Malinda

I'm loving this series. Anna and Charles go to Seattle, run in to trouble and have great adventures along the way. Great 2nd book in the series. Still loving the relationship between Anna and Charles and the action plot was good as always. Briggs has another good series here. Highly recommended!

3-3.5 stars

This was a good story. I liked Samson & Delilah...the name pairing was a bit cliche but I liked the characters themselves.

Delilah is a forensic accountant that is in town working a job. She's a good woman but travels a lot for her job so she's rather lonely. While getting dinner she's attacked and ends up on Samson's doorstep and then mistaken for a stripper. Regardless of their less than stellar first meeting she's attracted to Samson.

Samson is having some issues with getting an erection but when Delilah stumbles through his door and in to his arms his problem is suddenly gone. Samson is thrilled but quickly realizes that his problem is only solved with Delilah. When his shrink says to sleep with her he finds that one time will never be enough.

I liked Samson and Delilah and the intrigue that causes danger to Delilah was interesting. There were parts that weren't perfect (maybe a little annoying at the character's stupidity) but I was happy with the way they came together though. I enjoyed this story and thought the ending was very good.

4.5 stars

This was a great story. I really liked Jenna and Ty and this was a great addition to the series.

Jenna is the sister of Gavin and Mick (the heroes from the previous 2 books in the series). The poor woman grew up with sports and is still surrounded by sports in her life. She's tired of constant sports and it doesn't help that she's the one in the family running the family sports bar. She has things she's rather be doing with her life and isn't particularly happy but doesn't feel she can do what she really wants. I liked Jenna's character but I will admit that she lets her fear run (or maybe I should say ruin) her life. She lets her fears interfere with her life so much that when she meets Ty she wont date him just because he's in to sports (which is one of her defense mechanisms). Fortunately Ty isn't easily brushed off.

Ty is great! He's a good guy and is willing to make an effort if he thinks something is worth the challenge. This ends up being a very good thing when dealing with Jenna. When they first start to date, Ty wasn't looking for anything serious (he never planned to fall in love) but he finds that he can't resist Jenna and wants to find out more about her...what makes her tick. He's very intuitive and notices that Jenna isn't totally happy in her life. Being the good guy he is, Ty tries to find out what Jenna's missing so he can make her life better (sweet guy!). Unfortunately she tends to fight him at every turn.

Ty and Jenna start out casual and Jenna insists they aren't dating but as things progress she finally admits they are dating. There seems to be a dance between Ty and Jenna, he gets closer and she moves away...then she moves in...It's kind of like 1 step forward then 2 back except they do make some progress (if slow) so it's more like 2 steps forward and 1 back. They do make gains, their relationship moves forward and emotions between them deepen. Ty wants Jenna happy and finds out what she really wants (something she's hidden from everyone, even her family) and tries to encourage her to do it. This tends to be a very delicate dance but I thought that Ty making the effort for Jenna was just so sweet (new book boyfriend right here!).

Obviously there are some issues but Ty and Jenna do manage to work things out. I really liked how the story ended and was happy with the conclusion. This was a great addition to the story. I'd recommend it. Thumbs up! :D

4 stars

This was a pretty good story. TBH I had my doubts about this story because Elizabeth (the heroine in this story) was a major b*tch in the last story and I wasn't sure if I even wanted to give it a chance. I am glad I did because I enjoyed the story and surprisingly enough I ended up liking her in the end.

Elizabeth (Liz) is a sports agent. She concentrates on business and never gets heavily involved with men. Partially this is due to a horribly controlling father that made her life hell when she was growing up. The other reason is because she's been in love with one of her clients, Gavin, for years. Since Gavin has never shown an interest in her, she figured she'd never have him. She figured she'd concentrate on business and not worry about men since she could never have what she wants.

Liz made some major mistakes when dealing with Gavin's brother, Mick, in the previous book The Perfect Play. She decided that Mick's girlfriend wasn't good for him and tried splitting them up. She didn't succeed and ends up getting fired by Mick. Because of this situation, she figures she's going to lose Gavin as a client as well. She's waiting for him to lower the boom when he comes on to her sexually instead. She figures it's a one time thing before he gives her the boot and goes along with it. She's surprised when he tells her he wants her to stay with him for a while so they can continue to "have fun". Liz knows this is bound to cause her more heartache in the end but can't help taking what she can get.

