Review: Frost Burned - Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson's life has undergone a seismic change. Since becoming the mate of Alpha werewolf Adam and stepmother to his daughter Jesse, her life finally seems to be calming down. But after an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy suddenly can't reach Adam or the rest of the pack. All she knows is that Adam is angry and in pain.

With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam's disappearance may be related - and that the pack is in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.

Mercy Thompson Series:
Homecoming (Graphic Novel)
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne
River Marked
Frost Burned
Hopcross Jilly (Graphic Novel)
Night Broken
Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson
Fire Touched
Silence Fallen

Alpha and Omega Series:
(This is a spin off to the Mercy Thompson series)
Alpha and Omega (novella found in the On the Prowl anthology)
Cry Wolf
Hunting Ground
Fair Game
Dead Heat
Burn Bright

For more information visit Patricia Briggs' website

Review:
Mercy should be settling into life as Adam's wife and Jesse's step-mother but when a Black Friday shopping spree ends in an accident and not only Adam but the entire pack aren't answering their phones she knows something has gone horribly wrong. Discovering that the whole pack has been abducted sets Mercy in full on rescue mode, especially when she can feel Adam's suffering through their mate bond. The only member of the pack not captured was Ben and along with him, Tad, Stephan and a few new allies Mercy sets out to rescue the others and bring them home safely.

I'm happy to admit that I'm a fan girl when it comes to this series and Frost Burned was another great instalment. Anyone who is also reading the Alpha & Omega series knew to expect big changes after the major events at the end of Fair Game but I definitely wasn't expecting an enemy powerful enough to take down the entire pack! I think one of the things I love so much about this series is that Patricia Briggs is always throwing curve balls at us and she consistently manages to surprise me with her plot twists. I was a bit disappointed when I realised that Mercy and Adam were going to be separated for at least part of the novel but getting a couple of chapters from Adam's point of view more than made up for that fact! It was so nice to get a chance to see inside his head and understand exactly what Mercy means to him.

Actually it was quite nice to see Mercy on her own without the pack for back up for a change, I've always loved the fact that even though she isn't as strong as the wolves physically she is able to stand up for herself. In this case she also has Jesse and Kyle to protect while she searches for Adam and the others so she really has her work cut out for her. I was pleased to see Stephan back on the scene and I also really enjoyed getting to know Tad a bit better but the best thing was a surprise appearance by Asil (who is a regular in the Alpha & Omega series). He is completely crazy and more than a little dangerous but I've been fascinated by his character since we first met him so it was nice to see him out and about causing trouble with Mercy.

I love these characters, I love this world, I love the fast paced stories full of plot twists and shocking surprises, I love how things are changing with the werewolves now they've come out to the public and I'm incredibly excited to see how the new situation with the fae effects things as the series continues. Patricia Briggs is an auto buy author and my only complaint is that she just doesn't write fast enough (surely a new book every month isn't too much to ask?).

Source: Purchased

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Review: Breathe - Abbi Glines

Sadie White doesn't get to spend her summer on the beach like most kids. Her mother can't keep a job, so Sadie is forced to work during the break at one of the mansions nearby instead.

Then Sadie discovers that Jax Stone, the hottest teenage rockstar around, owns the house, and things get a lot more interesting. Jax is adored by teenage girls everywhere - except for Sadie that is - but the fact she's not impressed by his reputation is exactly what he finds fascinating about her. As the summer passes, Jax and Sadie find themselves drawn to each other, even though their different worlds want to keep them apart. They're about to discover that love can be suffocating, until you find a way to breathe . . .

The Sea Breeze Series:
Breathe
Because of Low
While it Lasts
Just for Now
Sometimes it Lasts
Misbehaving
Bad for You
Hold on Tight

Visit Abbi Glines' website for more information.

