Melissa

Natalie Jones was once a famous photographer ~ but now, paralyzed by blindness that was brought on by a degenerative eye disease, Natalie is pretty much at a stand still in her life. Denying to herself that her blindness might be forever and that she's going to have change her way of living, Natalie has pretty much isolated herself ~~ until she walks in to her own home on what appears to be a burglary in progress and is almost killed.

State Special Agent Liam “Mac” McKenzie and his partner show up to interview Natalie when certain things about her case click with a case they've been working ~ a murder case. When Mac meets Natalie he's instantly and forcefully attracted to her ~ to the point he can't focus on anything else. Not realizing she's blind at first, he's suspicious why this woman is holding back and so abrasive w/ the cops.

The sparks fly instantly ~ while Natalie can't 'see' Mac, she drawn to his voice, but she's scared and confused as to why the cops are back ~~ until she realizes there is more to the simple break in that what she'd first thought.

This book was SO good ~ I listened to the audio version, and the narrator was a little slow in the narration, so I had to speed the narration up to 1.25, but then it was perfect! I so felt for Natalie, who had had her world turned upside down on her...then flipped on it's side. First, the blindness, then the break in and attempt on her life, then meeting this man she feels such a compelling pull towards. And she hadn't even begun to accept her blindness yet.

Mac is a gruff, in your face kind of guy ~ and his protective instincts have flared to life with Natalie, and it's hard for him to separate her as woman from her as a case. I LOVE that ~ and while he's really gruff at times, it was clear to me that even if he couldn't admit it to himself, he'd already decided on some level that Natalie was HIS.
When he discovers that there is actually a murderer trying to kill her, he just can't control his overbearing maleness, for lack of a better way to put it. He's a total Alpha in every sense of the word ~ And Natalie has teach him that he can't run her life.

I enjoyed this book immensely, and cannot WAIT for book 2 ~~ if you're a fan of romantic suspense, Alpha heroes, and sexy romance, READ THIS!!

I cannot TELL you guys how much I've enjoyed this series!
I adore the narrator Therese Plummer, actually bought the 1st book because she narrated it, and WOW did Jax Garren just suck me right into the world of the Underlight, and make me fall in love with Hauk!
A Steampunk Beauty & The Beast ~
it doesn't get much better than this!!

In this, the 2nd book in the series, we pick up weeks after book 1, How Beauty Met The Beast, and Jolie, our heroine who comes from REAL money & the kind of corporate greed the Underlight stands against, has joined forces with The Underlight. Jolie has always been a rebel in her family, and she's proven to Hauk and the rest of the Underlight she can be trusted, and depended on.

Hauk's feelings for Jolie have only gotten deeper, but they pretend as if neither of them is aware of the tension between them. Hauk has been training Jolie to fight with the Underlight forces ~ and while training in the gym, they kiss, and sparks FLY. But they are inturrupted so Hauk's bestie, Bowen, can tell him he has a visitor...

Jolie finds herself becomming jealous when Hauk's sweetheart from high school shows up, and begins to push at Hauk...trying to push him into making a move. But Hauk, even though he's such a big, strong, SCARY guy, is so totally unsure, and almost scared of his feelings for Jolie...so it takes quite a bit to push him into finally making his move...

In the background of the fireworks flying around Hauk and Jolie we have The Hand of Atropos, the opposing forces, trying to take Hauk out...but they don't want to kill him. No, they want to turn him into a killing machine for THEIR side...

This book was great, but I wanted it to be LONGER, and I wanted MORE of Hauk & Jolie...it's a 3 book series, and I'm already mourning the fact that there aren't more books, lol.
These books are so GREAT, ya'll. Hauk is just an amazing character, and I'm so enjoying getting to know the people of the Underlight, and worldbuilding Jax Garren has going on.

And for you audio folks out there,
GET THIS!!
Great story, amazing narration ~ it's a total WIN!!

GREAT story. I couldn't quit listening...narration is awesome, too!

A Karen Rose book...it's that GOOD

She's great at doing multiple characters voices...I love the way she GETS the nuances of books, like I'd read them. I just truly enjoy her narration.

Several, but just overall a great listen.

I'll be buying more Rita Herron...waiting for new books in audio!!

If they follow T Flac, yes. It's a good story, just not GREAT, and the narration is decent. This is one I'd suggest you wait until you get a deal on it, not use a full credit.

Yes. I LOVE her writing!

Average.

Yes, I always want more T Flac!!

Just not crazy about the narration, and then on top of it, as much as I love Cherry Adair, this isn't her best. But it on sale, or 2 for 1.

Yes! It was filled with awesome characters, and the whole book was just a feel good read ~ perfect for the holiday season. I loved every second of it!