Gavin is a good guy but he is a playboy and hasn't had any serious relationships. He's never seen Liz sexually (or maybe just hasn't allowed himself to before this) but for some reason he suddenly realizes he wants her. He takes her to bed and then decides he wants more. He tried to get Liz to stay with him for a while (during spring training) but since they never talk about where things are between them or what either of them is expecting she eventually leaves, due to fear and thinking he's lost interest.

When spring training is over and Gavin gets back to St. Louis he talks to Liz and they end up seeing each other some more. At this point Gavin has been willing to allow that he wants to try a real relationship with Liz. Liz doesn't think it'll last but once again is willing to take what she can get. Things are made more difficult by Mick. He hasn't forgiven Liz for what she did to them and is determined to make sure Gavin doesn't trust her. I can understand Mick's issues but after a while I do think he pushes it too far. Unfortunately Mick's attitude doesn't help when a conflict arises between Gavin and Liz. The drama is too much to spell out here but lets just say that Gavin suffers from a HUGE bout of relationship stupidity and messes up things bad. Like most idiotic heroes, he realizes just how wrong he was after he's already torn the heart out of the heroine and then he has to struggle to get her forgiveness.

I really liked the ending...Mick ended up coming around and forgiving Liz for their past issue and apologizing for his contributions to her and Gavin's issues. Gavin (after a few false starts) manages to get Liz to forgive him and I was happy they managed to work things out. I'm glad I ended up buying this book and am going on to the next in the series. This is a very good series. :D

4-4.5 stars

This was a really good story. I just love Molly Harper and this was an enjoyable addition to the Half Moon Hollow stories.

Nola is a witch from Ireland that's been sent to Half Moon Hollow to retrieve some mystical items that are very important. She rents half of a duplex, the other half of which has been rented to Jed. A very handsome man she tries not to flirt with because she has a boyfriend back home. Regardless of this fact, the attraction between them is hot and they both have trouble ignoring it.

Jed is a good guy. I liked Jed and liked the chemistry between him and Nola and seeing came next between them. Fortunately, Nola does break up with her ex and we get to see things heat up between her and Jed when they end up on a road trip together.

To start her search Nola contacts Jane and company. Fortunately they get along well and Jane and friends help Nola with her quest to find the items. It's interesting where the items ended up and seeing what Nola has to go through to gather them all up. Unfortunately the search isn't without it's issues. The rival witch clan that's against Nola's family causes problems. Also, Jed does end up having some secrets that cause some issues. Things do get worked out but with difficulty and I liked the way they ended the conflict. It was a good solution.

I really enjoyed this book. I was very happy to see Nola and Jed together in the end. This was a very good book and addition to the Half Moon Hollow series. I'd recommend it. :D

*Note - Nola was supposed to have a Boston/Irish accept. Amanda Ronconi did a great job on this. I wouldn't usually expect a combo accept like that to be pulled off so well but Amanda did a great job with the accent. I could hear both the Bostonian accent and the Irish. Very well narrated.

This was a pretty good historical romance. It's short but enjoyable.

Katherine was born with a mark on her cheek and her family hid her away most of her life because some people would see it as a "devil's mark". TBH, I think this was blown out of proportion a bit but it works for the story so what the heck. Her family died from the plague and she stayed hidden in the castle. When Calen comes and takes over the castle she's frustrated and hates him taking over but is also attracted to him. She ends up sneaking in to his chamber on night to get a closer look at him and gets caught! ;)

Calen is awarded the castle by the King (thinking the previous owners all dead). He clears out the castle and gets to working on straightening out the issues he encounters. His character is interesting. He had a seer for a mother and she told him many things about the future, many of which had come true. She also told him hints about his future wife. When he encounters Katherine in his bedchamber he knows she's the one but can't figure out why she keep sneaking away from him while he's sleeping.

We do get a HEA in the end (of course, this is Brynn Paulin) when Katherine gets in to a situation and Calen ends up saving her. I really liked Calen, he didn't give a dam about any mark on her face and just wanted her with him. It was a very good ending and I enjoyed the story. :D

*note - The narrator was alright (not great but wasn't bad) but there was a slightly tinnyness/echoing to the sound quality. Didn't ruin it but I wished it was better quality.

This was a really good story. I've read the previous books in the series and love the series. While this isn't my favorite book in the series (Fate's Edge was my fave) it was extremely enjoyable and I'm really glad I read it.

