Born in Blood ★★★★☆ | #COYER Book Review

Author: Alexandra Ivy
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: NetGalley- Kensington Books
352 pages

In a stunning new paranormal romance series—even edgier than her bestselling Guardians of Eternity books—New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Ivy lures readers into the dark, seductive world of the Sentinels—humans outcast by their hidden abilities, treading the line between life and death, good and evil, pleasure and pain…

Born In Blood

Sergeant Duncan O’Conner has seen it all before. A beautiful erotic dancer is found murdered in her home—no suspect, no motive. But there’s one clue: she’s missing her heart. It’s enough to make the hard-bitten Kansas City cop enlist the help of a necro—one of the dead-channeling freaks who live in the domed city of nearby Valhalla. It’s a long shot, but desperate crimes call for desperate measures.

Unlike the other “high-bloods” in Valhalla, Callie Brown considers her abilities a gift, not a curse. But when she reads the dancer’s final thoughts, she senses a powerful presence blocking her vision. This is no ordinary homicide. This is the work of a legendary necromancer who controls souls. A ravenous force that will put Callie’s skills to the test, O’Conner’s career at risk, and both their hearts on the line…literally.

     When I was flipping through the NetGalley site and saw Alexandra Ivy's name I had to request the book. I love her Guardian's of Eternity series. After reading Born in Blood I think that The Sentinels series could be even better. I really liked this book. It had me hooked from the start. It's not really a fast-paced book but more like a mystery where you're trying to figure out what's going to happen next. Add to that a steaming hot romance and this book has it all. My only complaint is that the cover model looks like Anya and not Callie. Callie has short spiky hair and Duncan describes her as looking like a pixie. I guess that isn't as photogenic. I hate it when they do that!

     My favorite character in this book was Duncan. He's the kind of guy any girl would be happy with. A good guy through and through. Duncan and Callie have worked together for years and both have fantasied about the other through that time. When there's a really strange murder Duncan sees his chance and insists on going to Valhalla with Callie. Sparks fly and it's one of those sweet relationships that you don't see enough of in the Paranormal Romance genre. Of course with every book like this we need the enemy... so there's Zak and Anya. As far as bad guys go I felt kinda meh about these two. It's the classic take over the world scenario and I just wasn't feeling it.

     All in all this was a great book and I look forward to more from The Sentinels series. I expected nothing less from Alexandra Ivy. The concept of "high-bloods" and Valhalla was unique and refreshing. Especially since two humans could produce a high-blood child. To me, it seems more like The X-men type of idea really. People born with special abilities are expected to stay together in basically a city in a bubble not interacting with "humans" unless they are needed like Callie is to help solve murders and such. I can totally see something like this happening in real life because people always fear the unknown. The whole book except mabye some parts with Zak was very believable. The next book in the series Hunt the Darkness is set to be published in June of 2014.

Redemption ★★★☆☆ | #COYER Book Review

Author: C.J. Barry
Genre: Metaphysical Thriller
Source: NetGalley- (Forever) Grand Central Publishing
336 pages

Reya Sinclair is a Redeemer of Souls. Her mission is to give Earth’s most depraved sinners a shot at redemption just before they are slated to die. Her own redemption is on the line as she fulfills her duties, leaving a trail of dead bodies in her wake. It’s all going perfectly well until one detective takes notice, possibly bringing her salvation to a halt.

Thane Driscoll is a good cop who’s seen too many bad guys get away, including the man who murdered his father. He exacts his own style of justice, even if it costs him his humanity. A string of mysterious deaths leads him to a woman who’s not quite human and might hold the key to finding his father’s killer.

When death and shadows descend, New York City becomes a battleground for the forces of light and dark. As the body count rises and sparks fly between them, Reya and Thane race to uncover a terrible truth. Can one man hell-bent on revenge and one woman determined to save her eternal soul be enough to keep the planet from spiraling into darkness?

Freak of Nature ★★★★★ | #COYER Book Review

Author: Julia Crane
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance
Source: NetGalley- Indie Inked
284 pages

Donate Body to Science. Check.
When seventeen-year-old Kaitlyn checked the box, she never suspected she’d have her life–and her body–stolen from her. She awakens one day in a secret laboratory to discover that her body is now half-robot and is forced to hide her own secret: that she still has human emotions and a human mind. If the scientists who made her find out, they’ll erase what remains of who she was.

