Friday, June 27, 2014

Queen of Wands

By Katee Robert

This is the second book in the Sanctify series, and although I loved the first book, I enjoyed this one so much more.

The first book revolved around Boone and Ophelia and, although Jenny O'Keirna played a pretty big role in the first book, she is the major player in this second book.  This is her story, and what a fun story it is!  She was my favorite character in the first book, so I was absolutely thrilled to find out that we were getting a book completely devoted to her this time around.  I can imagine a whole series devoted to just Jenny, I really can!

I loved this book for several reasons.  This book is definitely sci-fi, but without being too complicated.  It has all the fun aspects of sci-fi (intergalactic travel, alien creatures, laser guns, stuff like that....) but without all the technical jargon and mumbo jumbo that so many books seem to have. I often lose interest when I'm reading sci-fi (even though it is my favorite genre) but not with this series..... but now back to this awesome book:

Jenny is an extremely likable heroine. She is tough, intelligent, snarky, and totally capable of exceeding everyone's expectations of herself.  Jenny is sharing in her brother's joy of welcoming a new baby girl into the family when a distress call comes in from Mac, an inventor who is currently employed as a weapons developer and is a highly valuable player in the war currently going on between Jenny's family and Sanctify, the evil bad boys who are hellbent on total interplanetary domination.  Getting their hands on Mac would seriously tip the scales in their favor, and Jenny just can't allow that to happen. She she volunteers to go pick up Mac and deliver him to one of his foxholes on some other planet. Easy Peasy, right? Oh, if only.......

The action in this series is non-stop.  It is fast moving and so much fun! With Sanctify constantly on their heels, Jenny is determined to prove to her big brother (and the rest of her team) that she is perfectly capable of successfully rescuing Mac and delivering him safely to his little hidey hole.  The attraction between Jenny and Mac is pretty much immediate, but it takes them a little while to actually act upon that attraction and when they finally do...it is amazing!   Mac is the perfect compliment to Jenny...he is not the typical domineering Alpha male (which would never sit well with Jenny anyway.)  He is more like the "strong but silent" type, so to speak.  He is secure enough to allow Jenny to take the lead when necessary, yet always there to back her up as well.  He is a typical geeky hero who should not be underestimated simply because of his nerdish standing in society.   Plus, he's just a nice guy! 

Even though this is the second book in the series, it stands well all on its own.  Everything is explained along the way, and although I highly recommend reading the first book simply because it is a great book worth reading, you won't have any trouble understanding what's going on if you coose to read this book first.  This is a fast, fun, well written story and I am already looking forward to book three in this series!!

Many thanks to Tara Gonzalez at Entangled Publishing for allowing me to review this DRC!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Love Potions

By: Michelle M. Pillow

This book was a ton of fun to read!  The plot was interesting and moved along at a good pace.  The characters were entertaining and the MacGregor family was just downright hilarious! The pranks they played on each other kept me in stitches and I found myself rereading several sections of their immature antics, simply because I enjoy a good laugh. It's rare that I find a book that can actually make me laugh out loud, and watching how the MacGregor siblings interacted with each other (and sabotaged each other!) was refreshing and highly amusing!

Lydia is a great main character.  She is strong and independent and in control (to a certain degree, anyway) of her life. She owns her own business making various body lotions from the herbs in her own garden.  She has made a success of herself and she isn't going to let a little magick destroy all she has made for herself.  She's very down to earth and likable.  Her only employee is her best friend, Charlotte, whom she respects and cares for like a sister. It's a great relationship and the two women keep each other grounded in the midst of all the evil that begins to happen around them.  It is very touching to see how Lydia cares for Charlotte when Charlotte's sanity seems to start eroding.   And Lydia also has a good head on her shoulders when it comes tomher new sexy neighbor, Erik.  Erik is the leading man in all of Lydia's steamy fantasies, and yet Lydia still manages to maintain a respectable amount of self control around him when it really counts.

Erik is a likable enough character.  He's a bit domineering but, after centuries of going solo, he's a bit rusty when it comes to interacting with women.  So the reader needs to cut Erik a little bit of slack and be patient with his overbearing possessiveness as he learns how to be in a relationship.

Overall, I really liked this book a lot. It was well written and left no unanswered questions at the end, and I loved all the characters.  Lydia and Erik come to some excellent compromises in their relationship and the ending leave the possibility of a sequel.....(involving Charlotte and Euann I hope!)  I will be looking for more books by this author!