Woman Reading

Oh my god, that was SO EFFING GOOD!!!!

Read my full review at Birdie Bookworm.

My first TJ Klune read, and... What the hell was that!?

I've never read anything like it!

It was... absolutely brilliant!

Full review at Birdie Bookworm.

Disasterology 101 was so good that I’ve been unable to start another book.  I keep looking through my bookshelf and Kindle, praying for something to jump out at me that would be the perfect cure. So far nothing.

I find that I’m tempted to start reading it again.

Full review at Birdie Bookworm.

To say that I loved this book is an understatement. I was enthralled.  Six of Crows was unlike anything else I’ve heard of or read.

I loved every second.

For my full review, visit Birdie Bookworm.

I really thought I hit the nail on the head with this one. I definitely came close. From pretty early on I fell in love with Walter and Kelly, both individually and as a couple. In particular I thought that their relationship was based in mutual respect and admiration. Love Lessons was actually pretty angsty, and I generally hate relationship angst in a novel, but in this book the angst was handled really well. Walter had a serious amount of baggage, and that definitely threw a crimp in their relationship, but once they'd decided to be together, Kelly held on as tight as he could. With as much love as humanly possible he reminded Walter how much he was loved, and he did it as much as it was needed. I suppose that's the key to an angsty book, for me. Having two characters who fight to be together, despite all the curve balls. In that way, it actually reminded me of Understatement of the Year.

The only criticism I may have, and it is petty, is some of the verbiage and wording that the author used. The one that was used the most often was calling an attractive guy 'Talent'. In the beginning I curled my lip, but toward the end it actually started feeling cute. Like, 'you're money, baby!' from Swingers. It started to feel like Walter's thing. Hopefully, though, it doesn't continue in the future books, because it'll lose that cuteness.

Overall, loved. Seriously seriously loved this book. I can't decide if it's epic, but I can say it's definitely a favorite.

I’m so sad that I read this as fast as I did. I wish I could have paced myself, stretched it out longer than just two days. Unfortunately I wasn’t in control. The book had it’s claws deep inside me; all I could was hold on tight as it took me on a ride.

For my full review, see Birdie Bookworm.

Off the top of my head, I don’t think I’ve ever read a Urban Fantasy Comedy before. When you pick up an UF book you can usually anticipate some snark by the heroine, but they’re generally darker stories full of big evils and ass-kicking. Heroine Complex had the snarky heroine, and it even had the ass-kicking (kinda). What it wasn’t was dark. There was nothing scary, or sinister in this story. I mean, the first chapter kicks off with demon possessed cupcakes, for Pete’s sake. After the cupcakes we’re given a rundown on everyone’s crappy superpowers, (I mean, the ability to alter the temperature in a room, incrementally… not badass at all), and we’re introduced to a cast of characters that almost all have caricature personalities.

It’s the fact that everyone, and everything, is so over the top that it’s hilarious. Evie cracks jokes all over the place, but the jokes are only to cover up the fact that she’s terrified. She’s afraid of her own emotions, of connections, of failing. She’s afraid of hurting people. That fear has caused her to suppress her emotions entirely, and as the events of the story unfold we get to read her losing that control. It leads to sexy times with a super hottie, igniting sparks all over my kindle, and giving us the sweetest romantic scenes. It also leads to Evie finally standing up for herself and telling friends and enemies where they can shove it, something I wanted almost right from the beginning.

Speaking of Super Hotties, there’s actually two of them. Nate and Scott are both ridiculously hot, in very different ways. Despite the special spot that skater’s like Scott hold in my heart, I actually really fell for Nate. The sexy nerd trope just about trumps everything else, when it comes to fictional guy characters. Sexy Alpha Nerd = erupting ovaries.

