Audiobook Review: Beauty and the Highland Beast by Lecia Cornwall

Series:	Highland Fairytale #1
Pub. Date:	June 20, 2017
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Ruth Urquhart
Length:	9 hrs 33 min
Source:	Publisher

I have had Beauty and the Highland Beast on my TBR for a while, so I was happy to see it come out in audio just in time for my latest road trip. I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings, so I was extra excited about a Highland beast!

Dair Sinclair is our beast. He is a once proud son, rumored to be a pirate, with all the cocky swagger that entails. But after being captured and tortured, Dair has returned home a broken man whom most of his clan thinks to be mad. Between injuries, scars and nightmares, he made a sympathetic beast.

Guest Review by Julie: Leave the Light On by Laura Trentham

Series:	Cottonbloom #4
Pub. Date:	Aug. 1, 2017
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Length:	350 pages
Source:	NetGalley

Sutton Mize is a good girl who toes the lines, worries about appearances, and always does what's expected of her. Her engagement to a prominent attorney is more of a merger than actual relationship and she's..mostly okay with that. Until she's presented with an incriminating set of panties, belonging to her bestie, under the front seat of her fiancée's Camaro..that she just drove in to Abbott's garage to have restored as a wedding gift. To make matters worse, Wyatt Abbott, the bane of her childhood existence, is there to witness her mortified reaction. Instead of embarrassing her, however, he agrees to her rash plan of a fictional relationship as payback. 

ARC Review and Playlist: The Forbidden by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Pub. Date:	Aug. 8, 2017
Publisher:	Forever Romance
Length:	368 pages
Source:	NetGalley

Goodness. This is going to be my most conflicted review of the year. Let me start off by saying that this book is very well written. Jodi Ellen Malpas has honed her craft over the years and each book that I have read of hers has been progressively better, and this one is no exception.

Audiobook Review: Slouch Witch by Helen Harper

Series:	Lazy Girls Guide to Magic #1
Pub. Date:	July 11, 2017
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Tanya Eby
Length:	8 hrs 9 min
Source:	Publisher

Slouch Witch is the first book in the series, the Lazy Girls Guide to Magic. The series title and blurb sucked me in for this story - I thought it would be a cute and light-hearted read. I was right! 

Slouch Witch takes place somewhere in Great Britain (London, I think but can't quite remember), and revolves around the lives of witches. Most witches are members of the sanctified Order, and they all have their own feline familiar. Our heroine, Ivy Wild, bucks convention and got herself kicked out of the Order for cheating and assault, and now makes her living by driving a taxi. Between a very vocal familiar and her lackadaisical outlook on life, Ivy definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. I thought her laid back attitude and lazy genius were endearing, and I found her character to be fun and entertaining.

Guest Review by Julie: Forever Mated by Alma Black

Series:	Shifter Date #4
Pub. Date:	Jan 10, 2017
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	100 pages
Source:	Author

Professionally, Kyra is a confident and intelligent woman. When it comes to relationships, however, that same confidence disappears leaving her struggling on the dating front. She's made a fool of herself once in the love department and has no desire to repeat the experience. But there's just something about Zac that calls to her inner lioness. 

Audiobook Review: Wondering Sight by Melissa McShane

Series:	Extraordinaires #2
Pub. Date:	June 30, 2017
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Cat Gould
Length:	11 hrs 16 min
Source:	Publisher

Wondering Sight is the second book in The Extraordinaires historical fantasy series, following Burning Bright. These books can be read as standalones if you are so inclined, there was no noticeable character crossover in this installment. The Extraordinaries have special talents above and beyond the rest of society. They can control fire (scorchers), or move large objects  via telekinesis (movers), teleport (bounders), heal and shape the human body (shapers), or prognosticate (seers). Not everyone has a talent, and not every talent is extraordinary... but this series seeks to showcase the most extraordinary people of the time.

