Cottage Chick

I miss the narrators from the last two books.

Revisado: 05-25-16

What did you love best about Turn Me Loose?

I loved getting to know Rochelle more.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a realistic complicated love story. Not any of the stupid things I see in romance novels today.

Would you be willing to try another one of Claire Bocking’s performances?

Maybe for the right book. To be fair there was nothing HORRIBLE about the narrator herself. Except for the fact that I have never heard anyone pronounce Spokane...as Spokaaane. I just loved the other narrators so much and really missed having a male narrator. Her voice sounded more like Stacy the college student little sister than the brash, take no prisoners Rochelle to me.

Any additional comments?

If I had read this book first. I might not have had such a harsh opinion of the narrator. But I loved the male narration in the first two books. I listened to those entirely on audible. I didn't want to miss a minute of it. This one. I mainly read on kindle because I just didn't feel like the narration was adding anything.

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A solid second in the series

Revisado: 05-25-16

Any additional comments?

I really, really loved the first book. I totally fell for the hero. Maybe that is why this book was only a really, really liked for me and not a loved. The characters were believable and interesting. There was suspense, mystery and a realistic romance that developed. It was not a carbon copy of the last book. There was a HEA with no cliff hangers. The only minor complaint was that I thought the villain reached a pretty convenient end...but I would totally recommend this book

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I Must listen to the audio version it is awesome!

Revisado: 05-25-16

What made the experience of listening to Carry Me Home the most enjoyable?

I haven't felt like giving many five star reviews lately. I feel like I have been slogging through the muck looking for a gem, or at least a pretty rock. I am tired of the insta-love. I am sick up to the top of my head with "I am going to treat you like crap and you will love me anyway." I couldn't survive another whiny, stupid heroine who is TSTL. And I am tired of thinking..."If this is a romance novel...what are they putting in porn these days????" This had none of that. The heroine is nerdy, smart and still has a sense of humor. The hero is charming, smart and alpha male in a GOOD way. This one hit high on all marks for me. Something about the timbre of the male narrators voice mixed in with the dialogue was just HOT! I mainly listened to the book and I am so glad I did. For me this was a magical perfect storm of great narrators, married to story that I loved. There aren't many male narrators that I love. This one is my instant favorite. If I had a gun to my head and HAD to criticize something ....The only thing that struck me was the heroines father was a little over the top IMOP...but that is such a small,small thing...I cannot recommend this enough. I did read the whole series. This one set the bar so high for me ..I loved this one, and I think that is why I only liked the second one...and was a little disappointed in the third one...( no male narrator.)

What other book might you compare Carry Me Home to and why?

None that I have read recently.

Which scene was your favorite?

When they are dancing and the male narrator says, "There are only a couple of places where a man gets to be in charge, but we're pretty jealous about those couple of sweet, sweet places." In that VOICE: shivers.

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Struggle through to chapter 7 and gave up.

Revisado: 05-12-16

Would you try another book from JJ Jones and/or Kalinda Little?

I might try a sample of another book to see if it was any better. It would have to wow me, though to fork out any $$. So I am doubtful that I actually would.

Would you ever listen to anything by JJ Jones again?

I would be willing to listen to a sample to see if I have the same issues. I am not sure if the issue is all the writing or partially the narration.

What didn’t you like about Kalinda Little’s performance?

My first impression was that I didn't really enjoy listening to her voice. It could have been just because I am unfamiliar with her, and had I enjoyed the book and been able to listen further I might have changed my mind. There have been narrators that have grown on me despite initially not enjoying them. Renee Raudman comes to mind. The whole narration sounded stilted, again, I am not sure if that is all the writing or if some of it is the narrator. I downloaded the kindle edition, but can't bring myself to look at it.

What character would you cut from Lion UnSEALed?

Whatever the heck that owners name was. The hero and the heroine.

Any additional comments?