All that aside though, what made Heroine Complex truly stand out was the fact that it was so different from 90% of all other UF out there. This felt like a comic book adapted into a novel, the only thing it was missing was the occasional glossy colored picture, to accompany the text. Something on the inside that’s similar to the image on the cover. The print version should totally have these pictures… Anyway, I digress. The concept of a portal releasing demons on our world, spreading lame super powers and terror all over, isn’t a concept that I’ve read before. If you have, please tell me where?

As a reader, UF has always been one of my favorite genres but I was feeling burnt out. Everything felt very familiar, like there was an Urban Fantasy guideline out there. It’s why I’ve always loved UF’s that were slightly different, like Anne Bishop’s The Others series, where Meg isn’t a fighter at all. She gets premonitions, but other than that she needs to be protected. Or Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series, where Chess is addicted to drugs. Just like those books, in Heroine Complex Evie is a mess and I love that. It’s refreshing. Humans are messy.

There were a few things that I thought bent the rules of believablility, beyond the demon cupcakes of course. For instance, how were Lucky Charms almost always available for Evie? At the bar? In someone’s bedroom in the middle of the night? The world must have just kept an arsenal on hand for any occasion which found Evie in need of marbits. Still, somehow those inconsistencies actually made the story funnier and didn’t hinder it.

Bottom line – I loved this. I loved every second, and I cannot wait for the next installment! Gimme more!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group via Netgalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For this and other reviews, please visit Badass Book Reviews.

Whenever I move on in a beloved series I can’t help but worry that there will be some kind of decline. Even when I try not to I’m a worrier. I fret that maybe the sequel will lag, or the characters won’t read the same, or any of the multiple reasons why I might be disappointed. For me, diving into In the Eye of the Storm the concern was with the character/relationship development. The slow burn between Lilly and Ambrose was everything in the first book. Of course that made me nervous that what had developed so beautifully would be discarded and it would feel like everything was starting over again from square one. On the other side, I also worried that in the sequel things would suddenly surge forward much too fast and Lilly and Ambrose would be pronouncing their undying love for each other.

Let me pause here and say that there’s absolutely nothing in the synopsis for this book that caused me to think either was likely. It was nothing that Sir Rob did. I wholly blame the general pitfalls of romance novels that I’ve come to predict.

I was so wrong. There’s very little that anyone could predict about this story. Here’s what you can count on: Ambrose is going to be icy and brusque. He will be grudgingly sweet, and definitely dreamy. Lilly will be impulsive and passionate. She will be bold and witty. You can expect that when the ice that is Ambrose clashes with the fire that is Lilly you as the reader will be both swooning and cracking up. You can anticipate lots and lots of laughter, particularly because everything that happens, or is said, is so completely unpredictable! Adrenaline is high, you’re on the edge of your seat, exhilarated and breathless, and then one of the characters drops the most perfect and insane line and you burst into peals of laughter. It was the best feeling ever.

While, clearly my favorite part of this series is Lilly and Ambrose, I could go on and on about their chemistry, I have to mention Captain Carter. I secretly loved him in Storm and Silence and that love grew while reading In the Eye of the Storm. I love him for the catalyst his character is, and also for himself. He’s quirky, sweet and kind. He’s the opposite of Ambrose in just about every way. There is a whole host of side characters that are truly exceptional, yet Captain Carter stands out the most for me. I’m looking forward to what’s coming, even though I know there’s no predicting anything!

Finally, those ‘extra’ chapters. MAN, I love Ambrose! Such perfection in his flaws. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of the glimpses into his psyche.

Now that I’ve finished, do you know what the worst thing is about finally receiving the book that you’ve been coveting for months? The way you read it like you’re starving. Seriously, this did not last nearly long enough and I know it was all my fault. I should have parceled it out, piece by piece, to make the magic last as long as possible. Instead I gobbled it up and now it’s over and I’m back to waiting… because there’s no way this is the end, right?

Thank you to the author, Robert Thier, for a copy of his book in exchange for an honest review.

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Wow! I honestly think this is the best Riptide book I’ve ever read, and definitely in the top of all M/M romances!

