Review: Getting Rowdy by Lori Foster

Author: Lori Foster
Publisher: Harlequin
Date of publication: September 2013

Charismatic bar owner Rowdy Yates isn’t the kind of man women say no to. So when he approaches waitress Avery Mullins, he fully expects to get her number. However, the elusive beauty has her reasons for keeping her distance—including a past that might come back to haunt them both.

Avery spends her nights working for tips… and trying to forget the secret Rowdy is determined to unearth. But when history threatens to repeat itself, Avery grows to rely on Rowdy’s protective presence. As the sparks between them ignite, she will be forced to choose between the security she’s finally found… and the passion she’s always wanted..


Getting Rowdy is the third book in the "Love Undercover" series by Lori Foster.  I have really been loving this series so far.  It's really getting hard to pick a favorite in this series, because the books keep getting better and better.  I loved this book.  Rowdy is such a likable guy.  He grew up to be street tough but he is also a really sweet guy.  He is loyal to those he loves and always defends the little guy. I have to say that a few of the scenes Rowdy has with Marcus had me choking up!

I liked Avery.  Even though she comes form money and privilege, she is comfortable in her own skin and isn't afraid to work for what she has.  She gives Rowdy a run for his money!  The two were perfect for each other. I loved their banter and the heat the two generate just sizzles off the pages! Both of them have secrets in their past and it takes them a long time to come to truly trust each other. The mystery of who is stalking Avery was really good.  I was very surprised at the twist in the end.

Past characters make an appearance in the book, which is something I love about Ms. Foster's series. Pepper was funny and fiercely protective. I just loved what Reese and Alice did for Marcus. Dash is there and we have a hint as to what is coming in the next book.  But, the most interesting character is Cannon.  He is new to the series and I REALLY hope he gets his own story!

Throwback Thursday: Overheard and Undenied by Maya Banks

For Throwback Thursday this week, I have the remaining two books in in the "Unspoken" series by Maya Banks. I reviewed the first on, Understood, back in August.

The second book, Overheard (Samhain Publishing, 2007), features Luke and Gracie's story.  I liked this one the best out of the three in the series.  Gracie and Luke have been best friends for ever.  When he over hears her talk about a fantasy that she wants to fulfill, he decides he wants o be the man to do it.

I liked watching their friendship turn into love.  I also loved how Luke courted Gracie first.  What was the fantasy?, Well you have to read the book to find out.  I'll just say that Ms. Banks knows her way around a steaming hot love scene! (hint - the cover should give you an idea.)

The final book in the series, Undenied (Samhain Publishing, 2007),
was the one I really didn't care for.  I did love Wes.  He was just too funny and very sweet.  I loved how hung up he was on his first experience with Payton.  Most guys probably don't remember things from when they are 18.  Made me love him more.

What I didn't like was the "love" came way too fast for me.  They hooked up once 12 years before.  They meet up again have sex and now they are in love?  Didn't buy it.  I also didn't care for Payton too much.  The epilogue was a nice warp-up to the entire series.  All three books are short, so give them a shot if you have an afternoon.

Review: Red HIll by Jamie Mcguire

Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date of publication: October 2013

For Scarlet, raising her two daughters alone makes fighting for tomorrow an everyday battle. Nathan has a wife, but can’t remember what it’s like to be in love; only his young daughter Zoe makes coming home worthwhile. Miranda’s biggest concern is whether her new VW Bug is big enough to carry her sister and their boyfriends on a weekend escape from college finals.

When reports of a widespread, deadly “outbreak” begin to surface, these ordinary people face extraordinary circumstances and suddenly their fates are intertwined. Recognizing they can’t outrun the danger, Scarlet, Nathan, and Miranda desperately seek shelter at the same secluded ranch, Red Hill. Emotions run high while old and new relationships are tested in the face of a terrifying enemy—an enemy who no longer remembers what it’s like to be human.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of zombie anything, movies or books.  But, I have to say that I really enjoyed Red Hill.  I think that the difference for me with this book was that throughout the entire book, I had a sense of hope.  I flew through this book; it was that good.  The tension and build up to the pandemic had me on the edge of my seat.   The race to get to Red Hill was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

The story is told through the viewpoint of Scarlet, Nathan and Miranda with their stories eventually converging into one.  I was interesting to see snippets of the same events through the eyes of each character without having to relive an entire scene.  There is some romance in the book.  It really felt natural, especially given the circumstances Nathan and Scarlet find themselves in.

