Kindle Unlimited Review: Shame on You by Tara Sivec

Shame on You 
by Tara Sivec
Series:  Fool Me Once #1
Pub. Date:  Feb. 25, 2015
Publisher:  Brilliance Audio
Narrator:  Amy McFadden
Length:  3 hrs 47 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Kindle Unlimited
Challenges:  KU


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

War veteran Kennedy O’Brien is in the business of sticking it to the man—or at least any man who tries to cross a woman. After she returned home from Afghanistan and caught her husband in bed with the nanny, Kennedy lost her faith in men and started Fool Me Once Investigations with her two best friends. After all, there’s no better bounty hunter than a woman scorned.

When Kennedy takes a case to slap cuffs on a bail jumper turned dog-napper, she figures it’ll be an easy paycheck. But trouble has a way of finding Kennedy. Enter the last man on the planet she’d willingly choose as a partner: her cheating ex-husband’s best friend, Griffin Crawford.

As gorgeous as he is unwelcome, Griffin has always had a thing for Kennedy, and after keeping quiet about her ex’s cheating, he’ll do anything to earn back her trust. Whether or not she wants to admit it, Kennedy will need help as the case of the Chihuahua thief spirals out of control. Griffin may be just her man—in more ways than one.

As I was scrolling through Kindle Unlimited this morning, I saw that this series is was available with narration. As I was looking for a book to listen while I did some computer work, I grabbed this one up. It's a great story to pick up if you want something to listen to while doing housework or some other mindless task that you need to be distracted from. (Ladies - I am not talking about putting on this audiobook while your husband is making amorous advances... though maybe thinking of Griffin might get you in the right frame of mind!)

Audiobook Review: Built by Jay Crownover

Built 
by Jay Crownover
Series:  Saints of Denver #1
Pub. Date:  Jan. 5, 2016
Publisher:  HarperAudio
Narrator:  Nicki D. Noir, Jay Crow
Length:  9 hrs 16 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Audible
Challenges:  New to You (author)


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

The first in the new SAINTS OF DENVER series from NYT bestselling author of the MARKED MEN series, Jay Crownover

Sometimes you have to tear everything down to build something new…

Sayer Cole is frozen inside. At least, that’s what it’s felt like for as long as she can remember. She’s yet to let anyone past her icy exterior – and the one guy she thinks might melt her heart couldn’t possibly be interested in someone so uptight.

Rough, hard and hot-as-hell, Zeb Fuller has rebuilt his life and his construction business since protecting his family sent him to jail all those years ago. His elegant client, Sayer, makes him feel like a Neanderthal in denim, but despite the many hints that he’s been dropping to get to know her better, she seems oblivious to his charms.

Just as things finally start to heat up, Zeb’s past comes back to haunt him and he needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. As these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, fire and ice collide in an unstoppable explosion of steam… 

I started listening to this audiobook without realizing that its a series spinoff of Marked Men, which I have not read. Unfortunately, I think you do need to read that series first or you will not understand what is going on with some of these characters, particularly Rowdy, Salem and Poppy. There is a lot of character crossover from the previous series, so it would just give you a better working knowledge of who these people are and what they have been through.

Audiobook Review: Stone Guardian by Danielle Monsch

Stone Guardian 
by Danielle Monsch
Series:  Entwined Realms #1
Pub. Date:  Nov. 19, 2013
Publisher:  Tantor Audio
Narrator:  Tavia Gilbert
Length:  9 hrs 57 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Audible
Challenges:  New to You

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Gryphons flying past skyscrapers? Wizards battling it out in coffeehouses? Women riding motorcycles with large swords strapped to their backs? All normal sights since the Great Collision happened twenty-six years ago.

Well, not normal for everyone. Larissa Miller may have been born after the Great Collision, but as a history teacher who lives in the human-only city, she has never come into contact with any other race or species, nor has she wanted to. Her life is as ordinary as it gets - that is, until one day she walks out of her apartment and is attacked by a mob of Zombies, only to be saved by a Gargoyle.

Gargoyles trust no one outside their Clan, but due to a cryptic prophecy, Terak, Leader of the Gargoyles, has been watching over the human woman for months. While he can find no reason why the woman has been singled out, something about her stirs every protective instinct within him. When the attack confirms that the threats against her exist and are real, he convinces Larissa that though their races have never been allies, the best chance of discovering why she has been brought into his world is by working together.

In the course of their investigation Terak becomes entranced by his little human. But when he discovers why Necromancers want her and the great reward that awaits him if he betrays her, he must choose between the welfare of his Clan and not only Larissa’s life, but the fate of this New Realm as well. 

