Category Archives: 2 Flames

CLAIRE DE LUNE
Author: Christine Johnson
Source: Personal Purchase

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse; 1 edition (May 18, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416991824
ISBN-13: 978-1416991823

SUMMARY:

Torn between two destinies? 

Claire is having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Her pool party is a big success, and gorgeous Matthew keeps chatting and flirting with her as if she’s the only girl there. But that night, she discovers something that takes away all sense of normalcy: she’s a werewolf. 

As Claire is initiated into the pack of female werewolves, she must deal not only with her changing identity, but also with a rogue werewolf who is putting everyone she knows in danger. Claire’s new life threatens her blossoming romance with Matthew, whose father is leading the werewolf hunt. Now burdened with a dark secret and pushing the boundaries of forbidden love, Claire is struggling to feel comfortable in either skin. With her lupine loyalty at odds with her human heart, she will make a choice that will change her forever?

MY THOUGHTS:

I have had this book for a while now, and finally took the time to read it.  The cover is actually what attracted me to this book in the first place and that alone made me want to buy it.

When Claire turns sixteen, she is expecting a car.  Well, she doesn’t get the car but gets fur instead.  It seems her mom has been keeping Claire’s true heritage a secret until now.  After finally getting the attention of Matthew at her birthday party, Claire discovers that she is actually a werewolf.  With a rogue werewolf hunting people, a hot boy who wants to be more than friends, and a mother who refuses to embellish on the details of her heritage, Claire is confused and wondering what to do.

I really had a hard time enjoying this book.  While I think the plot was a great idea, I feel the book to be just written in the ‘okay’ category. I never could get into Claire’s character because at times she was whiny and weak, then she would be strong and independent.  Her personality was flat, and the relationship between Claire and her mother felt forced.  Her mother was hardly around and when she was, she acted cold and unloving to me.  The secondary characters were not much better in my opinion.  They seemed like characters that just filled text on pages with no reason at times.

The mystery of the book was fairly easy to figure out early on which left the story lacking the suspense it needed to keep the book going from beginning to end.  Overall a book that passed the time and was okay, but not a memorable read that leaves me anticipating the next book.

MY RATING:

WHEN ALEX WAS BAD
Author: Jo Davis
Source: Personal Purchase

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (August 4, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451227026
ISBN-13: 978-0451227027

SUMMARY:

After fifteen years together, Alexander and Olivia Quinn have become strangers, both in and out of the bedroom-until Olivia suggests a provocative plan to save their marriage. When their handsome neighbor joins the game, all three players will become embroiled in a dangerous and unexpected world of secrets, betrayal, and murder.

MY THOUGHTS:

Where should I begin with this review? The bad, the good or maybe the in between?  First of all this is definitely a book for the 18+ group.  Heck, I am in my 30’s and I was still blushing and uneasy in some parts of the book.  What can you expect in this book? Well, the author touches on many sexual appetites in this story.  As you read the book you will find M/M, M/F/M, BDSM, open marriage, voyeurism and even hot wax thrown in to the mix. Oh  wait, there is some suspense and plot thrown in as well.

Let’s start with what I didn’t like about the book. Alex and Olivia are finding that their marriage is going downhill in the sex department.  They both have successful careers and have put their marriage on the back burner.  When Olivia catches Alex being seduced by one of his sexy employees, Olivia hatches a plan to amp up their sex life.  I am all for finding new ways to spice up a marriage, but the way Olivia goes about it was just wrong.  She basically gives Alex the go ahead in having sex with anyone he chooses as long as he admits it to her and tells her everything about it.  Then he must accept his punishment that she chooses.  Hello? Giving your husband a free pass to go mess around with anyone is suppose to spice up your marriage? I don’t think so.  I still consider that cheating and was a bad excuse for a plot.

The in between for me about this book was the suspense.  I thought the barely existent suspense of a sex ring going bust was kind of lame, but plausible.  I accepted it and tried to enjoy it.  I just wish there would have been more suspense and real action in exchange for some of the sex scenes that weren’t as great.

The good part of the book was that the author took it a step further and also introduced another player in the punishment game.  I like how the author was willing to explore the male/male scenes and make them sexy as hell without going over the top.  I enjoyed the character of Jason.  His personality was great and he actually had some funny dialogue.  Even if the author did stumble in some parts of the book with the plot, I did find myself wanting to finish it just to see if Jason would have a happily ever after as well.

Overall not a horrible book, but not one I will re read anytime soon–if at all.  It was great for a quick and steamy read that you sometimes crave, but not one with enough plot or substance to warrant it a keeper book.

MY RATING:

BLOOD ON SILK
Author: Marie Treanor
Source: Author Submission
*I received this book free of 
charge in exchange for an honest review*

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade; 1 edition (September 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451231562
ISBN-13: 978-0451231567

SUMMARY:

While in Romania researching historical superstitions, Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk comes upon the folk tale of Saloman, a seductive prince staked centuries ago, legend’s most powerful vampire. Now, in the ruins of a castle crypt, Elizabeth discovers supernatural legends that have come alive. Her blood has awakened him. Her innocence has aroused him. But Elizabeth unleashes more than Saloman’s hunger, and it’s going to unite them in ways neither could have imagined.

