Alaskan Bookie

Originally published on my site at: http://alaskanbookie.com/review/werewolf/ ‎There were things I liked about this story and things I didn’t like. I liked Mr. Hair’s take on werewolves and the different things they could do. I loved the transform-Heal-Transform back while in mid-air. That was awesome. I loved that the group with our main character, Landon, were crime fighters. If you were into moonshining they would probably help you, but if you were into crimes against women and children, well then you were mincemeat.The things I didn’t like were how Mr. Hair tried to tie all of their stories together with a neat bow. It just seemed like a huge stretch. The twins would have been totally traumatized by the events, but they were like … ‘oh ok, now you can be my daddy’. Also how Jamie was forgiven everything and just handled like a mis-guided teen, don’t worry he will get over it. I will just drive him upstate and show him a grave of someone I didn’t kill and all will be well. The end part for LillyAnna was also bit much. It seemed like something the author just thought up at the end and put it in there.Overall it was a good read. There was some sex in the story, but it was downplayed and not descriptive. There was plenty of violence.

This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie Website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/forever/This is the story of Jackson Waverly and Menes. Jackson was a police officer who was killed while trying to protect his sister. When he first crossed over, he was met by an ancient Egyptian spirit named Menes. The spirit gave him a choice, he could continue onto the other side or he could return to his life. The catch: If he returns to his life, he will have to share his body with Menes. Both men would exist inside Jackson and they would share his life.Jackson had his own problems and drama in his life, now he will add all the things the former pharaoh, Menes, has going on too. Menes is in love with his wife Hatshepsut and theirs is a love that has traversed centuries and many bodywalker pairings. Each time they are joined into another body, Menes will hunt for Hatshepsut and woo her into loving him all over again. He has to woo her because when she is awakened she will also be joined with another person and the other person has to learn to love Menes as well.The whole centuries old love that Menes and Hatshepsut have is an awesome story in itself. Jackson is a stubborn man and he is not going to just give up control of himself to Menes without a fight. He understands he made a choice to share, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own feelings and desires that he wants to see fulfilled. Especially his desire for Dr. Marissa Anderson. Dr. Anderson is a healthy vibrant woman, not someone who is about to die. In order for Hatshepsut to be reborn, she has to have a willing vessel, one that is on the brink of death. Will Jackson have to put his own feelings and desires aside so Menes can find a willing vessel or will Menes yield to Jackson’s desire for Dr. Anderson? Will they come to some sort of agreement before it’s too late?I love how Jacquelyn Frank draws out the romance between her characters. You really get a buildup of action, drama, and romance before they move onto the more intimate relationships. The world building is also great. Lots of background information is dealt out in smaller chunks so you don’t feel overwhelmed or like you are reading a history book. I loved all the Egyptian stuff woven into the story. I especially love the interaction between Jackson and Menes. It was like putting two type ‘A’ chefs together to make one chocolate dessert from scratch! Each man has his own recipes and own way of doing things, but they will accomplish nothing if they don’t learn to cooperate. Once they start to cooperate, maybe, just maybe, they can learn from each other. And once they perfect their technique, will they use it to lure the enticing Dr. Marissa to their side? This is the second book in the World of Nightwalker’s series and I highly recommend that you read the first one Forbidden before you read this. Although not impossible to follow along, I believe the background you get from the first book will really help you to understand what is happening in the second. My final thought: This book was awesome and you should get a copy and read it today!

This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie Website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/what-stays-in-vegas/This is an amusing story about Tessa Golden who is not in the career of her choice. She is working in an office as an administrative assistant, not in an art studio as an artist likes she wants. She compensates for her lack of an artist job by making cute little paperclip sculptures. She also gets to see her x-crush every day. She just smiles and sucks it up day after day. All of that is about to change when she is sent to Las Vegas to work as an assistant to one of her bosses, Kendra.With the change of location also comes a much needed break to her routine job. Her work in Las Vegas comes with a luxury suite, luxury car, and a hottie co-worker. Although she now has to deal with the client from hell and a boss on the edge of a breakdown, things seem to be going pretty good. That is until her x-crush shows up and wants to get something going with her.This was a funny and light hearted read. It was nice because even though Tessa had a bunch of drama in her life, the book wasn’t over dramatic. The author kept things to the lighter side so you could feel Tessa’s pain but still laugh along with the way she dealt with it. The story moved along at a really good pace and didn’t bog down. I will look forward to reading more of Beth Labonte’s books in the future.

