Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men (Book 2 of the Jane Jameson Series) by Molly Harper

This book is an absolute hoot. 5 out of 5 stars. Jane is the same witty, sarcastic girl we came to love in book 1, but things are evolving now.

Zeb is getting married to Jolene, a werewolf. Jane is the maid of honor, forced to wear the most hideous dress she's ever seen. But that's not the worst of her problems. The Black Widow (Grandma Ruthie) just lost another fiance to a rather suspicious natural death, and Wilbur is jumping to the chance to take his place. When Jane notices pig's blood, she gets curious.

Turns out Wilbur has a very fruitful past with his former wives as well, giving the Black Widow a run for her money.

So Jane has to keep a wedding from derailing, keep Wilbur from killing her grandmother, and maintain a relationship with her boyfriend and sire, Gabriel.

I highly recommend this series, and if you happen to have a sense of humor, you will find yourself laughing constantly.

Dreamfever (Book 4 of the Fever Series) by Karen Marie Moning

Enthusiastic 5 out of 5 stars. Another beef with this series is a cliffhanger. Unfortunately the final installment of this series is not going to be released unil January, so if cliffhangers bother you, like they really bother me, you may want to hold off for a bit.

Mac has become priya, as three Unseelie princes have descended upon her, and Barrons has to work for months to try to set her back to rights. Once she gets there she has a horde of sidhe seers to work with, and keep her feelings for Barrons in check. But when her sister's killer holds her parents hostage, attempting to force Mac's help in obtaining the Sinsar Dubh, things go awfully wrong.

I really enjoyed this book. Like I mentioned before, I can't stand cliffhangers and it really bothers me that I have to wait until January to find out what happens. I love Mac and Barrons and all that they are working for. I highly recommend this series.

Faefever (Book 3 of the Fever Series) by Karen Marie Moning

I give this book an enthusiastic 5 stars. My only complaint: cliffhanger. GAH! Those are the worst.

Mackayla Lane returns with Barrons, V'lane, and hordes of Unseelie filling the streets of Dublin, Ireland. Not only does she have a cop on her tail, but there are warnings of the walls between worlds literally falling apart.

Mac has to fight for her body and soul while still trying to find her sister's killer, the Sinsar Dubh and exacting some very cold revenge.

I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll stop there. This book is very epic and the ending will throw you through a loop. I highly suggest you have book 4 at the ready or it quite possibly will drive you insane.

Bloodfever (Book 2 of the Fever Series) by Karen Marie Moning

Mackayla Lane is back in the second installment of the Fever series. I give this book 5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book, the commentary and tension going on between Mac and Barrons is fantastic. Mac has to contend with V'lane, she has to keep working to find her sister's killer, and stay alive at the same time.

Without giving away spoilers to those who have not read this series yet, I'm going to refrain from going much further with this. I tell you one thing, I HIGHLY recommend this series. You will not be dissapointed.

It's Official!!

So apparently my attempts at coversion didn't work out so well. Suspicions abounds, and now I guess it's time for something of an official capacity.

Several years ago, Jeff and I decided to try to conceive. The one and only time I actually achieved it, I had lost it almost as fast as I'd found out. From then on I had no luck. As time went by my likelihood of being fertile at all were coming into question.

So when fertility treatments weren't an option, we knew it wasn't in the cards for us. I knew deep down, that having a child of my own would not be possible, the doctor suggested I try to regain my health and try again. Somewhere inside me had already broken. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I didn't see any fault to getting healthy. If Jeff and I adopted, it would be good to have my health.

I turned to reading and writing to get my mind off the morbid fact. Just seeing children or pregnant women would send me in a spiral of sadness. So I've read countless books and I'm writing a series of books, the first of which will be done in a few months, and another book in the works. All in an attempt to escape the harsh reality.

Four months and 60 pounds later, the side effects of a certain medication were a bit much, and since I knew it wouldn't happen anyway, I stopped taking it. A little over 6 weeks later I had a problem.

A new set of side effects that I had no idea of the cause. I knew what the doctor would ask, so I wanted to be proactive, rule it out, and then find out what the problem was.