ARC Review: Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

Series:	Hidden Legacy #3
Pub. Date:	July 25, 2017
Publisher:	Avon
Length:	391 pages
Source:	Edelweiss

I know Wildfire was originally planned as a three book series... but please don't let this be the end!!! I have fallen in love with these characters and their future potential so I really hope the publisher picks up more books or Ilona and Gordon self-publish. Even if Nevada and Rogan's story is somewhat finished, she has all those family members and employees that are just screaming for their own story. I'm crossing my fingers real tight.

Audiobook Review: Bohemian Gospel by Dana Chamblee Carpenter

So this series was an unexpected surprise. The Bohemian Gospel is mainly historical fiction with a little fantasy thrown in, but the subject matter was wholly unique. Dana Chamblee Carpenter sets the story of our heroine, Mouse, to begin in medieval Bohemia and Prague. Mouse is a convent-raised orphan with special abilities and mysterious origins, particularly when it comes to the dubious identity of her parentage. 

Originally I thought The Bohemian Gospel was a historical romance, but it is not a romance at all. Instead, you will follow Mouse as she comes of age and attempts to accept her special abilities and difficult life. Mouse's tale is not a happy one. She is constantly battling her faith, and faces untenable and heartbreaking situations. I was drawn into her story and captivated by the setting and strife as the story progressed. The ups and downs of Mouse's relationship with Ottokar really put me through the wringer, and I had to stop listening for a while when everything played out with Nicholas. Carpenter has a talent at drawing the reader in and I needed a break from all the feels.

Guest Review by Julie: Break Me by Tiffany Snow

Series:	Corrupted Hearts #2
Pub. Date:	March 14, 2017
Publisher:	Montlake Romance
Length:	316 pages

Picking up two months after Follow Me ends, China is discovering the ups and downs of dating and relationships. And it's not all good. To the amusement of social media, her romance with Jackson has its fair share of hiccups. He's looking for commitment while she's...hesitant. Some of her waffling over Jackson was petty, but that may be the age thing along with her OCD quirks. Her relationship with Clark, however, appeared to be just friends, until Clark opened up over a personal matter. Now I'm wondering (okay, I'm hoping) if things will get complicated down the road...

Guest Review by Julie: Follow Me by Tiffany Snow

Series:	Corrupted Hearts #1
Pub. Date:	Oct 4, 2016
Publisher:	Montlake Romance
Length:	295 pages

China is a smart, socially awkward, computer programmer whose OCD tendencies border severe. Most of the time, I got a kick of her personality. Sometimes her extreme logic was annoying though and I couldn't decide if it helped or hindered her in some situations. 

Audiobook Review: Once Bitten, Twice Burned by Cynthia Eden

Series:	Phoenix Fire #2
Pub. Date:	May 23, 2017
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrators:	Jillian Macie
Length:	12 hrs 27 min
Source:	Publisher

Once Bitten, Twice Burned is the second book in the Phoenix Fire series, and it takes place mostly contemporaneously with Burn for Me. While the stories in the series are intertwined, I believe you could read these as a standalone if you really wanted to. However, if you start with Burn for Me, you will get more background as to the villainous plot and the phoenix supernaturals in general.

Richard Wyatt and his Genesis project is a corrupt government organization that has been experimenting on supernaturals against their will. In Burn for Me, Eve and Cain seemed to singlehandedly take on the bad guys. However we saw a headstrong vampire popping up at various times over the course of that book as he was searching for someone and generally getting in Cain's way. This is the story of that vampire and his fated mate.

Guest Review: Survival Instinct by Janie Crouch

Series:	Instinct #3
Pub. Date:	July 11, 2017
Publisher:	Calamity Jane
Length:	244 pages
Source:	Tasty Book Tours

Chloe Jeffries is a petite control freak with endless energy. Writing for a popular tv show let's her channel that energy into a lucrative and creative endeavor, but it's the voices in her head that provide the show with its entertaining storylines. Unfortunately, one of the voices is louder than most and has decided to stalk someone on set. Chloe doesn't know who the intended victim is, but she's willing to help figure it out..within reason, of course. She never expected someone like Shane Westman to show up and disrupt the little bubble of creativity she's created on the set, nor did she expect to be attracted to someone who has the personality of an ice cube.

