13 Followers
26 Following
lisaslovesbooksofcourse

lisaslovesbooksofcourse

Bravo!

The Legend of the Blue Eyes - B. Kristin McMichael

I love vampire books. I've read all varieties-scary, funny, silly, sick, YA, boink like rabbits ones- I've read them all. The ones where they catch fire in sunlight,  slap on SPF 100 and walk in the sun, turn to ash with a pointy stick,  fly like a bird, turn to mist, travel through time, have babies, don't have babies, are 30 and gorgeous, are 1000 and gorgeous,
so needless to say I was tickled to be treated to this awesome new vampire world. It blows my mind that as many incredible vampire worlds as there are out in the literary world, McMichael has concocted yet another. Bravo!
I sat down at about 9 one evening to take a peek at this book and did not look up till nearly 3 AM when I finished it. While I'm not a fan of the love triangle (and I suspect it will be a quadrangle before it's over) it wasn't intrusive on the overall story. I'll definitely be back for the rest of the trilogy.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-legend-of-blue-eyes-by-b-kristin.html

Yeah! for rainy weekends!

Embrace - Cherie Colyer

If you like a fast-paced YA paranormal romance with a twisty mystery than this is the book for you. So much happen, so fast, that I was unable to put it down. I read way into the wee hours as I was so intrigued with what was going to happen next. The only thing I wasn't sold on was the insta-love and I'm so not a fan of love triangles. That said, the rest of the book was a joy to read and I'm so glad I've got two more books to read in this series. Yeah! for rainy weekends! I can plop my butt on the coach and read to my heart's content and not feel guilty that I should be doing something else!

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-embrace-by-cherie-colyer.html

"Sex in a Chevy on the Fourth of July. God bless America!"

Flirting with Fire - Kate Meader
"It didn't get much more patriotic than
 
"Kinsey?
Can't move, she finally gasped out. Orgasm paralysis"
 

 OMG! Boy does Meader have a way with words. I'd give this book 6 stars it was so freaking awesome. I laughed out loud so often at Kinsey and Luke, I know my husband was seriously wondering if I was going around the bend. These two were some of the best NA characters I've had the opportunity to meet in awhile. Not only are they three dimensional, but Meader took the time and pages to do this with several of the secondary characters, which made this nearly 400 pages of sizzling hot guys. I mean they were scorching!
This was the first Meader book I've read but it certainly won't be the last. While the sex is hot, the story-line focuses on the family. Because they were foster kids, they are really serious when it comes to taking care of each other and having each other's back back. I can't wait to read the books on the rest of the boys and the only girl, feisty Alex, gets the next one. I really hope we don't have to wait too long for Gage's story. OMG! my mouth is watering just thinking about him and Brady (I so hope that romance gets its own book).

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2015/03/review-flirting-with-fire-by-kate.html

This is the next series for you!

Darkness Haunts - Susan Illene

I love urban fantasys that are populated by more than one creature of the night. I especially love that Mel can  sense them in a world that is as of yet unaware of them. She is a kickass ex-military and doesn't let her lack of powers keep her from saving a friend. I love a good twisty, turny story and especially love the fact that there are 5 plus books already out in this series so can I can jump right in and binge read. If you like suspense and adventure in your urban fantasy--this is the next series for you.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2015/03/review-darkness-haunts-sensor-1-by.html

Carolyn Brown's Crown Jewel

Cowboy Boots for Christmas: (Cowboy Not Included) - Carolyn Brown

I've read several of Brown's books in the past and enjoyed this one enormously. I'm still not sure if I cried or laughed the most while reading what has to be  in her magnificent selection of cowboy romance novels. The main characters, Finn and Callie, were people that I would give my eyeteeth to have as friends and the assortment of secondary characters (and they certainly were characters) could only be found on an episode of Andy Griffin. Toss in a couple dogs, a kitten and a bird that could swear like a sailor and a few kids and this book was bursting with life and hope for the upcoming Christmas season. I've read several new Christmas books recently and have several more to read but doubt any will top the "Christmas story" of love and hope that Brown was woven for us in Cowboy Boots For Christmas.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/10/exclusive-excerpt-cowboy-boots-for.html

Fascinating World I can't wait to Revisit

Break Out - Nina Croft

As a lover of both paranormal and sci-fy, picking up this to read was a no brainer. Who would have thought to combine vampires with space aliens. I love the characters, Rico and Skylar. Their personalities were funny and vivid. The action was ongoing and didn't let up. In fact once I started this book, I was unable to put it down. Croft created a fascinating world that I can't wait to revisit in Deadly Pursuit.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/10/break-out-blood-hunter-by-nina-croft.html

Freaking Awesome

Bones Never Lie - Kathy Reichs

This is the first book by Reichs that I've read. I received a complimentary advance copy from the Random House Reader’s  Circle program and decided what the heck, I’d go ahead and read it even though it was book 17 in the series. I’ve watched “Bones” for years but had held off reading the book 

 

 

series until the TV series was a done deal. I have, however, listened to two audio books in this series recently so had a picture of Tempe, Slidell, and Ryan in my head. After reading “Bones Never Lie”, I’m setting out to read the first 16 books in this series as it was freaking awesome. These two different formats of the character Tempe Brennan are so totally different that I really hate that I did not pick up these books earlier. Other than at a very basic level are they similar, though I do think they complement each other very nicely.