I thought the big line was the control line. Nope. I had a positive pregnancy test. I took it again that night. Same thing. I went to the doctor and had it confirmed. Such a tiny thing already with a heartbeat. Fast forward to 4 weeks later and the baby is still fine, sleeping away with a bpm of 150.

So without further ado, I give you our little Pickle, due to arrive December 11th, 2010.

Please spread the word.

A Taste of Darkness (Book 3 of the Mackenzie Vampires Series) by Nina Bangs

Of course I managed to do it again with this series. I thought this was book 1, when in fact it is book 3. But that's okay, much like Showalter's book it is a stand alone novel, that I really enjoyed. 5 out of 5 stars, this is one of my favorites.

I just happened to be perusing the library when I stumbled on this little treasure and snatched it up.

Reinn Mackenzie is a thousand year old vampire, employed by the council as "Protector of the Blood" which means any Mackenzie who betrays the pure bloodline by wanting to wed a shifter or any other otherworlder, they were to be killed. That's his job. He doesn't understand why that has to be the case, but he does dispise the otherworlders outside of his own clan.

He gets word of a new guy, wanting to marry a werecat, so he sets out to "blend in" before making the kill. Alan Mackenzie is the offending clan member, so Reinn checks into the Woo Woo Inn to lay in wait. He meets Kisa Evans, sister to the bride-to-be. She helps him with the door to his room. Reinn has a nifty ability to shield his powers so no one can tell he's a vamp. Kisa can shield her powers to an extent, Reinn can tell she's definitely a werecat, but he has no idea what kind. He also cannot deny how attracted he is to her, despite his feelings towards shifters.

Things get crazy as someone plants catnip in Kisa's room. For werecats, it should just make them get silly, but not with Kisa, she is forced to change at the scent of catnip. Right before Reinn's eyes, she turns into a sabre tooth tiger. This makes for an interesting night, and a very interesting set of days to come. Reinn's attraction, as well as Kisa's grow until there's no turning back. Reinn must decide what he is to do about his "job". And he needs to do it fast.

Read this series!! I loved it!

Seduce the Darkness (Book 4 of the Alien Huntress Series) by Gena Showalter

Well when I checked this book out of the library, I was totally under the impression that this was the first book of the series. But that's okay, because it was written in a way that I was perfectly capable of keeping up. First of all, this is paranormal romance, so with each book comes a new set of people. I give this a lovely 5 out of 5 stars.

The story follows Bride McKells, living in New Chicago (a postapocalyptic world), who also happens to be a vampire. She's been searching the area for her long lost little sister of sorts, Aleaha Love. They had been separated with Aleaha was still young.

One day she catches the scent of her young friend, she stumbles into Devyn de bon Laci, the king of the Targons. He just so happens to be a womanizer and he's very good at what he does. When she doesn't catch on to his charm he bores of her, until he realizes that she's a vampire. Living on the surface is punishable by death for the vampires.

Bride vows to take revenge on the man who refuses to take her to her young friend, and she does so, causing a major upheaval with AIR (Alien Investigation & Removal Agency), where Devyn works.

They duke it out, and finally Devyn gets her right where he wants her. Steaminess begin!

Before they know it they're in love, Bride finds Aleaha, and goes to the vampire underground to learn about her race. But this is where things get tricky...

I highly recommend you read this series, I know I am!

Darkfever (Book 1 of The Fever Series) by Karen Marie Moning

This book was really, really good. I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Why? So many things.

Let's start with Mac, she's smart, sexy, and definintely nothing like the stereotype says for her. Her sister is murdered in Dublin, Ireland, and she sets off to find the killer when the police stop the investigation. She stumbles into a world she never thought could exist, didn't believe it could.

Enter Jericho, owner of a massive bookstore that puts even the best of libraries to shame.

Thinking that a bookstore is a good a place as any to get some information, she asks the woman behind the counter if she's heard of a Sinsar Dubh, something her sister said in a voice message hours before her death. The woman tenses up and starts saying she needed to talk to the owner, Jericho. Whoa nilly, is he a steamy guy.

