Review - Bet Me

Title: Bet Me
Author: Jennifer Crusie
Publishing Date: 2004
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: A
Sensuality: Hot

Minerva Dobb's boyfriend David has just broken up with her in a trendy local bar. The thing is Min is not really upset about it other than the fact that now she won't have a date to her sister's wedding. Min's two best friends Bonnie and Liza insist that Min needs a real man and scope out the bar for a potential candidate. Liza zeroes in on Cal Morrisey, a handsome man who exudes testosterone. Min usually avoids these type of men, but with Liza's insistence she heads over to him. When she gets close enough she overhears David making a bet with Cal that he can't get Min into bed in a month. Min leaves when she thinks she hears Cal accept the bet. Only Cal accepts the bet to get her to leave the bar with him, not sleep with her. What ensues is a humorous romantic case study of human behavior.

This is my second time reading Bet Me and I believe I enjoyed it more the second time than I did the first. The dialogue is outstanding. It's fast and snappy, clever and honest. Not just between Min and Cal but between Min and her friends and Cal and his friends. Also, Cal and Min's families have a large share of interaction as well. All of this leads to wonderful character development. Here is an example from a short passage between Min and her girlfriends:

"He wasn't the one," Bonnie said from below Min's shoulder, her hands on her tiny hips.

"Diet rum too," Min told the bartender, who smiled at her and went to get her drink.

Liza frowned. "Why were you dating him anyway?"

"Because I thought he might be the one," Min said, exasperated. "He was intelligent and successful and very nice at first. He seemed like a sensible choice. And then all of sudden he went snotty on me."

Bonnie patted Min's arm. "It's a good thing he broke up with you because now you're free for when the right man finds you. Your prince is on his way."

"Right," Min said. "I'm sure he was on his way but a truck hit him."

"That's not how it works." Bonnie leaned on the bar, looking like an R-rated pixie. "If it's meant to be, he'll make it. No matter how many things go wrong, he'll come to you and you'll be together forever."

"What is this?" Liza said, looking at her in disbelief. "Barbie's Field of Dreams?"

That's sweet, Bonnie," Min said. "But as far as I'm concerned, the last good man died when Elvis went."

"Maybe we should rethink keeping Bon as our broker," Liza said to Min. "We could be major stockholders in the Magic Kingdom by now."

Min tapped her fingers on the bar, trying to vent some tension. "I should have known David was a mistake when I couldn't bring myself to sleep with him. We were on our third date, and the waiter brought the dessert menu, and David said, 'No, thank you, we're on a diet,' and of course, he isn't because there's not an ounce of fat on him, and I thought, 'I'm not taking off my clothes with you' and I paid my half of the check and went home early. And after that, whenever he made his move, I thought of the waiter and crossed my legs."

Even though Min is such a cynic when it comes to finding love, as you can see from the above excerpt, her and Cal's story is a very romantic one. It is romantic without being sappy. Both of them have their issues. Meg has a chip on her shoulder about her size since she is a healthy woman and not a stick figure. Cal's friends refer to him as a serial dater, since he can't seem to commit. But in spite of all their flaws they realize that they will love each other regardless. Reading about them as they work through their differences is truly a treat. Theirs is a relationship that you know will last long after the last chapter is read.

This book was part of Nath's Re-Read Challenge 2009. You can read the other partipants' reviews here.

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format at Amazon.

Review - Burning Alive

Title: Burning Alive
Author: Shannon K. Butcher
Publishing Date: May 2009
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: C-
Sensuality: Hot

Helen Day has lived her entire life in fear of fire. She repeatedly has this one vision where she sees herself burning to death while a man stands by idly watching her and to top it all off he has a smile on his face. As she is dining in a local diner she recognizes the man from her vision. He is sitting in a booth across from her with two other men. She is certain her time of death is near and that her vision will come true.

Drake is a Theronai warrior who is fighting a losing battle against the Synestryn, animalistic beasts in order to save the human race and his own people. When he sees Helen looking strangely at him he is compelled to figure out why. As he approaches her and they make physical contact Drakes power transfers to Helen and she eases his pain that he has carried for centuries. Somehow these two are linked and Drake is determined to find out why.