I loved the setting of the story because the characters were bleak, and the setting stabilized that bleakness. I thought all the side characters, from the kids at school to the parents, all carried the story and again they all set an atmosphere of despair and poverty. I thought it was pretty powerful how the author showed the reality of money. The better drugs these kids did the more horrid they acted, and it was in direct correlation to how much money was in their pockets, (Nate and Logan being the exceptions, which there always are). I also think that even though Cory was the most poor he was also the sweetest in personality, not just circumstance. He was a good kid, him and Nate both.

There was only one tiny aspect that perhaps kept me from loving it as completely as I could have, and it isn’t a dig on the writing at all. It’s a personal preference in reading choices only. I always have a hard time when two characters are too bullheaded to just open their mouths and speak. Nate and Cory both could have been saved from so much pain if they had just opened their mouths and talked. I know that sometimes that’s not how the characters are, and I accept that, I just find that I sit there reading and screaming in my head for them to stop running from each other and just talk! It kills me. And frustrates me. I think it was probably hard on Logan too, watching them. I liked Logan, btw. A lot.

Anyway, again great book. I didn’t even realize that Marie Sexton was the same author who wrote Winter Oranges, and I really liked that one too. She may be one of of those authors that just stays on my radar going forward.

If you enjoyed this review, come by and check out others like it - Badass Book Reviews

So many tears!

So much love!

Magical!

In the beginning I read half of Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series and felt lukewarm. I read The Scorpio Races and felt impressed. Finishing The Raven Cycle, however, I feel blessed.

Reading anything by Maggie Stiefvater is almost like reading poetry. The Raven Cycle though, was particularly emotive. It was so full of feeling and depth that even in the casual scenes you find yourself reading with the whisper of a lump in your throat, with shallow breath. It’s like you’re afraid to spook the story, because at any point these beloved characters, that are so unique, will disappear. At any point we could lose one of them, or this entire beautiful world will unravel. It’s just so magical, every word, and its magic is fragile. Even though I was terrified of this final installment, knowing my heart would be broken, I could never have resisted reading it. I’ve been captivated since the very first book.

She scowled at Gwenllian. Blue was very short and Gwenllian was very tall, but Blue very much wanted to scowl at Gwenllian and Gwenllian seemed intent on being scowled at, so they made it work.

The Raven King was particularly emotional. Through the entire story you knew it would end in loss, you just were never quite sure how the loss would manifest itself. There wasn’t any character that you would sacrifice, or any part of the world (Ley Line, Cabeswater, 300 Fox Way) that you wanted to give up. You especially didn’t want to let go as everything was finally coming together. Characters were finding themselves, each other, and true love! How could any of them be ripped away from that!

Gansey and Blue continue to be a highlight through the final book in the series, clearly. I mean, in a sense the story itself is about the relationship between Gansey and Blue. However, it’s the development that happens in the other characters that I think finally glowed in The Raven King. In particular there’s always been something tragic inside Ronan and Adam. The both of them are so lonely, and alone. Alonesome. There’s almost nothing I wanted more than for them to find peace, other than Gansey staying alive. I wanted all of my magicians to find happiness.

Need was Adam’s baseline, his resting pulse. Love was a privilege. Adam was privileged; he did not want to give it up. He wanted to remember again and again how it felt.

The best part of this series, though, is the fact that even though there’s romance and people falling in love, the story doesn’t focus on that at all. Not even a little bit. Yes Blue loves Gansey, but that in no way overshadows her love for Adam, Ronan and Noah. The core of this series is the connection between all of them. Gansey’s love for his best friends, and their love for him, almost takes prevalence over romantic love entirely. Even then, Stiefvater never let the love cause her to lose sight of the plot. It was absolutely perfect.

Reading Raven Cycle has been one of the best literary adventures of my life. Ronan, Adam, Blue and Gansey (and even Henry and Orphan Girl now!) are going to be a part of me forever.

Maggie Stiefvater said, on facebook, “I don’t want readers to be sad. At the end of the Raven Cycle, I want readers … to want.”