Review:
Sadie doesn't have the luxury of spending the holiday's having fun with her friends, she's far too busy holding down a full time job to support her heavily pregnant mother. The last thing she wants, or needs, is a summer fling, especially not with the famous teenage rock star who owns the mansion it is her job to clean. Jax spends every summer with his family in Sea Breeze as a way to wind down after a busy year of touring. He just wants a place where he can forget about his fame and have fun being a regular guy. Sadie is the first girl he's met that doesn't throw herself at him and that just makes her all the more intriguing. The more time he spends with her the more he realises that she spends her entire life looking after others and he wants to be the one to look after her for a change. Even if he can persuade her to give him a chance will his fame get in the way of a lasting relationship.

I have to admit I was confused when Simon & Schuster published the 2nd, 3rd & 4th books (Because of Low, While it Lasts & Just for Now) in this series before the first one. I hate reading a series out of order but I had ended up reading books 2 & 3 before this one and as much as reading them in the wrong order distressed me I really enjoyed them. As it turns out there was a rights issue with Breathe that meant it couldn't be published sooner and because it was the first book she had written Abbi Glines chose to edit the story before S&S reissued it. So it's worth noting that this review is for the revised edition of the story and if you bought your version before August 2013 when it was published you may have read a different version.

Having read some of the other books in this series I was excited to come back and discover how it all began in Breathe. While I enjoyed the story and found it a very quick and easy read I have to say that I think it is the weakest book in the series (out of the ones I've read so far). I guess that is understandable since it was the author's first novel but even though she has added additional scenes I don't think this is up to the standards I've come to expect from Abbi Glines. I'm not trying to put people off reading it though because I did like it, I just didn't love it as much as I'd hoped to.

Sadie has a tough life, her mother is completely useless and leaves Sadie in charge of running the household, paying the bills and even making sure there is food on the table. Being heavily pregnant has made her even more useless than normal and she spends all her time complaining and expecting Sadie to wait on her hand and foot. I have to say there were more than a few occasions when I just wanted to shake some sense into her mother or kidnap Sadie and take her somewhere that she would have a chance at living like a normal teenager! Sadie had to grow up fast and that shows in the way she interacts with the people around her, she is an old soul and often doesn't act like most other teenagers.

There is no doubt that Jax is a hottie, he's also a rich, famous rock star so everything a girl could want in a lot of ways. He's also quite jaded and cynical because people are constantly trying to use him for his money or as a way to launch their own music careers. I have to say that even though the money would be nice I don't think I'd want to be famous. Meeting Sadie is an eye opener for him, although he is under constant pressure from his mother about his career he has never had as much responsibility as she does. The fact that she sees past his fame to the boy underneath is what appeals to him most, she isn't interested in his money or the things he could do for her, she just likes spending time with him.

I think the main thing that bothered me was how quickly their relationship developed, I would have loved more of a slow build to it and for them to have spent more time getting to know each other before the "I love you"s started. In spite of the fast pace they did have some really sweet moments and overall I enjoyed spending time with them. Sadie is a little too naive for my taste but it made sense that her character would be like that. I think what I enjoyed most was seeing Sadie find friendship and support from her co-workers, she's never really had anyone who looks out for her before so it was great to see her learn to trust others and accept the help they were offering.

Breathe is a really sweet romance and I already know that this series just gets stronger with every instalment so it's definitely one I'd be happy to recommend.

Source: Received from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review

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Review: Fair Game - Patricia Briggs

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

Mercy Thompson Series:
Homecoming (Graphic Novel)
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne
River Marked
Frost Burned
Hopcross Jilly (Graphic Novel)
Night Broken
Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson
Fire Touched
Silence Fallen

Alpha and Omega Series:
(This is a spin off to the Mercy Thompson series)
Alpha and Omega (novella found in the On the Prowl anthology)
Cry Wolf
Hunting Ground
Fair Game
Dead Heat
Burn Bright

Visit Patricia Briggs' website for more information

Review:
I have loved Charles and Anna since we first met them in Alpha & Omega and I've enjoyed seeing their relationship develop as the series has continued. They are still fairly new mates and have issues to work through on both sides but they've come a long way since they first met. Anna now trusts Charles implicitly, she knows without a doubt that he would never hurt her and she also trusts him to keep her safe around other wolves which is a big thing for her. In this instalment it is Charles who has issues that cause a bump in their relationship but I never once doubted that they would be able to work things out between them.

