Something Wicked by Catherine Mulvany

SOMETHING WICKED
Catherine Mulvany

The BLURB:
Investigative reporter Regan Cluny is in hot pursuit of a reclusive philanthropist who is financing a mysterious archaeological dig in the California desert. Attempting to convince Charles Cunningham Nash to grant her an interview has proven impossible long distance, so Regan sets off uninvited for his dig to woo him in person. Instead, she meets with deadly trouble; a biker gang corners her at a remote rest stop, sabotages her car, and leaves her for dead on a country road. Miraculously, Regan survives with only one strange memory of her attack...and the man who comes to her aid is Nash himself.

Strongly attracted to her handsome protector, Regan can't know that Nash is a vampire tied to her attackers by a vicious blood feud that dates back to the Civil War - or that he has hungered for the life and soul of a mortal for nearly two centuries. With the local sheriff determined to nail Nash for the violence perpetrated by his dire enemy, Regan must decide whether the dark secrets of a lover she can't live without are something wonderful...or something wicked.

My Thoughts:
I have never read Catherine Mulvany but I saw the cover for this book a couple of months ago and put it on my 'to be considered list'. KICK ASS cover!!! Plus a 'kudos' from Christine Feehan on it!

Something Wicked was a decent paranormal romance. There was nothing wrong with the book and it's actually well developed and written. It was just a bit... well, dull-ish. Sort-of. I know this is SO unhelpful in helping others make a decision to purchase the book so I'll just say I wasn't bored but neither was I wow'd by either the characters or the plot. This would be more of a 'library' choice to me. Good to read but not run-out-and-get-it-now worthy. Actually, people just getting into reading the paranormal-romance sub-genre would probably enjoy this one. It's about 65% on the darkness scale. It's not a dark book but neither is it middle of the road either. Plus, it doesn't have a convoluted world or a system of paranormal beings that can make new readers long for a glossary so that they can figure out what's happening.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!! BEWARE!!!!
This would REALLY be full of spoilers if I went indepth but here are a few issues I had with the book: 1) The whole 'reincarnation of past lover' thing.... doesn't really do it for me. It can be done well or it can be done VERY badly so I always worry when books have that element. Mulvany actually did pretty good - it didn't take over the story or cause any awkwardness in the heroine's internalization of her feelings for the hero. But still not my favorite. 2) The relationship between the hero's 'past love', the villian, and the reason for the animosity between the hero & villian has a bit of an ick factor for me. 3) How Nash was made a vampire - although that's kind of related to #2. Also, this didn't really bother me but some people will be irritated by the ending - the solution to how a vampire and mortal end up together. To me, the way it came about was a little too 'pat' but I know some people who won't enjoy it for other reasons - which I can't tell because that would be WAY spoiling.

Overall, it's worth reading but I wouldn't put it at the top of the TBR list. I'll be watching for her next one though and check it out at the library!

RATING: B-

Immortals: The Awakening by Joy Nash

Book 3 in the Immortals Series is by Joy Nash (the previous were by Jennifer Ashley and Robin T. Popp).

The BLURB:
She comes to him in a dream: her creamy skin delectably cool, silky raven hair smelling of the sea and ocean-blue eyes reflecting the depths of her passion. She is everything Kalen has been desperate to capture in his art -- and in his bed. In reality, when Christine finds his remote Scottish castle, it is to persuade the Immortal warrior to help repel the darkness spreading around the world. But Kalen has a vindictive Sidhe trying to steal his powers and a dark secret of his own to battle before he and Christine can give in to --The Awakening.

My Thoughts:
This was yet another disappointment for me from the Immortal series. So far the only one I've really enjoyed was the very first one so I have to bid adieu to the fourth one as an 'auto buy' on my list - I'll be waiting for the library to get it.