Where to begin? I had a lot of problems with this book. First, of all the whole story takes place in two or three days. Helen goes from being a normal woman who brings meals to the elderly, to fighting battles alongside of Drake. We are not even talking about a normal battle, but a fight to the death with inhuman demonic creatures. Ummm, no I don't think so. Helen is a huge scaredy-cat, not a kick-ass fighting machine. I just didn't see the connection. It all felt so out of place for her character. Granted she doesn't want to fight and Drake is forcing her too, but still that aspect didn't work for me.

This brings me to my second dislike, Drake. I did not like his character at all. He took to many liberties with Helen, first by practically kidnapping her and then by withholding pertinent information from her that would effect her for the rest of her life. He was basically a selfish bastard. I honestly didn't see what Helen saw in him. Top that off with repeated mental lusting and I felt annoyed with the story.

The reason why I am so worked up over it is because while reading the story, I really felt like Butcher had something here with this new series. I could see its potential to become a really great series. She has interesting world building with the variety of different inhuman races. She also incorporated interesting side plots with various secondary characters, many of which I found exciting. It's just that all of this was overshadowed by the negatives. I am not sure if I will read more in this series. I will play it by ear when the next book is released.

Here is what others had to say:

The Book Lush
Darque Reviews
Babbling About Books, and More
Ticon4
Book Binge
Michelle's Book Blog

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon.

September Releases!

Wow, September is a slow month for me. I am only looking forward to three books this month. I tell you, this is a nice change of pace from the last two months when I wanted over eight books. Now, I might actually be able to make a dent in my reading pile!

Alpha and Omega Series - Book 2

Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles's reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer—or Charles will take the fall. Chapter One

WHO’D BEEN SLEEPING IN KASON RHODES’S BED? The left fielder for the Richmond Rogues had returned from six weeks of spring training in Florida to find someone had moved into his mobile home. That person was presently in his shower. And no matter how sexy the squatter might be, Kason wanted her out. He had his trusty dobie, Cimarron; he didn’t need anyone else in his life. Not even a stubborn tomboy who roused all kinds of wild reactions in him, then soothed his soul with peace offerings of home-cooked meals and kindness. The bad boy of baseball was ready to play hardball if need be, but with Dayne Sheridan firmly planted between his sheets, he found himself. . .SLIDING HOME Chapter One

USA Today bestselling author Jo Goodman delivers a thrilling tale of small town greed that may have big time consequences-unless two strangers open their hearts to a highly unconventional arrangement…

Rachel Bailey may seem like just a beautiful newcomer to most of Reidsville, Colorado, but Sheriff Wyatt Cooper knows she's much more. Through a twist of fate, Rachel is the inheritor of a very valuable commodity: control of the railway that keeps the isolated mining town connected to the world. That is, she will be, if she agrees to the surprising stipulation in her benefactor's will-that she marry Wyatt.

Rachel has no choice: refusing the marriage could put all of Reidsville in the hands of an outsider-and not just any outsider, but the cruel tyrant she has come here to escape. Yet living with Wyatt will be her greatest challenge. For he has a tempting way about him that makes Rachel forget theirs is a marriage in name only-until her frightening past shows up to remind them exactly how much they have at stake…

Review - Tempted All Night

Title: Tempted All Night
Author: Liz Carlyle
Publishing Date: March 2009
Genre: Historical
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot

Phaedra Northampton is on a mission to bring back her maid's sister, whom she believes has been mixed up with some shady people. As Phaedra begins her investigation she witnesses the death of a man. This man is a possible Russian spy and Tristan Talbot, Lord Avoncliffe is investigating his death. He eventually involves Phaedra in his investigation. Tristan has a reputation as a wastrel and a rake and he is only investigatign this murder as a favor to his father who is on his deathbed.

Tempted All Night is my first Liz Carlyle book. I have heard a lot of good things about her writing and I jumped at the chance to get this book when AAR classified it as a DIK (Desert Isle Keeper). In other words a great read and one worth keeping. So my expectations were fairly high from all the praise circling around Ms. Carlyle. While I did find her writing to be exceptional with fully fleshed out characters, I did think the story and the characters were a tad mundane.