For centuries Charles has been his father's right hand man, he is the one that Bran sends out whenever there are problems and Charles is the one who has to issue any punishments to problem werewolves. Werewolf justice has always been swift and severe but now that the wolves have come out to the public it is more important than ever that they don't let the humans see the monsters they can become if they're out of control. This has meant that Charles has been spending more and more time as the Pack executioner and it's taking a toll on him physically and mentally. He hates what he has to do and he worries that it will make Anna think of him as a monster so he tries to hide things from her for her protection. Of course this has the opposite effect because Anna thinks he doesn't trust her enough to let her help him. While I could see where both sides were coming from I was totally behind Anna as she fought to get through to Charles and make him let her in.

I absolutely loved the way Anna went to bat for Charles and put Bran straight on a few things, as an Omega she is outside the Pack hierarchy so she is able to put Bran in his place like no other wolf can. She had an unlikely ally in the form of Asil and I have to admit I loved the scene where he points out a few home truths to Bran. I've loved Bran since we met him in the Mercy series but he definitely had a blind spot when it came to Charles and what being the Pack enforcer was doing to him emotionally. It takes Charles a while but he gradually comes to realise what is important to him and seeing him open up to Anna was fabulous. My favourite quote from the book is this one from when Charles has a major epiphany:

Honor, duty, and love. He would not sacrifice Anna for his father and all the other werewolves in existence. Given a choice, he chose love.

I'm deliberately not going to say too much about the plot of Fair Game in this review. Charles and Anna are sent to assist the FBI with an investigation into a serial killer and they quickly discover that the killer is targeting the supernatural community. There are some major developments towards the end of the book that are going to have a massive knock on effect in both the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson series and I can't wait to see how things play out. This series just keeps getting better and better with every book and I think this is my new favourite instalment. I'm just gutted that I'm now up to date with both series and will have to wait until next year for the next book to be published. Patricia Briggs is without a doubt an auto buy author for me and I can't recommend her books highly enough!

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
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Book Trailer: Midnight Crossroad - Charlaine Harris

Have you seen the trailer for the first book in Charlaine Harris's new series? Midnight Crossroad looks fantastic and this trailer just makes me want to read it even more!



Just in case you haven't come across it before here is a bit more information about the book:

From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a new, darker world - populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that's how the locals prefer it?

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It's a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There's a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There's a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there's new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he's found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth . . .

Visit Charlaine Harris's website for more information

So what do you think? Was Midnight Crossroad already on your wish list? Are you a big fan of Charlaine Harris's other books?

Review: Unfixable - Tessa Bailey

He’s the last thing she wants...but the only thing she needs.

Willa Peet isn’t interested in love. She’s been there, done that, and has the shattered heart to prove it. Ready to shake the breakup, she heads to Dublin, Ireland. But there’s a problem. A dark-haired, blue-eyed problem with a bad attitude that rivals her own. And he’s not doling out friendly Irish welcomes.

Shane Claymore just wants to race. The death of his father forced him off the Formula One circuit, but he’s only staying in Dublin long enough to sell the Claymore Inn and get things in order for his mother and younger sister. He never expected the sarcastic American girl staying at the inn to make him question everything.

But even as Willa and Shane’s fiery natures draw them together, their pasts threaten to rip them apart. Can Shane give up racing to be with the woman he loves, or will Willa’s quest to resurrect the tough-talking, no-shit-taking girl she used to be destroy any hope of a future together?

Related Stories:
Willa's character previously appeared in the first two stories of Tessa Bailey's Line of Duty series (Protecting What's His and Protecting What's Theirs).

Line of Duty Series:
Protecting What's His
Protecting What's Theirs (Novella in the Lovers Unmasked anthology)
His Risk to Take
Officer Off Limits
Asking for Trouble
Staking His Claim

Visit Tessa Bailey's website for more information.

