author: Dana Marie Bell

    I have fallen in love with this series!  This book is no exception.  In Steel Beauty we are introduced to the Pocono Pack.  Belinda from the Halle Pumas ends up being the mate of Rick, the alpha of the Pocono Wolves.  I found it interesting because my hubby is from The Poconos.  :)  As with the Halle Pumas pride this pack is struggling through a change in leadership.  Rick is the new alpha and his pack is still going through growing pains.


     One of the issues that this new pack is suffering is that Belinda or Belle can't join the pack because of the injuries that were inflicted in the last book while protecting Sheri the marshall's mate.  It is decided that it would be better for her to stay with the pride until her hip is better.  Which ends up being around five months.  During that time the most dominant female in the pack tries to take over.  She's a royal bitch and I couldn't stand her.  


     Rick and Belle have to struggle through not only a new mating and her coming from a pride to a pack but also a dominance battle.  I loved Belle in this book.  She really shows her stuff.  I also liked the packmates including the omega Chela and the second and Marshall Ben and Dave.  Looks like the next Pocono pack book will be with Ben and Dave as well!  I think my fav was Chela out of all of them.  The way she treated Belle and defended her against Gina was awesome.  


My favorite quotes:


"So this is what it's like to be pussy-whipped.

He decided not to share that little observation with Belle.  She'd probably do something gruesome to him in his sleep."

"And last, but not least, you will show deference to the Omega.

Because if you don't, you will regret it in a very bad, not good, terribly awful way."
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