Kaitlyn finds an unlikely ally in Lucas, a handsome, brilliant scientist who can’t get over the guilt he feels knowing she was once a vibrant, beautiful young woman. He never expected a science project to affect him the way she does. As he tries to help her rediscover her past, he finds himself falling for the brave girl struggling to find her place and acceptance between the human and computer worlds.

Feature & Follow Friday #4

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.  Guess what?  I'm one of those featured this week!  Yay! 




This weeks question was: Are there any book to movie adaptations where you think the movie is better than the book?

This was a tough one!  I've been thinking about it all week.... 


At first I thought no there are none.  I have been disappointed over and over by movies made from books.  I thought of:

   

Not to mention tv show adaptations such as:

Then yesterday I thought of one!

So there you have it!  Out of all of the movie adaptations of books the only ones that I could think of that I liked the movies more than the books were the Narnia books.  There is actually one book I refuse to read because I liked the movie so much.  I'm afraid if I read it I will hate the movie like I do most other movies made from books:

The Hunger Games!

Mr. Red Riding Hoode ★★★☆☆

Author: Dana Marie Bell
Genre: Paranormal Romance
97 pages

The better to make you mine, my dear…

When it came down to saving his best friend Ben’s relationship, Steven Hoode didn't hesitate to trade his Florida timeshare for a month at Red Wolf Lodge. Cold weather isn't his favorite thing, but hot snow bunnies are, so he plans to make the most of his vacation.

Good karma kicks in when he sees a pretty brunette chatting with the lodge owner. All thoughts of nuptials and nookie take a back seat to the heat that flares between them.

When Graciela “Chela” Mendoza catches sight of the gorgeous man shivering in a red-hooded parka, she realizes why he makes her heart beat faster. He’s her mate. The problem? Steven has no idea his friends are Wolves.

Chela plans to break it to him gently, but when he accidently witnesses the whole Pack shifting, things get a bit…hairy. He bolts, locking himself in his cabin and refusing to listen, even to Ben.

Unless she can get him to see that Wolves are people, too, Chela will lose her mate faster than she can say woof.

Warning: This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, a man packing some nice goodies and a she-Wolf all ready to gobble them up.

The Cowboy's E-mail Order Bride ★★★1/2

Author: Cora Seton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
228 pages

Ethan Cruz should be mending fences on his Montana ranch, but instead he’s driving to the Chance Creek, Montana, airport – to pick up the bride he didn’t know he had. This latest salvo in his ongoing practical joke battle with his best friend, Rob Matheson, has gone too far, and Ethan plans to send his “bride” right back home, then get busy plotting his revenge. One look at Autumn Leeds changes his mind, however. Perhaps he needs a bride, after all. A breathtakingly beautiful city bride.

Autumn Leeds needs a story – fast – or she’s going to lose her lucrative contract with CityPretty Magazine, so when she sees the crazy video plea for a modern mail-order bride for a cowboy, it sounds like the story of the century. Making a video of her own, she casts herself as the perfect mail-order bride for a rancher, but when she finally reaches Montana, she’s surprised to find Ethan’s the perfect cowboy husband-to-be. Against her better judgment, her plan to keep her handsome groom at arm’s length disintegrates into a night of passion spent in his arms.

Ethan knows he can’t keep playing this game – he has to come clean with Autumn and tell her the truth; about the practical joke and about the state of his ranch. He’s about to lose it all because of the debts his mother racked up before his parents’ deaths. Now his sister, Claire, wants to sell the ranch and collect what little money they can. He’ll be out of a home and a job, and in no shape to support the bride he desperately wants to marry, after all.

Autumn’s in bigger trouble than ever. Not only has she fallen in love with the subject of her expose – she might be carrying his child. If she doesn’t write this article and secure her contract for another year, she’ll lose everything – her career, her apartment, and more importantly, her family’s approval. The only alternative is to stay and marry Ethan. But how can she trust a man she’s just met when she knows too well that men always let you down?

Can a love based on lies last?