This review was orignally posted on my Alaskan Bookie website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/book-review-dont-bite-the-bridesmaid/My Reivew This was such a cute little read. It was like the Wedding Date movie except with vampires. Alice has a hottie next door neighbor named Noah to ask to be her escort to her sister’s wedding cruise. Even though she has been secretly spying on him, she isn’t aware that this smoking neighbor is a vampire. He doesn’t want to go anywhere with his neighbor except he is being railroaded into an arranged marriage to another vampire and thinks a week or two out of the country should be able to keep those that would bind him far, far away until he can get out of his own wedding. When Alice and Noah arrive at the cruise ship they find they must share a cabin. Alice finally gets to confront her ex only to find he still wants her. Even with Noah at her side, it is still unsure if she will succumb her ex’s advances. Let the sparks fly where they may and melt the chocolate … there is romance afoot!I enjoyed Tiffany Allee’s take on vampires and the romance she built for these two. This was a fun read and I was cheering for them! I will be continuing on with this series. What fun!

This review was originally published on my Alaskan Bookie Website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/forbidden-2/My ReviewI loved this new world created by Jacquelyn Frank. It is not exactly a new world, but an introduction to new ‘creatures’ in the same world as her other ‘Nightwalkers’ series. (Guess that’s why it is called World of Nightwalkers so you will know the difference.) You could read this book without reading any of the other Nightwalker series books and not feel like you are left in the dark. This is a totally different type of Nightwalker being, one that shares two souls, called Bodywalkers. Each time one of the Bodywalkers die, it is one hundred years before they can be eligible for resurrection. The King and Queen of the Bodywalkers have a romance that goes way back. They are so in love with each other that they cannot imagine a life without the other. Every time they are resurrected, they find each other and fall in love all over again. It has been one hundred years since the King and Queen have walked the Earth, so their time has arrived to be resurrected. So when Docia shows up with a strong Bodywalker soul, they believe her to be their Queen, and the others know the king will not be far behind.Because there had been no mention of the Bodywalkers in any of her previous books, I wasn’t sure that Ms. Frank was going to this series to the others, but she does. That should lead to a totally epic story when she gets all the Nightwalkers tied together. In the meantime, this was a great start for the World of the Nightwalkers series and I look forward to the next in the series.The Narration ReviewI listened to this story as an audiobook, narrated by Xe Sands. This is not the first book I have listened to narrated by Xe Sands and I am sure it won’t be the last. For those that have not heard Xe’s narration before I will tell you she has a rich voice (think dark chocolate truffles) and great diction. Just like you would expect get many different types of chocolate assorted chocolates in a box, Xe is able to bring a full cast of characters from the book into her narration.

This review was originally published on my Alaskan Bookie Website at: http://alaskanbookie.com/review/bridesmaid-lotto/This was a cute little romance. Good for sitting on the beach while the sun melts your brain (and your chocolate) or maybe a moonlit night on the porch swing. Either way, this book is light and humorous enough for either occasion. This was a fun story about Josephine ‘McMaster the Disaster’ who has unknowingly been entered into a contest to be a bridesmaid for a socialite, by her mother. The mother has her eyes set on marrying off her daughter to the celebrity Jake Hall and thinks this is the perfect opportunity for her daughter to find a rich celebrity type, fall in love, and make grandbabies. This story was light hearted and fun. Although there was mention of an adult relationship between some of our characters, there were no explicit sex scenes making this a good story for teens and young adults who want to read about a fairy-tale relationship and have a HEA ending.

This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/nice-girls-dont-bite-their-neighbors/My ReviewFirst let me say that I love the Jane Jameson series. It is like coming home to a room of my favorite chocolates. This book was very enjoyable with Jane having a new son to take care of. She was thrown right into all the moody teen stuff and Gabriel got all the evil step-parent stuff. Of course what Jane book wouldn’t be complete if someone wasn’t trying to kill her? So there is some of that thrown in too. Who would have thought that getting married was enough to kill someone ... even if they were already dead! Trying to get married with an evil grandmother ghost hanging around, just makes life more interesting for everybody!The Narration ReviewThis audiobook was narrated by Amanda Ronconi and she has narrated all of the Jane series so far. She is a very pleasant story teller and always puts just enough sass on Jane’s character to make the story shine.

This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie webstie at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/the-beholder/My Review:This book started out so great. I loved the idea of a woman hit-man. I loved this story right up to the point where the Hayden takes Trace into the bathroom to shower and starts playing with her girly bits. She doesn’t even react like a normal person. If you just found out some strange dude (one that was supposed to be the target of your next hit) had kidnapped you and kept you blind for however long, I don’t think you would be happily purring like a kitten with milk when he strips down and starts playing house. After that, the book was just strange. I am not sure what the heck was supposed to be going on.This story was like finding out there was only white chocolate available for dinner. You know white chocolate is not really chocolate. This story was like that. I anticipated chocolate, maybe something rich and delicious, but all there was available was some pretender white stuff.