ARC Review: Mission: Armor by A.D. .Starrling

Series:	Division Eight #2
Pub. Date:	July 14, 2017
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	150 pages
Source:	Author

This is a quickie review for the second book in A.D. Starrling's second installment of the Division Eight novella series.  Mission: Armor is a bit of a prequel for the series as I believe it takes place prior to the first book, Mission: Black. So I don't think you would have any problem starting with this book if you are just discovering the series.

Division Eight is a team of covert operatives headed by our hero, Alex Slade. Alex is an extremely skilled operative, but he is also a tortured hero experiencing some PTSD-type dreams from his former capture and torture by a drug cartel. Alex has sought out Vivian Thorpe to be his second-in-command based on their prior history, one that saw her rescuing him from the clutches of the cartel. Vivian knew she was in trouble when she joined the team, particularly as she fell in love at first sight with Alex during that prior rescue mission. 

ARC Review: Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine

Series:	The Great Library  #3
Pub. Date:	July 11, 2017
Publisher:	Berkley
Length:	368 pages
Source:	NetGalley

I have so enjoyed this alternate history fantasy series. Caine has provided us a dense action-packed plot in a complex world based on an alternate history of the Great Library of Alexandria. The Great Library has turned into a world superpower that is power-hungry and corrupt, and suppresses the people at every turn. The Library controls the books and the knowledge, and makes it illegal for the masses to own original books.

Audiobook Review: Spelled by Betsy Schow

Series:	Storymakers #1
Pub. Date:	June 14, 2017
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrators:	Arielle DeLisle
Length:	8 hrs 19 min
Source:	Publisher

Betsy Schow has created a fun and unique world of Story, which is an amalgamation of all our favorite childhood stories and fairytales. Spelled is a very loose retelling of the Wizard of Oz. While some of the characters are the same, the story is totally different and unique, with greater fantasy elements and more modern language and aspects.

Guest Review by Julie: This Kitten's Got Curves by Alma Black

Series:	Shifter Date #3
Pub. Date:	Dec 28, 2016
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	102 pages
Source:	Author

Burned by what she believed to be her forever love, Rachel has sworn off men. However, this sassy female doesn't stay down and out for long. At the urging of her best friend, Rachel decides to use the dating app to get back on the cart. Gareth needs to find his mate before his birthday or he may lose the alpha position to his pack and that's not an option. Even though he's been looking, nothing satisfies his bear and in semi-desperation, he decides to use the Shifter app. However, with one glance at Rachel's profile, both man and bear are taken. 

ARC Review: Semper Fi Cowboy

Series:	Lone Star Leathernecks #1
Pub. Date:	June 26, 2017
Publisher:	Pocket Books
Length:	300 pages
Source:	NetGalley

I don't read a ton of cowboy books... but Anna over at Herding Cats & Burning Soup piqued my interest, and I'm spending a month among the ranches and farms in Tucson and Yuma, so I figured this is a good time to read about men in Wranglers, Stetsons and broken-in boots. Heather Long is a new-to-me author, and one I will definitely be reading again in the future.

ARC Review: Grave Ransom by Kalayna Price

Series:	Alex Craft #5
Pub. Date:	July 4, 2017
Publisher:	Penguin/Ace Books
Length:	380 pages
Source:	NetGalley

I'm so glad that Kalayna Price is writing again, because I love the mix of fae and magic that she has created in the urban city of Nekros. In this latest installment, Alex's investigation into a missing person lands her smack in the middle of a criminal conspiracy using necromancy to further their interests. Alex and the soul catchers seem to be the only ones who can see the problem with the dead bodies walking around, so of course it will be up to her to figure things out and hope she doesn't get dead in the process.