My main problems with this book (and the one by Popp) stem from personal preferences. I don't like it when the hero has sex or is in a relationship with anyone else but the heroine in a book. Unfortunately, in the beginning of the book I really didn't like Kalen. He was a man-whore and just an all-around loser IMO. In that first quarter of the story, he is with (and having sex with) his lover whom he plans on getting pregnant (just because she asked him to and he kinda shrugs and is like 'sure'). And, of course, the heroine watches the couple having sex at one time. THEN later he leaves this public orgy thing, after which he was supposed to do the actual impregnanting of his lover, to whisk the heroine away to his castle where he then decides to have sex with HER within a few minutes of arriving not because of any soul-mate type thing but for selfish ulterior motives (which I can't disclose because it could be a spoiler!). All of this just gives me an icky feeling in my stomach... I don't like these type of things in a story but for readers with no such 'hang-ups' this book might not be so bad.

It does get better around page 120 and the plot picks up and gets more interesting, the characters become more real and likeable and I stopped disliking Kalen. However, I still never really felt like he loved Christine for herself. The whole thing (the plot, characters, and the relationship) was just... weak.

Plus, it also doesn't really further the overall plot-line of the series. Other than getting another Immortal to answer the 'call'. We'll see in the next one though, maybe there were important elements in this book that will tie into the next one. It wasn't HORRIBLE but I didn't think it was that good either. Had I know what this (and the last one) were going to be like, I would have gotten them from the library.

RATING: C-

Up Close and Dangerous by Linda Howard

Up Close and Dangerous by Linda Howard

I was VERY wary of LH's newest release because her writing has gone downhill IMO since the Blair Mallory books and Cover of Night was so bad it was almost a joke but I was pleasantly surprised by Up Close and Dangerous. It's pretty good - still not quite the quality of some of her earlier books but a solid read that has made it to my 'keeper' shelf. The characters and the basic plot are interesting but it could have been better.

Here are my main issues with the book: first, it WAY too 'detailed' in the things that they do for survival - readers do not need that much information on exactly how everything is done and what everything that survived the crash is used for in minute detail. On the upside, if I ever survive a plane crash in the mountains where it's cold and I've over-packed because I'm obsessive and on my way to a rafting trip - I'll know EXACTLY what to do! LOL!

A slight problem with the book is the development of the relationship between the H/h. I have no problem with a quick forming relationship - especially under these circumstances - but there is absolutely NO indication that the two are even attracted to each other before the crash. They really appear to dislike each other so Cam deciding that Bailey is going to be his so abruptly is weird.

Finally, the time after their rescue should be have been WAY more developed. It was the most interesting part of the book! She could have taken out a good 1/2 of the time they spent 'surviving' (which was a bit boring in the detailed monotony anyway) and put it after they get off the mountain and the book would have been much better.

Another review (on Amazon, I think) mentioned that the title and the cover don't fit the book and, although I didn't notice it before it was mentioned, she is right. The cover and the title don't fit at all - it doesn't bother me but I thought it was interesting and true.

Overall, I am keeping this book and was fairly satisfied with it, despite the obvious problems. Though that may be because the quality of the last few have been so poor that I've lowered my expectations of LH books.

RATING: C when compared with romantic suspense genre books
B+ when compared with the last few LH books

Hidden Agendas by Lora Leigh

Hidden Agendas by Lora Leigh

I was actually going to pass on this book because I was unimpressed with Dangerous Games (the book before this one in the series) but then my friend said it was good.

It was awesome! I loved the characters and the story was great. There were minor things, of course, that I thought could have been improved but it's now one of my favorite Lora Leigh books (outside the Breed series, which I LOVE)and it will definitely be going on the keeper shelf! After reading it my curiosity about two other Seals - Nathan and Ian - is severely piqued and I can't wait for their books.

The next book in the series, Killer Secrets, about Deke Santiago is on my 'buy' list for January.

RATING: A

White Heat by Cherry Adair

White Heat by Cherry Adair

This book grabbed my attention right away with an action-packed beginning. In general, I don't really like books with a 'lovers reunited' theme but I found both characters entertaining and well developed. The plot was good, although there were some elements that were just too coincidental to be believable.