Oooh, that'd be telling ~ let me just say it's FILLED with memorable moments. And not just between the hero & heroine. I have so many Robyn Carr books on my Kindle where she's been recommened but I've never gotten around to reading them...I'm now kicking my own butt, and buying other audio and resending those books to myself. Incredible story teller here.

Angie ~ she might have only been 23, but she's very wise and fun and full of hope and joy and caring ~ while not being a push over for anyone.

When Angie is able to come up with the funds for a recovery surgery for reconstruction surgery for a little girl she is trying to help out ~ it's totally moving.

The narration was fabulous, the story was awesome, and the supporting characters have sent me seeking out their books ~ that should tell you how great this book was!

Morie Brannt is looking to prove to herself and her parents that she can be more than just a piece of ornamentation on her Father's ranch...so she sets off on her own looking for a job, with few clothes and little money. She finds herself in Wyoming, working for the Kirk brothers...where she's drawn to big, surly Mallory Kirk. Or course, Mallory is suspicious, smart assed, thinks Morie is a gold digger, and he's totally drawn to her.


But Mallory has this girlfriend he hauls around everywhere with him that is determined to make herself the next Mrs. Kirk, and she just doesn't like it that Morie is getting so much of Mallory's attention, so it doesn't take her long to orchestrate it so that Morie looks like she's exactly like what Mallory THINKS she is...only Mallory doesn't want to believe it.





Sound convoluted? That's because it IS! LOL, and tropey. But gah, I loved it. There is just something about a Diana Palmer that draws me in ~ her big, surly heroes ~ you already know how they're going to act and react, you already know how they're going to paint the heroine, and I STILL find myself hanging on every word. Oh, and Phil Gigante narrated this, so YEAH, I totally hung on every word! Even while I wanted to smack the crap out of both Mallory AND Morie, I loved it! : ) And yup, I'm not listening to Book 2, Wyoming Fierce, the 2nd brother's book. Crack, I tell 'ya.

The whole story ~ was in turns funny and others totally moving. Very REAL writing, Kara & Reece are a great couple and I enjoyed so much the building of their relationship.

That it wasn't instant love for Reece and Kara ~ they built up towards it, and how they had to learn to trust & respect one another for WHO they were.

Hmm...honestly, he did an amazing job as BOTH Reece AND Kara. At times Kara's voice would be a little high pitched, lol, but it was perfection for the tone, inflection, etc...I had never listened to him before, and was SO thrilled with this performance. I'd read the book when it first came out, but have to say he DID add to the story, which was already amazing!

A Scorching Romantic Suspense

If you're a fan of Romantic Suspense ~ especially smoking HAWT books ~ don't miss this one. It was really great, and not to be missed!

So many of you have already dived in, and have read ICED ~ I've actually listened to it TWICE already, lol. Once by myself, and once during my commute w/ my nephew, who I've totally got hooked on the Fever series, too.

I've mulled over how I feel about it, where I want it to go, dadadadadada...

and here it is ~


At first, I wasn't warming up to Dani ~ I actually think I was still pissed at her on Mac's behalf. (If you haven't read the series, let me tell you this is one you really DO need to read in order, and all of them.) Once I could see my way past that, I see Dani has already done quite a bit of growing up ~ but she's still so full of herself that at times I just wanted to choke her, lol. But come on! She's 14, she basically IS a super hero, and look who her role models ARE!

So I've concluded that she's coming along pretty darn good ~ in this book we see her going to work for Ryodan, who we of course sort of got to know in the Fever series. You'll get to know him better in this book ~ and from the set up, a WHOLE lot better in coming books. He's litterally bribed and forced Dani into working for him to help him figure out what is freezing up certain parts of Dublin to the point that it is killing everything that exsists at that point and time ~ and he's been a sneaky bastard to do it.

But gah, I love this sexy, sneaky, bastard. I can't HELP it!


Then we have Christian MacKeltar ~ remember him? Well, he's turned almost ALL Fae Prince now, and he's decided that Dani is his one true love. But she's too young yet, so he's willing to wait...at a VERY close distance, w/ one eye on Ryodan the whole time.


Then we have, of course, Dancer. Dani has been friends w/ Dancer since the walls fell ~ we heard about him in the Fever series, but we really get to know him in this book, and I like the kid! And even just being human, his smarts DO make him a super hero, as Dani says, and make Ryodan & Christian and the others take note of what he says. And again, while he doesn't seem to be IN love with Dani, he certainly watches over her, and is concerned over her well being.


So...we see Dani grow up & mature quite a bit just during this book. She comes to some hard realizations about herself, and others she's surrounded herself with. There is of course the mystery of the ICE, but we also have the mystery of WHO will be Dani's hero...and while ALL these boys are quite a fews years her senior (OK, in Ryodan's case, millenium) I truly wasn't squicked out by it. Thought I would be ~ wasn't. I guess, with the immortality, and the simple fact that since the first page KMM introduced Dani, she's never really come across as a CHILD to me. The world as we know doesn't exsist any longer in this fictional world ~ and Dani has had to scrabble for every day of her exsistence. So yeah, I buy it. She's smarter, harder, faster & more mature than most adults, never mind teens.