I want, Stiefvater. Badly.

These days, they all had their hands thrust into the sky, hoping for comets.

If you enjoyed this review, come by and check out others like it - Badass Book Reviews

I am a rabid Outlander fan. I make no apologies for it. Outlander, book 1, has been my #1 most favorite book since I was about 13-14 years old. I’ve read the entire series multiple times. More importantly, James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser is the literary love of my life. I would gladly hop backwards 200 years if he were there to catch me and keep me safe. (I would add in something cute here about not telling my husband, but that would mean he didn’t already know. He totally does.)

In addition to my obsession with JAMMF, I did hop a train in my youth and go backpacking in a strange place, all in search of a love. (In this case it was Boston, 1998, and I was searching for Jordan Knight, but potato potahto.)

Add those two together and you have the premise of Finding Fraser – The story of a girl who hops a flight to Scotland in search of her own Jamie. Come on! Finding Fraser was written for a fan like me!

Right off the bat I was captivated by the story. Emma as the MC was charming and funny. She reminded me a bit of Bridget Jones, in terms of being cute but in a self-deprecating type of way. I seriously loved her blog, and the comments that came with it. I could picture her so clearly, and I related to her as a nervous girl who was off on this big giant adventure, one that she was just slightly embarrassed about. -It wasn’t easy to tell people I was in Boston searching for Jordan Knight… so, I get it Emma. You and I, Kindred Souls.

In addition to how much I liked Emma, I also loved the amount of Jamie chatter there was. The fans Emma encountered along the way were hilarious, and I can imagine something very similar happening if we were on this real life journey, like Stripper Jamie. The arguments over who was a better hero, Jamie or William Wallace were entertaining. All of these little quirky situations led to crazy things happening to Emma, that for the most part kept me entertained. (I was especially thrilled any time Jack was in the picture. Love Jack.)

There are some criticisms, though. There are reasons why I rated Finding Fraser only 3.5 stars. First, at times the book was almost too historical. Perhaps I’m wrong; it’s hard for me to believe that someone who doesn’t know who Jamie is would pick this book up. I read and reviwed with the understanding that the main core of Finding Fraser’s readers are Outlander fans. We pretty much all already know this history. The repetition caused large sections’s of the story to drag, especially when paired with the long pages of landscape description. The thing is, if a non-fan picks up this book I think that they’d be even more bored with the history and landscape lessons than I was. They won’t even have that rabid love of all things Outlander to fall back on. Trust me, I understand why the story was descriptive, it’s Scotland! But it should have been toned down in order to give us more time with the actual plot of the story: Would Emma find her Jamie.

Which leads me to my second issue. I feel like it’s kind of obvious to anyone reading who Emma’s going to fall in love with. Yet, there are only about 4 scenes that contain him until the big bang at the end. (pun intended.) Other area’s of the story really needed pairing down so that we got more one on one time with these two characters. Either that, or it should have left the story more open-ended. What we got was too little throughout the whole story, than too much at the end.

Still, I’m glad I read this, and I’m glad I feel so much like Emma. I would have gladly followed her blog, and chatted with her in the comment section about how envious I was and how much I hoped she found her true love.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing a copy of his book, in exchange for an honest review.

For this and other reviews like it, please visit Badass Book Reviews!

In my review for Blood Kiss I went on and on about my history with the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Basically what it boils down to was that it started off all rainbows, and it ended up all storm clouds. Thankfully I was pretty happy with the first installment of the spin-off series, and that book put me in a good frame of mind for the release of The Beast.