Charlotte is pretty cool. She's a healer that goes to live in the Edge after a problem marriage. She's happy there until an encounter with slavers destroys her life and makes her vow to take the slavers down. During this time she meets Richard. He's on a mission to take down the slavers and she convinces him to let her help him on his mission.

Richard is a pretty good hero. He's been in the previous books but I never thought "Oh wow, Richard's so cool he should have his own book"...regardless of this, now that I've read it, I'm so happy that he did get his own book! For a number of reasons Richard decided to take on the slavers and take them out. When he meets Charlotte he doesn't want to take her with him because of what the fight against the slavers will do to her but she gives him no choice.

Richard is attracted to Charlotte but considers himself a monster for what he has to do to take care of the slavers so he doesn't think there's any way she'd want him in return. The funny thing is that she feels the same. She is very attracted to Richard but feels she's an abomination for how she's using her magic against the slavers and feels unworthy of Richard. Fortunately they eventually realize the mutual attraction and succumb to it. This does make their mission harder though because now they have something to lose and aren't as eager to risk each other. It's good to see their feelings grow for each other. It felt like they both needed to indulge in their feeling for each other to keep themselves from getting buried in the darkness (emotional darkness) that surrounded them. And those feelings ended up being their salvation later in the story.

The story is fast paced and pretty interesting. Charlotte and Richard are constantly on the move trying to accomplish what they need to. I loved seeing most of the characters from previous books in the story as well and some of the old story lines getting completed (so to speak).

Overall this was a really good story. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great addition to the series. I hope there's more of the series because it's so good I'd hate to have it end. Ilona Andrews is a great writer and I'd recommend this book and the whole series. I'd buy them all again without hesitation. :D

I really love this book. I actually love the whole series but of the books so far this one is my fave of the series. Kaldar is awesome and Audrey is perfect for him. Add in a interesting and fun story with lots of action and it just made this a great book!

Audrey grew up in a family of con artists but tries to go straight. She didn't like her life with her family and left it 4 years before. Unfortunately, her family wouldn't leave her alone and came asking for help. She didn't want to but did help them with a job in an effort to get her family to leave her alone permanently. This doesn't work out too well when the item they stole ends up attracting a lot of attention. Audrey tries to go back to her life after the job but ends up getting tracked down by Kaldar.

Kaldar works for "The Mirror" (a secret agency) and is assigned the job of finding the item that was stolen. This leads him to Audrey. He's surprised by her and intrigued to find a woman that has such great skills in his area of expertise (cons and various unhanded skills, lol). He manages to convince her to help find the item as it could cause a lot of destruction if it fell in to the wrong hands. There's also another issue with poor Kaldar's mission because 2 boys, Jack and George (sort of related to him by marriage and from the previous books) decide to stow away with him on his mission. By the time they're found he can't turn back.

This is a very interesting story. The action is pretty constant because they're working against the clock to get the item in time. During this whole thing the attraction between Audrey and Kaldar grows and they struggle with the attraction and figuring out where this will go between them. I loved the banter between them and I was so happy when they finally got to somewhere real.

This was a great story. It had all the good elements for me...romance, action, humor all wound up with interesting characters. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. I'd highly recommend this book. 2 thumbs up!!! :)

This was a very good story. I really liked Heidi and was happy to see her story (I have listened to the previous 2 books in the series).

Heidi has 6 shifter brothers but can't shift herself. For shifters (in the world of these books), in order to have kids there has to be 2 male shifters for a human female. Females with shifter blood are pretty much unheard of (Heidi is very, very rare) and the only way she's likely to have kids is to find another shifter male because it's not likely to happen with a human. Since the only shifters she knows of is her family she's not very hopeful on her prospects.

Heidi is a vet and is a kind woman that people tend to like. She gets a call from a hunter that shot something he shouldn't have. What she finds is a shifter that's been shot, a jaguar shifter. She is very interested in getting to know the new shifter and finds herself drawn to him.

Javier had a twin brother and a mate that were both killed years before. He has been chasing the killer for 2 years on a mission of revenge. While chasing the enemy he's shot by a hunter and helped by Heidi. He doesn't trust her at first but has to in the end. He gets permission to stay until he's healed and plans to leave to find the killer ASAP. This is hindered when Javier finds himself attracted to Heidi. He's confused and fights it because he had a mate and lost her. He fights against believing that Heidi is mean to be his because he's afraid it takes something away from his previous mate.