This review was originally published on my website at: http://alaskanbookie.com/review/hunter/This was a different sort of read from Jacquelyn Franks normal vampires, demons, and shapeshifters. Maybe that is why the cover says she was writing as Jax. Must be a dual-personality thing. :-) Anyway, this book was about people who were magic. They all had different powers and were fighting against a guy who wanted to be the One Who Ruled Them All. (Hehe I was channeling my little hobbit there for a sec.) There were many different types of magic mentioned and we didn’t get to see all of it put to use. There were also lots of people who were hiding things from their past and a few of the secrets were revealed in the book, but many weren’t so I was thinking maybe this will turn into a series.

This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/thursday-at-noon/My Review:I would like to start out by saying that I don’t normally read spy type novels, but there is something about William Brown’s writing that keeps me nibbling at my chocolate bars well into the night. I approached this book thinking I wasn’t going to enjoy it, but the way the story was woven I just couldn’t help myself! William Brown can weave suspense like it ain’t nobody’s business! This book is thick with spies, intelligence, counter-intelligence and bad guys. Lots of bad guys. This book had a sort of historical fiction feel because it wove real people into the tale. I think if this was ever made into a movie, someone like Bruce Willis would make a great Thompson character. Bruce usually takes a licking and keeps on ticking, just like Thompson did.There was a lady interest for Thompson in this story, Ilsa, but there was no real romance. One thing I have noticed in William Brown’s books is that he doesn’t feel it necessary to have romance in his stories. Not that it is a problem - a spy without a lover - but I still want to point my chocolate bar at Mr. Brown and encourage him in that direction to see what he comes up with. LoL** Note **I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review. I received no chocolate or any other compensation in exchange for my review.

This review was originally published on my website at: http://alaskanbookie.com/review/wicked-cravings/My Review:This is the second book in the Phoenix Pack series and picks up almost right where the first book, Feral Sins, left off.That was a very enjoyable story mostly about Jaime Farrow and how she is trying to deal with her past while keeping her present ‘condition’ a secret from everyone around her. The only problem is her secret wants to get out and if it does, someone is going to die. Dante realizes that Jaime has a secret and is determined to find out what it is. Except she keeps either whacking him or walking away from him. The whacking he can handle, he actually likes it. The walking away part just pisses him off.This is another Eroctic read. There is something about screaming Alpha sex and dudes who insist you talk to them during sex that makes me want melt chocolate and drizzle it all over everything edible in my house.

This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie Website at:http://alaskanbookie.com/review/towering/My ReviewThis was an interesting fairytale retelling about the story of Rapunzel. I didn’t like that there were so many unanswered questions left by the author. While I was listening I kept asking ‘why this was happening’, or ‘what happened to cause that’ that it really took away from the enjoyment of listening to the story. The author never does go back and fill in the blanks either. I felt that this story was something like a getting a chocolate candy bar from a vending machine with no chocolate in. You knew there should be chocolate but … it is empty. :-(Narration Review:This story was narrated by Casey Holloway, Ann Marie Gideon, Andrew Sweeney. Having different narrators for the different parts is nice, because then you are sure who is speaking. The different narrators did a good job with the story and sounded age appropriate for the characters they portrayed.

I started listening to this book as an audiobook, but had to switch to ebook when I found this was a book better read alone, in the closet, away from the children and anyone else who could see me.I think what I liked most about this book was the Alpha female part. Taryn made such a good alpha female it didn't matter that she couldn't shift forms. She was sharp tongued and she kicked ass. I like that the author kept her true through the book and didn't turn her all mushy and gushy just because she was mated.There was a lot of sex in this book. Hot, screaming Alpha sex. If you don't like much sex (or any) in your stories star far, far away from this book.

This was a nice Young-Adult paranormal read. This was definitely a one guy saves the world type book. I had a hard time with the believably factor of this book. I thought the years of prejudice against werewolves would be more ingrained and a lot harder to dismiss.

This is the second book in the Across the Universe series. I highly recommend reading the first book [b:Across the Universe|8235178|Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)|Beth Revis|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348085121s/8235178.jpg|13082532] first or you will be lost in this book.There were several things that didn't add up in this book. We didn't like the totally hissy, winey, bitch that Amy turned into at the end. We didn't like the whole food situation. If most all the food is destroyed where do you get months worth of food to distribute and share? If the engines aren't working, how are they maintaining orbit? If there is an advanced hostile civilization on this planet, why haven't they been discovered and shot out of the sky? Why all the clues and stuff? Why not just tell them what is going on? We are still undecided whether or not we will go on with this series.

Another very enjoyable read from Molly Harper! I enjoy the way this Half Moon Hollow series interacts with the Jane Jameson series. I realized when listening to this that I missed listening to one of the Jane Jameson books, which I will rectify shortly. I love all the handbook tips from these stories. Very funny advice. All of these books make me want to be in a place like Half Moon Hollow. They need a chocolate store!