There were a lot of little things that alone, wouldn't have caused such a strong reaction. But added together I just couldn't take it. I didn't care for narrator. I usually get lost in the story so I don't THINK about the narrator. I never once forgot about the narrator or that I was being read to. The language and dialogue were stilted.I was really confused by WHEN this was. The atmosphere of the carnival was like a Victorian freak show. But I am pretty sure it was supposed to be modern. But I really don't think we have shows where people come to see the bearded lady and the little people. I think there would probably be protests and riots now a days. Then again, I didn't see any cell phones or computers, so maybe it was the early part of the 20th century. I just don't know. We didn't meet the heroine until at least the 4th chapter. The first three were all about this crazy victorian-like freak show featuring a codependent little person and strong and silent broody shifter and a over the top a-hole owner.The characters where all so exaggerated, they were cartoonish. The first crisis point comes when some "Christian" men decide to attack a young girl. I only bring this up because I couldn't exactly figure out how the character knew they were Christian. The closest thing to a "religious" statement was this brilliant dialogue: " This whole damned circus is just a cesspool if you ask me. Just a breeding ground for theft and sexual deviance. Hell, I just about had to lock my daughter up with a bolt and chain to keep her away from the mess. I don't want her contaminated by the filth." I didn't see any mention of people wearing crosses, carrying bibles or praising Jesus. A Jewish person, a Muslim or a heck, an atheist could have said the same thing. If there had been any indication written in that would show me they considered themselves Christian I wouldn't have thought about it. If it had been integral part of the plot, no problem. But when an author takes a behavior that is basically being a jerk or being violent and snidely assigns a religion to the character. It sort of dumps me out of the story and makes me feel like the author has a personal problem with that religion. And I want to enjoy the story, not be dumped on by the authors personal problems or agendas. We meet the heroine. The premise of the plot is a common one. Naive girl runs away from abusive environment and hides out in vehicle/room of a brooding alpha male who doesn't want a relationship. She is VERY dramatic and angsty. She tells the hero that "I can't stay in Alice. I just can't. I'll die if I do." Cue the eye roll. The BIGGEST problem I have with the story, however, is it's emotional tone. I am not sure how old the heroine is, but the hero is almost 40, but this feels like a teen book. To understand how this book made me feel you need to put yourself back in time. You are 12. You want to go to a concert by a group called Satan is Lord with a 20 year old boy. Your Dad informs you that you are to young to go out with a 20 year old. You are too young to go to a concert by yourself. He doesn't approve of the name of the band. Furthermore, you have church tomorrow morning. You shout at him that you aren't a baby. You are in love and church is stupid. You run to your room sobbing and spend all night writing a fantasy story about how horrible it is to be a girl in this hypocritical, Christian, patriarchal world. I leave you with this little gem: "Reagan could feel her irritation bristling along her skin, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up on end. This wasn't the first man to talk down to her merely because she was a female. It was a mans world, after all, and she was only trying to exist in it. That didn't make encounters like this any less frustrating, she thought. She knew she was as smart as any man and yet she was forever trying to make others see it. Being called dramatic was insulting, even if this stranger didn't know it. It made her seem frivolous and incapable, neither of which came close to describing who she was.

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2.0 stars for this book; 4.0 series

Revisado: 09-22-15

What would have made Throne of Glass better?

I really didn't like this book. I only continued with the 2cnd book because some people were complaining that they hated that the character had changed in other books. It gave me hope that since I hated the main character in this book I might like the changes. (It HAS happened.) And in this case it did. In this book some of the characters attitudes and actions would have made more sense to me if she had been a teenager shopping in the mall with her daddy's amex who accidently was sucked into another world. She didn't strike me as a person with the life experiences of a war-orphan assassin who had spent a hellish year as a slave. She became more complex in later books and most of the issues were worked out for me. In my opinion this book should have started with a snippet from before her parents were killed showing the little girl she had been and then carried on through the scene where her parents were slaughtered. We should have experienced her as a budding assassin. THEN we would be interested in the Prince coming to take her out of prison. If we had been SHOWN all of this instead of told about it after the fact it would have been compelling and would have helped us to identify with the heroine. In my opinion the contents of this book should be distilled into a novella, prologue or first chapter. We get pages and pages of telling us what happened before the story started, or what happened off stage, descriptions of clothing and on and on and on...

Would you ever listen to anything by Sarah J. Maas again?

yes

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It set up the stage for the rest of the series.

Any additional comments?

There was a bit of ridiculous bravado, or hyperbole when she said she could skin someone alive without a knife. The problem was, I thought she was serious, which is just stupid. I could buy into a small, female, teenaged assassin sneaking in like a ninja. Or maybe fighting one man if she is really trained....but this rude, teenage, boy-crazy fashionista can defeat multiple grown men three times her size in a fist fight, blind folded, with her hands behind her back while she is in another room playing cards...well...yah...I made some of that up...but you get the point.

The other thing that I could never get my head around was the championship. It seem to me that normally this kind of championship would revolve around a picky daughter who the king wants to marry off. I could buy into a king wanting to find an assassin by means of a competition. But don't you normally put out a general call to your kingdom? Or maybe invite certain brave men? Why would you have random members of your court pick prisoners from other kingdoms that you have enslaved...sounds like a recipe for disaster to me....just sayin'. But maybe that is why I will never be Queen.


Even though I had to FORCE myself through this book...I really enjoyed the next three books...and am anxiously awaiting more...

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dark hopeless fantasy rife with sexual torture

Revisado: 07-24-15

Would you try another book from Pamela Palmer and/or Rebecca Estrella?

Doubtful

Would you ever listen to anything by Pamela Palmer again?

Doubtful

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I honestly didn't listen to to much. I bought the Kindle version at the same time...I don't think I could handle LISTENING to the torture. I don't think the narrator could make it worse.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from A Blood Seduction?