MY THOUGHTS:

This book took me a bit to finish.  It is not because it was too long of a read, but more of ‘digging through narrative’ kind of read.  The author used a lot of narrative and long descriptions to make a simple point.  Sometimes this can be a good thing, but in this book, it seemed to be repetitive.  I found myself skipping through these parts because at times, the description felt like it was words to just make a word count. 


Saloman was the typical broody and deadly vampire.  I couldn’t enjoy his character too much because he seemed vile and evil to me.  I couldn’t get an ounce of human emotion for him and his personality.  Elizabeth was odd for me.  While she was strong in parts, she also had a weak side as well.  That is fine for me.   I like my characters to have flaws at times and that can make a great book in itself.  Yet, I still couldn’t bring myself to care what happened to her either. 


While I did finish the book, and the author peaked my interest near the end to read the next one, this wasn’t a typical vampire story I normally would read.  I just couldn’t bring myself to love or care about the characters.  I will say that just because I am not a fan of this book doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. This darker sort of story might be your taste.  I could have been having an off day in reading this and it just didn’t appeal to me at that time.  If you are a fan of the darker stories, you should give it a go.  Overall, not one I will re read, but I might give the second book a chance to redeem this one. 


MY RATING:

RED RIDING HOOD
Author: Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Poppy; Mti edition (January 25, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316176044
ISBN-13: 978-0316176040

SUMMARY:


The body of a young girl is discovered in a field of wheat. Her flesh mutilated by telltale claw marks. The Wolf has broken the peace.

When Valerie learns that her sister has been killed by the legendary creature, she finds herself at the center of a dark mystery, one that has plagued her village for generations. It is revealed that the werewolf lives among them, and everyone in the village immediately becomes a suspect. Could her secret love Peter be behind the attacks on her town? Is it her betrothed, Henry? Or someone even closer to her?

As the men in the village hunt for the beast, Valerie turns to her grandmother for help. She gives Valerie a handmade red riding cloak, and guides her through the web of lies and deception that has held her town together for so long. Will Valerie discover the werewolf’s identity before the town is ripped apart?

This is a dangerous new vision of a classic fairy tale, the happy ending could be hard to find.

MY THOUGHTS:

From my understanding at the beginning, this is a tie-in book to a movie being released on March 11, 2011.  If I had paid any attention to this before reading it, I would have waited until I had watched the movie first.  


The main reason I did not enjoy this book is there is no ending to it.  The reader has no idea of the ending until the release it online on March 14th,2011.  I was left unsatisfied and too many things left open. When I spend my time reading a book that I want to invest my time in, I want a conclusion or at least some tidiness of an ending to be in the book!  I don’t want to have to wait until a certain date just to download it. when I have lost interest in the book already.  Series books are one thing, open-ended stories where the ending are not available when the book should have them are annoying. 


That being said, and pushed to the back burner for the review, the book still wasn’t as great as I was hoping for.  Yes, the pace is nicely set up, the story and characters are engaging at times, but again I fall back on the one hang up that ruined it.  Where is the ending? 


The book was not remarkable enough to warrant the way the story ends and frankly, by the time the ending is released, I will have forgotten what the story was about.  If a book wants to leave you with this sort of ending, it really needs to stand out amongst all of the other books that are out right now.  If it doesn’t hold a candle to the better books on the market at the time, then it won’t have a chance in keeping a reader interested months later. 


I was highly disappointed with this book and I am still a little upset that I invested so much time into the characters and story.  In short, this is a story better left to the movies if you are looking for a read to blow you away.


MY RATING:

THE WEREWOLF UPSTAIRS
Author: Ashlyn Chase
Source: Publisher
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (February 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140223662X
ISBN-13: 978-1402236624

SUMMARY:


Desperate for change, public defender Roz Wells decides moving into a new apartment is just what she needs to shake things up. But she’ll get more than she bargained for when she starts dating the drop dead gorgeous boy next door, who just happens to be a shape-shifter…and quite possibly a criminal. Security salesman Konrad Wolfensen has made a living staging break-ins to spook people into buying his security system, but when he’s accused of a much more serious crime, he’ll have to enlist the help of his sexy new neighbor/girlfriend to keep his cute, slightly wild rear end out of jail.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the second book in the Strange Neighbors series by Ashlyn Chase.  While I enjoyed the first book in the series, this one didn’t fulfill my expectations like I had hoped.  The cover is cute and eye-catching, but the book was lacking in spark.


Roz moves into Merry’s old apartment and finds herself attracted to neighbor Konrad Wolfensen.  Konrad happens to be a shape-shifter who also happens to be a security system salesman.  He gets his kicks from spooking his customers so they will buy his system.  When he is accused of theft, he turns to Roz–an attorney– to help him out. 


From then on the author tries to convince you of the romantic sparks between the two.  While I enjoyed the characters, I didn’t feel any connection to the two.  I liked the dialogue, but not the actions.  This was a book that I struggled to finish, but will still give the next book a try.

MY RATING: