Shout out: Author Kristen Painter

I recently discovered Author Kristen Painter and I am REALLY glad I did. Kristen writes fun paranormal romance without having to detail every little thing and I LOVE that.

In the last 2 weeks I have eaten up her Nocturne Falls series:

Book 1: The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride

Book 2: The Werewolf Meets His Match

Book 3: The Gargoyle Gets His Girl

Book 4: The Professor Woos The Witch

Book 4.5: The Witch’s Halloween Hero

Bok 4.6: The Werewolf’s Christmas Wish (Found in the Hex the Halls anthology)

Book 5: The Vampire’s Fake Fiancée

The characters are bold, wonderful and lovable, the romances are fun, the setting is phenomenal (can you say Nocturne Falls where Halloween is celebrated 365 days a year…yeah – I’m moving.). These are very fast reads and leave you feeling great. Getting the happy happening isn’t always easy but it’s always worth it.

Thanks for so much fun, Kristen!

 

 

Dannika Dark – the Seven Series

I pride myself in being the disciplined reader. That means, I read when the chores or work is done, when the children are to bed (ok they’re a little old for that now but still!), when the writing is done or the publishing or whatever the heck it is. Then, I get to read.

Well…I picked up the first book in the series called Seven Years. That was on May 2nd. Then I picked up the second book on May 9th. The fifth, two days ago. I also bought the audio versions and depending on whether I was hunkering down for bed or driving to work, I could “read”. Do you see the pattern here? I have friggin work to do, people.

Seven Years was the first audio book I’ve ever bought. The company I work for recently moved and my drive in the morning went from ten minutes to 25-30. So I thought I would try out an audio book.

Big mistake.

Three books later. No, three AWESOME books later. I now have the burning desire to buy all books this way. Sigh. Thus my need to go look up discipline in the dictionary and remind myself what it is.

So, back to the books. You may be thinking there was a typo since I read book one, book two and then book five. Well, you know how some characters speak to you more than others? Dannika wrote these books to be stand alones. If you know the characters – great, but it’s not required to enjoy the book. I fell in love with many of the characters I met in book one, a couple more than others. I was eager to read book two and five as I wanted to see how those characters that I loved so much would end up. And I was not disappointed.

Dannika Dark has a beautiful way of detailing the characters and giving them so much life that you really get to know them. I hate it when there is soooooo much detail that you are skipping through the paragraphs to get to the good part. Dannika feeds in the details slowly, like moon peaking through the clouds and by the end of the book you have a full  moon shining before you. The plots are fascinating, dramatic, funny, and full of emotion.

There was a paragraph near the end of the second book that was so profound that I read it to my [husband / soulmate / best friend] and couldn’t get through it without choking up. Because it so beautifully described how I felt about him. And oddly, when I finally got through it, he told me that when he was out getting coffee, probably during the very time that I was reading that section for the first time and thinking of him, he was sipping his coffee and thinking of us.

She has a way with words and I wanted to share her hard work. And to top it off, she handles it all herself. She’s an Indie Author who really knows professionalism. If if you read this and enjoy paranormal romance, I sure hope you go pick up one of her books. You won’t be disappointed and you’ll be supporting creative art. Go ahead then. Hook yourself up with some good reading. And don’t forget to eat. And sleep. And get some work done.

Surprising Emotion:: YA Books by Heather Gunter

NOTE: Emotional chickness following. You have been warned.

I recently picked up YA Novel “Love Notes” by Heather Gunter. I saw it listed in my BookBub email and it looked like a cute young adult romance featuring a girl with low self-esteem finding happiness. You won’t know it by meeting me now but when I was a teenager, I had some very down years with low self-esteem, just knowing that I was not smart and wouldn’t ever really fit it. I was shy and would steer clear of any confrontation – just couldn’t stand up for myself. I once had a bully follow me home after school, I was on my bicycle, and she actually came along side me and kicked my bike. Of course, me and the bike came crashing down though surprisingly I came out ok. She and her posse laughed and called me names and left. I hurried home and never said a word.  So the book blurb spoke to me. I read it in one sitting, a few hours with a cup of tea snuggled in my bed.

Turns out the book wasn’t just about a teen with low self-esteem but about a teen who experienced verbal abuse on a daily basis. Real nasty stuff that made my skin boil. I really did understand. I also really understand the value of a good friend. I was really lucky to have some good friends as a nerdy kid and later found some amazing, supportive friends that I still have to this day. I found a couple in the mix as I went that didn’t really fit the bill, hiding in plain sight while being a verbal abuser of those around. Those ones get kicked to the curb when I find them but I can honestly say I have some of the best friends a girl could have now and quite a few of them. (**Thanks guys, I love you**)

The book really hit a chord with me emotionally as I am sure you can tell. So I, of course, had to pick up book two in the series. “Heartstrings”

Um, yeah, read this one in one morning. The second book featured a girl who had been raped. Now I have actually experienced date rape but when it happened to me, I was so shocked that I didn’t struggle, it really was a surreal moment. He dropped me off at home and I never spoke to him again. Luckily for me, it was not my first time and he wasn’t a brutal, pain lusting freak, no he was just a horny asshole who pushed himself on a shy girl who was caught off guard. I’m so not that girl anymore and it was a sucky moment in my life but it did not have the effect on me like the emotion and broken heart effect that I read in the book “Heartstrings”.  Honestly, I can’t even tell you how many times I had to wipe the tears away so  I could keep reading.