The only real problem with it for me was that the climax of the suspense and the conclusion weren't great. There was a lot of build-up and I liked the rest of the book but then the conclusion just felt slightly contrived - not awful, just off.

Overall, the majority of the book was great with an interesting plot and characters I could get into. If you like romantic suspense, you'll probably enjoy this one.

RATING: B-

Hunter's Salvation by Shiloh Walker

Hunter’s Salvation by Shiloh Walker

Shiloh Walker is a hit-n-miss author for me. Meaning sometimes I like her stuff, sometimes I actually dislike it. My main problem with her books stem from her heroes who are usually too OVERLY reluctant to 'commit' for my taste. This book was no different in that way. In addition, the hero is too into the 'I'm a bad, bad man and it's all my fault' guilt trip about EVERYTHING and I wanted to pull out the mini-violins. He also does the yo-yo thing in regards to his relationship with the heroine. What I mean by this is that he kept pushing her away and pulling her back even right up to the end. The conclusion was unsatifying (one of the worst parts of the book) because he changes from pushing her away because he doesn't 'deserve' her to being fully committed to their relationship and their future within less than a paragraph and the change is awkward. That said, however, it was a pretty good read and I was pulled into the action right away and didn't want to put it down. I'm glad I checked it out from the library though.

RATING: C-

Next To Die by Marliss Melton

Next To Die is the fourth book in Marliss Melton's contemporary military romantic-suspense series.

The Heroine:
Penny Price is a pretty (but not stunning) Naval physical therapist. She's the 'do gooder' type who helps everyone and rarely does anything for herself. I know, you're thinking "Ewwwww.... sounds SO boring!" It's really not... because she's helpful in a nuturing way; not in that irritating get-a-freaking-grip-you-sorry-bitch sort of way. It does get mildly irritating a few times but not terribly. She's intelligent and a little pushy - I like that in a heroine.

The Hero:
Joe Montgomery is Penny's HOT Navy Seal neighbor. He's a TOTAL playboy before the disaster on a mission that leaves him injured and guilt-ridden. Now he just wants to hole-up for a while in his house to recoup and indulge in a pity-party. He's a bit of a selfish jerk in the beginning (& the past) and does some of the dog in the manger thing with Penny at one point but I still liked him.

The Story:
Penny takes care of her neighbor's (Joe) house & yard when he's out on missions because his 'girlfriends' are less than reliable and he has a pet that, of course, wants to be fed on a regular basis. When he comes home injured and battle-weary, her nurturing instincts begin to clamor urging her to take care of him... well, there is the lust factor too because she totally wants her hottie neighbor - although she's never tell him. So she begins to help him (whether he wants it or not) but she also has other crap going on like trying to help her sister get her life back into order AND a killer (the man they believe killed their father) stalking both of them.

Joe is slightly mistrustful of Penny's good intentions in the beginning but despite this he finds himself sharing the truth about the disaster and his emotions with her and is comforted by her time and time again. He also finds himself reluctantly attracted to a woman that he never even noticed before - he begins to see the beauty of her heart. When he realizes that Penny is being threatened by a possible killer, Joe pushes his guilt and self-pity aside to help keep Penny (and her sister) safe.

There is a secondary story involving her sister and the youngest Seal on Joe's new Seal Team that I really enjoyed. I wish we could have seen more of them!

Overall, I give this book a C+. It was good but the plot was weak in places and the characters exhibited some irritating traits and reactions that dimmed my enjoyment. My main problem was with Joe being so commitment-shy (there is a 'too much' point for me personally on that) and acting like a jerk but also with Penny who, although not a doormat, didn't kick Joe in the balls when I thought she should. LOL!

Learn more about the book, author, and series at: http://www.marlissmelton.com/

The Contest Scoop

Yep, it's that time again. Here's some interesting contests that I've found while prowling the romance & author sites.