Regardless of his foibles, Javier can't resist Heidi and they end up getting to know each other as he recovers. I really wish the book had been a bit longer and added more in at this point. I wish we'd have gotten more time seeing Heidi and Javier bond and grow the thing between them. We saw some but I think with a little more I might have given this book 5 stars...maybe. Regardless of this I liked seeing them together although there was a little sadness because Javier still felt he had to leave to revenge his brother and late mate.

Things do come to a head when the bad guy finds out where Javier is hiding and comes after him. There's some drama and Heidi's left behind while Javier chases the enemy away during the fight. Everyone is left not knowing how the fight ended and it's kind of sad for a bit. TBH I thought Heidi's brothers were kind of being jerks about the whole thing but whatever. Fortunately Javier survived and I was very happy to see Heidi and Javier's reunion.

This was a very good book. I really liked Heidi and Javier and just wish there had been a little more buildup in their relationship. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series because I'm already planning to buy it. :D

This is a very good story and a great continuation of the series. Genevieve and Bowen make such a good couple that I was happily rooting for them at the end.

Genevieve was a captive of a very evil man, Ian McHugh who was killed in book 1, Never Seduce a Scot. With Ian's death, Genevieve is now free but she has no money or place to go so she's still there when Bowen and the others arrive at the keep.

Bowen was one of the men sent to the McHugh keep to take it over after everything that occurs from book 1. He finds himself fascinated by Genevieve and tries to figure out her story. Once he does he finds he has developed feelings for her but fears she'll always be too wounded to return his feelings.

Genevieve was almost broken when Bowen came and saved her. He was the first man to be tender with her and he shows her what love between a man and woman can be. She comes alive again but there's still a sadness in her because she fears contacting her family for fear they'd reject her for the evil Ian did to her. Bowen feels out that she'll never be truly healed until she reunites with her family so he contacts them without her knowledge.

In the end, Genevieve reunites with her family and leaves Bowen to go back to her Clan. She's happy to see her family and be home but is sad because she misses Bowen. I was really happy with the ending but my only issue is the reason why they ended up back together but I was so happy they got their HEA that it really didn't matter...I was satisfied with the ending.

Very good book. I did like the first book better but this one was still very good and well worth the listen. I'd recommend it. 2 thumbs up! :D

This was a great story. It's a very good continuation of the series that started with Feral Sins. While I admit that I liked the first book best, this one was a close second and great in its own right.

I really liked Jamie's character. She's smart and spunky and deserves a lot better than life has given her. Jamie joined the Phoenix pack with her brother (shortly after the end of Feral Sins). At first she shows an interest in Dante (she used to have a crush on him as a kid) but when he doesn't respond to her hints she backs off and figures it's for the best since she has issues that makes it difficult to get close to anyone.

Dante isn't interested in a relationship, not just with Jamie but with anyone. He was too afraid that it would pull him away from his work and he didn't want to find his true mate because of this. To be honest, there were times in the beginning of the book that my good opinion of Dante (from the first book) took some beatings. He certainly has issues that cause him to suffer repeated bouts of (what I like to call) relationship dumbassedness. We do find out some of his issues later which make his actions make more sense which helps. Dante tried to ignore Jamie at first but when he realized he no longer rated her special smiles he found he missed them. When he saw her out with some other guy he just couldn't contain himself and went after her.

Jamie and Dante do end up in a relationship but she holds back from him. She's convinced that sooner or later her secret will come out and soon after she'll die. She doesn't want to bring down Dante with her so she tries to maintain a distance so they don't imprint. Dante figures out about her condition but talks Trey in to allowing her to stay for now. Dante starts training her as he trains the enforcers in hopes that it'll give her more control in order to help her.

Jamie and Dante have other issues to deal with as well...like a couple of Exs of Dante's that wont let up and Dante being a workaholic. Also, Taryn's pregnancy from the last book comes to term and she delivers in this book. OMG the delivery room conversation was so damn hilarious, it had me laughing out loud (literally)!!! There's also issues with a packmate that finds her mate but is rejected causing problems.

Just when things seem to be going well for Jamie and Dante there's an attack on the pack and in the fighting Jamie has to shift. Unfortunately, once her wolf is out, she has issues getting back in to her human form. Her wolf wont trust anyone and wont let her shift back so she's stuck like this while Dante tries to help her. In the end a couple of things happen that combine to get her wolf to trust Dante and the story has a great ending.

Overall this was a great book. I'm really loving this series and can't wait for the next installment. I'd recommend this book. 2 thumbs up! :D