    I generally don’t like to read a series  of books  while watching the TV show or movies. Neither will I normally read them out of order but these two are different enough that one will not ruin the other and this book was so entertaining that the order simply didn’t matter. Yeah, you would know the back-story with Ryan but it’s really not necessary as Ryan has only a minor role in most of this book.

 

    Reichs forensic details are not mind numbing and her characters are often witty and human in a way that makes them so credible. The murders takes place in Montreal, Vermont and Charlotte, NC and extend over 14 years. The suspected killer, Pomerleau (the only one who got away) nearly killed Brennan years earlier when she was working this case in Montreal and all signs point to her involvement again though there was a very nice twist that I definitely did not see coming. I get the feeling that you generally do not know who the killer is early on in these stories but with the surprise ending, this so worked. Once starting this book, I read it in one day as I could not stand to put it down. Each chapter just flowed so well into the next one that it was impossible to lay it aside. It was fast paced, scary and twisty enough to keep you reading long after you should have been in bed. I’m so looking forward to starting this series from the beginning so I can enjoy many more hours with Tempe, Ryan, Slidell and Birdie. It’s not often that you get a chance to start an ongoing series with such a fascinating cast and story-lines.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-of-kathy-reichs-bones-never-lie-5.html

If You Liked Call the Midwife

The Nightingale Girls - Donna Douglas

If you loved the PBS series Call the Midwife, these books are perfect for you. The story tells of three girls from vastly different backgrounds training for the honor of being a Nightingale. And make no mistake, back in the 1930’s, it was more about who you were or who your parents knew, that got your foot in the door. While I’ve never thought of nursing as a easy or glamorous job, it was definitely even less so in the 30’s. Nursing students were little more than servants at the beck and call  of the head sisters. They lived in dorms together and under the iron fists of head sisters. (Just saw a parallel to the students in Hogwarts, hummm)

Nurses were not allowed to be married and had very little free time. Their escapades slipping in past curfew and dealing with roommates added a lighter level to these stories.

I read this on my Kindle which was so nice as I could stop and look up words that were unfamiliar to me both from the nursing and English standpoint. It was really fascinating and scary to see how much general medicine has changed in less than 100 years. Vaccinations and knowledge that we so take for granted was totally unknown or on the cutting edge in the 1930’s.

At just over 500 pages, I flew through this book. I couldn’t wait to see what happened in the next two books in this series that I had on my Kindle.

 

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-nightingale-girls-by-donna.html

I really got a kick out of this book

Zomburbia - Adam J. Gallardo

Normally, I don’t really like an angsty teen novel even if it does feature my fav horror character, zombies, but I really got a kick out of this book. While I realize that a lot of teens are characterized as moody, whiny, too stupid not to go down to the basement in their pjs to investigate THAT noise, the teens I raised and were around for what seemed like eons simply were not of that breed. Heck, I’d bet my group of country raised kids against any city raised group of kids come zombie apocalypse time anytime.  

Anyway, back to this enormously entertaining book. Like I said earlier, usually the angsty teen has me beating my head against the wall in pain and hoping that they just bite the dust already. Not so with this book. Maybe it was the overall premise that the world has gone on in spite of the zombies. Yeah, everyone has a fence around their house and has a fully loaded shotgun in the gun rack of their truck or under the seat, but life goes on. The kids go to school, have part time jobs at the local hamburger shack, and dream about moving away from small town suburbia to New York City. Okay, okay, so NYC and most big cities are overrun by zombies. Small detail here. Like I said, country kids will make it hands down while the city kids are all turned into shufflers.

The main character, Courtney, has figured out a way to pay for college and while working at the Bully Burger supplements her income by selling Vitamin Z, a drug made from zombie brains, (okay something is just not right about that, I mean everybody know zombies eat brains) along with the burgers and fries. She has always been a bit of a loner so when a football jock starts hitting on her she starts hanging out with a new group of kids and some of her decisions leave a lot to be desired.  While Courtney’s not quite a kickass zombie killer,  she’s definitely no slouch either. I love Courtney’s interaction with her Dad when he starts dating. Some of her conversations in her head are  so funny that I found myself sniggering. Teens faced with their parents having sex are always worthy of a laugh or two.

I loved seeing the change in Courtney and and can’t wait to see where Zombified takes us in January 2015.