My friend Deanna is a gargoyle junkie. She loves reading about gargoyles, and even ordered several for her yard. So she got me intrigued into the idea of gargoyles as main characters... plus I loved the gargoyle secondary characters in Kim Harrison's Hollows series. I was surprised though when I started the audiobook and I was hit with orcs, werewolves, vampires, dragons, and a whole slew of paranormal characters. Rock on - I love the paranormal world. So I think this series is not focusing solely on the gargoyle clans, but will have a little bit of each species as main characters and romantic interests.

Our heroine is Larissa Miller, a human female who was born during an earthquake in which the magic and human realms became entwined. We see the heartbreaking story of Larissa's father, a law enforcement officer, losing his beloved wife in childbirth. Then we jump ahead more than 20 years to when Larissa is an adult and living on her own, but is still very protected by her father and four brothers. Actually, she has been more than protected, she has been sheltered to the extent that she is nearly ignorant about the other realms and all the paranormal creatures now co-existing in her society. This becomes a detriment to Larissa when, for some unknown reason, she is targeted by a group of paras and is starts undergoing attacks by zombies, orcs and the like.

But an oracle has told our hero, Terak, that the human Larissa will be very important to the future of his gargoyle clan. So Terak has been watching over Larissa and is able to intervene to save her during these attacks. He must get Larissa to accept his protection and discover why she is the focus of this plot. The protection detail obviously brings the pair closer together, but Terak fights his feelings for a good portion of the book. It's not quite a forbidden romance... but more like Terak is trying to follow his clan traditions rather than go with what his heart wants.

I liked Terak - he was a stoic and honorable lead who was all about the good of his clan. He was a tad broody and alpha (always good), but he wasn't a lady killer with a wide swath of broken hearts in his wake. And you don't have to worry about those sexytime skills, for all his virginity, he has read lots of useful books! Larissa was an okay heroine for me, she was a bit too passive for my taste but she wasn't overly annoying. I am not a big fan of willful ignorance, and she definitely had her head stuck in the sand, blindly oblivious to the world around her. It was liked she lived in a bubble created by her father and brothers. She also had one big TSTL moment where I was literally yelling at her. But the romance between Terak and Larissa was sweet and built at a good pace. I hope they continue to appear in future books so we know what happens in their future relationship.

The world building was quite nice and I look forward to more stories in the New Realm. I think that if I would have had more time to dedicate to the audiobook, I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, I was listening for about an hour at a time over the course of a week. This made it hard for me to stay "in" the story, if you know what I mean. So that's no fault of the narrator or author, but more my inability to give this one my undivided attention.

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Entwined Realms

Review: Extreme Honor by Piper J. Drake

Extreme Honor 

by Piper J. Drake

Series:  True Heroes #1

Pub. Date:  Jan. 26, 2016

Publisher:  Forever / Grand Central

Pages:  384

Format:  eARC

Source:  NetGalley

Challenges:  New to You

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Hot military heroes, the women who love them, and the dogs that always have their backs. EXTREME HONOR is the first book in a high adrenaline contemporary suspense series from Piper J. Drake.

HONOR, LOYALTY, LOVE

David Cruz is good at two things: war and training dogs. The ex-soldier's toughest case is Atlas, a Belgian Malinois whose handler died in combat. Nobody at Hope's Crossing kennel can break through the animal's grief. That is, until dog whisperer Evelyn Jones walks into the facility . . . and into Atlas's heart. David hates to admit that the curvy blonde's mesmerizing effect isn't limited to canines. But when Lyn's work with Atlas puts her in danger, David will do anything to protect her.

Lyn realizes that David's own battle scars make him uniquely qualified for his job as a trainer. Tough as nails yet gentle when it counts, he's gotten closer to Atlas than anyone else-and he's willing to put his hard-wired suspicion aside to let her do the same. But someone desperate enough to kill doesn't want Lyn working with Atlas. Now only teamwork, trust, and courage can save two troubled hearts and the dog who loves them both . . .

I fell in love within the first 10 pages of this book... it was the sweetest bit of instalove ever, and it was for a dog. I have been kicking around the idea of adopting a retired military or police dog for a while now, and this book really has me leaning closer to filling out the application. I loved everything about Atlas. His loyalty and love for his handler was heartwarming, and his dejection after losing his handler was heartwrenching. Whenever the book was focused on Atlas, I was invested in the story 100%.