Yellowstone Heart Song ★★★★☆ | #COYER Book Review

Author: Peggy L. Henderson
Genre: Time Travel Romance
Source: Kindle Freebie
278 pages

Nurse and avid backpacker Aimee Donovan is offered the opportunity of a lifetime. She encounters a patient who tells her he can send her two hundred years into the past to spend three months in the rugged Yellowstone wilderness at the dawn of the mountain man era. The only requirement: she cannot tell anyone that she’s from the future.

How did a white woman suddenly appear in the remote Rocky Mountain wilderness? Trapper Daniel Osborne’s first instinct is to protect this mysterious and unconventional woman from the harsh realities of his mountains. While he fights his growing attraction to her, he is left frustrated by her lies and secrecy.

Daniel shows Aimee a side of Yellowstone she’s never experienced. She is torn between her feelings for him, and exposing a secret that will destroy everything he holds as truth. As her three months come to an end, she is faced with a dilemma: return to her own time, or stay with the man who opened her eyes to a whole new world. When the decision is made for her, both their lives will be changed forever.

Come Home to Me ★★★★★ | #COYER Book Review

Author: Peggy L. Henderson
Genre: Time Travel Romance
Source: Kindle Freebie
252 pages

Jake Owens is tired of life on his parents’ Montana ranch, catering to city folk who want a taste of old-fashioned country living. He enjoys life in the fast lane, with fast cars and even faster women. When he falls in with the wrong crowd and is accused of murder, a stranger’s bizarre offer at a second chance might be his only hope to clear his name.

Rachel Parker is highly devoted to her family. A tragedy prompts a daring move to the Oregon Territory for a fresh start in a new land. After meeting the wagon train’s scout, the meaning of a fresh start may be more than she ever imagined. 

Jake can’t believe he’s been sent back in time to act as scout for a wagon train headed for Oregon, and given the added burden of keeping one emigrant woman safe during the journey. He and Rachel are confused by their attraction to each other. Jake’s ill-mannered, unconventional ways are overshadowed only by his notorious reputation. Rachel’s traditional values and quiet, responsible character are the complete opposite of what attracts Jake to a woman. When their forbidden attraction turns to love, what will happen at the end of the trail?

The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire ★★★★☆ | #COYER Book Review

Author: Cora Seton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
286 pages

Bella Chatham will lose everything – her veterinary practice, her animal shelter, and even her home – if she can’t find another source of income, fast. So when her best friend signs her up for the hot new reality television show, Can You Beat a Billionaire, Bella accepts the challenge and hopes against hope she can win the ten million dollar prize. If she doesn’t, it’s bye-bye pet clinic and shelter, bye-bye Chance Creek, Montana, and hello to marriage to the billionaire for a year! 

Evan Mortimer, billionaire, can’t believe he’s reduced to competing in a television contest to win a wife. Unfortunately, it’s the only foolproof way to secure his position as head of Mortimer Innovations. At least he’ll be able to dump his “spouse” at the end of the year. He has no intention of getting hitched for life.

Bella doesn’t expect her adversary to be handsome – or funny, or compassionate – but Evan’s all three, and he’s proving a tough competitor, too. When they end up sharing a tent – and a sleeping-bag – her body betrays her with a longing so deep it cuts her to the core. Still, this cowgirl must stay strong. If Evan uncovers her secret fears, he’ll use them to win the contest – and then he’ll own her for a year. She’ll be out of luck, out of cash, and stuck being Mrs. Mortimer until he kicks her to the curb. Too bad she can’t decide which is worse – winning the show and losing Evan forever, or losing the show and only being his temporary wife.

Evan can’t believe he’s falling for the one woman who doesn’t want him. This cowgirl’s not impressed by his money, his name, or his inability to sleep in a tent with her for an entire night, but every look and touch she gives him sends his desire through the roof. With a director determined to use his claustrophobia to make him look like a fool, and an adversary so sexy he can hardly see straight, he’ll need all his savvy to come out on top. Too bad he’s going to lose no matter how this show turns out. If he beats Bella, he’ll destroy the first woman he’s ever loved. If he doesn’t beat her, it’s bye-bye Mortimer Innovations.

Will either of them remember in time that it’s not who wins or who loses – it’s how they play the game that really counts?

Allegiant (Divergent Trilogy #3) ★☆☆☆☆

Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
526 pages

One choice will define you.

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.