Historical romance author Anne Mallory is having a contest for an ARC of her upcoming book, What Isabella Desires. It ends July 16th but she has a secondary contest that ends July 31 for signed copies of 3 other books.
http://www.annemallory.com/contests/


Erotic author, Emma Holly is having and ARC contest for her upcoming contemporary erotic romance called Fairyville.
http://www.mninter.net/~emmah/CONTESTS.htm


Access Romance is doing their quarterly “Romance Galore” contest for 55 autographed books from many popular authors.
http://www.accessromance.com/galore/index.php


Elizabeth Holt (historical romance) is having a contest for an ARC of The Serpent Prince.
http://www.elizabethhoyt.com/contests.html


Carly Phillips is giving away and ipod shuffle, a gift card, and a signed book in honor of her birthday which is in July. Happy birthday, Carly!
http://www.carlyphillips.com/fun_contest.php


Marliss Melton's contest is for an ARC of Next to Die.
http://www.marlissmelton.com/Contest/index.html
She’s also having a contest for a bag-full of books.
http://freshfiction.com/contest.php?id=598


Win an ARC of Madeline Hunter’s Lessons of Desire!
http://www.madelinehunter.com/contest.html


Karen Marie Moning is giving away the complete set of her highlander novels and a Darkfever t-shirt.
http://www.karenmoning.com/news/contest.html


Jayne Ann Krentz aka Jayne Castle aka Amanda Quick
Her monthly contest is for a copy of her Ghost Hunter audiobook.
http://www.jayneannkrentz.com/drawing.html


Win a $75 giftcard to Victoria’s Secret in honor of Christina Skye’s new release Code Name: Bikini.
http://writerspace.com/contests/christinaskye.html


Here are a few authors giving away gift certificates to Borders or B&N on their websites:

Shiloh Walker
Janelle Denison
Nina Bangs
Anya Bast
Bertrice Small
Lori Wilde
Tori Carrington
Barbara Bretton
Sarah McCarty

Happy Entering!

Scent of Darkness by Christina Dodd

Paranormal is a new direction for popular author Christina Dodd. I love almost all romance sub-genres but I'm partial to paranormal romance right now so I was jumping for joy at the prospect of one from an author like Dodd. Her historicals don't interest me anymore but I enjoy her contemporaries and the premise of this series sounded interesting.

Unfortunately, like so many of the new releases I've read lately, this one just didn't do it for me. It is actually the WORST of the three that I've given poor reviews lately. In fact, I'm not even going to spend time to summarize it.

Here's the blurb directly from her website:

A thousand years ago, Konstantine Varinski roamed the Russian steppes. Driven by his craving for power, he struck a terrible bargain. In return for the ability to change from a magnificent warrior to a predator that could hunt down his enemies and kill them, he promised his soul — and the souls of his descedents — to the devil.

Plain Ann Smith loves her handsome, dynamic boss, Jasha Wilde, but her daring plan to seduce him goes awry when she finds a black wolf warming itself before the fire. Before her horrified eyes, the wolf changes into the man she adores. She flees, he pursues, but they can't escape their destinies.

For Jasha is the descendant of Konstantine Varinski and Ann is the woman fated to break the curse that binds his soul. To find heaven in each other's arms, they have the devil to pay.

Now my rant:

First, my biggest problem was with the characters. I just plain didn't like either one of them so I didn't even CARE what happened to them. Ann is wishy-washy and whiny with some TSTL thrown in. Jasha is an arrogant ass. Plus, there was little to no real emotion or connection between the H/h. It was totally flat.

Throughout the whole book, and even in the end, it appears that Jasha wants Ann only because she found the icon and is a key to breaking the pact. Ann has adored Jasha for YEARS but we're not clued into why. He pretty much treats her crappy in small ways from the very beginning. For example: the man ADMITS that he knows she's wanted and loved him from the very beginning and yet he had her send flowers and notes to his various girlfriends and EVEN has her purchase an engagement ring so that he can propose to another woman. Come on... that's just cruel. Especially since he didn't do it specifically to discourage her from loving him or for some other 'noble' purpose... he's just a jerk.

