Review: What a Dragon Should Know by G.A. Aiken

Author: G.A. Aiken

Title: What a Dragon Should Know

Series: Dragon Kin #3

About the Book:Only for those I love would I traipse into the merciless Northlands to risk life, limb, and my exquisite beauty. But do they appreciate it? Do they say, 'Gwenvael the Handsome, you are the best among us - the most loved of all dragons?' No! For centuries my family has refused to acknowledge my magnificence as well as my innate humility. Yet for them, and because I am so chivalrous, I will brave the worst this land has to offer. So here I stand, waiting to broker an alliance with the one the Northlanders call The Beast. A being so fearful, the greatest warriors will only whisper its name. Yet I, Gwenvael, will courageously face down this terrifying...woman? It turns out the Beast, a.k.a. Dagmar Reinholdt, is a woman - one with steel-gray eyes and a shocking disregard for my good looks. Beneath her plain robes and prim spectacles lies a sensual creature waiting to be unleashed. Who better than a dragon to thaw out that icy demeanor? And who better than a beast to finally tame a mighty dragon's heart?

 

My Thoughts:

The first book in this series was very enjoyable for me, but the second one was not too good, and frankly I didn't expect to like the third book, this one, because of the lead character, Gwenvael. In the previous books, he was portrayed as a bumbler, and a rabid man-whore who slept with anything that moved...eh.

But I was surprised to find that he had much more depth than the his character in the previous books would suggest. Additionally, the focus on smex was very little (compared to the other books), which allowed Ms. Aiken to focus a lot more on character development and the various relationships in the book. I thought that was wonderful.

But what made the book for me was Annwyl's story. She has been the most compelling character for me since I started the series, and I am delighted to get to follow her and Fearghus as hey get on with their lives. Seriously. They are the reason I continue with the series - Annwyl and Fearghus along with Bercelak and Rhiannon - so I can see what shenanigans they're up to. My favorite scenes in this book had to do with the birth of Annwyl's twins: so moving how much they all love her.

I definitely enjoyed this one more than I thought I would, and I have a lot more respect for Gwenvael after reading his story.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Dragon Actually
2. About a Dragon

 

Quickie Review: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe anthology

Editor: Charlaine Harris, P.N. Elrod

Title: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

 

My Thoughts:

This is one of the better anthologies out there. I can truly say that no matter my feelings about any one of them, every single story is well-written and mostly entertaining.

My favorite stories were
The Haire of the Beast, by Donna Andrews,
Fresh Meat, by Alan Gordon, and
The Perfect Gift, by Dana Stabenow.

They are all new-to-me authors (well, I've read a mystery from Dan Stabenow before, but still) and their stories were simple, interesting, and fresh perspectives of werewolf/shifter mythologies. Ms. Stabenow's was a bit cluttered and I was confused for a while, but it all clears up into an enjoyable story.

Patricia Briggs' story was also enjoyable, as was Karen Chance's.

My least favorite stories were Rob Thurman's entry - it was quite twisted and my only reaction was wth? and Keri Arthur's entry: I just didn't care about it.

Recommended! A very good anthology, with every single story in it being worth the money.

 

Review: Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill

Author: Chloe Neill

Title: Twice Bitten

Series: Chicagoland Vampires #3

About the Book: Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master Vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit, Chicago's newest vampire. Merit is supposed to protect the Alpha, Gabriel Keene-and to spy for the vamps while she's at it. Oh, and luckily Ethan's offering some steamy, one-on-one combat training sessions to help her prepare for the mission.

Unfortunately, someone is gunning for Gabriel, and Merit soon finds herself in the line of fire. She'll need all the help she can get to track down the would-be assassin, but everywhere she turns, there are rising tensions between supernaturals-not least between her and a certain green-eyed, centuries-old master vampire.

 

My Thoughts:

A few impressions:

Merit is one of the more well-rounded heroines I've come across in UF, meaning that she has very obvious faults as well as strengths. I want to smack her for her faults sometimes, but I also want to cheer her on for her strong points. For a all that she can act the idiot and has bad choices in friends, she is fiercely loyal to her causes, accepts the consequences of her choices, and has a lot of backbone in her character. I had new/more respect for her after I was done reading.

Why oh why did that Mallory girl have to come back into the picture? I immensely enjoyed her absence and thought Lindsey was a much better friend and sidekick. Pity she couldn't stay away forever.