Oh so many to choose from... the one where a woman was raped while being burned...or the one where the woman was tied up slashed until she bled out and raped by a man with his "member" wrapped in barbed wire...or the one where the woman was raped....ugh...never mind you get the point

Any additional comments?

I got about halfway by skimming through hoping for a glimmer of light. Frankly, I am hoping to return it.

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characters not caricatures, please!

Revisado: 06-19-15

What would have made Unforgiven better?

The characters were so one dimensional. The mother, for example, had no redeeming qualities. If an adorable lab puppy saved her baby from a burning building and then rolled over on its back for a belly rub...she would stomp on it with her stiletto and then kick it for getting blood on her shoe. And what do these people do all day. Even if she is a housewife with servants...She has to do something all day....shop, plan dinner parties, play tennis...SOMETHING...It seems like she just sits in a dark room until it is time to bring her out and have her start shrieking at her husband....

Has Unforgiven turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

What aspect of Neva Navarre’s performance would you have changed?

She was good.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The take on vampires was interesting. There was a big twist I didn't see coming.

Any additional comments?

Things I hate about this book. 1. Everyone meets and instantly falls in love, and cheats but it is ok in the end. 2. Brilliant, beautiful, athletic girl who got a degree in sports medicine by the time she was 18, but doesn't actually seem to do anything but fall in love with random men she meets. 3: Conversation that went something like: Daddy you are so JUDGMENTAL - your family didn't want you to marry a human....how can you want to stop me from marrying the man whom I love. Sure, we met when he tried to abduct me and he HAS spent a decade drugging and abducting young woman to be tortured and murdered by a psychopath, but he has a heart of gold. And yes, she married him and everyone accepted him at the end..because he had a "good reason." 4. A woman basically stalks a man, drugs him and has sex with him while he is under the influence of what amounts to a date rape drug. He thinks she is someone else, which destroys his current relationship but they end up together at the end....isn't that SWEET????

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She should have stayed dead

Revisado: 02-28-15

Would you try another book from Dakota Cassidy and/or Meredith Mitchell?

I don't know. I read the first three because they started the book together and I wanted to know what happened to all three. I almost bought the fourth book because it is Wandas sister...or in this book it would probably be sistah...ugh...but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it...I just don't know if If I can handle her saying killas and fu#@tards any more.

What was most disappointing about Dakota Cassidy’s story?

I couldn't stand the main character. I would have never returned her call...there is tough and prickly with a heart of gold and then there is annoying, immature and stupid.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I got to see the Wanda and Marty.

Any additional comments?

I couldn't stop wondering what the vampires did before blood banks. In normal vampire books you have to drain the persons blood and then give them the vampire blood to turn them into a vampire. Basically she got nicked by his fangs... I would think that if there were vampires for thousands of years before blood banks and they had to drink....and every person that they drank from became a vampire...the whole world would be over run by vampires by now....or did they just kill everyone they drank from....hmmmmm?

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Number 3 is better than one and two

Revisado: 02-28-15

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

nah.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

meh

Did The Accidental Human inspire you to do anything?

yes it inspired me to find my local werewolf pack and ask them to bite me...who comes up with these questions....?

Any additional comments?

The first book the killas and hellas were annoying. The second they made sense with the character even though they were still annoying. The third book they were annoying and stupid and even more out of character than the first book. I mean...this is WANDA.... these weren't teenage boys these were door to door cosmetics sales women in their thirties....

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That amoral, depraved demon we all know and love.

Revisado: 02-28-15

Would you consider the audio edition of Satan's Sword to be better than the print version?

yes.

What did you like best about this story?

I find it strangely amusing.

Which scene was your favorite?

When she was trying to understand the serial killer. And then when she is whining to wyatt that she is upset about the serial killer being stupid and not being able to dehydrate an ear properly.

Any additional comments?

OK. So in my review of the previous book I mentioned that ALL of the characters are completely amoral. Case in point - Wyatt, the boyfriend. Their relationship is a romance novel flipped on its head and soaked in acid.... instead of the night in shining armor rescuing the helpless female and then engage in steamy moments...you have the helpless human male being protected by the serial killer demon who at one point shares its deepest fantasy....along the lines of...I want to put you in a bathtub full of blood and strangle you with some entrails that I am gnawing on.... Instead of running screaming....he's like..can we use wine instead of blood....hot stuff...uh huh...any who.... He sees her in her demon form. She offers in all seriousness to kill a rival that he lost a video game tournament to. He knows that she kills people...and he is like...well babe I'm going to play video games and then you are done killing and torturing people we can go have some hot wings at the bar..... I kept thinking about women who are married to serial killers and people are like..how did you not know you were married to a monster.... and yet I like them all....crazy

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