He tries to warn Mac that she's treading on dangerous waters and needed to go home immediately, even threatened her a bit. But stubborn as she is, she decided to stay. Jericho helps her, teaches her about what she is trying to find, only to find that she is something special too. Very special.

There were also parts in this book that made me bust out laughing. There are certain royalty fae that can practically make a woman pine for sex in an instant. Mac finds herself randomly removing clothing when she sees one. It was very funny. Steamy. But funny.

Then at the end, Jericho is helping Mac with a manicure when she broaches a new subject. He interupts by saying he won't help her shave her legs. I about fell on the floor.

I highly recommend this book, and the whole series to all fans of paranormal!

Inspiration for werewolf character in my book

Here's Oreo. You've seen her knawing on my nose, and if you've seen my myspace you can tell a lot by the pictures on there. She's a dog of many faces. This happens to be one them. Though she is at the end of a yawn, she looks crazy viscious. When playing with the other dogs, sometimes the teeth see the light of day, but never to this extent, unless it's an all out fight, which isn't really too fun to break up, by the way.

She reminds me a lot of the nothing dog/wolf from the Neverending Story. Although not as anatomically void of looking real (lol) she looks much more viscious to the unsuspecting victim.

Shadow, my star werewolf in my book spends the majority of his time in his were form. Think this picture at about double the size, and you've got about a 150 lb werewolf that's all black with big teeth and claws looking right at you. But to his friends and especially to Aisling (my heroine) he's just like Oreo, play-knawing on noses and all!

Look out world. Shadow will eat you alive!

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Boy was this book looooong. I liked it, but it didn't wow me. I'd say 3 out of 5. I don't mean to put down this book because it was very good. However, it's not really my style, and it was beyond complicated.

Gaiman sets up an intricate network of Gods, all having come to America or having been created there. All throughout we know "a storm is coming," a war between gods of the old and the new.

We meet Shadow, our hero. He's a former felon, and he's finally getting out of prison. But then just days before his scheduled release he's sent out early with some bad news. His wife is dead. He starts his journey home and meets a man named Wednesday, who seems to know much more about Shadow than he should. Things get weird, really weird.

We find out that Shadow's late wife was diddling his best friend in his absence and both die while she is "servicing" him as he drove down the road late the night before Shadow's release. Then as Shadow concedes to the fact that Wednesday is his only option for employment he starts seeing some strange things.

We meet several gods, both young and old throughout the book and you can tell which ones are "good" and "bad" for the most part. The more Shadow learns the more he starts to believe the impossible is probably probable. Laura (his late-wife) is a zombie, trying to help him out.

There are so many twists and turns and imaginative dreams mixed with realities with webs upon webs of different people and gods to keep track of. Half the time I read, I had to think back and figure out who the heck some of those people were, or what the heck was happening.

There was that and the fact that even though Shadow was the hero, it was all written in the third person, so it wasn't really my cup of tea as far as style. AND on top of that there were lots of areas where I would have liked to have known what happened. We get lots of scenes building up and then you get "and then he told them" "and then she showed him" etc. I wanted to see/hear it too dammit!! It would have made it exponentially longer too methinks, but I think it would have been more valuable to me to see/hear those things than to build up to it and have to fill in a huge blank.

And much like Stardust, it was relatively anti-climactic at the end. I won't spoil it for you though!! But one shed of good light was that he wrapped up all the loose ends before ending.

I think it's worth while to read it, to say you've done it. You may like it, you may find it more complicated to really enjoy it. I don't know. But that's my glue and I'm stickin' to it!

Fireflies in December by Jennier Erin Valent

I really enjoyed this book. 5 out of 5 stars! I plan on reading the sequel called Cottonwood Whispers.

This book follows the life of Jessilyn Lassiter, teenager. She just turned 13, and it wasn't starting out as she had planned. She's got a very strong will and she's not afraid to say what's on her mind. But she messes with the wrong boy at her party, and since she humiliates him, she knows retribution will be swift and dirty. Jessilyn's best friend Gemma, is black, and her family works for the Lassiters on their farm. Gemma warns Jessilyn of what would be to come, but she moves ahead anyway.