That’s not to say I was without fear. I think in some ways I had MORE fear going into reading The Beast than I did when I picked up Blood Kiss. The Beast brings us back to my favorite story in the Black Dagger Brotherhood saga, which was Rhage and Mary in Lover Eternal. Frankly, in the romance genre in its entirety there is only a few other books that comes close to how much I loved Rhage and Mary’s love story. It really had very little to do with Mary, actually, other than in how Rhage felt about her. My love for that original book was all about Rhage. He was the epitome of everything and anything I’ve ever loved in a hero. He was the perfect balance of need, tenderness, and humor. He was beautiful, both outside and inside. He was perfection.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, I am incapable of reading a story that ruins beloved characters. Knowing that, and knowing how I’ve felt about the last 3ish BDB books, I was honestly terrified to read The Beast. I would have been inconsolable if anything horrible had happened, or if the book had just been so bad that the original story suffered for it.

Luckily none of that happened. Luckily Rhage and Mary got an amazing sequel to their story. Luckily they weren’t overshadowed by too much random otherness. The Beast wasn’t quite the amazeballs story that Lover Eternal was. It didn’t hit you in the heart, right where it hurts, but it did give you a wonderful solid sequel for their life. The best part, they never ever stop loving each other. Even when they’re hurting, and that creates a small distance between them, they never question their ability to stay together or be together.

Even better, Rhage was written exactly as he was in the original book. He’s still that same balance of everything you love in a hero. He’s goofy and funny. Mary is still his entire everything. He still struggles with his beast, made easier by the beasts love of Mary. His brothers are there to help him through it.

In the end, I’m happy to report that I enjoyed this series again. It left me wanting more, more BDB and more BDLegacy. I hope one of these two books gives me more Z, the other brother I loved the most.

Thank you to NAL for providing a copy of his book, in exchange for an honest review.

To read this review and more, visit us at Badass Book Reviews

It’s fair to say that those of us who’ve been reading Society of Gentleman have been pretty excited to finally read about Richard and Cyprian. From the very beginning Cyprian has been the glue that ties this Society’s secrets together, keeping them all safe. We’ve known for a while that the relationship between Richard and Cyprian runs far deeper than Lord and valet, even if they have outwardly, and privately, maintained an appropriate employer/servant balance. We also knew that at the end of A Seditious Affair Cyprian was tired of waiting and was beginning to make steps to turn Richards attentions on himself.

So, you can maybe understand my surprise when I actually read the book and it doesn’t play out at all like I thought it would. Through the entire course of the series David Cyprian has been a force. He saved lives, he ruined lives, he did whatever it took to keep Richard and his friends safe. To me, at least, he was such a badass. He’s Foxy, slightly scary in his abilities, both as Richard’s valet and as Richard’s flashman. I felt sure that he would quietly and sneakily manage Lord Richard right into his bed. That’s not exactly how it played out. What does happen is a lot more heartache and hurt feelings, which took some of that magic shine off Cyprian.

In A Gentleman’s Position Cyprian was humanized. Most of the time, that’s a great thing. I’m sure for most readers it was wonderful to read Cyprian vulnerable. I actually liked seeing that Cyprian was vulnerable to Richard too. I like when Badass Characters are vulnerable to the one they love. I think my issue lay more in how Cyprian seemed to lose some of his strength. Granted, he was Mr. Fox, and being a fox implies more cunning than brute strength, so I completely agree that it just could have been my bar was too high. He was still plenty cunning in the third book. He still had a sharp smile and a quick mind. He also felt just a little more whiny… don’t kill me, I know it’s unfair! I just can’t help feeling this way!

My immeasurable bar standard for Cyprian was the only thing that brought my rating down. The plot itself was very good, tying all three books together. The whole group was together, as stuffy and funny as ever, and Richard’s love for his Mr. Fox was beautiful, as was Cyprian’s love for his lord.

With the conclusion of A Gentleman’s Position I do believe that this series is over. I feel like it happened so fast. It feels as though I only just read my first K.J. Charles novel with A Fashionable Indulgence. I won’t be unhappy if I were to hear that there’ll be more, and if not there’s always A Charm of Magpies!

Thank you to Loveswept and Netgalley for providing a copy of his book, in exchange for an honest review.

To read this review and more, visit us at Badass Book Reviews