Review:
Unfixable is Tessa Bailey's first new adult novel but I'm not sure if it is the start of a new series. If you have read her adult contemporary Line of Duty series then you'll already be familiar with our heroine Willa though. Willa is the younger sister of Ginger and she was a side character in the novel Protecting What's His and the novella Protecting What's Theirs. I loved Willa's character before so I was really excited to find out that she was getting a book of her own and I couldn't wait to read Unfixable.

Willa has just split up with her first boyfriend and she just wants to get away from it all. She spent the last 2 years trying to change into something she wasn't to keep her ex happy and she doesn't really know who she is any more. The timing couldn't have been better for winning a trip to Ireland in photography contest and she's looking forward to spending some time on her own and rediscovering herself. The last thing she is looking for is a fling but meeting Shane may test her resolve more than she expects. Shane is a Formula One race driver who has been forced to take a break from his dream job to help at his family's Inn after the death of his father. His plan is to sell the Inn as quickly as possible and get back to his life on the race track so his attraction to Willa takes him completely by surprise and isn't exactly something he's thrilled about. As they embark on a reluctant fling will their hearts get in the way of their dreams or will they discover something new to be passionate about?

Considering how much I already loved Willa from her previous appearances I had high hopes for this book but while I liked it I found I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. There are certainly some sweet moments between Willa and Shane but I actually found I enjoyed her interactions with his mother and sister more. Willa came across as quite self involved and hard edged in the beginning of the book, she's much more prickly than I thought she would be and the way she was so determined to keep everyone at arms length made me find it difficult to believe Shane would be so interested in her. It took me a long time to warm up to her character and I think that because we don't get to see things from Shane's point of view I just struggled to feel his connection to her. I really wanted to get inside his head and know what he was thinking.

The beginning of the story was quite slow and whenever I had to put my kindle down I didn't feel particularly inspired to pick it back up again. The story was nice enough when I was reading but I didn't have that compelling, addicted feeling towards it that makes a book unforgettable. The pace picks up nicely towards the end though and I found myself really enjoying the last few chapters. I also loved getting a glimpse into how Ginger and Derek are getting on a few months down the line from the end of their book, there are some really sweet scenes with them and Willa that made me smile.

Although Unfixable wasn't my favourite of Tessa Bailey's books it was still a likeable read and worth investing a couple of hours into reading, especially if you've read the previous books with Willa and want to see how things turn out for her. I'm a huge fan of this author's other series so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for anything new she writes in the future.

Source: Received from Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review

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Teaser Blitz: Out of Mind - Jen McLaughlin

Today is the teaser blitz for the upcoming book OUT OF MIND by Jen McLaughlin. This is the third, and final, book in the OUT OF LINE series!

The book will be released on April 29th!

BOOK SUMMARY:
Reaching for sunlight...

Finn survived the ambush and came home to me, but in his head, the battle is still raging. He’s falling apart and I’m trying my best to pick up the pieces of him, to find the us we used to be. I love him as much as I ever did, but love isn’t enough to fix this. I thought telling my father about our relationship would be the hardest thing we’d ever have to face. I was wrong.

Lost in shadows...

All I wanted was to be worthy of Carrie. One mission, just one, and I’d be able to give her the future she deserved. Then everything went wrong, leaving me tainted and broken. Carrie wants me to be who I was, but all that’s left is what they made of me. I’m no good for her. No good for anyone like this. I have to figure out how to move forward. Alone.

Sometimes love isn’t enough...

SERIES Buy Links:

OUT OF LINE (Book #1)
Amazon - http://amzn.to/17HLrFu
B&N - http://bit.ly/17hfkvi

OUT OF TIME (Book #2)
Amazon - http://amzn.to/1daxXYL
B&N - http://bit.ly/1g7hPas

AUTHOR BIO:
Jen McLaughlin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She writes steamy New Adult books for the young and young at heart. Her first release, Out of Line, came out September 2013. She also writes bestselling Contemporary Romance under the pen name Diane Alberts. Since receiving her first contract offer under the pen name Diane Alberts, she has yet to stop writing. She is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, a cat, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another. Her goal is to write so many well-crafted romance books that even a non-romance reader will know her name.

AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: http://dianealberts.com/
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/DianeAlberts6
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianeAlberts
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6921962.Jen_McLaughlin

Review: Monster in My Closet - R.L. Naquin

I stopped believing in monsters long ago. But I knew I wasn't imagining things when I found one in my kitchen baking muffins. I'd seen him before: lurking in my closet, scaring the crap out of my five-year-old self. Turns out that was a misunderstanding, and now Maurice needs a place to stay. How could I say no?

After all, I've always been a magnet for the emotionally needy, and not just in my work as a wedding planner. Being able to sense the feelings of others can be a major pain. Don't get me wrong, I like helping people--and non-people. But this ability has turned me into a gourmet feast for an incubus, a demon that feeds off emotional energy. Now, brides are dropping dead all over town, and my home has become a safe house for the supernatural. I must learn to focus my powers and defeat the demon before he snacks on another innocent woman and comes looking for the main course...

Monster Haven Series:
Monster in My Closet
Ill-Conceived Magic (Short Story)
Pooka in My Pantry
Hidden Holidays (Short Story)
Fairies in My Fireplace
What Zoey Doesn't Know (Short Story)
Golem in My Glovebox
Demons in My Driveway
Transmonstrified (Short Story Collection)
Phoenix in My Fortune

Djinn Haven series:
(Spin off from the Monster Haven series but can be read separately)
To Catch A Stolen Soul
To Seize a Wayward Spirit
To Free a Captured Heart

Visit R.L. Naquin's website for more information

Review:
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading Monster in My Closet, this is the first book in what is set to be an incredibly fun series and I can't wait to read more from R.L. Naquin. The main character Zoey is just your average girl, she lives a fairly normal life and enjoys working alongside her best friend Sara as a wedding planner. Zoey hasn't believed in monsters since she was a child and thought she saw one hiding in her closet but of course she grew out of that fear, until she comes downstairs one morning only to be confronted by that exact same monster sitting at her kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper! Zoey quickly comes to realise that monsters are real but they aren't always the bad guys and before long she has a house full of closet monsters, brownies and all manner of other creatures that she didn't even know existed.

Considering she is thrown in at the deep end Zoey copes quite well with her uninvited guests and she quickly becomes friends with closet monster Maurice and her other visitors. I had so much fun watching Zoey try to come to terms with her new reality, at first she thinks she is losing her mind but with her empathic abilities she quickly adapts to a new way of life. Zoey's mother disappeared when she was a child but it turns out that she used to help supernatural creatures who had nowhere else to turn. Their problems are often very human but where else does a closet monster go when he finds out his wife has been cheating on him and he needs a place to stay? How many refuges do you know of for brownies who are suffering from domestic violence?

Zoey is largely untrained on how to use her empathic abilities, she finds it difficult to be around crowds of people because she has no idea how to shield herself from the onslaught of emotions and her power makes her aura shine brightly which soon attracts the attention of a passing incubus. Zoey is now a target and with the help of her friends she is going to have to put a stop to the incubus before he can kill more innocent women. Without a doubt it is the characters that made this book so much fun to read, I loved Zoey but I also enjoyed getting to know the supernatural creatures who come into her life. Maurice is definitely a favourite and I hope we're going to be seeing a lot more of him as the series continues.

Monster in My Closet is a light hearted and very amusing story that I devoured in one sitting. It has action, comedy and a hint of romance that I'm hoping will be expanded upon in the next book. Zoey is the kind of woman you can easily picture yourself being friends with, she isn't kickass, and she doesn't really have any special powers apart from her empathy but she has some great friends who are there to support her. She also happens to have a fantastic shoe collection and how can you not like a woman who owns a pair of Iron Fist Zombie stiletto heels?

Come on, what woman doesn't want a pair of these bad boys in their wardrobe? LOL

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

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