The birthday party-goers are all sent to the watering hole (a lake or pond, I assume) and then the boys go after Jessilyn. She struggles to get away when the boy she humiliated pushes her underwater and holds her there. When she does finally break free she tries desperately to swim away. Well, she gets grabbed by the ankle as she tries to climb slick rocks and the boy yanks her, causing her to hit her head before he finally pulls her under the water. Enter Luke. He is older, and so handsome Jessilyn thinks she's hallucinating. He pulls her from the water and takes her back to her house. Luke is an instant friend to the Lassiters and instant crush to Jessilyn.

Tragedy strikes when a thunderstorm rolls in to town. Lightning and thunder precede the rain, and with the worst luck, Gemma's house is hit by lightning, sparking a fire. Jessilyn and her father jump in their truck and speed to their house, but it was too late. Gemma sat huddled just outside the house, now engulfed in flames, and her parents where nowhere in sight.

Later Jessilyn's father decides that they were going to keep Gemma as part of the family as a promise he gave to Gemma's father. Well, all hell breaks loose when the Ku Klux Klan hear word of this. Living in the South in 1932 was hard enough.

The Lassiter family was deeply religious and it was prevalent in the book, much discussion, contradiction, etc. But it wasn't in-your-face like many Christian authors can be. So even if you aren't religious, this book won't feel like major repellent.

The only gripe I had with this book was that it was written entirely in past-tense. The first line of the book, "The summer I turned thirteen, I thought I killed a man." I kept thinking at some point we'd get to the present, but no, the whole thing was past-tense, which was fine. I guess I sort of expected it to end up that way based on that first line. But even so it was still a good book nonetheless. I recommend it very highly.

Sweet. Now i can update everyone on the go... Keep a lookout because I suspect I'm going to be using this feature!!

Summer of the Midnight Sun (Book one of the Alaskan Quest Series) by Tracie Peterson

I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. I haven't decided if I want to read any more of it either. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. Leah Barringer lives in Last Chance, Alaska with her brother Jacob. Having been spurned by a previous love over 10 years prior, she felt her chances of landing a husband were dwindling fast. But Jayce Kincaid shows back up in her life, throwing everything off balance.

All the characters save for 1 in this book are very devout Christians. Not to say that this is a bad thing, Ms. Peterson definitely didn't plow the religion down my throat, she actually explained a few things and I found it to be a bit enlightening.

The wrench in the whole thing was that Chase Kincaid (Jayce's evil twin brother) was going around assuming his twin's identity, so ther Pinkerton's (similar to the FBI) were after him. One agent sends his sister on his trail, but she ends up going after the real Jayce. So when it comes down to the wire and they're reaching the climax of the story: the end. Talk about cliffhangers. All this buildup for resolving the situation and.. nothing. That's why I'm not so sure about book 2. Is this same cat and mouse chase going to last forever?

I'm still pondering that issue. But you may find it interesting if you're interested in 1915 Alaska.

Momma's Got a Brand New Bag!

Not really, but hey, it's a nice little euphemism for ya. Anyhoo, it's been busy, it's been crazy, it's been a dreary winter. But things are lookin' up. Yes, it's still dreary, yes, it's busy and even more crazy. BUT! The good news is that I've changed some things up and I'm super-productive now! Pow! Take that! Ok, enough of that. Let's get to the nitty-gritty.

Anyways, not reading was a bad plan. I figured that if I read, I'd have a hard time putting it down, thus not giving myself any time to write. Well the lack of an outlet or whatever you want to call it, I was finding that I wasn't in the mood to write when I actually had time to do so. I think over the span of those weeks I may have edited a total of one page, let alone wrote anything at all. As I started to feel more and more detached from my characters and the escapism of books, I felt burnt out. This compounded on itself until the hubb'n decided an intervention was in order.