Then there is the plot - it had a vaguely disorganized feeling about it, the pacing was choppy, and it just didn't flow smoothly. There were a lot of unanswered questions too. Like the brother that gave in to the darkness... HOW? What does it mean that he gave into the darkness? What happens then? Is he evil now? Raping and pillaging? Or does he just remain in his animal form all of the time? It's something that can happen to any of them and so is important even to this story - yet we're not told WHAT it means or how it happens. The world-building was just too vague and unfinished in this book.

The suspense was sadly lacking too, which is a bummer but Dodd has had trouble keeping the suspense going and believable in previous books so it's not terribly surprising. In past books, the romance and characters have kept me enthralled even when the suspense doesn't but since the characters and their lack of connection didn't work for me in this one, there was no help from that corner.

I know this is brief and maybe a bit vague but I'm not going to go on and on about why I didn't like this book, that's not helpful and it's a bit cruel to the author since there were so many things wrong with this book, in my opinion. I wish I could think of something positive to say about the book but I'm just coming up empty other than the fact that the premise (the legend, the pact, icons, and the mates whoare the only ones who can break the pact) is interesting. Book #2 is most definitely not on my auto-buy list anymore I'm feeling a bit pessimistic about whether Dodd can salvage the series.

Rating for this book: D

Anyone else who has read this want to chime in? I really want to hear what others think of the book!

I'm getting so frustrated with the poor quality of books that the established authors are putting out recently. The end of June/beginning of July release dates had many books of interest and so far I've been disappointed by 3 out of the 5 that I've bought.

Simon Says by Lori Foster

Lori Foster is one of my favorite authors so, of course, I trotted off to the store yesterday to get Simon Says, the latest book in her SBC series.

Simon Says is about SBC trainer/ex-fighter Simon Evans whom fans have nicknamed Sublime because... well, he's totally HOT! Simon decides to re-enter the ring as a fighter and is wholly focused on his training, when Dakota bursts into the gym. He knows immediately that he wants her and he warns the others off.

Dakota Dream (yes, that's her name and no, she's not a porn star!) wants something from Simon. Unfortunately, it's not a fling with a sexy-as-hell SBC legend. Dakota is coerced by Simon's biological father, Barnaby, who is also her step-father, into convincing Simon to meet with him in person. She doesn't hide her intent from Simon but neither is she willing to give-up when he says no. Soon, eveyone, from the crusty Haggerty to the slightly egotistical Mallet, is half-in-love with her and treating her like she belongs. Danger, in the form of Dakota's ex-husband, begins stalking her and despite her determination to handle it herself, Simon (and friends) step in to help.

I liked Simon Says but I wasn't WOW'd by it. I guess my main issue was with their relationship. I just didn't feel the attraction between them. It seemed... flat.

Dakota is a kick-ass character - literally. She is a tomboy who, within an hour of being at the gym, tells Simon's sparring partner how to predict and counter his moves. She also takes down a huge fighter who tries to get fresh without breaking a sweat. But she is just as comfortable and sexy wearing dresses and killer heels, and getting up on stage at the local bar to sing and play with the band. She is independent and sassy and has the big, tough SBC fighters eating out of her hand. She does have a jealousy problem when it comes to Simon and women, which is understandable since women flock to him, but I don't really like the way she handles it.

Simon is OK, not as 'sublime' as I expected but there's nothing really wrong with him. He was just rather unimpressive. I actually felt like I wanted Dakota to end up with her friend Barber more than Simon. Barber was an awesome character and I hope that we see him in the future!

The plot moved at a good pace and held my interest There were a few things that were kind of ick - like the scene where Simon finds out that Barnaby is her step-father - but it was basically solid. I'd give Simon Says a C+ rating. It was good, it just wasn't fabulous.