The other thing that I liked about the book was not all of the characters were safe.  I think it would have been too neat for there to be a huge HEA. I was pretty surprised at who made it to the end and who didn't.  One of my favorite characters didn't last.  No, I'm not telling who...that would be cheating.  I loved the ending.  I really liked the decision that they made and probably would have made the same one.  

I definitely recommend this one.  It's a real change from the author's first books, Beautiful Disaster.  But she has another winner on her hands! I have to give kudos to anyone who can make me like a zombie story!

4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the 4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop hosted by I'm a Reader, Not A Writer.  You are at stop #185 (at last check). For the full list of participating blogs go here.  There are a lot of blogs and lots of opportunities to win prizes!

Today we have 2 prize packs to give away.  US only please.  Just fill out the rafflecopter below to enter!  Goodluck!

Prize Pack #1: The Last Policeman and Countdown City both by Ben Winters

Prize Pack #2: Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes and Chimera by David Wellington

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Review: Girls & Monsters by Anne Michaud

Author: Anne Michaud
Publisher: Darkfuse
Date of publication: April 2013

Girls & Monsters is for everyone who has ever been brave enough to confront their childhood fears...and lived to tell about it. This dark but uplifting collection of five Young Adult novellas includes:

Death Song: Liz is in love with Joe, but the monster of the lake has other plans for them.

Black Dog: Scarlet is engaged in a struggle for her sanity, but according to the voice in her head, she may be too late.

A Blue Story: When Katherine's beloved dog goes missing, she fears her strange new neighbor might be involved.

Dust Bunnies: Christiane faces her childhood arachnophobia and ends up confronting even greater fears in this test of sisterhood.

We Left at Night: Brooke and her family must abandon their home and their lives to make it out of a disease-plagued town overrun by zombies.

Girls & Monsters was an enjoyable anthology.  The five stories are pretty short, so I was able to fly through the book pretty quickly.  Overall, I would say that I liked the book.  Some of the stories I liked more than others.  I'm not sure if the author wrote these stories on order, but I felt like her writing got better as the book progressed.

For me, the best two stories out of the five were "Dust Bunnies" and "We Left at Night". Both were really creepy and had me on edge.  What could creep someone out more than a creature under your bed and zombies?    In both, I could feel the characters' terror and panic.  Both were written very well!

Both "A Blue Story" and "Death Song" were OK for the most part.  I think either of them might have been better as a longer story.  I kind of felt like there was something missing in both.  The time lines were off and I needed more details to really get the creep factor in the stories. The one story that I didn't care for was Black Dog.  I felt like it was too abstract and confusing. I'm still not sure what was happening in it.  It had great potential, but missed the mark for me.

As I said, overall, the book is not bad.  I think it is OK for over 14 crowd.  Why not give it a shot and see what you think?

Wild Child Hop sponsored by Romance @ Random

Hi there hoppers, thanks for stopping by and checking out Molly O’Keefe’s releaseWILD CHILD – on sale 10/29. Make sure you visit all of the participating sites below to increase your chances to win! Each site may have something exclusive of their own so you definitely want to check them all out — Good luck!

About the book:

Monica Appleby is a woman with a reputation. Once she was America’s teenage “Wild Child,” with her

own reality TV show. Now she’s a successful author coming home to Bishop, Arkansas, to pen the juicy follow-up to her tell-all autobiography. Problem is, the hottest man in town wants her gone. Mayor Jackson Davies is trying to convince a cookie giant to move its headquarters to his crumbling community, and Monica’s presence is just too . . . unwholesome for business. But the desire in his eyes sends a very different message: Stay, at least for a while.