However there was more to the story than Atlas' rehabilitation after losing his handler. There is a bit of romance, and a bit of mystery and suspense. It appears this new series from Piper J. Drake is going to focus on a group of vets who have come home and formed Hope's Crossing Kennels to train military and police dogs, and provide civilian dog obedience classes. Because the guys are the focal point, I will start with our hero - David Cruz. He was quite yummy and matches up with the cover model nicely (as did our doggie hero, Atlas). Cruz is a former para rescue jumper for the Air Force and is now working with dogs. I can't tell you much else about him - other than he doesn't fit in with his family and is somewhat estranged from them. I would have liked to see his character developed more, maybe with regard to his time in the military or what his actual experience training dogs involved.

The heroine of this first book is Evelyn Jones, stepdaughter of a very serious and stoic military man. Her chosen profession is dog rehabilitation and psychology. We have a little more backstory on the heroine, mainly focusing on her hard-to-please stepfather. I would have liked to know more about her mom and her professional history and qualifications. She was okay as a heroine - but her character was somewhat predictable. You know from the start with the way she wants to please the ol' stepdad that she is going to end up doing something stupid to hurt Cruz and/or Atlas. So of course when that happened, I couldn't really feel bad for the predicament she found herself in.

As I said above, I really enjoyed all of the aspects of the story that involved Atlas. However the other parts kinda fell apart for me, and the middle of the story lagged. I found myself zoning out a few times and had to go back and re-read pages. I think this may be the first book I have read where a dog was a central character, and I can't believe it. As a huge dog person, I definitely want to read more of these types of stories. There is a sneak peak into the next book in the series, Ultimate Courage, and it intrigued me. So I will most likely book up the next book when it comes out.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

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True Heroes

Audiobook Review: The Veil by Chloe Neill

The Veil 
by Chloe Neill
Series:  Devil's Isle #1
Pub. Date:  Aug. 4 2015
Publisher:  Tantor Audio
Narrator:  Amy Landon
Length:  10 hrs 9 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Overdrive / Library
Challenges:  New to You (series)


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Seven years ago, the Veil that separates humanity from what lies beyond was torn apart, and New Orleans was engulfed in a supernatural war. Now, those with paranormal powers have been confined in a walled community that humans call the District. Those who live there call it Devil's Isle.

Claire Connolly is a good girl with a dangerous secret: she’s a Sensitive, a human endowed with magic that seeped through the Veil. Claire knows that revealing her skills would mean being confined to Devil’s Isle. Unfortunately, hiding her power has left her untrained and unfocused. 

Liam Quinn knows from experience that magic makes monsters of the weak, and he has no time for a Sensitive with no control of her own strength. But when he sees Claire using her powers to save a human under attack—in full view of the French Quarter—Liam decides to bring her to Devil’s Isle and the teacher she needs, even though getting her out of his way isn’t the same as keeping her out of his head. 

But when the Veil threatens to shatter completely, Claire and Liam must work together to stop it, or else New Orleans will burn… 

Oh man, this book was very interesting for me. Living in New Orleans, I love to read books that are set here - but I hate it when they don't get things right. Chloe Neill did a good job with the world-building in her version of New Orleans. As depressing as the city was in this story, I was definitely able to picture everything she described.

The setting is post-war New Orleans. Magical war, that is. Now magic is outlawed and so many New Orleans traditions have been banished. No voodoo, no ghost tours, Marie Laveau or literary vampires. No beads or bright colors! Mardi Gras has been replaced with War Night, with a commemorative parade and paper throws. The power grid is spotty, and the Marigny has been turned into Devil's Isle - a containment area for paranormals and sensitives. It was very sad to think of New Orleans this way. However one thing that has remained constant is the sense of community. Residents of the Quarter still look out for one another, despite the magic monitors and containment agents roaming the city.

While we do have a main "couple" in this book, there was not enough romance in this installment to speak of. This is likely to be a slow burn relationship where the couple grows closer together into a comfortable relationship a few books in. I would like to see more chemistry and sexual tension between them, but in this first book Claire and Liam are just meeting and feeling each other out in the midst of a magical crisis. I loved Claire's store and the detail about the antiques and other treasures you can find on Royal Street. I liked that Liam elected to live within Devil's Isle, and I loved his grandmother. The family histories of all the characters was intriguing and very much southern. I liked all of the secondary characters thus far, particularly Malachi, the stoic angel.

I think the city in this series is going to be a character in itself. I was really more focused on it than I was our main characters. I think that people who live in New Orleans, or are familiar with the city and its history, will like this book. It's apparent that Chloe spent a lot of time here (or maybe she lived here at some point) because she was spot on with the layout of the city and surrounding areas. If you are less familiar with the City, you may not understand the significance of some of the areas, monuments and buildings, so that may affect your reading enjoyment.

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Devil's Isle