The big standout for me was Lady Phaedra. She is a good woman who has had some unfortunate things happen to her. It is very easy for the reader to be moved by her past. And I loved how her past was revealed in slow pieces, foreshadowing a larger reveal halfway through the book. It keeps the pacing moving and the reader curious.
Tristan has his own set of problems to deal with as his father is dying and they haven't ever gotten along well. There is an animosity between the two that never really gets completely resolved and this saddened me for Tristan. As far as his rakehell ways... ho hum, bor-ing. I wasn't impressed and could have done without that aspect of the story.

When it is all said and done, I really wanted Phaedra to get her happy ending and boy does she ever. There is an absolutely, lovely epilogue at the end of this story. Will I give Liz Carlyle another try? Yes, you can count on it. Are there any that you would recommend?

Here is what others had to say:

All About Romance
Dear Author
Romance Reviews by Alice

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format at Amazon.

Post at AccessRomance

Hey! Come visit me at AccessRomance Readers Gab. I have a post up and I need some advice :)

Review - Hard Eight and To the Nines

Title: Hard Eight
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publishing Date:
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Warm

My dear sweet friend Dana, who works at a Barnes & Noble in southern Florida was kind enough to send me a box of books. In it were several of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. Seeing as I have been in a reading slump these past few weeks, Stephanie and the gang were looking rather darn appealing. Evanovich has a great thing going with this series and it was fun reading about Stephanie's penchent for finding herself in the midst of trouble.

This time Stephanie is looking for Evelyn Sodor who has run off with her little girl. Evelyn's Grandmother and her ex-husband are looking for her. Stephanie suspects there is more going on than meets the eye when she runs into Eddie Abruzzi, who all but threatens her to mind her own business. Of course Stephanie is never one to shy away from a case.


****************************SPOILERS********************************


Stephanie and Joe are on a break in this story and Ranger calls in his marker. I'll tell you straight up, I am a Joe girl, myself. It is obvious to me that Joe and Stephanie love each other even though they can't seem to work out their differences. So when Ranger called in his marker and Stephanie and he had sex, I was actually surprised. For some reason I didn't think that they would ever do it. Then, to top it all off after all the sexual tension and leading up to the big event - it was so uneventful. I mean it was like wham, bam... see ya, Babe. I was expecting there to be fireworks and well... maybe a few more details than I was given in the bedroom. I mean, jeez - three's a crowd? I guess it didn't seem in keeping with the way the rest of the books flowed. But I do think it was necessary for Stephanie to explore her interest in Ranger, otherwise wouldn't she always wonder? Plus, THEY WERE ON A BREAK (I am channeling Ross from Friends).




Title: To the Nines
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publishing Date:
Genre: Mystery
Rating: A
Sensuality: Warm

In To the Nines Stephanie is investigating a missing man, Samuel Singh who is in America on a temporary visa. Stephanie quickly discovers that there is fowl play involved and she becomes a target in a sociopaths game of murder. Ranger and Joe team up to protect Stephanie from this creep. Meanwhile the case takes Stephanie and Lula to the Vegas strip and more mayhem and hi jinks ensue.

Aside from Four to Score, which had my favorite secondary character, the cross dresser Sally Sweet, I think To the Nines is her best yet. The mystery part of the book was very tight and extremely well executed. I figured out who the killer was, but the suspension was still gripping. There was an urgency to Stephanie's situation and I felt like something bad could really happen.

The laughs were just a good, if not better. Lula has some shining moments in this book. She was dieting to be "supermodel thin" and there were some hilarious scenes with her and a pork chop, or her and a rotisserie chicken. There is also a really fun scene when she is in Vegas at a Wayne Newton concert. It is really priceless. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at some of the antics.

Re-Read for August

Thank you to every one who participated in my re-read poll. The big winner is Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. I am excited about this book as it is a fabulous choice (LOL, they were all good choices)! So now I will concentrate on reading it and then post a review for it the last day of this month.



*On a side note* Sorry this post is so short. I am completely fed up with my internet provider. I have terrible service and it keeps going out. This short post took me 30 minutes to create. *Pulling my hair out*