He always has a way of figuring exactly what is wrong with me before I even know what it is. All I know is that I felt “off” “wrong” fill-in-the-blank-here and the guilt of not writing, on top of not being inspired to write, not being able to read—it was too much (although until he told me, I hadn't realized that was the problem). He laid it all out there and told me that I needed to change what I was doing because it wasn’t working like I’d wanted. Here’s the new plan he suggested—and I’m so grateful for that—alternating reading and writing. Being painfully aware of my inability to shut off or to stop one thing and start another, he actually came up with a decent idea, and I felt hopeful immediately. Spend a day or two reading—that’s how long it takes me to read a book—and then spend a few writing. If I can manage I squeeze in alternating those throughout the day too.

The results of I’m guessing one week on this new program: 2 books read—blog reviews to come, by the way—and several quality pages of editing I’ve been meaning to do. You see, about half-way through the 2nd chapter of my book I changed my mind on the perspective. I decided first person was definitely the way to go. So I have to go through and change it. I’m very, very happy with the results thus far, and I can only see good things coming in the future.

I seem to have an endless supply of great ideas for continuing the series, and I’m really looking forward to doing it. I hope you guys will be along for the ride.

If I can keep up my progress I can only guess that I’ll be finishing up draft 2 of my book soon—draft 1 was very rough—at which time my reviewers will get a crack at it. At this point in time, I’m going to begin preparations for queries. This means a good deal of study on 1) who to send queries to and 2) exactly what to put in said queries. But I feel that getting that prepped and ready to go will be a good way for me to keep from nagging at my reviewers to “finish the hell up already!”

This will leave the sit down and sock-it-to-me session from my reviewers. They tell me what’s bad, what’s good, etc. Even editing that I’ve missed, I’m hoping they catch. Then brainstorming on my end as far as what needs changed, what stays the same. Fixing said missed edits. And voila! Query letters are sent, and hopefully I spark some interest in samples.

Then ideally I land an agent and—BAM!—book deal with publishers and book on shelves within a year or so.

So thanks to the hubb’n for always lookin’ out for me and giving me the best options for me to truly get some work done.

Soooo, how bout them apples?

I know I've been slacking here recently, what with the new Kindle, the book I'm trying to write, etc. Here recently though I've stopped reading cold turkey! Blasphemous, you say? I know. It is. I'm finding it very difficult to follow and yet it's only been MAYBE 3 weeks at this point. I find myself almost drained, like I'm looking forward to the day I can pick up a book (or the Kindle) again and get going.

There's something about books, they suck you in and you get to live a new life for awhile. I think that's one of the best parts of reading.

Soooo, that being said, I wanted to let you all know that though I am busy with writing and the dreaded working of an actual job that does NOT include said writing, I will post reviews from any "past" books I've read. Believe me, there's plenty to go around. I may not have fresh fodder in the mix, but booo-oy you'll love some of the stuff I throw your way!

Depending on my mood, I might throw in a movie review or some other type of media into the mix. Few movies/ TV shows/ the like catch my attention, but when they do, I'm hooked.

Take Avatar for instance. Loved. It. Think: Motion-Picture-Orgasm. HA! That's not really as bad as it sounds. It's a whole new world. Wonderful wildlife. Plantlife. Everything is amazing. Even the cat-people, er the Na'vi are b-e-a-utiful! It's a book on crack! Well maybe not quite, but the experience reminded me so much of when I read, which is probably why I like to see it so much. It reminds me of my teenage Titanic days. I think I've lost count of the times I've actually seen it, and I'm not tired of it. After all these years, I'm still not tired of Titanic, but that's another story I'd rather not dive in to at the moment. The less y'all think I'm a freak, the better. *snickers* Maybe I'm a fan of James Cameron. Maybe it's just that he has a way of sucking you in to a new world (quite literally with Avatar) and truly captivating you. That's me. A Cameronite!

But let's get back to topic, shall we?

So please, stick around, I promise not to leave you hanging! Hopefully you'll find plenty of books from my blog that you'll be interested in reading. Feel free to make your own suggestions as well. I even welcome submitting your own book reviews to my blog! Send me an email if you're interested, or just leave a comment with a blip of your favorites!

Or if you feel like sending kind words of encouragement, that is ALWAYS welcome in my book... the figurative book, not the literal one I'm writing! HA! Almost walked into a trap on that one. Phew.

I look forward to hearing from you.