Jackson needs this cookie deal to go through. His town is dying and this may be its last shot. Monica is a distraction proving too sweet, too inviting—and completely beyond his control. With every kiss he can taste her loneliness, her regrets, and her longing. Soon their uncontrollable attraction is causing all kinds of drama. But when two lost hearts take a surprise detour onto the bumpy road of unexpected love, it can only lead someplace wonderful.

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The Doll by Taylor Stevens

by:  Taylor Stevens
published by:  Crown Publishing
publish date:  June 4, 2013

On a busy Dallas street, Munroe is kidnapped by an unseen opponent and thrust into an underground world where women and girls are merchandise and a shadowy figure known as The Doll Maker controls her every move. While trusted friends race to unravel where she is and why she was taken, everything pivots on one simple choice: Munroe must use her unique set of skills to deliver a high-profile young woman into the same nightmare that she once endured, or condemn to torture and certain death the one person she loves above all else.

In The Doll, Michael finds herself deep in the world of human trafficking.  One of Hollywood's most famous actresses has been kidnapped for a buyer, but she's proving to be difficult not only because of her fame, but she will not be a victim.  The Doll Maker extorts Michael for her abilities in moving Neva to the buyer or he will kill Logan and sell her niece into the trafficking ring.

I felt like this book was lacking some of the wild excitement the other two books had, but this book had a more contained deep emotional impact.  I really enjoyed Neva, she was a wonderful character.  I also liked that this book focused more on Capstone Security and their American base of operation. 

This was another solid book in the Vanessa Michael Munroe series.  I'm definitely interested in seeing this series continue.  If you haven't read any of these books, they're fantastic for fans of action-thriller genre, or political-thriller genre.  I highly recommend Taylor Stevens' books!

Review: If You Stay by Courtney Cole

Author: Courtney Cole
Publisher:Forever
Date of publication: April 2013

Twenty-four-year-old Pax Tate is an asshole. Seriously. He's a tattooed, rock-hard bad boy with a tough attitude to match. His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with an intense guilt that he doesn't understand. What he does know is that he and his dad were left alone, and they have never been close. Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the black void in his soul. He pretends that the emptiness isn't there and this has always worked . . . until he meets Mila.
If You Stay ended up being an OK read for me.  I liked the start of the book a lot.  Pax is a trust fund baby who wants to escape from his nightmares about his mother.  he does this through drugs and alcohol.  Mila meets him when she finds him in his car after he has OD'd.  She saves his life. To Pax, she is everything that is good and light and he strives to change for her.  The overall story line was good. That mystery of what really happened to Pax's mother was intriguing and explained a lot of what Pax has been dealing with his whole life.

Where the story went wrong for me was Mila.  She got involved with Pax way too quickly for me. The OD and Jack Daniels use should have been a red flag for her.  Instead, by the second date she is having a naked painting session with him.  I get the attraction, but let's take things slow!  I did have to commend her for walking away toward the end.  Pax clearly needed to work on himself before he committed to her.

The other thing that bothered me was the therapist.  Pax clearly is an addict.  Whether he was able to go cold turkey or not, he really needed some AA meetings.  I had a hard time believing that the therapist wouldn't suggest that he go in addition to therapy.  Also, to just hand someone like Pax a script for Xanax had me shaking my head.

This is the first in a series. I have the next one, If You Leave, ready to read.  It's Maddy's story.  I do look forward to reading it.

Joint review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date of publication: September 3013

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Fangirl wasn't what I expected.  For the most part, I liked the

overall story.  The coming of age/learning to be grown-up part was fantastic.  Cath learns a lot of life lessons during her first year at college.  It brought back fond memories of my first year at school.  I also loved the romance. It was slow, sweet and had all the elements that a first love should have.  I loved Levi!

The parts that I didn't love were the fan fiction parts.  I could understand the portions in the beginning of each chapter. Those made sense.  But, the long portions of Cath's own fan fiction got boring really fast.  I really didn't think they were necessary and I skimmed over them.  They just seemed like filler to me and could have been left out without taking away from the story.

I should say that  I really don't understand the world of fan fiction.  Maybe I have never been a fan of anything enough to get it.  But I guess, to each his own.