Then at the end, the author shares that she wrote her own story, surviving rape, into the character and you really could feel it. I cried again after I read that. So I just wanted to shout out to all you ladies, and I am sure there are men too that quietly have had horrid experiences like this, you are survivors – not victims and I for one am proud for each and every one of you who has dusted off your knees, given the finger to the past and moved on to create a future that makes you happy. **Well done.**

 

Something Witchy This Way Comes by Veronica Blade

A friend of mine recommended this YA novel. I checked it out from the kindle library but was mowing through another series and didn’t get to it before it expired. This past weekend I finished another series and was reminded of it so I picked it up.

Loved it.

If you enjoy reading YA, read it. I’ll write more about it later but I’m on my kindle at the moment and it’s a pain in the arse to write anything lengthy.

Cheers!

Rebecca York (aka Ruth Glick): werewolf moon series

I recently went thru several of Rebecca York’s werewolf moon series.  When I got into the first book (Killing Moon) I wasn’t so into the extensive animal magnetism that was throughout the pages but the adventure and mystery was quite good.  I went through the second book (Edge of the Moon) and still wasn’t sure what I thought.  The book was good, I had to see what happened but the quantity of male / female stuff was, at least I felt, a bit over the top.  Now you should know that I don’t read “romance” novels generally and these definitely have that feel.

It was the third book (Witching Moon) that kept me really going.  Rebecca writes a great mystery and the characters are great.  I have since finished Burning Moon, Crimson Moon and Shadow of the Moon.  The rest are on my line to be read.  If you like romance, fantasy and mystery, you will probably really enjoy these!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

I picked up Fallen and it took me a while to get into it.  I didn’t have a lot of understanding of what the story was with the main character until you get further in. Once in the book takes you through twists and turns of mysterious happenings, like why does it seem that boys she gets friendly with, burn?  Her soulmate comes into play and acts so weird you can hardly wait to figure out what his story is.

What’s funny is I love to read stories with friendly monsters, faeries, demons etc etc and when I found out what the guy was it just seemed odd to me.  The ending was almost a let down the way it went.  I still haven’t decided what I think about it.  I noticed recently that it looks like there might have been a movie made about it.  I think I would probably watch it too.  I am sure a second book must be on the way or out and I think I will have to read it to see about getting further closure or understanding of this unusual couples otherworldly situation.

I’ll probably say more as I come to more firm decision on this one!

Inked with Chance, Liu, Galenorn, Wilks

Inked is another compilation of four short stories by Karen Chance, Marjorie M. Liu, Yasmine Galenorn and Eileen Wilks.  I found the book because I read a series by Karen Chance, really enjoyed it and thought I would check out the story.

Karen Chance’s story is called Skin Deep.  It’s about a gal who was brought up around werewolf’s and a guy who was kicked out of his werewolf family.  They are both after someone who is killing werewolf’s.  They are old acquaintences and it’s an interesting working relationship. A pleasant read.

Marjorie M. Liu’s story is called Armor of Roses. It is part of her Hunter’s Kiss series which I have not previously read.  I enjoyed the story but it didn’t capture me enough to continue on with the series.  I can see how many would enjoy it though as it does have intrigue, action, adventure.  She has some real nice twists too.

Galenorn’s story is called Etched in Silver.  It was pretty good.  A very independent gal with part ‘elf’ blood meets up with one of the other breeds of elves who ooze sexual confidence to bring down a bad guy.  It’s curious, the characters are pretty cool and the story is good.

Wilks’ story is another short one involving Agent Yu who is part of her Lupus series.  Yu starts investigating a murder only to find that it wasn’t human and may not be the last.  I really enjoy Wilks’. Good stuff.

Cravings with Hamilton, Davidson, Wilks and York

Wow!  I have been slacking in my duties of noting the books I’ve read lately.  I have torn through quite a few books in the last almost two months as well as completed a short story which I am submitting to a couple of contests.

The first book on the line up was a compilation of four short stories by Laurell K. Hamilton, MaryJanice Davidson, Eileen Wilks and Rebecca York (alias for Ruth Glick).

Hamilton’s story is called Blood Upon my Lips.  I have read the fairy princess series by Hamilton and really enjoyed them so I expected a good read.  I don’t like to bash authors, especially ones that have written books that I liked so I won’t say anything on that accept that the story was very sexually oriented and when I finished it, it gave me no closure and left me with more questions than answers leaving me feeling dissatisfied.  But, her other books were great.

Davidson’s story is called Dead Girls Don’t Dance.  I don’t know that I have read Davidson before.  The story was about a young vampire who really just wanted to end her life and then an odd circumstance brings her to her pre-vamp college crush.  The story gets odd after that and yet stayed light and interesting.  I enjoyed it but not enough to run out and find other books by her although, I may do that eventually anyway!

Wilks’ story is called Originally Human.  I thought it was great.  It has a human turned succubus and an alien in human form that bond together and have to go on the run due to the sensitive nature of the alien and the fact that he is wanted desperately by some very powerful otherworldly beings.  It was good enough that I immediately ordered the series of books that enter briefly into the story.  More on those in a following entry.

Last we have York with Burning Moon.  This was about a werewolf whose mate was murdered and he was two years into tracking her killer.  It also has a psychic young blind woman who runs a bed and breakfast in the city where the werewolf tracked the killer to.  I won’t say much more without ruining the story but it was a nice read.  I went ahead and ordered York’s novels too which I will blog about later.

Overall, if you enjoy romance fantasy, this will probably be a nice read for you.  For me it was an effort to find some new authors to read and I am always learning what I like and don’t like so that I can write what I like.