Review- Trapped by Beverly Long- 4*

Title: Trapped
Series: Crow Hollow #3
Author: Beverly Long
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Rating: * * * *

Publishers: Harlequin 

(Sept 16, 2014)

Paperback: 224 pages

ISBN: 978-0373697939

FTC Disclosure: ARC from Net Galley

It's their second chance at love, but may be their only chance for survival in the conclusion of Beverly Long's The Men from Crow Hollow miniseries

Elle Vollman hadn't expected to live when the plane went down. She never thought she'd see her daughter again or give testimony against one of the world's worst human traffickers. But she learned never to say never because she never thought she'd see her ex-fiancé, Dr. Brody Donovan, again either. Now here he was, amongst the survivors, applying medical care to those in need. Lost in the Amazon and being hunted by more than just wildlife, it will take their combined strength to find help and rescue the others. The fierce jungle has doomed many, and trusting one another is the only way either of them will find their way back...maybe even to each other....

Author Deborah Blake Release Party and $50.00 Amazon Gift Card Contest

“Known as the wicked witch of Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga is not one woman, but rather a title carried by a chosen few. They keep the balance of nature and guard the borders of our world, but don’t make the mistake of crossing one of them…

Older than she looks and powerful beyond measure, Barbara Yager no longer has much in common with the mortal life she left behind long ago. Posing as an herbalist and researcher, she travels the country with her faithful (mostly) dragon-turned-dog in an enchanted Airstream, fulfilling her duties as a Baba Yaga and avoiding any possibility of human attachment.

But when she is summoned to find a missing child, Barbara suddenly finds herself caught up in a web of deceit and an unexpected attraction to the charming but frustrating Sheriff Liam McClellan.

Now, as Barbara fights both human enemies and Otherworld creatures to save the lives of three innocent children, she discovers that her most difficult battle may be with her own heart…”

Buy a print copy of Wickedly Dangerous from Amazon by clicking here.

Buy a Kindle copy of Wickedly Dangerous from Amazon by clicking here.

Books in the Baba Yaga series in the order they should be read:

Wickedly Dangerous

Wickedly Wonderful

CONTEST INFO: Open to readers worldwide. 

Prize: A $50.00 Amazon Gift Card 

Review- Dead Don't Lie by L. R. Nicolello -5*

Title: Dead Don't Lie
Author: L R Nicolello
Genre: Suspense Thriller

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Harlequin HQN

(Sept 1, 2014)

Kindle: 230 pages

ISBN: B00JIHA81C

FTC Disclosure: Net Galley

 You can run from the past…but you can never truly hide…

Detective Evelyn Davis delves deep into the minds of monsters for a living. She's the best psychological profiler in the Seattle P.D., with a talent that comes from heartbreaking experience. When Evelyn was just eighteen, she received word of her family's murder in the form of a horrifying video. Fifteen years later, tracking down other psychopaths is the only thing that brings her some peace.

But now two local families have been wiped out. Though the chilling crime scenes suggest murder-suicides, Evelyn believes a serial killer is at work. So does Special Agent Marcus Moretti, whose easy charm and fiercely protective instincts are breaking down all her defenses. Evelyn needs to put aside her emotional attachment to find the madman stalking her city—but with each discovery, this case becomes more personal. She's starting to suspect the killer wants her—and he is edging closer with every step, ready to make Evelyn pay a devastating price….

Reading Habits Change

I've haven't read as many Harlequins recently as I once did. Harlequins were always a quick easy read and existed as a way for a mini vacation from a very stressful 60 hour a week IT job for me. I kept one at my desk to read at lunch and one in my purse (plus a spare in the car just in case)  to read while waiting on kids at ball, music, dance, whatever the hell class that was going on at the time. With three kids, I was constantly taking and picking up kids for one activity or another. I also read every night at least an  hour just to unwind so I could sleep. During these years, I existed on 5 to 6 hours of sleep at night and 1 to 2 hours of meditation (reading). I probably read 3 or 4 books most weeks. I pretty much read them, enjoyed them and then quickly moved on to the next one, never really invested in either the author or series.

Now that I’ve retired and have more free time, my reading patterns have greatly changed. I tend to invest a lot more time in series that have spanned over decades (and may take me months to read) and rather than picking up a quick two or three hour read opt for the humongous books that may be 500+ pages. But the other night once finishing a stand alone at around 11PM, I found myself looking for a quick read as I wasn’t nearly sleepy enough to go to bed. I had requested several Harlequins from Net Galley as several of their covers and blurbs reignited that thrill I’d get when I bought my monthly stash of romance books years ago. So for that reason you will probably see many more Harlequin romance reviews here.

Review-The Aftermath by Jen Alexander-4*

Title: The Aftermath
Series: Aftermath #1
Author: Jen Alexander
Genre: YA Dystopian

Rating: * * * *

Publishers: Harlequin Teen

(Aug 26, 2014)

Paperback: 288 pages

ISBN: 978-0373211326

FTC Disclosure: Net Galley

Sometimes, I dream that I'm someone else. 

 — A girl with dark hair who doesn't worry about hunger  — or thirst or running from flesh-eaters.  — In her world, those sorts of things don't exist?.  — Since the spring of 2036, when the world changed forever, Claudia and a small clan of survivors have roamed the streets of a very altered Nashville: polluted and desolate, except for the ever-present threat of cannibal Hoarders. Together they must undergo punishing tests of endurance and psychological challenge?sometimes with devastating consequences?all just to live another day.

With food and water in dwindling supply, and with danger lurking around every corner, no one can be trusted. And as her world starts to make less and less sense, Claudia begins to realize something terrifying: she is just a pawn in some sort of game, and all of her actions are being controlled from afar by a mysterious gamer. So when she meets a maddening and fascinating outsider named Declan, who claims to be a game moderator, she must decide whether to join him in exchange for protection and access to the border.

If they play the game right, they are each other's best hope for survival?and a life beyond the only world Claudia's ever known: the terrifying live-action game known as The Aftermath.

Aftermath

1. The Aftermath (2014)

   2.   ??                                     

Though I’m a lover of YA Dystopian fiction, I’ve never been much of a gamer, so I thought that a lot of this book would be over my head. Surprising, it wasn’t and I really loved the idea of the RPG being played by real people (though they don't realize it) that was controlled by richer real people. The one thought that kept circling in my mind was what if the gamer was grounded by their parents for awhile, would their game character die without food and water? I gotta admit, this aspect of it really freaked me out.

I enjoyed the pace of the book and while it wasn’t overly action driven there was a nice balance between the action in the game and the downtime of the characters. In the beginning, I thought that the characters were a bit flat but once realizing that they were just movable pieces in a game, it made sense for them to be pretty emotionless.  You quickly realize that Claudia is the exception to this and then it reaches a whole other level of intensity. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series cause when you say “cliffhanger”, boy does the author leave you with a doozy of one.