I really liked FanGirl too. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I liked Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park, but I wasn't super blown away by it. I liked FanGirl a lot better. The characters seemed to be more genuine and believable.  I have twin daughters so I'm often curious about what the future might hold for their relationship.  I think this book showed an unpleasant future, but probably not an unsual transformation in unsually close relationships.

Like Kari, I really couldn't get into the fan fiction stuff.  I really like Harry Potter, but I've never read fan fiction, much less written it.  I found myself kinda zoning out on the Simon Snow stuff, I didn't really see the point of having so much of it in the book.  Otherwise, I really liked the book.

Throwback Thursday; The Dunwich Horror & The Thing on the Doorstep by H. P. Lovecraft

Author: H. P. Lovecraft

Audio CD Published by Fantom Films (first published October 2nd 2009) 
The Dunwitch Horror first published in the 1929 "Weird Tales"
The Thing on the Doorstep first published in the 1933 "Weird Tales"

In The Dunwich Horror (1928), Wilbur Whateley, the son of a deformed albino mother and an unknown father, matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. All the while, his sorcerer grandfather indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft...The Thing at The Doorstep was written five years later; confessing to the killing of his friend Edward Derby, Daniel Upton hopes his account will prove he is not a murderer.

I saw this audiobook  on my library's website and thought it would make for a great October Throwback Thursday.  To be honest, I have never read anything by Lovecraft, so I thought a couple of short stories would be a good introduction to his writing.

The first story read was The Dunwich Horror.  This one was just OK for me.  It wasn't anything very scary or remotely creepy.  Maybe in 1928, it could give readers shivers, but not in 2013.  I think it was a little too abstract for me.  I'm still not sure I really got what happened in the story.  Maybe if it had been longer, I would have liked it more.

The Thing on the Doorstep was much better.  I thought it was pretty creepy and scary.  This one would have made a good movie if the story was expanded a bit.  It's got black magic and possession. I liked the ending that was left open ended.  It definitely added to the creep factor.   If you are going to pick one to read on Halloween night, pick this one.  It's perfect to make the night a little bit spookier.

Joint Review: Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubois

Author: Jennifer Dubois
Publisher: Random House
Date of publication: Septmebr 2013

When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans.

Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. But who is Lily Hayes? It depends on who’s asking. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction. With mordant wit and keen emotional insight, Cartwheel offers a prismatic investigation of the ways we decide what to see—and to believe—in one another and ourselves.

I really wanted to like this book much more than I did.  It started off really well.  I was pulled into the story and wanted to know what really happened to Katy.  But, as the book progressed, I started to get bored.  I think the book was too long and not much happens during a lot of it.  

The only character I really liked was Lily.  I felt really bad for her.  She is definitely a product of her upbringing.  Not enough discipline and being too sheltered from the real world make her come across as rude, naive and thoughtless.  She really isn't like that, but she doesn't know how to portray herself any other way.  Unfortunately this works against her.

I understand what the author was trying to do with the book.  It wasn't a rehashing of the Amanda Knox story, it was inspired by it.  Her afterward explains it all.  But for me, I don't think the book did what she was hoping it would.  I felt like I was reading another version of the Amanda Knox story and trial. I think what would have made me like the book more would have been to find out what really happened to Katy.  We never do find out.  This being fiction, I wanted some resolution and the truth.  This is another book in which I felt let down because I invested to much time in it and got no payout in the end.

I'm like Kari, I felt let down by the ending of this book.  The ending was the only reason I stuck with this book and it was such a letdown.  I found the Amanda Knox story somewhat interesting and wanted to get the author's interpretation of what happened and I don't think the reader ever actually gets that.  I kept waiting for the real story, and it never came.  I could have just read the Amanda Knox news clippings instead of this book and it would have taken less time.   This book just wasn't my favorite.  I think the author would have done better to either have done a true crime book of the Amanda Knox story or have gone further away from the Knox story, maybe focus on the Lily's cartwheel  and personality but in the context of another criminal investigation...maybe that makes since.