Ethan is also a more balanced character than most UF leads I've come across, for the simple fact that he is fallible and has flaws that are actually flaws instead of "good traits taken to the extreme." for that reason alone I like him and empathized with him and his conflicted self, even though he was way outta line for what he did to Merit. Of all the men in this series he's the one I like best. Morgan is an immature jerk, and I don't like what I've seen of Jonah much.

What is it with ALL the men I. This series being extremely handsome? It seems only beautiful people exist in or venture into Chicagoland.

I hate to say it but the shifter mythology in this series is kinda lame; even so, it is a pretty bangin' vampire series.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Some Girls Bite - 4/5
2. Friday Night Bites

 

Quickie Review: The Next Always by Nora Roberts

Author: Nora Roberts

Title: The Next Always

Series: Inn Boonsboro Trilogy #1

My Thoughts:

It took me four months to finish reading this book, smh. I do think an excellent rating is a bit more than the book deserves, but it did a u-turn on me, so the rating stands.

It took a loooooong time to finally start to enjoy the book, and even after that, there were quite a few facepalm-ing moments, but I was too well-ensnared by Ms. Roberts' magic to not enjoy it.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

Dying to Get in August....Male Authors all Around!

*At the beginning of the month I post covers of new releases I am just dying to get my hands on and why I am so excited. Inspired by Waiting on Wednesday *

This month's Dying to Get includes a release from last month! Ben Aaronovitch's book released on July 31st, so it's practically an August release anyway. More importantly, I didn't even know about just how awesome a writer Mr. Aaronovitch is until July, when I started the first book in the Peter Grant series.  So without further ado, I present you the two books I am dying to get my hands on this month (well, I've already gotten my hands on one, but still, ). Hah! I just noticed it's all male authors this month!

 July 31st: Whispers Under Ground. 

Book 3 in the Peter Grant series. Without a doubt this is one of the most unique and best UF series I have ever read. I love, love, love this series. I adore Peter as a character, I love London as a setting, and the beauty that is the narrative cannot be overstated. I also love just how ordinary Peter is. Also, I really like how well this male author can write women without making them seem cliche or caricatured. I can't say how glad I am that I stumbled upon this series! I don't know what made me put off picking up book 1 for so long!!!

August 14th: The Demigod Diaries

Book 2.5. It's an anthology about Percy Jackson and some of the demigods in mini-adventures after the battle with the Titans in The Last Olympian. I have SUCH tremendous appreciation and respect for the teen? man? boy? demigod? person? Percy has become, from his bewildered beginnings in The Lightning Thief. Percy is so many things, all of them good. He also manages to be all those things without in the least seeming like a Gary Stu or like he's too perfect. Can't wait! Plus I hear tell there's a story of a date with Annabeth in there. Mebbe we'll get some kissing. Squeee!!! But at $9.87 for the kindle price, I am not sure I will be getting this after all :(

{July} Month in Review

 

July was reading heaven, even if I do say so myself. I also went a little bit crazy with buying books :D. I discovered a new author whom I utterly ADORE - Ben Aaronovitch - and reread an entire series that I love -  Percy Jackson. Ooh, and Gunmetal Magic releases today! As well as Book 3 in the Peter Grant series!! Perfect end to the month.

Stats:

I read 19 books this month, 5 of which were 5-star rereads, all from the Percy Jackson series. I love, love, love Percy, and fell in love with him all over again. The rest were all wonderful. There were only 3 books I didn't enjoy very much: Chloe Neill's, The Lost Hero, and Must Love Hellhounds.
 

The favorites

So many good books this month. Where to start, where to start?

•  I started the Heroes of Olympus series just so I could see my Percy again. Book 1 was meh, but that was cos Percy wasn't in it. He brought it in book 2! 
• And I discovered a gem among gems: The Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch. Pure, unadulterated goodness!
• The YA Trilogy by Sharon Shinn wasn't bad at all. 
• I read and loved an ARC of an Anna Campbell book (review to be posted all the way in September!)

The least favorites

• The Lost Hero was very middling, with a wooden lost hero and a Mary sue girl heading our cast.
• The two anthologies I finished this month weren't too good as a whole :(
• Drink Deep is the worst Chloe Neill book I have read. Ugh!!

Reflections

Awesome month!