I'm anxious and curious to see what is going to happen between Dani and Mac ~ I feel like Dani can't move much further along w/ her life until she faces that demon down. And what about the We Care? Gah, was pissed that was left hanging, but isn't that how each of the Fever books kept us hooked from book to book?


I'll tell you a secret ~ I really, REALLY want Dani to end up w/ Ryodan in my heart of hearts. I think they belong together ~ and yup, maybe that makes me one sick puppy, but I think they do!


So this was the Audio version ~ And WOW, Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross ROCKED it! FABULOUS doesn't even begin to describe how good it was ~ OMG, Ryodan's voice was uber sexy, and rowr for Lore (man, I hope we one day get his book!) and Dani's voice was perfect ~ and made me laugh when she got on one of her little feckin' tears. There wasn't a single thing about the audio version I didn't like ~ it played through my head like I was watching a movie!

The characters ~ visiting w/ ones I'd met in past books, getting to know Stephen & Peaches again, and time traveling with them into the past

How Stephen got all tongue tied around Peaches, even though he was such a suave, debonaire man about town.

Yes! Lovely. I thought some of the men could have been a little more masculine, but she did an amazing job

Travel to places you could only imagine in your wildest dreams

Just that it was a nice, feel good romance. I enjoyed it and liked catching up, and loved Stephen & Peaches.

It's pretty close to the top ~ it's a little soft around the edges, but Nora's trilogy's tend to be, so I expect that. I still love her writing no matter what ~ but this one was so focused on Boonesboro & the rebuilding of the town it was interesting, but almost edged out the rest of the story.

Lizzy, the ghost. I loved the whole back story there.

Ha. When Hope sprayed Ryder with the water hose! Loved it.

Hmmm...I did when Ryder dreamed about Billy's death. Broke my heart.

Again, Nora writes an amazing story ~ so when I rate this a 4, it's still made of awesome, just not my very favorite by her, and that's just because I tend to like her grittier books better, lol. The narrator for this book was excellent, he did an amazing job w/ the characters, and I loved, loved the whole thread of the ghost and her search for her lost love ~ and how it was tied up in a neat little bow in this book.

So, to begin with, lemme just give you a little back ground on this here series ~ it's slathered with awesome sauce, ya'll! It is one of, if not THE best series I've started in the last 2 years ~ and not only is Darynda Jone's writing STELLAR, in the case of Charley Davidson, the narrator in this series,

Lorelei King, IS Charley Davidson! She actually makes her breath & come ALIVE!



So, okay, enough raving ~ We start off Book 4 in the Charley Davidson series w/ Charley on the outs with her father, who tried to have her arrested to keep her 'SAFE', and recovering from an attack from a seriously psycho dude that just happened to also be Reyes Farrow's, aka The Big Bad, aka The Son of Satan's, real life step dad. Who Reyes had been jail for murdering. (But that's all book 3, which you NEED to READ!) So Charley has a little bit Fear going on ~ she might be the Grim Reaper, but that baddie had a HUGE knife he was trying to kill her with. So she's taken up Hoarding & The Home Shopping Channel, and moved out of her offices over her Father's bar. And she hasn't taken a new case in two months ~ She's not only The Grim Reaper, she's also a PI...AND she helps her Uncle UB solve cases for the APD. She's got ALOT going on.



So when a new client seeks her out and seems in desperate need of help, Charley ventures out of her apartment building...to find that a lot has happened in the two months she's been holed up. Reyes has taken up cage fighting, Demons are possessing people all around her, familiar looking bank robbers keep showing up, and her damn land lord rented out that apartment at the end of the hall she's been trying to rent since she moved in!



I LOVED this book! Charley is at her best ~ she makes you LOL more times than I can begin to share, and OH, there are quite a few scenes where my heart strings got tugged in this one...and she GOT me on case! I can usually guess some parts, but nope, not this one. I enjoyed every second of this book ~ and Darynda has this awesome habit of starting each chapter w/ a saying or slogo off a T Shirt...they're AWESOME!! Like..."If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape" ... or " Insanity doesn't RUN through my family, it strolls through, takes it's time, gets to know everyone".



And Lorelei King ~ She is such a pleasure to listen to! There is this awesome character, Rocket, a departed who can track whether every person in the universe is alive or dead ~ Rocket is special. You can just see his face lighting up when he sees Charley, hear it in his voice...and the little sister of one of Charley's Uncle UB's cops, who she laughingly calls the "SS", who has this singsong kinda slurry voice...even when she's calling Charley a Bish...



I cannot recommend this series, and this book, enough!

If there is only ONE audio book you buy this year, this should be it!