One thing I really didn’t like--the covers. The covers had me prepared more for zombie horror while the story was more about the changes and growth of Courtney. So maybe Courtney all tricked out in the Bully Burger security guards zombie fighting uniform would have been better.

 

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-zomburbia-by-adam-gallardo-4-12.html

More of an Old Style Gothic Romance

Better Homes and Hauntings - Molly Harper

Got to admit, I picked this up to read solely because of my love of everything Molly Harper. Boy was I surprised and disappointed to find instead 

of the laugh out loud snarky humor that I was accustomed to from her Jane Jameson series to find instead a gothic murder mystery that reminded me so much of the type of books that I read in the 60’s and 70’s from authors like Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney that it kind of amazed me. Did you know that there is a Facebook account that has pictures of these old novels?  www.facebook.com/GothicRomancePaperbackNovels

Really, you should check it out if you read gothic romance back when.

I have to admit it was a well written ghost story with just the right amount of twisty  happenings to keep me reading to the end. Still can’t believe I read the whole thing so yea it did keep me hooked but it so was not what I expected. This definitely should have been published under a different nom de plume. That said --if you loved those type of books, you should read this one. But if you want the fabulous Molly Harper that has you laughing long after you put the book down, give this one a pass .

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-of-better-homes-and-hauntings-by.html

Not Ready to Give up on this Series But Not as Exciting

Poison Promise - Jennifer Estep

You would think that by now that I  would have lost some of the excitement I feel when I see that there is a new Elemental Assassin book out but not a bit. This series continues to pull me in and often keeps me reading way, way into the night. Even though murder is the word of the day, these books have an even flow that makes them an easy one day read. I do feel they are getting a bit repetitive in the action and hope that Estep mixes it up more as they are getting pretty predicable. I miss the twists that I had come to expect from this story and though we get a bit closer to solving the Mab Monroe mystery, it’s not near as exciting as it once was. The characters seemed a bit one dimensional this time around which was really disappointing. They just didn’t have the fire and depth that I have come to expect from Estep.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-0f-poison-promise-by-jennifer.html

Quirkiest, Loveable Characters Ever

Evernight - Kristen Callihan

  Callihan has the ability to create some of the quirkiest, loveable characters ever. Holly and Thorne are her newest opposites attracting  “experiment” and boy did it work. Holly (I always kind of pictured Abby from NCIS in my mind ) had appeared 

 

briefly in several of the earlier books and I was so pleased to see that this crafty, quirky inventor finally got her chance to shine in her own storyline.  I’ve read all the books in this series and they were all 5 star reads for me, this one being one of my favorites along with Firelight. I read on Goodreads that Firelight , book 1 was rejected by all but one publisher and it went on to win RT Magazine’s Seal of Excellence, Library Journal’s best book of the year, Publisher’s Weekly’s  Spring 2012 best book and ALA RUSA’s best romance book of 2012. It would not surprise me to see more of the same for this book.

    While in the past, I’ve not enjoyed  demons in a storyline so much (I’m more the vamp or shifter lover) but Thorne’s macho, assine behavior was a perfect compliment to the nerdy (if that word can even be used in Victorian England) emotionless  inventor Holly. They have a past and you really need to have read the earlier books in this series to thoroughly appreciate the meshing of these characters.

   In Shadowdance, Holly was forced to construct a clockwork heart for a madman and this madman has come back into her life to extract his revenge. A year after Shadowdance finds Holly housebound and afraid to venture back to her job as head inventor at SOS (Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals) and Thorne is going mad with pain as his body is consumed by Platinum. Holly uses her elemental magic to push back this metal invasion and relieve his pain and once they both realize that they must frequently touch or caress, the real fun begins. While Holly’s not technically a virgin (another wonderful little side story here), her responses to Thorne’s masculinity are often laugh out loud funny. Holly’s no shrinking violet and is capable as giving as good as she gets.

    I love the world building in Callihan’s books. This steampunk version of Victorian England is a vivid character all it’s own and  one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this series so much. Holly’s inventions and Victorian London are as fascinating as the mystery and secrets that add yet another layer to this fascinating series.  I also love that we get glimpses and tidbits of information on former characters from earlier books- Poppy, St John, Adam, Lucien, Mary Chase and Jack. Can’t wait to see who has the starring role in book 6 and 7, Soulbound (2/24/15) and Foevermore (TBA), St John and Layla or Adam and Eliza May. Either would be more than entertaining and will be on my auto buy list as this series just gets better and better. When I first started this book, I found myself sitting up way too late to read and as it progressed trying to slow down and savor it as I knew Feburary is still a long ways off.

    The only complaint I had about this book and it’s minor to me as I don’t get all hung up on the covers but I wanted Thorne to have long flowing platinum hair as described in the book rather than the close cropped blondish look . As I read this ARC on my Kindle, I didn’t  see the book cover till I had finished and was posting my review so it was definitely a minor point.

Source: http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-of-evernight-by-kristen-callihan.html