Looking Forward

I can already tell it's going to be a good new month! Ilona Andrews and Ben Aaronovitch have just released new books, and there's Percy and Annabeth going on a date to tide me over the rest of the month when The Demigod Diaries releases. Here's to good reading!

TGIF @ GReads #8: Christmas in July

TGIF is a meme hosted over on Ginger's blog that asks fun book-related questions.

And today's question:

Christmas in July: If Santa were to come down your chimney in the middle of summer, which books would you want him to leave for you under the tree?

Well now, that's a dangerous question, lol! But if I had to pick two, I know which books I'd ask for. And surprise surprise, they are  YA books, even though I tend to dislike the genre quite a bit. I was going to pick three, but I have been trying for the past few hours to get my pictures to line up horizontally or in a table without having to host them somewhere first. No dice, so we get two books. The third choice was going to be Maria Snyder's Scent of Magic.

Cinda Chima's marks the final book of the Seven Realms Saga
Rick Riordan's is the third of 5 books in the Heroes of Olympus Series


Can anyone smell a Waiting-on-Wednesday post? Lol!!

Review: Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Author: Kevin Hearne

Title: Hounded

Series: Iron Druid Chronicles #1

About the Book: The first novel in the original, six-book Iron Druid Chronicles--introducing a cool, new, funny urban fantasy hero

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil

 

My Thoughts:

This would have been an excellent read but for a couple of things that dampened my enjoyment drastically.

Before I start on those, hands down the best thing about this book was Oberon, the dog. Mad props to Mr. Hearne for creating such a wonderful animal with his own unique personality.

The first thing that bothered me greatly was the women, every single one of them. The moment they opened their mouths, it wasn't right. I was very hard pressed to believe any goddesses worth their salt spoke as insipidly as the ones in this book did, or any women really. They were not believable at all for me. Two: our druid is flawless. Eh.

But the biggest thing, I think, was all the potshots Mr. Hearne takes at Christianity in the book. Now to be fair, it was a line or two here and there, nothing blatant or whatever, but for some reason, they really, really, really rubbed me wrong. It was annoying and mostly untrue (stereotypes of any group are not cool).  Not cool, not funny. Because of this, I am not too sure I will continue with the series.

But I do think it's worth reading.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

Quickie Review: The Duke's Perfect Wife by Jennifer Ashley

Author: Jennifer Ashley

Title: The Duke's Perfect Wife

Series: Highland Pleasures #4

My Thoughts:

Hart Mackenzie's heroine did him justice. They were two wonderful people, and theirs was a beautiful, tender love story. Eleanor is a very well-drawn character, and a someone I'd like to be friends with if she were real. I enjoyed it very much - so much more than Ian Mackenzie's book. My favorite Mackenzie, my favorite heroine, and my favorite story of this series.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
2. Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage
3. The Many Sins of Lord Cameron

 

Not for Me #2: A Series Fail

Some books are not good reading experiences for me. Sometimes these are books everyone loves that I just don't enjoy. There are books I steer clear off because I know I won't like them. So here's my diary page for the books and series that are just not up my alley.

The Elder Races Series by Thea Harrison

My experience with this series has been really weird

Where they stand so far:

The Awesome	The Busts

Coming Soon: Potentially Awesome?

Praise for the first book in series, Dragon Bound, reverberated though the book-o-sphere late last year. I bought the book on the strength of that praise alone. And once you got past the first half, the effusive praise was right. The book was fresh and excellent. Well, then, bring on book 2.

And what a fall from grace that was. The hero of that book should have received a few slaps of sense to set him straight, and the heroine was a complete ninny. In book three, you had a hero who had been strong and wonderful in the previous books, but was a letdown in his own book. In book 4...nothing happens. And while there was more praise for this one than the intervening two books, the characters did zilch for me.

So truly, only the first book, which is absolutely delightful, is really worth writing home about in my opinion. I have all but given up on this series. The only reason I will be acquiring book 5 is because it features the couple from Book 1, Dragos and Pia, and there's the hope that with them Ms. Harrison can recreate the magic. The only other exception I'll make for this series is if there is a future book about Graydon, a supporting character I adore.

For me, this series has been one massive bust after an electrifying start. It seems Dragon Bound was a flash in the pan. Major letdown. This is one series that is (mostly) not for me.

Reviews:
1. Dragon Bound - 5/5
2. Storm's Heart - 2.5/5
3. Serpent's Kiss - 3/5
4. Oracle's Moon - 3/5